However, notwithstanding this, they say he is so weak that he may adopt a
violent course.
Nothing can be more correct than the conduct of M. Molé, the French
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. He is most anxious to preserve
peace in Europe, the new King's Government in France, and himself in
office. He is much alarmed by the events in Belgium, and wished our
Minister to join the French Minister at Brussels in recommending some
concession to the King of the Netherlands. The Duke has, as Rosslyn told
me, written a memorandum to serve as the basis of Aberdeen's dispatch, very
civil indeed to Molé, very much satisfied with the disposition evinced by
the French Government, but, in our ignorance of the real state of things,
declining to advise the King of the Netherlands.
It is very amusing to see the French Government most _liberally_ permitting
the Bonaparte family to return to France, and most _prudently_ sending
circulars to all the Ministers of the Powers which signed the protocols of
1815, urging them in the name of that treaty not to allow the members of
the Bonaparte family to leave their present residences.
It seems this is very necessary; for although their partisans can do little
without their presence, they might do much with it.
Martignac has got together sixty members of the Chamber of Deputies who
will act _en masse_ for royalty.
There is no military force to keep people in order, and the National Guard
does not like doing so. In fact the Revolution is not over. Things may go
on as they are, but we have as yet no security. The French seem heartily
sick of Algiers. It costs a great deal of money. Tropical products will not
grow there. The climate does not suit the French troops, who have besides a
most extraordinary _maladie de pays._ They must send 15,000 men more there
to maintain it, as now they have no more than the town. They are willing to
give it up to the Sultan if he will renounce tribute, &c.
I never considered the acquisition of importance to France. I always felt
we might vex the French to death by the use of a little money which would
at any time have brought forward all the Arabs from the desert. The port
will only hold a few vessels.
The Emperor of Russia proposes to cut the Greek question short by proposing
the crown at once, without the intervention of France, to Prince Frederick
of Orange, and if he should refuse, then to Prince Charles of Bavaria, who
we know will accept.
I should say from all I have read to-day that if France should make an
aggressive movement all Europe would be united against her as in 1813; but
if she remain quiet within her own frontier no Power will wish to molest
her.
It is satisfactory to observe the increased prudence and reasonableness of
the great States; their general union, and the deference which in the hour
of danger they all show to the opinion of England.
There are some apprehensions, I hear, of riots at Manchester. There is no
cause for them. All men can get work. I would put them down with a strong
hand.
_September 6._
Saw at the office Colonel Monteith.
The King of Persia has about six millions sterling left in his treasury in
gold and silver, besides jewels unsaleable on account of their high price,
but which might be estimated at four millions more.
There will be a civil war on the death of the Shah.
Abbas Mirza might succeed if he had energy, but he is the weakest man on
earth. Probably all the Rajahs will be put down and some new dynasty
established.
The chiefs are not likely to serve the Russians at any time. The Persians
are fine men and make excellent soldiers, bearing heat and cold, but not
wet and damp. Officers there are none.
The Russians lose 10,000 men a year in Georgia and Caucasus, and it costs
them about 500,000£ a year. They have never conquered the country.
The cession lately obtained from Turkey has enabled the Russians to put
down the robbers who lived in Abkasia; [Footnote: The country at the
western end of the Caucasus.] but it is of no value for purposes of
offensive war--of some for defence.
It is cheaper in the proportion of 100 to 220 to send goods to Tabriz by
Trebizond than by the Persian Gulf.
The Imaum of Muscat carries on a large trade in opium between the Red Sea
and China. He carries British manufactures to the Indus, and trades
extensively with Cochin China, where sugar is half the price it is in
India.
The officers of the Crown Prince's army all speak Turkish. It is more
important to have at the head of it a man of energy than one conversant
with Persian.
His rank should be increased, as now he is made to rank below the last
member of the Mission.
The disturbed state of Persia has driven much trade to the Indus which was
carried on by the Euphrates.
Persia may now be considered not as a monarchy, but a Federative State, all
the King's sons being independent Princes.
Colonel Monteith was at Algiers--the only Englishman in the army. There may
have been twenty foreigners in all. He had letters of introduction and got
there in a transport, taking his chance of being sent back. He was with the
intendant of the army, and at the siege was attached to a division.
Bourmont offered to receive him in his family. Bourmont was hated and
despised. He seemed to take very little trouble about the army, and to
leave everything to the generals of division. On the 19th, the day of the
battle, he lost 600 men by not advancing sooner. The moment he advanced the
enemy fled. The loss was 2,200 men in all, yet fifty were never to be seen
dead and wounded together. The loss was by skirmishing at long shots along
the whole of the line. This sometimes lasted all day, and the troops, being
young, were too foolhardy. The Arabs are a miserable race, half naked.
Everything beyond Algiers seems a desert. For eight miles round Algiers the
cultivation is beautiful, and the villas more numerous than near any town
he ever saw. A profusion of water. The town, miserable in the extreme,
inhabited by Moors and the descendants of Turks, about 50,000. The port is
formed by one pier which hardly protects two or three frigates. There is no
safety in the bay.
There were 3,000 Turkish soldiers in Algiers, and about 7,000 in the
country. These kept order. Now they are sent away the French may colonise
extensively, but they cannot keep the country with the present inhabitants.
The Dey had ten millions sterling in gold and silver, a treasure which had
been accumulating since the time of Barbarossa. [Footnote: A famous corsair
of the sixteenth century.] He claimed 400,000£ as his own, and was allowed
to carry it away. The French enquired about the jewels of the Regency. The
Dey said there were no jewels but those which belonged to his wives, and
_la galanterie Française_ would respect them as private property. So they
did.
There was a magazine containing 250,000£ of things in the trinket line.
There were 150 ornamental daggers, all the presents of European princes,
&c. Colonel Monteith saw one officer coolly put into his pocket a watch set
in diamonds, which had evidently been given by a King of England, worth, he
supposed, 2,000£.
General Lavardo pillaged more openly than any one. He had thirty soldiers
employed in carrying off his pillage.
The affair at Belida was accidental. Bourmont went out with 1,600 men and
invited the chiefs to meet him. They were coming peaceably; but some Arabs
saw the French artillerymen taking their horses down to water without their
guns, and they could not help attempting to steal. The artillerymen beat
them off; but the firing having begun was soon converted into a battle.
Bourmont beat them off, but thought it expedient to retreat.
The beach was particularly favourable for landing. The weather fine, and
there was plenty of time to prepare.
The thing best done was by General Valagi, who in eighteen hours raised a
continued work of a mile and a half. He had 1,600 sappers and miners.
Colonel Monteith is in admiration of this entrenchment, which was
beautifully finished, and was capable of resisting 30,000 regular troops.
The Arabs are miserably mounted. The Dey's two best horses were not worth
30l. each.
Duperre he thought a man willing to do all, but quite overpowered by the
management of 100 ships of war and 500 transports. His reports are all
lies. Bourmont's are nearest the truth. The ships, with the exception of
those which were in the Levant, were not in good order. There seemed to be
no discipline.
The army never wanted either water or provisions. Water was within three
feet of the surface everywhere. In the gardens on the side of the hills
towards Algiers the water was found at the depth of twenty feet.
Nothing could be more perfect than the equipment of the army. They
calculated the cost of the expedition at four millions.
I see by the newspapers that the Prince of Orange yielded the point of the
colours to the deputation from Brussels. He seems to have conceded a great
deal, but to have acted with great personal courage and decision. It is
expected that the Commission he appointed have asked for the separation of
Holland from Belgium, and the establishment of a Federal union only; two
countries under one King with distinct legislatures, armies, &c. The great
towns are quiet. Holland ready to march upon Brussels.
I shall not be satisfied unless some of the Bruxellois are hanged for
pillage.
The answers of the King seem to have been firm and judicious.
It is impossible not to admire the constancy of the troops, who bivouacked
for eight days in the park.
The French Government seems too weak or too timid to prevent outrage in
Paris. The printers' devils will have no machinery for printing! It is
entertaining to see those who make all revolutions suffer by them.
_September 7._
Saw Greville at the Treasury. He told me he had got from Lord Chesterfield
that Palmerston had no objection to come in. Lord Melbourne had; but they
required the sacrifice of Aberdeen, Bathurst, and Arbuthnot. There must be
some mistake about this condition. I told Greville if he could get a _fact_
to communicate it to the Duke.
It is feared the Prince of Orange is gone away to the Hague. He promised
Colonel Jones he would be firm.
_September 8._
The Prince of Orange certainly went to the Hague. He was received there
enthusiastically. The proposition he takes is for Federal union. I fear he
must submit to some modification of that, or encounter real opposition and
civil war.
_September 9._
Hardinge gives me rather an indifferent account of Ireland. Great animosity
still existing between the Catholics and Protestants in the _lower_ ranks;
in the higher, peace. A revolutionary disposition raised in the middle
classes by the example of Prance. Great dissatisfaction in consequence of
the proposed taxation of last session.
He told the Duke, and so did Arbuthnot, that he might dispose of their
offices if he wanted them. He seems to think Peel is tired and anxious to
withdraw--annoyed at the idea of being unpopular, an idea the defeat of his
brothers has given him. This makes him less energetic than he should be
with respect to the measures necessary to strengthen himself in the House
of Commons.
_September 10._
It seems the desire of separation is general in the Netherlands. It is the
result of national prejudice and vanity. The Dutch seem just as violent the
other way, and the deputies were rather in danger at Rotterdam. The
separation will probably defeat the objects of the great Powers in 1814,
for it is idle to expect such terms of Federal union as will enable the two
States to act cordially together.
_September 11._
By withdrawing his troops from the palace, and going to the Hague, the
Prince of Orange has ruined his cause. He has appeared to give it up.
_September 13._
Read on my way to London the intelligence obtained by Lord Heytesbury
relative to the Russian trade with Tartary and on the Caspian. It is very
full and satisfactory.
The 'Times' has a sensible article on the state of France; the want of
materials to form a constitutional monarchy, the growing dissatisfaction
that _more_ is not done in a revolutionary sense, and the irresponsible
power of a deliberative army of 800,000 men.
Ghent and Antwerp seem to cling to the connection between Holland and
Belgium, and I begin to hope that if France is tranquil the Bruxellois and
Liègeois may grow tired and become reasonable. Men cannot play at
barricades long when no one attacks them.
_September 14._
House of Lords. I had to wait half an hour for the seals, which were
carelessly carried off by Lady Lyndhurst in her carriage.
Talked to Rosslyn. He told me Aberdeen was led to expect another revolution
in France. The paper they were going to prosecute was an _affiche_ calling
upon the French people to overthrow _l'aristocratie bourgeoise_, which was
as bad as the other, and to divide the lands.
In the Netherlands the people and their leaders are divided, and if Antwerp
and Ghent, &c., remain firm, it signifies little what Brussels does.
Brussels will be brought into terms by distress.
Rosslyn thinks some of the Whigs as well as of the Tories will be alarmed
by events on the Continent and support Government.
He hears of no negotiations for accessions.
The people of Brunswick, very justly provoked, have turned the Duke
[Footnote: This was the eccentric Duke who died a few years ago at Geneva,
bequeathing his whole property to the city, who have erected a monument to
him.] out of the town and burnt his palace. He escaped with ten Hussars. He
deserves his fate. I believe he is mad. He is a complete _vaurien._
When Parliament is prorogued, as to-day, the peers are without their robes.
The Chancellor was in his legal dress. The Commons appear without a summons
by their clerks, and the Chancellor merely desires the proclamation to be
read. However, as it is held, _improperly,_ to be the first day of the
sitting of Parliament, the return of the Scotch peers is laid on the table.
All this is sanctioned by precedent, but contrary to reason.
_September 20, 1830._
Wrote a long letter to Hardinge upon the political consequences of
Huskisson's death, [Footnote: He was killed, as is well known, at the
opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.] urging the introduction
of Palmerston and Stanley. The latter to Vent the junction of the Whig
aristocracy with the Radicals.
I am sure, if measures are not taken immediately, we shall have all the
Huskissonians, Whigs and Ultra-Tories (the last are insane), united against
us.
Received from Sir J. Malcolm a letter with some enclosures about suttees.
He has reluctantly and fearfully abolished suttee, making it culpable
homicide to assist, and murder to force the victim. He has done it, I
think, wisely by a repeal of a clause in one regulation and an amendment.
Thus not putting it vainly forward as Lord William did in a pompous
document.
He has abolished the Military Board, I believe, very wisely; but there may
be a difficulty with the Duke, if I cannot do it without talking to him
about it. I believe Sir J. Malcolm is quite right, and that there would
have been no hope of preserving a system of real economy had the Military
Board been permitted to remain.
I am curious to see his measure of checks on expenditure, that if it be
good it may be adopted at the other Presidencies.
Received some letters from Lord W. Bentinck. Lord Dalhousie has been very
ill, and the command of the army would fall, Lord William says, into the
weakest hands, if anything happened to him.
The spirit of the army was becoming better, I gather from Lord William's
letter, but it required much attention. I have been thinking all day of
what measures may be adopted for improving it.
_September 21._
Office. Read to Cabell my memorandum on the alterations which might be
introduced into the army, which I wrote hurriedly this morning. He was long
in the military department, and can be of much use. Cabinet room. I think
the result of Lord Stuart's dispatches is that the moderate party are
gaining strength. I should say the facts we see in the newspapers lead to a
different conclusion.
The Ministers and the old leading members of the Chamber of Deputies act
manfully against the crowd. Their declarations of intention are
satisfactory. I really believe they mean to act honestly if they can.
Austria seems to have hesitated about the acknowledgment of the King of the
French after the receipt of a dispatch from Petersburg, and Metternich, who
seems to be growing weak, wavered after he had received General Belliard
very cordially.
Prussia, that is _the King,_ hesitated about signing the letter to Louis
Philippe when he heard of the doubts of Austria. The result, however, is
that all _entrainés_ by us will acknowledge; the Emperor of Russia, who was
the most reluctant, having determined to do so if the others did. I should
say there is this satisfactory conclusion to be drawn from what we have
seen, that if France showed a disposition to aggrandise herself all Europe
would be against her.
The object of the French Government is to place France exactly in the
position in which she stood a fortnight before the ordonnances--that is,
Talleyrand's wish, and he has _rédigé_ his own instructions.
Read Aberdeen's letter, dated the 17th, stating the necessity of
maintaining cordial intercourse with and between Spain and Portugal, and
intimating that on the promulgation of an amnesty according to the terms
recently communicated England will resume diplomatic relations with Miguel,
but not otherwise.
Spain seems to be sensible. There was a movement of folly about Royalist
volunteers which was put down, and the Government seems by no means
disposed to give way to Absolutists. If the Queen should have a son Spain
will probably be tranquil.
Talleyrand pretends the French will be reasonable about Algiers. I do not
wish them to be so. I believe they could not have made a worse purchase.
They will find the possession very expensive. Their troops will hate it,
they will have nothing beyond their outposts, and it is no port.
My first opinion is strengthened, that they could not be worse than if they
were left as they are.
_September 24._
The populace and the burghers at Brussels have quarrelled, and fought a
little. It seems the Liberals and the Catholics, [Footnote: They have
formed the two opposing parties in the Belgian Chambers since the country
became an independent State. They had temporarily united against Protestant
Holland.] as the others are called, have been long diverging. The deputies
and men of property, excepting M. de Stassart, have become alarmed. The
Prince de Ligne and D'Aremberg and others have left Brussels. On the 21st,
probably the 20th, in the evening a proclamation was published at Antwerp
by Prince Frederick of Orange, noticing the excesses of the populace, and
announcing that the troops would relieve the burgher guard. This must have
been done in concert with the influential persons of the town who are
alarmed for their property. The Liégeois are very violent. They will be
expelled from Brussels. No more can get there, as the road is interrupted.
The Dutch have but 20,000 men, of whom the Belgians are as three to five.
The Belgians had begun to desert, but they did not join the Bruxellois in
any numbers. The hanging of some of the Brussels mob would have an
excellent effect.
The Government of France seems to become weaker, and to permit things which
discredit it.
A night or two ago some _ouvriers_ insisted on going into the King's
bedroom, after he was gone to sleep, woke him, and made him make a speech
sitting up in his bed. Twelve departments have united against indirect
taxes, and few pay those which are direct. Meanwhile, the Algerine treasure
has been pillaged by the officers of the army, and ships clearing for
Toulon go elsewhere to land it. They want a loan, while the fallen
Government would have had a surplus. They will find the raising of a loan
difficult. The French are displeased by the coldness of Austria and
Prussia, and by the marching of Austrian and Prussian troops.
The King of Saxony has resigned, or rather he has associated his nephew
with himself as Co-Regent; the brother waiving his claim to the throne.
The Landgrave of Hesse Cassel was met by a deputation requiring him to do a
number of public acts, and amongst the rest the dismissal of all
mistresses. It seems the Electoral Prince has one to whom he is going to be
married.
The Duke of Brunswick lately galloped off _lui Troisième_ while his palace
was burning!
These are odd times!
However, here people seem to be inclined to be quiet. Even the Common
Council have by a large majority decided against congratulating or noticing
the French people.
_September 26._
Brandreth told me there was a report of the Belgian troops having entered
Brussels, and of a great massacre. There will be news to-morrow as the wind
is down.
_September 27._
No direct news from Brussels yet. There has been fighting for two days, and
it was known at Antwerp that the first regiment that entered was nearly
destroyed. It seems the invitation of one section was a ruse.
There are to be no Cabinets for eight or ten days, the Civil List not being
prepared. When we do meet we are not to separate.
There seems to be every expectation of a new Ministry in Paris, and in the
revolutionary sense.