IN PARLIAMENT AND FOR THE PEOPLE
1813-1826
The political outlook when Lord John entered the House of
Commons--The 'Condition of England' question--The struggle for
Parliamentary Reform--Side-lights on Napoleon Bonaparte--The
Liverpool Administration in a panic--Lord John comes to the aid of
Sir Francis Burdett--Foreign travel--First motion in favour of
Reform--Making headway
LORD LIVERPOOL was at the head of affairs when Lord John Russell entered
Parliament. His long tenure of power had commenced in the previous
summer, and it lasted until the Premier was struck down by serious
illness in the opening weeks of 1827. In Lord John's opinion, Lord
Liverpool was a 'man of honest but narrow views,' and he probably would
have endorsed the cynical description of him as the 'keystone rather
than the capital' of his own Cabinet. Lord Castlereagh was at the
Foreign Office, Lord Sidmouth was Home Secretary, Mr. Vansittart
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Palmerston Secretary at War, and Mr.
Peel Secretary for Ireland. The political outlook on all sides was
gloomy and menacing. The absorbing subject in Parliament was war and the
sinews of war; whilst outside its walls hard-pressed taxpayers were
moodily speculating on the probable figures in the nation's 'glory
bill.' The two years' war with America was in progress. The battle
between the _Shannon_ and the _Chesapeake_ was still the talk of the
hour; but there seemed just then no prospect of peace. Napoleon still
struggled for the dictatorship of Europe, and Englishmen were wondering
to what extent they would have to share in the attempt to foil his
ambition. The Peninsular campaign was costly enough to the British
taxpayer; but his chagrin vanished--for the moment, at least--when
Wellington's victories appealed to his pride. Since the beginning of the
century the attention of Parliament and people had been directed mainly
to foreign affairs. Domestic legislation was at a standstill. With one
important exception--an Act for the Abolition of the Slave
Trade--scarcely any measure of note, apart from military matters and
international questions, had passed the House of Commons.
Parliamentary government, so far as it was supposed to be representative
of the people, was a delusion. The number of members returned by private
patronage for England and Wales amounted to more than three hundred. It
was publicly asserted, and not without an appeal to statistics, that one
hundred and fifty-four persons, great and small, actually returned no
less than three hundred and seven members to the House of Commons.
Representation in the boroughs was on a less worthy scale in the reign
of George III. than it had been in the days of the Plantagenets, and
whatever changes had been made in the franchise since the Tudors had
been to the advantage of the privileged rather than to that of the
people.
[Sidenote: FALLEN BOROUGHS AND FANCY PRICES]
Parliament was little more than an assembly of delegates sent by large
landowners. Ninety members were returned by forty-six places in which
there were less than fifty electors; and seventy members were returned
by thirty-five places containing scarcely any electors at all. Places
such as Old Sarum--consisting of a mound and a few ruins--returned two
members; whilst Manchester, Leeds, and Birmingham, in spite of their
great populations, and in spite, too, of keen political intelligence and
far-reaching commercial activity, were not yet judged worthy of the
least voice in affairs. At Gatton the right of election lay in the hands
of freeholders and householders paying scot and lot; but the only
elector was Lord Monson, who returned two members. Many of the boroughs
were bought at a fancy price by men ambitious to enter Parliament--a
method which seems, however, to have had the advantage of economy when
the cost of some of the elections is taken into account. An election for
Northampton cost the two candidates 30,000_l._ each, whilst Lord Milton
and Mr. Lascelles, in 1807, spent between them 200,000_l._ at a
contested election for the county of York.
Bribery and corruption were of course practised wholesale, and publicans
fleeced politicians and made fortunes out of the pockets of aspirants
for Westminster. In the 'People's Book' an instance is cited of the way
some borough elections were 'managed.' 'The patron of a large town in
Ireland, finding, on the approach of an election, that opposition was to
be made to his interest, marched a regiment of soldiers into the place
from Loughrea, where they were quartered, and caused them to be elected
freemen. These military freemen then voted for his friend, who was, of
course, returned!' Inequality, inadequacy, unreality, corruption--these
were the leading traits of the House of Commons. The House of Commons no
more represented the people of the United Kingdom than the parish
council of Little Peddleton mirrors the mind of Europe.
The statute-book was disfigured by excessive penalities. Men were put in
the pillory for perjury, libel, and the like. Forgers, robbers,
incendiaries, poachers, and mutilators of cattle were sent to the
gallows. Ignorance and brutality prevailed amongst large sections of the
people both in town and country, and the privileged classes, in spite of
vulgar ostentation and the parade of fine manners, set them an evil
example in both directions. Yet, though the Church of England had no
vision of the needs of the people and no voice for their wrongs, the
great wave of religious life which had followed the preaching of
Whitfield and Wesley had not spent its force, nor was it destined to do
so before it had awakened in the multitude a spirit of quickened
intelligence and self-respect which made them restive under political
servitude and in the presence of acknowledged but unredressed
grievances. Education, through the disinterested efforts of a group of
philanthropists, was, moreover, beginning--in some slight degree, at
least--to leaven the mass of ignorance in the country, the power of the
press was making itself felt, and other agencies were also beginning to
dispel the old apathy born of despair.
The French Revolution, with its dramatic overthrow of tyranny and its
splendid watchword, 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,' made its own appeal
to the hope as well as the imagination of the English people, although
the sanguinary incidents which marked it retarded the movement for
Reform in England, and as a matter of fact sent the Reformers into the
wilderness for the space of forty years.
More than a quarter of a century before the birth of Lord John Russell,
who was destined to carry the first Reform Bill through the House of
Commons, Lord Chatham had not hesitated to denounce the borough
representation of the country as the 'rotten part of our constitution,'
which, he said, resembled a mortified limb; and he had added the
significant words, 'If it does not drop, it must be amputated.' He held
that it was useless to look for the strength and vigour of the
constitution in little pocket-boroughs, and that the nation ought rather
to rely on the 'great cities and counties.' Fox, in a debate in 1796,
declared that peace could never be secured until the Constitution was
amended. He added: 'The voice of the representatives of the people must
prevail over the executive ministers of the Crown; the people must be
restored to their just rights.' These warnings fell unheeded, until the
strain of long-continued war, bad harvests, harsh poor laws, and
exorbitant taxes on the necessities of life conspired to goad the people
to the verge of open rebellion.
[Sidenote: 'FRIENDS OF THE PEOPLE']
Wilkes, Pitt, Burdett, Cartwright, and Grey, again and again returned to
the charge, only to find, however, that the strongholds of privilege
were not easily overthrown. The year 1792, in which, by a noteworthy
coincidence, Lord John Russell was born, was rendered memorable in the
history of a movement with which his name will always be associated by
the formation of the society of the 'Friends of the People,' an
influential association which had its place of meeting at the
Freemasons' Tavern. Amongst its first members were Mr. Lambton (father
of the first Earl of Durham), Mr. (afterwards Sir James) Mackintosh, Mr.
Sheridan, Mr. (afterwards Lord) Erskine, Mr. Charles (afterwards Earl)
Grey, and more than twenty other members of Parliament. In the following
year Mr. Grey brought forward the celebrated petition of the Friends of
the People in the House of Commons. It exposed the abuses of the
existing electoral system and presented a powerful argument for
Parliamentary Reform. He moved that the petition should be referred to
the consideration 'of a committee'; but Pitt, in spite of his own
measure on the subject in 1785, was now lukewarm about Reform, and
accordingly opposed as 'inopportune' such an inquiry. 'This is not a
time,' were his words, 'to make hazardous experiments.' The spirit of
anarchy, in his view, was abroad, and Burke's 'Reflections,' had of
course increased the panic of the moment. Although Grey pressed the
motion, only 141 members supported it, and though four years later he
moved for leave to bring in a bill on the subject, justice and common
sense were again over-ridden, and, so far as Parliament was concerned,
the question slept until 1809, when Sir Francis Burdett revived the
agitation.
Meanwhile, men of the stamp of Horne Tooke, William Cobbett, Hone,
'Orator' Hunt, and Major Cartwright--brother of Lord John Russell's
tutor at Woburn, and the originator of the popular cry, 'One man, one
vote'--were in various ways keeping the question steadily before the
minds of the people. Hampden Clubs and other democratic associations
were also springing up in various parts of the country, sometimes to the
advantage of demagogues of damaged reputation rather than to the
advancement of the popular cause. Sir Francis Burdett may be said to
have represented the Reformers in Parliament during the remainder of the
reign of George III., though, just as the old order was changing, Earl
Grey, in 1819, publicly renewed his connection with the question, and
pledged himself to support any sound and judicious measure which
promised to deal effectively with known abuses. In spite of the apathy
of Parliament and the sullen opposition of the privileged classes to all
projects of the kind, whether great or small, sweeping or partial, the
question was slowly ripening in the public mind. Sydney Smith in 1819
declared, 'I think all wise men should begin to turn their minds
Reformwards. We shall do it better than Mr. Hunt or Mr. Cobbett. Done it
_must_ and _will_ be.' In the following year Lord John Russell, at the
age of twenty-eight, became identified with the question of
Parliamentary Reform by bringing before the House of Commons a measure
for the redress of certain scandalous grievances, chiefly at Grampound.
When Lord John's Parliamentary career began, George III. was hopelessly
mad and blind, and, as if to heighten the depressing aspect of public
affairs, the scandalous conduct of his sons was straining to the
breaking-point the loyalty of men of intelligence to the Throne.
[Sidenote: LORD JOHN'S MAIDEN SPEECH]
Lord John's maiden speech in Parliament was directed against the
proposal of the Liverpool Administration to enforce its views in regard
to the union of Norway and Sweden. It escaped the attention of
Parliamentary reporters and has passed into oblivion. The pages of
'Hansard,' however, give a brief summary of his next speech, which, like
its predecessor, was on the side of liberty. It was delivered on July
14, 1814, in opposition to the second reading of the Alien Acts, which
in spite of such a protest quickly became law. His comments were concise
and characteristic. 'He considered the Act to be one which was very
liable to abuse. The present time was that which least called for it;
and Ministers, in bringing forward the measure now because it had been
necessary before, reminded him of the unfortunate wag mentioned in 'Joe
Miller,' who was so fond of rehearsing a joke that he always repeated it
at the wrong time.' During the first months of his Parliamentary
experience Lord John was elected a member of Grillion's Club, which had
been established in Bond Street about twelve months previously, and
which became in after-years a favourite haunt of many men of light and
leading. It was founded on a somewhat novel basis. Leading members of
the Whig and Tory parties met for social purposes. Political discussion
was strictly tabooed, and nothing but the amenities of life were
cultivated. In after-years the club became to Lord John Russell, as it
has also been to many distinguished politicians, a welcome haven from
the turmoil of Westminster.
Delicate health in the autumn quickened Lord John's desire to renew the
pleasures of foreign travel. He accordingly went by sea to Italy, and
arrived at Leghorn in the opening days of December. He was still
wandering in Southern Europe when Parliament reassembled, and the
Christmas Eve of that year was rendered memorable to him by an interview
with Napoleon in exile at Elba.
[Sidenote: A GLIMPSE OF NAPOLEON]
Through the kindness of Lady Russell it is possible here to quote from
an old-fashioned leather-bound volume in her husband's handwriting,
which gives a detailed account of the incidents of his Italian tour in
1814-15, and of his conversation on this occasion with the banished
despot of Europe. Part of what follows has already been published by Mr.
Walpole, but much of it has remained for eighty years in the privacy of
Lord John's own notebook, from the faded pages of which it is now
transcribed:--'Napoleon was dressed in a green coat, with a hat in his
hand, very much as he is painted; but, excepting the resemblance of
dress, I had a very mistaken idea of him from his portrait. He appears
very short, which is partly owing to his being very fat, his hands and
legs being quite swollen and unwieldy. That makes him appear awkward,
and not unlike the whole-length figure of Gibbon the historian. Besides
this, instead of the bold-marked countenance that I expected, he has fat
cheeks and rather a turn-up nose, which, to bring in another historian,
makes the shape of his face resemble the portraits of Hume. He has a
dusky grey eye, which would be called vicious in a horse, and the shape
of his mouth expresses contempt and decision. His manner is very
good-natured, and seems studied to put one at one's ease by its
familiarity; his smile and laugh are very agreeable; he asks a number of
questions without object, and often repeats them, a habit which he has,
no doubt, acquired during fifteen years of supreme command. He began
asking me about my family, the allowance my father gave me, if I ran
into debt, drank, played, &c. He asked me if I had been in Spain, and if
I was not imprisoned by the Inquisition. I told him that I had seen the
abolition of the Inquisition voted, and of the injudicious manner in
which it was done.'
Napoleon told Lord John that Ferdinand was in the hands of the priests.
Spain, like Italy, he added, was a fine country, especially Andalusia
and Seville. Lord John admitted this, but spoke of the uncultivated
nature of the land. 'Agriculture,' replied Napoleon, 'is neglected
because the land is in the hands of the Church.' 'And of the grandees,'
suggested his visitor. 'Yes,' was the answer, 'who have privileges
contrary to the public prosperity.' Napoleon added that he thought the
evil might be remedied by divided property and abolishing hurtful
privileges, as was done in France. Afterwards Napoleon asked many
questions about the Cortes, and when Lord John told him that many of the
members made good speeches on abstract questions, but they failed when
any practical debate on finance or war took place, Napoleon drily
remarked: 'Oui, faute de l'habitude de gouverner.' Presently the talk
drifted to Wellington, or rather Napoleon adroitly led it thither. He
described the man who had driven the French out of Spain as a 'grand
chasseur,' and asked if Wellington liked Paris. Lord John replied that
he thought not, and added that Wellington had said that he should find
himself much at a loss as to what to do in time of peace, as he seemed
scarcely to like anything but war. Whereupon Napoleon exclaimed, 'La
guerre est un grand jeu, une belle occupation.' He expressed his
surprise that England should have sent the Duke to Paris, and he added,
evidently with a touch of bitterness, 'On n'aime pas l'homme par qui on
a ete battu.'
The Emperor's great anxiety seemed to be to get reliable tidings of the
condition of France. Lord John's own words are: 'He inquired if I had
seen at Florence many Englishmen who came from there, and when I
mentioned Lord Holland, he asked if he thought things went well with the
Bourbons. When I answered in the negative he seemed delighted, and asked
if Lord Holland thought they would be able to stay there.' On this point
Lord John was not able to satisfy him, and Napoleon said that he
understood that the Bourbons had neglected the Englishmen who had
treated them well in England, and particularly the Duke of Buckingham,
and he condemned their lack of gratitude. Lord John suggested that the
Bourbons were afraid to be thought to be dependent on the English, but
Napoleon brushed this aside by asserting that the English in general
were very well received. In a mocking tone he expressed his wish to know
whether the army was much attached to the Bourbons. The Vienna Congress
was, of course, just then in progress, and Napoleon showed himself
nothing loth to talk about it. He said: 'The Powers will disagree, but
they will not go to war.' He spoke of the Regent's conduct to the
Princess as very impolitic, and he added that it shocked the
_bienseances_ by the observance of which his father George III. had
become so popular. He declared that our struggle with America was 'une
guerre de vengeance,' as the frontier question could not possibly be of
any importance. According to Napoleon, the great superiority of England
to France lay in her aristocracy.
[Sidenote: NAPOLEON'S PREDICTION ABOUT INDIA]
Napoleon stated that he had intended to create a new aristocracy in
France by marrying his officers to the daughters of the old nobility,
and he added that he had reserved a fund from the contributions which he
levied when he made treaties with Austria, Prussia, &c., in order to
found these new families. Speaking of some of the naval engagements, 'he
found great fault with the French admiral who fought the battle of the
Nile, and pointed out what he ought to have done; but he found most
fault with the admiral who fought Sir R. Calder for not disabling his
fleet, and said that if he could have got the Channel clear then, or at
any other time, he would have invaded England.' Talleyrand, he declared,
had advised the war with Spain, and Napoleon also made out that he had
prevented him from saving the Duc d'Enghien. Spain ought to have been
conquered, and Napoleon declared that he would have gone there himself
if the war with Russia had not occurred. England would repent of
bringing the Russians so far, and he added in this connection the
remarkable words, 'They will deprive her of India.'
After lingering for a while in Vienna, Florence, Rome, Naples, and other
cities, Lord John returned home by way of Germany, and on June 5 he
spoke in Parliament against the renewal of hostilities. He was one of
the small minority in Parliament who refused to regard Napoleon's flight
from Elba as a sufficient _casus belli_. Counsels of peace, however,
were naturally just then not likely to prevail, and Wellington's victory
a fortnight later falsified Lord John's fears. He did not speak again
until February 1816, when, in seconding an amendment to the Address, he
protested against the continuance of the income-tax as a calamity to the
country. He pointed out that, although there had been repeated victories
abroad, prosperity at home had vanished; that farmers could not pay
their rents nor landlords their taxes; and that everybody who was not
paid out of the public purse felt that prosperity was gone. A few weeks
later he opposed the Army Estimates, contending that a standing army of
150,000 men 'must alarm every friend of his country and its
constitution.'
It was probably owing in a measure to the hopelessness of the situation,
but also partly to ill-health, that Lord John absented himself to a
great extent from Parliament. He was, in truth, chagrined at the course
of affairs and discouraged with his own prospects, and in consequence he
lapsed for a time into the position of a silent member of the House of
Commons. Meanwhile, the summer of 1816 was wet and cold and the harvest
was in consequence a disastrous failure. Wheat rose to 103_s._ a
quarter, and bread riots broke out in the Eastern Counties. The
Luddites, who commenced breaking up machinery in manufacturing towns in
1811, again committed great excesses. Tumults occurred in London, and
the Prince Regent was insulted in the streets on his return from opening
Parliament.
[Sidenote: PANIC-STRICKEN AUTHORITY]
The Liverpool Cabinet gave way to panic, and quickly resorted to
extreme measures. A secret committee was appointed in each House to
investigate the causes of the disaffection of a portion of his Majesty's
subjects. Four bills were, as the result of their deliberations, swiftly
introduced and passed through Parliament. The first enacted penalties
for decoying sailors and soldiers; the second was a pitiful exhibition
of lack of confidence, for it aimed at special measures for the
protection of the Prince Regent; the third furnished magistrates with
unusual powers for the prevention of seditious meetings; and the fourth
suspended the Habeas Corpus Act till July 1, giving the Executive
authority 'to secure and detain such persons as his Majesty shall
suspect are conspiring against his person and Government.'
The measures of the Government filled Lord John with indignation, and he
assailed the proposal to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act in a vigorous
speech, which showed conclusively that his sympathies were on the side
of the weak and distressed classes of the community. 'I had not
intended,' he said, 'to trouble the House with any observations of mine
during the present session of Parliament. Indeed, the state of my health
induced me to resolve upon quitting the fatiguing business of this House
altogether. But he must have no ordinary mind whose attention is not
roused in a singular manner when it is proposed to suspend the rights
and liberties of Englishmen, though even for a short period. I am
determined, for my own part, that no weakness of frame, no indisposition
of body, shall prevent my protesting against the most dangerous
precedent which this House ever made. We talk much--I think, a great
deal too much--of the wisdom of our ancestors. I wish we could imitate
the courage of our ancestors. They were not ready to lay their liberties
at the foot of the Crown upon every vain or imaginary alarm.' He begged
the majority not to give, by the adoption of a policy of coercion, the
opponents of law and order the opportunity of saying, 'When we ask for
redress you refuse all innovation; when the Crown asks for protection
you sanction a new code.'
All protests, as usual, were thrown away, and the bill was passed. Lord
John resumed his literary tasks, and as a matter of fact only once
addressed the House in the course of the next two years. He repeatedly
declared his intention of entirely giving up politics and devoting his
time to literature and travel. Many friends urged him to relinquish such
an idea. Moore's poetical 'Remonstrance,' which gladdened Lord John not
a little at the moment, is so well known that we need scarcely quote
more than the closing lines:
Thus gifted, thou never canst sleep in the shade;
If the stirring of genius, the music of fame,
And the charm of thy cause have not power to persuade,
Yet think how to freedom thou'rt pledged by thy name.
Like the boughs of that laurel, by Delphi's decree
Set apart for the fane and its service divine,
All the branches that spring from the old Russell tree
Are by Liberty claimed for the use of her shrine.'
Lord John's literary labours began at this time to be considerable. He
also enlarged his knowledge of the world by giving free play to his love
of foreign travel.
[Sidenote: FEELING HIS WAY]
A general election occurred in the summer of 1818, and it proved that
though the Tories were weakened they still had a majority. Lord John,
with his uncle Lord William Russell, were, however, returned for
Tavistock. Public affairs in 1819 were of a kind to draw him from his
retirement, and as a matter of fact it was in that year that his
speeches began to attract more than passing notice. He spoke briefly in
favour of reducing the number of the Lords of the Admiralty, advocated
an inquiry into domestic and foreign policy, protested against the
surrender of the town of Parga, on the coast of Epirus, to the Turks,
and made an energetic speech against the prevailing bribery and
corruption which disgraced contested elections. The summer of that year
was also rendered memorable in Lord John's career by his first speech on
Parliamentary Reform. In July, Sir Francis Burdett, undeterred by
previous overwhelming defeats, brought forward his usual sweeping motion
demanding universal suffrage, equal electoral districts, vote by ballot,
and annual Parliaments. Lord John's criticism was level-headed, and
therefore characteristic. He had little sympathy with extreme measures,
and he knew, moreover, that it was not merely useless but injurious to
the cause of Reform to urge them at such a moment. The opposition was
too powerful and too impervious to anything in the nature of an idea to
give such proposals just then the least chance of success. Property
meant to fight hard for its privileges, and the great landowners looked
upon their pocket-boroughs as a goodly heritage as well as a rightful
appanage of rank and wealth. As for the great unrepresented towns, they
were regarded as hot-beds of sedition, and therefore the people were to
be kept in their place, and that meant without a voice in the affairs of
the nation. The close corporations and the corrupt boroughs were
meanwhile dismissed with a shrug of the shoulders or a laugh of scorn.
Lord John was as yet by no means a full-fledged Reformer, but it was
something in those days for a duke's son to take sides, even in a
modified way, with the party of progress. His speech represented the
views not so much of the multitude as of the middle classes. They were
alarmed at the truculent violence of mob orators up and down the
country; their fund of inherited reverence for the aristocracy was as
yet scarcely diminished. They had their own dread of spoliation, and
they had not quite recovered from their fright over the French
Revolution. They were law abiding, moreover, and the blood and treasure
which it had cost the nation to crush Napoleon had allayed in thousands
of them the thirst for glory, and turned them into possibly humdrum but
very sincere lovers of peace. Lord John's speech was an appeal to the
average man in his strength and in his limitations, and men of cautious
common-sense everywhere rejoiced that the young Whig--who was liked none
the less by farmer and shopkeeper because he was a lord--had struck the
nail exactly on the head. The growth of Lord John's influence in
Parliament was watched at Woburn with keen interest. 'I have had a good
deal of conversation,' wrote the Duke, 'with old Tierney at Cassiobury
about you.... I find with pleasure that he has a very high opinion of
your debating powers; and says, if you will stick to one branch of
politics and not range over too desultory a field, you may become
eminently useful and conspicuous in the House of Commons.... The line I
should recommend for your selection would be that of foreign politics,
and all home politics bearing on civil and religious liberty--a pretty
wide range....'
As soon as the end of the session brought a respite from his
Parliamentary duties Lord John started for the Continent with Moore the
poet. The author of 'Lalla Rookh' was at that moment struggling, after
the manner of the majority of poets at any moment, with the three-headed
monster pounds, shillings, and pence, through the failure of his deputy
in an official appointment at Bermuda. The poet's journal contains many
allusions to Lord John, and the following passage from it, dated
September 4, 1819, speaks for itself:--'Set off with Lord John in his
carriage at seven; breakfasted and arrived at Dover to dinner at seven
o'clock; the journey very agreeable. Lord John mild and sensible; took
off Talma very well. Mentioned Buonaparte having instructed Talma in the
part of Nero; correcting him for being in such a bustle in giving his
orders, and telling him they ought to be given calmly, as coming from a
person used to sovereignty.'[1] After a fortnight in Paris the
travellers went on to Milan, where they parted company, Moore going to
Venice to visit Byron, and Lord John to Genoa, to renew a pleasant
acquaintance with Madame Durazzo, an Italian lady of rank who was at one
time well known in English society.
[Sidenote: MADAME DURAZZO]
Madame Durazzo was a quick-witted and accomplished woman, and her
vivacious and sympathetic nature was hardly less remarkable than her
personal charm. There is evidence enough that she made a considerable
impression upon the young English statesman, who, indeed, wrote a sonnet
about her. Lord John's verdict on Italy and the Italians is pithily
expressed in a hitherto unpublished extract from his journal:--'Italy is
a delightful country for a traveller--every town full of the finest
specimens of art, even now, and many marked by remains of antiquity near
one another--all different. Easy travelling, books in plenty, living
cheap and tolerably good--what can a man wish for but a little grace and
good taste in dress amongst women? Men of science abound in Italy--the
Papal Government discouraged them at Rome; but the country cannot be
said to be behind the world in knowledge. Poets, too, are plenty; I
never read their verses.'
Meanwhile, the condition of England was becoming critical. Birmingham,
Leeds, Manchester, and other great towns were filled with angry
discontent, and turbulent mass meetings of the people were held to
protest against any further neglect of their just demands for political
representation. Major Cartwright advised these great unrepresented
communities to 'send a petition in the form of a living man instead of
one on parchment or paper,' so that he might state in unmistakable terms
their demands to the Speaker. Sir Charles Wolseley, a Staffordshire
baronet and a friend of Burdett, was elected with a great flourish of
trumpets at Birmingham to act in this capacity, and Manchester
determined also to send a representative, and on August 16, 1819, a
great open-air meeting was called to give effect to this resolution. The
multitude were dispersed by the military, and readers of Bamford's
'Passages in the Life of a Radical' will remember his graphic and
detailed description of the scene of tumult and bloodshed which
followed, and which is known as the Peterloo Massacre. The carnage
inspired Shelley's magnificent 'Mask of Anarchy':--
... One fled past, a maniac maid,
And her name was Hope, she said:
But she looked more like Despair,
And she cried out in the air:
'My father Time is weak and grey
With waiting for a better day.'
[Sidenote: OIL AND VINEGAR]
In those days Parliament did not sit in August, and the members of the
Cabinet were not at hand when the crisis arose. The Prince Regent
expressed his approbation of the conduct of the magistrates of
Manchester as well as of that of the officers and troops of the
cavalry, whose firmness and effectual support of the civil power
preserved the peace of the town. The Cabinet also lost no time in giving
its emphatic support to the high-handed action of the Lancashire
magistrates, and Major Cartwright and other leaders of the popular
movement became the heroes of the hour because the Liverpool
Administration was foolish enough to turn them into political martyrs by
prosecuting them on the charge of sedition. Lord John at this crisis
received several letters urging his return home immediately. That his
influence was already regarded as of some importance is evident from the
terms in which Sir James Mackintosh addressed him. 'You are more wanted
than anybody, not only for general service, but because your Reform must
be immediately brought forward--if possible, as the act of the party,
but at all events as the creed of all Whig Reformers.' Writing to Moore
from Genoa on November 9, Lord John says: 'I am just setting off for
London. Mackintosh has written me an oily letter, to which I have
answered by a vinegar one; but I want you to keep me up in acerbity.'
Soon after Parliament met, the famous Six Acts--usually termed the
'Gagging Acts'--were passed, though not without strenuous opposition.
These measures were intended to hinder delay in the administration of
justice in the case of misdemeanour, to prevent the training of persons
to the use of arms, to enable magistrates to seize and detain arms, to
prevent seditious meetings, and to bring to punishment the authors of
blasphemous and seditious libels. No meeting of more than fifty people
was to be held without six days' notice to a magistrate; only
freeholders or inhabitants were to be allowed even to attend; and
adjournments were forbidden. The time and place of meeting were, if
deemed advisable, to be changed by the local authorities, and no banners
or flags were to be displayed. The wisdom of Lord Eldon, the patriotism
of Lord Castlereagh, and the panic of Lord Sidmouth were responsible for
these tyrannical enactments. On December 14 Lord John brought forward
his first resolutions in favour of Reform. He proposed (1) that all
boroughs in which gross and notorious bribery and corruption should be
proved to prevail should cease to return members to Parliament; (2) that
the right so taken away should be given to some great town or to the
largest counties; (3) that it is the duty of the House to consider of
further means to detect and to prevent corruption in Parliamentary
elections; (4) that it is expedient that the borough of Grampound should
be disfranchised. Even Castlereagh complimented him on the manner in
which he had introduced the question, and undertook that, if Lord John
would withdraw the resolutions and bring in a bill to disfranchise
Grampound, he would not oppose the proposition, and to this arrangement
Lord John consented. Shortly before the dissolution of Parliament,
consequent upon the death of the King, in January 1820, Lord John
obtained leave to bring in a bill for suspending the issue of writs to
the corrupt boroughs of Penryn, Camelford, Grampound, and Barnstaple.
But the alarm occasioned by the Cato Street Conspiracy threw back the
movement and awakened all the old prejudices against even the slightest
concession.
At the general election of 1820 Lord John was returned for the county of
Huntingdon. As soon as possible Lord John returned to the charge, and
brought forward his measure for dealing with Grampound and to transfer
the right of voting to Leeds, the franchise to be given to occupiers of
houses rated at 5_l._ and upwards. In his 'Recollections and
Suggestions' Lord John says: 'With a view to work my way to a change,
not by eloquence--for I had none--but by patient toil and a plain
statement of facts, I brought before the House of Commons the case of
Grampound. I obtained an inquiry, and, with the assistance of Mr.
Charles Wynn, I forced the solicitors employed in bribery to reveal the
secrets of their employers: the case was clear; the borough was
convicted.' Whilst the debate was proceeding Queen Caroline arrived in
England from the Continent, and was received with much popular
enthusiasm. Hostile measures were at once taken in the House of Commons
against her, and though the despicable proceedings eventually came to
nought, they effectually stopped all further discussion of the question
of Reform for the time being.
[Sidenote: THE 'FIRST GENTLEMAN OF EUROPE']
Like Canning and Brougham, Lord John took the side of the injured Queen,
and he drew up a petition to George IV. begging him to end the further
consideration of the Bill of Pains and Penalties against Caroline by
proroguing Parliament. Such a request was entirely thrown away on a man
of the character of George IV., for the King was bent on a policy of
mean revenge; and as only the honour of a woman was concerned, the
'first gentleman of Europe' found the Liverpool Administration
obsequious enough to do his bidding. When at length public opinion
prevailed and the proceedings against the Queen were withdrawn in
November, and whilst rejoicings and illuminations were going on in
London at the Queen's deliverance, Lord John went to Paris, remaining
there till January. Moore was in Paris, and he was much in his company,
and divided the rest of his time between literature and society. He
wrote his now forgotten novel, 'The Nun of Arrouca,' during the six
weeks which he spent in Paris. A Frenchman, visiting the poet, 'lamented
that his friend Lord John showed to so little advantage in society from
his extreme taciturnity, and still more from his apparent coldness and
indifference to what is said by others. Several here to whom he was
introduced had been much disappointed in consequence of this manner.'
Lady Blessington, who was at that time living abroad, states that Lord
John came and dined with herself and the Earl, and the comments of so
beautiful and accomplished a woman of fashion are at least worthy of
passing record. 'Lord John was in better health and spirits than when I
remember him in England. He is exceedingly well read, and has a quiet
dash of humour, that renders his observations very amusing. When the
reserve peculiar to him is thawed, he can be very agreeable. Good sense,
a considerable power of discrimination, a highly cultivated mind, a
great equality of temper, are the characteristics of Lord John Russell,
and these peculiarly fit him for taking a distinguished part in public
life.' Lady Blessington adds that the only obstacle, in her opinion, to
Lord John's success lays in the natural reserve of his manners, which
might lead people 'to think him cold and proud.' This is exactly what
happened, and only those who knew Lord John intimately were aware of the
delicate consideration for others which lurked beneath his somewhat
frigid demeanour.
[Sidenote: HALF A LOAF OR NO BREAD]
Early in the year 1821 Lord John reintroduced his bill for the
disfranchisement of Grampound. Several amendments were proposed, and
one, brought forward by Mr. Stuart Wortley, limiting the right to vote
to 20_l._ householders, was carried. Thereupon Lord John declined to
take further charge of the measure. After being altered and pruned by
both Houses the bill was passed, in spite of Lord Eldon, 'with tears and
doleful predictions,' urging the peers 'to resist this first turn of the
helm towards the whirlpool of democracy.' Grampound ceased to exist as a
Parliamentary borough, and the county of York gained two members.
Although Lord John supported the amended bill--on the principle that
half a loaf is better than no bread--he at the same time announced that
'in a future session he proposed to call attention to the claims of
large towns to send members to this House.' He was determined to do all
in his power to deprive what he termed the 'dead bones of a former state
of England' of political influence, and to give representation to what
he termed the 'living energy and industry of the England of the
nineteenth century, with its steam-engines and its factories, its cotton
and woollen cloths, its cutlery and its coal-mines, its wealth and its
intelligence.' Whilst the bill about Grampound was being discussed by
the Lords he took further action in this direction, and presented four
resolutions for the discovery and punishment of bribery, the
disfranchisement of corrupt boroughs, and the enfranchisement of wealthy
and populous towns. On a division his proposals were defeated by
thirty-one votes in a House of 279 members, and this, under all the
circumstances, was a better result than he expected.
On April 25, 1822, Lord John again tested the feeling of Parliament with
his motion 'that the present state of the representation requires
serious consideration.' In the course of a speech of three hours he
startled the House by proposing that 100 new members should be added,
and, in order that the Commons should not be overcrowded, he added
another resolution, to the effect that a similar number of the small
boroughs should be represented by one member instead of two. Mr. Canning
opposed such a scheme, but complimented Lord John on the ability he had
displayed in its advocacy, and then added: 'That the noble lord will
carry his motion this evening I have no fear; but with the talents which
he has shown himself to possess, and with (I sincerely hope) a long and
brilliant career of Parliamentary distinction before him, he will, no
doubt, renew his efforts hereafter. If, however, he shall persevere, and
if his perseverance shall be successful, and if the results of that
success shall be such as I cannot help apprehending, his be the triumph
to have precipitated those results, be mine the consolation that, to the
utmost and to the latest of my power, I have opposed them.'[2]
Little persuasion was necessary to win a hostile vote, and in a House of
433 members Lord John found himself in a minority of 164. Next year he
renewed his attempt, but with the same result, and in 1826 he once more
brought forward his proposals for Reform, to be defeated. Two months
afterwards, however--May 26, 1826--undaunted by his repeated failures,
he brought in a bill for the discovery and suppression of bribery at
elections. The forces arrayed against him again proved too formidable,
and Lord John, deeming it useless to proceed, abandoned the bill. He
made one more attempt in the expiring Parliament, in a series of
resolutions, to arrest political corruption, and when the division was
taken the numbers were equal, whereupon the Speaker recorded his vote on
Lord John's side. In June the House was dissolved.
[Sidenote: A WHIG OF THE NEW GENERATION]
The Whigs of the new generation were meanwhile dreaming of projects
which had never entered into the calculations of their predecessors.
Lord John long afterwards gave expression to the views which were
beginning to prevail, such as non-interference in the internal
government of other nations, the necessity of peace with America and the
acknowledgment of her Independence, the satisfaction of the people of
Ireland by the concession of political equality, the advancement of
religious liberty, parliamentary reform, and the unrestricted liberty of
the press. 'Had these principles,' he declares, 'prevailed from 1770 to
1820, the country would have avoided the American War and the first
French Revolutionary War, the rebellion in Ireland in 1798, and the
creation of three or four millions of national debt.'[3] Whenever
opportunity allowed, Lord John sought in Parliament during the period
under review to give practical effect to such convictions. He spoke in
favour of the repeal of the Foreign Enlistment Bill, on the question of
the evacuation of Spain by the French army, on the Alien Bill, on an
inquiry into labourers' wages, on the Irish Insurrection Bill, on Roman
Catholic claims and Roman Catholic endowment, and on agricultural
distress.
During the closing years of George III.'s reign and the inglorious days
of his successor, Lord John Russell rose slowly but steadily towards
political influence and power. His speeches attracted growing attention,
and his courage and common sense were rewarded with the deepening
confidence of the nation. Although he was still regarded with some
little dread by his 'betters and his elders,' to borrow his own phrase,
the people hailed with satisfaction the rise of so honest, clear-headed,
and dogged a champion of peace, retrenchment, and Reform. Court and
Cabinet might look askance at the young statesman, but the great towns
were at his back, and he knew--in spite of all appearances to the
contrary--that they, though yet unrepresented, were in reality stronger
than all the forces of selfish privilege and senseless prejudice. Lord
John had proved himself to be a man of action. The nation was beginning
to dream that he would yet prove himself to be a man of mark.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] _Memoirs, Journal, and Correspondence of Thomas Moore._ Edited by
the Right Hon. Lord John Russell, M.P.
[2] Canning's Speeches.
[3] _Recollections and Suggestions_, p. 43.