CHAPTER XIV

LITERATURE AND POLITICS

Early in August Mrs. Henry Reeve had gone on a visit into Dorsetshire, and

at the time of her husband's return from Aix was in Cornwall--at Pencarrow,

near Bodmin--on a visit to her old friend, Lady Molesworth. Reeve, thus

left to himself, started almost immediately for Scotland on a visit to Sir

James Clark, who, with Lady Clark and his son--the present baronet--was

then living up Dee-side at Birk Hall, lent him by the Queen.

The Journal's scanty notices of a very interesting visit can be happily

replaced by extracts from the letters which he wrote almost daily to his

wife at Pencarrow.

_To Mrs. Henry Reeve_

Birk Hall, Ballater, September 1st.

My dearest wife,--Matters have turned out here very pleasantly. I proceeded

to Aboyne by rail, and then posted along the Dee-side to this place--the

Strath most beautiful; a lovely mixture of wood, water, and heather, with

mountains beyond. I got here just before six, and found the Clarks and Van

de Weyers sitting down to an early dinner in order to go to the Gillies'

Ball at Balmoral, in honour of the Prince's birthday, to which I found

myself also invited. We drove up to the Castle, which is eight miles off,

through a fine wooded glen, in the moonlight. The old house of Balmoral has

quite disappeared, and the Castle is now a very fine edifice, decorated in

excellent taste. On arriving, we waited in the library, where arrived Lady

John Russell and her boys, the Farquharsons of Invercauld, young Peel

[Footnote: Robert Kennedy Peel; son of Lady Alice and Colonel Peel, who had

been Secretary of State for War in the Derby Ministry of 1858-9.] (Lady

A.'s son), the William Russells, the Duke of Argyll--and then the Court.

Nobody was in mourning, as it was a birthday; the Queen in white, with a

floating sash of Royal Stuart tartan from her shoulders: about half the men

in kilts. The Queen made a circle, and then we went into the ball-room,

where about a hundred and fifty of the tenants, servants, &c., with their

wives and daughters, were assembled. Reels then began, which were danced

with great energy, and also jigs--very droll. Prince Arthur danced like

mad; and Princess Alice was 'weel ta'en out' by the gamekeeper. I stood

in a corner talking with the Duke of Argyll, &c. At last the Prince came

round, and conversed very courteously for ten minutes. He had heard I

had been in Germany lately, so we soon got into the heart of German and

Austrian questions. All this lasted two hours, and then the Queen withdrew

into the supper-room, where there were sandwiches and champagne. She went

round again, and talked to Lord Melville, behind whom I was standing, and

then made me a very gracious bow, but without saying anything to myself.

Soon afterwards we drove home, and got back here at half-past one. To-day

we are going up to Balmoral again to write our names and see the Castle;

and to-morrow the Queen is coming here to call on Mme. Van de Weyer. I am

rather amused, after divers recent occurrences, to find myself in so much

royalty, and I had not anticipated any civility from them. But I see

the Clarks are very kind about it, having had Helps here last week, and

probably are desirous to remove any misconception which may have existed.

So that, in fact, nothing can turn out better, and I have certainly no

reason to be dissatisfied with my reception.

Ever yours most affectionately,

H. REEVE.

_Birk Hall, September 4th_.--At last we have got a beautiful day, quite

warm and bright. Nothing can be more lovely than this Strath of the

Dee, with its birch woods and pine-covered mountains. We went up a hill

yesterday--the Coyle--and looked across the glen to the broad snow fields

which still encircle the black cliffs of Lochnagar. To-day we are going up

to Alt na Ghuissac, and shall lunch at the Queen's hut. H. M. called here

on Sunday, and was remarkably pleasant and jolly. P. Albert drove, with P.

Leiningen on the box; the Queen, Princess Alice, and Princess Leiningen in

the carriage, and one man on a seat behind. Nothing can be more simple,

courteous, and even droll, than she is, seen in this way, eating Scotch

cakes, and asking for the 'prescription' to make them, and making Leiningen

taste the birch wine--which is not bad. To-day they are gone on a wild

expedition over the hills, and are to sleep in some little inn on the

brae-side, where the people are supposed not to know who they are. The

Queen will be seven hours on her pony. She rides through all weathers and

over all places, and chaffs everybody for not taking exercise enough.

I shall leave this on Friday for Braemar--else I should have to appear

at another Balmoral ball--and on Saturday proceed to Keir, where I spend

Sunday with Stirling, who is very sorry you are not of the party. On Monday

I go on to the Moncreiffs, at Alva (near Stirling), and on Thursday to

Kirklands, making some calls in Edinburgh as I go through.

_Birk Hall, September 5th_.--The day kept its promise, and was fair to

the end. We drove up this glen, which is Glen Muich, to the loch which

terminates it, about six miles off. There stands the Queen's hut, with a

few fir-trees about it. It deserves its name--a small Highland cottage,

with a room on each side the door and two rooms behind; a little plain

wooden furniture and a Kidderminster carpet. There are two or three other

wooden cottages about for the attendants. Here we lunched--for everybody

lunches in this royal region; and then mountain ponies to go up to the Dhu

Loch, about 1,200 feet higher--very wild, grand scenery, and a very rough,

boggy path, on which Van de Weyer's contortions were very droll. Madame

stayed under the royal honeysuckles below.

I suppose Hopie and I shall go to Raith on the 15th, if they can take us

in. At any rate, we shall leave Kirklands on that day; but our movements

cannot be quite fixed till we hear.

_Braemar, September 7th_.--Very fortunately I have had magnificent weather

just when I wanted it. Clark gave me two good days of shooting on the hill

on Wednesday and yesterday; we got about ten brace each day, and I had a

famous hard walk. This morning I came on here by the Queen's private road

through Balmoral and Invercauld. The scenery is wonderfully beautiful; and,

if it were not for my love of the sea, I should admit that Braemar is the

finest thing in Scotland. I have been up the glen this afternoon, past Mar

Lodge, to the Linn of Dee--a fine cascade through rocks; the water is so

clear that you can see the rocks under it, and wild blasted pines growing

all round. I was sorry to leave Birk Hall. The Clarks are admirable hosts,

and made their house most agreeable.... You will have lamented, as I do,

the untimely cutting off of our poor friend, the late Lord High--I mean

Ward. [Footnote: See _ante_, vol. i. p. 314.] There seems to be a fatality

about Madras. _Somme toute_, the more I see of the chances of life, the

more I am persuaded that, as my lot has been cast on such small but easy

cushions, I ought to be perfectly content.

The Queen came back on Wednesday night in high glee with her lark over the

hills to Grantown. [Footnote: The Queen's account of this 'lark over the

hills' is in _Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the Highlands_ (8vo.

1868), pp. 189-203.] They slept at a very little Highland inn, and were

waited on by the maid only. The beds were awful, for they could not stand

the feather bed, and, that being thrown aside, nothing soft remained

beneath. General Grey found it so hard that he got up and put on his

clothes to lie in. However, they were in high glee, and were not found out

till they went away in the morning, when the man of the house said, 'Gin

I'd known it was the Queen, I'd hae put on my Sunday claiths and waited on

her mysel'.' They gave the Highland lassie a 5 £. note, at which she nearly

fainted.

I hope by this time to-morrow I shall be at Keir. I am here at a little

Highland inn for to-night, but not so ill off as H. M. I shall have to post

to Blairgowrie to-morrow to get there in time for the train.

_Keir, near Dunblane, September 9th_.--I left Braemar yesterday morning

at 6 A.M.; posted across the Grampians by a very wild pass; reached the

railroad at Blairgowrie, and came on here in the afternoon. The first

person I found in the hall was Motley. His wife and Lily arrived in the

evening. Mrs. Norton, the Wyses, and Sir James Campbell also here. A most

pleasant party to fall into, and your absence very much regretted. Keir is

more beautiful than ever, and glorious in this fine weather which floods

the Carse of Stirling with light. It really does seem as if the harvest

would pick itself up after all.

I shall proceed to Alva to-morrow, and to Kirklands on Wednesday. I don't

yet know whether the Fergusons can receive us on the 15th. If they can,

we shall go to Raith on that day, and return to London from Edinburgh by

sea.... At any rate, I expect to be in London either on Friday, 21st, or

Monday, 24th--I'm not quite sure which. I suppose, if you don't go to

Saltram, you will come up about the same time. There will be a good many

things to look after and think of for the Spanish expedition. I am up to my

neck here in Stirling's Spanish books.

P.S.--I am a year older to-day than I was yesterday.

The Journal records that he returned to London on September 22nd.

_From Lord Clarendon_

_Wiesbaden, September 14th._--I have been idle and absent at Baden, or I

should sooner have answered your letter and told you with what pleasure we

will execute your commission. [Footnote: See _post_, p. 54.] I was very

sorry to have missed you here, though it would have been but a glimpse, as

you were going next morning. I shall hope to see you before you start on

your enviable Spanish tour, as I mean to go home as soon as my cure

is complete, for Lady C. feels Alice's absence, [Footnote: Lady Alice

Villiers, married on August 16th, 1860, to Lord Skelmersdale, created Earl

of Lathom in 1880. She was accidentally killed by the overturning of her

carriage on November 23rd, 1897.] and is lonely with only two children out

of six.

I passed two very pleasant days at Baden with the Aug. Loftuses and the

Princess of Prussia, who is domiciled there, and we returned last night.

_The Grove, September 30th_.--I returned here last night without touching

at Grosvenor Crescent. If I had gone there, I should have been at home ten

minutes within the twenty hours from Paris, which is a fair rate of speed

when one remembers that in pre-railway days one travelled hard and got

shaken much to arrive at Paris in three days; and in pre-steamer times I

was once eighteen hours in getting from Calais to Dover. Yet people are not

satisfied; and Rothschild told me he was bullied by everybody about the

slowness of the Ligne du Nord.

I am afraid I shall not have the pleasure of seeing you, as I cannot go to

London to-morrow, and from Tuesday till Friday we are engaged to the

John Thynnes. In the improbable event of your charming expedition being

postponed, we should be quite delighted if you and Mrs. and Miss Reeve

would come here on Saturday.

As it is now nearly twenty-two years since I left Spain (how time flies!),

new generations have sprung up of whom I know nothing. There are two

persons--Mme. de Montijo and Olozaga [Footnote: Reeve had known him as the

Spanish ambassador in Paris fifteen years.]--who I should have liked you

to see as social and political _ciceroni_; but the former is at Paris, in

the deepest affliction at the death of her daughter, and the latter is just

gone to Italy, as I heard two days ago from Howden. Of course you know that

clever, agreeable little fellow Comyn, who was _chargé d'affaires_ here,

and is now under-secretary at the F.O. in Madrid? If not, I will send you a

letter to him.

I wound up at Wiesbaden by a severe attack of gout, which seemed to please

my Esculapius more than it did me; for when I showed him my misshapen

scarlet claw of a foot, he rubbed his hands and said, 'Oh dat is a

beautiful manifest podagra.' It came just at the same time as the

Skelmersdales, and prevented my going about with them. Wasn't that just

like the gout?

I never doubted that as soon as the guerillero business was over and civil

organisation began, Garibaldi would prove a mischievous, spoiled child....

The French Government and their friends want the Pope to remain at Rome,

thinking that _la France Catholique_ would resent his evasion, as a proof

of mistrust of the Emperor; but the Emperor wants him to go; as he would

then withdraw his garrison and let Rome take its chance, which he thinks

would close his accounts with the followers of Orsini; and he dislikes

having to reinforce his garrison, which he must do if the Pope decides on

remaining.

I have brought the amethyst beads you desired to have for Mme. Van de

Weyer, and I dare say somebody will be going up to-morrow or next day by

whom I can send them to you. The man wanted rather more than 5 £ for them,

but on my walking away from his shop, he, of course, gave them for that

sum.

_From Lord Brougham_

_Brougham, October 1st_.--We have all here been greatly disappointed at not

having seen you and our kinswoman,[Footnote: Miss Reeve, Brougham's second

cousin twice removed. Through the Robertsons, Brougham and John Richardson

were second cousins.] and I believe we have little chance now, as you

talked of going abroad as soon as your quarterly labours were over. We

shall be here the whole month; then take our southward flight....

If you can find an opportunity of noticing my volume on the Constitution

which is to appear in November, it would be very serviceable to the

publisher. It is only a reprint of that part of the 'Political Philosophy,'

and lays down true and sound principles--at this time necessary to be well

learnt.

_To Lord Brougham_

_62 Rutland Gate, October 2nd_.--I am extremely obliged to you for the copy

of your Glasgow address, which in some degree consoles me for not having

heard it, and for having lost the pleasure of seeing you this year at

Brougham. Nothing can be more felicitous than some of the illustrations you

have introduced, and the occasion of a mere scientific meeting has been

turned to the best political purpose. No doubt in that region the absence

of party gives a broader and a nobler aim to the exertions of your society,

and it is gratifying to see how heartily men meet to combine, in these

days, without party badges. But if this opinion were to be expressed by the

'Edinburgh Review,' we should be told by John Russell & Co. that we have

no business to wear blue and buff, which is the final cause of reviews and

editors.

The political article which I have just sent to the press is on the United

States under Mr. Buchanan--a great show-up of that scandalous scene of

corruption, slave-trading, and anarchy. I am afraid it is now too late to

introduce an allusion to your discourse. As to home politics, there is

little to be said; as to Continental affairs, there is too much. The

mountebanks in Southern Italy have now very nearly upset the coach, and the

question is whether the Sardinians or the French are to march to Naples. I

hope it will be the former, but it is quite clear Louis Napoleon means to

support the Pope in Rome.

Lord Clarendon is just come back from Wiesbaden. We start on Saturday for

Madrid, _via_ Valencia, and shall be about six weeks in Spain and Portugal.

And so they started--Reeve, his wife, and daughter--Reeve, as usual,

noting merely the stages of the tour, trusting to his wife to fill in

the details. Extracts from Mrs. Reeve's Journal are here given in square

brackets.

_Journal_

_October 8th_.--We started for Spain by Paris, Lyons, and Marseilles.

Sailed in the 'Céphise' for Valencia on the 10th.

_11th_.--[Hopie and I came on deck soon after eight. We spent the day lying

down, and only caught glimpses of the coast of Spain when a roll of the

'Céphise' brought land and sea above the line of her sides.]

_12th_.--[About 4 A.M. the wind changed, and we were able to use sail,

which steadied the vessel, besides assisting her progress. I went on deck

at nine, found the Mediterranean more like my 'Caire' experience, and was

told that we should probably be at Grao by twelve.... Henry has set up an

acquaintance with a Mexican who knows a little of England and English, and

is going to pass the winter at Valencia. About one o'clock we were in the

harbour of Grao. We landed in boats, and found ourselves surrounded by

a crowd of clamorous porters and _tartana_ drivers--one of the scenes

characteristic of landing in a country where police regulations do not

exist ensued. However, Henry's Mexican acquaintance came to his rescue, and

two courteous Gauls to mine. They were taking the French despatches into

Valencia, and offered Hopie and me seats in their _tartana_--a covered cart

not on springs, which is the cab of the country. We joyfully accepted,

leaving Henry to struggle through custom-house and other difficulties as

best he could. The drive (into Valencia) is about two miles, part shaded by

an avenue and carefully watered by men stationed at intervals, who ladled

the water in buckets out of the runlets on each side of the road. We took

up our quarters at the Fonda de Paris, and congratulated each other on

having arrived in Spain.]

_13th_.--[We went out at eight o'clock. Our first point was the market,

which we found in full activity. Such supplies of fruit and vegetables can

only be found in a city surrounded by leagues of _huerta_.... We went to

the _plateria_, but found the shops poor, and the articles displayed were

coarse and ill-wrought. We visited the churches of St. Martin, St. John,

and the cathedral, and ascended the tower _del Miguelete_. The churches are

so dark that it is quite impossible to distinguish the pictures, much less

to judge of their beauty. The panorama from the tower is most beautiful:

the city and plain of Valencia, the Mediterranean and the encircling

mountains, the fertile _huerta_, and the glorious sky of deepest blue

above....

Placards of a bull-fight on the morrow caught our eyes; and Hopie and I,

taking the bull by the horns, declared our intention of going to it, and

suggested that places should be taken. After a very feeble resistance,

Henry consented, and our _valet-de-place_ was directed to ascertain the

price of a box.]

_14th_.--[The price asked for a box being too high, we took reserved seats,

and at two o'clock started on foot.... The Plaza de Toros at Valencia is a

new building, only completed this year; it holds twenty thousand persons,

and is the largest in Spain.... 'El Tato' is the second _matador_ of Spain:

he is a well-looking and remarkably well-grown young man, and a well-grown

figure is set off to great advantage by the dress. The horses used are only

fit for the knacker's yard; they are contracted for at about six pounds

each; on this occasion thirteen or fourteen were killed. As regards the

horses, it is a cruel and disgusting sight; but as between the bull and the

_matador_, the display of courage, eye and presence of mind, as well as of

skill and agility, is most interesting and exciting.] We saw 'El Tato' kill

six bulls.... [At dinner our conversation turned on the sight of the day.

'Tableau de moeurs espagnoles,' said a Frenchman, raising his shoulders.

'In Peru, where I have seen many bull-fights,' he went on, 'they use

high-spirited and valuable horses, and the _picador_ would be for ever

disgraced if he allowed the bull to touch his horse.']

_15th_. [From Valencia to Madrid is 308 miles; the time from 4 P.M. to 6.20

A.M., and our train was pretty punctual.]

_16th_.--Saw Isabella and her Court enter Madrid. She was shot at [by a

foolish, half-witted lad, who did not know how to load his pistol, and had

no motive for the crime, or rather attempt]. Delighted with the gallery.

[There are a few seats and no visitors; and the wisest thing travellers can

do, and by far the pleasantest, is to spend all the hours of all the

days they are in Madrid that the gallery is open in contemplating its

treasures.]

_17th_.--[Immediately after breakfast, Hopie and I went to the Museum.

Henry joined us presently, and we remained till four o'clock.]

_18th, Thursday_.--[We had intended to make the Toledo excursion to-day,

but an undoubted attack of gout confines Henry to the sofa. Hopie and I

walked before breakfast to the Church of the Atocha, where we were shown

... in a wardrobe in the vestry, the crimson velvet robe which Isabella had

on when the Curé Merino stabbed her. [Footnote: On her way to the church,

February 2nd, 1852. The priest, a Franciscan, was garotted in due course.]

It has the stain of blood on the lining; the massive embroidery in gold

saved her life by turning aside the knife.... After breakfast we took a

walk through the unfashionable parts of the town: narrow streets, noisy

and crowded, where open stores with bright-coloured scarfs and petticoats

collected round them men in the peasant dress--short jackets, breeches, and

gaiters partly open. These were picturesque, but the streets and houses

were uninteresting enough.

There can be no doubt that Madrid is the least interesting capital in

Europe, and that it is only worth the traveller's while to go there for the

sake of the pictures.... It is settled that we leave Madrid on Saturday

evening, and Henry has therefore consented to our going to Toledo tomorrow

without him.]

_19th_,--[Excursion to Toledo, fifty-six miles by rail.]

_20th, Saturday_.--[After dinner started for Granada, where, after

thirty-six hours (rail and diligence), we arrived on Monday morning.]

_27th, Saturday_.--[At 6 P.M. we stow ourselves in the interior of the

diligence, and pound along the dusty road towards Santa Fé. It is dusk

before we get there, and dark after.]

_28th, Sunday_.--[From Granada to Malaga is seventy-six miles. Guards

are not only stationed along the road, but two or three are taken on the

diligence. The roads were not good; we seemed to be crossing a series of

sierras, and when day dawned, after a fresh, almost cold night, we found

ourselves amid ghaut-like hills, and wondered when the topmost point would

be gained and the descent to Malaga begun. I think it is at Fuente de la

Reina that the magnificent view of the Mediterranean, the port and city

of Malaga, and the long perspective of zigzags down spurs of mountains is

seen. Neither the French nor English Handbook speaks of this view with

the enthusiasm it deserves. It is far finer than the view on the heights

looking down on Trieste and the Adriatic.... We entered Malaga about 10

A.M.; the descent had taken about two hours.]

_29th_.--[Very early it was announced that an unexpected boat had come in,

and was going on to Cadiz.... At 2 P.M. we went on board... but she did not

steam till six. We should have been very irate at the delay but for the

remarkably good dinner they gave us.... We made a détour and went very slow

at starting, to avoid a vessel sunk in the harbour, on which a provisional

pharo is placed. This vessel, the 'Genova,' had on board shells and powder

for the Morocco war, when it was discovered that spontaneous combustion had

broken out in the coal--a defect of Spanish coal--and, fearing she would

not only blow up herself but also the city of Malaga, they determined to

sink her; and, after a deal of bad practice by the guns of fort and fleet,

she went under water, and there she has been eight months.]

_30th_.--[Cadiz. On the 31st crossed over to Puerto Santa Maria; and on

November 1st to Seville by rail.]

_November 2nd_.--[Henry has again a threatening of gout, and must have

recourse to rest and remedial measures. He sent us out to buy the works of

'Fernan Caballero;' but only one volume was to be had, and no explanation

was given us of the strange fact that the writings of the most popular

novelist in Spain are not to be obtained in the capital of Andalusia,

where she lives, and whence all her characters and scenery are taken.

No satisfactory map or guide-book of Seville could be found. I took a

catalogue of the books that the shop contained back to Henry. They were

chiefly of a religious character. Hopie and I took an exploring walk as far

as the Plaza and Church of San Lorenzo, stopping now and then to peep into

the cool _patios_ filled with flowers, and a murmuring fountain often in

the middle, which you see through the corridor, sometimes with a door of

iron trellis, sometimes open. All the windows of the basement have iron

gratings and wooden shutters; and the courting and sweethearting is carried

on with the lady inside and the lover outside the railing. Not that we saw

anything of the kind as it takes place of an evening; but the construction

of the houses explains the descriptions as given in these charming tales of

'Fernan Caballero.']

_3rd_.--[Hopie and I set out to 'do churches'... After breakfast to the

Museum.... We then joined Henry, who was better, and had been to call at

the Palace, and drove to Alfarache, about four miles' distance.]

_4th_.--[In the afternoon to Cordova (eighty-one miles), returning to

Seville on the evening of the 5th.]

_6th_.--[A decidedly grey day, unfortunately for our plans of

picture-seeing. We did a little shopping... and then went to the Museum;

but, alas! there was not more light than you would have in Trafalgar

Square; and those Murillos at a distance from the window were scarcely

visible. We were so vexed on Henry's account. We spent the afternoon in

writing letters, bathing our faces with milk, and hoping the mosquito

bites, which have driven us well-nigh distracted, will be less conspicuous

to-morrow, when we are to spend the morning at the Palace, and be presented

to the Infanta.]

_7th_.--[Nine o'clock was the hour named by the Duke, and a few minutes

after we were at the Palace of San Telmo (in bonnets and our tidiest

dresses). We were shown into a room on the ground floor, and in a few

seconds the Duc de Montpensier [Footnote: For the circumstances of the Duc

de Montpensier's marriage, see _ante_, vol. i. p. 181.] came in attended by

an A.D.C. He received us very graciously, asked if we would drive or walk

round the grounds, and said he thought we had better see the gardens first,

and then the house and pictures.... Our promenade, with an occasional rest,

took nearly two hours; and then, returning to the Palace, H.R.H. showed us

the state rooms and the pictures, many of great beauty and merit, all very

interesting; and then, suggesting we should like to take off our bonnets,

desired the A.D.C. to show us rooms.... A servant waiting outside the door

showed us into a drawing-room upstairs, where we found two ladies of the

Infanta's suite, and an old marquis, whose gold key showed he was the

chamberlain. In a few minutes the double doors of a larger room were thrown

open, and 'los Duques' and the four Infantas, their daughters, came in....

When the _dejeuner dinatoire_ was announced, the Duke told Henry to offer

his arm to the Duchess, then he advanced towards me, the chamberlain took

Hopie, the children and the suite followed. We were eighteen at table. ...

Servants stood behind us with paper flappers, whisking away the flies, who

swarmed round the sweet dishes on the table; and H.R.H. complaining of _les

mouches_, I ventured to complain of _les moustiques_. He smiled, and said,

'I noticed that you had been victimised.' Breakfast was very gay and

agreeable; the Duke has the family talent for conversation, and the Duchess

is very amiable, and of course speaks French. She wore a high, plain silk

dress of the prevailing colour, and a black chenille net. The Infantas had

black silk skirts with a broad piece of black velvet at the bottom, and

white piqué shirts. We left the table in the same order as before, and,

after a few minutes in the salon, the Duke took Henry into his private

room. The Duchess requested us to be seated, and asked us questions about

our tour, &c.... and then, rising, she said Adieu, and left the room. The

Duke took us to the large library on the ground floor, to show us the

albums and other things of interest.... There was an interesting portrait

of an elderly lady in a black dress and mantilla, which H.R.H. pointed out

as being that of the lady who writes under the name of 'Fernan Caballero;'

and on Henry's mentioning that we had tried in vain to purchase her novels,

he desired the librarian to see whether there were duplicate copies, and,

on hearing there were, gave us a set, as well as a coloured lithograph of

the Palace and photographs of the Duchess, himself, and the princesses....

It was altogether a most interesting and agreeable morning, and we came

away charmed with the courtesy and kindness of 'los Duques.']

_9th_.--Back to Cadiz; very stormy voyage to Lisbon. Home to Southampton,

November 22nd.

_From Lord Clarendon_

_The Grove, December 6th_.--I was glad to get your letter, as I thought you

must be due about this time, and I had not heard of your arrival. I can

imagine no change for the worse equal to that of coming from the blue sky

and thermometer of Andalusia to the fogs and hydrometer of London, and your

impaired respiratory organs must make that change peculiarly pleasant.

I am very glad your impressions of Spain are the same as Granville's.

He raves of the things he has seen, and of the good hotels and general

civility; and says he tasted no garlic since he dined at the Maison Dorée

at Paris. Spain must indeed be changed since my time!

We returned from Ashridge [Footnote: The seat of Lord Brownlow.] this

afternoon, and are off again next week. Paterfamilias is obliged to drink

the cup of gaiety to the dregs, which is almost worse than being in office.

Pray remember us very kindly to Mrs. Reeve. As soon as we are free agents,

we shall hope for the pleasure of seeing you here.

_To Lord Brougham_

_C. O., December 10th_. I have not the slightest intention of plunging at

present into the turbid waters of Indian finance, still less of engaging in

the personal controversy of Trevelyan's merits or grievances.... I am not

sure that his view of extensive reduction is not, in reality, more rational

and possible than Wilson's view of extensive taxation. Probably, however,

both will be needed before we have done. But I suspend my judgement on the

question, and I shall not venture to discuss it in the 'Review' at present.

We returned from Spain and Portugal a few days after you had the kindness

to call in Rutland Gate. I proceeded immediately to call on you in Grafton

Street, but you had already gone north. Since then I have been unceasingly

occupied at the Judicial Committee. Our journey was very successful and

agreeable. We coasted round the whole peninsula, and went up to Madrid,

Grenada, Seville, Cordova, &c.

The changes taking place in France are (if sincere) most remarkable. My

friends think that one of L. N.'s objects is to have a debate on his

foreign policy and his relations with Italy, which--as he well knows--will

be extremely adverse to the Italian cause, and afford him a pretext for

abandoning Victor Emanuel. There is some idea that when Francis II.

evacuates Gaëta, he will surrender it, not to Victor Emanuel, but to

France. I expect this affair in Southern Italy to end by a Muratist

demonstration; in other words, the Neapolitans will place themselves under

the protection of France to escape from the Piedmontese.... Thank God, your

namesake and my friend, Henry Brougham Loch,[Footnote: Now Lord Loch,

then secretary to Lord Elgin, in China. He and Harry Parkes had been

treacherously seized by the Chinese on September 18th, and kept in vilest

durance and imminent danger of being put to death till October 8th, when,

after the capture of the Summer Palace, both the prisoners were released.]

is safe. We have been very uneasy about him, and not without cause. The

China war is a slough of despond: the further we advance the more we shall

flounder, until we are half ruined by our successes.

_62 Rutland Gate, December 24th_.--I have shut myself up for some days, to

try to get rid of an irritation in the larynx, which has troubled me for

some time past; but in this weather one's library is the most secure

retreat.

_62 Rutland Gate, January 3rd_.--I see the Court of Queen's Bench in Canada

has decided in favour of the extradition of the fugitive slave who turned

and slew his pursuer. This surprises me; for surely, by our law, such an

act is not murder. What, however, interests me most is to know whether the

case can be brought up to the Privy Council by way of appeal. I do not

know what form the proceedings in Canada have taken; but I apprehend the

proceedings are civil, not criminal, and therefore appealable. If it does

come here, it will be a matter of great interest.

The reference is to the celebrated case of John Anderson--or Jack--a negro

of Missouri, who, in 1853, had been met by one Diggs, a white man, thirty

miles away from his home. In accordance with the laws of the State, Diggs

attempted to seize him. Anderson killed Diggs, and--by 'the underground

railway'--made good his escape to Canada, where he had lived ever since.

In 1860 he had been recognised, and, on formal application for his

extradition, he had been arrested. The Court of Queen's Bench in Canada

accepted the argument that they had to decide only as to the evidence of

the commission of the crime, not as to the nature of it, and remanded the

prisoner. In England the excitement was very great. The Secretary of State

sent out an order that Anderson was not to be given up without instructions

from him; and the Court of Queen's Bench sent out a writ of _habeas

corpus_, directing the man to be brought before it. But meanwhile an

application for a writ of _habeas corpus_ had been made to the Court

of Common Pleas in Canada, and the prisoner had been discharged on the

technical ground that he was not charged with any crime included in the

Extradition Treaty, as, for instance, murder; for the indictment was that

he did 'wilfully, maliciously and feloniously stab and kill, &c.,' words

which meant, inferentially, manslaughter; and manslaughter was not

recognised by the treaty.[Footnote: See _Annual Register_, 1831, part ii.

p. 520.]

The Journal here mentions the awfully sudden death of a friend of many

years' standing:--

_January 8th_.--The Frederick Elliots and Marochettis dined with us. There

was a frost, and torches on the Serpentine. Mrs. F. Elliot drove round to

see it, and went home and died in the night [of a spasm of the heart. The

news reached Reeve by a note from Mr. Elliot, dated seven o'clock in the

morning].

_From Mr. E. Twisleton_

Bonchurch, January 24th.

My dear Reeve,--I am much obliged to you for your letter of the 18th

instant, which has been forwarded to me here. I am sorry to say that I

have so much on my hands at present that I could not undertake to write an

article on American affairs; though I am equally obliged to you for the

proposal.

I lament what has taken place in the United States. Although, in a narrow

political sense, a disruption may be useful to England, in another point of

view it is a misfortune, inasmuch as the maintenance of one confederation

during seventy-two years, over such a vast extent of territory, with no

civil war, and only two foreign wars, is the greatest thing which the

English race has done out of England, and its dissolution is sure to be

viewed with pleasure by all who in their hearts hate free institutions and

the English race.

Since Brown's attempt to excite an insurrection of the slaves in Virginia,

I have thought it impossible to avoid a civil war, if the anti-slavery

feeling in the North went on increasing in intensity, as I have known it

to increase during the last ten years; but I had not the most distant idea

that Lincoln's election would lead to immediate secession on the part of

even a single state. In the north of the Union they have been absolutely

taken by surprise, and have hardly yet made up their minds as to the course

they will pursue. If Congress had merely to deal with South Carolina, it

could easily checkmate that one state; but the difficulty arises from the

_number_ of states, which either side with South Carolina or will not act

against her.

I have the highest respect for Tocqueville's opinion; but I do not happen

to remember what he has written respecting secession. I well understand the

difficulty for a confederation if any one state has a settled permanent

determination to secede from it. But, under the constitution, Congress has

ample powers to levy the federal revenue and maintain the laws of the

Union in South Carolina--and to pass all laws necessary for this purpose.

Moreover, everyone in the Union who levies war against the United States

Government is guilty of treason, and there is no recognition in the

constitution of any right in any state to secede from the Union. Under

these circumstances, everyone in South Carolina caught in arms against the

federal Government is liable to be hanged. With such laws and powers, an

united Congress and a resolute president, like General Jackson, would soon

reduce South Carolina to submission; and my belief is that the same might

be the case if there were a league against the Union of the cotton states

alone. For a time Congress would baffle such a league quite as effectually

as the Swiss Confederation put down the Sonderbund.

Pray give my kind regards to Mrs. Reeve. I expect to be in London at the

end of next week, and I shall be happy to communicate and receive ideas on

American politics. The critical point at present is the course which will

be pursued by Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Yours very truly,

EDWARD TWISLETON.

The Journal notes:--

_February 26th_.--Dined with the Apponyis, now Austrian ambassador; Duchess

of Wellington, Clarendon, Lewis, Lady Westmorland, and Mme. de Bury, who

was in great favour at Vienna.

_To Lord Brougham_

_62 Rutland Gate, March 1st_.--Never was a session opened with so little

interest. I believe it is quite true that the Tories are resolved to

_ménager_ Palmerston as much as possible, and to enter into no hostile

combinations against him with the Radicals. In fact, Palmerston is gaining

ground with the Conservatives, and losing it with some sections of the

Liberals. He has exasperated the Irish Catholics to the last degree; and

for my own part, I think his language and conduct about Mr. Turnbull's

resignation highly discreditable. It is another specimen of the unhappy

influence of Shaftesbury's ignorance and bigotry. However, the practical

result is that the Government have lost Cork by a large majority, and that

at the next election there will hardly be a ministerial candidate returned

in Ireland.

It is impossible not to see that the general tendency of the public mind in

this country is rather towards conservatism than reform. Even the reformers

are compelled to haul down their bill; and if the Tories had better men to

fill the offices, I think they would, in two or three years, have a fair

chance of regaining power and keeping it.

At the present moment, the bishops seem to be the most eager combatants; in

France they are denouncing the Emperor [Footnote: In January 1860 Reeve was

told in Paris that the Pope spoke of him as the beast of the Apocalypse.]

as Pontius Pilate; in England they are thirsting for the blood of a few

heterodox parsons. Nothing is talked of here but 'Essays and Reviews.' In

my humble opinion they by no means deserve the importance attached to them,

either in point of style or in point of substance.

Keep my secret, but I have in preparation a regular mine under Eton

College. There has been of late a good deal of discussion about it, with

very little knowledge. Fortunately, I have lighted upon the evidence taken

by you before your celebrated committee in 1818, all which is still quite

applicable. Eton is very little improved, and the depredations of the

Fellows go on with shameless audacity. I mention this to you because your

committee has been of so much use to us; but I wish to keep the thing very

quiet till the next number of the 'Review' makes its appearance.

_From Lord Brougham_

_Cannes, March 4th_.--It is very odd that for two or three days I had been

reading and discussing with one or two Eton men here the subject on which

you propose to do infinite service, but of course I shall not even drop

the most remote allusion to your plan. The conduct at Eton is perfectly

scandalous; our two boys never cost less than 200 £. a year while they were

there; and I believe the case is understated, and not overstated, in the

'Cornhill Magazine,' and other places. One of the men who spoke to me about

it said it was no fault of mine, but of Eldon, that it had not all been set

right forty years ago--alluding to the Education Commission to which you

refer. I recollect being reluctantly forced to insert the exemption in the

Act and in the commission of inquiry. He had opposed the whole bill, and

we defeated him in the Lords when he attempted to throw it out--a very

extraordinary event in those days. But Rosslyn, Holland, and others who had

charge of the bill, were apprehensive of being beaten on a further stage if

we held out on the exemptions. In 1819 (the year after) I endeavoured to

remove the exemptions in the Extensions Act to all charities, and this gave

rise to Peel's very shabby attack on the whole inquiry when I was very

unwell, and wholly unprepared, and to my defence in the speech which I have

often said I could not now make if I would, and would not if I could. I

venture to refer to it, however, as the most remarkable I ever made in all

respects.

When you have sprung your mine, I hope and trust the 'Quarterly' will

follow your example. If Elwin was still in command I feel confident he

would, for he has always joined against Eldon & Co. I highly approve your

keeping it quite secret on every account.

Here the Journal has:--

_April 9th_.--I was elected a member of 'The Club,' in place of Lord

Aberdeen--proposed by Lord Stanhope; the greatest social distinction I ever

received.

This was the literary club founded in 1764 by Reynolds and Johnson, which,

in the course of years, had dropped all extraneous title, and become simply

The Club. 'It still continues the most famous of the dining societies of

London, and in the 133 years of its existence has perhaps seen at its

tables more men of note than any other society.'[Footnote: _Edinburgh

Review_, April 1897, p. 291.] Gibbon, who became a member of it in 1774,

had suggested the form in which a new member was to be apprised of the

distinction conferred on him. This has continued in use to the present

day, and on April 9th, 1861, a copy of it was sent to Reeve, signed by the

president of the evening:--

Sir,--I have the pleasure to inform you that you have this evening had the

honour of being elected a member of The Club.

I am, Sir,

Your obedient servant,

GEORGE RICHMOND.

This was followed, a week later, by another letter from the same writer:--

10 York Street, Portman Square, April 16th.

My dear Mr. Reeve,--I have just returned to town and found your note of the

10th inst., and I lose not a minute in writing to say that the election

which I had so much pleasure in announcing to you, I announced as president

for the night, and in the form of words prescribed by Gibbon. The moment I

had written it I began a note to you in my own proper person, but I did not

know whether it would be quite regular to send it, and I had to leave town

on the following morning. The 'Sir,' and 'I am, Sir,' which anything but

express what I feel, I most gladly exchange now, if you will allow it, for

a very different greeting, and I beg to remain, my dear Mr. Reeve,

Very faithfully yours,

GEORGE RICHMOND.

The Bishop of London was elected on the same night with you, and it may

interest you to know that the members present were:--

Lord Lansdowne.

Lord Clarendon.

Sir H. Holland.

Sir David Dundas.

The Dean of St. Paul's.

Sir Charles Eastlake.

Lord Stanley.

Lord Cranworth.

Lord Stanhope.

Duke of Argyll.

_To Madame de Tocqueville_

62 Rutland Gate, April 17th.

My dear Madame de Tocqueville,--I have just published, in the 'Edinburgh

Review,' a short notice of that book and that life which are to you the

dearest things in the world, and to all of us, his friends, among the

dearest. A few separate copies have been struck off, and I send one to you

by this post, which will, I hope, reach you with this letter. It was a

matter of sincere regret to me that I found it impossible to execute

my intention of translating the two volumes, [Footnote: Oeuvres et

Correspondance inédites d'Alexis de Tocqueville, publiées et précédées

d'une notice par Gustave de Beaumont.] partly because I found that I was

too prominently noticed in them, and partly because our friends, the

Seniors, were much bent on the undertaking. I therefore relinquished it in

their favour. But I always intended to express in my own manner my deep

affection for the memory of your husband, and my estimate of his genius

as a man of letters and a statesman. This I have attempted to do in this

article, and though I am sensible that it falls far short of the subject of

it, yet you will discover in it traces and reminiscences of that which

was one of the greatest happinesses and honours of my life--our mutual

friendship.

_From Lord Brougham_

_Cannes, April 24th_.--I have read the Eton article with great

satisfaction, and I really think it must have the best effect. But Ker, to

whom I lent my copy of the number, is not quite satisfied; but he takes

extreme views. He also thinks you have not ascribed enough to the Education

Committee of 1818, or rather to the effect of our being thwarted by Eldon,

Peel, &c. But he was very deep in that controversy at the time, having

defended the committee in a pamphlet, and I believe also in the 'Edinburgh

Review,' and may be apt, therefore, to take an exaggerated view of the

subject.

I am still cruelly hurt at the Newton monument being for ever cushioned. If

Elwin had remained editor of the 'Quarterly' it would have been taken up,

and on right grounds. Indeed, a learned professor had actually prepared a

scientific and popular article on the subject; but Elwin retired, and the

'Quarterly Review' will now do nothing. Altogether I believe there never

will be a monument to the greatest man that England ever had, or will have.

I am anxious to read the rest of the number, but have only just got it, and

I sent it to Ker after I had read the Eton; and I am unwilling to delay

thanking you for that.

The Journal notes:--

Went down to Weymouth alone for a few days in May, Read Buckle's second

volume on the way.

_June 17th_.--Dinner at Lansdowne House to the Comte de Paris and the Due

de Chartres; Elgins, Holfords, Bishop of Oxford, Grotes, &c.

_From Lord Clarendon_

_G. G., June 28th_.--I did not expect that any answer to the Eton article

would be attempted, for it was unanswerable; the facts were real facts, and

the moderation with which they were stated made them all the more telling.

The commission is the proper corollary to it; and so many parents of

ill-educated boys appear to think.

_To Mr. G. Dempster_

_62 Rutland Gate, August 5th_.--In spite of Sir H. Holland's drugs, I see

my fate is sealed; and as I cannot even now put on a shoe, it is vain to

hope that I shall be able to walk for some time; and, indeed, to avoid

relapses, I must undergo a regular cure of Vichy water. Therefore, with

extreme regret, I make up my mind to turn my face south, instead of north,

as soon as I can move.... I fear that, having lost the present month, there

is little hope of our reaching Scotland at all this year.

Accordingly, the Journal has:--

Bad fit of gout in July and August. Went to Vichy on August 10th. The heat

was extreme, and the waters made me worse. Thence to Clermont, Pontgibaud,

Gergovia. Home on the 31st.

_September 1st_.--To Torry Hill [Lord Kingsdown's]--first time; shot there.

Farnborough; Atherstone; Torry Hill again on the 21st. Stetchworth-good

shooting.

_From Lord Clarendon_

_Harpton Court, September 22nd_.--I would have gladly escaped the Prussian

mission,[Footnote: For the coronation of the King.] which is not much to

my taste, but the Queen insisted, and the Viscount [Footnote: Lord

Palmerston.] and the Earl [Footnote: Lord John, created Earl Russell on

July 30th, 1861.] attached political importance to it, so I yielded, and

Lady C. and Constance and Emily are, also on royal recommendation, to

accompany me. The two latter are of an age to like a lark, which is more

than their respected parents do. I need not say that my hope of doing any

good by a flying visit in the midst of a carousal is exceedingly small; but

I know the King well, and shall have no difficulty in telling him what I

believe to be the truth concerning his interests.

I am sorry to hear that you have been worried by gout, and that Vichy did

you no good. I am inclined to speak well of Wiesbaden, for the glorious

weather I had there (94° in the shade always) made the waters effective,

and somehow I felt younger; but that pleasant sensation is now rather on

the decline.

_From M. Guizot_

Val Richer, 7 Octobre.

My dear Sir,--Votre tante, Madame Austin, qui est ici depuis quinze jours,

a fait hier, en se promenant dans une petite voiture traînée par un âne, et

qu'elle menait elle-même, une chute dans laquelle elle s'est fait, au coude

du bras droit, une luxation qui nous a fait craindre d'abord une fracture

grave. Mon médecin de Lisieux, que j'ai envoyé chercher sur le champ,

a réduit la luxation, c'est-à-dire ramené les os du coude dans leur

emboîtement naturel. Petite opération fort douloureuse, mais simple et sans

gravité au fond. Madame Austin en sera quitte pour deux ou trois semaines

de repos et d'immobilité absolue de son bras, qui est contenu dans des

éclisses. Au premier moment, elle a été fort ébranlée par cet accident.

Mon médecin une fois arrivé, elle s'est remise; elle a eu un peu de fièvre

cette nuit; mais elle a dormi, et elle est assez bien ce matin, presque

sans souffrance de son bras. J'espère qu'elle se remettra promptement; mais

je n'ai pas voulu que vous ignorassiez la cause de la prolongation de son

absence. Ma fille Henriette écrit à Sir Alexander Gordon. Avec la santé de

Madame Austin, tout accident peut être grave; mais je crois que vous pouvez

être sans inquiétude sur les conséquences de celui-ci. Mon médecin est

un homme habile qui soignera très bien votre tante, et mes filles lui

épargneront un mal très pénible, l'ennui de l'immobilité.

Je ne vous parle pas aujourd'hui d'autre chose. Si vous étiez là, nous

causerions. De loin, il n'y a rien qui vaille la peine d'être écrit. Tout à

vous, my dear Sir,

GUIZOT.

The gout was still threatening; so, according to the Journal:--

To Aix in October; back by Paris. Went to stay with Lord and Lady Cowley at

Chantilly; they had hired the _chasse_ and the _château_. Shooting there,

November 11th. Home on the 16th.

At this time Lord Brougham was preparing the autobiography which was

published shortly after his death. Early in November his brother, Mr.

Brougham, wrote to Reeve, begging him to bring his influence to bear, and

induce Lord Brougham to make this biography interesting and amusing. He

wrote:--

_From Mr. W. Brougham_

_Paris, November 14th_.--Mind you dwell on books of biography which have

failed for lack of personal matter and anecdotes, and use this argument,

which (for reasons I need not trouble you with) will, I know, have more

weight than anything you can urge--that, irrespective of any question

of his own fame or reputation, if he wishes the book to be eminently

successful in a commercial point of view, he must give as much as possible

every detail, no matter how minute, and tell everything connected with his

own history and doings. That circumstances he may consider trivial all have

the greatest interest with the general public, who are the buyers he must

look to; that people don't want to read history in such a book as his

autobiography; what they want is his life, and not a history of his

times--anecdotes or peculiarities of his Bar and Bench friends; how he

worked as a boy to make himself mathematician and orator; how he worked

for the English Bar; his early associates in Edinburgh, both at school and

college, and all connected with the beginnings of the 'Edinburgh Review;'

his early associates in London before he came into Parliament in 1809, and

for years afterwards; all he did at Birmingham in '90, '91, and '92, when

he lived there with his tutor; all he can recollect of his mother and

grandmother-paternal, but more especially maternal. In short, every

personal thing, no matter how trifling, will be the making, as the omission

will be the marring, of the book.

I am persuaded that a good strong letter from you will have immense effect;

and don't be afraid of making it too long; the more topics like those I

have hastily put down above you can give him to think over, now he is

quietly at Cannes, the more chance we have of his digging into his mind and

early recollections, and producing what we want.

Don't forget to quote Guizot; also tell him that Lord Malmesbury's heavy

book was saved solely by the gossip in the third and fourth volumes. The

first two are heavy historical matter that would have sunk a 74.

The letter which Reeve wrote in consequence of this has unfortunately

not been preserved, but it is evident from Lord Brougham's reply that it

closely followed the lines suggested by his brother.

_From Lord Brougham_

_Cannes, November 17th_.--I have not words to express how grateful I feel

for your most kind letter, which arrived this morning. I fear I must admit

all you say on the necessity of much personal matter. However, I really

feel certain that, with the political and general, there will be a number

of personal anecdotes interspersed. Thus in the Queen's trial, numberless

singular anecdotes, professional and other; and on the changes of

government and the unity of our administration, strange things of

individuals: e.g. Lord Grey having, six months before taking office in

1830, positively declared to Lansdowne that he had resolved never to take

office; and in 1822, to me, that unless I would consent to take office, and

be leader in the Commons, nothing should induce him to take part in any

administration--there being then an expectation of an offer to us; in

answer to which I positively refused leaving the progressives. I give these

as examples of what the correspondence contains. I quite feel, however,

that something personal and in early life will be desiderated. If you look

at my 'Life of Robertson' you will see all you refer to about his being at

Brougham, and about the translation of 'Florus,' and other anecdotes, and

a good deal about my grandmother. Indeed, in that Life, and in my

contributions to the 'Law Review,' there are numberless anecdotes of

interest.

I cannot conclude on this subject without expressing how grieved I am to

see what you say of my old and dear friend Richardson. He wrote in very

good spirits last spring, and I fear he has had some severe illness since.

Pray let me know how this is.

The mention of him reminds me of an instance that matters which derive

their whole interest from connexion with myself are thus very hateful to

set down. He had given me a sermon and a hymn, written by the Principal's

father--my great-grandfather. When I attended the Glasgow congress last

year, the hymn was by mere accident sung in the church where we were on the

morning after our arrival:

Let not your hearts with anxious thoughts

Be troubled and dismayed, &c.

I believe I was the only person in Glasgow who knew that the old minister

was the author, or who knew of his existence. [Footnote: Cf. _Life and

Times of Lord Brougham_, i. 30.] Now such things would make the narrative

a tissue of mere egotism. However, I feel the force of your remarks

exceedingly. Certainly when Guizot's book came out, and I was asked my

opinion of it, and some defects were pointed out, I could not avoid saying

there was a worse defect than all they mentioned; there would be a defect

of readers. And so it has proved; I have, with all my respect for him, and

desire to read, been unable to get through a volume.

I must set about digging in my published works for anecdotes; and, as in

the case of Robertson's Life, I may find a great number which, apart from

personality, may be interesting in their connexion with events. Again

repeating my gratitude, believe me, most sincerely yours,

H. BROUGHAM.

_To Madame de Tocqueville_

Paris, November 15th.

My dear Madame De Tocqueville,--Although on the point of leaving Paris,

I must write two lines to express to you my gratitude for allowing M. de

Beaumont to return to me some of my own letters, which derive some value in

my eyes from their connexion with my ever-lamented and illustrious friend.

I have had a melancholy satisfaction here in seeing the bust which M.

Salaman has made. It surpasses my expectations, especially as regards

the mouth and forehead, and I trust that even you will not be entirely

disappointed in it.

_From Lord Clarendon_

_The Grove, November 19th_.--I have only a minute for writing, as we have

had Princess Alice here all day, and I, of course, could do nothing but the

very easy task of entertaining her.

I was very glad to get your letter, as I thought you were still abroad, and

I only hope you are as glad to find yourself at home again as I am, though

I am not sorry to have been to Berlin. I rather envy you being at Paris

during the late crisis, and getting the first impressions upon it.... I

have no doubt the deficit is about what Senex [Footnote: Reeve was at this

time writing occasional letters in the _Times_ under the signature of

'Senex.' Lord Clarendon seems to have known this. Other correspondents did

not; notably Lord Kingsdown, some of whose letters innocently comment on

the opinions expressed by Senex.] puts it at. I read your admirable letter

with great pleasure, and thought it must be yours, though I did not

understand whence it was written.

I should very much like to have a talk with you. If you are not engaged,

why shouldn't you and Mrs. and Miss Reeve come here on Saturday? We have

asked Granville and C. C. G.; and I believe Lewis is coming. Miladi would

write to propose this to Mrs. Reeve, but thinks she will consider two

letters unnecessary.

_From Lord Brougham_

_Cannes, December 8th_. There is a new complication of the American case,

and I fear, though I don't join in what I find the universal feeling in

England, that the Government of Washington will hold out. But even if they

give in, this hesitation, and their manifest fear of the mob, is the most

complete confirmation of all I have been so long and so often preaching,

of the extreme mischief of mob-government. They are in the hands of the

mob--and one of the worst mobs in the world. You see they even are under

this dominion as to their military operations; for their disaster at Bull's

Run was owing to the clamour forcing their comrades to advance and do

something; and now no one can have the least doubt that, if Lincoln and

Seward were left to themselves, a war with England would be the thing they

most dreaded; yet it is very possible they may feel unable to resist the

mob-clamour, and may bring on that calamity. The mob of Paris threw France

into all the horrors of the reign of terror (1793-4), which have left such

indelible disgrace on the French, and which stopped all improvement both in

France and in Europe for a quarter of a century, and which even now create

such a force in favour of despotism--as they did in the first Napoleon's

time. But I don't think the evils of mob-government--that is, of the

supreme power being in persons not individually responsible--can be more

clearly manifested, though they may not lead to such atrocious crimes, than

in the States of America--and the southern as well as the northern--for

the mob governs in both. My opinion will be the same, even if, contrary to

probability, the Washington men are stout enough to resist the mob; for

this hesitation and this struggle against the insanity of war could only be

occasioned by the mob tyranny.

Prince Albert died on December 14th. It was impossible to allow an event so

important in the political as well as in the social history of the reign to

pass without a notice in the 'Edinburgh Review,' and that on the earliest

occasion; though, in the middle of December, some special arrangement had

to be made for it. It was, in fact, brought into the concluding pages of

the article on 'May's Constitutional History of England.' But the subject

was one which called for exceeding care and delicacy in the handling. The

services of Prince Albert to the Crown had been many and great; but by the

country at large they were still looked on with jealousy and suspicion. A

profound sympathy was everywhere felt for the death of the Queen's husband;

the death of a man regarded by an ignorant prejudice as the embodiment of

German influence in the Cabinet might easily be considered as no great

loss. Reeve seems to have consulted Lord Clarendon as to how much or how

little it was prudent to say; in answer to which Lord Clarendon wrote:--

_The Grove, December 31st_.--I feel, as you do, that the events of the last

month are too vast in themselves and in their consequences for discussion

by letter, though I should much like to have a day's talk over them with

you.

I am very glad that you mean to undertake the task--a labour of love--of

doing honour to the Prince, as I am sure it will be admirably performed;

but I would suggest to you not to be too precise as to the manner in which

he exercised his political influence.... There is a vague belief that his

influence was great and useful; but there is a very dim perception of the

_modus operandi_.... Peel certainly took the Prince into council much more

than Melbourne, who had his own established position with the Queen before

the Prince came to this country; but I cannot tell you whether it was Peel

who first gave him a cabinet key. My impression is that Lord Duncannon,

during the short time he was Home Secretary, sent the Prince a key when the

Queen was confined, and the contents of the boxes had to be read or signed

by her.

The concluding sentence in the next letter from Lord Clarendon refers to

the feeling which had been roused in Canada by the threat of war between

England and the United States. The Canadians showed an exemplary loyalty;

and great numbers of Irish--many of whom (like O'Reilly) had been known at

home as turbulent characters--now not only pressed forward to be enrolled

in the militia, but formed themselves into special regiments.

_The Grove, January 21st_.--I cannot help telling you how excellent I think

your article on the Prince. You have said the right thing in the right way,

and have so hit the happy medium between justice to him and no flattery

or exaggeration, that I am sure the article will be read with pleasure by

everybody, because it exactly reflects the public feeling.

The Belligerent and Neutral article is also very good, and I expect

that the temperate and sensible way in which the author recommends the

abandonment of rights we can never again exercise will have some useful

results.

The loyalty of Canada is far greater than I expected; but that the French

and Irish there should come out so strong for the Crown against Democracy

is indeed a surprise. That Captain Eugene O'Reilly was a tremendous patriot

in '48; and if I had not put him in prison for a little time to cool, he

would have made a greater donkey of himself than he did.

The next letter from Lord Clarendon relates to a point on which widely

different opinions have been and will be held, till it is decided in the

only practical way. It would be foreign to our present purpose to argue

it here; but it is interesting to see the opinion of the man who,

more distinctly than any other, was responsible for the great change

theoretically introduced into our maritime code by the Declaration of

Paris.

_The Grove, January 28th_.--With respect to alterations in our maritime law

and usages, I don't know what Russell's opinion may be, but I know that

Palmerston does, or did, think the time come for relinquishing rights that

we can no longer exercise. He readily assented to the doctrines laid down

at Paris in '56, and was so entirely of my opinion about going further that

he tried it on at Liverpool some time afterwards; but that part of his

speech was so ill received, and he received so many remonstrances against

giving up the _palladium_, &c. &c., that he told me when he returned to

London that the pear was not ripe, and that we must give public opinion a

little more time to become reasonable.

On January 9th Charles Sumner had spoken at great length in the United

States Senate, proving, very much to his own satisfaction and that of his

fellow-citizens, that the surrender of Mason and Slidell was a great moral

victory, confirming the principles of maritime law for which they had

always contended, and which the English now admitted. A short telegraphic

summary of this had caught the mail at Halifax, and been published in the

'Times' of the 20th; but it was not till the 27th that the United States

papers, with the full report, reached England. Of this the 'Times'--on its

own part--took no further notice; but on February 1st it published a long

and most scathing criticism of it by 'Historicus' (Mr., now Sir, William

Harcourt).

_From Lord Clarendon_

_The Grove, January 30th_.--When you can spare it, I shall be very glad to

see Sumner's speech....

Russell was, of course, guided in his despatches by the law officers, and

it is no wonder, therefore, that they should resemble the papers that had

previously appeared--many of which were written by lawyers--or that they

should be a reproduction of them; as a government could not, without risk

of failure in its peaceful object, express itself with the vigour of Senex

or the 'Edinburgh Review.' The most important despatch of all, however, and

the one upon which everything hung--viz. the demand for reparation--was

well conceived and executed, and did its work effectually.

_From Lord Brougham_

_Cannes, February 16th_.--I yesterday met Miss Courtenay, who gave me the

very pleasing information that Mrs. Austin had excellent accounts of Lady

Duff Gordon, and was quite easy about her. I trust you will confirm this

account, and also add to it a general good account of Mrs. Austin herself.

I hope there is a good article on the Amendment Cases in the 'E. R.' They

have stupidly omitted to send it from Grafton Street. The 'Quarterly' came,

and a better article than our friend your neighbour's never was written. I

admired it so much that I wrote to him about it. Pray tell him my opinion

of it, in case my letter should have miscarried, and that I admired it far

more than I did the very spiteful article of someone inspired by a personal

enmity against myself, and who has not the common sense and fairness, when

relying on the wholly immaterial circumstance of my mis-stating the day of

the Westminster election (the night of Princess Charlotte's running away),

to see that Dundonald [Footnote: _Autobiography of a Seaman_, ii. 892. It

has, however, been recently shown (Atlay's _Trial of Lord Cochrane_, pp.

330 _et seq._) that Lord Dundonald had very little to do with it.] makes

the Duke of Sussex fall into the very same mistake.

_Cannes_ [_February_].--I am much obliged to you for your kind letter, and

rejoice to hear of the good intelligence [Footnote: As to the health of

Lady Duff Gordon.] from the Cape which will be such a relief to my valued

friend, her mother.

The American news is a good deal more favourable, but still they are

not out of the wood, or anything like it; and, even if they beat the

Southerners in the field, the re-union is as far off as ever. Their only

safe course is to regard the whole campaign as a kind of drawn battle, and

both sides to negotiate as to terms of separation.

I have no doubt that a certain most intriguing ambassadress is at the

bottom of the spiteful attack in the 'Quarterly,' and she will find her own

letters rise up in judgement against her. She never will forgive my having

been at the dancing school with her, because that makes her near eighty,

and she pretends only to be seventy-four.

I am in constant expectation of a paper from a great mathematician, to

which will be added, by B. Ker, artistic matter on monuments. It will be

all sent to you, in the hope that it may assist whoever you have put on the

monument question.

_Cannes, March 17th._--I am extremely sorry to find that, after all, I

cannot finish you the Cambridge article on Newton, to be used at your

discretion, or that of your contributor; for Mr. Routh has no less than

five wranglers, including the senior, as his pupils, and this has entirely

occupied him, to the exclusion of all other work. I trust it will not

prevent the article. In truth, my discourse at Grantham contains all the

learning on the subject, and it may be used without any acknowledgement

whatever, and I shall never complain of the plagiarism.

The Journal records:--

_April 4th._--Breakfast to the Philobiblon at home. There came the Due

d'Aumale, Van de Weyer, Milman, Lord Taunton.

_To Mr. Dempster_

_Exeter, April 25th_.--If that providence which shapes our ends will but

finish those I rough-hew, I trust that the second week in October, or

perhaps a few days earlier, will see us at Skibo. We hope to start straight

for the far North as soon as ever my autumnal egg is laid....

We have hit on an Easter ramble, original and agreeable. I sent down my

horses to my father's-in-law, in Dorset, and for the last week Christine

and I have been riding gently along the coast of South Devon. Yesterday we

went to see Sir John Coleridge's place at Ottery St. Mary, and he drove

us also round the neighbourhood. To-day we have been at Lady Rolle's, at

Bicton, on our way from Sidmouth, to see her gardens and arboretum, which

are really marvels of beauty and growth. To-morrow we shall saunter on to

Dawlish, and so at last reach Plymouth, I believe. I want to get out of the

way of the Exhibition opening, which bores me. At Torquay we expect to find

the Fergusons of Raith and the Scotts of Ancrum.

I hear that other literary entrepreneurs have been as much struck as I am

by the power and judgement there is in all that is written by a certain

young author of our acquaintance.[Footnote: See ante, vol. i. p. 374.]

To write as well as that is a gift; but it is more for it cannot be done

without infinite practice, labour, and good sense.

At Devonport they saw Mount Edgcumbe and the ironclad frigate 'Warrior'

then still a novelty, and unquestionably the most powerful ship of war

afloat. The Journal adds: 'Back to town on May 3rd.'

_From Lord Brougham_

_Cannes, April 22nd_.--I have just got the new number, and hasten to say

how much I am pleased with the only article I have had time to read with

care, the Alison.[Footnote: 'Alison's Lives of Lord Castlereagh and Sir C.

Stewart,' April 1862.]Nothing can be more able or more triumphant, and

it is quite fair and candid towards Castlereagh, and much more than fair

towards Ch. Stewart, Indeed, if the letter to me deserves half what is said

in its praise,[Footnote: _Sc_.' one of the most caustic and successful

pamphlets that have appeared in defence of an unpopular cause.'] he never

could have written it himself; and his gross stupidity in construing what

I have said of his brother, and affixing a meaning which none but himself

ever did, or could, was at the time admitted by his friends, whom he had

consulted, and in spite of whom he had published--among others, Strangford,

from whom I heard what had passed. I have a copy of my own, which I should

like the author of the article to see, and shall send it through you when I

return, for it is out of print. One of the blockhead's follies was the not

perceiving how great a panegyric I had bestowed on his brother's speaking

in the H. of Commons, after fully stating its defects. In fact, he had much

greater weight as leader than Canning, who, by the way, is too much praised

in the article. Such a book as Alison's is almost incredible for its

badness of all kinds; but the author (on p. 521, line six from foot) gives

him a pull or two as to style by 'ineligible for election'--though that is

a trifle. The care with which the whole subject is treated, and the gross

errors--partly from ignorance, partly from adulation--exposed is quite

admirable.

I have naturally been attracted to the Monument article, but have not had

time fully to profit by it; only I am greatly indebted to the learned

author for what he says of my Grantham address.[Footnote: 'Public

Monuments,' April 1862, p. 550.] However, I should have been far better

pleased had he left me out altogether, and dwelt at more length on the

disgrace of the country never having erected a monument to the greatest man

she ever produced--indeed, the greatest [that has] ever been. He seems

not to be aware of the one in Westminster Abbey having been raised by his

niece's family, and not by the public.

_Cannes, April 27th_.--I have a complaint to make of the 'E. R.' last

number. In the learned and able article on 'Jesse's Richard III.,' at p.

307, Lingard is referred to as having quoted the commission of the High

Constable. I have scanned every line and every word of Lingard and find no

such commission. But in a note to the third volume of Hume, note R, the

commission is given verbatim from Rymer. Jock Campbell used to hold that a

false reference was an offence that ought to be made penal. I don't go

so far, but the evil is very great. I have lost three or four hours in

consequence. Therefore, pray have inquiry made of your contributor whether

or not I am right; and if not, where in Lingard the quotation is.

Reeve referred the 'complaint' to Hayward, the writer of the article, who

replied:--

I believe B. is right, for when I corrected the proof I looked in vain in

Lingard, although I was firmly convinced that he had quoted the document.

But pray remind his lordship that, when Campbell spoke of a false

reference, he meant one with volume and page.

Lord Brougham's answer to this defence is not given, but it is impossible

to allow it to pass without protest; for, whatever Campbell may have meant,

it is very certain that a false reference, with volume and page cited,

by which the falsehood is at once made manifest, is a venial offence in

comparison with a false reference given vaguely, which may keep the victim

hunting for it for hours, as this one actually did keep Lord Brougham.

_From Lord Brougham_

_Cannes, May 7th_.--I wish to suggest to you the positive duty of taking

care that justice is done upon the trumpery, and one-sided, and altogether

insignificant Life of Pitt by Stanhope. Murray having published it, of

course the 'Quarterly' has puffed it, and done so with an entire ignorance

of the subject which is hardly conceivable. Therefore take great care

before you commit the subject to any unsafe hands.

_To Lord Brougham_

_62 Rutland Gate, May 11th_.--As I have lived for many years on terms

of personal friendship, and indeed intimacy, with Lord Stanhope, and am

indebted to him for many acts of kindness, it would be quite impossible for

me to attack his book, even if I thought as ill of it as you do. I shall,

therefore, content myself with recording the very different view which I

entertain of the success of Mr. Pitt's administration. I think it may be

shown that both in peace and in war he was one of the most unsuccessful

ministers who ever exercised great power.

On these lines Reeve himself wrote the article, which was published in the

'Review' of July, and brought him the following:--

_From Lord Stanhope_

Grosvenor Place, July 17th.

My dear Mr. Reeve,--Allow me to say how very much I have been gratified

in reading the article on my 'Life of Pitt' in the new number of the

'Edinburgh.' Had the criticism been hostile I assure you that I should not

have felt that I had the smallest reason to complain; nor should I have

inquired or even wished to know the writer's name. But as the matter

stands, I would ask to convey to him through you my acknowledgement for his

very indulgent appreciation of myself, as well as for the perfect fairness

and honourable candour with which the public questions at issue between us

are discussed. It would be a pleasure to me if either now or at some time

hereafter he would permit me to become acquainted with the name of a critic

who is evidently so accomplished as to render the praise of no slight or

mean account. Believe me,

Very faithfully yours,

STANHOPE.

It does not appear that Lord Stanhope ever knew who the writer was.

Meantime the Journal notes:--

This was the year of the second Great Exhibition.

_May 15th_.--The Binets came to see us. On the 21st the Duc d'Aumale's

_fête_ to the Fine Arts Club; took Binet there. Went to the Derby with

Binet and Stewart Hodgson. Xavier Raymond came.

_July 22nd_.--Dined at the Clarendon with the Comtes de Paris and Chartres,

on their return from the American war. Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar and the

Due d'Aumale were there.

_July 31st_.--Left London for Germany. By Ostend and Cologne to Wiesbaden,

where the Boothbys and Hathertons were. Then to Nuremberg, Munich,

Salzburg, and through the Tyrol to Venice. Stayed there till the 24th.

_August 25th_.--Went to Arquà to see Petrarch's house and tomb. Milan;

Italian lakes. Back over the St. Gothard, Lucerne, Paris. Home, September

9th.

_To Lord Brougham_

_C. O., September 11th_.--Your very kind letter of last month would

certainly not have remained so long unanswered if I had been in England.

But we have been travelling for the last five weeks in the Tyrol and the

north of Italy; my letters were not forwarded, and I only received that

which you had been good enough to address to me on my return to London

yesterday. There is probably no living opinion upon the character and

administration of Mr. Pitt so enlightened and valuable as your own, and I

am gratified in the highest degree to find that my attempt to place the

leading acts of his administration in a somewhat new light meets with your

approval. The chief defect in Lord Stanhope's book is, in my opinion, that

it does not present any connected view of Mr. Pitt as a statesman at all;

and this the reader of the article may infer from every page of it. I began

to write with a disposition to place Mr. Pitt rather higher than he had

been placed before in the 'Review;' but upon a careful survey of his

conduct on each of these questions, I found the ground crumble away under

me.

As to the state of the army from 1783 to 1803, it was deplorable. Did you

ever see Sir Frederick Adam's notes on what the army was when, at the age

of 14, he entered it.[Footnote: In 1795. These notes do not seem to have

been published.] When the Duke of Wellington first went to the Peninsula,

he gives a wretched account of the forces--ignorant officers and rascally

men. One of the grandest services the Duke rendered to his country was

that he raised the character of the army and made it a most admirable

instrument. But that was long after the days of Pitt.

The present Duke of Wellington tells me he is very well pleased with the

article on his father's supplementary despatches in the last number of

the 'Review,' and I think it is fairly done. They are a mass of most

interesting and instructive materials, but very few persons will master

them, whilst the trash that Thiers calls history circulates broadcast in

Europe. I heard in Paris on Sunday that 65,000 copies of his 20th volume

are already sold.

_To Mr. Dempster_

_C. O., September 12th_.--We returned to England on Tuesday, after a

pleasant tour, but the weather drove us from the mountains to the plains,

and instead of preparing ourselves to graduate in the Alpine Club, we

loitered in the galleries of Munich, Venice, and Milan, or amongst the

remains of Padua and Verona. On the Lago Maggiore we met the Speaker

[Footnote: Mr. Denison, afterwards Lord Ossington.] and Lady Charlotte, and

with them crossed the St. Gothard to Lucerne.... We still hope, if it suits

you, to come down to you when I have got quit of the 'Review.' I shall be

engaged in London till October 7th, and then we are going for a few days to

Raith... but I hope about the 12th or 13th we may reach the far North.

_From Lord Brougham_

_Brougham, September 14th_.--I can well believe that Wellington is

satisfied with the review [Footnote: "Wellington's Supplementary

Despatches," July 1862.] of his father's correspondence. It is very ably

and very fairly done. But I wish it had reprimanded the Duke for making

the publication nearly useless by giving no table of contents. When I

complained of this, he said it had been considered, and that an index would

have been hardly possible. My answer was that I did not want an index, but

only a dozen of pages giving the dates and the titles of the letters in

succession. As it is, one can find no letter without turning over the whole

of a volume.

Well, what shall we now say of the Disunited States? My last letter from

J. Parkes,[Footnote: Probably Joseph Parkes, the well-known agent of the

Liberal party. He died August 11th, 1865, but none of the obituary notices

mention his wife.] who is married to a Yankee, and in correspondence with

many men of note in the North, represents the feeling to be growing for

mediation, but mediation on the ground of a re-uniting of the South,

which means no mediation at all. But he says that the real feeling of the

Americans, both N. and S., is of great respect for England, and pride in

their descent from and connexion with us. The tone of the press, however,

shows that this feeling dares not be shown, and that the popular

clamour--that is, the mob-cry--is t'other way.

The Journal has:--

_September 12th_.--To Torry Hill; shooting for ten days.

_22nd_.--Rode over to Leeds Castle with Lord Kingsdown. Farnborough,

Stetchworth, Chorleywood (W. Longman's).

_October 8th_.--To Raith, with Christine and Hopie. Mrs. Norton there.

Then by Elgin and Burgh Head to Skibo. Shooting there. To Novar; back to

Edinburgh and Kirklands, October 26th. Then to Abington on the 29th, and

to Brougham--amusing visit. I was asked to read Lord B.'s Memoirs, and

dissuade him from publishing them. To Ambleside to see Harriet Martineau.

Thence to Badger Hall [Cheney's], November 8th. Went over Old Park iron

works. Home on November 11th.

_December 17th_.--We went to Chevening, and met there the Grotes, Milman,

Lord Stanley, Scharf, and Hayward. Lewis came on the 19th. Most agreeable

party.

_22nd_.--Shooting at Stetchworth.

_31st_.--To the Duke of Newcastle's at Clumber. Sir F. Rogers [afterwards

Lord Blachford] there.

_1863_.--The year opened at Clumber. The Webbes of Newstead, the

Manners-Suttons, Venables, and Herbert came there. Shooting good; caught

three pike; rode with the Duke to Thoresby and Welbeck, through Sherwood

Forest.

_January 6th_.--To the Speaker's at Ossington.

_12th_.--I was made treasurer of the Literary Club [Footnote: This must not

be confused with The Club (see _post_, 133), which had long since dropped

the 'Literary.'] (Walpole's) on Adolphus' death.

_February 25th_.--Prince of Wales' first levee.

_March 7th_.--The Princess of Wales entered London on her marriage. I saw

it from the Board of Trade rooms on London Bridge. Took the Dempsters

there.

_27th_.--The Duke of Newcastle, Baron Gros (French ambassador), Lord

Stanley, Mr. Adam, Lady Molesworth, Lord Kingsdown, and the Heads dined

with us.

It appears by the next letter, from Lord Clarendon, that Reeve had asked

him to review the first two volumes of Kinglake's 'Invasion of the Crimea,'

then on the point of publication.

_The Grove, January 11th_. Some time ago I desired my booksellers to send

me the first copy they could procure of Kinglake's book, and I shall read

it most carefully.... There are many reasons why I should not like to

review the work; but I am equally obliged to you for the offer, and I

shall, of course, communicate to you unreservedly my opinions upon it.

With this promise of help at first hand, Reeve undertook the review

himself; but the letters which follow show that, though the hand was the

hand of Reeve, the voice was the voice of Clarendon--a collaboration that

gives the article a very singular interest.

_From Lord Clarendon_

_The Grove, January 23rd_.--Although I'm sure it is unnecessary, yet it

occurs to me to ask you not to quote my opinion of Kinglake's book; as, for

the present, and for a variety of reasons, I should prefer its not reaching

him in an indirect manner. I long for a quiet talk with you, and am sorry

that it must be postponed for a few days; but in the meanwhile I

may perhaps be able to refresh my memory by referring to my private

correspondence, which is in London. Let me have a line to say what

impression the book makes in the world, as far as you have yet been able

to observe. I shall look with curiosity and some anxiety for the effect it

produces at Paris.

_January 25th_.--Hayward has written to ask my opinion of the book. He is

at Broadlands, and says that Palmerston is, on the whole, well pleased with

the portrait of himself, and that Lady P. is enchanted.

I think as you do of the second volume; there is nothing finer, that I know

of, in the English language than those successive battle pictures. He beats

Napier out of the field. The 'Times' does not seem to like the portrait of

itself. I thought the article yesterday ingenious. I shall hear shortly

what effect the book produces at Paris. Persigny will, of course, prohibit

its entrance, but he will not be able to shut out all the papers that

contain extracts.

_The Grove, February 8th_.--I fear that my notes would not be legible or

intelligible to anyone but myself, and I should much like to have a little

talk with you on the book. Could you come here on Saturday next and stay

till Monday? or if you should chance to be engaged on Saturday, would you

come down by the ten o'clock train on Sunday morning? I do not propose

Saturday morning, as I must myself be in London at the Schools Commission

on that day.

_G. C., February 25th_.--I shall be very glad to see the article in print.

I am sure it will make a great sensation. Kinglake would induce people to

believe that the Emperor was under an urgent necessity to turn away the

attention of his subjects from his action at home, and that he therefore

dragged us into the war fourteen or fifteen months after the _coup d'état_.

It would, I think, be worth while to get some facts respecting his status

in France at that time. If I am not mistaken, he was in no trouble or

danger at all; for the nation had accepted him as a sort of deliverer from

the _rouges_, the fear of whom had been terrifying people out of their

senses.

_G. C., March 4th_.--The article quite comes up to my expectations, and I

like it very much. I cannot think it obnoxious to the charge of dulness;

but on that point I may not be an impartial judge, as the diplomatic

details are to me intensely interesting.

I have hardly any observations to make that would be worth your attending

to, but I will mention one or two things that have occurred to me.

And this he did at considerable length, suggesting several confirmations,

modifications, or additions.

So long as this article was to be considered as an ordinary contribution

to the 'Edinburgh Review,' it bore merely the authority of the 'Review,'

which, however great, was in no sense official; but now that the share

of Lord Clarendon in its authorship is revealed, it assumes an extreme

importance, as an original, though necessarily partial, account of what

took place, and may be held as definitely settling the fate of some of the

extraordinary misstatements which--foisted on the credulity of the public

by the literary skill, the brilliant language, and the unblushing audacity

of Mr. Kinglake--have been accepted as history, and have passed into

current belief. Perhaps nothing concerning the Russian war is more commonly

repeated than the statement that we were tricked into it by the Emperor of

the French for his own selfish ends, and in his desire to be received into

the brotherhood of sovereigns; that our ministers were blindly following

the lead of Louis Napoleon, and were guilty of a very gross blunder. It is

unnecessary and would be out of place to enter here on the examination and

demolition of all this, as given in the pages of the 'Edinburgh Review;'

and equally would it be out of place to discuss the question--as unknown to

Kinglake or to Reeve in 1863 as it was to Palmerston or Clarendon ten years

earlier--whether we were not then, whether we have not been ever since,

'putting our money on the wrong horse.' If we were, if we have been--a

thing which many among us are still unwilling to believe--it is at least

certain that in 1853, as in 1840, it was all but universally held in this

country that it would be prejudicial and dangerous to our most important

interests for either Russia or France to obtain sovereign control over the

Ottoman dominions, and that all the resources of diplomacy or of war ought

to be exerted to prevent it. In the joint article before us, the condition

of affairs in 1853 is thus stated in a few words:--'Russia had formed the

design to extort from Turkey, in one form or another, a right of protection

over the Christians. She never abandoned that design. She thought she could

enforce it. The Western Powers interposed and the strife began.... England

has no call to throw off the responsibility of the measures taken on any

other Power. Those measures were taken because they were demanded by her

own conception of the duty she had to perform; and by far the largest share

of that responsibility rests with this country. We see no reason to deny

it; and if the case occurred again, we should see no reason to act with

less determination.' And again as to the prosecution of the war after

the raising of the siege of Silistria--which, according to Kinglake, was

unnecessary; or the invasion of the Crimea--which was unjustifiable, to be

accounted for, not by any large views of politics or of war, but by paltry

personal passions and influences of the most contemptible kind:--England

and France declared by their despatches of July 22nd, that the sacrifices

already imposed on them were too great, and the cause they had taken in

hand too important, for them to desist, unless they obtained from Russia

adequate securities against the renewal of hostilities. They therefore

demanded:--l. That the protectorate claimed by Russia over the

Principalities by virtue of former treaties now abrogated, should cease. 2.

That the navigation of the mouths of the Danube should be free. 3. That the

treaty of July 13th, 1841, should be revised in the sense of a restriction

of the naval power of Russia in the Black Sea. 4. That no Power should

claim an official protectorate over the Christian subjects of the Porte. On

August 8th, Austria entirely adopted these principles, and on the 10th she

urged Russia to accede to these demands. On the 26th Russia positively

rejected these terms. Had they been accepted, it is needless to add that

the Crimean expedition would not have taken place. Here, then, is the clear

and precise ground on which the war assumed an offensive character against

Russia--viz. to compel her to submit to terms of peace, which England and

France held to be necessary to the future safety of Turkey, and which

Austria had fully adopted. This is the political explanation of the war,

and it was fully justified, as each preceding step of the allies had been

justified, by a fresh refusal on the part of Russia to agree to the terms

proposed by the allies. It is unnecessary to carry this examination

further. It has been introduced here merely as an illustration and a proof

of the historical importance of the article now that Lord Clarendon's

share in it is understood, and we are made acquainted with the peculiar

opportunities which Reeve possessed--not only as Clarendon's friend, but as

in actual, confidential conversation with Lord Stratford when he ordered up

the fleets. [Footnote: See _ante_, vol. i. p. 312.]

The fine old motto of the 'Edinburgh Review,' _Judex damnatur cum nocens

absolvitur_, is, when reduced to practice, apt to strain the relations

between the 'judex' and the 'nocens;' and in this case the very outspoken

review, published under Reeve's sanction, caused a coolness between the two

men, the editor and the author, who had previously been on friendly terms.

It is, in fact, easily conceivable that, in earlier years or in other

lands, powder would have burnt or small swords flashed. Being when and

where they were, they dropped out of each other's circle. And this

continued for upwards of three years, when a chance meeting opened the door

to reconciliation.

_From Mr. Kinglake_

9 St. George's Terrace, Marble Arch,

November 14th, 1866.

Dear Reeve,--I think I perceived yesterday that my malice--malice founded,

I believe, on a couple of words, and now of some three years' standing--had

not engendered any corresponding anger in you; and if my impression was a

right one, I trust we may meet for the future upon our old terms. Shall it

be so?

Faithfully yours,

A. W. KINGLAKE.