The people did retire, slowly and lingeringly, and
some time afterwards, espying the fur and scarlet of the Lord
Mayor, I requested somebody (I forget whom) to tell him he must
retire, and he did leave the room. Shortly after the Queen
entered, and the business of the Council commenced. The
impossibility of getting the summonses to two hundred and twenty
Privy Councillors conveyed in time caused the greatest
irregularity in the arrivals, and the door was continually opened
to admit fresh comers. In such a scene of bustle and confusion,
and in a room so crowded, it is extremely probable that the Lord
Mayor and the Attorney-General smuggled themselves back into the
apartment, and that they were (very improperly) spectators of
what passed; but that forms no reason why they should be
represented in an historical picture as actors in a ceremonial
with which they had, and could have, no concern. Wilkie was very
anxious to have Lord Conyngham in the picture, but both he and
Albert Conyngham decided that it would be improper, because not
only he was not present, but according to etiquette could not be
present, as it was his duty to remain in constant attendance upon
the body of the late King up to the moment of his breaking his
wand over his coffin.

Yesterday Brougham spoke for four hours and a half in the House
of Lords, upon the appeal of 'Small _v_. Attwood,' concurring
with the Chancellor in reversing Lyndhurst's judgement, and
evidently bent upon making a display of judicial eloquence which
should eclipse that of Lyndhurst himself. This judgement has made
a great sensation in the world, especially in the commercial
world. I met the Vice-Chancellor, who had come from the House of
Lords, and who told me of Brougham's speech, and the final
decree; he said he really knew nothing of the case, but from what
he heard he was inclined to believe the reversal was right.
Lyndhurst, however, persists in the correctness of his own
judgement.

March 30th, 1838 {p.083}

Lord Eliot's motion about Spain came to a ridiculous end on
Wednesday. When the debate was resumed at five o'clock very few
people were present; they were chattering and making a noise;
nobody heard the Speaker when he put the question; and so they
divided 72 to 60, the Ministers (or Minister, for none was
present but John Russell) not knowing on which side there would
be a majority. The Tories were very angry, and wanted to renew
the discussion in another form,