got out of by some particular case being tried, on which Hume, or
whoever brings it forward, will be beaten, and then it will sleep
for a time; but there stands and will stand the resolution on the
journals, and the House of Commons has admitted the principle of
dealing with actual vested interests, and not confining their
operation to the future.

There seems every probability of Stanley's West India Bill being
thrown out. The Saints, who at first had agreed to support it,
object to pay the twenty millions for emancipation to take place
twelve years hence, and the present condition of the question
seems to be that all parties are dissatisfied with it, and there
is nearly a certainty that it will be received with horror by the
planters, while the slaves will no longer work when they find the
fiat of their freedom (however conditional or distant the final
consummation may be) has at length gone forth.

July 20th, 1833 {p.013}

I dropped into the House of Lords last night, and heard the
Bishop of London reply severally to the Duke of Newcastle and
Lord Winchilsea, the first of whom muttered, and the latter
bellowed something I could not hear, but I gathered that the last
was on the subject of the King's letter to the Bishops. The
Bishop made very pertinent answers to both, but the Duke of
Wellington got up after Winchilsea, and entreated nothing might
be said upon the subject, and put down discussion with that
authority which the Tories dare not resist, and which he
exercised on this occasion with the good sense and, above all,
consideration for public convenience and disdain of party rancour
which distinguish him above all men I have ever seen, and which
compel one to admire him in spite of the extraordinary things he
occasionally says and does.

George Villiers is going Minister to Madrid, instead of Addington,
who is so inefficient they are obliged to recall him, and at this
moment Madrid is the most important diplomatic mission, with
reference to the existing and the prospective state of things. The
Portuguese contest, the chance of the King of Spain's death and a
disputed succession, the recognition of the South American
colonies, and commercial arrangements with this country, present a
mass of interests which demand considerable dexterity and
judgment; besides, Addington is a Tory, and does not act in the
spirit of this Government, so they will recall him without
ceremony. There is another Ambassador (Frede