Panic in the Money Market--The Bank Act--Sir Robert Peel's
Authority--Suspension of the Banking Act of 1844--Death of
the Archbishop of York--Meeting of Parliament--Irish Coercion
Bill--Opinion of the Lord-Lieutenant--Weakness of the Irish
Measures--Sir Robert Peel on the Bank Charter Act--The Duke of
Wellington on the Defences of the Country--English Catholic
Affairs at Rome--Illness of Lord Chancellor Cottenham--Bishop
Hampden's Appointment--Chloroform--Lamartine's 'Girondins'--The
Hampden Dispute--Death of Lord Harrowby--Taxation--Leadership of
the Opposition--The Hampden War--Scenes in Spain--Visit to Lord
Melbourne--Lord Melbourne at Windsor--Burnham Beeches--Letter to
Cobden--Leadership of the Opposition--Views of Sir James Graham
on the Colonies--Archbishop Sumner--Baron Alderson--Diplomatic
Relations with Rome--Weakness of the Government--Bad Effects of
Lord John's Speech.
_London, October 23rd, 1847._--After many weeks, or months, during which
from idleness or unexplainable repugnance I have never written a line, I
at last resume my pen, less for the purpose of writing the history of
these past weeks than to begin again to record what occurs to me.
Stirring weeks they have been, and full of interest of the most lively
and general description. In the midst of all the agitation that has
prevailed at home and abroad, intrigues and quarrels and wars begun or
threatened in various countries, we have been absorbed by the great
panic in the money market, which is still at its height, and of which no
man ventures to predict, or thinks he can see, the termination. There
never was a subject on which such diversified opinions prevail. Men are
indeed pretty well agreed as to the cause of the present distress, and
in admitting that it is the result of over-speculation, and of the
Railway mania which fell upon the country two years ago. But the great
contest is as to the share Peel's Bill of 1844 has had in aggravating
and keeping up the state of distress and difficulty in which trade and
commerce are involved, and whether this Bill ought to be presently
relaxed by the authority of Government or not. On these points the
greatest disputes and varieties of opinion exist. Charles Wood has,
however, been stout and resolute from the first, and quite determined
not to consent to any interference. There have been some different
opinions, and some shades of difference, some doubts, amongst the
members of the Cabinet, though I do not know the particulars of them;
but yesterday the Cabinet broke up, having terminated their
deliberations, and resolved _as matters now stand_ not to do anything.
My own belief is that this will prove a sound resolution, and that they
would only have aggravated the evil by interference. I shall not,
however, write anything more now on this subject. I have nothing secret
or curious or interesting to record, and the details of it will be found
in a hundred publications.
The most remarkable circumstance is the intense interest and curiosity
which are felt about Peel's opinions and intentions. Everybody asks with
anxiety what he says, what he thinks, what he will do. His vanity may
well be gratified by the immense importance which is attached to his
opinions and to the course he may take and recommend; his power seems to
be as great out of office as it ever was in office; nothing was ever so
strange or anomalous as his position. Half the commercial world
attributes the distress and danger to his Bill; he is liked by nobody.
The Conservatives detest him with unquenched hatred, and abuse him with
unmitigated virulence. The Whigs regard him with a mixture of fear,
suspicion, and dislike, but treat him with great deference and respect.
There is a party which is called by others and by itself, but not
(publicly at least) acknowledged by him as his party; it is far from
numerous, and too weak for substantive power. He has never opened his
lips on the great questions of the day, and is an oracle shrouded in
mystery. It would seem as if a man thus abandoned by the majority of his
former political friends and adherents, without personal attachments and
following, an object of hatred to one party and of suspicion to the
other, the country at large or a great proportion of it attributing to
his financial measures the distress by which all are afflicted or
endangered, could by no possibility occupy any great and important
position in the country: nevertheless he does. All eyes are turned upon
him as if by a sort of fascination. If the country could be polled to
decide who should be Minister, he would be elected by an immense
majority. There is a prevalent opinion that he _must_ return to power;
nobody knows when or how, but the notion is that the present men are
weak, that the public necessities and perils are great, and if a crisis
of difficulty and danger should arrive, that Peel is the only man
capable of extricating the country from it. The consequence of all this
is that his _prestige_ and his influence are enormous.
[Sidenote: THE BANK CHARTER ACT SUSPENDED.]
_Newmarket, November 1st._--I came here last Saturday week. On Friday I
believed it to have been _settled_ that nothing should be done by the
Government to relieve the panic. On that day, however, George Glyn and
other bankers had had an interview with John Russell, and they came from
it with a persuasion that he would do something.[23] The same evening
Peel came to town on his way to Windsor. Charles Wood went to him, laid
before him the state of affairs, telling him all the accounts they had
received from the country, all the pressure they were undergoing, and
explained their views and intentions. On the next day, Saturday, still
more urgent demands were made, and still more alarming representations
arrived. On Sunday, a Cabinet (or half Cabinet) was held, and there it
was resolved to grant the relief that has been seen. The Duke of Bedford
was bidden to Windsor to meet Peel, who went there on Saturday. At
dinner on Sunday the Queen received Lord John's box with the result of
the deliberations of the Cabinet, which he requested Her Majesty to
communicate to Peel. The next day the Duke of Bedford had a long
conversation with Peel, very amicable and very satisfactory. He spoke in
high terms of Lord John Russell and commended the Government, expressed
his acquiescence under the peculiar circumstances of the case in the
resolution they had come to, and declared his intention to support them.
He appears to have talked very openly, and in a very friendly and even
generous spirit. The Duke happened to have with him a letter which Lord
John had written to him at the time of Peel's bill passing through
Parliament, in which he had expressed his approval of the general
principle, but found fault with some of the details. This letter the
Duke showed to Peel, who was exceedingly pleased, and told him his
brother was quite right, and that his bill had been faulty in the
details which he had remarked upon.
[Footnote 23: [It was on October 25 that the Government authorised the
Bank of England to issue paper in excess of the limit imposed by the Act
of 1844. This measure led to the immediate meeting of Parliament to pass
a Bill of Indemnity, though the power was revoked on November 23.]]
_London, November 8th._--The Archbishop of York is dead.[24] He was in
no way remarkable except for the wonderful felicity of his whole life
from first to last. It would perhaps be difficult to find a greater
example of uninterrupted prosperity. He was not a man of great capacity
nor of profound learning, but he had peculiarly the _mens sana in
corpore sano_. He was nobly born and highly allied. He enjoyed robust
health, had a vigorous frame with a sound understanding, and he was
cheerfully obliging, good-tempered, and sociable; his profession, his
tastes, pursuits, and the quality of his mind cast him into the best and
choicest society, where he played his part not brilliantly but with an
amiable and graceful prosperity. He had many friends and no enemies, was
universally esteemed and respected, and beloved by his own family. He
was the most prosperous of men, full of professional dignities and
emoluments, and the inheritor of a large private fortune; he was the
father of a numerous family, whom he saw flourishing around him in
opulence and worldly success; he lived in the exercise of a magnificent
hospitality, and surrounded with social enjoyments. No misfortunes or
sorrows disturbed the placid current of his life, and his mental and
bodily faculties continued unimpaired to the last; his illness, which
lasted only a few hours, was without pain, and no more than the natural
exhaustion of ninety-one accomplished years. Such a life and such a
death so irreproachable and fortunate may well excite envy and
admiration. He and Mr. Grenville so conjoined in life died at the same
age, each having reached his ninety-first year, and within eleven months
of each other--men in their different ways equally prosperous, virtuous,
and happy.
[Footnote 24: [The Hon. Edward Harcourt, Archbishop of York, died on
November 5, in his ninety-first year.]]
[Sidenote: CRITICAL STATE OF IRELAND.]
_November 21st._--Parliament met on Thursday. There are very
queer-looking people among the new members, particularly Mr. Fox.[25] I
was introduced to him many years ago, when I went to Finsbury Square to
hear him preach; he was a very fine preacher, but I never have seen him
since.
The state of Ireland is awful. I have written to Clarendon repeatedly,
urging him to ask for great powers. He was reluctant, and wanted to try
the force of the law as it is, and the Cabinet were not disposed to
adopt strong coercive measures; but the public voice loudly demands
coercion and repression, and Lord Lansdowne told me yesterday he was
resolved to act in accordance with the general feeling. Parliament never
met in more difficult and disturbed times: complete disorganisation,
famine and ruin in Ireland, financial difficulty, general alarm and
insecurity here, want of capital, want of employment. It requires all
one's faith in the general soundness and inherent strength of 'the
thing' (as Cobbett called it) to silence one's apprehensions. Then
Colonial distress is impending, by which I am likely to be personally
affected to the extent perhaps of half what I possess. I thank God that
I regard this contingency with the utmost tranquillity or insensibility.
I should not like it, but if the necessity arises I hope and believe I
can make the necessary sacrifices and changes in my habits without
repining outwardly or inwardly. I have not heard or known much lately
that is worth recording, and I am in one of my fits of disinclination to
write.
[Footnote 25: [William Fox had entered life as a Unitarian Minister, and
he continued to preach for several years at the Finsbury Chapel of that
persuasion. But he subsequently quitted the pulpit, and was returned to
Parliament for the borough of Oldham in 1847. He became an active member
of the Radical Party, but his eloquence was less admired in the House of
Commons than it had been in his chapel.]]
[Sidenote: A LETTER FROM LORD CLARENDON.]
_December 1st._--I went to the House of Lords the night Parliament
opened, and heard Stanley's speech. It lasted above two hours, was a
declaration of war, very slashing and flashing, and drew forth vehement
cheers from the Lords behind him. It was a regular Stanleyan speech,
just like himself, and exhibits all his unfitness for the great
functions of government and legislation: not but what there was much
truth in a great deal he said, especially about Ireland. The next day
George Bentinck bellowed and gesticulated for two hours in the House of
Commons with the same violence but without the same eloquence as
Stanley. Everybody looked with impatience for the Irish measures, and
everybody expected (most people earnestly desiring) that they should be
as strong as they could be made. In the House of Lords I had seen the
Duke of Bedford for a moment, who told me they were the result of a
compromise between Clarendon and the Government, the latter refusing to
give all he had required, and the former having resolved not to stay
with less than he eventually obtained. The night before last Sir George
Grey introduced the Government measures, which appeared to almost
everybody insufficient for the object. Peel however supported them in a
very dexterous speech. He said he felt bound to support the Government
in whatever they thought fit to propose, and that it was not for
Parliament to force upon them greater powers than they in their
discretion required; but he hinted his apprehensions lest some of the
provisions of the Bill, or rather its deficiencies, would be found
obstructions of the objects in view. The Irish were evidently surprised
and had expected more stringent measures, and in truth it would have
been just as easy to carry a really efficient measure as this, which
will probably prove abortive. This morning I have a letter from
Clarendon, who tells me what took place between himself and the Cabinet
on the subject. He says, 'I expect the Bill will prove unsatisfactory to
all parties...nevertheless I hope it will answer not so much by its
own provisions as by the evidence it will afford that Parliament and the
Government are in earnest.... In the present temper of England fancy
what a figure the Government would have cut if they had opened
Parliament without any repressive measure and announced that the
ordinary law would prove sufficient, and that _to it_ things were left!
they would have been looked on as little better than accessories or
instigators, and at all events I have the satisfaction of having saved
them from this very serious scrape, which really would have caused an
immediate increase of murder here. No one could be more desirous than
myself to avoid Coercion Bills, or indeed to ask for any increased
powers; but when I found that the ordinary law was insufficient to
protect life and property, I sent over the heads of two Bills, both of
which I meant should be permanent--one for punishing districts in which
crimes were committed; the other for registering arms, &c.--a sort of
police regulation proper for any country and especially required for
Ireland. _These Bills were ignored by the Cabinet_, for which various
utterly inexplicable reasons were given, and Lord John Russell said he
hoped at least to get through the winter without any extraordinary
measures. I then wrote both to Lord Lansdowne and John Russell to say
that though I did not wish to cause them any embarrassment, and would
get on here as well as I could for as long as I could, yet that nothing
should induce me to remain an hour after I thought my power of
usefulness was gone, as I was sure it would be unless my hands were
strengthened. This produced an immediate change, and the only question
then was what would be the best form of repression. A good deal of time
was lost on this, and Sir George Grey at length proposed as a model one
of the Six Acts (1819). I did not like it very much, but I had no wish
obstinately to adhere to my own Bills, which perhaps might not have been
stringent enough, as they were proposed before things had got so bad and
the spirit of combination was so manifest, and they were moreover
intended to be permanent. So, after amending the Bill a little with the
law officers here, I consented to it, and hope it will not be a failure
when put into operation.' So that if Lord John and his Cabinet had been
left to themselves they would have done nothing, and have let the Irish
murderers do their worst with no other hindrance than the ordinary
course of law! Clarendon saved the Government by insisting; for if they
had met Parliament and proposed nothing, they would have been swept away
in a whirlwind of indignation. Addresses would have been proposed in
both Houses and carried by immense majorities, and the Government would
have been at an end.
_December 7th._--The Irish measures were introduced, and everybody was
surprised they were not stronger. Peel supported the Government, and
there was hardly any opposition. The Government people tell everybody
that Clarendon is satisfied with the measures, thinks they will prove
effective, and his name and authority silence objections. The day after
Grey's speech I met Peel in the Park. He was in high force and good
humour, and looking very fresh and well. After talking of some other
things, I said, 'You supported the Government very handsomely in their
Irish measure.' He replied, 'Yes, and I mean to support them; but they
have made a great mistake and missed a great opportunity; Parliament and
the country would have confided to the Lord Lieutenant any powers the
Government chose to ask for; they have totally misunderstood the state
of Ireland and the feeling and opinion of this country.' In short, he
entirely agreed with me that they ought to have asked for much stronger
coercive power. There are people nevertheless who think it of greater
importance to pass a measure quickly, and with nearly general
concurrence, and therefore that this is better than one more vigorous,
but which would be more strenuously opposed.
[Sidenote: THE DEFENCE OF THE COUNTRY.]
On Friday last Peel made a great speech on Wood's statement _in re_ the
Bank Charter. It was very able, and the Government were delighted
because he supported them so cordially; the Opposition cut a very
miserable figure and showed how wavering and uncertain they are, without
plan, object, or tactics. They divided on a question of adjournment, and
sent their weakness forth to the country, but did not move an amendment
on which they might have united all their force and caught many stray
votes. I saw Graham two days ago; he was chuckling over their
mismanagement, said that if they had moved that it should be an
instruction to the Committee to report at once on the Bill of 1844, they
would have put the Government into difficulties and might have divided a
large number; but he sees how disorganised and inefficient they are. He
talked about a great many things in an amicable strain towards the
Government, and a great deal on the defences of the country, about which
the Duke of Wellington is in such a perturbed state of mind.
The Duke wrote a very long and able letter to Sir John Burgoyne some
time ago on this subject; this letter Lady Burgoyne and her daughters
copied and distributed among their friends. Pigou, a meddling zealot,
who does nothing but read Blue Books and write letters to the 'Times'
and 'Chronicle,' contrived to get hold of a copy, and fired off a letter
to the 'Morning Chronicle,' with a part of its contents. The Duke was
not pleased at this, and Lord John Russell was very angry; it has made a
noise in the world. The Duke always accuses his old colleagues of doing
nothing about the defences, and turning a deaf ear to his remonstrances.
Graham says this is not true, and he showed me a very elaborate paper he
had drawn up for the Cabinet, with various recommendations, which he
left with Sir George Grey when he left the Home Office, and the copy of
a Bill for calling out the militia, which was also left with Fox Maule.
He talked about Ireland, and said that the Master of the Rolls (Smith)
had drawn up a Bill for the sale of entailed estates, which he
recommended Clarendon to look at. He told me that Peel thought this an
excellent Parliament, promising to be practical and business-like,
serious listeners and men intent on not letting the time of the House
be wasted as it has lately been by eternal talkers, and continual early
adjournments. Everybody was alarmed at the aspect of this Parliament at
first, even the Speaker, who thought it would be unmanageable. I laughed
at their fears from the first, and now everybody says it is an excellent
Parliament.
A few days ago I met Dr. Wiseman, and had much talk with him about Rome
and the Pope's recent rescript about the colleges in Ireland. He said it
was all owing to there being no English Ambassador at Rome, and no
representative of the moderate Irish clergy; Irish ecclesiastical
affairs were managed by Machale through Franzoni, head of the
Propaganda, and Father Ventura, who has the Pope's ear, and he strongly
advised that Murray and his party should send an agent to Rome, and that
Lord Minto[26] should communicate with Father Ventura, who is an able
and a good man, deeply interested in Irish affairs, and anxious for
British connexion. He talked a great deal about the Pope, who, he said,
had not time to enquire into these matters himself, and took his
inspirations from the above-named personages; that he is of unbending
firmness in all that relates to religion, but liberal and anxious to
conciliate England. He thinks the rescript may be early got rid of by a
little management, and he mentioned an instance of the Pope's good sense
and fairness in a matter relating to a Scotch educational establishment
in which a Dr. Gillies was concerned. I am going to speak to Lord John
Russell about these things, and to try and persuade him to send Normanby
as Ambassador to Rome; he is ready to go, and it would be a very good
appointment, besides the great advantage of getting him away from Paris,
where he is very uncomfortable, and feels the _gÍne_ and mortification
of his position.
[Footnote 26: [Lord Minto, then Lord Privy Seal, had been sent in the
course of this autumn on a roving mission to Italy. Pius IX. had been
elected Pope in June 1846.]]
[Sidenote: DR. HAMPDEN, BISHOP OF HEREFORD.]
_December 15th._--I called on Lord John Russell three days ago and told
him what Wiseman had said, and also about Normanby and Rome. He said he
had ordered a Bill to be drawn up to legalise our intercourse with the
Pope. I told him also what Graham desired me to do. He said he had read
his paper at the time, but made no further remarks on Graham's
communication. Last night in the House of Lords Stanley made a speech
about Minto and his mission, when Lord Lansdowne made a very good reply
and spoke out about our diplomatic relations with the Pope.
The Chancellor is very ill and not likely ever to sit again on the
Woolsack. Great speculation, of course, about his successor (which
people fancy will be Campbell or Rolfe), and Brougham is evidently not
without hopes of clutching the Great Seal himself. He has been attending
assiduously at the Judicial Committee and behaving marvellously well, so
attentive, patient, and laborious, everybody is astonished; but the Duke
of Bedford writes me word he has had letters from him expressing the
utmost anxiety to see him and talk to him _on a matter of great
importance which he can speak of to nobody else_, not even to Lord John
or to Lord Lansdowne, and signing himself, 'Your's most affectionately,
H. B.'! This is very amusing.
Hampden's bishopric has made a great stir after all:[27] thirteen
protesting bishops, a stout answer from Lord John, a long, very clever
rejoinder from the Bishop of Exeter, and a sensible protest the other
way from Bishop Stanley. There never was a greater piece of folly than
Lord John's bringing this hornet's nest about his ears, nothing could be
less worth while. It is not over yet, and there will be more kicking and
clamouring; but Lord John, however foolish he was in making the
appointment, must of course go through with it now, and then like
everything else it will be soon forgotten.
[Footnote 27: [Dr. Hampden, who was accused of heterodox opinions, and
whose appointment to a Canonry at Oxford had already occasioned an
explosion of bigotry and intolerance in the Church, was raised to the
See of Hereford by Lord John Russell, chiefly, as it would seem, as an
act of defiance to the Clerical party. Hampden was a dull, heavy man,
who made more noise in the world than he deserved, but he was not a bad
bishop.]]
_December 22nd._--On Sunday to the Temple Church; divine music and a
very good preacher--a Mr. Hawes. Monday night I dined with Milman and
went to the Westminster Play; pretty well done. The Hampden controversy
flares away. Hampden himself has written a long, querulous, ill-composed
letter to Lord John Russell, which he had better have let alone; if he
did write, he should have written a shorter, more pithy and more
dignified letter. Every day makes the fault of having appointed him more
apparent.
_December 24th._--Lord John Russell wrote an answer to the Bishop of
Exeter, correcting a mistake in the Bishop's letter, and assuring him of
his persuasion that he had conscientiously fulfilled his duty in
writing, and his respect for his talents and his position in the Church.
This brought a rejoinder which is a curiosity, written in a state of
delight at the politeness of Lord John, and abounding in suavities of
the most juicy description. Lord John persists that he has done a very
wise thing, and predicts that before long everybody will admit it, and
this opinion is grounded on the knowledge he has of the dangerous
progress of Tractarianism, which this appointment is calculated to
arrest.
I went yesterday to St. George's Hospital to see the chloroform tried. A
boy two years and a half old was cut for a stone. He was put to sleep in
a minute; the stone was so large and the bladder so contracted, the
operator could not get hold of it, and the operation lasted above twenty
minutes, with repeated probings by different instruments; the chloroform
was applied from time to time, and the child never exhibited the
slightest sign of consciousness, and it was exactly the same as
operating on a dead body. A curious example was shown of what is called
the _Ètiquette_ of the profession. The operator (whose name I forget)
could not extract the stone, so at last he handed the instrument to
Keate, who is the finest operator possible, and he got hold of the
stone. When he announced that he had done so, the first man begged to
have the forceps back that he might draw it out, and it was transferred
to him; but in taking it he let go the stone, and the whole thing had to
be done over again. It was accomplished, but not of course without
increasing the local inflammation, and endangering the life of the
child. I asked Keate why, when he had got hold of the stone, he did not
draw it out. He said the other man's 'dignity' would have been hurt if
he had not been allowed to complete what he had begun! I have no words
to express my admiration for this invention, which is the greatest
blessing ever bestowed on mankind, and the inventor of it the greatest
of benefactors, whose memory ought to be venerated by countless millions
for ages yet to come. All the great discoveries of science sink into
insignificance when compared with this. It is a great privilege to have
lived in the times which saw the production of steam, of electricity,
and now of ether--that is, of the development and application of them to
human purposes, to the multiplication of enjoyments and the mitigation
of pain. But wonderful as are the powers and the feats of the
steam-engine and the electric telegraph, the chloroform far transcends
them all in its beneficent and consolatory operations.
[Sidenote: AN OPERATION UNDER CHLOROFORM.]
_December 26th._--Lamartine's 'Histoire des Girondins' is the most
successful book that has been published for many years. He is the Jenny
Lind of literature; his book is on every table and in every mouth; it
just suits the half-informed and the idle, whom it dazzles, amuses, and
interests; but his apparent partiality shocks the humanity of the age;
and the generality of readers are unable to comprehend his philosophical
analysis, and psychological theories of Robespierre's character. One of
his most striking anecdotes is the conversation he gives between Louis
Philippe and Danton, in which, according to Lamartine, Danton predicts
to the young Duc de Chartres that he will one day be King, and tells him
when that happens to remember the prophecy of Danton. I last night asked
the Duc de Broglie[28] if that anecdote is true. He said it was not
true: the King indeed had had a conversation with Danton, when the
latter said to him, 'Young man, what do you do here? Your place is with
the army.' So much of it is true, but the rest--the essential part, the
prediction--is all false. The Duke told me he had read the King's own
account of the conversation in his own journal, where it is recorded as
he described. He said the King had kept a copious journal from a very
early period. He afterwards talked a great deal about him, of his great
industry and activity, of the quantity he read and wrote, and that he
read and commented upon all the documents submitted to him for his
signature. I regret not having made more acquaintance than I have done
here with the Duke de Broglie, and Jarnac gives me to understand that he
had rather expected me to cultivate him more than I have, and was
disposed to receive my advances. The chief reason for my not doing so
was that I found the greatest difficulty in understanding what he says.
[Footnote 28: [Victor, Duc de Broglie, was at this time French
Ambassador in London.]]
_January 1st, 1848._--The Hampden affair is still _boring_ on with
prejudicial effects to everybody concerned in it. Dean Merewether, who
is piqued and provoked at not having got the bishopric himself (which
William IV. once promised him), wrote a foolish, frothy letter to Lord
John Russell, who sent an equally foolish, because petulant, reply--only
in two lines. The Bishop of Oxford has recanted, and he of Salisbury has
apologised for their respective parts; the former in a very ridiculous
letter, not calculated to do him any credit. Everybody will believe that
he found his conduct unpalatable at Court, so took a pretext for
shuffling out of it.
[Sidenote: DEATH OF LORD HARROWBY.]
Last week, after a few days' illness, without pain or trouble, Lord
Harrowby died at Sandon, having just completed his eighty-fifth
year.[29] The three old friends, Tom Grenville, the Archbishop of York,
and Lord Harrowby, thus died all three of old age, peacefully and
painlessly, within twelve months. Lord Harrowby survived Mr. Grenville
exactly a year, and the Archbishop three months. He was the last of his
generation and of the colleagues of Mr. Pitt, the sole survivor of those
stirring times and mighty contests. He had all along such bad health
that half a century ago his life was considered a very bad one, and yet
he reached his eighty-sixth year with his faculties very little
impaired. He was at the top of the second-rate men, always honourable
and straightforward, generally liberal and enlightened, greatly esteemed
and respected. No man ever passed through a long political life more
entirely without blemish or suspicion. It is curious that in the
biographical notices of him, which according to the custom of the
present day have appeared in the newspapers, no mention, or hardly any,
has been made of by far the most remarkable transaction in which he ever
was engaged, that of procuring the passing of the second reading of the
second Reform Bill in the House of Lords--one of the most important
services, as it turned out, that any man ever rendered to his country.
In conjunction with Lord Wharncliffe he accomplished this, his conduct
being perfectly disinterested, for he had long before resolved never
again to take office, and had refused to be Prime Minister on the death
of Canning. I was in their confidence, and much concerned in the whole
of that transaction, as fully appears in my Journal of that period. His
speech on the first Reform Bill was very celebrated, exceedingly able,
and superior to any other he ever made. He was remarkably well informed.
Madame de StaÎl speaks of him somewhere as Lord Harrowby, 'qui connaÓt
notre littÈrature un peu mieux que nous-mÍmes;' but his precise manner
and tart disposition prevented his being agreeable in society. He was
very religious, very generous, and a man of the strictest integrity in
private and in public life. I lived a great deal with him, but all my
intimacy was with his admirable wife, whose virtues and merits I have
elsewhere recorded.
[Footnote 29: Dudley, second Baron and first Earl of Harrowby, born
December 22, 1782; died December 26, 1847.]
_Bowood, January 7th._--I came here on Tuesday to meet the Duke of
Bedford, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Devon, Lord Auckland, &c.
Wood talked to me about his scheme of taxation; he has been in great
doubt how he should apportion and increase (as he must) the income-tax,
whether _income_ or _property_. After much consideration he appears to
have nearly made up his mind to impose three per cent. on Ireland, and
to raise it in England to five, or perhaps something less; to announce
that the increase is to be temporary, but the three per cent. to be
permanent; and then, on the strength of the extension to Ireland, to
propose a grant to that country, without which Clarendon cannot get on.
Peel will concur in this plan.
Great talk here of George Bentinck's resignation of the leadership of
the Opposition. John Russell and his colleagues are very sorry for it;
nobody can think of a successor to him, and, bad as he is, he seems the
best man they have. It seems they detest Disraeli, the only man of
talent, and in fact they have nobody; so much so, that Wood thinks they
will be obliged to go back to George Bentinck: a very strange state of
things! George Bentinck and Stanley disagree on many points, especially
on taxation; nevertheless this party, thus acephalous and feeble, have
really been fancying they could come into office, and their notion is
that if the dissolution had been delayed they would have had a majority,
and would have come in. The Duke of Beaufort told Bessborough so very
seriously, and Lady Jersey told me the same thing, and that George
Bentinck had promised her son Francis a place at the India Board! These
things are hardly credible, but they are nevertheless true.
[Sidenote: THE HAMPDEN CONTROVERSY.]
The Hampden war has been turning greatly to the advantage of the Doctor;
his enemies have exposed themselves in the most flagrant manner, and
Archdeacon Hare has written a very able pamphlet also exposing the
rascality (for that is the proper word) of his accusers, and affording
his own valuable testimony to Hampden's orthodoxy; above all things, Sly
Sam of Oxford (my would-be director and confessor) has covered himself
with ridicule and disgrace. The disgrace is the greater because
everybody sees through his motives: he has got into a scrape at Court
and is trying to scramble out of it; there, however, he is found out,
and his favour seems to have long been waning. The Duke of Bedford tells
me the Queen and Prince are in a state of hot zeal in this matter. The
Prince writes to Lord John every day, and urges him to prosecute Dean
Merewether, which of course Lord John is too wise to do. That Dean is a
very paltry fellow, and has moved heaven and earth to get made a bishop
himself; besides memorialising the Queen, he wrote to Lord Lansdowne and
suggested to him to put an end to the controversy by making him a bishop
now, and Hampden at the next vacancy. The whole proceeding reflects
great discredit on the great mass of clergymen who have joined in the
clamour against Hampden, and on the Oxonian majority who condemned him,
for it is now pretty clear that very few, if any, of them had ever read
his writings. Now that they are set forth, and people see his
unintelligible jargon about dogmas themselves unintelligible, there must
be some dispassionate men who will be disgusted and provoked with the
whole thing, and at the ferocity with which these holy disputants
assault and vituperate each other about that which none of them
understand, and which it is a mere mockery and delusion to say that any
of them really believe; it is cant, hypocrisy, and fanaticism from
beginning to end. There is that old fawning sinner, the Bishop of
Exeter; it appears that a dozen years ago he called on Hampden at Oxford
to express to him the pleasure with which he had read his Bampton
Lectures, and to compliment him on them. The Archbishop of Dublin was
present on this occasion.
_January 12th._--From Bowood to Middleton on Saturday, to town on Monday
10th. The morning I left Bowood, Senior showed me the correspondence
(not published) between the Bishop of Oxford and Hampden. It is
creditable to the latter; the former really very despicable. The Bishop
put a parcel of questions to him as to his belief on points of faith and
doctrine, some of which were the most ordinary matter of belief, others
unintelligible. Hampden said he might have regarded such questions on
the most elementary points of doctrine as an insult, but he would accept
his assurances that they were put in a friendly spirit (though he must
say much of his conduct was at variance with such professions) and would
therefore say 'Yes' to all of them. To his last letter announcing his
having withdrawn the charges and read his works, Hampden merely sent a
dry acknowledgement of having received the letter.
_January 17th._--Still this Hampden affair. Kelly got a rule in Queen's
Bench, and it will be argued in a few days. Tractarians hope from the
known Puseyism of Coleridge and Patteson that the rule may be made
absolute; but the lawyers don't expect it and think a _strong_ Court
would not have given a rule. However, it shows the anomaly (not to say
worse) of the whole ecclesiastical proceeding under the Act of Henry
VIII. The High Churchmen, who want a separation of State from Church,
though it does not seem clear what it is they contemplate, are all on
the _qui vive_, and fancy their projects are put in a fair train by all
these proceedings; but though some of my friends think very seriously of
these crotchets, I believe they are very despicable and harmless. This
morning I got a letter from the Duke of Bedford enclosing one from
William Cowper to him, informing him what took place when Hampden was
made Regius Professor. William Cowper had given me some account of it at
the time, which I inserted in my journal, and I copied it out for the
Duke of Bedford during our discussion. I don't find that this more
detailed account varies much from the other, though it contains several
more particulars, and one relating to the Archbishop's nominees curious
enough. His account of the transaction is this, saying he got it from
Lord Melbourne, and by reference to letters which passed at the time:
'The Archbishop of Canterbury came to Lord Melbourne to announce the
death of Dr. Burton. In the conversation that ensued my uncle requested
the Archbishop to send him the names of the persons that occurred to him
as best qualified for the situation, and begged him not to confine the
list to a small number. The Archbishop sent a list including Pusey,
Newman, and Keble; and if it was, as I believe, the list of the
Archbishop which is now before me, it contained the names; but it is
possible he may have sent only six, and that the other three were added
from another quarter. Lord Melbourne sent the nine names to the
Archbishop of Dublin (Whately) without mentioning who had recommended
them, and he justified the confidence reposed in him by giving a full
and impartial statement of what he conceived to be the qualifications of
each. But previous to this he had been consulted by Lord Melbourne, and
asked whom he would recommend, and had written, on 22nd January, 1836, a
long letter in which he said: "The best fitted for a theological
professorship that I have any knowledge of are Dr. Hampden and Dr.
Hinds, afterwards Principal of Alban Hall; the qualifications I allude
to, and which they both possess in a higher degree than any others I
could name, are, first, sound learning; secondly, vigour of mind to
wield that learning, without which the other is undigested food; and
thirdly, the moral and intellectual character adapted for conveying
instruction. Both Hinds and Hampden are what are considered of liberal
sentiments, but agree with me in keeping aloof from parties political
and ecclesiastical."... Lord Melbourne doubted for some time between
Arnold and Hampden, but, thinking the former rather too rash and
unsettled in his opinions for so responsible a post, decided in favour
of the latter; and it was not till after he had made up his mind that
Hampden was the fittest person that he asked Dr. Copleston to give him
his opinion of him, which opinion was so favourable that it confirmed
him in his choice; he did not send any list to Copleston. You may rely
on the accuracy of this statement as far as it goes.' The Duke also told
me in his letter that there had been a very curious correspondence
between Prince Albert and the Bishop of Oxford.
[Sidenote: THE HAMPDEN CASE.]
_January 18th._--I have this morning received a copy of the Archbishop
of Canterbury's letter to Lord John about making Hampden Bishop of
Manchester. Lord John wrote to him for his opinion, and here is his
reply:--
My dear Lord,--During the ten years which have passed since Dr.
Hampden was appointed Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford,
I have no reason to believe that he has taught from the Chair
any doctrines at variance with the Articles of our Church; and
in justice to him I must say that I have discovered nothing
objectionable in the few publications of his which I have seen and
which are ably written; of his discretion or talents for business
I have no means of judging. These qualifications may be more
than ordinarily required in the first Bishop of such a place as
Manchester. I have the honour to be, &c.
W. CANTUAR.
This is his letter, which certainly warranted Lord John in saying 'he
received no discouragement from the Archbishop of Canterbury.' It
amounts very nearly to a sanction of the appointment; and nothing but
the Archbishop's age, and the timidity, both natural to him and
belonging to his age, can excuse his not having taken a more active part
in allaying the irritation than he has done. So far as the Archbishop
was concerned, Lord John understated his case.
_January 21st._--Dined on Wednesday with Baron Rolfe--Campbell,
Langdale, Wilde, and Solicitor-General (Dundas); much talk about the
rule in Queen's Bench (in Hampden's case), and whether the law must be
altered. Campbell against alteration, the rest thinking there must be
some, and the old law of Edward VI. making the bishoprics donative
restored. This is what Lushington told me must be done.[29]
[Footnote 30: [On December 11 an attempt was made to arrest the
confirmation of Dr. Hampden as Bishop of Hereford in the church of St.
Mary-le-Bow. But this was overruled by the Commissioners. On December 24
the Attorney-General showed cause against a rule _nisi_ granted on the
14th by the Court of Queen's Bench, for a mandamus against the
Archbishop of Canterbury. Judgement was given on February 1. Mr. Justice
Coleridge and Mr. Justice Erle were in favour of granting the mandamus;
Lord Denman, C. J., and Mr. Justice Patteson against it. The Court being
equally divided, no mandamus was issued.]]
[Sidenote: THE QUEEN OF SPAIN.]
_January 22nd._--Aston[31] called on me yesterday, and told me a great
deal about Spain and Spanish affairs. He thinks it is the object of
Queen Christina to destroy the Queen, her daughter, and that she will
accomplish it; that she has always hated her, and prefers (without
caring much for her) the Infanta; he thinks that by medical treatment
the cutaneous disease with which the Queen has been always afflicted has
been thrown in, and hence the epileptic fits by which she has been
recently attacked; he says that they have lately put about her a French
doctor, since which all her Spanish physicians have declined to attend
her. I own I cannot believe anything so horrible as this implies, but it
accords with suspicions from other quarters. He told me that Espartero
before he left England showed him a letter he had received from the
Queen's music-master, a devoted adherent of his who had continued to
correspond with him. This man was an eye-witness of the scene which took
place when the Queen was forced by Serrano to take Narvaez for her
Minister, having been by accident in the adjoining apartment. The
details are revolting, and show, if true, that the Queen is nearly under
duresse and incapable of any freedom of action. She has, however, one
chance of emancipation, and that is in the attachment to her of the
people of Madrid, which is general and enthusiastic. She has all the
Manolas to a woman, and through them their lovers, brothers, and
friends; they would rise _en masse_ for her if called upon. Christina is
universally unpopular and yet remains there; she is gorged with riches
and in possession of uncontrolled power. When she left Spain in 1843 she
stripped the palace of all the plate and all the crown jewels of
enormous value; of all the gold and silver services there were not six
spoons left. Espartero appointed a committee to enquire into the
disappearance of the crown jewels, but they begged leave not to report
to avoid the scandalous exposure of the Queen's mother, and she was left
in possession of her spoil. The young Queen was found without clothes to
her back; the Marchioness of Santa Cruz told Aston she had only six
pairs of darned cotton stockings which hurt her legs, then sore with her
cutaneous disease. Aston said that Bulwer was constantly intriguing,
foiled, found out, and not trusted by any party or any individual.
[Footnote 31: [Sir Arthur Aston was Secretary of Legation in Spain.]]
_Brocket, January 22nd._--I came here this afternoon, Melbourne having
at last invited me. I have been intimately acquainted with him for
thirty-five years, and he never before (but once to dinner) asked me
into his house. He expects people to come, and at dinner to-day he
proclaimed his social ideas and wishes. 'I wish,' he said, 'my friends
to come to me whenever they please, and I am mortified when they don't
come.' I told him he ought to send out circulars to that effect. He is
well and in good spirits, and ready to talk by fits and starts, very
anti-Peel and anti-Free-trade, rattled away against men and things,
especially against several of his old friends in particular. As usual,
he put forth some queer sayings, such as that 'Nobody ever did anything
very foolish except from some strong principle,' he had remarked that.
He said very little about the Hampden quarrel, only that he 'thought
Lord John might have avoided it.' He said he had wished to make Arnold a
bishop, but somebody told him if he did he thought the Archbishop would
very likely refuse to consecrate him; so he gave up the idea without
finding out what the Archbishop thought of it. Beauvale was very strong
against Palmerston and delighted with the articles in the 'Times'
attacking his administration and his letter to the Greek Government; he
thought it very lucky he had not gone to Paris, where he must have
quarrelled with Palmerston for not obeying his absurd instructions, and
said _qu'il avait passÈ par l‡_ at Vienna. When he was there, Lady
Westmorland told him she had been commissioned to give him a hint that
he would not be able to remain there and oppose Palmerston as he often
did. He asked her who told her this; she said _Melbourne_! This was the
way the Prime Minister tried to prevent a rupture between his brother
and his brother-in-law, not daring to face Palmerston, though
disapproving of his policy and his ways. Well might Beauvale say
Palmerston would always have his way, for he was bold, resolute, and
unscrupulous; he would not yield to others, and would make all others
yield to him; and he is unchecked by public opinion here, nobody knowing
or caring anything about foreign affairs. Lady Beauvale told me some
anecdotes of the Royal children, which may some day have an interest
when time has tested and developed their characters. The Princess Royal
is very clever, strong in body and in mind; the Prince of Wales weaker
and more timid.
[Sidenote: A CORRECTED DESPATCH.]
_January 26th._--Came back from Brocket on Monday. Melbourne not much
inclined to talk; he dines at a quarter-past seven, and he went to bed,
or at least to his room, at half-past eight. He is as anti-Palmerstonian
as his brother, agreed with me that Palmerston had all along greatly
exaggerated the importance of the Spanish marriage. Much talk with
Beauvale, particularly about Palmerston; he told me an anecdote of him
which shows the man and how difficult he is to manage. During the
Spanish discussions Beauvale was at Windsor, and one day when the Prince
was in his room the draft of a despatch from Palmerston arrived to Lord
John Russell, which he wanted to show to the Prince, and afterwards to
submit to the Queen for her sanction. Finding the Prince was in
Beauvale's room, he came there and read out the despatch. There was a
paragraph in it saying the succession of the Duchesse de Montpensier's
children would be inadmissible by the constitutional law of Spain (or
words to this effect). Lord John said he thought this ought to be
expunged; that we might say what we pleased as to the effect of
treaties, but it did not become _us_ to lay down the constitutional law
of Spain; the Prince and Beauvale both concurred, and Lord John said he
would strike out this passage, and submit it so amended to the Queen. He
did so, and Her Majesty took the same view. It was returned so altered
to Palmerston; but when the despatch was published, it was found that
Palmerston had re-inserted the paragraph, and so it stood. What more may
have passed I know not, but it is clear that they all _stood_ it, as
they always will.
Lady Beauvale gave me an account of the scene at dinner at Windsor when
Melbourne broke out against Peel (about the Corn Laws). She was sitting
next Melbourne, who was between her and the Queen; he said pretty much
what I have somewhere else stated, and he would go on though it was
evidently disagreeable to the Queen, and embarrassing to everybody
else. At last the Queen said to him, 'Lord Melbourne, I must beg you not
to say anything more on this subject now; I shall be very glad to
discuss it with you at any other time,' and then he held his tongue. It
is however an amiable trait in her, that while she is austere to almost
everybody else, she has never varied in her attachment to him, and to
him everything has always been permitted; he might say and do what he
liked. Now she constantly writes to him, never forgets his birthday.
The Attorney-General[32] has got into a scrape about his son's election,
but it remains to be seen if he will not get out of it; there was a
petition against young Jervis, and they gave the petitioners 1,500_l._
to drop it. The bargain was discovered, and other parties presented a
petition just in time. Dundas would be thrown into a great embarrassment
by anything that removed the Attorney-General; he _could_ not succeed;
the Government would not have him, nor would he undertake it; he has no
briefs, a thing unheard of for a Solicitor-General, and the Government
found him so useless that they ceased to consult him, and desirous of
getting somebody more efficient, they proposed to him to be
Judge-Advocate, which however he refused: he hardly could have accepted
it. He has many good qualities, is agreeable, and I like him; he is
honourable, high-minded, proud, charitable, generous, accomplished,
well-informed, and clever; but he is weak, timid, fastidious, affected,
sentimental and very often absurd, and in no small degree a _humbug_.
Altogether he is unfit for rough work and active life, either forensic
or political.
[Footnote 32: [Sir John Jervis was at this time Attorney-General,
afterwards Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. Sir David Dundas was
Solicitor-General.]]
[Sidenote: LETTER TO MR. COBDEN.]
_February 8th._--A fortnight ago on Saturday week I went to the Grotes,
at Burnham Beeches; Mrs. Butler and Prandi, a Piedmontese patriot, and
formerly refugee, now restored by the adoption of liberal principles in
Piedmont. He was condemned to death above twenty years ago, and escaped
with great difficulty. He has lived ever since in London.
On Monday we received news of the revolution in Sicily, of the
concessions extorted from the King, and since of the promulgation of a
constitution at Naples.
On Saturday week I read in the newspapers the speech Cobden made at
Manchester abusing the Duke of Wellington, and scouting the national
defences. On Wednesday I wrote a letter to him in the 'Times,' which has
had great success.[33] I have received innumerable compliments and
expressions of approbation about it from all quarters, and the old Duke
is pleased. I had no idea of making such a _hit_, but the truth is,
everybody was disgusted at Cobden's impertinence and (it may be added)
folly. His head is turned by all the flattery he has received, and he
has miserably exposed himself since his return to England, showing that
he is a man of one idea and no statesman.
[Footnote 33: [This letter is reprinted in the Appendix to this
volume.]]
There was a meeting yesterday at Lord Stanley's to choose a leader, but
they parted without doing anything. Stanley said it was not for him to
point out a leader to the members of the House of Commons, and he
eulogised George Bentinck, who has taken his place on the back benches.
They are to meet again to-morrow, and it is supposed Granby[34] will be
their choice! Except his high birth he has not a single qualification
for the post; he is tall and good-looking, civil and good-humoured, if
these are qualifications, but he has no others; and yet this great party
can find no better man.
[Footnote 34: [The Marquis of Granby, born May 16, 1815, succeeded his
father as Duke of Rutland in 1857.]]
_February 10th._--The Protectionists met yesterday and elected Granby,
all the world laughing at their choice. It appears that the reports of
George Bentinck's easy and good-humoured retirement are not true.[35]
There was an angry correspondence, much heat, and considerable doubt
about the successor; some being for Stafford, the majority for Granby,
in the proportions of 60 to 40.
[Footnote 35: [Lord George Bentinck threw up the leadership of the
Protectionist party in a fit of ill-humour, caused by some reflections
of Major Beresford, which showed, he said, that he had not the
confidence of the party. Mr. Disraeli called him 'a wrong-headed man,'
although they had for some time worked together with apparent
cordiality.]]
_February 13th._--On Friday I was with Graham for a long time, who
talked of everything, affairs at home and abroad. He expressed a doubt
if the Ministers were up to their work and capable of coping with all
their difficulties, said Peel was 'more _sullen_ than he had seen him,'
and had the same doubts, but nevertheless was more than ever resolved
never to take office. He hoped, however, that Lord John might bring
forward the state of the nation on Friday, and by making a great speech
upon it show he was up to his situation; talked a good deal of colonial
matters, and said the change in our commercial policy brought about the
necessity of a great one in our colonial policy, that we ought to limit
instead of extending our colonial empire, that Canada must soon be
independent. He condemned the Caffre war, and extension of the Cape
Colony, that we ought only to have a _Gibraltar_ there, a house of call;
condemned New Zealand and Labuan and Hong Kong; considered the West
India interest as gone, and dilated at great length (and very well) on
these points. Then on foreign affairs, which he thinks very critical,
especially estranged as we are from France, he wants Beauvale to be sent
to Paris and Vienna to concert measures, and try to avert the dangers he
apprehends. He is for 'defence,' but says the only way is to draw our
troops home which are scattered over our useless and expensive
dependencies. He is entirely against the squadron on the African coast
and keeping up that humbug, which he says costs directly and indirectly
a million a year. I told him Auckland said it only cost 300,000_l._; he
replied, it was not so, and that including indirect expenses it cost a
million. The Caffres cost another million, and now that we were going to
add to the income-tax, it would only be endured by showing that we had
made or would make every practicable reduction, and that we maintained
no establishments that were not really necessary. He highly approved of
my letter.
[Sidenote: A DINNER OF LAWYERS.]
_February 18th._--Dr. Sumner, Bishop of Chester, is appointed Archbishop
of Canterbury, a great mortification to the Tractarians, and great joy
to the Low Church; but he is so excellent a man, and has done so well in
his diocese, that the appointment will be generally approved. I went
last night to the Lords to hear Lord Lansdowne bring in the Diplomatic
Bill (with Rome); he made a very good speech.
I could not stay out the debate, being engaged to dine with Chief
Justice Wilde, where we had a great party almost all lawyers, Parke,
Alderson, Lushington, Talfourd. I sat next to Alderson, and found him a
very agreeable man, Senior Wrangler, Senior Medallist, a judge (and
really a lawyer), a wit; a life all of law and letters, such as I might
have led if I had chosen the good path. I always think of this when I
meet such men who have 'scorned delights, and lived laborious days,' and
now enjoy the benefit thereof. He told me he had been writing an
exercise in the morning for one of his sons at Oxford, a dialogue
between Erasmus and More, on the preference of the Latin to the Greek as
a universal language. There is a good saying going about of the Court of
Exchequer and its Barons; it runs thus--Parke settles the law, Rolfe
settles the fact, Alderson settles the bar, Platt settles nothing,
Pollock unsettles everything. Campbell is anxious to write again, and
talked to me of writing the history of the Reform Bill. I told him I
could give valuable materials, but that it is not yet time. He wants me
to write memoirs of the last twenty years, and was pleased to say no man
was so well qualified to do it. This is not true, but I have some
qualifications from personal acquaintance with the actors and knowledge
of the events of that period, and I might have had, and ought to have
had, much more, but my habits and pursuits have prevented me, and only
left me mere snatches of such real knowledge as could be turned to
account.
_February 20th._--At the House of Lords on Friday night, for the
Committee on the Diplomatic Bill. Government beaten by three, and all by
bad management; several who ought to have been there, and might easily
have been brought up, were absent: the Duke of Bedford, Duke of
Devonshire, Lord Petre, a Catholic, dawdling at Brighton, and Beauvale.
The Duke of Wellington, with his deafness, got into a complete
confusion, and at the last moment voted against Government. It was a
melancholy thing to see Stanley with Beaufort on one side of him, and
Buckingham on the other, now going into a corner with the Bishop of
Exeter, now earwigging Lord Kenyon, thus prostrating his fine talents to
the folly and bigotry of the titled, tinselled mob, in the midst of whom
he sits. Aberdeen behaved very ill, and spoke against admitting
ecclesiastics; indeed, against any Nuncio, which was all wrong and
untrue as to fact, and which he was crammed with by Bunsen. I did not
stay it out, but went away to dinner, where I met Dr. Logan, head of
Oscott; a very able man, very pleasing and good-looking, and neither in
manner nor dress resembling a Roman Catholic priest. He is supposed to
be the writer of Lord Shrewsbury's letters. He told Panizzi, however,
that he was sorry to find that the English Catholics were very indignant
with Lord Shrewsbury for having written these letters, which is very
strange and very lamentable, for it has always been believed that they
were more liberal and well-disposed than the Irish, and regarded with
horror the excesses of MacHale and Co.
On Friday night Lord John Russell brought forward his financial
statement, in a speech which has been much criticised. He seems to have
treated the subject of defence, and to have alluded to the military
establishments of France, in a style far from judicious; his speech and
his plan were very ill received, and the state of the House was
considered to be ominous and alarming; dissatisfaction was expressed in
all quarters, and opposition threatened upon the most opposite grounds.
Disraeli and Cobden both spoke against him, and the former vehemently
attacked the latter, and made a very clever speech. Cobden's tone and
spirit were bad, and, so far as can be judged of his intentions, he
means to go to work in the line of pure democracy, and with the object
of promoting the power of the middle classes over that of the
aristocracy. The most serious blow to the Government was the speech of
Francis Baring, which told mightily. On the whole, the impression is
very bad; people are gloomy, frightened, and angry; the Government
inspires no confidence; the great monetary and commercial interests do
not think Lord John and Charles Wood equal to their situation, and they
cast back longing eyes towards Peel. This Macgregor told me yesterday,
and it is confirmed by various signs.
[Sidenote: THE WHIGS AND THE PEELITES.]
Yesterday morning John Russell sent for me, and asked me to go to Graham
and speak to him about the 'Godless' Colleges, and the payment of
professors, giving me a letter of Clarendon's about it, which I was to
show Graham with Clarendon's scheme, and ask if it was in accordance
with their Bill, and if he and Peel would approve of it. Graham said he
did approve, and would support the scheme, but he advised a different
mode of paying the professors (by a vote in the estimates instead of
paying them out of the 7,000_l._ a year given by the Act), which Lord
John agreed to adopt. We had much talk about the House of Commons and
the state of things. Graham thought the appearance of the House very
alarming, said Lord John spoke well in a very difficult position, rather
defended him, found fault with some of the details of the estimates, and
thought they might have adjusted their taxation differently. Neither he
nor Peel said a word on Friday. Peel went away after Lord John's speech.
I can see that the Whigs are in a state of continual uneasiness about
Peel and Graham and the Peelites. They hear it constantly repeated that
Peel will not take office, and has announced that he will be no leader
of a party, but they look with great apprehension towards Lincoln, who
is certainly ambitious of playing a great part, and preparing to do so;
and they suspect Peel is secretly aiding and encouraging him. The
'Morning Chronicle' is believed by the Government people to have been
bought by Lincoln.[36] It is certain that its tone is quite altered.
Old Delane (father of the 'Times' editor) has got the management of it,
and a Mr. Cook, who was employed for two years under Lincoln in the
Duchy of Cornwall, is editor. When Easthope sold it, he tried to bargain
for its continued support of Palmerston, which was flatly refused. Young
Delane told me the paper meant to support the Government, but it has
begun by an attack on Grey, and has evinced no very friendly feeling to
Lord John himself. The state of affairs is to the last degree
extraordinary and perplexing.
[Footnote 36: [The 'Morning Chronicle' newspaper was sold by Sir John
Easthope, and purchased by Lord Lincoln, Sidney Herbert, and the other
followers of Sir Robert Peel. It was conducted with ability, but it
failed to command public support, and after a few years, and the loss of
a great deal of money, the old Whig organ sank altogether.]]
[Sidenote: DIFFICULTIES OF THE GOVERNMENT.]
Delane came to me yesterday morning to talk over the ministerial
_exposÈ_ and its effects. He said nothing could be worse, that it was
_fatal_, that there was no use in attempting to defend them. He found
people in the City all against the plan, that it could not pass; and he
talked of nothing but defeat and resignation, without being able to
suggest any possible alternative. He says, however, that people don't
care for this, that they are reckless, that the Government must not look
to be carried through, _for fear they should resign_, and because there
is nobody to take their places; that nobody will be frightened by this,
but that their measure will be opposed, let what may come of it. Others
think differently, and Tom Baring told me last night that he thought,
notwithstanding the discontent, they would find support enough for their
purpose. It is difficult, however, as yet, in the midst of the
uncertainty, excitement, and discontent that prevail, to form any
plausible conclusion as to their prospect. There can be no doubt that,
as a Government, their position is very unenviable; they are not strong
in numbers--that is, they have not an absolute majority of the House of
Commons--and they are in a minority in the House of Lords. They enjoy no
confidence, and no favour; neither collectively nor individually
are they strong in public confidence and attachment. There is no
enmity to them, and they have a sort of negative support, as being
well-intentioned, honest, tolerably capable, and, from the state of
parties, the only possible Government. But they are surrounded with
cavilling, discontented people, and fragments of parties, all animated
with particular objects and designs of their own, which are not yet
ripe--people biding their time, and looking for their overthrow. There
are the Protectionists, without any leader, and absolutely unable to
find one; the Peelite staff, with a dozen men fit to lead, and most of
them willing, but still kept asunder by the old film of political
repulsion, the ever-burning hatred of Peel and Peelites on one side, and
the honour and feeling which forbids any desertion of, or disrespect to,
Peel on the other; and these feelings will still keep the two
Conservative sections in this antagonistic state, till events and common
interests, Heaven knows how or when, bring them together. There are,
however, enormous difficulties, inherent in such a state of things, and
aggravated by their continuance, and among them none greater than
Stanley's position, and the egregious folly of his conduct. This is, in
truth, the great security which the present Government has for keeping
in office. If they are defeated, and offer to resign, no other
Government will be found possible, and they will be forced to stay in;
but I doubt much, even in such a contingency, if they would be able to
do so entirely on their own terms, and they would never dare to make
public opinion, if unmistakeably expressed, surrender at discretion.
_February 23rd._--On Monday night Wood came suddenly down to the House
of Commons, and proposed to refer the Army and Navy Estimates to a
secret Committee, and then the miscellaneous estimates. This scheme was
violently attacked, particularly the secrecy. Disraeli spoke forcibly
against it. Peel came to the rescue. The effect was very bad: a
confession of weakness and perplexity, and the Government lost credit.
Last night Wood again proposed the Committees, owned he was wrong about
their being _secret_, and asked for 'select.' Disraeli attacked him very
severely; Peel came forward handsomely, spoke for the Committees, but
defended the estimates, and talked very sensibly about them and
defences, ridiculing Ellesmere's letter very much. Delane had a long
interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer the day before yesterday,
who told him he had been driven to his present expedient by the
deplorable effect of Lord John's speech, which appears to have inflicted
_tortures_ on his colleagues all the time he was delivering it. He not
only (Wood said) said all that he ought not to have done, and made great
mistakes in his way of dealing with the subject, but he omitted a great
part of what he was to have said, two points especially: Ireland, and
what had been done there, and the Spanish marriage question, _which it
had been his intention to throw over_! It certainly is remarkable that
he showed none of the tact and dexterity which usually pre-eminently
distinguish him; he had not been well, and was oppressed with the
subject. The effect was very bad, and, as usual, his meaning
ridiculously distorted and misrepresented. All the friends of the
Government are exceedingly alarmed, and we do certainly appear to be
very near a deadlock.
[Sidenote: LORD WILLIAM HERVEY.]
In reference to the Spanish marriage question, I have had some concern
in stopping what would have been a very mischievous publication. William
Hervey, who is mad on it, has written an elaborate _polÈmique_ in the
shape of a pamphlet, or rather book. He sent this over last summer to
Clarendon, who, not having time to read it, asked George Lewis to
prepare it for, and correct, the press; but first it was sent to
Palmerston. He kept it some months, and about Christmas sent it to
Lewis, with his imprimatur; Lewis, by accident, mentioned it to me just
as he was correcting the last sheets. I thought it so objectionable that
I begged him not to let it be published without John Russell's knowledge
and approval. Lord John said he would not let it appear, for such a
publication, at the moment when the Duchesse de Montpensier's
_grossesse_ is announced, would be irritating to the last degree, and
nothing could be more indiscreet.[37]
[Footnote 37: [Lord William Hervey, then First Secretary of Embassy at
Paris, had taken up the question of the Spanish Marriages with extreme
warmth. He it was who mainly disinterred and relied upon the
renunciations annexed to the Treaty of Utrecht, which were designed to
exclude any other branch of the House of Bourbon from the Spanish
throne. Lord Palmerston adopted these arguments, but without effect, as,
indeed, the whole state of Europe had changed; and Lord John Russell
never thought there was much weight in them. Lord William Hervey was a
highly accomplished and honourable diplomatist, third son of the Marquis
of Bristol. His health was bad, and he died in May 1850, at the age of
forty-five.]]