n
situations to which their abilities were not equal. I will therefore say
that the learned lord was perfectly justified in the course he has
pursued; and I will say more, that his high office and his great
intellectual influence, fully entitled him to expect that the
government, of which he was a member, should give his family a
preference in filling up any situations to which, as I have stated,
their abilities were equal. I agree with the noble Earl at the head of
his Majesty's government, in hoping that this will be the last we shall
hear of this senseless outcry against public men for this mode of
disposing of the patronage of office. The time of the house is but ill
spent with such discussions; indeed, I am sure that nothing can tend
more to injure its character in public estimation, than these
investigations of the family affairs of men in high stations; at all
events, they tend more to lower the house than benefit the public, and
the sooner we put an end to them the better.

_March 12, 1832._

_Peace with France desirable, but difficult to maintain._

There does exist in the minds of the people of France, a sentiment,
which their government at the present day are but too prone to flatter.
I allude to that morbid desire of extended conquest, which, at least for
the last forty years, has so much influenced the character and
proceedings of that people.

There is no man who would be more ready than I should in taking every
step calculated to promote a good understanding between that country and
this. I consider quite as much as the noble Earl (Grey) opposite can
possibly do, that every measure tending to that end is a measure of
necessity--is a measure of such urgency and importance, that I consider
it second only to the honour and interests of this country,--those I
take to be the very first objects to which a British Minister should
direct his attention, regardless of every consideration which might
interfere with them. Well then, admitting as fully as any noble Lord can
desire, that it must be at all times a leading object with this country
to preserve peaceful relations with France, I will tell the noble Earl
opposite, that if he would remain at peace with France, peace must be
preserved by this country in union with the other powers of Europe, and
not by this country singly. I tell him that the affair at Ancona is but
a trifling warning of that which will soon follow, unless a constant
system of precaution