Sir R. Peel arrives--The First Council--The King's Address--Lord
Stanley and Sir J. Graham decline to join the Government--Lord
Wharncliffe and Sir E. Knatchbull join--The Ministers sworn
in--Peel's Address to his Constituents--Dinner at the Mansion
House--Offer to Lord Roden--Prospects of the Election--
Stanley's Want of Influence--Pozzo di Borgo's Views--Russia and
England--Nomination of Lord Londonderry to St. Petersburg--
Parliament dissolved--State of the Constituencies--A Governor-General
for India--Sebastiani and St. Aulaire--Anecdote of Princess
Metternich--The City Elections--Lord Lyndhurst's View of the
Government--Violence of the Opposition--Close Contest at Rochester--
Sidney Herbert--Sir John Hobhouse's Views--Anecdotes--County
Elections--The Queen supposed to be with Child--Church Reform--
Dinner of Ministers--Story of La Ronciere--The King's Crotchets.
December 10th, 1834 {p.174}
[Page Head: LORD STANLEY DECLINES TO JOIN SIR R. PEEL.]
Sir Robert arrived yesterday morning at eight o'clock. Great was
the bustle among his clan; there were the Ross's, the Plantas,
and all of them pacing before his door while he was still
closeted with the Duke. Sefton came up to town last night, and
declares that Lord Stanley has announced his intention of
supporting Wood for Lancashire and opposing Francis Egerton,
which, if true, is ominous against a junction with Peel.
December 11th, 1834 {p.175}
A Council yesterday. The King insisted upon giving Peel the seal
of the Exchequer in Council, though it was not necessary. His
object was to make a speech. The Chief Justice, who was trying a
cause at Westminster, kept us waiting, and at last a carriage
was sent to fetch him. Peel made his first appearance full of
spirits and cordiality to the numerous greetings which hailed
him. He told me that he had seen the letter which I had written
to his brother Jonathan, that he agreed to every word of it, and
that he had written to Stanley in exact conformity to what I had
said. This was a letter I had written to Jonathan Peel, giving
him an account of the state of things here, and expressing at
some length my own view of Peel's situation and of what he ought
to do. When Sir Robert got to Paris he gave it to him, and as he
approves of it I am certain that his Government will be liberal
enough; but then the Irish Church! Stanley's answer may come
to-day, but they expect him in town at all events. When Denman
arrived at St. James's he had an audience and gave up the seal.
The Council was assembled, and the King, who had got his speech
all ready, first asking the Duke of Wellington if he should go
on, to which the Duke assented, delivered himself 'in apt and
gracious terms.' It really was (however superfluous) not at all
ill done, recapitulating what everybody knows, declaring that
Sir Robert Peel was now Minister of this country, and thanking
the Duke of Wellington in his own name and in that of the
country for the part he had taken and for the manner in which he
had conducted the public business during the interval; he said
that he should request him to hold the seals of the three
offices for a few days longer. He was not ridiculous to-day.
With regard to Lynn, I have handed George Bentinck over to
William Peel and Granville Somerset, and so washed my hands of
it.
December 13th, 1834 {p.175}
Stanley has declined; I know not in what terms, but it is said
courteous. Now, then, nothing remains but a Tory Government; the
Whigs are triumphant that Stanley will have nothing to do with
it. Lord Grey, who was moderate, has been lashed into fury by
their putting up Liddell for Northumberland. Charles Grey at
Holland House the other night threw them all into dismay by the
language he held--'that if the Duke and Peel followed his
father's steps, and adopted Liberal measures, he should support
them.' Lady Holland was almost in fits, and Allen in convulsions.
December 14th, 1834 {p.175}
Lord Wharncliffe, to his great joy, was sent for by Peel
yesterday, and very civilly invited to join the new Cabinet. He
thought it necessary to enquire if he meant to be liberal, and on
receiving an assurance to that effect he at once consented.
Graham was with Peel, having come up to town on getting his
letter, but he declined joining. Wharncliffe told me that the
correspondence between Peel and Stanley was extremely civil. The
Cabinet is now pretty nearly completed; they all dined together
at Peel's yesterday. I asked Wharncliffe how Sir Edward
Knatchbull was to be converted into a Liberal, and he said, 'Oh,
there will be no difficulty; he is very reasonable.' It would be
(to me) a bitter pill to swallow to take Knatchbull; he is the
man who led that section of High Tories which threw out the
Duke's Government in 1830. The Whigs are sorry that Graham does
not join, for they hate him and want to be rid of him. They are
also discomposed at a letter of Stanley's in reply to an address
to the King from Glasgow that has been forwarded to him to
present, in which his sentiments appear to be alarmingly
Conservative.
Stanley and Graham will support the Government, and it now
appears that the Duke of Wellington is the real obstacle to their
joining. To Peel Stanley has no objection; he has spoken of him
in the highest terms; but after the speech which the Duke made
when Lord Grey went out, in which he attacked him and his
Government with a virulence which gave great disgust at the time,
Stanley feels that he could not with any regard to his own
honour, and compatibly with his respect and attachment for Lord
Grey, form a part of this Government. So there is another evil
resulting from one of those imprudences which the Duke blurts out
without reflection, thinking only of the present time and acting
upon his impulse at the moment. Spring Rice, whom I met
yesterday, said that their great object (in which they hoped to
succeed) was to keep the whole of their party together--their
party in the House of Commons, of course. Whether he included
Stanley in this or not I don't know, but if he did he reckons
probably without his host.
December 15th, 1834 {p.176}
[Page Head: DUKE OF RICHMOND AND SIR E. KNATCHBULL.]
Met the Duke of Richmond yesterday, who came to town for the
cattle show, and had a long talk with him; he said they had
discussed the whole matter (Stanley, Graham, and himself) at
Knowsley, and decided not to join; that the Duke of Wellington's
violent speech against all the members of the late Government
and their policy made it quite impossible, but that they were
determined to support Peel if they possibly could; and he seems
not apprehensive there would be any difficulty; he thinks
Stanley's support out of office will be more valuable than if he
had joined them, and perhaps under the above circumstances (for
I had forgotten the Duke's speech) it may be. Nothing can be
more satisfactory than the state of feeling between them all;
and certainly all those who would have followed Stanley, had he
taken office, may find as strong motives for supporting
Government now as they could have done then. I told Richmond I
thought Knatchbull was so High a Tory that I did not see how
they could make him a Liberal. He said he was not at all
strongly anti-Liberal, and that he had had the option of being a
member of Lord Grey's Government, he having been himself
commissioned to offer him the Secretaryship at War. This,
however, it is very clear, was offered as a reward for the
service he had done in giving the mortal thrust to the Duke, and
as he is an honest man, and wanted at that time the Duke's life
rather than his purse, he was probably satisfied with his
exploit, and never would have done on any terms (what Richmond
and others did) so inconsistent a thing as to join a Reform
Ministry. It is, however, remarkable that this should have
occurred. See what it was. Knatchbull, a High Tory, turns out
the Duke and a Tory Government, and lets in the Whigs; he is
offered office by the Whig Minister to whose triumph he has been
instrumental, refuses it; and afterwards, on the exclusion of
the same Whig Ministry, is offered office by the returning Tory
Government, which he had four years ago destroyed, and takes it.
December 16th, 1834 {p.177}
A great field-day at Court yesterday; all the new Ministers sworn
in, except the Colonial Secretary, who is not yet appointed, and
some subordinate officers. The King addressed each of them on his
kissing hands, and to Scarlett he made a very pretty speech about
the administration of the law. Lord Rosslyn was substituted for
Lord Aberdeen (only in the morning) as President of the Council;
why did not appear, but I had learnt from Hardinge (in a
conversation I had with him) that the arrangements would in some
respects be only temporary, and made with a view to the
subsequent admission of Stanley and his party; the nature of
their communications has been such as to afford a very fair
prospect of that junction. Peel is much elated at having got
Sugden to go to Ireland as Chancellor. Lord de Grey has been
asked to be Lord-Lieutenant. I find Stanley in his letter to Peel
said that the Duke of Wellington's speech was an obstacle to his
joining the Government. These scruples they think unreasonable;
and they allege his own thimblerig speech, which was more violent
against the Whig Government and more insulting than anything the
Duke said; but they should comprehend that this speech forms one
of the ingredients of the difficulty, as it in fact hampers his
political conduct by putting him on uncomfortable personal terms
with his old friends.
December 20th, 1834 {p.178}
Peel's letter to his constituents has appeared as his manifesto
to the country; a very well written and ingenious document, and
well calculated to answer the purpose, if it can be answered at
all. The letter was submitted to the Cabinet at a dinner at
Lyndhurst's on Wednesday last, and they sat till twelve o'clock
upon it, after which it was copied out, a messenger despatched to
the three great newspapers ('Times,' 'Herald,' and 'Post') to
announce its arrival, and at three in the morning it was
inserted. The Whigs affect to hold it very cheap, and to treat it
as an artful but shallow and inefficient production. It is rather
too Liberal for the bigoted Tories, but all the moderate people
are well satisfied with it. Of course it has made a prodigious
sensation, and nobody talks of anything else.
December 24th, 1834 {p.178}
[Page Head: PROSPECTS OF THE MINISTRY.]
Dined yesterday at the Mansion House; never having before seen a
civic feast, I thought this a good opportunity. The Egyptian Hall
is fine enough; the other rooms miserable. A great company, and
all Tories almost. The Lord Mayor boasted of his impartiality,
and how he had invited all parties alike, but none of the Whigs
would go. Peel spoke tolerably, but not so well as I expected;
manly enough and in good tone. In the speeches of the others
there was nothing remarkable. Ward made a violent speech,
attacking Grote and Lushington, though not by name. The loyal
party in the City are making great exertions, and they expect to
bring in three out of the four members, which I doubt, not
because I know anything of the matter, but because they are
generally out in their calculations. In the meantime the vacant
places have been gradually filled up, and generally with Tories
of a bad description--e.g. Roden[1] as Lord Steward, which,
though no political situation, would do harm merely from his name
appearing in the list. It never will be believed that such men as
he--bigoted and obstinate, and virtuous moreover--will consent to
join Peel if he has resolved to act upon principles diametrically
the reverse of those they have ever sustained, and they persist
(the Whigs) in asserting that every fresh appointment of this
kind is a new pledge that he means to govern on Tory principles.
[1] Roden refused on account of his health.--January 4th.
[Page Head: PROSPECTS OF THE ELECTION.]
A few days ago I fell in with Hobhouse, and he walked with me to
my office. He told me that he and his fellow Committee men at
Ellice's, astonished at the confident expectations of the
Carltonians as to the result of a dissolution, went over the list
scrupulously and jealously, and resolved to know the worst; that
after making every allowance they could, and excluding all
doubtful places and all Stanleyites, they found themselves with a
majority of 195 votes, and deducting from that 50 men who might
be Waverers, and on whom it might not be safe to count, they
still found 145, which they saw no possibility of disputing. On
the other hand the Conservatives, without going to actual
numbers, retain their confidence, though I confess I do not think
on any sufficient grounds as far as present appearances go. As
far as I can judge by the slight indications which reach me, the
managers of the late Government are acting with great dexterity,
and I begin to think that Rice's expectation of being able to
hold together the whole of those who are not with the new
Government is not so chimerical as I at first imagined. Although
there is a little feeling for the ex-Ministry and no excitement
in the country, there is a calm which is quite as alarming to the
hopes of one party as it is represented to be expressive with
regard to the power of the other, for unless some enthusiasm can
be created, some loyal motion to disturb the inertia of the mass,
it must be considered as standing much in the same situation as
before, and that certainly is not one favourable to the desires
and pretensions of the Conservative Government. Then within this
day or two there appear indications of a disposition to hold off
on the part of Stanley and Graham, if not to join with their old
friends, which might well alarm any watchful and anxious mind.
Stanley's speech at Glasgow contained not a syllable expressive
of regard for the royal prerogative, or of respect for Peel, or
of a disposition to try the new Government, but extravagant
compliments to Lord Grey, and Whig language generally. I asked
Hardinge last night what he thought of it, and he said it struck
him as 'too Whiggish.' I then told him that I was struck in like
manner, and that I had seen a letter from Graham in the morning,
the tone of which I did not at all like. It was to George
Bentinck about the Lynn election, for which he was to endeavour
to find a man, and failed. He said that Stanley's speech was very
good; blamed the composition of the New Government, which would
not give satisfaction, though it must always be remembered that
Peel had made use of the old materials because he could not
procure new ones; said that people were now beginning to discover
that the Whigs need not be reduced to the alternative of joining
with the Radicals or the Tories, and that when a standard was set
up (Stanley's of course) on Conservatively Liberal principles he
thought plenty would be found to join it. It is, therefore, very
questionable what course Stanley will pursue, even though a party
may range itself under him, which I doubt, and no position can be
much worse than this Government would be in if they were to hold
office at his discretion, and only while he should be pleased to
throw his weight into their scale. As far as one can judge his
weight will be small, for it is very remarkable that while for
some weeks George Bentinck has been endeavouring to find a
Stanleyite candidate for Lynn, who would be brought in without
trouble or expense, though he has ransacked the Bar and applied
to Richmond, Ripon, Graham, and Stanley himself, no such man can
be found. There are Whigs and Tories in abundance, but not one
man who will come into Parliament as a follower of Stanley and
owing his seat to the patronage of the Duke of Richmond.
It is the fashion to consider Peel's speech at the Mansion House
less Liberal in tone and indicative of less confidence than his
letter to Tamworth. I don't perceive much difference. Lord Roden
has refused to be Lord Steward, but the invitation has done the
mischief. Lord Haddington goes to Ireland, after making many
difficulties, but finishing by liking the appointment. Both
parties remain equally confident as to the result of the
elections; the Whigs, as it appears to me, with greater reason,
and as the resolution of the allies (the Whigs and Radicals) is
to throw out the Government as speedily as possible, and without
caring for consequences, I don't see how they ever can stand.
The other night at Holland House, Mulgrave, who is one of the
leading men of the electioneering committee, admitted that he
did not see what was to follow the overthrow of the Government,
but that the difficulty was one of their own creating; others of
them assert that Melbourne or Spencer will return, and another
Whig Government be formed, but they leave out of calculation
that the Radicals with whom they have joined will not suffer
themselves to be brushed off when done with, nor will the Tories
come down to assist them if they endeavour again to make head
against the Radicals. The Tories have shown themselves a
reckless and desperate party, and I see no reason for supposing
that their conduct will belie their character; they overthrow
their friends from revenge, and will hardly save their enemies
from charity; their interest, their real interest, they seem
destined ever to be blind to. There may be a hope that, having
put themselves under the orders of Peel, they will act in a body
as he shall direct them, and if so they may be a powerful and
useful Opposition, and I really believe that he will not turn
his eyes from the true interests of the country, or cease to
regard all those contingencies which may, under dexterous
management, be eventually turned to account. It is, however,
impossible not to feel greatly disquieted at the aspect of
affairs--at the mixture of bad spirit and apathy that prevails,
for I consider the apathy an evil and not a good sign. Those who
express most loudly their alarm and abhorrence of ultra doctrines
make little exertion, personal or pecuniary, to stem their
torrent. There have been some great examples of liberality. I
heard only the other day that the Duke of Buccleuch subscribed
L20,000 for the election of 1831; Lord Harrowby (a poor man) has
given Ll,000 for this. The fact is, it is in politics to a
certain degree as in religion. Men fear in the one case in the
same manner as they believe in the other; they have some doubts
in both cases, but no convictions. Their conduct belies their
assertions, and when compared with that which they observe on
occasions where there is no room for doubt, it will be seen that
their want of energy or decision, their various inconsistencies,
proceed from self-deceit, which is just strong enough to permit
them to try and deceive others with actual falsehood and
hypocrisy.
December 28th, 1834 {p.182}
[Page Head: STATE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.]
My brother Henry came from Paris a day or two ago to take the
place of _precis_ writer in the Foreign Office. Just before he
started old Pozzo gave him a whole string of messages to the Duke
of Wellington, adding that he would give the world for an hour's
conversation with him. These communications were evidently made
upon a supposition that their opinions were generally congenial.
He said that the affairs of Belgium required particular attention;
that the Belgians were grown insolent, and meant, by deferring a
final settlement, to avoid paying their portion of the debt and to
keep the disputed Duchies, and that _unfortunately_ the conduct of
the King of Holland had not been such as to entitle him to
assistance; that in Germany the spirit was good and tranquillity
prevailed; in Spain nothing could be worse, and he told the Duke
to be on his guard against what Alava should say to him, 'qui
n'avait pas le sens commun, mais qui etait devoue au Duc,' and
that he might _endoctriner_ him a little. Henry took a memorandum
of this and gave it to the Duke; but however disposed he may be to
enter into Pozzo's views, he will probably soon be obliged to take
a tone very unpleasant to Russia, for I find that the affairs of
Turkey are in such a state that they are to be brought under the
immediate consideration of the Cabinet. The great object of the
late Government was (and that of this Government must be the same)
to get the Porte out of the clutches of Russia. The Sultan is a
mere slave of the Emperor, but throughout his dominions, and the
Principalities likewise, a bitter feeling of hatred against Russia
prevails. Our policy has been to induce the Sultan to throw off
the yoke--by promises of assistance on one hand, and menaces on
the other of supporting Mehemet Ali against him. Hitherto,
however, the Sultan has never been induced to bestir himself. It
is evident that if this matter is taken up seriously, and with a
resolution to curb the power of Russia in the East, the greatest
diplomatic judgment and firmness will be requisite in our
Ambassador at St. Petersburg; and how under these circumstances
the Duke can send Londonderry, and how Peel can have consented to
his nomination, I am at a loss to conceive. It appears just worse
than what Palmerston did, which was to send nobody at all. In all
this complication of interests in the East, France is ready to act
with us if we will let her, and Austria lies like a great log,
favouring Russia and opposing her inert mass to anything like
_mouvement_, no matter with what object or in what quarter.
* * * * *
1835.
January 1st, 1835 {p.183}
Parliament dissolved at last, and all speculation about the
elections will soon be settled in certainty. It is remarkable
what confidence is expressed by both sides. Three Tories stand
for the City; but Ward told me they rather expected to run their
opponents hard than to come in, but that such an exhibition of
strength would be important, as it will. The Duke of Wellington
is so well aware of the obstacle that he is to Stanley's joining
the Government that he wanted not to belong to it originally, and
he is now meditating his retreat, in order to open the way for
Stanley. It cannot be denied that he has acted very nobly
throughout this business, and upon nothing but a sense of duty,
without regard for himself. Some doubts have occurred to me of
the vast utility of Stanley, and his being so entirely without a
party proves that he is not held in very high estimation, and
though I should be glad to see a better set of names in the
various offices (which are for the most part miserably filled) I
should not altogether like to see the Duke of Wellington retire
out of deference to such men as the four who would succeed him,
and those who would have to retire with him. I heard a ridiculous
anecdote of the King the other day. He wrote to the Duke about
something--no matter what, but I believe some appointment--and
added _a propos de bottes_, 'His Majesty begs to call the
attention of the Duke to the _theoretical_ state of Persia.' The
Duke replied that he was aware of the importance of Persia, but
submitted that it was a matter which did not _press_ for the
moment.
[Page Head: STATE OF THE CONSTITUENCIES.]
Yesterday I dined with Robarts, and after dinner he gave me an
account of the state of his borough (Maidstone), and as it is a
tolerably fair sample probably of the real condition of the
generality of boroughs, and of the principles and disposition of
their constituencies, I will put it down. There are 1,200 voters;
the Dissenters are very numerous and of every imaginable sect and
persuasion. He has been member seventeen years; the place very
corrupt. Formerly (before the Reform Bill), when the constituency
was less numerous, the matter was easily and simply conducted; the
price of votes was as regularly fixed as the price of bread--so much
for a single vote and so much for a plumper, and this he had to pay.
After the Reform Bill he resolved to pay no more money, as
corruption was to cease. The consequence was that during his canvass
none of the people who had formerly voted for him would promise him
their votes. They all sulked and hesitated, and, in short, waited to
see what would be offered them. I asked him what were the new
constituencies. 'If possible worse than the old.' The people are
generally alive to public affairs--look into the votes and speeches
of members, give their opinions--but are universally corrupt. They
have a sour feeling against what are nicknamed abuses, rail against
_sinnicures_, as they call them, and descant upon the enormity of
such things while they are forced to work all day long and their
families have not enough to eat. But the one prevailing object among
the whole community is to make money of their votes, and though he
says there are some exceptions, they are very few indeed. Robarts
too is a Reformer, and supports all Whig and reforming Governments;
but he does so (like many others) from fear. What he most dreads is
collision, and most desires is quiet, and he thinks non-resistance
the best way. There is no reason to believe that other
constituencies materially differ from this; what therefore is the
result? Power has been transferred to a low class of persons; so low
as to be dissatisfied and malignant, high enough to be
half-instructed; so poor that money is an object to them, and
without any principle which should deter them from getting it in any
way they can: they may, on the whole, be considered as disaffected
towards existing institutions, for when they contrast their own life
of labour and privation with the wealth and splendour which they see
around them, there is little difficulty in persuading them that they
are grievously wronged, and that the wrong is in the nature of the
institutions themselves. These general considerations make them
therefore lean towards those who promise better things, and strive
to introduce changes; but as their immediate wants are always
uppermost, their votes are generally at the disposal of the highest
bidder, whatever his politics may be.
January 3rd, 1835 {p.185}
They can find nobody to go to India. Lord Ellenborough (by Peel's
desire) wrote to the Duke and asked his advice, at the same time
suggesting Sir James Graham. The Duke replied that he thought it
better not to have anything to do with that party at present;
that the best man he knew would be Lord Heytesbury, if he would
go, or such a man as Lord Fitzroy Somerset, whom he mentioned,
not because he had been long known to him, and had served under
himself, but because he was a very able man, and the best man of
business he was acquainted with. Kemp refused it; Ellenborough
said that the more he looked into Indian affairs, the more
clearly he saw the urgency of sending a Governor-General. Whether
by this he means to imply that Lord William Bentinck has done
ill, I know not; but he is always said to have done admirably
well. In a letter which the Duke wrote to the King, not long ago,
he told him that it was desirable to make as few changes in the
foreign policy of the Government as possible. Notwithstanding the
confidence of his underlings, and of the crowd of fools and
females who follow the camp, it is clear that the Duke and Peel
are both sensible of the danger of their situation.
January 4th, 1835 {p.186}
There is every prospect of a miserable defeat of the Conservatives
in the City, which will be doubly disastrous, first as to the
election, which is an important one, and secondly because it will
go far to neutralise the effect of the famous address they got up.
This is owing to mismanagement. The Committee has been bad and
negligent; then they did a very foolish thing in ousting Pattison
from Harwich to make room for Bonham; if they had left Pattison
alone (which Harris had, I believe, pledged himself should be
done), Lyall would have come in for the City, and perhaps Ward
too; but when the electioneering affairs are left to William Peel,
Ross, and Granville Somerset, no wonder there is not much
dexterity and finesse displayed. I have published a pamphlet to
help them; but as I never put my name to my pamphlets, of course
nobody reads them.
January 5th, 1835 {p.186}
[Page Head: ST. AULAIRE AND PRINCESS METTERNICH.]
Sebastiani is coming here as Ambassador--that is, unless he
changes his mind and pleads ill-health. The French Government
notified to us his appointment without asking our consent, and
when the Duke stated it to the Cabinet, objections were made; he
accordingly wrote the same day to Bacourt, stating that the
Cabinet thought the appointment objectionable, and that there
would be difficulties in transacting business with him. The
French Government expressed surprise, and rather insist upon
their appointment, and as ours does not think it worth while to
have a dispute about it, he is to come; but we think they have
behaved very ill, for the Duke never proposed the Paris Embassy
to Lord Cowley till he had communicated with France, and
ascertained that the nomination would be agreeable to the King.
It was expected that St. Aulaire or Latour-Maubourg would have
come here. It is of Madame de St. Aulaire that Talleyrand said,
'Elle cherche l'esprit que son mari trouve.' (This anecdote I
suspect not to be true, or not true of Madame de St. Aulaire, who
is a very intelligent, agreeable woman, more lively and with more
_finesse d'esprit_ than her husband.)
St. Aulaire is Ambassador at Vienna, and, however clever, he either
wants presence of mind or is touchy, as the following anecdote
shows. Madame de Metternich is a fine handsome woman, ill brought
up, impertinent, _insouciante_, and _assez bourrue_--_au reste_,
quick and amusing. She went to a ball at St. Aulaire's with a fine
coronet of diamonds on, and when he came to receive her he said,
'Mon dieu, madame, quelle belle couronne vous avez sur la tete!' 'Au
moins,' said she, 'ce n'est par une couronne que j'ai volee.'
Instead of turning it into a joke, he made a serious affair of it,
and went the next day to Metternich with a formal complaint; but
Metternich said, 'Mais mon cher, que voulez-vous? Vous voyez que
j'ai epouse une femme sans education; je ne puis pas l'empecher de
dire de pareilles sottises, mais vous sentez bien que ce serait fort
inconvenant pour moi de m'en meler. Allons! il n'y faut plus
penser,' and so turned it off, and turned him out, by insisting on
making a joke of the affair, as St. Aulaire had better have done at
first.
January 7th, 1835 {p.187}
Just as might have been expected, the Conservative candidates in
the City are defeated by an enormous majority. Pattison, the
Governor of the Bank, the Liberal candidate who came in second on
the poll, having been proposed by Jones Loyd,[2] the richest
banker in the City, and perhaps the richest man in Europe.[3]
Such outward demonstrations as these unquestionably afford a very
plausible answer to the opposite cry, and the victory on the
Radical side is great and important. Ward told me they should at
least run them hard, so that the disappointment must be grievous;
still it is asserted that the greatest part of the wealth of the
City will be found in the columns of the address--but then the
votes are in the other scale. The elections, as far as they have
gone, are rather against the Government, but not showing any
material difference in numbers--sufficient, however, to prove
that, in point of fact, Peel's declarations have produced little
or no effect, and that the various considerations that have been
urged on the country and the appeals to its reason have been all
alike thrown away.
[2] [Mr. Jones Loyd, afterwards created Lord Overstone.]
[3] [The four City members were: Matthew Wood, James
Pattison, William Crawford, and George Grote.]
I saw a letter which Barnes wrote to Henry de Ros yesterday, in
which he speaks with horror and alarm of the prevailing spirit.
He says the people are deaf with passion, and in the abrupt
dissolution of the late Government and the bad composition of
this they _will_ see a conspiracy against their liberties, and
mad and preposterous as the idea is, there is no eradicating it
from their brains. I am afraid this is too true, and though no
alarmist generally, and rather sluggish of fear, I do begin to
tremble; and while I cast my eyes about in all directions to see
what resource is in store for us, I can find none that is
anything like satisfactory; the violence of party-spirit seems to
blind everybody concerned in politics to all contingent
possibilities, and every feeling of decency and propriety is
forgotten.
Last night I was at Lady Holland's; there were Lord and Lady
Holland, Mulgrave, Seaford, Allen and Burdett. I asked them if
they had read Whittle Harvey's speech at Southwark, which was a
tissue of the grossest and most outrageous abuse and ridicule of
the King and Queen. They said 'No,' so I read to them some of the
most offensive passages. Not the slightest disgust did they
express. Holland merely said to one allegation, '_That_ is not
true,' and Mulgrave laughed, and said, 'Whittle is an _eccentric_
politician.'
January 8th, 1835
[Page Head: VIOLENCE OF PARTY SPIRIT.]
On the whole the returns yesterday presented a gain to Government
of about 10 votes, many elections turning out contrary to
expectation both ways, and some very severe contests. The City
was a great defeat: the lowest Whig beat the highest Tory by
above 1,400. It is remarkable that many who signed the address to
the King voted for the Radical candidates.
At dinner yesterday at Lord Chesterfield's I met the Chancellor,
whom I have not seen for some time. After dinner we talked about
the state of affairs. 'Well,' he said, 'will it do? what do you
think?' I said, 'I don't know what to think, but on the whole I am
disposed to think it will _not_ do. I don't see how you are to get
on.' 'What do you think of Peel?' said he; 'is he a fit man for
the purpose?' 'He is a very able man, and prudent.' 'Aye, but is
he enough of a man of the world? does he know enough of what is
going on in the world?' To which I said, 'You have just hit upon
the point that I have been lamenting. He has not lived in the
world, and he has not about him those who do, and who can give him
that particular sort of information and advice of which he stands
in need; and I think he has, in great measure owing to this,
committed a great blunder in forming such a Government as he has
done; he has not been able to throw off the old prejudices of
keeping to his party, and thought it necessary to depend upon
them, when he ought to have seen that the case was one out of
ordinary rules, that the support of the Tories alone could not
maintain him, and that, if they would not give it him for their
own interest, and in furtherance of their own principles, without
insisting upon being in office, though he might not be able to get
on without it, he would still less be able to get on with their
support alone. In his place I should have told them I could not
take them in, that if they would confide in me, and let me help
the country out of its difficulties in my own way, I would do the
best I could for it and for them.' Lyndhurst said that 'he was not
much consulted;' that if he had had the formation of the
Government he should have gone to work very differently; that he
would have had a small Cabinet, eight or ten at most, composed of
new men, leaving out Aberdeen, Goulburn, Herries, and the rest of
that description, employing them if possible abroad, or if not,
telling them that it was necessary to lay them on the shelf for a
time, and that he would do what he could for them at a future
period; that Ellenborough had told Peel he had much better not
take him into the Government; that he was aware he was not
popular, and though he might be of some use with regard to details
of business, his support out of office would (he thought), on the
whole, be more serviceable than his being in the Cabinet. Peel
said that his willingness to sacrifice himself only made it more
incumbent on him not to permit him to do so, and insisted upon
having him. Lyndhurst said he had hoped that Sandon would have
been taken, and he had suggested Lord Carnarvon, to which Peel
replied that he was still so young that he thought he might be
passed over for the present I said, 'Why it is the present for
which it is necessary to provide, and it is _now_ that he might
have been made available.' (Carnarvon would not join on account of
ill-health.) We then talked over what sort of a Cabinet might have
been got together, of new names, moderate men, few in number. He
admitted that a great mistake had been committed, and that, as it
was irreparable, so it would very probably be fatal. He praised
the Duke of Wellington. I said I would not have taken him in, or
have got him to go to Ireland, for he was ready to do anything to
advance the cause. He liked this idea very much. I reminded him
that the first day we had talked over the matter he had admitted
that it would never do to bolster up the old concern again, and
that Hardinge had told me the Tories were all ready to make any
sacrifices or postpone their claims, so that such a course as we
suggested need not have been difficult. I told him of Barnes's
letter, and of his fears, and what he said of the effect produced
by the composition of the Government. He said the 'Times' had
behaved admirably to them, and the Government were under great
obligations to me for what I had done in that matter. I told him I
was glad to hear they were on such good terms, as having been
instrumental to the connection, which I had no doubt had entailed
an immediate loss on the proprietors of the paper.
He asked me if I thought the Opposition meant to refuse the
Supplies. I said I had no doubt they did. 'Then we must go.' But
he still expects they will have 300 votes in the House of
Commons, and with that he calculates that they may struggle on
with one-half of the House of Commons, the House of Lords, the
King, and a large proportion of the wealth and respectability of
the country. It would be difficult, but he thought they might get
on; but that the fact was, there was _no going on_ after the
transfer of power to another class, which the Reform Bill had
effected. I said there was no doubt of that, and that the Reform
Bill had produced virtually a complete revolution in this
country. 'Aye,' said he, 'much more than that of '88.'
January 9th, 1835 {p.191}
[Page Head: THE MOVEMENT AT HOLLAND HOUSE.]
Dined at Holland House; they are satisfied with the elections.
Mulgrave said that, out of the present return, they had to add
thirty to their list and to deduct thirteen of their original
calculations, giving them seventeen more than they expected. There
is a small gain to the Tories, but nothing like enough. It cannot
do; all the moderate Whigs (for it is not a question of Tories)
are beaten in the metropolitan districts. Spankie's admirable
addresses have ensured his defeat. Duncombe, immediately after an
exposure of the most disgraceful kind, will be returned by a
majority doubling that of any of the other candidates; and it is
not a little remarkable that Duncombe is supported by all the
Dissenters, even the Quakers, with whom austerity of morals and a
decent behaviour are supposed to have weight--but the rabid spirit
of disaffection to government and rule bears down every other
consideration, and these 'enlightened electors' (as their
flatterers always call them) are frantic with passion against
everything belonging to what they call 'the aristocracy' of the
country. But who can wonder at these people, when we see the great
Whig Lords smiling complacently at their brutal violence and
senseless rage? At Holland House they talk in the same strain; not
that they utter any indecent language, but they are passionate for
the success of the movement. One single object have they--to eject
Peel and the Tory Government; they own they don't know what is to
follow; they do not deny that the movement must be accelerated,
but they don't care; they say the Duke is responsible, for he
ought not to have accepted the King's commission, and then
Melbourne must have been sent for again the next day. Now _they_
must take the consequences--that is, the King and the Tories. They
said last night that by the old Government the movement might have
been checked; by any that can be formed on the downfall of the new
it cannot--or at least that it must go farther than it would have
done. I asked, 'Then is there anything you think worse than
advancing the movement?' 'Yes,' cried out Lord Holland, 'making
the movement stand still.' 'And do you mean that you believe there
is any danger of that, and that the movement (the progress of
improvement) ever can stand still?' 'Yes, I do believe it,' &c....
Such a miserable apology for their insane violence puts argument
and reasoning out of the question; they are resolved to fight for
power, 'to let slip the dogs of war,' ignorant whither they will
go, and careless what shall be their prey.
January 10th, 1835 {p.192}
Nothing is more remarkable in these elections than the confidence
of both parties in the result, and the difference of their
statements as to actual numbers, Bonham, who is now, _faute de
mieux_, the man-of-all-work of the Tories, told me last night
that they had an actual majority on the returns of about twenty,
whereas I went through the list, and after detecting some errors,
made out that there is a majority of about thirty the other way.
The Whig language is still the same always, and everywhere--that
they do not see what is to happen when this Government is out;
that no daylight appears, but still that out it shall go. They
own that they must (if they return to power) do a great deal more
than they would otherwise have done, but that while they obey
that necessity, they make it easy to their consciences, because
it is the other party which has imposed it upon them.
[Page Head: CONTEST AT ROCHESTER.]
January 11th, 1835 {p.193}
The Government people still declare their satisfaction at the
result of the elections, and make out that the numbers are
tolerably even. The contests are curious from their closeness.
Charles Wellesley lost at Rochester by one, Lushington by four.
There is a great number of similar cases; in that of Rochester it
is more remarkable from the accident by which the election was
lost. There were two ships in quarantine, one of which had one
voter on board and the other two; they had both sailed the same
day from the port they left, but one had been longer on the
voyage. The ship with one voter had a right to be released on the
9th, the last day of the election, the other not till three days
later. As the circumstances were the same. Sir J. Marshall, the
Superintendent, suggested that both might be released together,
but I did not dare relax the severity of the restriction.[4]
Rosslyn was rather for doing it, but I persuaded him it would be
dangerous, as, if the election should turn upon it, we should
never hear the last of it, especially the Duke, to whose charge
it would be laid; and the election _actually turned on those two
votes_. The best chance that I see is, that when the hour of
struggle arrives there may be more moderate men than the Whig
leaders are aware of--more who, without supporting, still less
joining, the new Government, will abstain from taking a violent
part against them. This is my only hope, for as to a majority, I
have not the slightest expectation of any such thing, and am at a
loss to conceive on what they count.
[4] [The administration of the Quarantine Regulations is
vested in the Privy Council, and exercised by the Clerk
of the Council]
January 12th, 1835 {p.193}
Up to the latest returns the Tories make out that they have a
majority, or at least an equality; the Whigs, that they have a
majority of about seventy. The latter calculation is nearer to the
truth, and it only remains to be seen how many of their people
will refuse to support extreme measures. Last night at Holland
House Mulgrave was perfectly furious with Charles Fox for saying
he would not oppose Manners Sutton being put in the chair. It has
been asserted all along by some of the opposite party that Peel's
measures have been influenced (especially in the composition of
his Government) by a desire to keep the Tories together, and
prepare a strong Opposition. I suspect there is some truth in
this, for I can account in no other way for the strange
appointments he makes, and the undiluted Toryism of his
Government. He goes on the old aristocratic principle of taking
high birth and connection as substitutes for other qualifications,
and he never seems to consider the former avowed sentiments of any
man in weighing his fitness for office. He has just made Sydney
Herbert Secretary to the Board of Control, an office of great
labour and involving considerable business in the House of
Commons.[5] He is about twenty-two or twenty three years old,
unpractised in business, and never spoke but once in the House of
Commons, when he made one of those pretty first speeches which
prove little or nothing, and that was in opposition to the
Dissenters. He may be very fit for this place, but it remains to
be proved, and I am surprised he did not make him begin with a
Lordship of the Treasury or some such thing, and put Gladstone,
who is a very clever man, in that post. Praed is First Secretary
to the Board of Control, and will do the business.
[5] [The injustice of this remark has since become very
obvious, for no man was better qualified to enter upon
official life, or to run a great career in it, than
Sydney Herbert. It must also be said of Sir Robert Peel
that he was ever on the watch for the young and rising
statesmen who, he said, were hereafter to govern the
country; and a very large proportion of the men who
have since played a most conspicuous and useful part
were introduced by Sir Robert Peel to public life--Sydney
Herbert, the Duke of Newcastle, Mr. Gladstone, Lord
Cardwell, and others.]
I very much incline to believe that, although Peel says he is
satisfied with the returns, he does not expect the thing will
last, and that upon this conviction he is determined to secure a
retreat with such a force as shall make him formidable hereafter.
Such as the appointments are at home, so are they abroad:
Londonderry to St. Petersburg, Stuart to Vienna, and in all
probability Strangford to Constantinople--the three men who are
considered the great upholders of the Anti-Liberal system.
(Stuart told everybody he had the offer, but it was not true.)
The Duke of Leuchtenberg arrived last night. The picture of the
young Queen of Portugal (which is probably flattered) does not
make her very tempting.
January 15th, 1835 {p.195}
[Page Head: SIR JOHN HOBHOUSE'S VIEW OF AFFAIRS.]
The day before yesterday I fell in with Hobhouse, and we walked
together for some time. He said he could not understand what the
Government people meant by claiming a majority, as he heard they
did; that on the Borough returns the Opposition had a majority of
100 more or less, but that the difference could only be accounted
for by one party including all those who call themselves Whigs,
and who supported the late Government, and by the other party
counting those who, though not supporters, would be disposed to
give them a trial. He wondered at and blamed the constitution of
the Government, ridiculed the idea of Stanley succeeding Peel,
acknowledged that he saw no possibility of any other Government
being formed on the dissolution of this, and had no conception
what would happen--that another dissolution would be indispensable.
I said that I did not see any more than he did what they were to
do when they had got Peel out; that their junction with the
Radicals must end there, unless (which I could not believe) they
meant to come into office on the principle of supporting and
carrying all the measures they had opposed last year. He said, 'I
for one will go no farther than I did then; no, that is out of the
question.' He said the restoration of Melbourne's Government was
impossible after what had passed; they could not look the King in
the face again, nor he them, after such a clear intimation on his
part that he disliked them, and dreaded their principles. Soon
after, however, he said that any other Government must be formed
on a more popular principle, and especially must make the
_arrangement_ of the House of Lords a condition, for it was
impossible to go on as things were, between the two houses; that
it might have been discovered when the Reform Bill was proposed
that this would be the inevitable consequence of passing that
measure, but that all this he did not expect to be accomplished
without a violent collision, which would very likely lead to a
republic; that he should be sorry for the disturbance, but was
prepared for it, and if a sacrifice was to be made, he could not
hesitate in choosing the object of it.
Yesterday morning I met Duncannon, and talked it all over. I asked
him if he saw any chance of forming a Government, and if he
figured to himself what the King would do. 'Yes,' he said, 'he
will send for Stanley.' 'What next?' 'He may send for Lord Grey.'
'Will Lord Grey propose such measures as you think indispensable?'
'If he will not return, or won't go the length, he may send for
Melbourne again; but it is clear he--the King--must be prepared
for a more Radical Government.' I said, 'I don't think he will
ever consent to take such a one, or to agree to the measures they
will propose to him.' 'Oh, but he must, he can't help himself.'
'Well, but my belief is that, happen what may, he will not.' 'Why,
you don't think he will abdicate?' 'Yes, I do, rather than agree
to certain things.' 'Well, but then he must abdicate.' Such is the
language of the leaders of the other party, and so calmly do they
contemplate the possibility of such a consummation. The point on
which all this turns is evidently the destruction of the House of
Lords. The Whigs find it necessary to finish the work they began,
and to destroy the last bulwark of Conservative power. Stanley's
speech at his election, which was very able and eloquent, has
evidently disappointed them. They had cherished a hope that he
would unite with them at last, which they now find he will not do.
There has been a great debate in their camp whether they shall
attack the Speaker or not, but it seems fixed that they shall, and
probably they will be beaten. I am glad they do this.
Theodore Hook, whom I met at dinner the other day, and who is an
_ame damnee_ of the Speaker's, said that he was ready to give up
the chair if it was thought imprudent to fight for it; he also
said (which I don't believe) that the Home Office had been
offered him, and that he had declined it because he could not
quit the chair without a peerage, and that he should be of more
use in it than in the House of Lords.
Theodore Hook _improvised_ in a wonderful way that evening; he
sang a song, the burthen of which was 'Good Night,' inimitably
good, and which might have been written down. I heard two good
things at dinner yesterday, one of Spankie's. In his canvass he
met with a refusal from some tradesman, who told him he should
vote for Duncombe and Wakley. Spankie said, 'Well, my friend, I
am sorry you won't vote for me, and I can only say that I hope
you may have Tom Duncombe for your customer, and Wakley for your
tenant.'[6] The other is attributed to Alvanley. Some reformer
was clamouring for the expulsion of the Bishops from the House of
Lords, but said he would not have them all go; he would leave
two: 'To keep up the breed, I suppose,' said the other.
[6] [The one was celebrated for non-payment of his bills,
and the other was suspected of setting fire to his
house. Wakley's house was burnt, and he brought an
action against the Insurance Office, which declined to
pay his policy. I forget what was the result of the
trial, but that of the evidence was a conviction of his
own instrumentality.]
January 17th, 1835 {p.197}
[Page Head: THE COUNTY ELECTIONS.]
The Middlesex election terminated in the return of Hume by about
400 votes--Wood got a majority of about 250 at first, but could
not sustain it. It would have been a capital thing to turn out
Hume, but I never expected it.
January 20th, 1835 {p.197}
Sir George Murray is beaten at Perth; James Wortley at Forfar--blows
to the Government. On the other hand, Palmerston is beaten in Hants,
at which everybody rejoices, for he is marvellously unpopular; they
would have liked to illuminate the Foreign Office. Lord Harrowby
called on me yesterday; he told me my pamphlet had been attributed
to Croker in some company where he had been. Jonathan Peel told me
yesterday morning that Lady Alice Kennedy had sent word to his wife
that the Queen is with child; if it be true, and a queer thing if it
is, it will hardly come to anything at her age, and with her health;
but what a difference it would make!
January 23rd, 1834 {p.197}
Within the last few days the county elections have given a
considerable turn to the state of affairs. The Conservatives have
been everywhere triumphant. Norfolk, Derbyshire, Hants,
Lancashire--two Whigs turned out and two Conservatives returned;
Ingilby in Lincolnshire; one in Surrey, one in Kent: and if these
affairs had not been infamously managed, they would have returned
two in Surrey, two in Kent, and (if they had put up a better man)
one in the other division of Norfolk. The great and most
important victory, however, is Francis Egerton in Lancashire, who
is nearly 1,000 above his opponents, and has been received with
astonishing enthusiasm, and was the popular candidate, even at
Manchester and with the mob. These elections have damped the
spirits of the Radicals, and proportionally raised those of the
Government. The 'Morning Chronicle' was yesterday quite silent on
the subject, and at Holland House, where I dined, they were
evidently in no small disgust. I told Lord Holland that I
considered the Lancashire election as the most important event
that had occurred, and one calculated to have a great moral
effect in favour of the Government, which he owned was true, and
they did not deny that the Government had cause for elation.
In the morning we had a meeting at the Council Office to consider
of the removal of assizes, when Lyndhurst in his off-hand way said
to me, 'Well, I think we are safe now; I have no fears.' 'Haven't
you,' I said, 'but I have.' 'Oh no, we are on a rock--adamant.' I
don't think they are yet in a condition to begin triumphing, but
I certainly see daylight, which I did not before. Nobody can
possibly deny that there is a great reaction in the country; and
though the weight of the towns, and the power of the ten-pounders
thrown into the other scale, make it preponderate, there is a
strong counteracting force which will enable the better cause to
maintain a respectable fight. I expect that Francis Egerton's
election will produce indirectly very important consequences, and
will be the means of proving to moderate, doubting, timorous
politicians that they need not shrink from avowing whatever
Conservative sentiments they really do entertain. Much remains to
be done, many difficulties to be surmounted, before anything like
security can be felt, but undoubtedly the political horizon looks
much brighter than it did.
January 25th, 1835 {p.199}
A ridiculous thing happened the other day. The Speaker came to
the Council Office in a great stew about the attacks on him, and
wanted to look at the register of the names of those who had
attended at the different Councils. Though I think he is a
_pauvre sire_, he has a very tolerable case here, and I wrote a
letter to the 'Times' in his defence, and signed it 'Onslow,'
happening to think of Speaker Onslow. The next day appeared a
letter from _Lord Onslow_, declaring that he was not the author
of a letter which had appeared in his name. The 'Times' published
it, adding they thought he could hardly be serious. Munster told
me the day before yesterday that he was told of the Queen's being
with child on the day of the Lord Mayor's dinner; that she is now
between two and three months gone. Of course there will be plenty
of scandal. Alvanley proposes that the psalm 'Lord, _how_
wonderful are thy works' should be sung. It so happens, however,
that Howe has not been with the Court for a considerable time.
January 27th, 1835 {p.199}
[Page Head: CHURCH REFORM BILL.]
There is a Committee sitting at my office to arrange the Church
Bill--Rosslyn, Wharncliffe, Ellenborough, and Herries. It is
generally believed they mean to bring forward some very extensive
measures. Allen says, 'The honest Whigs cannot oppose it with
honour, nor the Tories support it without infamy,' that all the
honest Whigs would support it, the honest Tories oppose it, the
dishonest Tories would support, and the dishonest Whigs oppose it.
He told me an anecdote at the same time which shows what the
supineness and sense of security of the Church were twenty years
ago. An architect built a chapel on Lord Holland's land, near
Holland House, and wished it to be appropriated to the service of
the Church of England, and served by a curate. The rector objected
and refused his consent. There was no remedy against him, and all
that could be done was to make it a Methodist meeting-house, or a
Roman Catholic chapel, either of which by taking out a licence,
the builder could do. However, he got Lord Holland to speak to the
Archbishop of Canterbury (Sutton), to tell him the difficulty, and
request his interference with the rector to suffer this chapel to
be opened to an Orthodox congregation. After some delay the
Archbishop told Holland that he had better advise his friend to
take out a licence, and make it a Catholic or Dissenting chapel,
as he thought best. The builder could not afford to lose the
capital he had expended, and acted upon the advice of the Primate.
The chapel is a meeting-house to this day. I shall be very glad if
this reform of the Church is well done and gives satisfaction, and
I do not know that any of the present Ministers are pledged
against a measure which improves the discipline without
diminishing the revenues of the Church, but certainly reforms, and
especially ecclesiastical reforms, do come with a bad grace from
them. It is ludicrous to see the 'Standard' writing Church reform
articles; and the other day I looked back at Knatchbull's speech
at the Kentish meeting, a week after the dissolution of the late
Government, in which he expressed an earnest hope that he might
leave this country 'without _any change_ in _Church_ or _State_.'
He has been Anti-everything during his whole life, and now he is
come into office to carry into effect 'safe and necessary
reforms,' which he never could perceive the slightest occasion for
while he was out. All these things are disgusting; they disgust
one with political life, they lower the characters of public men.
One strains one's eyes in vain to catch a sight of sincerity,
straightforwardness, disinterestedness, consistency; each party we
have constantly acting with a view to its own interests _as a
party_, and always disregarding consequences with miserable
shortsightedness.
February 2nd, 1835 {p.201}
[Page Head: INSECURITY OF THE TORIES.]
The elections are over, and still each side claims a majority. It
will turn out probably that the Government have about 270 thick
and thin men. Since the Lancashire election, the Whigs have
certainly not been so elated, though they still expect to
succeed. They begin with the Speakership, and put up Abercromby,
who is probably the best candidate they could select; he is a
dull, grave man, sensible and hard-headed I fancy, but it has
always been matter of astonishment to me that they should make so
much of him as they do. The Duke of Wellington is constantly
regretting that he did not abstain from taking office, as he
wished to do, and I hear that Peel now thinks it would have been
better: but he thinks so because he fancies that Stanley would
have joined if the Duke had not been there, which is after all
very doubtful. Stanley has preserved the strictest neutrality
through the late contest, and been very guarded and cautious in
his language--so much so, that the Whigs think he will vote for
Abercromby against Manners Sutton, which I don't believe. The
Church Reform is in active preparation; I know nothing of its
details.
Pozzo di Borgo is coming here, and the Emperor sends him partly to
save time and, Madame de Lieven writes me word, 'to prove his
goodwill, by sending his ablest and most confidential diplomatist.'
Old Talleyrand would very likely have been glad enough to come
back too (while the Duke is in office), but he is gone to
Richecote. A great mystery is still made about the Queen's
_grossesse_; the medical men believe it, though they think it no
certainty.
February 8th, 1834 {p.201}
On Monday last we had the Sheriffs' dinner at Lord Rosslyn's,[7]
where I met for the first time all the new men. Murray did not
come, for since his defeat in Perthshire he no longer considers
himself of the Cabinet. Before dinner Peel told me he had offered
the vacant Lordship of the Treasury to Charles Canning,[8] in a
letter to Lady Canning, saying it would give him great pleasure
to introduce her son into public life, and that he should be glad
to treat him with confidence, and do all that lay in him to
promote his success. Lady Canning wrote a very gracious answer,
saying that she preferred his being in Parliament some time
before he took office, but neither he nor she was indisposed to
support him and his Government. At this dinner the Duke talked to
me about Spain, and said that the affair at the Post Office at
Madrid, in which Canterac was killed, was the most lamentable
thing that had happened, and the most discreditable to the
Government; that if the Carlists did not rise upon it all over
Spain, it was clear there were none; that it was a most
extraordinary war, in which the Carlists had the superiority in
the field, but possessed no fortified and even no open town; and
that, notwithstanding all the plunder and devastation incidental
to such a state of things, all the farmers in the disturbed
provinces regularly paid their rents.
[7] [The Lord President's annual dinner to the Cabinet, at
which the Sheriffs for the ensuing year are selected,
to be appointed by the King at the next Council.]
[8] [Afterwards Viscount Canning and Governor-General of
India in 1856.]
Sandon is to move the address in the House of Commons, Lord
Carnarvon refused to move it in the House of Lords. I think the
Church Reform Commission, which was gazetted a few days ago, has
done good, especially as it is backed up by Peel's refusing to
fill up the vacant Prebendary of Westminster, and placing it at
the disposal of the Commissioners.
I went to Oatlands on Wednesday for two nights, and met the
Duchess, Countess, the Granvilles, and Pahlen. It was agreeable
enough. Lord Granville told us a curious story of an atrocity
very recently committed in France. The governor of a military
academy had objected to one of the officers, a professor,
bringing a woman who lived with him into the establishment. The
man persisted, and he finally ordered her to be ejected.
Resolving to be revenged, the officer took these means; he bribed
a servant of the governor's, who let him into the house at night;
when he got into the bedroom of his daughter, ravished her, and
then wounded her severely with some sharp instrument, but not
mortally. The girl is still alive, but in a state of frenzy; the
case is coming before the French tribunals. [This was the famous
case of La Ronciere, very inaccurately stated above. There is now
little doubt that La Ronciere was innocent, and that the story
was got up by the girl to revenge herself on him for some
slight.]
[Page Head: THE KING'S WHIMS.]
My brothers tell me that the Duke is bored to death with the
King, who thinks it necessary to be giving advice and opinions
upon different matters, always to the last degree ridiculous and
absurd. He is just now mightily indignant at Lord Napier's affair
at Canton, and wants to go to war with China. He writes in this
strain to the Duke, who is obliged to write long answers, very
respectfully telling him what an old fool he is. Another crotchet
of his is to buy the Island of St. Bartholomew (which belongs to
Denmark, and which the Danes want to sell) for fear the Russians
should buy it, as he is very jealous of Russia. The Duke told him
that it would cost L70,000 or L80,000, for which they must go to
Parliament; and he did not think any House of Commons we were
likely to have would vote such a sum for such a purpose. Then he
does not at all like Pozzo di Borgo's coming here, and wrote to
say that since he was to come, it was well that he would have the
vigilant eye of the Duke to watch him, for he never could look
upon him in any other light than as the servile tool of advancing
the ambitious objects of an aggrandising and unprincipled Power,
or words to that effect. He thinks his present Ministers do not
treat him well, inasmuch as they do not tell him enough. The
last, it seems, constantly fed him with scraps of information
which he twaddled over, and probably talked nonsense about; but
it is difficult to imagine anything more irksome for a Government
beset with difficulties like this than to have to discuss the
various details of their measures with a silly bustling old
fellow, who can by no possibility comprehend the scope and
bearing of anything.