but that his only excuse was the necessity of vindicating his character
against what had been said in another place, to say nothing of the
manner in which he had been treated by a corrupt press, which if not in
the pay, was under the control of the government. He then proceeded to
meet the first charge, that of personal discourtesy. It was said, that
his asking in reply to Mr. Canning's first letter, "who was to be at the
head of the new government?" was intended as an insult to Mr. Canning.
This he denied. The letter of Mr. Canning, he said gave no information
who were to form the new cabinet, or what members of the old one had
resigned, or were expected to resign. Nor was he invited, as he found
the other ministers had been, to receive personal explanations on the
subject. Under those circumstances the inquiry was made. But that was
not the first communication that had passed between them on the subject.
Early in the month of April, continued the Duke, he had had a
conversation with Mr. Canning, in which, anticipating the possibility of
his being called upon to reconstruct the government, one of his plans
was to recommend that Mr. Robinson (now the Earl of Ripon) should be
raised to the peerage and be made premier. Of this plan the Duke at the
time approved, and it was with this in his mind that he wrote the first
answer, which gave Mr. Canning so much offence. Precedent, also, he
contended, was against Mr. Canning; for it appeared that in 1812, when
Lord Liverpool, by command of the Prince Regent, waited on Mr. Canning,
to know whether he would form part of the proposed administration, the
first question Mr. Canning asked of the noble earl (then in the same
position Mr. Canning was in now) was, "who was to be at the head of the
new administration?" The Duke's letter was written on the 10th, and Mr.
Canning only kissed hands as minister on the 12th; so that, even in that
point of view, the Duke's question was, he contended, necessary.

It may be said that there is enough on the face of this communication to