produced to
reveal the name of the prime mover, everybody's finger is pointed
at Brougham, and the young Greys make no secret of their
conviction that he is the man. But undoubtedly the greatest evil
resulting from the proceedings and the termination of them (in
the reconstruction of this Government, with its additions, and
the alteration of the Bill) is the vast increase which must be
made to the power and authority of O'Connell. He has long been
able to make the Irish believe anything he pleases, and he will
certainly have no difficulty in persuading them that he himself
has brought about this state of things, that he has ousted Lord
Grey, introduced Duncannon (who of all the Whigs has been his
greatest friend), and expunged the obnoxious clauses from the
Coercion Bill, and the fact is that all this is not very far from
the truth. Between his dexterity in availing himself of
circumstances and his betrayal of Littleton, between the folly of
some men and the baseness of others, he has appeared the most
prominent character in the drama. Even now I cannot make out
_why_ everybody wished the Bill to be thus emasculated, for there
would have been no difficulty in passing it through both Houses.
To the surprise of everybody Littleton is suffered to keep his
place, probably by the protection of Althorp, who may have been
as dogged about him on this occasion as he was about the
Speakership, and as he is considered (on account of his
character) so indispensable in the House of Commons, of course he
can make his own terms.[11]

[10] [This again is not accurate. It was on the 23rd of
June, _after_ the arrival of Lord Wellesley's letter,
that Mr. Littleton saw O'Connell. The question was
still under discussion on that day, and the opinions of
different members of the Cabinet were much divided.
Those Ministers (including the Chancellor) who were
opposed to the renewal of the Coercion Bill in its
integrity wished to secure the assent of Lord Wellesley
to their views. After the receipt of Lord Wellesley's
letter of the 21st of June both Lord Melbourne and Lord
Althorp declared that 'it was impossible to ask
Parliament for an unconstitutional power which the
Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland had been led to disclaim.'
(See Hatherton's Memoir, p. 13.) The question was not
finally settled till th