Life and Letters of the First Earl of Durham, 1792-1840 (Volume 1) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1906. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... see that reflecting men cannot feel altogether easy respecting the entire Bill, when they perceive that the enemy's walls are as strongly defended as before, and that no heavier guns are brought up to assail them than such as have before been proved to be insufficient. 'I would fain hope that you are possessed of information which would at once remove all these apprehensions, and if there are any secret facts of that important character, I am far from seeking to pry into them. But I am very anxious to impress upon your Lordship the light in which your present position will be viewed by the general public--by those who know no more than I know now. Whatever joy they may experience on the first reading of Lord Grey's declaration, they can hardly avoid being assailed on further reflection with very serious mistrust as to your real power of carrying the declaration into effect. 'If ultimately all things turn out right, and the Bill should be carried entire without any creation of peers, everybody will of course be satisfied. But if the Tories should be able to play off any successful stratagem--if they lie in ambuscade during the time that the van and the main body of the Bill are passing, and then suddenly come out to overwhelm the rear--you will be placed in a far less commanding position than you are now. You will either be forced to make peers to preserve the last limbs of the Bill, which will be regarded as much less justifiable than making peers to carry through the Bill as a whole from the beginning, or you will be forced to abandon the last limbs of the Bill to their fate, from the power of creating peers being denied in the last emergency, as it has now been. Should the last alternative ensue, the public will not forgive you, and I am sure you will not forg...