Results of the Elections--Defeat of Cobden and Bright--The War with
China--Death of Lady Ashburton--Lord Palmerston's Success--The Handel
Concerts--M. Fould in London--The Queen and Lord Palmerston--The
Indian Mutiny--The Prince Consort--Death of General Anson--The State
of India--Royal Guests--The Government of India--Temper of the House
of Commons--Debates on India--Royal Visits--The Divorce Bill--The
Divorce Bill in the House of Lords--Close of the Session--A Dukedom
offered to Lord Lansdowne--Death of Mr. Croker--History of the Life
Peerages--The Indian Mutiny and the Russian War--The Struggle in
India--Reinforcements for India--The Queen's Attention to Public
Business--Attacks on Lord Canning--Big Ships and Big Bells--Lord
Canning defended--Courteous Behaviour of Foreign Nations--The Capture
of Delhi and Lucknow--Difficulties in India--Depression in the
City--Speculations on the Contingency of a Change of Government--The
East India Company and the Government--Exaggerated Reports from
India--A Queen's Speech--The Bank Charter Act.
_April 4th, 1857._--The elections are drawing to a close. It is strange
that what ought to be a matter of fact is made matter of opinion, for
while the Whigs of Brooks's and the Liberals generally claim an immense
gain, the Conservatives and the Carlton Club and their organs only
admit an inconsiderable loss. There can be no doubt, however, that
a great many Conservatives have lost their seats, and a great many
Radicals and Palmerstonians have been elected. At Brooks's they insist
that it will be a very good Parliament, and they are throwing their
caps up at the Government successes; but it seems to me that they are
reckoning somewhat rashly, and counting as gains to the Government
many men who will be found more troublesome and unmanageable than the
moderate men over whose defeats they are exulting. But as to gains
and losses, and all calculations, I agree with the late Speaker,
Lord Eversley, who said to me the other day that nothing could be so
fallacious as all such calculations, and that it is impossible to know
the result till Parliament meets, and it is seen how the new members
group themselves. The most striking and remarkable feature of this
election is the complete rout of the Peelites and of the Manchester
men, the Old Leaguers. For a long time past it has been absurd to talk
of the Peelites as a Party. There were not a dozen men in the House
of Commons who could by any possibility be so designated, and in fact
only a few formerly members of Sir Robert Peel's Government or of
Lord Aberdeen's, who still kept together, and were called Peelites,
because they would not be either Whigs or Tories or Radicals. Now the
designation must fall to the ground. Half these men have lost their
seats; of the rest, some repudiate the association and announce their
independence; some join, or are ready to join, Derby and the Tories;
others openly declare their adhesion to Palmerston; and thus in one way
or another there are no _Peelites_ left.
[Sidenote: DEFEAT OF COBDEN AND BRIGHT.]
The fate of Bright, Cobden, and Co. exhibits a curious example of the
fleeting and worthless nature of popular favour. They who were once
the idols of millions, and not without cause, have not only lost all
their popularity, but are objects of execration, and can nowhere find
a parliamentary resting place. No constituency will hear of them. The
great towns of Lancashire prefer any mediocrities to Bright and Cobden.
It seems that they had already ceased to be popular, when they made
themselves enormously unpopular, and excited great resentment, by their
opposition to the Russian War, the rage for which was not less intense
in Manchester and all the manufacturing district than in the rest of
the kingdom. This great crime, as it appeared in the eyes of their
constituents, was never pardoned, and their punishment was probably
determined while the war was still going on. As the favour of Cobden
fell, so that of Palmerston rose, and his visit to Manchester a few
months ago raised the favour to a pitch of enthusiasm. When Cobden
therefore originated the China motion, he no doubt gave great offence,
and he sealed his own condemnation. Bright has been long abroad, and
has done nothing lately that any one could take umbrage at, but his
opposition to the war has not been forgotten or forgiven, and when
Cobden appeared at Manchester as his representative, and made a very
able speech in his behalf, it is highly probable that his advocacy was
in itself fatal to his re-election. It seems quite clear that another
man, Sir Elkanah Armytage, lost his election at Salford solely because
he was strongly supported and recommended by Cobden.
_May 1st._--Parliament met yesterday, the last (Irish) election
having ended only a few days before. Denison's election as Speaker
went off very quietly. The prevailing opinion now seems to be that
this will prove a good Parliament, on the whole safe and moderate,
and an improvement on the last. All the news we get from China, or
in reference to Chinese affairs, only proves the more strongly how
foolish and mischievous the conduct of Bowring was, and what a sound
and correct judgement the vote of the House of Commons expressed upon
it. It is impossible to conjecture what the result of the war now
began will be, but is quite certain that we shall have to wade to our
ends through all sorts of horrors and atrocities, which it does not
become us to inflict, though the Chinese are a savage, stupid, and
uninteresting people, who in some degree deserve the sufferings that
will be inflicted on them, though perhaps not at our hands.
George Anson[1] writes to me from India that there is a strange feeling
of discontent pervading the Indian Army from religious causes, and a
suspicion that we are going to employ our irresistible power in forcing
Christianity upon them. It is not true, but the natives will never
be quite convinced that it is not, as long as Exeter Hall and the
missionaries are permitted to have _carte blanche_ and work their will
as they please in those regions.
Footnote 1: [General Anson was at this time Commander-in-Chief in
India. He died there shortly after the outbreak of the great military
revolt, of which the letter mentioned in the text was the first
premonitory indication.]
[Sidenote: DEATH OF LADY ASHBURTON.]
_May 10th._--I passed the last week at Wynnstay for Chester races;
a very fine place. The events that have occurred in the course of
the last ten days are the opening of the Manchester Exhibition, very
successfully; the first proceedings of the new Parliament, which
promise a quiet session and a peaceful reign to Palmerston, who has
put the House in good humour by promising a Reform Bill next year; the
death of the Duchess of Gloster, and, what interests the world still
more, the death of Lady Ashburton.[1] Milnes has written a short, but
very fair and appropriate notice of her for the 'Times' newspaper,
which of course was intended as a eulogy, and not as a _character_,
with the bad as well as the good that could be said of her. Lady
Ashburton was perhaps, on the whole, the most conspicuous woman in
the society of the present day. She was undoubtedly very intelligent,
with much quickness and vivacity in conversation, and by dint of a
good deal of desultory reading and social intercourse with men more or
less distinguished, she had improved her mind, and made herself a very
agreeable woman, and had acquired no small reputation for ability and
wit. It is never difficult for a woman in a great position and with
some talent for conversation to attract a large society around her, and
to have a number of admirers and devoted _habitués_. Lady Ashburton
laid herself out for this, and while she exercised hospitality on
a great scale, she was more of a _précieuse_ than any woman I have
known. She was, or affected to be, extremely intimate with many men
whose literary celebrity or talents constituted their only attraction,
and while they were gratified by the attentions of the great lady,
her vanity was flattered by the homage of such men, of whom Carlyle
was the principal. It is only justice to her to say that she treated
her literary friends with constant kindness and the most unselfish
attentions. They, their wives and children (when they had any), were
received at her house in the country, and entertained there for weeks
without any airs of patronage, and with a spirit of genuine benevolence
as well as hospitality. She was in her youth tall and commanding in
person, but without any pretension to good looks; still she was not
altogether destitute of sentiment and coquetry, or incapable of both
feeling and inspiring a certain amount of passion. The only man with
whom she was ever what could be called _in love_ was Clarendon, and
that feeling was never entirely extinct, and the recollection of it
kept up a sort of undefined relation between them to the end of her
life. Two men were certainly in love with her, both distinguished in
different ways. One was John Mill, who was sentimentally attached to
her, and for a long time was devoted to her society. She was pleased
and flattered by his devotion, but as she did not in the slightest
degree return his passion, though she admired his abilities, he at last
came to resent her indifference, and ended by estranging himself from
her entirely, and proved the strength of his feeling by his obstinate
refusal to continue even his acquaintance with her. Her other admirer
was Charles Buller, with whom she was extremely intimate, but without
ever reciprocating his love. Curiously enough, they were very like
each other in person, as well as in their mental accomplishments. They
had both the same spirits and cleverness in conversation, and the same
quickness and drollery in repartee. I remember Allen well describing
them, when he said that their talk was like that in the polite
conversation between Never Out and Miss Notable. Her faults appeared
to be caprice and a disposition to quarrels and _tracasseries_ about
nothing, which, however common amongst ordinary women, were unworthy
of her superior understanding. But during her last illness all that
was bad and hard in her nature seemed to be improved and softened,
and she became full of charity, good-will, and the milk of human
kindness. Her brother and her sister-in-law, who, forgetting former
estrangements, hastened to her sickbed, were received by her with
overflowing tenderness, and all selfish and unamiable feelings seemed
to be entirely subdued within her. Had she recovered she would probably
have lived a better and a happier woman, and as it is she has died
in charity with all the world, and has left behind her corresponding
sentiments of affection and regret for her memory. I was once very
intimate with her, but for a long time past our intimacy had dwindled
into ordinary acquaintance.
Footnote 1: [Harriet Mary, eldest daughter of the sixth Earl of
Sandwich, was married in 1828 to William Bingham Baring, afterwards
second Baron Ashburton. One son, the only issue of this marriage, died
in infancy. Lady Ashburton was distinguished for her wit, her social
qualities, and her hospitality, which made Bath House and the Grange
the centres of a brilliant literary society, well known by the records
of it in the Life of Mr. Carlyle and the Autobiography of Sir Henry
Taylor.]
_June 3rd._--There is really nothing to write about, but it is evident
that the session is going to pass away in the most quiet and uneventful
manner. Never had Minister such a peaceful and undisturbed reign as
Palmerston's. There is something almost alarming in his prodigious
felicity and success. Everything prospers with him. In the House of
Commons there is scarcely a semblance of opposition to anything he
proposes; a speech or two here and there from Roebuck, or some stray
Radical, against some part of the Princess Royal's dowry, but hardly
any attempt at divisions; and when there have been any, the minorities
have been so ridiculously small as to show the hopelessness of
opposition. The only men who might be formidable or troublesome seem
to have adopted the prudent course of not kicking against the pricks.
John Russell evinces no hostility, and accepts Hayter's letters.
Gladstone hardly ever goes near the House of Commons, and never opens
his lips. There seems to be a disposition in both Houses to work and
bring legislative reforms to a conclusion. The House of Lords has been
very busy with the Divorce Bill, and there has been a good deal of
vigorous debating, particularly among Lyndhurst, the Bishops of Oxford
and London, and Campbell and Wensleydale, who hate each other, and have
interchanged blows.
[Sidenote: THE HANDEL CONCERTS.]
_June 20th._--All this past week the world has been occupied with
the Handel Concerts at the Crystal Palace, which went off with the
greatest success and _éclat_. I went to the first ('Messiah'), and the
last ('Israel in Egypt'); they were amazingly grand, and the beauty of
the _locale_, with the vast crowds assembled in it, made an imposing
spectacle. The arrangements were perfect, and nothing could be easier
than the access and egress, or more comfortable than the accommodation.
But the wonderful assembly of 2,000 vocal and 500 instrumental
performers did not produce musical effect so agreeable and so perfect
as the smaller number in the smaller space of Exeter Hall. The volume
of sound was dispersed and lost in the prodigious space, and fine as it
undoubtedly was, I much prefer the concerts of the Harmonic Society.
Fould[1] came over from Paris the other day for the purpose of going to
see the Manchester Exhibition. He was received with great distinction.
The Queen invited him to Windsor for Ascot, and Granville gave him a
breakfast here to meet the financial notabilities whom he wanted to
talk to. We had the Chancellor of the Exchequer and an ex-Chancellor
(C. Wood), the Governor of the Bank, and the ex-Governor of the Bank,
_cum multis aliis_. He said that their financial affairs in France were
in a very healthy state, which is contrary to the general impression
here.
[Sidenote: THE QUEEN AND LORD PALMERSTON.]
I met Clarendon in the Park a day or two ago, and had some talk with
him in the friendly and intimate tone of former times, which rejoiced
my heart, because it proved that though circumstances and accidental
habits had impeded our intercourse, there exist still the same feelings
of regard towards me in his mind, and if our intercourse was restored
again, he would probably fall into the same habit of confidence and
communication which formerly existed, but which has lately been
completely interrupted. He talked of Palmerston, his position and
his health, and his _rapports_ with the Queen, who is now entirely
reconciled to him. She treats him with unreserved confidence, and he
treats her with a deference and attention which have produced a very
favourable change in her sentiments towards him. Clarendon told me that
Palmerston had lately been ailing in a way to cause some uneasiness. He
had had a bad leg with a sore that it had been found difficult to heal,
but he appears to have got over it. This might have been very serious.
Clarendon talked one day to the Queen about Palmerston's health,
concerning which she expressed her anxiety, when Clarendon said she
might indeed be anxious, for it was of the greatest importance to her,
and if anything happened to him he did not know where she could look
for a successor to him, that she had often expressed her great desire
to have a _strong_ Government, and that she had now got one, Palmerston
being a really strong Minister. She admitted the truth of it. Clarendon
said he was always very earnest with her to bestow her whole confidence
on Palmerston, and not even to talk to others on any subjects which
properly belonged to him, and he had more than once (when, according to
her custom, she began to talk to him on certain things) said to her,
'Madam, that concerns Lord Palmerston, and I think your Majesty had
better reserve it for your communications with him.' He referred to
the wonderful change in his own relations with Palmerston, that seven
or eight years ago Palmerston was full of hatred and suspicion of him,
and now they were the best of friends, with mutual confidence and good
will, and lately when he was talking to Palmerston of the satisfactory
state of his relations with the Queen and of the utility it was to his
Government that it should be so, Palmerston said, 'And it is likewise a
very good thing that she has such boundless confidence in her Secretary
for Foreign Affairs, when after all there is nothing she cares about so
much.'
Footnote 1: [M. Achille Fould, who had made a large fortune as a banker
in Paris, was one of the ablest and most honourable of the Ministers of
Napoleon III. He was much attached to this country, where he had many
friends, and he encouraged the Emperor in that Free Trade policy which
led to the Commercial Treaty of 1860, and strengthened the ties between
England and France.]
_June 28th._--I went last Saturday week to Strawberry Hill.[1] A large
party of people, the Persignys, the Speaker and Lady Charlotte, etc.;
it is an enjoyable villa, with its vast expanse of grass, profusion
of flowers, and fine trees affording ample shade. Horace Walpole's
ridiculous house is unaltered, but furbished up and made comfortable. I
regret to hear that Denison does not make a very good Speaker, and that
the Government think they made a mistake in putting him into the Chair.
It was Palmerston's doing, who would hear of nobody else. There are
several men among the Opposition who would probably have been fitter,
but with the great majority the Government have they were in a manner
compelled to take a man from their own party. Denison says it is owing
to the laxity of Palmerston himself if things do not go on so well as
they might in the House of Commons.
At Hatchford the past week, and when I got to town I was apprised of
the disastrous news from India,[2] the most serious occurrence that has
ever been in that quarter, not only from the magnitude of the events
themselves as the telegraph conveys them, but because it is quite
impossible to estimate the gravity of the case, nor what the extent of
it may be. Till we receive the details it is idle to speculate upon it.
The Queen has made Prince Albert 'Prince Consort' by a patent ordered
in Council, but as this act confers on him neither title, dignity,
nor privileges, I cannot see the use of it. He was already as high in
England as he can be, assuming the Crown Matrimonial to be out of the
question, and it will give him no higher rank abroad, where our acts
have no validity.
Footnote 1: [Strawberry Hill was the residence of the Countess of
Waldegrave, to whom it had passed on the death of her second husband,
the Earl of Waldegrave. It was then, and continued to be until her
death in 1879, the most hospitable villa in the neighbourhood, and
the constant resort of all that was distinguished in politics and in
letters.]
Footnote 2: [The Indian mutiny broke out at Meerut on Sunday, 10th May,
but the details were not known in England till nearly six weeks later.
General Anson died at Kurnaul on the 27th May.]
[Sidenote: THE MUTINY IN INDIA.]
_July 15th._--For the last three weeks or more all public interest
and curiosity have been absorbed in the affairs of India and the
great Mutiny that has broken out there, and which has now assumed
such an alarming character. I had intended to take some notice of
this, and of other matters which time and the hour have brought forth;
but, according to my bad custom, I kept putting it off, till at last
all other things were driven out of my mind by the news which so
unexpectedly reached us on Saturday last of the death of George Anson
from a sudden attack of cholera. He was the oldest and most intimate
friend I had, and almost the last surviving associate of my youth. I
reserve for another moment to say a word or two of a man who, without
great abilities or a great career, was too conspicuous a member of
society to be passed over without some notice.
The alarm created here by the Indian news is very great, and
Ellenborough (reckoned a great authority on Indian matters) does his
best to increase it. The serious part of it is that no one can tell
or venture to predict what the extent of the calamity may be, and
what proportions the mischief may possibly assume. It is certain that
hitherto the Government and the East India Company have been in what
is called a fool's paradise on the subject. They have been so long
accustomed to consider our Empire there as established on so solid a
foundation, and so entirely out of the reach of danger, that they never
have paid any attention to those who hinted at possible perils, and I
don't think anybody ever foresaw anything like what has occurred, and
they were disinclined to adopt any of the precautionary recommendations
which would have been attended with expense, and the Press, and the
public who are always led by the Press, took the same easy view of
the subject. While the Russian War was going on a clamour was raised
against Government for not calling away _all_ the British troops in
India and sending them to the Crimea, and those who went mad about the
Crimean War would willingly have left India without a single European
regiment, and have entrusted all our interests to the fidelity and
attachment of the Native army. Though our Government was willing enough
to enter into anything that the passion of the multitude suggested,
they were not so insane as all that; but as it is, we may consider
it most providential that the mutiny did not show itself during the
Russian, or indeed during the Persian war. If it had happened while we
were still fighting in the Crimea, we could not have sent out the force
that would have been indispensable to save India. At the present moment
the interest of the public is not greater than its apprehensions and
alarm. Rumours of every sort are rife, generally of the most disastrous
kind, and though the mails only come at a fortnight's interval, and it
is physically impossible that any intelligence should reach us during
those intervals, the public curiosity is fed and excited by continual
rumours, which generally circulate stories of fresh disasters and
dangers. There is a disposition in some quarters to make if possible
poor Anson the scapegoat, and, now that he is dead and cannot defend
himself, to attribute to him and to his misconduct or _laches_ the
misfortunes that have befallen us. I know not what he may have written
home to the civil and military authorities; but, if I may judge by the
tenor of his correspondence with me, I should infer that he has warned
the Government against leaving India without adequate protection,
and constantly urged the expediency of sending out fresh troops. I
have long expected that the day would come when we should find reason
for regretting our expansive policy and our going on with continual
conquests and annexations.
We are overrun with Royalties present and prospective. Besides our
Princess Royal's bridegroom, there are here the King of the Belgians'
son and daughter, Prince Napoleon, the Queen of the Netherlands, and
the Montpensiers _as Spanish Princes_, in which capacity Persigny
has had to pay his court to them, and they have had to receive the
Ambassador of Louis Napoleon.
_July 19th._--Although it is impossible that any fresh accounts should
have come from India, reports are rife of fresh insurrections and of
all sorts of evils. Amidst all the bad news from India the good fortune
is that so many of the Native troops, and not only the military, but
the whole population of the Punjaub, have shown so much fidelity and
attachment to the British Government. It is the strongest testimony
to the wisdom and justice of our rule, and of the capacity of the
natives to appreciate the benefits they derive from it, for beyond all
question the introduction of European civilisation into the East, and
the substitution of such a government as that of England for the cruel,
rapacious, and capricious dominion of Oriental chiefs and dynasties, is
the greatest boon that the people could have had conferred upon them.
Our administration may not have been faultless, and in some instances
it may have been oppressive, and it may have often offended against the
habits and prejudices of the natives, but it is certainly very superior
in every respect, and infinitely more beneficent than any rule, either
of Hindoos or Mahometans, that has ever been known in India. However,
people much more civilized and more sagacious than the Indians do
not always know what is best for them, or most likely to promote
their happiness, so it will not be surprising if these disorders
should continue to increase, supposing the means of immediately and
effectually suppressing them should be found wanting.
[Sidenote: TEMPER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS]
For the last week the House of Commons has presented a more animated
appearance than during the preceding months of this dull and passive
session. Gladstone has reappeared and proved that his oratorical powers
have not been rusted by his retirement, and John Russell has come forth
showing his teeth, but not yet attempting to bite the Government.
Palmerston, evidently nettled by these two, as well as by Roebuck and
Disraeli, has spoken with considerable asperity, and with an insolent
air of superiority and defiance, which has hitherto not been usual to
him, and which has given no little offence. There are evident symptoms
of an approaching cessation of that humble and deferential submission
to his will which has hitherto distinguished his servile majority, and
though it is not clear in what way they will assert their independence,
those who watch the symptoms think that he will not find the same
passive disposition in the next session, and if anything should go
seriously wrong there would be open and general rebellion. Up to the
present time, however, there is nothing to be seen but a certain amount
of restlessness and a disposition to find fault, and the Government
seem still to command the same enormous majorities, and Palmerston to
be as powerful as ever, if he is not quite so popular. A violent effort
is made by a number of Liberals in the House of Commons to renew the
contest with the House of Lords for the admission of the Jews (the
newspapers contain all the details of this attempt), which cannot be
pursued without mischievous results, and will fail in its object.
_August 2nd._--The Civil War in India, for such it may be called,
supersedes every other object of interest, and the successive mails are
looked for with the utmost impatience. The Government, though anxious
and nervous, are not disheartened, and as far as we can judge the
authorities in India have not been deficient in the emergency. Canning
writes in good spirits, and all accounts agree in reporting that he
has done his work hitherto very well. The discussions in Parliament
have been on the whole creditable. Disraeli came down to the House of
Commons with a long set oration, in which he entered at great length
into the causes of the present confusion, and the misgovernment and
bad policy which had engendered it, and although his speech was able,
and probably contained a great deal that was true, it was deemed (as
it was) mischievous and ill-timed, and very ill received by the House.
He was rebuked with some asperity by Tom Baring, his own political
adherent, and by Lord John Russell, who declared it to be the duty of
the House to give every support to the Government in such a crisis. In
the House of Lords Ellenborough was as mischievous and ill-disposed
as Disraeli in the Commons, and was no better received. Granville
administered to him a severe lecture, by no means ill done, and the
House of Lords went with Granville.
[Sidenote: THE PRINCE CONSORT.]
Last week was passed at Goodwood, with fine weather, and the usual
_fête_ with the unusual accompaniment of foreign Royalties. First the
Comte de Paris for a night, and then the Queen of the Netherlands for
two. The young French Prince is good-humoured and unpretending, the
Queen is very gay, natural, and pleasing. I renewed an acquaintance I
had made with her at Ems many years ago. It is a new feature in the
present day the flitting about of Royal personages. Besides these I
have named, the Prince Napoleon has been finishing a tour through
England and part of Ireland by a visit to Osborne, and the Emperor and
Empress are coming to Osborne for a week. Prince Albert has been to
Brussels for the marriage of the Princess Charlotte, where he seems to
have made his first experiment of the effect to be obtained from his
newly-acquired title of 'Prince Consort of England,' as I see that he
signed the marriage contract immediately after the Queen Marie Amélie,
and before an Austrian Archduke who was present.
_August 12th._--I was at Stoke on Saturday and Sunday, and went over
to see Bulstrode; surprised to find the place less _délabré_, and more
capable of being restored than I expected. I passed the first fifteen
years of my life there, and don't know whether the place or myself is
the most changed. To feed our curiosity during the intervals between
the Indian mails, the newspapers, the 'Times' especially, collect all
the letters they can obtain, and publish them day by day. We have
had a success in China, but I always tremble for the consequences
of our successes there, lest we should be seduced or compelled into
making permanent settlements and further extensions of our Empire in
the East. Parliament is approaching its close, and the Government
ends the session with unimpaired strength, but depending entirely on
Palmerston's life, for there is nobody else capable of leading the
House of Commons. There are growing symptoms of independence on the
part of the House in the shape of adverse votes every now and then,
principally on matters of estimates.
_August 20th._--I have read over the few preceding pages, and am
disgusted to find how barren they are of interest and how little worth
preserving. They show how entirely my social relations have ceased with
all those friends and acquaintances from whom I have been in the habit
of drawing the information which the earlier parts of this journal
contain, and consequently my total ignorance of all political subjects.
There was a time when I should have had a great deal to say upon
passing events of interest or importance, but all that is gone by.
The visit of the Emperor Napoleon at Osborne seems to have been spent
in discussing the affairs of the Principalities and patching up the
quarrels of the Ambassadors at Constantinople. As far as outward
appearances go we do not appear to have played a very brilliant part,
and the Opposition papers think they have got a good case on which to
twit Palmerston, but as I do not know what has really taken place, I
abstain from expressing any opinion upon the conduct of our Government.
The session of Parliament has been prolonged beyond all expectation
by the vehement and acrimonious debates upon the Divorce Bill in the
House of Commons, which has been very ably and vigorously fought by
Bethell on one side _cum quibusdam aliis_, and Gladstone, Walpole, and
Heathcote on the other. The Opposition hoped by constant obstructions
to wear out the patience of Palmerston and to get the Bill put off till
next session. Palmerston, however, was firmly resolved not to submit
to this, and when they found that he was so determined, they contented
themselves with insisting upon certain amendments, which Palmerston
thought it prudent to consent to, and the spirit of compromise and
concession which the Government have lately evinced has softened in
some degree the asperity of the debates, and at last enabled the
Government to carry the Bill. Bethell, who has fought the battle with
great ability, is not a little disgusted at the concessions to which he
has been forced to consent, and has done so with a solemn protest and
warning with regard to the exemption clause for the clergy, which the
Government have very reluctantly consented to, but on which Granville
assures me they had no option, and that if they had refused to give way
they would have infallibly been beaten upon it. I dined at Richmond
with Lord Lansdowne yesterday, to meet the Duchess of Orleans and
the Comte de Paris. I had never seen her before. She is plain, but
pleasing, and with very good manners.
_August 21st._--The Divorce Bill having passed the House of Commons,
went up to the House of Lords yesterday, when Lord Redesdale attempted
to strangle it by a dodge, which he was obliged to give up in
consequence of the vigorous attacks made upon him by the Ministerial
side, who were supported even by St. Leonards, and particularly by an
indignant and effective speech, made by Lord Lansdowne, who, in spite
of weakness and gout, from which, he was actually suffering, spoke
with extraordinary spirit. If Redesdale had persisted, and gone to
a division, the Government would probably have been beaten, and the
labour of half the session would have been thrown away. As it is, there
is to be a fight on Monday next, the result of which depends on which
side can get the greatest number to come up from the country to vote.
[Sidenote: CLOSE OF THE SESSION.]
_September 6th._--Went to Worsley on Thursday last, in order to go
from thence to see the Manchester Exhibition, which is very pretty,
but appears diminutive after the London and Sydenham Exhibitions. Its
principal attraction is in the excellent collection of pictures; it
will be a failure in a pecuniary point of view, but there are plenty of
rich people in Manchester able and willing to bear the expenses. The
session closed very quietly, though not without some grumbling. Some
complained that Parliament should not continue to sit while the Indian
troubles are going on with undiminished force, others that the Queen
should go to Scotland; but the Government have brought their labours
to a close very prosperously, and Palmerston continues as powerful and
as secure as ever. There is no longer the same enthusiasm there was
for him, but there is a universal impression that he is indispensable,
and on the whole a feeling of satisfaction and confidence in his
administration. Even I myself am compelled in candour to acknowledge
that he does at least as well as anybody else would be likely to do,
and no complaints can justly be made against the Government of any
supineness in sending out adequate reinforcements to India. Lewis
told me, just as Parliament was prorogued, that they were thoroughly
impressed with the gravity of the case, and conscious of the danger,
and that they were going to send out every man they could muster here
or in the Colonies, and they have already despatched troops in great
numbers with remarkable celerity.
They have made some Peers, of whom the most conspicuous is Macaulay,
and I have not seen or heard any complaints of his elevation. Lord
Lansdowne has declined the offered Dukedom, which I rather regret,
for such a public recognition of his character and services during a
long life would have been graceful and becoming, and the report of
it elicited from all quarters expressions of satisfaction at such an
honour having been so worthily conferred.
While Macaulay is thus ascending to the House of Peers, his old enemy
and rival Croker has descended to the grave, very noiselessly and
almost without observation, for he had been for some time so withdrawn
from the world that he was nearly forgotten. He had lived to see
all his predictions of ruin and disaster to the country completely
falsified. He continued till the last year or two to exhale his
bitterness and spite in the columns of the 'Quarterly Review,' but at
last the Editor (who had long been sick of his contributions) contrived
to get rid of him. I never lived in any intimacy with him, and seldom
met him in society, but he certainly occupied a high place among
the second-rate men of his time; he had very considerable talents,
great industry, with much information and a retentive memory. He
spoke in Parliament with considerable force, and in society his long
acquaintance with the world and with public affairs, and his stores of
general knowledge made him entertaining, though he was too overbearing
to be agreeable. He was particularly disliked by Macaulay, who never
lost an opportunity of venting his antipathy by attacks upon him.
[Sidenote: HISTORY OF THE LIFE PEERAGES.]
_Holwood, September 10th._--I came here on Tuesday on a visit to the
Chancellor.[1] This beautiful place formerly belonged to Mr. Pitt,
and abounds in local recollections of the great Minister in the shape
of 'Pitt's Oak,' 'Pitt's Well,' &c. It is close to Hayes, where his
father, the great Lord Chatham, lived and died. Nobody is here but
Pemberton Leigh.
I asked the Chancellor what was the real history of the Life Peerage
last year, and he told me that it originated in his finding great
inconvenience from himself and Lord St. Leonards frequently sitting
together in the House of Lords without any third, and as St. Leonards
invariably opposed his view of every case great injustice was often
done to suitors, and he urged on Palmerston the expediency of giving
them some assistance. Palmerston said it would be a good opportunity
for making some Life Peers. Wensleydale was willing to retire from the
Bench and to accept a Life Peerage, so it was determined to create him
a Peer for life only, and they did this without the slightest idea
that any objection would be made in any quarter. He owned that he
regretted this design had not been abandoned at once when the storm
of opposition began. I told him that I had no doubt there would have
been no opposition if he had imparted the intentions of Government to
some of the Law Lords, and obtained their acquiescence, for Lyndhurst
would certainly not have objected, having himself told me that he meant
to comply with Parke's request to him to introduce him to the House
of Lords. The Chancellor said this was very likely true, but that he
had never liked the attempt to force it through the House of Lords. He
thought the opposition had originated with Campbell, who had probably
forgotten that he had recorded his own opinion, in his 'Lives of the
Chancellors,' that Life Peerages would be advisable in certain cases.
Footnote 1: [Lord Cranworth at this time occupied Holwood as a summer
residence.]
_September 22nd._--I am just returned from Doncaster, Bretby, and
Wilby. The Indian mail arrived on Monday last, just as I was starting
for Doncaster. The news it brought at first appeared rather good, but
when it all came out it seemed so chequered with good and evil, that it
produced great despondency. Still it is a curious circumstance (which
I have heard no one else remark) that, with all the deep interest
universally felt on account of this Sepoy war, not only as it regards
our national interests, but out of feeling and sympathy for the vast
numbers of our countrymen and women exposed to its horrors and dangers,
it does not produce the same degree of enthusiasm as the Crimean War
did, in which we had no real interest concerned, and which was only a
gigantic folly on our part. People are very anxious about this war, and
earnestly desire that the mutiny may be put down and punished, but they
regard the war itself with aversion and horror, whereas they positively
took pleasure in the war against Russia, and were ready to spend
their last guinea in carrying it on. A subscription has been set on
foot, but although there never was an occasion on which it might have
been expected that vast sums would be subscribed, the contributions
have been comparatively small in amount, and it seems probable that a
much less sum will be produced for the relief of the Indian sufferers
than the Patriotic Fund or any of the various subscriptions made for
purposes connected with the Crimean War. I was so struck with the
backwardness of the Government in rewarding General Havelock for his
brilliant exploits, that I wrote to George Lewis and urged him to press
his colleagues to confer some honour upon him and promote him.
I am on the point of starting for Balmoral, summoned for a Council to
order _a day of humiliation_.
[Sidenote: VISIT TO SCOTLAND.]
_Gordon Castle, September 27th._--I left town on Tuesday afternoon, and
slept that night at York, on Wednesday at Perth, and on Thursday posted
to Balmoral, where I arrived between two and three o'clock. Granville,
Panmure, and Ben Stanley formed the Council. Granville told me the
Queen wished that the day appointed should be a Sunday, but Palmerston
said it must be on a weekday, and very reluctantly she gave way. What
made the whole thing more ridiculous was, that she gave a ball (to the
gillies and tenants) the night before this Council. The outside of
the new house at Balmoral, in the Scotch and French style, is pretty
enough, but the inside has but few rooms, and those very small, not
uncomfortable, and very simply decorated; the place and environs are
pretty. In the afternoon I drove over to Invercauld with Phipps. On
Friday morning came on here, by post, by rail, and by mail. Without any
beauty, this is rather a fine place, and the house very comfortable.
_September 28th._--Went to Elgin to see the fine old ruin of the
Cathedral, which is very grand, and must have been magnificent. It
was built in the beginning of the thirteenth century, burnt down, and
rebuilt in the fourteenth. I see they have done all I wanted to have
done for General Havelock. He has got a good service pension, is made
Major-General and K.C.B.
_Dunrobin Castle, October 2nd._--I came here from Gordon Castle on
Wednesday, by sea from Burghead to the Little Ferry, a very tiresome
way of travelling, the delays being detestable. Have long been
most desirous of seeing this place, which has quite equalled my
expectations, for it is a most princely possession, and the Castle
exceedingly beautiful and moreover very comfortable. I start for London
to-morrow morning with a long journey before me.
The Indian news of this week as bad and promises as ill as well can be,
and I expect worse each mail that comes. We are justly punished for
our ambition and encroaching spirit, but it must be owned we struggle
gallantly for what we have perhaps unjustly acquired. Europe behaves
well to us, for though we have made ourselves universally odious by
our insolence and our domination, and our long habit of bullying all
the world, nobody triumphs over us in the hour of our distress, and
even Russia, who has no cause to feel anything but ill will towards
us, evinces her regret and sympathy in courteous terms. Whatever the
result of this contest may be, it will certainly absorb all our efforts
and occupy our full strength and power so that we shall not be able to
take any active or influential part in European affairs for some time
to come. The rest of the Great Powers will have it in their power to
settle everything as seems meet to them, without troubling themselves
about us and our opinions. For the present we are reduced to the
condition of an insignificant Power. It is certain that if this mutiny
had taken place two years earlier, we could not have engaged at all in
the Russian War.
_London, October 6th._--I left Dunrobin after breakfast on Saturday
morning, 3rd inst., and arrived in London on Monday (yesterday) at 11
A.M. My journey was after this wise: We (i.e. Mr. Marshall of the Life
Guards, an aide-de-camp of Lord Carlisle's, who travelled from Dunrobin
with me) got into the mail at Golspie and took our places to Inverness.
At Tain, the first stage, we walked on, leaving the coach to overtake
us. After walking three miles, and no coach coming, we got alarmed,
and on enquiry of the first man we fell in with, found we had come the
wrong way, and that the mail had gone on. We started on our return to
Tain, and falling in with a good Samaritan in the shape of a banker in
that place, who was driving in the opposite direction, he took us up in
his gig, and drove us back to the inn, where we took post, and followed
the mail to Inverness, where we arrived an hour after it. There we
slept, and at five minutes before five on Sunday morning we were in
the mail again, and arrived at Perth at six o'clock, making 117 miles
in thirteen hours. In twenty minutes more we were in the mail train,
and reached Euston Square safe and sound at eleven o'clock, doing the
distance between Perth and London in seventeen and a half hours. I
have seen a vast deal of very beautiful scenery of all sorts, but the
most beautiful of all (and I never saw anything more lovely anywhere)
is the road from Blair Athol to Dunkeld, which includes the pass of
Killiecrankie.
[Sidenote: REINFORCEMENTS FOR INDIA.]
I fell in with Granville and Clarendon at Watford, and got into their
carriage. Of course my first enquiries were about India, when they
told me that the general impression was not quite so unfavourable as
that produced by the first telegraphic intelligence. Clarendon said
that if it was possible for Havelock to maintain himself a short time
longer, and that reinforcements arrived in time to save the beleaguered
places, the tide would turn and Delhi would fall; but if he should be
crushed, Agra, Lucknow, and other threatened places would fall with
renewals of the Cawnpore horrors, and in that case the unlimited spread
of the mutiny would be irrepressible, Madras and Bombay would revolt,
all the scattered powers would rise up everywhere, and all would be
lost. We both agreed that the next would probably be decisive accounts
for weal or for woe. I told Granville afterwards that I was glad to
see they had called out more militia, but regretted they had not done
more, when he said that he was inclined to take the same view, from
which it was evident to me that there has been difference of opinion in
the Cabinet as to the extent to which the calling out of the militia
should be carried. I urged him to press on his colleagues a more
extensive measure. It is evident that public opinion will back them up
in gathering together as great a force as possible in this emergency,
regardless of expense, and at all events the course of this Government
is not embarrassed and annoyed as that of another Government was three
years ago in reference to the Crimean War. As a very true article
in a very sensible paper set forth, the difference between then and
now is, that the Government of Palmerston has fair play, while that
of Lord Aberdeen never had it. The Press, and public opinion goaded
and inflamed by the Press, treated the latter with the most flagrant
injustice, while Palmerston and the whole Government, out of regard for
him, are treated with every sort of consideration and confidence.
_London, October 19th._--I spent last week at Newmarket; the details of
the last Indian news which arrived there put people in better spirits,
but they were too much occupied with the business of the place to
think much about India. Returned to town on Friday, and went to The
Grove yesterday; had some talk with Clarendon, who said Palmerston was
very offhand in his views of Indian affairs, and had jumped to the
conclusion that the Company must be extinguished. At the Cabinet on
Friday last he said, 'They need not meet again for some time, but they
must begin to think of how to deal with India when the revolt was put
down. Of course everybody must see that the India Company must be got
rid of, and Vernon Smith would draw up a scheme in reference thereto.'
This brief announcement did not meet with any response, and there was
no disposition to come to such rapid and peremptory conclusions, but it
seemed not worth while to raise any discussion about it then.
Clarendon then talked of the Court, and confirmed what I had heard
before, going into more detail. He said that the manner in which the
Queen in her own name, but with the assistance of the Prince, exercised
her functions, was exceedingly good, and well became her position
and was eminently useful. She held each Minister to the discharge of
his duty and his responsibility to her, and constantly desired to be
furnished with accurate and detailed information about all important
matters, keeping a record of all the reports that were made to her,
and constantly recurring to them, e.g. she would desire to know what
the state of the Navy was, and what ships were in readiness for
active service, and generally the state of each, ordering returns to
be submitted to her from all the arsenals and dockyards, and again
weeks or months afterwards referring to these returns, and desiring to
have everything relating to them explained and accounted for, and so
throughout every department. In this practice Clarendon told me he had
encouraged her strenuously. This is what none of her predecessors ever
did, and it is in fact the act of Prince Albert, who is to all intents
and purposes King, only acting entirely in her name. All his views and
notions are those of a Constitutional Sovereign, and he fulfils the
duties of one, and at the same time makes the Crown an entity, and
discharges the functions which properly belong to the Sovereign. I
told Clarendon that I had been told the Prince had upon many occasions
rendered the most important services to the Government, and had
repeatedly prevented their getting into scrapes of various sorts. He
said it was perfectly true, and that he had written some of the ablest
papers he had ever read.
Clarendon said he had recently been very much pleased with the Duke
of Cambridge, who had shown a great deal of sense and discretion,
and a very accurate knowledge of the details of his office, and that
he was a much better Commander-in-Chief than Hardinge. He had been
lately summoned to the Cabinet on many occasions, and had given great
satisfaction there. Clarendon talked of Vernon Smith, of whom he has
no elevated opinion, but still thinks him not without merit, and that
at this moment it would not be easy to replace him by some one clearly
better fitted. He takes pains, is rather clever, and did better in the
House of Commons than anybody gave him credit for last session; he
makes himself well informed upon everything about his office, and is
never at a loss to answer any questions that are put to him, and to
answer them satisfactorily.
[Sidenote: ATTACKS ON LORD CANNING.]
_November 2nd._--Gout in my hand has prevented my writing anything,
and adding some trifling particulars to what I have written above. In
the meantime has arrived the news of the capture of Delhi, but though
we have received it now a week ago we are still unacquainted with the
particulars. All the advantages of the electric telegraph are dearly
paid for by the agonies of suspense which are caused by the long
intervals between the arrival of general facts and of their particular
details. It still remains to be seen whether the results of this
success turn out on the whole to be as advantageous as it appears to be
brilliant. The Press goes on attacking Canning with great asperity and
injustice, and nobody here defends him. Though I am not a very intimate
or particular friend of his, I think him so unfairly and ungenerously
treated that I mean to make an effort to get him such redress as
the case admits of, and the only thing which occurs to me is that
Palmerston, as head of the Government, should take the opportunity of
the Lord Mayor's dinner to vindicate him, and assume the responsibility
of his acts. His 'Clemency' proclamation, as it is stupidly and falsely
called, was, I believe, not only proper and expedient, but necessary,
and I expect he will be able to vindicate himself completely from all
the charges which the newspapers have brought against him, but in the
meantime they will have done him all the mischief they can. Amongst
other things Clarendon told me at The Grove, he said, in reference
to Canning's war against the press, that the license of the Indian
press was intolerable, not of the native press only, but the English
in Bengal. Certain papers are conducted there by low, disaffected
people, who publish the most gross, false, and malignant attacks on the
Government, which are translated into the native languages, and read
extensively in the native regiments, and amongst the natives generally,
and that to put down this pest was an absolute necessity.
_November 4th._--I have been speaking to Granville about Canning, and
urged him to move Palmerston to stand forth in his defence at the Lord
Mayor's dinner on the 9th. This morning he received a very strong and
pressing letter from Clanricarde, in the same sense in which I had been
urging him, and a very good letter, and this he is going to send to
Palmerston. Clanricarde is struck, as I am, with the fact that nobody
and no newspaper has said a word in Canning's favour, and he sees as I
have done all the damage which has already been done to him by the long
and uncontradicted course of abuse and reproach with which the press
has teemed.
_Hatchford, November 8th._--Granville made a speech in defence of
Canning, at a dinner given at the Mansion House to the Duke of
Cambridge. He writes me word it was 'rather uphill work,' and I was
told it was not very well received, but nevertheless it produced
an effect, and it acted as a check upon the 'Times,' which without
retracting (which it never does) has considerably mitigated its
violence. It was the first word that has been said for Canning in
public, and it has evidently been of great use to him.
The most interesting event during the last few days is the failure of
the attempted launch of the big ship (now called 'Leviathan),' and it
is not a little remarkable that all the _great_ experiments recently
made have proved failures. Besides this one of the ship, there was a
few weeks ago the cracking of the bell (Big Ben) for the Houses of
Parliament, and not long before that the failure of the submarine
telegraph in the attempt to lay it down in the sea. The bell will
probably be replaced without much difficulty, but it is at present
doubtful whether it will be found possible to launch the ship at all,
and whether the telegraphic cable can ever be completed.
_November 10th._--Palmerston pronounced a glowing eulogium on Canning
last night at the Lord Mayor's dinner, which will infallibly stop the
current of abuse against him. It has already turned the 'Times.' He
seems to have been induced to do this by the great pressure brought to
bear on him, for otherwise he had no desire to stand forth and oppose
public opinion and the press; but Clarendon, Lansdowne, and others all
urged him strenuously to support Canning, and he did it handsomely
enough. His speech in other respects was an injudicious one, full of
_jactance_ and bow-wow, but well enough calculated to draw cheers from
a miscellaneous audience.
[Sidenote: PALMERSTON'S SPEECH AT THE MANSION HOUSE.]
_November 11th._--I was told yesterday that Palmerston's swaggering
speech would produce a bad effect in France, and those whom I have
spoken to agree in thinking it very ill-timed and in very bad taste.
It is the more objectionable because he might have said something
very different that would have been very becoming and true. He might
have observed upon the remarkable good taste and forbearance which
had been so conspicuous in all foreign nations towards us, even those
who may be supposed to be least friendly to us, or those whom we have
most outraged by our violent and insulting language or conduct. It is
at once creditable to other countries and honourable to us that no
disposition has been shown in any quarter to act differently towards
us, or to avail themselves of what they may suppose to be our weakness
and difficulty; but, on the contrary, the same consideration and
deference has been shown to us as if there had been no Indian outbreak
to absorb our resources. Our position in Europe is not only as high as
ever, but no one shows any disposition to degrade or diminish it; and
while this is a gratifying homage to us and a flattering recognition
of our power, it is, or at least ought to be, calculated to inspire us
with amicable sentiments, and to be an inducement to us to depart from
the insolent and offensive tone which has so long prevailed here, and
which has made England universally an object of aversion. It was of
course impossible that some expressions should not be given here and
there and now and then to such feelings, but on the whole we have no
reason to complain, but much the contrary; not even in Russia, whose
power and pride we have so deeply wounded, and whom we have so outraged
by every topic and expression of insult and injury which the bitterest
hatred could suggest, has there been anything like asperity, or any
rejoicing over our misfortunes.
_Frognal, November 14th._--The news of the capture of Delhi and
the relief of Lucknow excited a transport of delight and triumph,
and everybody jumped to the conclusion that the Indian contest was
virtually at an end. Granville told me he thought there would be no
more fighting, and that the work was done. I was not so sanguine, and
though I thought the result of the contest was now secure, I thought we
should still have a great deal on our hands and much more fighting to
hear of before the curtain could drop. But I was not prepared to hear
the dismal news which arrived to-day, and which has so cruelly damped
the public joy and exultation. It appears that Havelock is in great
danger and the long suffering garrison of Lucknow not yet out of their
peril, for the victory of Havelock had not been complete, the natives
were gathering round the small British force in vast numbers, and
unless considerable reinforcements could be speedily brought up, the
condition of the British, both military and civilians, of men, women,
and children, would soon again be one of excessive danger.
[Sidenote: SUSPENSION OF THE BANK ACT.]
_The Grove, November 15th._--I talked with Clarendon about the
Government letter to the Bank[1] and the state of financial affairs.
It is evident that Clarendon knows very little about these questions,
and takes very little part in them, but he told me one curious fact. A
letter which appeared about a week ago, addressed by the Emperor of the
French to his Finance Minister, made a great sensation here. In it the
Emperor deprecated all empirical measures for the purpose of meeting
the prevailing difficulties, financial and commercial, at Paris. About
a week before this Clarendon received a letter from Cowley, who said
that he had been conversing with the Emperor and with Walewski on these
matters, and Walewski had begged him (by the desire of the Emperor) to
write to Clarendon and request the advice of the English Government as
to the course he should adopt. Clarendon said that George Lewis was out
of town, but as there could be no delay, he sent his private secretary
to the Governor and Deputy Governor of the Bank, and requested their
advice and opinion. They said it was so important they would go down
to the Foreign Office, which they did, when they told Clarendon that
their advice was that the Emperor should insist on the Bank of France
following as nearly as possible the example of the Bank of England, to
keep their rates of discount high, and to avoid all rash experiments
of any kind. He wrote to Cowley accordingly, who communicated the
answer, and judging from the dates it would appear that the Emperor's
letter was the consequence of the advice so tendered. But Clarendon
seemed to think that the appearance of the Government letter was rather
awkward, and would appear to the French Government very inconsistent
with our communication to them. However, it will probably be easy to
afford satisfactory explanations on this head. The measure itself here
has apparently had the desired success, and they hope the panic and
distress will gradually subside, without any more mischief happening.
Lewis thinks that the best mode of dealing with Peel's Act will be to
retain it, but to give a power to the Queen in Council to relax it in
the same manner as has been now twice done by the interposition of
Government, whenever an urgent necessity should arise, and I suppose
this is the course that will be adopted, though not without a great
deal of discussion and diversity of opinion. I have hitherto said
nothing about the very curious and important state of affairs in
America and in this country, because I am too ignorant of financial
questions to talk about them, and I have not been apprised of any facts
beyond what all the world knows that it was worth while to record, but
this anecdote of the French Government and our own appears sufficiently
curious to have a place in this book.
Footnote 1: [On the 12th of November a letter was addressed to the
Governors of the Bank of England by Lord Palmerston and Sir George
Cornewall Lewis, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, empowering the Bank
to exceed the limits prescribed by the Bank Act of 1844 (if necessary)
to meet the demands for discount and advances on approved security.
This measure was rendered necessary by the extensive failures which
had recently taken place, and the severe pressure on the money market.
On the 4th November discount had advanced to 9 per cent. The Issue
Department made over to the Banking Department two millions in excess
of the statutable amount, of which about one million was advanced to
the public. On the 1st December the whole amount was repaid. Parliament
was summoned to pass a Bill of Indemnity, and public confidence was
restored.]
_November 17th._--A council was held yesterday at Windsor to summon
Parliament, where I found the ministers much dejected at the news from
India. There was a letter from Colin Campbell, expressing great alarm
at the position of Outram and Havelock, whom he thought to be in a
great scrape, though without any fault of theirs, and there was also a
report from Sir John Lawrence that affairs were in a ticklish state in
the Punjaub, and expressing a great anxiety for reinforcements, which
he had very little prospect of getting; in short the apparently bright
sky in which we were rejoicing only a few days ago seems to be obscured
by black clouds, and the great result to be as uncertain as ever.
[Sidenote: THE CLAYTON-BULWER TREATY.]
I met Clarendon at dinner this evening, when he told me that affairs
were in a bad state in the City, and that Lewis had received very
unsatisfactory accounts, so that it is not clear that the Government
letter is producing the good which at first seemed to be following
from it. There is a good deal of uneasiness in the financial and
commercial world and no confidence. The very prudence of the trading
community in arresting the course of production is becoming a source
of distress, for already vast numbers of people are out of employment,
or working short time with reduced wages. The prices of everything
are falling, consumption will be diminished, and the revenue must be
diminished likewise, while our expenses cannot but be increased by
the war. A general cry is getting up for making India pay for the
expense of this Indian war, which, even supposing it to be just and
reasonable, will make the ultimate settlement of the Indian question
more difficult, and a measure little calculated to reconcile the native
population to our rule. Then, as if we had not embarrassments enough
on our hands, America is going to add to them, for President Buchanan,
who hates England with a mortal antipathy, threatens to repudiate the
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty upon the pretence that we have not abided by its
conditions, and if he proposes to the Senate to declare it null and
void, the Senate will do so at his bidding. This would be a flagrant
violation of good faith, and of the obligations by which all civilized
nations consider themselves bound. If this event happens, it will
place us in a very perplexing dilemma, especially after Palmerston's
absurd bravado and confident boastings of our power, for we are not in
a condition to enable us to take a highline corresponding with that
lofty language, and we shall have to eat humble pie and submit to the
affront. Hitherto all other nations and governments have behaved to
us as well and as respectfully as we could desire, and far more than
we deserve; but if America bullies us in one instance, and we are
found pocketing the affront, it is by no means improbable that other
governments will begin to take advantage of our weakness, and adopt
towards us a conduct injurious to our interests or a tone galling to
our pride.[1]
Footnote 1: [These apprehensions were unfounded. Mr. Buchanan did
not seek to abrogate the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty with reference to the
eventual construction of a passage through the Isthmus of Central
America, and the neutral character of that undertaking, which is now
said to be in progress by the Canal of Panama, has remained unchanged
to the present time.]
_November 25th._--Last week I went to Ampthill from Wednesday till
Saturday; on Saturday to The Grove, with the Duke of Bedford, the
Lewises, Charles Villiers, and Ben Stanley. The Duke of Bedford told me
he was very uneasy about his brother John, who seemed in an irritable
frame of mind, and disposed to wage war against the Government when
Parliament meets.[1] He told Sir George Grey the other day that they
would not find him friendly. Clarendon told me of a conversation he
had recently had with the Queen _à propos_ of Palmerston's health,
concerning which Her Majesty was very uneasy, and what could be done
in the not impossible contingency of his breaking down. It is a
curious change from what we saw a few years ago, that she is become
almost affectionately anxious about the health of Palmerston, whose
death might then have been an event to be hailed with satisfaction.
Clarendon said she might well be solicitous about it, for if anything
happened to Palmerston she would be placed in the greatest difficulty.
She said that in such a case she should look to _him_, and expect him
to replace Palmerston, on which Clarendon said he was glad she had
broached the subject, as it gave him an opportunity of saying what he
was very anxious to impress upon her mind, and that was the absolute
impossibility of his undertaking such an office, against which he
enumerated various objections. He told her that Derby could not form a
Government, and if she had the misfortune to lose Palmerston, nothing
remained for her to do but to send for John Russell and put him at the
head of the Government. She expressed her great repugnance to this, and
especially to make him Prime Minister. Clarendon then entreated her
to conquer her repugnance, and to be persuaded that it would never do
to offer him anything else, which he neither would nor could accept;
that the necessity was to have a man who could lead the House of
Commons, and there was no other but him; that Lord John had consented
to take a subordinate office under Lord Aberdeen, who was his senior
in age, and occupied a high position, but he would never consent to
take office under him (Clarendon), and the proposal he would consider
as an insult. For every reason, therefore, he urged her, if driven to
apply to him at all, to do it handsomely, to place the whole thing in
his hands, and to give him her full confidence and support. He appears
to have convinced her that this is the proper course, and he gave me
to understand that if Lord John acts with prudence and moderation all
the present Government would accept him for their head, and Clarendon
is so anxious that this should be the turn affairs should take, that
he urged me to talk to the Duke of Bedford about it, and to get him to
exert all his influence with Lord John to conduct himself in such a
manner as shall conduce to his restoration to office at a future time.
I had only time to exchange a few words with the Duke before we parted
the next morning, and we agreed that I should write him a letter on the
subject which he may show to Lord John if he sees fit to do so. I went
to Wrotham on Monday, and yesterday penned an epistle to be shown to
Lord John, in which I set forth his position, and dilated on the great
importance to himself and to the country of his conducting himself with
patience and forbearance, and of his abstaining from any such vexatious
opposition to the Government as might render his future union with
them impossible. It remains to be seen whether my remonstrance (which
I tried to couch in terms that would not be disagreeable to Lord John)
will produce any effect.[2]
Footnote 1: [Lord John Russell had taken office in Lord Palmerston's
first Administration as Colonial Secretary, but he resigned on June 13,
1855, and remained out of office.]
Footnote 2: [These speculations are curious, but happily the
apprehensions caused by the supposed state of Lord Palmerston's
health were unfounded, for with the short interval of the second
Derby Government in 1858 and 1859, he continued to hold office and
to discharge the duties of Prime Minister with his accustomed vigour
and success until his death in October 1865, when he was succeeded
by Lord Russell. At this particular moment (1857) the latent danger
of the Government lay, not in the failing health of Lord Palmerston,
but in an unforeseen occurrence which caused the unexpected defeat of
Lord Palmerston's Ministry within four months of this date, and the
accession of Lord Derby and his friends to office.]
[Sidenote: LORD JOHN RUSSELL IN OPPOSITION.]
_Hitchinbrook, November 28th._--I came here to-day from Riddlesworth,
where I have now been for the first time for twenty years. I received
there two letters from the Duke of Bedford, the first telling me he
should show, and the second that he had shown, my letter to Lord John.
He received it graciously, saying he agreed with almost all I said, but
that it was easier to give than it was to take such advice, and that he
had been blamed by certain persons for not having given more opposition
to the Government last year on some questions than he had done,
especially to the Persian War; but I rather infer on the whole that my
letter made some impression on him, though it remains to be seen how
much.
The last news from India is as good as could be expected, and the
current there has evidently turned. I met Martin Smith (Indian
Director) at Riddlesworth, and had much talk with him about Indian
affairs. It is clear that the Company do not mean to submit to be
summarily extinguished without a struggle. He told me that with regard
to the great subject, the sending out troops by sailing vessels instead
of by steamers, which is made matter of bitter reproach against the
Directors, the fault lay entirely with the Government. The Directors
wanted to send 10,000 men across Egypt, and the Government would
not do it. They proposed it formally to the Board of Control, who
referred it to the Foreign Office, and Clarendon said it could not be
done on account of certain political considerations which rendered it
inexpedient, so that if the Directors could have had their own way the
thing would have been done. There may have been good grounds for the
refusal of the Government, but in this instance the double Government
was productive only of a sacrifice of Indian to Imperial interests,
and it will not be easy to draw from this transaction any argument in
favour of abolishing the East India Company and the Leadenhall Street
Administration.
_London, December 2nd._--Yesterday morning Lord Sydney received a
letter from Lady Canning, who said that although undoubtedly many
horrible things had happened in India, the exaggeration of them had
been very great, and that she had read for the first time in the
English newspapers stories of atrocities of which she had never heard
at Calcutta, and that statements made in India had turned out to be
pure inventions and falsehoods. Yet our papers publish everything that
is sent to them without caring whether it may be true or false, and
the credulous public swallow it all without the slightest hesitation
and doubt. Shaftesbury too, who is a prodigious authority with the
public, and who has all the religious and pseudo-religious people at
his back, does his utmost to make the case out to be as bad as possible
and to excite the rage and indignation of the masses to the highest
pitch. He is not satisfied with the revolting details with which the
Press has been teeming, but complains that more of them have not been
detailed and described, and that the particulars of mutilation and
violation have not been more copiously and circumstantially given to
the world. I have never been able to comprehend what his motives are
for talking in this strange and extravagant strain, but it is no doubt
something connected with the grand plan of Christianizing India, in
the furtherance of which the High Church and the Low Church appear
to be bidding against each other; and as their united force will in
all probability be irresistible, so they will succeed in making any
Government in India impossible.
[Sidenote: A QUEEN'S SPEECH.]
B---- showed me the Draft of the Queen's Speech this evening after
dinner. Cobbett in his Grammar produces examples of bad English taken
from Kings' Speeches, which he says might be expected to be the best
written, but generally are the worst written documents in the world.
It would be difficult to produce any former Speech more deplorably
composed than this one. Long sentences, full of confusion, and of which
the meaning is not always clear, and some faults of grammar for which
a schoolboy would be whipped. B---- was so struck by one I pointed
out that he said he would beg Palmerston to alter it. If this Speech
escapes severe criticism and ridicule I shall be much surprised, as I
am already that George Lewis, who has so lately been a literary critic,
and is a correct writer himself, should have allowed it to pass in its
present shape, and indeed the sentence he himself put in about his own
business is as bad as any other part of it.
I have no idea what they mean to propose about the Bank Charter Act,
but if it be what Lewis told me some time ago, to give the Queen the
power of suspending the Act by Order in Council, I much doubt if
they will carry such a proposal, and it appears to me on reflexion
thoroughly unconstitutional, and as such I expect it will be vehemently
attacked by all the opponents and the quasi-opponents of Government,
and indeed by all except those who are prepared to follow Palmerston
with blind submission, and to vote for anything rather than allow him
to be put in jeopardy. John Russell, for instance, would hardly be able
to resist the temptation of falling foul of such a proposal, though he
would approve of their having followed a precedent which he had himself
set in a case somewhat similar, though in some respects less urgent.