_November 19._
Met the Duke and Lord Melville.
After conversation on topics connected with the subject we came to the
point, which was that the Duke wished both to preserve the monopoly and the
Company as administrators of Indian affairs.
The Duke is much swayed by early recollections. He is besides very desirous
of having the City of London in his hands.
I admitted that the great and solid objection to placing the government of
India directly in the hands of the Crown was the consequent increase of
Parliamentary business, already too extensive to be well performed.
As to the China trade, if the Government of India can be conducted without
the assistance derived from it, I saw no reason for its continuance; but I
had rather continue the monopoly than lose the Company as a trading Company
to China, for I thought the trade might be greatly endangered were their
commerce to cease. I said that the continuance of the system of carrying on
the government through the instrumentality of the Company was not
inconsistent with giving to it the efficiency, the vigour, and the celerity
of the King's Government.
Lord Melville admitted the cumbrousness of the present system.
The Duke seemed to have no objection to alterations in details, provided
the principle were adhered to.
Both to-day and in the Cabinet on Friday last I was surprised by Lord
Melville's inertness.
The Duke wishes Leach's paper to be 'the case to be proved.' This may be
done, and yet the necessary improvements introduced.
Met Seymour, who had been with the Duke. He is just come from Berlin. He
seemed to say that the great success of the war was wholly unexpected by
the Emperor.
_November 20._
Wrote to Hylton Jolliffe to beg he would turn his attention to the subject
of steam navigation to India by the Red Sea, as a private speculation.
_November 21._
Read a letter from Sir G. Murray. It seems the Duke, Lord Melville, and Sir
George are to meet soon to consider whether some alteration should not be
made in the rules of the Order of the Bath. I suggested that it might be an
improvement to make civilians eligible to the lower grades of the Order. It
might occasionally be very convenient to make a man a K.C.B. for civil
service.
_Sunday, November 22._
Told Bankes what the Duke wished respecting the Charter; but I likewise
told him it had not yet been so determined in Cabinet, and that there was
no objection to our making the Government more rapid and vigorous, and less
like the Tullietudlem coach. I desired him to consider this _confidential_
to himself and the Commissioners.
_November 25._
Received a note from Bankes announcing that the Duke had accepted his
retirement from the office of secretary, and had consented to make him an
extra commissioner.
This has long been an idea of Bankes's, of which I never could see rational
ground. Indeed, he seems to acknowledge it is not his own idea, but that of
others, that on his return to the Government he should not have returned to
the same office. In fact it is the influence of the Duke of Cumberland, and
it is evident from the endeavour to detach Bankes from the Government now
that the Brunswickers still have hopes. It is like giving notice to Lot and
his family before the fall of fire and brimstone.
Bankes's letter is full of kind and grateful expressions towards me.
Indeed, we have always been on very friendly and confidential terms. I have
expressed my regret at his resolution. I told him I think he acts upon
mistaken views, and I assure him that in whatever position he may stand
towards the Board, it will afford me much pleasure and advantage to remain
on the same terms with him.
The Duke will be angry, and I do not think Bankes will soon get an office
again.
_December 2._
Read for an hour at the Cabinet room. There is a curious account of a
conversation between De Rigny and an Austrian friend at Smyrna. De Rigny
thinks very ill of the Government, and of the state of France. He too wants
the Rhine! He judges truly enough of the results of the treaty. 'England,
Austria, and France will talk, but nothing will be done.' He says Russia
was very foolish not to go on. She might have dared anything. However, the
army seems to have suffered severely. They acknowledge the loss of 130,000
men in the two campaigns.
Diebitch has partly evacuated Adrianople, leaving there, however, 6,000
sick and a battalion. The plague spreads in the Principalities, and they do
not know how to get the troops out of Turkey.
Zuylen de Neyvelt and others give a very bad account of the state of
Constantinople. They say the Turkish Empire _cannot_ hold together.
I do not like Lord Stuart's account of the state of the French Ministry.
They will bring in Villele, who is an able man, and he may save them; but
theirs is a desperate game.
The French seem to be disposed to go along with us in negotiating with the
Emperor of Brazil [Footnote: _i.e._ with the Emperor Don Pedro, father of
the ultimately successful candidate for the Portuguese throne, Donna Maria
de Gloria.] for the recognition of Miguel. There would be a stipulation for
amnesty, &c.
_December 3._
The Chairs talked of Lord William Bentinck. They are very much out of
humour with him and heartily wish he was at home. He has neither written
privately nor publicly, except upon trifling matters, for five months. He
has declared his opinion in favour of colonisation. He is very unpopular.
On the subject of Sir W. Rumbold he and Sir Ch. Metcalfe are very hostile,
taking extreme views on the different sides. This hostility upon one
subject will lead to difference upon others. The Government is not
respected--and certainly there has been no moment when it was of more
importance that the head of the Government should be respected than when it
is necessary to effect a great economical reform. They describe the feeling
at Madras as being still worse. There they did not think the governor an
_honest man_.
The Chairs expect a letter from Macdonald to the Secret Committee with
copies of his last despatches which I have already received through
Petersburg, so they are unwilling to accept a communication of them from
me. The letter, permitting Abbas Murza to purchase 12,000 stand of arms and
to pay for them by instalments, will therefore go without any reference to
the last despatches received.
Saw Aberdeen. He agrees with me in feeling much apprehension on the state
of France as well as of Turkey. He seems, however, to think more of the
state of parties here, and does not like the looks of the Duke of
Cumberland (who was nearly dying last week) and of the King. It seems the
King, although very well satisfied with measures of a public nature, is
annoyed at not carrying some small jobs.
There was a great party at Woburn lately, and the world of course say there
is an approximation to the Grey party. Aberdeen thinks the Woburn party
showed good wishes, and Lord Grey, it is said, does not mean to come up to
town. However, he is said to think he has been slighted, whereas the Duke
of Wellington _cannot_ do anything for him in the hostile state of the
King's mind.
I told Aberdeen confidentially of Bankes's going out, which is an
indication, no doubt, of continued hostility on the part of the Duke of
Cumberland.
Saw Hardinge. Talked on various public subjects, and then told him of the
probability that in three months Lord W. Bentinck would be recalled. I
asked him whether he could be induced to go as Governor-General. He
rejected the idea at first as unsuited to his rank in the army. I said we
could make him Captain-General. He seemed to think it was a great field for
a man who wished to obtain great fame, and if he was unmarried he would not
be disinclined to go, but I should think domestic considerations would
prevent him. I wish we had him as secretary in Ireland, but he is wanted
_everywhere_. He is so useful. He would be _most useful_ in Ireland.
Saw the Duke. I told him what the Chairs had said. He said he always
thought Lord William would not succeed. Who could we get to replace him? He
had always thought it did not signify as long as we had _one_ man in India;
but we must have _one_. I told him that, seeing the difficulty of
selection, I had thought it right to tell him what was likely to happen. I
should not be much surprised if he thought of Lord Tweddale, whom he
thought of for Ireland. I do not know him at all.
_December 6._
Read Sir W. Rumbold's letters, and the minutes in Council on the Hyderabad
case. Sir W. is a cunning, clever man. Sir Ch. Metcalfe shows too much
prejudice against Sir W. Rumbold; but he was at Hyderabad at the time, and
he may be right. I suspect it was a disgraceful business.
_December 9._
Loch has got a cadetship for me. Colonel Baillie lends it. He postpones a
nomination till next year in order to oblige me. I have thanked Loch, and
begged him to thank Colonel Baillie.
Wrote to Lady Belfast to tell her Mr. Verner had his cadetship. Begged her
to make his family and friends understand thoroughly that this was a
private favour I had led her to expect long before the discussion of the
Catholic question.
Wrote to Lord Hertford and enclosed an extract from my letter to Lady
Belfast.
Read a letter from Sir J. Malcolm, who is again troubled by Sir J. P.
Grant. He enclosed a letter of his upon the subject to Lord W. Bentinck.
The concluding paragraph of this letter refers to a letter from Lord
William of June 18, at which time the spirit of the Bengal army continued
bad.
Read a letter from Jones, who will set himself to work about the navigation
of the Indus. He says a Mr. Walter Hamilton speaks of the river being
navigable for vessels of 200 tons to Lahore, and that from Lahore to the
mouth of the river, 700 miles, is only a voyage of twelve days. And no
British flag has ever floated upon the waters of this river! Please God it
shall, and in triumph, to the source of all its tributary streams.
_December 11._
Read a letter from Lord Bathurst respecting the recall of Sir J. P. Grant.
He had imagined I had said he had resigned. He seems surprised I should
have supposed it possible a judge should be recalled without a formal
meeting of the Privy Council. I reminded him of Sir T. Claridge's case, not
half so strong as that of Sir J. P. Grant.
_December 12._
Read Fraser's travels.
_December 13._
A letter from Sir J. Malcolm, by which it seems that my letter to him of
February 21 has been copied and become public: much to his annoyance.
[Footnote: This was the letter with the expression about a wild elephant
between two tame ones which afterwards attracted so much criticism. It was
intended as a private letter to Sir J. Malcolm, but by a mistake of one of
his secretaries was copied as an official communication.]
He sends me his letter to Lord W. Bentinck upon the subject. It seems by
this letter, which adverts to other topics, that the spirit in Bengal is
very bad--that Lord W. has hitherto done nothing to check it, and that with
the press in his power he has allowed it to be more licentious than it ever
was before.
_December 14._
Found at Roehampton a letter from the Duke enclosing one addressed by Mrs.
Hastings to the King, applying for a pension. The King recommends it to the
consideration of the Court of Directors. I doubt the Court venturing to
propose any pension to the Court of Proprietors.
I had another letter from the Duke enclosing a letter to him from Sir J.
Malcolm and a copy of Sir J. Malcolm's letter to Lord W. Bentinck,
respecting the unauthorised publication of my private letter--the same I
received yesterday. Sir J. Malcolm speaks of an intended deputation from
the Bengal army to England, which Lord William was determined not to allow;
but Sir J. Malcolm seems to think that Lord William by his conduct at first
brought on much of what has taken place. He has relaxed the reins of
Government too much. I am satisfied that, without a change of form and
name, it will be very difficult to regain the strength the Government has
lost in India.
I shall see the Duke if I can to-morrow and suggest the appointment of Sir
J. Malcolm as provisional successor to Lord William. Sir J. Malcolm's
sentiments are known, and his nomination would show the feeling of the
Government here. It would be a hint to Lord William that we could replace
him at once and make him do his duty. It would, in the event of anything
happening to Lord William, guard against the mischiefs of an interregnum,
which is always a time of weakness and of job.
_December 15._
The Duke gone to the Deepdene. Wrote to him to say I would not fail to
bring the question of Mrs. Hastings's pension before the Chairs; but I
enclosed a memorandum showing all that had been done for old Hastings, and
reminded the Duke that the Court could not grant above 200£ a year without
the sanction of two Courts of Proprietors.
Cabinet room. Lord Heytesbury seems to have shown Nesselrode the protocol
about November 25. The Count was greatly agitated, and put himself into a
furious passion. Asked the use of it? Perhaps it would be difficult to say.
Supposed it was intended for Parliament--which is very true. Said it would
lead to a reply we should not like--create a paper war, prevent the two
Courts from remaining upon the friendly terms he had hoped were
re-established. The more angry he is, the more right I think we must
feel we were to send it.
There is a good paper of Aberdeen's to Sir R. Gordon, in which he considers
the Turkish Empire as falling, and our interest as being to raise Greece,
that that State may be the heir of the Ottoman Power. With this view he
considers it to be of primary importance that the Government of new Greece
should not be revolutionary, and the Prince a good one.
There is another good paper defending England against an accusation of
Metternich that we should have spoken in a firmer tone to Russia at an
earlier period. The King seems much taken with these papers, and writes
great encomiums upon them.
By Lord Stuart's account it appears probable that Villele will come in. The
Government mean to avoid all questions upon which it is possible to have a
difference of opinion, and to bring forward only measures of clear and
undeniable utility. They think that, if their opponents should endeavour to
throw out these measures, the Chambers will support Government.
France coincides with us entirely as to the Portuguese question; but
wishes, and she is right, that questions more specific had been put to the
Emperor Pedro. The intention seems to be to acknowledge Miguel on
conditions, when Pedro admits he can do nothing.
_December 16._
Read Lord Ashley's memorandum on the judicial administration of India. I
wrote a note on returning it in which I said he seemed to have taken great
pains to collect the opinions which had been given by different persons
upon the subject. Mine had been expressed by me in a letter to Sir J.
Malcolm on August 7, in which I declared my general concurrence in the
views entertained by him and intimated by him in his minute, giving an
account of his tour in the southern Mahratta country. I had added that I
was satisfied the more we could avail ourselves of the services of the
natives in the fiscal and judicial administration the better, and that all
good government must rest upon the village system. I told Sir J. Malcolm I
had come to my office without any preconceived opinions, that I had kept
out of the way of prejudiced men, and had allowed opinions to form
themselves gradually in my own mind as I acquired more knowledge from pure
sources. I could not, if I had written this passage on purpose, have had
one more suited to my purpose. It showed Ashley I was not _prejudiced_,
that my opinions were formed before I read his memorandum, and that I had
formed them by abstaining from the course he has pursued--for he allows all
sorts of persons to come and talk to him, and to inoculate him with their
notions.
I afterwards said that he would see by Sir Thomas Munro's memorandum of
December 31, 1824, that he thought we had succeeded better in the judicial
than in the fiscal administration of India, and in the criminal better than
in the civil branch of the judicial government. This I said to show I had
read Sir T. Munro's memorandum, which he did not give me credit for having
done; and that it was not so much to the judicial as to the revenue branch
that he should have directed his attention, with a view to improvements--
the field being greater.
I then said I did not doubt that there were capable natives to be found,
but I did doubt that they would be selected, for that the European servants
had disappointed me. The natives were better than I expected, &c., &c.
Saw the Duke. Suggested to him Sir J. Malcolm's being made provisional
successor to Lord W. Bentinck for the reasons I have mentioned. He thought
well of the suggestion; but said we must consider it, and mention it in
Cabinet, as Lord William was a great card, and we must not do anything to
offend unnecessarily him and his connection. The objection occurred to him
that had occurred to me, that Sir J. Malcolm would die if he went to
Calcutta. I hope he would not go there, that he would remain in the upper
provinces. But I look to the effect of the nomination upon the conduct of
people in India, and that of Lord William himself, more than to his actual
succession.
The Duke then said we must look not to India only, but to all Asia, and
asked me if I had read Evans's book. I told him I had; that in forty-eight
hours after I read it I had sent a copy to Macdonald and another to
Malcolm. I told him all the views I had with regard to the navigation of
the Indus and the opening of a trade with Cabul and Bokhara. He said our
minds appeared to have been travelling the same way. We must have good
information of what the Russians might be doing there. I reminded him I had
desired the Government a year ago to obtain information as to all the
countries between the Caspian and the Indus, and I intended now to give a
more particular direction. He said Macdonald should have his eye upon the
Caspian, and information as to those countries would be best obtained
through natives. I reminded him that that had been the suggestion in my
letter of last year. The Duke's opinion is that it is a question of
_expense only_. That if the Russians got 20,000 or 30,000 men into Cabul we
could beat them; but that by hanging upon us there they could put us to an
enormous expense in military preparation, and in quelling insurrections.
They could not move in that direction without views hostile to us, and by
threatening us there they would think to embarrass us in Europe. I proposed
that in the event of the Russians moving in that direction we should permit
the Government of India to act as an Asiatic Power. By money at least, he
allowed, without further orders, not to move in advance without
instructions. But the Duke is ready to take up the question here in Europe,
if the Russians move towards India with views of evident hostility.
He approves of a message going at once with orders to Macdonald.
_December 18._
Chairs. They will consider favourably Mrs. Hastings's case; but she must
address her representation to them.
I told them of my suggestion of making Malcolm provisional successor to
Lord William, and the reasons for it. They seemed to like the idea; but the
same objection occurred to them which had occurred to the Duke and to me--
that if Malcolm went to Calcutta he would die. I said I did not want him to
go. I did not look to his going. I looked to the moral effect of the
appointment upon Lord William and upon all their servants in India. They
want to get some political man of high rank and talents and determined
character to go. They are heartily sick of Lord William. Whom they want to
send I do not know.
I told them of my conversation with the Duke and went over the same ground.
They acquiesced in all I said. We shall have the missions to Scinde and to
Lahore, and the commercial venture up the Indus, and the instruction to
Macdonald. In short, all I want.
Despatches are at hand from Lord William, dated May 1, in triplicate, and
without the minutes which are referred to as containing the sentiments of
the Government. These despatches merely refer the subject to the
consideration of the Court.
One Jones, it seems, has written almost all the memorials, and is
considered a rebel more than a Radical.
We had a little conversation respecting the future Government of India. I
told them it must be a strong Government, and I doubted whether in its
present form it could secure obedience in India. It required more of
appearance. They seemed to feel that. Astell acknowledged there was nothing
imposing in the name of 'the Company,' and that the present Government was
fallen into contempt.
I told them I was satisfied that the patronage and the appeals should
always remain where they were. I paid them a high compliment, which they
justly deserve, upon the fairness of their conduct in deciding upon the
claims of their servants.
They feel their Government is weak in its last year; but that the Ministers
could not do otherwise than have a committee.
_December 18._
Wrote a letter to the Duke, which he may send to the King, stating the
result of my communication to the Chairs respecting Mrs. Hastings.
Requested information as to the trade of the Caspian, that carried on by
the caravans to Bokhara, and the general condition of that country,
desiring likewise that means might be taken to keep us constantly informed
of any movements made by the Russians towards the Sea of Aral, and of any
attempt to make establishments on the east coast of the Caspian.
Wrote to the Duke to tell him what was done and how entirely the Chairs
entered into his views.
_December 19._
Wrote to Loch to suggest that he should send Meyendorff's and Mouravief's
books to Macdonald.
Read a clever pamphlet on the China trade, and in coming down to Worthing
all the papers Hardinge sent me relative to the new pension regulations.
_December 20._
Read Meyendorff's 'Tour in Bokhara.' It contains all the information I want
as to the commerce between Bokhara and Russia. We can easily supply Bokhara
with many things the Russians now furnish, and with all Indian goods
cheaper by the Indus than the Ganges; but what the Bokharians are to send
us in return I do not well see, except turquoises, lapis lazuli, and the
ducats they receive from Russia. We may get shawls cheaper by navigating
the Indus.
_December 21._
Read the memorandum the Chairs gave me respecting the application of steam
navigation to the internal and external communications of India. It has
been prepared carefully and ably, and is very interesting. It suggests the
navigation of the Euphrates to Balis or Bir by steam, and thence the
passage by Aleppo to Latakia or Scanderoon. It likewise suggests that it
might be more expeditious to cross the desert from Suez to Lake Menzaleh,
or direct to the sea.
_December 22._
Wrote to Lord Hill, telling him of Sir G. Walker's dangerous illness, and
intimating the importance, under the present circumstances of Madras, of
having not only a good soldier as Commander-in-Chief, but a man possessed
of good civil qualities.
Sent a copy of this letter to the Duke.
_December 25._
Read a memorandum of Jones on the last mission to Lahore, and a very long
secret despatch in 1811 upon the subject of Runjeet Singh's attempt to
establish himself on the left bank of the Sutlege, and his retreat in
consequence of remonstrances and military demonstration on the part of the
British Government.
_December 26._
Called by appointment on Lady Macdonald, who came here to speak to me about
Sir J. Macdonald's salary and position at Tabriz. She says that after the
letter he wrote, representing the inexpediency of Sir H. Willock's
remaining as his first assistant and the non-existence of any necessity for
two assistants, if the Bengal Government do not recall Willock Sir J.
Macdonald cannot remain. She has likewise a good deal to say respecting the
salary. I think 9,000£ a year a proper salary. The Ambassador at
Constantinople has 8,000£ and a house; but Constantinople is on the sea,
and the charge of bringing European goods to Tabriz through Russia is so
considerable that 1,000£ a year ought to be added for the charge.
_December 29._
Received three letters from Lord W. Bentinck, of July 6 and 8 and August 2.
In that of the 6th he speaks of my private letter to Sir J. Malcolm,
published in the 'Calcutta Newspaper.' In that of the 8th he sends it to
me, the names being altered, and all between brackets being interpolated,
and in fact in the light of comment. In that of August 2 he speaks of the
temper of the army, &c., and all public subjects. I have sent the three
letters to the Duke.
I was glad to have my letter. I can defend every word in it. It contains
the simile of the elephants, which I am sorry for, as I fear those
described _as tame_ may be foolish enough to endeavour to show they are not
so by affecting a degree of vivacity beyond their nature; but still I can
defend it.
Lord William describes his position as not agreeable, having to effect the
odious work of reduction. [Footnote: Besides the burning question of 'Half-
Batta,' Lord W. Bentinck's administration was regarded as hostile in spirit
to that of his predecessors, and so disliked by those who had served under
them, especially by the military.] He says that in India no man thinks of
anything but MONEY, that the local government has incurred great odium by
carrying into effect the orders of the home authorities. He recommends Sir
Charles Metcalfe as a man standing by Malcolm's side, and fit for the
government of Bombay. I a little fear Sir Charles Metcalfe. He is rather
too vehement. I doubt whether he would be a safe man. I am quite sure
Courtney would be a very unfit man. The Governor of Bombay ought to be an
Indian, but who is there?
Lord William represents the Burmese Government as a barbarian Government.
He says they have sacrificed all who assisted us, and that the difficulty
in retroceding the Tenasserim provinces would be to know what to do with
the 35,000 people who have sought our protection.
This report makes the wisdom of our recent policy yet clearer than it
appeared before.
_December 31._
Read twenty papers on the opium treaties and management in Central India.
The Supreme Government have decided upon no longer limiting the extent of
cultivation in Malwa, and upon permitting the free transit of the drug.
This was expedient because undoubtedly our restrictions led to the most
hostile feelings on the part both of princes and people, to the injury of
the traders, to violent and offensive interference on our part in the
internal policy of foreign States, and to smuggling protected by large
bodies of armed men. The smugglers would soon have been Pindarries. This
system began only in 1825. It was forced upon the small States, and not
upon that of Gwalior, so that smuggling defeated the object.
_January 2, 1830._
Received from the Duke a note to say the publication of my private letter
to Sir J. Malcolm did not signify one pin's head, and it _will have_ done
good in India.
Wrote a long letter to Lord William Bentinck. I pressed upon him the
necessity of making the home and the local authorities draw together. I
told him he was suffering not for his obedience but for the disobedience of
his predecessors. Assured him of support, lamented the _ungentlemanlike_
tone of society evidenced by the insult of the commanding officers to him,
and by the publication of my private letter. I spoke in high terms of
Lieut. W. Hislop's report on the opium arrangements (which on reflection I
thought better than writing a letter to him), and I likewise spoke highly
of Mr. Scott, the Commissioner in Assam. Acknowledged the Government could
not have done otherwise than give up the opium treaties; but foretold a
large falling off in the opium revenue from over-cultivation in Malwa.
_January 3._
A letter from Clare on East Indian matters which I answered at length. Sent
Prendergast's pamphlet to Jones.
Read reports on the Delhi and Firuz Shah's canal, by which it appears my
plan of joining the Sutlege and Jumna is not visionary. It has been done.
The canal can still be traced. Delhi seems in distant times to have been
like Milan, in the midst of canals. The grand canal sent a branch through
the palace. The water has been again turned in the same channel. When the
water flowed into Delhi on the opening of the canal on May 30, 1820, the
people went out to meet it and threw flowers into the stream. In those
countries nothing can be done without water, and with water, and such a
sun, anything.
_January 4, 1830._
Head Eraser's journey and finished it. It is very interesting, and shows
how completely the Persian monarchy is falling to pieces.
_January 5._
Saw Wrangham. There is no news. The affairs of the Netherlands, he says,
look rather better, and Polignac is very stout and says he is very strong.
It seems great complaints are made of Lord Stuart, who gives little
information, and what little he does give is incorrect.
_January 6._
Vesey Fitzgerald will certainly not be able to attend the House this year.
His physicians say he would die in five minutes if he got up to speak. I
heard G. Dawson tell the Duke to-day. I rather suspect G. Dawson would like
Vesey's place.
The Duke has been much occupied with the Greek question. I have not yet
read any papers at the Foreign Office. He spoke to me of Bankes's going
out, which he regretted.
He had had some conversation last year at Belvoir with Lord Graham upon
Indian affairs, and had been quite surprised to find how much he knew. He
had thought he only knew how to comb his hair. The Duke thinks of Horace
Twiss for secretary. He had thought of Mr. Wortley, Lord Wharncliffe's son,
a very clever young man, but he wanted a _made_ man, not one to learn. I
shall suggest Ashley's taking Horace Twiss's place, and Lord Graham being
First Commissioner. This will force him to come forward. Then Wortley might
be Second Commissioner. Horace Twiss is a clever man, but rather vulgar.
However, he is a lawyer and a very good speaker, and will do very well.
_January 7._
I told the Chairs my views as to an alteration in the Supreme Court Bill.
They seemed to approve if the thing could be done. I had afterwards some
conversation with the Chancellor upon this subject. He admitted the force
of my reasoning, but desired to have a memorandum about it, which indeed
will be convenient to me as well as to him. It should state all the new
circumstances since the establishment of the Supreme Court which render its
existence less necessary than it was, and more inapplicable than ever to
the condition of India.
At the Duke's dinner I told the Duke and Rosslyn the substance of Lord
William's letters. The Duke said the act [Footnote: In combining to oppose
the Half-Batta orders. See Thornton's _British India_, vol. v.] of the
officers was mutiny.
The King is ill. He has lost a good deal of blood.
_January 8._
The King quite well again. In the morning began and nearly finished a
memorandum on the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court for the Chancellor.
Cabinet at 2. Conversation respecting the abolition of the Welsh
judgeships, and the addition of a judge to the Courts of King's Bench and
Common Pleas, or Exchequer. The two new judges would be Circuit Judges of
Wales. The Welsh gentlemen seem to be favourable to the change. The
attornies, who are numerous and powerful, very hostile. The Chancellor
introduces again his Bill of last Session. The Equity is to be separated
from the Common Law Jurisdiction of the Court of Exchequer. The subject was
only talked of, and decision deferred till Sunday next.
We then talked of Ireland. The Grand Jury Presentment Bill is not yet
prepared. The plan for a police is to place the nominations in the hands of
the Lord-Lieutenant. To send stipendiary magistrates when and where they
are wanted.
Peel's suggestions went much further; but Lord F. Gower seems to me to be
only a clever boy. He has as yet proposed _nothing_ worthy of adoption, and
he has often been near the commission of errors from which he has been
saved only by Peel's advice.
He wished to establish stipendiary magistrates in every county, the effect
of which would have been to disgust all the gentlemen magistrates, and to
lead them to the abandonment of their duty. He wished too to unite in all
cases the inspectorships of police with the office of stipendiary
magistrate, to avoid collision; but the duties of inspector are of a mere
ministerial and inferior character, and would not agree well with those of
a magistrate.
I must read to-morrow all the late protocols and despatches. The Russians
and French have agreed to make Leopold Prince of Greece, but the King
cannot endure the idea. Aberdeen thinks he has made a great conquest in
carrying the point of Leopold's election. I confess I cannot understand the
great advantage we derive from it. What an extraordinary scene! Those
monarchical states, the most adverse to revolution, combine to assist the
rebellion of a people against its sovereign, a rebellion commenced by
murder and continued by treachery, stained with every crime that ever
disgraced human nature! [Footnote: The massacres by the Greeks at
Tripolitza and Athens, the latter in direct breach of a capitulation, had,
according to a not unfavourable historian, cast a dark stain on the Greek
cause and diminished the interest felt for it in foreign countries.
(Alison, _Hist. Europe_, 1815-52, iii. 150.)] They destroy the fleet of an
unoffending Power in a time of profound peace in his own port. They thus
facilitate the attack of an enemy, and in the extreme peril of the defeated
sovereign they increase their demands in order to form a substantive State
out of the ruins of his Empire. They then elect a Prince unknown to the
people over whom he is to reign, and support him by equal assistance in
ships and money! Those monarchical states set up a revolutionary government
and maintain it in coparcenary! It was reserved for these times to witness
such contradictions. I do not think any one is very well satisfied with
them but Aberdeen. He is charmed.
_Sunday, January 10._
Cabinet. Conversation first as to an intended publication by Mr. Stapleton
of a 'Life of Canning,' in which he means to insert the substance, if not
the copies, of public papers relating to transactions not yet terminated.
He has had it intimated to him that he will do so at his peril. He holds an
office under the Government during pleasure. I said he had no right over
private letters relating to public subjects which only came to the
knowledge of the writer by his official situation. He should be told it was
a high breach of public confidence, and he should be displaced if he was
guilty of it. He will have a hint, but I fear not one sufficiently strong.
It is Lady Canning who thinks she can injure the Duke of Wellington, and so
publishes these papers. Stapleton is her editor. She demanded from Aberdeen
official letters of Canning's, and actually threatened him with a suit in
Chancery if he did not give them up. The Duke says he has copies of all
Canning's letters, and he shall publish if they do. [Footnote: Augustus
Granville Stapleton had been private secretary to Canning, and published
about 1830-31 _The Political Life of George Canning_, and nearly thirty
years later, _George Canning and his Times_. The latter work contains much
correspondence the publication of which might have been objected to at the
earlier date.]
We had Scarlett and afterwards Bosanquet in upon the Welsh Judicature
question. It was at last decided that the Equity Jurisdiction of the Courts
of Great Session should be sent to the Court of Exchequer, that power
should be taken to the King of directing the circuits to be held where he
pleased, and that the two new judges of the English Courts should do the
duty of the Welsh circuits. The proceedings to be assimilated to those of
the English Courts.
The saving by the reduction of the Welsh judges, after allowing for their
pensions, will leave an ample fund for the compensation of the officers
reduced.
I read Lord Stuart de Rothesay's last despatches and Lord Heytesbury's.
There seems to me to be great over-confidence in their strength on the part
of the French Ministers. I cannot help thinking they will fall. Villele
will have nothing to do with the Government under this House of deputies,
which declared his administration _deplorable_. He seems to stipulate for
their dissolution.
Halil Pacha takes to Petersburg fine presents for the Emperor and Empress,
and other presents he is to distribute 'selon son gré et en son nom' which
are enough to bribe all the ladies in Europe. There is a list of them
extending over seven pages.
It seems to be doubtful whether the French have not been endeavouring to
induce Mehemet Ali to revenge their quarrel with Algiers by marching along
the whole coast of Africa. The French are much out of humour with their
Algerine follies, and heartily tired of their expensive gasconade.
Mehemet Ali does not seem much inclined to send _his_ fleet to
Constantinople, although he has honour enough to send the Sultan's.
The Russians have launched two large ships (120 and 74), and they have
bought a double-banked frigate built in the United States.
_Monday, January 11._
At the Cabinet room, where I met Sir George Murray; read the letters
relative to the alterations in the judicial system of Scotland.
Read a letter from Loch, allowing me to show to the Cabinet Lord William's
letters. He wished them to be read, not shown, or rather not circulated;
but it is contrary to all rule, so I left them to-day on the Cabinet table.
The Duke told me yesterday he felt no concession could now be made,
although it was a mighty foolish thing to have had a quarrel about.
Got home at 5, dressed, and was going to business, when I found a note from
Drummond, desiring me to call on the Duke as soon as I could. I ordered the
carriage and went. Found the Chancellor there.
It seems there is a great hitch about Prince Leopold's nomination as Prince
Sovereign of Greece. The French have now proposed it. We desire it. Russia
acquiesces. We have always declared we did not care who was Prince
Sovereign of Greece, but we were resolved never to acknowledge as such a
man in whom we had not confidence. Some time ago the King of Prussia
applied through the Grand Duke of Mecklenburgh to the King for his vote in
favour of Prince Charles of Mecklenburgh, the brother of the late Queen of
Prussia and of the Duchess of Cumberland. This application was made through
the Duke of Cumberland to the King, and the King returned an answer through
the Duke of Cumberland. What this answer was is not known; but the King
having mentioned the circumstance to Aberdeen, and he to the Duke,
Aberdeen, by the Duke's desire, wrote through Sir Brook Taylor to the King
of Prussia, and civilly put him off. This letter of course the King saw,
and approved. The Duchess of Cumberland complains the answer of Aberdeen
was very different from that given through the Duke of Cumberland by the
King, and says it is an _intrigue_.
The King has been put up to this, and tells Aberdeen he knows his own
ground--that the people of England will not bear that 50,000£ a year shall
be paid by them to the Prince of Greece. He does not care whether Leopold
goes or no, but he is determined he shall leave his annuity behind him.
The articles in the 'Standard' and other papers, a few days ago, are
supposed to have had reference to this then intended rupture. Aberdeen goes
to the King to-morrow, and the Duke having seen all the Cabinet, Aberdeen
will, if it should be necessary, declare their concurrent opinion. The Duke
thinks the King will yield to Aberdeen; to avoid seeing him--if he is
obliged to go down, he will declare distinctly to the King that his Majesty
had better name whatever Minister he may wish to give his confidence to;
but that to whatever Minister he may choose to have, he ought to give his
confidence.
Certainly nothing can have been more scandalous than the King's conduct to
the Duke. He has never given his Government the fair support. Say what the
Duke will, he of Cumberland is believed.
The Duke had a note about the King the other day from Lady Conyngham,
written only to tell him the Duke of Cumberland had been four hours with
His Majesty.
That Prince Leopold will make an efficient King of Greece I do not believe;
but he is not likely to be hostile to England. Prince Charles of
Mecklenburgh, named by Prussia, would be really Russian, and the tool of
States not friendly to us.
Prince Leopold hopes, if he goes to Greece, that Government will purchase
the lands he has bought, for which he has given 40,000£ or 50,000£.
Determined to have my letter respecting the acquisition of information in
Central Asia and the navigation of the Indus sent to the Chairs _to-
morrow_, that _it may_ be sent, and be on record as _mine_, in the event of
His Majesty turning me out the next day, as he will very possibly do.
_January 12._
Henry [Footnote: The Honourable H. S, Law, Lord Ellenborough's brother.]
copied for transmission the letter in the Secret Department, and I took
care it should be sent to the India House in the course of the day, that if
I should be out to-morrow, I may have the credit of having originated a
measure which, if effected, will be of incalculable value.
Cabinet at 2. Aberdeen was gone to the King at Windsor. It seemed to be
expected he would do nothing, and that the Duke would be obliged to go down
to-morrow--the Duke thinks he shall succeed--and no one seems to dread a
_turn out_. I am not quite so sure. The mischief is that these _sécousses_
make a weak Government.
I found in the box of drafts the letter to Sir Brook Taylor respecting Duke
Charles of Mecklenburgh, which the King says he never saw or sanctioned. It
bears his initials and approval, which have been traced out in ink over his
pencil.
The Duke of Cumberland wants, if it be but for a week, a friendly
administration that he may get out of the Exchequer 30,000£ set apart for
the annuity for his son's education, but to which he is not legally
entitled, his son having been educated abroad. It is out of revenge for a
hostile cheer, and to get this money, to which Lord Eldon and Lord Wynford
have told him he has no right, that he is endeavouring to overthrow the
Government.
_January 13._
After I came home read the minutes of the Governor-General and Council on
the college at Calcutta. There is nothing so important as to preserve young
men, who are to govern an Empire, from idleness, dissipation, and debt.
This must be done. The Governor-General's own superintendence may effect
much. The suspension of the incompetent may do more; but while the habits
of expense are given at Hayleybury, and continued by their residence
without any control in the midst of a dissipated capital, nothing will
reform the system.
Cabinet dinner at Aberdeen's. He was an hour and a half with the King
yesterday. The King was much agitated in dressing himself for the
interview. The man who shaved thought he should have cut him twenty times.
He had taken 100 drops of laudanum to prepare himself for the interview.
Aberdeen says it is a _real_ quarrel-not a plot to get rid of us--the King
thoroughly hates Prince Leopold, and he has been made to think the
Ministers have slighted him in this matter. The Duke goes down to him to-
morrow. He can show the King that Leopold was first mentioned by France--
that he was made acquainted with the proposal or rather suggestion made by
France to Leopold on November 9, that he was then told we could not hear of
it till our candidates, Prince John of Saxony and Ferdinand of Orange, were
disposed of. The subject was again mentioned on November 24.
In point of fact the earliest day on which it could have been made known to
the King that France had distinctly proposed Leopold was Monday, and he was
told on the Tuesday.
The King seems to have been violently agitated. He said sneeringly to
Aberdeen, '_If I may be allowed to ask, is Prince Leopold to be married to
a daughter of the Duke of Orleans?_' [Footnote: This marriage took place in
August 1832, when Prince Leopold had become King of the Belgians, and the
Duke of Orleans King of the French.] Aberdeen said he had seen it in the
newspaper and knew nothing more of it. The King alluded to the possibility
of Government going out, admitted the inconvenience just before the meeting
of Parliament, but said he was immovable. Leopold might go to the devil,
but he should not carry English money out of the country. In the morning,
talking to the Duchess of Gloucester, he said, 'If they want a Prince of my
family, they might have had the Duke of Gloucester,' upon which the Duchess
burst out a-laughing.
The King seems thoroughly out of humour. He says 'Things seem going on very
ill in India. Do not you mean to recall Lord William?' He had been made
very angry in the morning by the 'Times' calling upon him to pay his
brother's debts, and this morning the 'Morning Journal' places in
juxtaposition the paragraphs in the 'Times,' and those for which it was
lately prosecuted.
Lady Conyngham is bored to death, and talks and really thinks of removing.
She was to make a grand attack on the King to-day. I suppose she finds the
Duchess of Cumberland gaining influence. Her note to the Duke the other
day, to tell him the Duke of Cumberland had been four hours with the King,
was intended to put him upon his guard.
The Duke does not mean to resign to-morrow, but to request, if he should
not succeed (which Aberdeen thinks he will not do), that the King will
allow the Cabinet to put their opinions in writing-which the King cannot
refuse. We shall then meet on Friday and decide what we shall do.
The Chancellor took me aside and said it would be a foolish thing to go out
about Leopold. So it would; but if we allow ourselves to be beaten in this,
we may be beaten round the whole circle of public questions.
When the Duke has proved the proposition was not made by us, that it came
from France, the King will say, 'Well, if you did not think it worth while
to propose him, why should you not reject him? Why adhere to him?'