March 1817.
r Smith— The
Mint is upon Tower Hill. They made some difficulty at letting us in.—
They said Mr Wellesley Pole gave Cards only for Thursday’s.
I mentioned that Mr Lawson had advised me to come this day. They
said Mr Lawson had nothing to do with it. At
last however a man was called and directed to shew us the works. He
hurried us along through the different apartments, without absolute
incivility, and with very little civility— There is only one Steam
engine, with a thirty horse power. We saw the various operations of
rolling the bars of cutting, heating, weighing, washing cleaning, and
coining the blanks of half crowns and shillings— I had twice seen all
the same works at the Mint at St.
Petersburg. The workmen here were more numerous. The washing of the
Blanks in vitriolic acid I had not seen in Russia. Our conductor told
me, that they struck four hundred thousand pieces in a day— We walked
back to Craven Street. Mr Coles called there He has
lately arrived from France. Smith went with John and Charles to the Sans
Pareil Theatre in the Strand. George went to Drury Lane— I dined with
Count Palmella the
Portuguese Ambassador 74. South Audley Street. Lord Castlereagh was to have
dined there, but is confined to his house with a Cold and sore throat—
The Earl of Harrowby, Lord Palmerston, and Admiral Berkley were there.
Count Lieven and
Poletica, Baron Fagel and his brother, Baron Rehausen, Count Caraman, Mr Planta,
and some others, persons attached to the Portuguese Embassy— At table I
sat next to Lord Harrowby, and had much conversation with him; chiefly
on the subject of Government. Whigs and Tories. The rights of the People
and the rights of Kings— He appeared disposed to appretiate highly the
free and liberal parts of the British Constitution; but he spoke with
the contempt of derision, about radical reform, annual parliaments and
universal suffrage. Sneered at Tom
Paine—spoke slightingly of Locke, and censured the phraseology of the Act of
Parliament by which James the second
was declared to have broken the compact between the king and People— He
attempted an argument about the duty and obligation of obedience,
binding upon the people— I asked him if he admitted Government to be an
affair of compact, and told him I would not ask any other concession. He
was not willing to admit it; nor prepared to deny it; and I forebore to
press him. He finally said the People had a right to be well governed,
and when they were not, it was not of much consequence what the rights
of Government to their obedience might be. After dinner I returned to
Craven Street. John & Charles soon after came in with Smith from the
Play— I did not wait for George, but came home with them at One.