Memoirs of the Court of George IV. 1820-1830 (Vol 1): From the Original Family DocumentsBuckingham and Chandos, Richard Plantagenet Temple Nugent Brydges Chandos Grenville, Duke of
History
Memoirs of the Court of George IV. 1820-1830 (Vol 1): From the Original Family Documents
Buckingham and Chandos, Richard Plantagenet Temple Nugent Brydges Chandos Grenville, Duke of
Great Britain -- History -- George IV, 1820-1830
I received your letter, my dear Lord Buckingham, when writhing
under a fit of the gout, the legacy of the Bill of Pains and
Penalties which you made me vote for. God help us! as the saying
is; for what is to become of us, He only knows. There seems nothing
but chaos and desolation whatever way a man turns himself: the
middle classes of the people waging war upon the higher orders; the
tenantry taking advantage of the times to conspire against their
landlords; and the lower orders existing only from the circumstance
of the produce of land being unmarketable: barley two shillings a
bushel, oats nearly the same, and no sale for wheat at any price.
The weavers are certainly all employed here, but cannot earn more
than from six to eight shillings a week. Such is our state. The
finance of the country is "opportunely" a little improved. Had it
retrograded a little, the King was over with us; and there yet
hangs out insurmountable evil. I think I hear you say, "_What a
gloomy dog!_" _And so I am_, because I cannot see _daylight_ in any
direction. I cannot agree about a reduction of our army: a soldier
less, and we shall have revolution and civil war. Those people
under whose protection we should be put if the army was reduced,
would, as Rollo says, "cover and devour us." It's all really
dreadful. I have not since I saw you heard a reasonable conjecture
even about the Administration's fate or plans. I think that Canning
will stick to Liverpool; Morley told me _he would positively_. I
should not be displeased to see a separation between Liverpool and
Castlereagh. I think it very probable that the Opposition will take
the King by storm, backed as they are and will be by the people, as
they are called. The Addresses to the King as yet are feeble and
poor, nothing like _heart_ appearing. If the Opposition get in,
they will let fly a set of measures calculated to secure popularity
at starting, but which in the end will bring ruin, _absolute_, upon
the country. It does not appear possible to me for the Government
to get on, when Parliament meets, if the present fever in the
public mind does not abate. I will not bore you any more with my
lamentations. Pray do give me some consolation if you can, and at
any rate be kind enough to let me know when anything political is
stirring. What would I not have given to have been _behind the
screen_ at Lord Grenville's audience!--The weather here is nearly
as bad as the times.
Ever, my dear Lord Buckingham,
Your truly faithful
CASSILIS.
MR. CHARLES W. WYNN TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.
Llangedwin, Dec. 31, 1820.
MY DEAR B----,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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