Sir Charles Grey[11]
and Charles Fitzroy Privy Councillors, when we had a most curious
burst of eloquence from his Majesty. This is the first time I have
seen him and his present Ministers together, and certainly they do
not strike me as exhibiting any mutual affection. After Sir Charles
Grey was sworn the King said to him, 'Stand up,' and up he stood. He
then addressed him with great fluency and energy nearly in these
words:--'Sir Charles Grey, you are about to proceed upon one of the
most important missions which ever left this country, and, from your
judgment, ability, and experience, I have no doubt that you will
acquit yourself to my entire satisfaction; I desire you, however, to
bear in mind that the colony to which you are about to proceed has
not, like other British colonies, been peopled from the mother
country--that it is not an original possession of the Crown, but
that it was obtained _by the sword_. You will take care to assert
those undoubted prerogatives which the Crown there possesses, and
which I am determined to enforce and maintain, and I charge you by
the oath which you have just taken strenuously to assert those
prerogatives, _of which persons who ought to have known better have
dared even in my presence to deny the existence_.' His speech was
something longer than this, but the last words almost precisely the
same. The silence was profound, and I was amused at the astonishment
depicted on the faces of the Ministers. I asked Lord Lansdowne and
Lord Holland who it was that he alluded to. Neither knew, but the
former said he thought it might be Ellice, and that the King
referred to something Ellice had said to him when he was Minister.
Somebody said they thought it was Spring Rice, but that could not be
when Rice was sitting at the table. I have heard many specimens of
his eloquence, but never anything like this. After this he had to
give Durham an audience on his embassy, which must have been very
agreeable to him, as he hates him and the Duchess of Kent, whose
'magnus Apollo' Durham is.

[11] [Sir Charles Grey had just been appointed Governor of
Jamaica. He had previously filled for a short time the
office of Chief Justice of Bengal, and enjoyed at this
time a considerable reputation in society. The Minister
to whom the King referred in his concluding observation
was Lord Glenelg as will be seen presently.]

July 3rd, 1835 {p.272}

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