act on that
question as he had ever done, and that he thought the King would
better consult his own ease by retaining him in office without
any pledge, relying on his desire above all things to consult his
Majesty's ease and comfort. He said among other things that,
though leader of the House of Commons, he had never had any
patronage placed at his disposal, nor a single place to give
away.

[Page Head: THE DUKE AND MR. CANNING.]

About the time of this conversation Canning was out of humour with
the Duke of Wellington, for he had heard that many of the
adherents of Government who pretended to be attached to the Duke
had spoken of him (Canning) in the most violent and abusive terms.
In their opinions he conceived the Duke to be to a certain degree
implicated, and this produced some coldness in his manner towards
him. Shortly after Arbuthnot came to him, complained first and
explained after, and said the Duke would call upon him. The Duke
did call, and in a conversation of two hours Canning told him all
that had passed between himself and the King, thereby putting the
Duke, as he supposed, in complete possession of his sentiments as
to the reconstruction of the Government. A few days after Mr.
Canning was charged by the King to lay before him the plan of an
Administration, and upon this he wrote the letter to his former
colleagues which produced so much discussion. I read the letters
to the Duke, Bathurst, Melville, and Bexley, and I must say that
the one to the Duke was rather the stiffest of the whole,[10]
though it was not so cold as the Duke chose to consider it. Then
came his letter to the Duke on his speech, and the Duke's answer.
When I read these last year I thought the Duke had much the best
of it; but I must alter this opinion if it be true that he knew
Mr. Canning's opinions, as it is stated that he did entirely,
after their long interview, at which the conversation with the
King was communicated to him. That materially alters the case.
There was a letter from Peel declining, entirely on the ground of
objecting to a pro-Catholic Premier, and on the impossibility of
his administering Ireland with the First Lord of the Treasury of a
different opinion on that subject from his own. There was likewise
a curious correspondence relative to a paper written by the Duke
of York during his last illness, and not very long before his
death, to Lord Liverpool on the dangers of the country from the
progress of the Cath