The Greville Memoirs, Part 1 (of 3), Volume 1 (of 3): A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV and King William IVGreville, Charles
History
The Greville Memoirs, Part 1 (of 3), Volume 1 (of 3): A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV and King William IV
Greville, Charles
Great Britain -- History -- George IV, 1820-1830; Great Britain -- History -- William IV, 1830-1837
Some time after they had been in office (after Lord Londonderry's
death) they found in a drawer, which apparently had been
forgotten or overlooked, some papers, which were despatches and
copies of correspondence between Lord Castlereagh and Lord
Stewart. These despatches were very curious, and more particularly
so after his attack last year on Canning for misappropriating the
secret service money, for they gave an account of his own
employment of the secret service money in getting Italian
witnesses for the Queen's trial. There was likewise an account of
the discovery Stewart had made of the treachery of an office
messenger, who had for a long time carried all his despatches to
Metternich before he took them to England, and Lord Stewart says,
'I tremble when I think of the risk which my despatches have
incurred of coming before the House of Commons, as there were
letters of Lord Londonderry's written expressly "to throw dust in
the eyes of the Parliament."' These were his own expressions, and
he said, 'You will understand this and know what to say to
Metternich.' In fact, while Lord Castlereagh was obliged to
pretend to disapprove of the Continental system of the Holy
Alliance he secretly gave Metternich every assurance of his
private concurrence, and it was not till long after Mr. Canning's
accession that Metternich could be persuaded of his sincerity in
opposing their views, always fancying that he was obliged to act
a part as his predecessor had done to keep the House of Commons
quiet.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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