, and that they
were related, many of them, to Tories, and I enumerated those of my
Bedchamber women and Maids of Honour; upon which he said he did not
mean _all_ the Bedchamber women and _all_ the Maids of Honour, he
meant the Mistress of the Robes and the Ladies of the Bedchamber; to
which I replied _they_ were of more consequence than the others, and
that I could _not_ consent, and that it had never been done before. He
said I was a Queen Regnant, and that made the difference. 'Not here,'
I said--and I maintained my right. Sir Robert then urged it upon
_public grounds only_, but I said here I could not consent. He then
begged to be allowed to consult with the Duke upon such an important
matter. I expressed a wish also to see the Duke, if Sir Robert
approved, which he said he did, and that he would return with the
Duke, if I would then be prepared for the decision, which I said I
would. Well," I continued, "the Duke and Sir Robert returned soon, and
I first saw the Duke, who talked first of his being ready to take the
post of Secretary for Foreign Affairs, which I had pressed Peel
to urge on him (the Duke having first wished to be in the Cabinet,
without accepting office), and the Duke said, 'I am able to do
anything,' for I asked him if it would not be too much for him. Then
I told him that I had been very well satisfied with Sir Robert
yesterday, and asked the Duke if Sir Robert had told him what had
passed about the Ladies. He said he had, and then I repeated all my
arguments, and the Duke his; but the Duke and Sir Robert differed
considerably on two points. The Duke said the _opinions_ of the Ladies
were nothing, but it was the _principle_, whether the Minister could
remove the Ladies or not, and that he (the Duke) had understood it was
stated in the Civil List Bill, 'that the _Ladies were instead of the
Lords_,' which is quite false, and I told the Duke that there were not
_twelve Lords_, as the expense _with the Ladies_ would have been too
great." Lord Melbourne said: "There you had the better of him,
and what did he say?" "Not much," I replied. I repeated many of my
arguments, all which pleased Lord Melbourne, and which he agreed to,
amongst others, that I said to the Duke, Was Sir Robert so weak that
_even_ the Ladies must be of his opinion? The Duke denied that. The
Duke then took my decision to Sir Robert, who was waiting in the next
room; after a few minutes Sir Robert returned. After stopping a
few minutes