RETIREMENT
Christmas and the early days of the New Year were passed at Foxholes. On
January 15th the Reeves returned to Rutland Gate. Parliament met on
the 21st, and, as had been foreseen, the Government was defeated on an
amendment to the Address. Lord Salisbury's resignation was announced on
February 1st, and, on the 3rd, Mr. Gladstone's Cabinet was formed, Sir
William Harcourt being Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Rosebery Foreign
Secretary, and Mr. John Morley Secretary for Ireland. Sir Henry James,
now Lord James of Hereford, declined the office of Lord Chancellor; Lord
Hartington, the present Duke of Devonshire, declined office of any sort in
a Ministry whose policy, as yet but dimly shown, was generally understood
to be on the lines of advanced Radicalism. For his part, Reeve abhorred
Radicalism. He had never approved of Gladstone as a politician, and now
less than ever. He looked on him as a danger to the Empire, to be fought
against, to be resisted, to be crushed. Nor was he singular in this. It
is customary to speak of the extraordinary influence which Gladstone
exercised. It was this influence, directed by sentiment or by vanity, which
constituted the danger. There were many who believed the country to be
on the eve of a violent, perhaps a sanguinary, revolution, fomented and
abetted by Mr. Gladstone; and this belief was strengthened when, on
February 8th, an East-end mob, meeting in Trafalgar Square, was allowed,
without opposition, to march by Pall Mall, St. James' Street and
Piccadilly, to Hyde Park, breaking the windows and plundering the shops on
the way. When to this supposed revolutionary tendency of the new Ministry
was added their avowed intention to bring in a measure for the pacification
of Ireland, which--in the absence of details--was believed to mean the
disintegration of the kingdom, the feeling of alarm, which must be very
well remembered by many who read these pages, can be easily understood.
_From Lord Ebury_ [Footnote: Lord Ebury died at the age of 92, in 1893.]
Moor Park, January 4th, 1886.
Dear Reeve,--Allow me to wish you and Mrs. Reeve a happy New Year, and
to say how much I have been interested in the second part of our common
friend's Memoirs, which--if you care to know it--pleased me more than the
first; but the most characteristic passage of the writer, and which made me
laugh aloud, is the three pages in which he vents all his wrath against the
public for their approbation of Lady Blessington as an authoress, and the
pedestal upon which they placed her. I was glad to read the editor's note,
which completed the page. When once he got into that sort of mood, and
perhaps was influenced by a touch of gout, and let himself go, it was very
funny to listen to him; and really he was a good-natured man. I wonder
what he would have said of Parnell and his ragged regiment, and the G. O.
M.[Footnote: As even in twelve years the name has become quite obsolete, it
may be as well to note that Mr. Gladstone was generally designated by these
letters, said by his friends and admirers to stand for Grand Old Man.] as
he now appears. What in the world are we to do? The 'Times' is working most
patriotically; but why, in the world, did it or he not find out earlier
what the G. O. M. really was and is?...
With my best regards to Mrs. Reeve,
I remain, yours very truly,
EBURY.
_From the Comte de Paris_
_8 janvier_.--Je vous remercie bien sincèrement des bons voeux que vous
m'adressez pour la nouvelle aimée. Comme vous le dites fort bien, il y a
des bonheurs que la politique ne peut pas empoisonner, et ce sont les plus
solides.
L'année 1886, je le crois comme vous, nous réserve des surprises plus
dramatiques que celle don't nous venons de voir la fin. En France, ce
renouvellement de l'année nous donne un Président renommé mais non rajeuni,
un Ministère reconstitué mais non raffermi ... En Angleterre, Gladstone
et les Irlandais vous auront pour une fois rendu service s'ils forcent à
s'unir les conservateurs, aujourd'hui séparés par d'anciennes divisions
en whigs et en tories. Ce jour-la vous pourrez de nonveau avoir un
gouvcrnement fort et national.
_From Lord Ebury_
_February 13th_--I cannot recollect anything about Charles Greville's
pamphlet on Ireland, though I imagine I must have read it at the time. Can
one get it now to look at it? or are things so much changed by the march
of events since that its interest has passed away? I re-read Gustave de
Beaumont's marvellous work, with which no doubt you are acquainted.
I confess it rather staggered me when it first came out; and how the
prophecies it contained are accomplished, almost to the letter! I remember
calling the old Duke's attention to it; especially to that strange
phrase-speaking of the then Irish landowners--'C'est une mauvaise
aristocratic; il faut la détruire.' Was it ever reviewed in the
'Edinburgh'?
When will this horrible Government be overthrown?
_To Mr. T. Norton Longman_
_Rutland Gate, March 29th_--From what I learned yesterday as to the
probable course of proceeding in the House of Commons, I am strongly of
opinion that it will be necessary to accelerate the publication of the
'Review' by two days, instead of postponing it, as we had proposed to do.
The 'Review' would be of use in the debate which will then be going on, and
will probably be noticed; whereas, after the division on leave to bring in
the Bill, it would be less opportune. The article on Ireland is complete,
and it would be premature to speculate on the details of an unknown
measure.
The 'Review' was published on April 13th, and, as Reeve had expected, the
article on 'England's Duty to Ireland' was in everyone's mouth. It was a
powerful appeal to the Liberals, as distinct from the Gladstonians, which
may even now be read with advantage as a lucid exposition of the principles
of the Union.
_From Lord Ebury_
_April 14th_.--Thank you for so speedily answering my question: also for
pointing my attention to the concluding article of the 'Edinburgh'--just
published--written by yourself. I have just finished its perusal, and am
very much pleased with it. No doubt you have had a certain advantage
in seeing what has been already said upon this insane proposition of
Gladstone's; but I have hitherto seen nothing which so completely exposes
the dangers that threaten us, and gives so much historical information to
guide opinion upon the subject; and you have put forward a subject which
to my astonishment has not (or scarcely) been noticed at all. I mean
the danger to the throne of England. I see you dismiss with scarcely a
remark--which, indeed, in your province, would have been injudicious--the
responsibility of those, our grandees--I won't mention names--who have
assisted in giving the G. O. M. power to do the almost irreparable mischief
he has perpetrated.
The Journal here has:--
_April 17th_.--To Foxholes. On the 29th, Unionist meeting at Christchurch;
Lord Malmesbury in the chair. I read an address [which was printed and
circulated as a leaflet]. This was one of the first Unionist meetings in
England.
_May 3rd_.--To Portsmouth, on a visit to Captain Bridge, on board the
'Colossus.'
On May 10th Gladstone, in moving the second reading of his 'Home Rule'
Bill, seemed to accept the truth of the maxim that 'Speech is given to man
to conceal his thoughts,' and led someone--commonly believed to be Mr.
Labouchere, who made no attempt to hide his own opinions--to say, 'How is
it possible to play with an old sinner who has got an ace up each sleeve,
and says God Almighty put them there?' What Gladstone wanted to do was,
in fact, never exactly known; all that could be made out was that he was
prepared to grant whatever the Irish Nationalist party demanded. It was for
Mr. Parnell to speak; for him to obey. Such an attitude was revolting to
a very great many of the Liberal party. They maintained--they rightly
maintained--that the name 'Liberal' belonged to principles, not to men; and
that those who sacrificed their principles to follow the lead of one man,
even of Gladstone's eminence, ceased to be Liberals, and could only be
called Gladstonians. The Bill was discussed for many days, and on June
7th it was negatived by the House of Commons in the fullest division ever
known; the numbers being:
_Against the Bill. For the Bill._
Conservatives. . . . 250 Gladstonians. . . . 230
Liberals. . . . . . 93 Nationalists. . . . 83
___ ___
343 313
Majority against the Bill, 30.
Reeve was triumphant, and wrote to Mr. T. Norton Longman the next day,
'What a triumphant division! What a defeat for the G. O. M.! Even he must
believe this. I think his colleagues will hardly agree to dissolve. If they
do, they will be annihilated.'
They did, and they were. The General Election held in July fully ratified
the vote of the House on June 7th, and left the Gladstonians and
Parnellites combined in a minority of 115.
_To Mr. T. Norton Longman_
_C. O., June 23rd_.--Sir Francis Doyle's Epilogue [Footnote: The last
chapter of Doyle's _Reminiscences and Opinions_ (8vo. 1886). It is
more than 'invective;' it contains much sound argument and admirable
illustration.] is a powerful piece of invective; but it is essentially
addressed to Gladstone's public career and conduct, and if he likes to
publish it, I see no objection. Doyle was at Eton with Gladstone, and is
one of his oldest and most intimate friends--or rather, _was so_. What he
has written is not stronger than what George Anthony Denison has published
on Gladstone, he too being a friend of forty years. I do not remember
another instance in which a man's best and earliest friends have turned
upon him, to unmask him, and that without any motive of personal
resentment. It is the noble motive which led Brutus to strike Caesar.
If this is to appear, it should be published _immediately_, as it relates
to the affairs of the day.
_C. O., July 21st_.--I think Gladstone has fulfilled all my predictions and
completed the ruin of the Liberal party and his own. The net result is that
he has brought in the Tories for several years.
Whilst this tremendous storm was raging in the political world in England,
France also had been much excited. The letters of the Comte de Paris
have shown that he was, in point of fact, conducting an intrigue for the
subversion of the republic, the re-establishment of the monarchy; and it
is not surprising that the Government, more or less cognisant of what was
going on, struck in defence of the constitution under which they ruled.
Their action was said to be illegal; but in time of war the laws depend on,
are upheld by, and interpreted by the greater force; and on June 23rd
the Comte de Paris, with his family, was ordered to quit France, and the
Orleanist princes, including the Duc d'Aumale, were deprived of their rank
in the army, their names being erased from the army list. On June 29th
Reeve noted in his Journal, 'To Tunbridge Wells, to see the Comte de
Paris, exiled the week before;' but that is all; the home interest was too
absorbing, though even of that the only trace in the Journal is on July
5th, 'Unionist meeting at Tuckton. I took the chair. Election.'
_To Lord Derby_
_C. O., July 10th_.--I am much obliged to you for the copy of your
excellent speech. In this remarkable debate _coram populo_, it seems to me
that the defeat of the Home Rulers in argument has been even more complete
than their rout at the polling booths. The people have shown more serious
intelligence than I had given them credit for. I saw this even in our
Hampshire bumpkins.
On July 20th the Gladstonian Ministry resigned, and before the end of the
month the new ministry was formed under Lord Salisbury as premier and first
lord of the treasury. The Journal is occupied with personal and family
affairs of special interest.
_July 25th_.--To Antwerp by the 'Baron Osy.' Forty-seven Americans on
board. Aix very dull. Back to London on August 11th.
_August 18th_.--Letter from Hopie announcing her intended marriage.
_September 6th_.--Hopie married at Kirklands to Thomas Ogilvie of Chesters.
Chesters is in the immediate neighbourhood of Kirklands, and the friendship
between Miss Reeve and Mr. Ogilvie was of many years' standing, though the
determination to marry was rather sudden, and the engagement very short.
Mr. Ogilvie was a man of good family and property, and though several years
older than his bride, Reeve appears to have been very well satisfied; his
relations with his son-in-law were always cordial, though the distance at
which they lived restricted the intercourse, and the formed habits of both
prevented anything like intimacy.
Amidst the political excitement and the family interest of the summer, the
following comes in almost like the Fool in 'King Lear' or Caleb Balderstone
in the 'Bride of Lammermoor.' It refers to a proposition--surely one of the
strangest ever submitted to a publisher--which, in ordinary course, had
been sent to Reeve for an opinion. And this is what Reeve wrote:--
_To Mr. T. Norton Longman_
_Foxholes, August 24th_.--Your correspondent is the coolest fellow I ever
heard of. He not only proposes to complete Macaulay's 'Lays' by some new
ones, but to re-edit and correct the original Lays, which, he says, 'are
very irregular.' His own verses have not a spark of poetry or fire in them;
they are mere trash, and he is an impertinent fellow.
Here the Journal has:--
_September 7th_.--Went to Exeter with Christine; 8th, to Chagford and
Dartmoor; 10th, back to Foxholes.
_29th_.--To Holyhead and Penrhos with Christine. Bad weather at Penrhos;
gout in hand came on.
_October 2nd_.--To Knowsley; Lord Lyons there.
_6th_.--To London and Foxholes. Christine went on to Chesters. On the 20th,
Mrs. Ogilvie came from Scotland. November 2nd, James Watney died.
_From Count Vitzthum_
Paris, November 7th.
Dear Mr. Reeve,--I beg you to accept kindly a copy of my memoirs 'St.
Petersburg and London,' 1852-1864, which Cotta will send you from the
author. Please to remember, if you find time to read these two little
volumes, that it is a German book, written for Germans, by one who is
neither Whig, nor Tory, nor Red; who is very fond of Old England,, but
has nothing to do with your party feelings and prejudices. I see men and
things, not from the English, but from the European standpoint, and leave
it, as far as possible, to the leading men of the day to tell their own
tale. If you find time, read the book and tell me what you think of it.
Yours very truly,
VITZTHUM.
_To Mr. T. Norton Longman_
C.O., _November 12th_.--My old friend, Count Vitzthum, formerly Saxon
Minister in London, has sent me his 'Reminiscences of St. Petersburg
and London from 1852 to 1864' in German, 2 vols. This is a book of
extraordinary interest to the English public, full of conversations and
confidential details of Prince Albert, Lord Palmerston, Lord Clarendon,
Disraeli, &c.--quite a contemporary political history, as amusing and
interesting as Greville himself. Vitzthum knew this country well, and all
its society.
I shall write on Monday [15th] to thank him for the book, and I propose to
ask him whether he has made any arrangements for the translation of it. I
am not much in favour of translations; but this book is of such peculiar
and exciting interest that I should strongly recommend you to secure it
if possible. I think the Taylors, who did Luther, would undertake the
translation.
I think this an important affair.
_November 15th_.--I am afraid you are out of town, but it is of great
importance to come to an immediate decision about Count Vitzthum's book. It
is a work of the greatest possible interest and importance, and contains
many entirely new facts and anecdotes as to contemporary history. You will
perceive this from the enclosed notice of the book which appeared last
week in the 'Daily News.' [Footnote: November 6th, 'From our Berlin
Correspondent,' a notice mostly made up of extracts from the book, then
described as 'just about' to be published by Cotta of Stuttgart.]
The Queen has seen the sheets and approved them.
The result of this notice was that three English publishers at once applied
to Cotta for the right of translation; but the Count has retained that in
his own hands, and he says that, if _you_ will publish the translation on
suitable terms, and if _I_ will edit the translation with my name, and
write a preface to it, he will make an arrangement with us. This I am ready
to do, and I shall tell him so to-day. There is not a moment to lose; and
as you appear not to be in town, I must act myself in the matter. I want
to know as soon as possible what terms you would offer. I think the Count
would accept either a sum down or a share of the profits; you might propose
either alternative. The Taylors would execute the translation promptly and
the book would appear in May. I do not suppose that you will hesitate to
agree to so important a proposal; but if it does not please you, I am
certain that Murray or Macmillan would jump at it.
_C.O., November 17th._--Max Müller has written to Count Vitzthum, to make
exactly the same suggestion I have done. He highly applauds the book and
recommends the Count to make arrangements with _you_ for the translation. I
have seen Fairfax Taylor. He will undertake to complete the translation by
the 15th or 20th of February. The printing can go on when he has got some
copy in hand, and the book can be brought out early in April, which is a
very good time. I have given him my copy of the first volume to begin upon.
Pray get another copy of the book.
_November 18th._--Count Vitzthum accepts your proposal. He asks me whether
he should write to you; but that is unnecessary. _Four_ other English
publishers have applied to him for the right of translation.
_November 23rd._--It will be necessary that the translation of Vitzthum's
book should be set up in slips, in order that he and I may have an
opportunity of adding notes or making omissions.
At this time the question of having him elected as a foreign member of the
Institute was mooted by Reeve's friends in Paris. It is to this that
the following letters refer. Though not successful on this occasion,
because--as Reeve was afterwards told--two out of the six foreign members
were already English, they carried their point some eighteen months later,
on an English vacancy.
_From M. Jules Simon_
Paris, 18 décembre.
Cher Monsieur,--J'ai en effet exprimé à notre ami commun, M. Gavard, le
désir que j'éprouve de vous attacher plus complètement à notre Académie.
C'est line opération assez difficile, car les associés étrangers pouvant
être choisis indistinctement dans tous les peuples du monde, il y a
rarement disette de candidats. A chaque vacance, une commission est nominée
au scrutin. Elle présente trois noms à l'Académie, qui consacre une séance
à les discuter, et vote dans la séance suivante. Nous devons élire tout à
l'heure le successeur de Ranke. Parmi les deux noms qui ne sortiront pas de
l'urne, il y en a un qui pourra bien réussir quand on élira le successeur
de Minghetti. En général on est porté deux ou trois fois avant de passer.
Vos amis s'occuperont d'abord de vous faire figurer sur la liste. Il faut
pour cela qu'un d'entre eux ait la liste exacte de vos écrits, et de tous
les titres que l'on peut invoquer en votre faveur. Les débats ne sont pas
publics; les candidats n'écrivent pas de demande; celui qui les propose
parle en son propre noni, ct est même censé les proposer à leur insu.
Enfin, le public ne connaît que le nom de l'élu. Je crois que vous avez
envoyé a M. Barthélemy St.-Hilaire les renseignements nécessaires. Si cela
n'est pas fait, faites-le, je vous prie, sans délai. Vous pouvez, si vous
le préférez, les envoyer à M. Gavard, qui me les remettra, ou m'écrire
directement. Je vous prie, cher monsieur, de croire à mes sentiments
cordialement dévoués.
JULES SIMON.
_From M. Leon Say_
Paris, 25 décembre.
Mon bien Cher M. Reeve,--Je ferai naturellement tous mes efforts pour vous
rapprocher encore plus de l'Institut, et vous y donner un rang digne de
vous; mais je ne dois pas vous laisser ignorer qu'il y aura lutte. Je ne
sais s'il vous conviendra que votre nom soit discuté. Pour vous éclairer
sur ce point, je vous envoie à titre confidentiel un billet que me fait
parvenir M. Aucoc pour faire suite à un entretien que j'ai eu avec lui.
Je vous prie de croire à mes sentiments les plus distingués et les plus
affectueux.
LÉON SAY.
Jules Simon m'a promis une note qui me servirait à soutenir vos titres, et
me permettrait de dire aux Français de ma section, passablement ignorants
de l'étranger, avec exactitude ce que vous avez fait.
Meantime the Journal notes:--
_December 7th._--Meeting of the Liberal-Unionist party. On the 11th, dinner
at home. Duc d'Aumale, Froude, Carnarvon, Lady Stanley, Colonel Knollys, F.
Villiers, Lady Metcalfe, Newton.
_19th_--Dined at the Duc d'Aumale's, who had bought Moncorvo House in
Ennismore Gardens. Comte and Comtesse de Paris, Haussonville, Ségur,
Target, Audiffret, Leighton.
_December 21st_.--To Timsbury. 24th, to Foxholes. The Ogilvies there.
1887. _January 3rd_.--Came to London. 10th, dinner at Pender's to meet
Stanley, the African traveller, before he went to find Emin Bey.
_19th_.--The third part of Greville published, 3,007 copies subscribed.
Among the many letters which the publication of these last volumes of
the 'Greville Memoirs' brought him, the following from Sir Arthur Gordon
[Footnote: Fourth son of the Earl of Aberdeen.]--now Lord Stanmore,
and then Governor of Ceylon--have a peculiar interest from their exact
criticism of a point of detail with which the writer was personally
acquainted at first hand:--
Queen's House, Colombo, June 18th.
My dear Mr. Reeve,--I have very long delayed answering your last letter, in
the hope that, when I did so, I might at the same time be able to send you
my notes on the two last volumes of 'Greville.' But these notes will
be numerous, and my time is scant for such work. On one point, the
'graspingness' alleged to have been shown by the Peclites after the
formation of the Government in December 1852, and its modification to
satisfy their exigencies, I have felt constrained to address the 'Times.'
[Footnote: June 13th. The letter is reprinted in the Appenduxm _post_, p.
411.] The truth happens to have been exactly the other way, and Greville's
notes are only the echo of the grumblings of the disappointed Whig placemen
who talked to him. It is decidedly unjust not only to my father, Graham,
and Gladstone, who are indirectly charged with this trafficking, but to the
Duke of Newcastle and Herbert also, who more directly are so.
I have, of course, read the volumes with great interest, but have had
my suspicions greatly heightened that whatever may have been the case
before--say 1841, the confidences Mr. Greville received in the later years
of his life were not unfrequently only half-confidences, for the sake
of obtaining his opinion on some collateral point, or of flattering or
pleasing him by the show of confidence. There are, of course, many matters
treated of in these volumes as to which I have no personal or private
information, and I have no reason to question what he says about them; but
I have some inclination to doubt, even as to these; for I find that as
regards almost every transaction of which I do happen to know the whole
history, he knows a good deal about it, but not _all_ about it. He was
kept specially in the dark about the real history of Lord Palmerston's
resignation in 1853 which is all the odder because he very nearly found it
out. Hardly anybody does know what lay behind, though the difference about
Reform was a very real one, so far as it went, and quite sufficient to
justify--at all events, ostensibly--Lord P.'s virtual dismissal. Again, on
another occasion, I see Mr. G.'s special friend, Lord Clarendon--I will
not say, deliberately deceived him, but, certainly with full knowledge
--allowed him to deceive himself on the strength of a half-confidence.
[Footnote: A politic reticence, that has been called 'an economy of
truth.']
I am more disappointed than I can say to find that M. de Sainte-Aulaire's
elaborate Memoirs have been 'used up' for that stupid book of Victor de
Nouvion's, [Footnote: Histoire du Règne de Louis Philippe (4 tom 8vo.
1857-61)], if--as I suppose-that is the book you refer to. I thought it had
never got beyond the first two volumes, and have never seen any more of it.
I am vexed that M. de Sainte-Aulaire's elaborate Memoirs should have been
utilised for such a book; generally, because I know M. de Sainte-Aulaire
contemplated their publication, and because they deserved to appear in
a separate form; and, personally and specially, because, of course, his
accounts of his intercourse with my father, and the elaborate study of his
character which he had written, are thus lost....
Yours ever faithfully,
A. GORDON.
_To Sir Arthur Gordon_
_C.O., June 13th_.--I have just read in the 'Times' of this morning your
interesting letter on the formation of Lord Aberdeen's ministry. I have no
doubt you are quite right. It _was_ John Russell and the Whigs who were
rapacious for office--much more than the Peelites. John Russell, I know,
kept Cardwell out of the Cabinet. You observe that Greville only notes what
Lord Clarendon told him; and I have no doubt that Clarendon was rather out
of humour with arrangements which were personally disagreeable to himself.
But that again was John Russell's fault, because he insisted on taking the
Foreign Office _pro tem_. I shall probably publish another complete edition
of Greville next year, and I think it would be well to insert in a note the
whole of your letter, or at least the greater part of it. [Footnote: See
Appendix, post, p. 411.] If you have any other criticisms to make, they
would be valuable to me. I have availed myself of those you were so good as
to send me on the second series.
You are aware that Mme. de Jarnac is dead. I do not know who has her
husband's papers; but the Comte de Paris is here, and as I frequently see
him, I will take an early opportunity of asking him whether he can give me
any information about Lord Aberdeen's letters. M. Thureau's 'Histoire de
la Monarchic de Juillet' is a remarkable book, because he has access to
original sources and quotes largely from them, especially from the Memoirs
of M. de Sainte-Aulaire which are still in MS. [Footnote: And _still_ so in
1898.] They appear to be extremely interesting.
We are getting on here pretty well. If the Whigs had joined the Government,
there might have been a scramble for office, as there was in 1853; for
the Whigs are now in the same position as the Peelites were at that
time--officers without an army. It is much more to the credit of my friends
to give a disinterested support to Lord Salisbury; and this alliance gives
a sufficiently Liberal colour to the measures of the administration. There
is every appearance that the Unionists will hold together. Mr. Gladstone
continues to be in a state of hallucination and excitement which exceeds
belief. It is a case of moral and political suicide. The crisis will
probably end by the death of Mr. Parnell, the falling [off] of the American
subscriptions, and the extinction of Mr. Gladstone; but in the meantime
they have totally ruined Ireland.
_From Sir Arthur Gordon_
_August 30th_.--Your letter of June 13th must have crossed one from me,
in which I explained to you why I had written to the 'Times' about
the formation of the Government of 1853 instead of merely sending my
observations to you as a note for future use. I need not say that I am much
flattered by your proposal to insert the letter--or part of it--in a note
to a future edition of Mr. Greville's Memoirs... I am struck very much
by what I think I mentioned once before--the frequency with which Mr.
Greville's friends gave him what may be called 'a three-quarters knowledge'
of pending affairs. They told him a great deal, but frequently not _all_.
In the affairs with which I am really acquainted, there is almost always
something--and that an important something--which does not appear in his
notes... I have specially noticed this with regard to Lord Palmerston's
'resignation' in 1853, It is the more remarkable, because it is apparent
from various passages that he 'burnt'--as they say in a game of hide and
seek--but never actually quite caught the true facts. I have never known
a secret better guarded than the fact--which, after a lapse of four and
thirty years, one may, I think, mention--that Lord P.'s resignation on
that occasion was _not_ voluntary, and that he was, in fact, extruded.
[Footnote: In a later letter, June 5th, 1888, Sir Arthur Gordon wrote:--'He
had given great offence to the Queen; and his colleagues--at least, his
most important colleagues--distrusted his action in reference to pending
negotiations, Lord Clarendon especially resenting the intrigues he believed
he was carrying on. Things being in this state, he announced his hostility
to Reform, and it was determined to take advantage of this announcement to
remove him; and removed he would have been, but for the two causes I have
noted.'] But, to be sure, half the Cabinet did not know this; and it was
their ignorance, coupled with Newcastle's and Gladstone's dislike of Lord
John, that brought him back again.
I must get M. Thureau's 'Histoire de la Monarchic de Juillet,' of which I
never even heard. It is dreadful to reflect how utterly behindhand one gets
in all things, literary, artistic, and political, through long sojourns out
of Europe. But I do hope there is some prospect of M. de Sainte-Aulaire's
Memoirs themselves being published at full length. I know it was M. de
Sainte-Aulaire's wish and deliberate intention that they should be given to
the world, and he took much trouble with them.
_From the Duke of Argyll_
Inveraray, January 22nd.
My dear Mr. Reeve,--I have been longer in getting the book off my hands
than I had hoped. It is now in the press, and Douglas talks of getting it
out about February 10th or a little later.... There is a good deal in
the book which, in one sense, may be called 'padding,' because I have
endeavoured to relieve the very dry subject of Tenures and Agricultural
Improvement with historical episodes, with pictures of manners, and even
with personal anecdote. But I think there is a considerable bulk of new
matter, or at least of old matter put in new points of view, and every part
is written with an aim to establish the principles which _we_ think 'sound'
on Law, on Property, and on Union. Your new Greville seems to be very
interesting.
Yours very sincerely,
ARGYLL.
_From M. B. St.-Hilaire_
_Paris_, 29 _janvier_.--Je vous remercie de la peine que vous voulez
bien prendre, et j'ai profité des corrections que vous avez bien
voulu m'indiquer. J'avais déjá profité des deux articles de la 'Revue
d'Edimbourg' sur les chemins de fer russes en Asie et sur l'armée indienne.
I have no wish to appear more royalist than the king himself; but I cannot
feel so sure as you do about the security of India. The Russians are
already threatening it, and I do not think they are near stopping. The base
of their operations will be in the Caucasus, where they already have very
considerable forces. It is true that their finances are in bad order; but
this may perhaps be an additional motive to them to undertake a war of
conquest. I agree with you, however, that before the attack on India will
come the attack on Constantinople, the consequences of which will be very
great. On the other hand, the railway connecting Candahar with the Indus
will certainly be a great obstacle to the advance of the Russians on Cabul.
In all this I see many of the elements of catastrophes which the next
generation will witness. I hope I may be out of this world before they
come.
_To Mr. T. Norton Longman_
_Foxholes_, _April 17th_.--I see the 'Athenaeum' complains that I did not
correct all Vitzthum's mistakes and rearrange his book; but that is more
than I undertook to do. We did correct a good many mistakes, natural enough
in a foreigner; but I do not hold myself responsible for his facts or his
opinions.
_April 22nd_.--I know more about M. Barthélemy St.-Hilaire's book on India
than any other Englishman, for I revised and corrected the proof-sheets for
him. A French writer on the subject was sure to make blunders. The book is
most valuable to _foreigners_, for it is a perfectly fair account of the
British administration of India; but it would be entirely useless in this
country, inasmuch as it is a mere compilation from well-known English
documents. I think, therefore, that a translation into English would be a
work of supererogation and a failure.
_Journal_
_April 30th_.--Dined at the Royal Academy dinner.
_May 9th_.--Great Unionist meeting at Winchester.
_28th_.--Barthélemy St.-Hilaire came to Foxholes on a visit.
_June 10th_.--Dined with the Duc d'Aumale, Moncorvo House. Electric light.
_15th_.--Dined at the Middle Temple. Grand day; Prince of Wales in the
chair.
_18th_.--Dined with the Lord Mayor. Literature, Science, and Art.
_21st_.--Celebration of the Jubilee. Splendid day.
_July 3rd_.--Went to Eastbourne.
_7th_.--Dined at East Sheen with the Comte de Paris. Duc and Duchesse
of Braganza there. Duke of St. Albans, Arran and daughter, Duc de la
Tremoille--twenty.
_18th_.--Duc d'Aumale's evening party; very brilliant.
_25th_.--To Ostend and Brussels. 26th, to Cologne. Great heat.
_27th_.--To Wiesbaden. Lady Dartrey died while I was at Wiesbaden. I took
leave of her on her death-bed just before I started. It was the loss of a
most kind, faithful, and affectionate friend.
_August 5th_.--Ill in the night; incipient fever. 6th, to Cologne. 7th, to
Aix, very unwell. 9th, got back to London by Ostend-Dover.
_From Captain Bridge, R.N._
H.M.S. 'Colossus,' Gibraltar, August 3rd.
Dear Mr. Reeve,--The Naval Review and the ensuing operations have not, I
hope, given you such a surfeit of naval affairs as to indispose you to hear
a little of the recent cruise of the Mediterranean squadron. We left Malta,
under the command of the Duke of Edinburgh, in May, and visited several
ports on the coast of Italy. During H.R.H.'s absence in England, when
attending the Jubilee, we stayed at the convenient harbour of Aranci Bay
in the island of Sardinia. There we carried out a series of instructive
torpedo and under-water mining exercises. After leaving Sardinia, we
called at several Spanish ports--Barcelona, Valencia, Cartagena and
Malaga--eventually reaching this place last Friday evening.
The effect of our visits to both Italy and Spain has been--especially in
the case of the latter country--remarkably gratifying. The presence of
a son of the Queen was evidently taken as a compliment by Italians and
Spaniards of all classes. Barcelona, Cartagena, and Malaga are notoriously
anti-monarchical in sentiment. Yet in every one H.R.H. had a most
flattering reception. The enthusiasm of the populace at Cartagena was fully
equal to any shown by an English crowd for any popular royal personage.
People may say what they like, but the advantages to the country of
having a prince in the position held by the Duke are considerable. The
friendliness of the Italians is striking; and I am confident the feelings
of Spaniards of all classes are more favourable to England than they have
been for half a century. We hear now that we are to go on to Cadiz, where a
maritime exhibition is to be opened this month; and it is understood that
this extension of our cruise is at the request of the Spaniards themselves.
I have visited Spanish ports often before now, and never noticed any
friendliness towards us. Should the necessity of looking for allies arise,
it is nearly certain that both Italy and Spain would be disposed to range
themselves on our side. It will be a pity if diplomatic bungling occurs to
alter this satisfactory condition of things....
Pray give my kind remembrances to Mrs. Reeve.
Yours sincerely,
CYPRIAN A. G. BRIDGE.
It has been seen that for some years back Reeve had been occasionally
thinking of retiring from his post of Registrar. The near completion of
fifty years' service revived the notion, and his illness at Wiesbaden,
following an earlier attack in April, confirmed it. When his mind was once
made up, the rest was a matter of detail. The Journal notes:--
_August 10th_.--Taxed costs and wound up business at the Council Office for
the last time again; but went there again on October 11th.
_12th_.--To Foxholes, where fever and bad fit of gout came on; I was very
unwell till September 3rd.
_21st_.--My dog Sylvia [Footnote: A collie, so called after her donor, M.
Sylvain van de Weyer. A brother of hers belonged to the Queen.] died. A
fond and faithful companion of sixteen years.
_September 5th_.--Mr. G. H. Dorrell came as my secretary, and I dictated an
article on foreign affairs.
_From Mr. C. L. Peel_ [Footnote: Clerk of the Council in succession to Sir
Arthur Helps. Now Sir Charles Peel.]
56 Eccleston Square, October 5th.
My Dear Reeve,--I was so taken aback by your announcement to-day, that I
really could not find words in which to express the sincere regret with
which I heard it. You are so thoroughly identified in my mind with the
Council Office, and I am so much indebted to you for advice and assistance
during the last twelve years, that I shall feel quite lost when I can
no longer rely upon the experience, judgement, and kindness which have
hitherto been available to me in any difficulty.
I only trust that by relieving yourself in good time from the ties of
office, you may enjoy a long spell of happy and active retirement, which
you have so well earned, and into which you will be followed by the best
wishes of all you leave behind. Believe me always,
Yours most sincerely,
C. L. PEEL.
It appears from the Journal that the resignation was not officially made
till some days later.
_October 24th_.--I resigned the Registrarship of the Privy Council, which I
had held, as Clerk of Appeals and Registrar, since November 17th, 1837. The
rest of the year at Foxholes.
At the sitting of the Judicial Committee on November 2nd, Sir Barnes
Peacock formally announced to the Bar the resignation of the Registrar, and
after briefly mentioning the dates of his service as Clerk of Appeals since
1837 and Registrar since the creation of the office in 1853, he went on:--
'It is unnecessary to state to the Bar the manner in which the duties of
that office have been performed by Mr. Reeve. He is not present to-day. He
has been prevented, I believe, by the state of his health, from travelling
to London. Their Lordships are sorry that he is not present, that they
might personally bid him farewell. They have given me, as the oldest member
of the Judicial Committee now present, the privilege of expressing and
recording their deep sense of the loss which must be sustained, both by
the Judicial Committee and the public, by being deprived of the valuable
services of Mr. Henry Reeve. His long and varied experience, extending over
a period of nearly half a century, his extensive knowledge, his great tact
and the sound judgement which he brought to bear in the discharge of the
duties of his office, render his retirement a serious loss both to the
Judicial Committee and to the public. Their Lordships could not allow Mr.
Reeve to depart from his office in silence. They trust that he may long
enjoy in health and happiness that rest, relaxation, and repose which
he has so fully and meritoriously earned, and to which he is so justly
entitled. Many men retire from an arduous profession or office, and when
they are relieved from the duties which they have for many years been
called upon to discharge, sink into a state of _ennui_ and listlessness
which are not conducive either to a long life or to health or happiness.
But their Lordships feel sure that that will not be the case with Mr.
Henry Reeve. His literary and other congenial tastes and pursuits, and his
industrious habits, will no doubt supply him with full employment for his
still active and vigorous mind. In taking their leave of Mr. Henry Reeve
on his departure from office their Lordships will only add, 'Let honour be
where honour is justly deserved.'
To this Mr. Aston, Q.C., replied, as the oldest member of the Bar
present:--
'I refrain from attempting to add anything to what your Lordship has said,
for fear that the feebleness of my addition might detract from the force
of that which your Lordship has expressed. But I cannot help saying that,
after having appeared at your Lordships' Bar in this place for upwards of
a quarter of a century, I have myself personally received, and I have seen
the members of the Bar who have practised with me always receive, from Mr.
Reeve the utmost courtesy, attention, and assistance. We often have, my
Lords, in practising before you, a difficult task to discharge. Our clients
are not familiar with the practice of your Lordships' Court, if I may use
the term. But on all occasions Mr. Registrar Reeve has given the utmost
assistance, and therefore I beg to say, on behalf of the Bar whom I venture
to represent, that we cordially endorse all that your Lordship has said,
and express our unfeigned regret that we shall no longer have the services
of Mr. Reeve in your Lordships' chamber.'
_To Mr. T. Norton Longman_
_Foxholes, November 4th._--I hope you saw the funeral oration Sir Barnes
Peacock pronounced on me in the Privy Council. It is in the outer sheet of
the 'Times' of Tuesday [Nov. 1st], and perhaps in some other papers; a very
kind and handsome tribute; and it is pleasanter to have these things said
when one is alive than when one is dead.
The notice in the 'Times' brought Reeve many letters from his friends;
amongst others, the following:--
_From Lord Ebury_
_November 9th._--I see you are going to desert the Council altogether. I
hope you will long enjoy the _otium_ which you have so worthily merited,
and will have time to assist in extinguishing Gladstone.
_From the Duc d'Aumale_
_Woodnorton, 15 novembre._--Je regrette d'apprendre que votre santé a été
si eprouvée.... Je suis toujours affligée de voir mes amis se retirer de
la vie active; mais je comprends les motifs qui vous ont dicté votre
demission....
Je suis si honteux de ce qui se passe en France que je n'ose pas vous en
parler, et je me borne a vous serrer bien cordialement la main.
The Journal then notes:--
1888.--The year began at Foxholes. The Ogilvies there for three weeks. Came
to London on January 3rd.
_February 4th._--Sir Henry Maine died at Cannes. A great loss.
_March 5th._--The railroad from Brockenhurst to Christchurch opened. Went
down to the ceremony. Came back at 7 and dined with Millais to meet the
Lord Chancellor. Mrs. Procter died.
_9th_--Emperor William of Germany died. Various dinners.
_April 10th._--Gladstone dined at The Club. Froude, Smith, Hewett, and
Hooker there.
_27th_--Left London for Basle with Christine at 11 A.M. and arrived there,
and thence, at Lucerne, on the 28th at 9 A.M. Capital journey.
From Lucerne they went on to Milan and Bologna and to Florence, which they
reached on May 3rd, which they made their headquarters for the next three
weeks, seeing all that was interesting in the city and the neighbourhood,
and visiting Siena, Chiusi, Perugia, and Assisi. Then to Spezia, Turin,
Geneva, and to Paris on the 24th.
Meantime Reeve, having been proposed by St.-Hilaire, supported by the Duc
d'Aumale, Jules Simon, and Duruy, as a foreign member of the Institut de
France, in succession to Sir Henry Maine, had been elected by a large
majority on May 8th. He seems to have received the first news of this from
the Duc d'Aumale, who wrote from Palermo on May 10th:--
Mon ancien maître, confrère et ami, Duruy, m'ecrit que vous venez d'etre
nommé associé étranger de son Académie par vingt-sept voix. C'est un beau
succès dont je veux tout de suite me réjouir avec vous, en attendant que je
puisse le faire de vive voix. Je compte être le 20 de ce mois à Bruxelles,
et dîner avec le Club quelque jour du mois de juin.
The election had to be approved by the President of the Republic, and the
result was not officially communicated till the 19th. It would seem that
Reeve did not receive it till his arrival in Paris, and on the next day,
May 25th, St.-Hilaire wrote:--
Demain je vous accompagnerai pour votre entrée à l'Académie. Vous verrez
que le cérémonial est des plus simples. Je vous présenterai spécialement à
M. Franck, qui, sur ma demande, a été votre rapporteur, et qui a parlé de
vous en termes excellents.
From the Duc d'Aumale he received, a few days later:--
_Bruxelles, 31 mai._--Je ne doutais pas du bon accueil qui vous serait fait
à l'Institut, et je suis ravi d'en recevoir le témoignage par votre lettre.
Je voudrais bien pouvoir assister au dîner du Club du 12 juin; mais j'en
ai quelque doute, tandis que je crois être certain, _Deo adjuvante_, de
pouvoir m'asseoir à notre table fraternelle le mardi 26. Je vous serre
affectueusement la main.
On May 28th Reeve returned to London. The entries in the Journal are of
little interest, but he noted:--
_June 12th._--At Lady Knutsford's, evening, met Lord and Lady Lansdowne,
just back from Canada.
_15th_.--To Foxholes. The Emperor Fritz of Germany died. During the whole
of his short reign, which lasted ninety-nine days, the most bitter quarrels
went on about his medical treatment. It was a great tragedy.
_25th_.--To London again. 26th, breakfasted with the Duc d'Aumale, who
dined at The Club.
_July 2nd._--To Winchester Quarter Sessions to qualify as J.P. for
Hampshire, having been recently appointed by Lord Carnarvon.
_9th_.--Attended Petty Sessions at Christchurch.
_30th_.--Winchester Assizes. On the Grand Jury.
The next letter, from Sir Arthur Gordon, refers to an incident alluded to
in the 'Greville Memoirs,' [Footnote: Third Part, i. 54-5.] which Reeve
had commented on at some length, with a reference to the Memoirs of Lord
Malmesbury, published some four years before.
What Lord Malmesbury had said amounted to this--that in 1844, when the
Russian Emperor Nicholas was in London, 'he, Sir Robert Peel (then prime
minister) and Lord Aberdeen (then foreign secretary) drew up and _signed_
a memorandum' to the effect that England 'would support Russia in her
legitimate protectorship of the Greek religion and the Holy Shrines,
without consulting France. Lord Malmesbury added that the fact of Lord
Aberdeen, one of the signers of this paper, being prime minister in 1853,
was taken by Nicholas as a ground for believing that England would not
join France to restrain the pretensions of Russia, and therefore, by
implication, that Lord Aberdeen's being prime minister was a--if not
the--principal cause of the war. [Footnote: _Lord Malmesbury's Memoirs of
an Ex-Minister_ (1st edit.), i. 402-3.]
The memorandum itself, as printed in the Blue Book, differs essentially,
both in matter and form, from Lord Malmesbury's description of it. It
is entitled 'Memorandum by Count Nesselrode delivered to Her Majesty's
Government and founded on communications received from the Emperor of
Russia subsequently to His Imperial Majesty's visit to England in June
1844.' [Footnote: _Parliamentary Papers_, 1854, lxxi. 863.] It is unsigned,
and from the nature of it must be so; it is in no sense an agreement, but
a proposal that England should agree to act in concert with Russia and
Austria; and nothing whatever is said about the Greek religion, the
Holy Places, or the Russian protectorate. It is of course possible that
conversations between Nicholas and Lord Aberdeen, which preceded the
drawing up of this memorandum, may have encouraged the one and hampered
the other; but of this there is no evidence, and Lord Malmesbury could
not possibly know anything about it, though he did know something--very
inaccurately it appears--about the memorandum. The discrepancies had,
in fact, led Reeve to suppose that Malmesbury's statement must refer
to another memorandum; and thus Lord Stanmore's letter has a singular
historical interest, bearing, as it does, on a point that has been much
discussed.
_From Sir Arthur Gordon_
_Queen's House, Colombo, July 30th_--I am very sorry that I did not
contrive to meet you while in England.... I am almost equally sorry--in
fact, am equally sorry--that my laziness and procrastination in sending you
my notes prevented their being of any use in the revision of the seventh
volume [of the Greville Memoirs]. I am the more sorry because I confess
I greatly regret that the mare's-nest of the Russian Memorandum of 1844
should remain unpulled to pieces. You seem half-incredulous as to my
explanation, and ask very naturally, If that is all, why should there have
been any secrecy about it? The secrecy was due to the form, not the matter.
The memorandum was the Emperor's own account of his conversations with
the Duke, Sir R. Peel, and Lord Aberdeen, and a copy of it was sent in a
private letter from Count Nesselrode to Lord Aberdeen. It was never in the
hands of the ordinary diplomatic agents for official communication to the
English Government, nor was it ever treated as an official document. But
its importance was too great to allow its being treated as an ordinary
private letter, and my father personally handed it to Lord Palmerston when
replaced at the F. O. by him. Lord Palmerston delivered it in the same way
to Lord Granville, Lord Granville to Lord Malmesbury, Lord Malmesbury to
Lord John Russell, and Lord John to Lord Clarendon. In 1853 the Emperor
made some reference to this paper which was supposed to make it a public
document, and it was then printed and laid before Parliament soon after the
beginning of the war. This I assure you is the whole history and mystery
of the Russian Memorandum, Lord M. notwithstanding. This is not the only
instance in which Lord M. has mixed up, in singular fashion, what he
himself knew and what was the club gossip at the time.
The Journal here notes:--
_August 20th._--Drove over to Lytchet Heath, to stay with the Eustace
Cecils.
_September 10th._--Joined Mrs. Watney in the 'Palatine' yacht at
Bournemouth. Crossed to Trouville in the night. Lay in 'the ditch' for
twenty hours. 12th, Cherbourg. Met the French fleet and saw the arsenal.
13th, back to Southampton and to Foxholes. Pleasant trip; good weather.
_20th_--The Eustace Cecils came: took them to Heron Court. This was the
last time Lord Malmesbury saw people there.
_From the Duc d'Aumale_
Woodnorton, 26 septembre.
Très cher ami,--Vous êtes bien heureux de pouvoir aller vous promener à
Cherbourg et à Paris. Enfin!
Oui, j'ai reçu un peu de plomb, et même assez près de l'oeil gauche; mais
le proverbe dit que ce métal est ami de l'homme. J'en serai quitte pour
quelques petites bosses sous la peau, et je vous souhaite de vous porter
aussi bien que je le fais en ce moment.
J'irai à Knowsley dans la seconde quinzaine d'octobre; à Sandringham,
dans les premiers jours de novembre; puis mes neveux viendront tirer mes
faisans. J'espère bien prendre part aux agapes du Club le 27 novembre et 11
décembre, et serai bien heureux de vous revoir un peu. En attendant je vous
serre la main, mon cher confrère.
H. D'ORLÉANS.
_To Lord Derby_
_Foxholes, October 2nd._--I am amused by the Court quarrel in Germany,
though I am afraid the broken heads will not be royal heads. Bismarck will
wreak his vengeance on numberless victims. Geffcken is a very old friend
of mine, and an occasional contributor to the 'Edinburgh Review;' but I am
afraid it will go hard with him, for Bismarck regards him as a personal
enemy. If the Prince had lived Bismarck could not have remained in office,
and the course of affairs might have been materially changed.
* * * * *
On October 25th Reeve, with his wife, crossed over to Paris. He attended
the Institut on the 26th, and heard mass at Notre Dame on the 27th; but his
principal object seems to have been to consult Dr. Perrin about his eyes,
which for some time back had caused him some uneasiness. A literary man of
seventy-five is naturally quick to take alarm, and an English oculist had
recommended an operation. This Reeve was unwilling to undergo, at any
rate without another and entirely independent opinion; and as Dr. Perrin
pronounced strongly against it, no operation was performed; and with care
and good glasses his eyes continued serviceable to the last. On November
8th the Reeves returned to London, where, as Parliament was sitting, they
remained till Christmas; and, according to the Journal:--
_November 27th._--The Club was brilliant with the Duc d'Aumale, Wolseley,
Lord Derby, and Coleridge. Boehm and Maunde Thompson were elected.
_December 1st_.--To All Souls, Oxford. Prothero, Dicey, Oman, George
Curzon, &c. Stayed over Sunday.
_27th_.--To Timsbury: thence to Foxholes on the 29th.
_January 15th_, 1889.--Returned to London.
_From M. B. St.-Hilaire_
_Paris, January 20th_.--It was very good of you to think of my book on
'L'Inde Anglaise,' and I thank you for the 'Edinburgh Review' which you
have sent me. I read the article with great interest. It is very well done,
and I beg you to thank the author in my name for having taken the trouble
to read me with so much attention and good will. I do not think I have
exaggerated the danger which threatens your great enterprise in India. The
Transcaspian Railway, which will very soon run from Samarkand to Tashkend,
seems to me one source of it. Yours will, indeed, soon reach to Candahar;
but Russia is at home in the country, whilst England is very far off.
The magnanimous confidence you have in your own strength is most
praiseworthy--provided that your watchfulness is not allowed to slumber....
Meanwhile I remain constant in my admiration of what the English are doing
in India; and the administration of Lord Dufferin may well confirm me in my
opinion. There is nothing like it, or so great as it, in the history of the
past.
_From Lord Dufferin_
British Embassy, Rome, January 27th.
My dear Reeve,--Many thanks for your letter of the 16th. As you may well
suppose, I am delighted with Lyall's article; for he is acknowledged, both
by Indian and by so much of English public opinion as knows anything of
the matter, to have been the best Indian public servant that the present
generation has produced. In addition, or, as perhaps some would say, in
spite of possessing real literary genius, he proved himself a most wise,
shrewd, and capable administrator. I do not believe he made a single
mistake during his whole career. At all events, I never heard of his having
done so; and a slip is scarcely made in India without the fact being duly
recorded. What pleases me most is that the kind words he uses about myself
should be embedded in the exposition of his own opinions upon Indian
questions--opinions full of acuteness, justice, and knowledge. It is
these that will really make the article interesting to your readers, and
consequently give a greater importance to what he has said about me than
otherwise would have been the case. I have obeyed your orders in regard to
sending a copy of my speech to M. Barthelemy St.-Hilaire.
The social history of the season is adequately chronicled in the Journal:--
_February 5th_.--The Ogilvies in London.
_22nd_.--Mr. Gollop [Mrs. Reeve's father] died; born October 11th, 1791.
Christine had been down just before.
_March 12th_.--The Club. Good party: Lord Salisbury, Walpole, Tyndall,
Hooker, Hewett, Lecky, Lyall, A. Russell, Layard, and self.
_March 20th_.--Meeting at Lord Carnarvon's about the bust of Sir C. Newton.
_25th_.--Breakfast at Sheen House with Comte and Comtesse de Paris, to meet
Lefèvre-Pontalis and Bocher.
_28th_.--Lunched with Major Dawson at Woolwich and went over the Arsenal.
Very interesting.
_April 12th_.--Meeting for Matthew Arnold's Memorial. 7,000 _l_. raised.
_May 4th_.--Dined at the Royal Academy dinner. Sat by Horsley, Tyndall, and
Chitty.
_From Sir Arthur Gordon_
_May 5th_.--You may rely upon it that I am absolutely right as to the
Russian Memorandum--Lord Malmesbury does not himself assert that he ever
saw it, which, had it existed, he must have done when Foreign Secretary. I
cannot, of course, expect you to attach the same weight that I do to what
I may call the personal reasons which make me utterly incredulous of Lord
Malmesbury's story; but there are other reasons for doubting it, some of
which may have already occurred to you. One is the alleged form of the
document, which is said to be signed by the Emperor, the Duke, my father,
and Sir R. Peel. Lord Malmesbury prides himself on the knowledge of
diplomatic forms and etiquettes derived from his grandfather's papers. He
might have known that the signature of an engagement by a Sovereign (and
such a Sovereign!) on the one side and _three ministers_ of another
Sovereign on the other (thereby putting them on species of equality) was
an impossibility. Such a paper, if it existed, would be signed either by
_both_ Sovereigns or by the ministers of both. I think I may say with
confidence that the Emperor Nicholas was a most unlikely man to perform
such an act of condescension. And why should he? He had his confidential
minister with him. Another, and I think fatal, objection is that neither
my father nor Lord Clarendon were altogether absolute fools, and when, in
answer to the Emperor's challenge, they published the secret memorandum
which had till then been handed on privately from minister to minister,
they knew what they were about, and would never have put it into the power
of the Emperor to retort that _that_ was not what he referred to, but to a
paper which would not improve the cordiality of the Anglo-French alliance.
Again, is it likely that, if the Emperor had entered into such an
agreement, he would take the trouble to write another long memorandum,
containing the 'substance' of his discussions with the English ministers?
This is the memorandum which was sent in a private letter, which I possess,
from Count Nesselrode to my father; which was handed from minister to
minister, and which was published in 1854. The original draft, Count
Nesselrode said, was in the Emperor's own hand. I have another little bit
of evidence which I think also goes to prove that no such agreement was
entered into in 1844, as Lord Malmesbury supposes. In 1845 Count Nesselrode
visited England. My father, writing to the Queen, gives an account of his
conversations with Nesselrode, and says: 'His language very much resembled
that held by the Emperor; and _although he made no specific proposals_, his
declarations of support, in case of necessity, were _more_ unequivocal.'
(The italics are mine.) Could he have written this if he had already,
some months before, signed an agreement with the Emperor, which was both
unequivocal and specific?
_From the Comte de Paris_
Sheen House, 7 mai.
Mon cher Monsieur Reeve ,--Nous aussi, nous n'avons pas oublié votre
présence à notre mariage le 30 mai 1864. La Comtesse de Paris et moi nous
sommes bien touchés de la manière dont vous nous le rappelez, et je vous
remercie de tout coeur de ce que vous me dites et des voeux que vous
m'adressez en cette occasion. Au milieu de toutes les vicissitudes de notre
vie pendant ces vingt-cinq ans nous avons été constamment soutenus par
le bonheur domestique que cette union nous a donné et par toutes les
satisfactions que nous ont causées nos enfants.
Lorsque j'ai reçu votre lettre j'allais vous écrire, ainsi qu'à Madame
Reeve, de vouloir bien venir ici le 30 mai dans l'après-midi: nous recevons
entre 2 et 5 tous les amis qui viendront fêter cet anniversaire avec nous.
Je me souviens bien que Madame Reeve était avec vous à la chapelle de
Kingston, mais ma mémoire n'est pas sûre en ce qui concerne Madame votre
fille. Je vous serais bien reconnaissant de me faire savoir si elle était
avec vous ce jour-là. En attendant je vous prie de me croire Votre bien
affectionné,
PHILIPPE COMTE DE PARIS.
The Journal notes:--
_May 7th._--The Club: Due d'Aumale, Lord Salisbury, Wolseley, Carlisle, A.
Russell, Hewett, Stephen--very brilliant.
_8th_.--Returned to Foxholes.
_16th_.--Drove to Heron Court. Lord Malmesbury dying.
_17th_.--Lord Malmesbury died. 22nd, attended his funeral in Priory Church.
29th, to London.
_30th_.--The silver wedding of the Comte and Comtesse de Paris at Sheen.
All the French Royalties, Prince of Wales, &c. About five hundred people;
169 persons still alive who were at the wedding in 1864. A silver medal was
sent to all the survivors.
_From M. B. St.-Hilaire_
_Paris, June 6th_.--If I am free in the autumn, it will give me great
pleasure to pay you another visit at Foxholes; the first has left a
pleasant memory, and I ask no better than to repeat it. But, without having
to complain of old age, I find more difficulty in going about. I am not
exactly ill, but my strength gradually fails--a sign that the end is not
far off.
I foresaw that General Boulanger would have no success in England; you are
much too serious for such a nature as his. His popularity diminishes daily;
and if the Cabinet act with judgement from now to the October elections,
I have no doubt they may regain public favour. The triumph of Boulangism
would be the signal for horrible anarchy at home and war abroad, provoked
by the madmen who had climbed into power.
Monarchy, in the person of the Comte de Paris, is losing rather than
gaining ground here. If France should ever return to a dynasty, it would be
more likely to be the Bonapartes. The terrible name of Napoleon has still
an immense _prestige_, however unworthy his successors.
M. St.-Hilaire's visit did not come off. The Journal mentions many dinners,
receptions, and garden parties in town during June and July, and eleven
days in August on board Mrs. Watney's yacht 'Palatine,' to see the naval
review on the 5th. 'Very rough weather all the time.' In September a
journey to Edinburgh and on the 14th to Chesters, chronicled as 'my first
visit to my daughter.' A week later Reeve returned south; and, paying a few
short visits on the way, including a day at Knowsley, was back at Foxholes
by the 26th.
_From Count Vitzthum_
Villa Vitzthum, Baden Baden, August 30th.
My dear Mr. Reeve,--I beg to send you the proofs of the preface and
contents, in order to show you the plan of my book.
I am very sorry that you do not approve of the account I have given of our
interview in September 1866. It was unfortunately too late to cancel the
letter, but nothing would prevent leaving it out if those memoirs should
ever be translated. On further consideration, and after reading the
foregoing pages, you will find, I am sure, that your comment on the
situation in September 1866 was not only correct, but very valuable. The
peace of Europe then was threatened by two eventualities, of which one
happened: by an ostensible alliance between Prussia and France, or by an
immediate war between both. Rouher and Lavalette worked very hard for the
alliance, and your sound judgement indicated the consequences which such an
alliance would have had. I quite agree with you about these relations. But
the opinion of a man like you is a fact, and an important fact; because you
have been in those days what they call a representative man; because you
represented a great portion of the Liberal party. It does not take one iota
off the value of your opinion--which, you may depend upon it, was correctly
recorded--if the course of events took another turn, and if this monster
alliance remained a dream of adventurous French politicians. The thing was
on the cards.
As for Napoleon's malady, all I can say [is] that Nelaton, who then was
consulted for the first time, wrote a letter to King Leopold of Belgium,
stating that it was very probable the Emperor of the French would be found
any morning dead in his bed, and that he would most likely die before the
end of November. Very truly yours,
VITZTHUM.
In consequence of this letter Mr. Reeve wrote to Mr. T. Norton Longman:--
_Foxholes, September 3rd._--Count Vitzthum is about to publish two more
volumes of his political reminiscences during his mission in London. I send
you the index of the work, from which you will see that it contains a good
deal of matter, anecdotes, &c., of interest to English readers. You will
judge from the result of the former work whether you think it worth while
to engage in the publication of a translation of these later volumes. But,
as I am going away till the end of the month, I cannot negotiate with Count
Vitzthum or with the translator, and I must beg you to take that upon
yourself.
A month later, however, on October 2nd, he wrote that, after seeing the
book, he was of opinion that it would not stand translation. It was
reviewed in the 'Edinburgh' of January 1890, but was not translated.
_From Lord Derby_
_November 11th_.--I have only begun the Life of Lord John. It would be a
very difficult one to write in a spirit at once of fairness and friendship.
My impression of the man was and is that he was more thoroughly and
essentially a partisan than anyone I have known; and sometimes open to the
comment, that he seemed to consider the Universe as existing for the sake
of the Whig party. Perhaps this would not strike anyone who was trained up
in the same school, as strongly as it did me. On the other hand, I think he
was more generally consistent, and had fewer of his own words to eat, than
any politician of his time or of ours. His religious politics were his weak
part; they were rather narrow and sectarian. I suppose he was forced by the
Court into his quarrel with Palmerston; which was the trouble of his later
official life, and caused these uneasy struggles to recover a lost position
which did him harm. But with all drawbacks he has left an honoured and
distinguished name. Do you think there is any ground for the idea which
Lady Russell puts about that, if he had lived till now, he would have gone
for Home Rule?