life." The expression "orange-peel" was, no doubt, a reference to the soubriquet his Irish opponents had bestowed upon Sir Robert Peel on account of his staunch Protestantism.
These extraordinary ebullitions of party feeling would be hardly worth recording but for the explanation they afford of subsequent events relating to the establishment of Prince Albert, and for the curious contrast they offer to the feelings of political parties at the present time. They also explain why quiet, peace-loving people, taking no special interest in party politics, were so devoutly thankful that the operation of the Salic law in Hanover separated that kingdom from the Crown of England and enabled us to get quit of the Duke of Cumberland. No paper and no party ever pretended to regret him; indeed, it must have become abundantly obvious that his departure was, in a special degree, advantageous to his own party. He could be nothing but a source of weakness to them. "A man's foes are those of his own household" is even more true of political than of private affairs. The anxiety of the Tories to get rid of the Duke of Cumberland is well illustrated by one of Greville's anecdotes. When the late King (William IV.) had evidently only a few days to live, the Duke of Cumberland consulted the Duke of Wellington as to what he should do. "I told him the best thing he could do was to go away as fast as he could. 'Go instantly,' I said, 'and take care you don't get pelted.'" He did go instantly, and his first act as King of Hanover was to suspend the constitution of the country and turn out of their chairs in Göttinger University seven distinguished professors for the crime of holding Liberal opinions. No wonder the Duke of Wellington felt this sort of Toryism would manufacture Liberals and Radicals by the thousand in England.
