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* * * * *
The Greville Memoirs
(second part)
A JOURNAL OF THE REIGN
of
QUEEN VICTORIA
from 1837 to 1852
By the Late
CHARLES C. F. GREVILLE, Esq.
Clerk of the Council
IN THREE VOLUMES
VOL. I.
LONDON
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
1885
'PLERAQUE EORUM, QUAE RETULI QUAEQUE REFERAM, PARVA
FORSITAN ET LEVIA MEMORATU VIDERI, NON NESCIUS SUM; SED
NEMO ANNALES NOSTROS CUM SCRIPTURA EORUM CONTENDERIT, QUI
VETERES POPULI ROMANI RES COMPOSUERE. INGENTIA ILLI
BELLA, EXPUGNATIONES URBIUM, FUSOS CAPTOSQUE REGES, AUT,
SI QUANDO AD INTERNA PRAEVERTERENT, DISCORDIAS CONSULUM
ADVERSUM TRIBUNOS, AGRARIAS FRUMENTARIASQUE LEGES, PLEBIS
ET OPTIMATIUM CERTAMINA, LIBERO EGRESSU MEMORABANT. NOBIS
IN ARTO ET INGLORIUS LABOR.... NON TAMEN SINE USU FUERIT,
INTROSPICERE ILLA, PRIMO ADSPECTU LEVIA, EX QUIS MAGNARUM
SAEPE RERUM MOTUS ORIUNTUR.'
TACITUS, _Ann. iv. cap._ 32.
PREFACE
OF THE EDITOR
TO THE SECOND PART OF THIS JOURNAL.
When the first portion of the Memoirs of the late Mr. Charles
Greville, consisting of a Journal of the Reigns of King George
IV. and King William IV., was given to the world in the autumn of
the year 1874, it was intimated that the continuation of the work
was reserved for future publication. Those volumes included the
record of events which Mr. Greville had noted in his Diary from
the year 1818 to the accession of Her Majesty Queen Victoria in
the year 1837, a period of nineteen years. As they were published
in 1874, an interval of thirty-seven years had elapsed between
the latest event recorded in them and the date at which they
appeared. The reigns of George IV. and William IV. already
belonged to the history of the past, and accordingly I did not
conceive it to be my duty to suppress or qualify any of the
statements or opinions of the Author on public men or public
events. I am still of opinion that this was the right course for
a person charged with the publication of these manuscripts to
pursue. I have seen it stated that the first edition of these
Journals contains passages which have been suppressed in the
later editions: but this is an error. The first edition contained
a good many mistakes, which were subsequently pointed out by
criticism, or discovered and corrected. Two or three sentences
relating to private individuals were omitted, but nothing which
concerns public personages or public events has been withdrawn.
Eight and forty years have now elapsed since the date at which
the narrative contained in the former volumes was suspended, and
I am led by several considerations to the opinion that the time
has arrived when it may be resumed. We are divided by a long
interval from the administrations of Lord Melbourne, Sir Robert
Peel, and Lord John Russell, and, with a very small number of
exceptions, no one survives who sat in the Cabinets of those
statesmen. Nearly half a century has elapsed since the occurrence
of the events recorded in the earlier pages of these volumes, and
in a few months from the publication of them, the nation and the
empire may celebrate with just enthusiasm the jubilee of the
reign of Queen Victoria. Those who have had the good fortune to
witness this long series of events, and to take any part in them,
may well desire to leave behind them some record of a period,
unexampled in the annals of Great Britain and of the world for an
almost unbroken continuance of progress, prosperity, liberty, and
peace. It is not too soon to glean in the records of the time
those fugitive impressions which will one day be the materials of
history. To us, veterans of the century, life is in the past, and
we look back with unfading interest on the generations that have
passed away.
As far as I am myself concerned, I am desirous to complete,
whilst I am able, the task allotted to me by Mr. Greville in his
last hours, which indeed I regard as a sacred duty, since I know
that in placing these Journals in my hands his principal motive
and intention was that they should not be withheld from
publication until the present interest in them had expired. The
advance of years reminds me that if this duty is to be performed
at all by me, it must not be indefinitely delayed, and if any
strictures are passed on the Editor of these volumes, I prefer to
encounter them in my own person rather than to leave the work in
other hands and to the uncertainty of the future.
If I turn to precedent and the example of other writers, it will
be found that the interval of time which has elapsed since the
latest date included in these volumes, embracing the period from
1837 to 1852, is considerably greater than that which marked the
publication of similar contributions to political history[1]. At
the head of these must be placed Bishop Burnet's 'History of His
Own Time.' Bishop Burnet had lived in confidential relations with
four Sovereigns and their Ministers, and it would be a mistake to
compare the position of Mr. Greville (who never filled any office
of a political nature, and who never lived in confidential
intercourse with the Court) with that of the bold adviser of
Charles II. and James II., and the trusted councillor of William
and Mary. Bishop Burnet finished his history of the reigns of
Charles II. and James II. about the year 1704; that of William
and Queen Anne between 1710 and 1713. In 1714 he died. The first
folio containing the earlier reigns was published by his son in
1724; the second in 1734, barely twenty years after the death of
Queen Anne. Many passages were, however, suppressed, and the text
was not restored in its integrity until the publication of the
Oxford edition in the present century.
[1] To look back as far as the Memoirs of the fifteenth
century, it may be noted that the first edition of the
Memoirs of Philippe de Comines, who had lived in the
confidential intimacy of King Louis XI. and King
Charles VIII. of France, was published in Paris in
1524, under a special privilege obtained for that
purpose. Louis XI. died in 1483, and his son Charles
VIII. in 1498. Comines himself died in 1511. These
Memoirs, therefore, were published at a time when many
of the persons mentioned in them, and most of their
immediate descendants, were still alive.
Lord Clarendon died in 1674, and the first edition of his
'History of the Rebellion and the Civil Wars' was published in
1702-4, with some alterations and omissions, which were supplied
by the publication of the complete text in 1826.
Lord Chesterfield died in 1773, and his 'Letters to his Son,' a
work abounding in keen and sarcastic observations on his
contemporaries, were published in the following year, 1774.
Sir Nathaniel Wraxall's 'Memoirs,' which contain the best account
extant of the debates at the time of the Coalition Ministry in
1783, and on the Regency Question in 1788, were published in
1815, about thirty years after those discussions.
But it is scarcely necessary to seek for remote precedents to
justify the publication of the materials of contemporary history.
Our own time has been fertile in great examples of it. For
instance, the 'Memoirs of Lord Palmerston,' by Lord Dalling and
Mr. Evelyn Ashley, are full of confidential correspondence on the
secret discussions and resolutions of the Cabinet. The 'Journal
of Lord Ellenborough,' recently published by Lord Colchester,
contains the private record of a Cabinet Minister on the events
of the day and the characters of his colleagues. The more recent
publication of Lord Malmesbury's 'Autobiography,' and of the
Croker Papers, has made public a large amount of correspondence
and information of great interest, with reference to the
ministerial combinations and political transactions of the
present century. And above all, Her Majesty Queen Victoria, by
placing the papers of the late Prince Consort, and her own
correspondence and journals, in the hands of Sir Theodore Martin,
for the purpose of composing from the most authentic materials a
full biography of that illustrious Prince, has shown that, far
from regarding with distrust or repugnance the records of
contemporary history, she has been graciously pleased to
contribute to it in the most ample manner by the publication of
an immense mass of documents relating to the interior of the
Court, the intercourse of the Sovereign with her Ministers, the
character of foreign monarchs, the less known transactions of her
reign, and even the domestic incidents of her life. No Sovereign
ever courted more fully and more willingly the light of publicity
on a reign which needs no concealment or disguise.
It would be presumptuous to compare the Journals of an individual
who never held any important office in the State, and who derived
his knowledge of public affairs entirely from the intercourse of
private friendship, with the correspondence and private records
of sovereigns, ministers, and statesmen of the highest rank,
which have been published with their sanction or with that of
their immediate successors. These Journals advance no such
pretension; but the production of so many confidential documents
of contemporary or recent history by such personages may be
fairly invoked to justify, _à fortiori_, the publication of notes
and memoranda of a humbler character.
The incidents and opinions which will be found in these volumes
derive their chief value from the fact that they are recorded by
a bystander and spectator, who was not, and did not aspire to be,
an actor in the occurrences he witnessed, but who lived on terms
of intimacy with many of the most active politicians of his
times, in both the leading parties in the State, although he
strictly belonged to neither of them, and was wholly indifferent
to mere party interests.
Mr. Greville himself, in communicating a portion of his
manuscripts to one of his friends, wrote of them in the following
terms:--
You will find the greater part political, not often
narrative; mostly allusions and comments on passing
events, the details of which were not notorious and
accessible; some miscellanea of a different description,
personal, social, official; you will find public
characters freely, flippantly perhaps, and frequently
very severely dealt with; in some cases you will be
surprised to see my opinions of certain men, some of
whom, in many respects, I may perhaps think differently
of now. Gibbon said of certain Pagan philosophers, that
'their lives were spent in the pursuit of truth and the
practice of virtue.' I cannot boast of having passed my
life in the practice of virtue, but I may venture to say
that I have always pursued truth; and you will see
evidence of the efforts I have made to get at it, and to
sum up conflicting statements of facts with a sort of
judicial impartiality.
But although I am of opinion that the time has arrived when a
further portion of these Journals may without impropriety be
published, yet I am sensible that as the narrative draws nearer
to the present time, and touches events occurring during the
reign of the Sovereign who still happily occupies the throne,
much more reticence is required of an Editor than he felt in
speaking of the two last reigns, which belong altogether to past
history. There were in the records of those reigns topics of
scandal and topics of ridicule, already familiar to the world,
which cast a shadow over those pages, and the more so as they
were true. In narrating the earlier passages of the reign of
Queen Victoria, no such incidents occur. The Court was pure; the
persons of the Sovereign and her Consort profoundly respected.
The monarchy itself has been strengthened in the last forty-eight
years by a strict adherence to the principles of moral dignity
and constitutional government. Nothing is to be found in any part
of these Journals to impugn that salutary impression; and they
will afford to future generations no unworthy picture of those
who have played the most conspicuous part in the last half
century.
Nevertheless, the delicacy and caution which ought to be observed
in recording the language and the actions of eminent persons,
some of whom are still alive, appear to me to prescribe the
omission, at the present time, of some passages that may more
fitly be published hereafter. Accordingly, I have exercised to
some extent the discretionary powers entrusted to me by the
Author with these manuscripts; and I have withheld from
publication details which appeared to be of a strictly
confidential character, or which related the conversations of
living persons. In this respect I have again followed the example
set by the illustrious precedents to which I have already
referred. Lord Clarendon's 'History of the Great Rebellion,'
Bishop Burnet's 'History of His Own Time,' the Duc de Saint-
Simon's 'Memoirs,' were all first published with large omissions
from the text; and it is only in our own age--one or two
centuries after the death of the writers--that these works have
been made known to the world in their integrity from the original
manuscripts. I know not if these Journals are destined to so long
a life; they certainly do not lay claim to so great and lasting
an historical and literary fame; but it is probable they will be
read and referred to hereafter as a portion of the materials of
history of England in this century.
The alternative lay between the entire suppression of the work
for an indefinite period, and the publication of by far the
larger portion of it with the omission of a few passages which
touched too nearly on our contemporaries. Upon the whole, the
latter course appears to me the most consistent with the duty I
accepted from the Author, and which I owe to the public. It must
not be supposed, however, that the passages which are omitted in
this edition contain anything which it would be thought
discreditable for the Author to have written or for the Editor to
publish, or that they are of considerable extent or importance.
These passages are simply withheld at the present time from
motives of delicacy to persons still alive, or to their immediate
descendants. I adhere to the opinion previously expressed by me,
that the public conduct of those who, by their station or their
offices must be regarded as public characters, needs no reticence
or concealment.
An observation occurs in one of the later volumes of these
Journals (which had previously escaped my notice) in which the
Author remarks that much that he has written appears to him to be
extremely dull, and that to avoid dullness the manuscript should
be carefully revised before it is made public. I have not the
same dread of dullness which affected Mr. Greville. A passage may
be found to contain something of interest hereafter, though it is
not amusing, and at the worst the reader can pass it by. Nor do I
attach importance to the amusement the public may derive from
this work. The volumes now published may be less attractive to
some readers than those which preceded them, for they relate to
less dissipated and distracted times; but they are, I think, more
instructive because they are marked by a deeper insight into
political history.
In conclusion, I may remark that the present publication embraces
a period of fourteen years, extending from the accession of Her
Majesty Queen Victoria in 1837 to the _coup d'état_ of Napoleon
III. in 1851. The latest events recorded in these pages are
separated from us by an interval of about thirty-four years. The
occurrences which took place after the close of 1851, the
subsequent establishment of the Imperial power in France, the
formation of the Cabinet of Lord Aberdeen, followed in 1853 by
the Crimean War, mark an important epoch in the history of this
country and of Europe. I have therefore thought that this date is
the appropriate conclusion of this portion of the work. Mr.
Greville continued his Journal for nine years more, until the
close of 1860, though in his later years he was less conversant
with public affairs than he had been in the more active period of
his life. Should life and health be vouchsafed to me, I shall
endeavour to complete the task he confided to my care by the
publication of one or two concluding volumes at no distant
period.
HENRY REEVE.
.'. The notes in brackets are by the Editor, those without
brackets by the Author.
CORRECTIONS
The following inaccuracies have been remarked whilst these sheets
were passing through the press:--
Vol. ii, p. 37, the Duke of Wellington sate in Sir
Robert Peel's Cabinet of 1841 without
office. Sir E. Knatchbull was
Paymaster-General with a seat in the
Cabinet.
Vol. ii, p. 60, line 18, for _Emerson Tennent_ read _Tennant_.
Vol. ii, p. 72, for Sir _George_ Grey in the text and
note read Sir _Charles_ Grey.
Vol. ii, p. 113, the Rev. William Capel was Vicar, not
Rector, of Watford, and Rector of
Raine. Vol. ii, p. 126, last line but
two, for _any_ read _my_.
Vol. ii, p. 194, last two lines, for _Moore O'Farrell_
read _More O'Ferrall_.
Vol. ii, p. 372, the battles of Moodkee and Ferozeshah
were fought in December 1845, _before_,
not _after_, the battle of Aliwal.
Vol. iii, p. 108, line 12, for _Machale_ read _MacHale_. Vol.
iii, p. 218, note 1, line 2, for
_Gotto_ read _Goito_.
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME
CHAPTER I.
The New Reign--Character of William IV--Political Effects of the
King's Death--Candidates for Office--Lord Durham--The King's
Funeral--The Elections--The Whigs and O'Connell--First
Impression of a Railroad--Lord Stanley at Knowsley--The King of
Hanover--Return to London--Result of the Elections--Liberality
of the Queen--Princess Lieven's Audiences--Conservative
Reaction in the Counties--The Queen and Lord Munster--State of
Parties in the New Parliament--The Corn Laws--The Poor Laws--
Tory-Radicals--Promise of the Queen's Character--Her Self-
Possession--Queen Victoria and Queen Adelaide--The Queen and
Lord Melbourne--Mango wins the St. Leger--Racing Reflexions--
Death of Lord Egremont--The Court of Victoria--Conservatism of
the Whigs--Radical Discontent--Irish Policy of the Government--
Mr. Disraeli's First Speech--Lord Brougham's Isolation--Radical
Politics--Lord Melbourne and Lord Brougham--The Canada
Debates--The Use of a Diary--Duke of Wellington on Canada--On
his own Despatches--On the Battle of Salamanca--King Ernest in
Hanover--English Manor Houses--Festivities at Belvoir Castle--
Life at Belvoir--Reflexions--Beaudesert--Death of Lord Eldon.
Page 1
CHAPTER II.
Debates on the Canada Bill--Moderation of the Duke of
Wellington--State of Canada--Lord Durham's Position--Weakness
of the Government--Parallel of Hannibal and the Duke of
Wellington--The Ballot--Lord Brougham on the Ballot--Position
of the Government--Policy of Sir Robert Peel--Death of Mr.
Creevey--Knighthood of General Evans--Lord Brougham's
Conversation--A Skirmish in the House of Commons--Defeat of
Government--Skirmish in the House of Lords--Annoyance of Peel
at these Proceedings--Brougham's Anti-Slavery Speech--
Opposition Tactics--Brougham on the Coolie Trade--Ministerial
Success--Sir Robert Peel's Tactics--Composition of Parties--A
Dinner at Buckingham Palace--Men of Science--The Lord Mayor at
a Council--The Queen at a Levée--The Guiana Apprentices--Small
_v._ Attwood reversed--Character of the Queen--Wilkie's Picture
of the 'First Council'--Small _v._ Attwood--Immediate
Emancipation--Birthday Reflexions--Lord Charles Fitzroy turned
out--Vote on Lord Durham's Expenses--Lord Durham's Irritation--
Wolff the Missionary--Newmarket--The Coronation--Lord
Brougham's Reviews.
Page 51
CHAPTER III.
A Ball at the Palace--Aspect of Foreign Affairs--Irish Tithe
Bill--Debate on Sir T. Acland's Motion--Death of Prince
Talleyrand--Death and Character of Lady Harrowby--Government
defeated on Emancipation of Slaves--Dispute of Mr. Handley and
Lord Brougham--Dinner at Lambeth--Arrangement of Irish
Questions--Settlement of Irish Questions--O'Connell declines
the Rolls--Naval Intervention in Spain--Duke of Wellington's
Moderation--Marshal Soult arrives--Preparations for the
Coronation of Queen Victoria--The Wellington Statue--The
Coronation--Coleridge and John Sterling--Lord Durham's Mission
to Canada--Lord Brougham contrasted with the Duke--Macaulay on
his return from India--Soult in London--Duke of Sussex quarrels
with Ministers--Lord Burghersh's Opera--High Church Sermons--
Lord Palmerston and Mr. Urquhart--The Ecclesiastical Discipline
Bill--The Duke's Despatches--Macaulay's Plan of Life--Lord
Durham's Canada Ordinance--Mr. Barnes--Canada Indemnity Bill--
Lord Durham's Ordinance disallowed--Irish Corporation Bill--
Review of the Session
Page 91
CHAPTER IV.
The Queen and Lord Melbourne--The Battersea Schools--A Council at
Windsor--A Humble Hero--Lord Durham's Resignation--Duke of
Wellington's Campaigns--The Grange--Lord Durham's Return--Death
of Lord Sefton--Lord Durham's Arrival--His Reception in the
Country--Position of the Radicals--A Visit to Windsor Castle--
Lord Brougham's 'Letter to the Queen'--Lord Durham repudiates
the Radicals--A Lecture at Battersea--Dinner at Holland House--
Curran and George Ponsonby--Prospect of the New Year--The
Petition of the Serjeants-at-Law--Reconciliation with Lord
Durham--Murder of Lord Norbury--The Corn Laws attacked--Lord
Palmerston and the 'Portfolio'--The Serjeants' Case--Brougham
and Lyndhurst 'done up'--Opening of the Session--Resignation of
Lord Glenelg--State of Parties--Lord Durham's Report--Lord
Glenelg's Retirement--Lord Normanby, Colonial Minister--Corn
Law Repeal--Sir Francis Bond Head--Gore House--Lady Blessington
Page 130
CHAPTER V.
Opening of the Session--Lady Flora Hastings--Bulwer's
'Richelieu'--Changes at the Colonial Office--Attack on Lord
Normanby's Irish Administration in the Lords--General Aspect of
Affairs--The 'Morning Chronicle'--Death of Lord de Ros--
Precarious Position of the Government--Views of Lord John
Russell--A doubtful Question--Conciliatory Conversation with
Sir James Graham--Attitude of the Whig Party--Peel's cold
Reception of the Proposal--Result of the Debate--Attitude of
Lord John Russell--Language of the Radical Party--
Conciliation--Change of Feeling in the Country--Duke of
Newcastle dismissed from the Lord Lieutenancy--Lord John
Russell's Letter--Jamaica Bill--Defeat of the Jamaica Bill--
Resignation of Ministers--The Queen retains the Ladies of her
Household--Conduct of the Whigs--End of the Crisis--The Truth
of the Story
Page 170
CHAPTER VI.
The Whigs retain the Government--Motives of the Queen--Decision
of Ministers--Lord Brougham's Excitement--Ministerial
Explanations--State of Affairs in Parliament--Lord Brougham's
great Speech on the Crisis--Duke of Wellington's Wisdom and
Moderation--Visit of the Grand Duke Alexander--Macaulay returns
to Parliament--Disappointment of the Radicals--The Radicals
appeased--Visit to Holland House--Anecdotes of George Selwyn--
False Position of the Whigs--Downton Castle--Payne Knight--
Malvern--Troy House--Castles on the Wye--Tintern Abbey--Bath--
Salisbury Cathedral--Death of Lady Flora Hastings--Violent
Speech of the Duke--Conversation with the Duke of Wellington--
Lord Clarendon's _début_ in the House of Lords--Lord Brougham
attacks Lord Normanby--His fantastic Conduct--Pauper School at
Norwood
Page 207
CHAPTER VII.
Review of the Session--Ministerial Changes--Effect of Changes in
the Government--A Greenwich Dinner--Dover Dinner to the Duke of
Wellington--A Toast from Ovid--Decay of Tory Loyalty--
Unpopularity of Government--Brougham's Letter to the Duke of
Bedford--Character of John, Duke of Bedford--Brougham at the
Dover Dinner--Brougham and Macaulay--The Duke's Decline--Duke
of Wellington consulted on Indian and Spanish Affairs--Baron
Brunnow arrives in England--False Reports of Lord Brougham's
Death--Insulting Speeches of the Tories--Holland House--Lord
Brougham and Lord Holland--The Queen's Marriage is announced--
Remarkable Anecdote of the Duke of Wellington--The Mayor of
Newport at Windsor--Ampthill--Lord John Russell's Borough
Magistrates--Lord Clarendon's Advice to his Colleagues--
Prospects of the Government--Opening of the Session--Duel of
Mr. Bradshaw and Mr. Horsman--Lord Lyndhurst's View of
Affairs--Prince Albert's Household--The Privilege Question--
Prince Albert's Allowance--Precedence of Prince Albert--Lord
John Russell and Sir Robert Peel--Judgement on the Newport
Prisoners--A Vote of Want of Confidence moved--The Newport
Prisoners--Prince Albert's Precedency--Sir Robert Peel and his
Party--Sir Robert Peel's Speech and Declaration--Precedence
Question--The Queen's Marriage--Illness of the Duke of
Wellington--The Precedence Question settled--The Duke opposed
to Peel on the Privilege Question--Change in the Health of the
Duke--Prince Albert's Name in the Liturgy--Success of Pamphlet
on Precedence--Judicial Committee Bill--Lord Dudley's Letters--
Amendment of Judicial Committee--King's Sons born Privy
Councillors, other Princes sworn--The Duke returns to London--
Lord Melbourne's Opinion on Journals
Page 231
CHAPTER VIII.
The ex-King of Westphalia--The Duke of Wellington at Court--
Failure of the Duke's Memory--Dinner at Devonshire House to
Royalties--Government defeated on Irish Registration Bill--The
King of Hanover's Apartments--Rank of Foreign Ministers--The
Duchess of Inverness--War with China--Murder of Lord William
Russell--Duke of Wellington on the China War--Weakness of
Government--Duke of Wellington's Conduct towards the
Government--The Queen shot at--Examination of the Culprit--
Retrospect of Affairs--Conciliatory Policy--Advantages of a
Weak Government--The Eastern Question--Lord Palmerston's Daring
and Confidence--M. Guizot and Mr. Greville--Pacific Views of
Louis Philippe--M. Guizot's Statement of the Policy of France--
Growing Alarm of Ministers--Alarm of Prince Metternich--Lord
John Russell disposed to resist Palmerston--History of the
Eastern Negotiation--A Blunder of M. Guizot--Important
Conversation with Guizot--Conflict between Lord John Russell
and Lord Palmerston--Energetic Resolution of Lord John--Lord
Palmerston holds out--Conciliatory Proposals of France--
Interview with Lord Palmerston and Lord John
Page 277
CHAPTER IX.
The Cabinet meets--The Government on the verge of Dissolution--
The Second Cabinet--Palmerston lowers his Tone in the Cabinet--
But continues to bully in the Press--Taking of Beyrout--
Deposition of Mehemet Ali--Lord John acquiesces--Total Defeat
of Peace Party--Lord John Russell's False Position--His Views--
Lord Granville's Dissatisfaction--Further Attempts at
Conciliation--Prevarication of Lord Ponsonby--Newspaper
Hostilities--Discussion of the French Note of the 8th October--
Guizot's Opinion of the Note of the 8th October--Louis
Philippe's Influence on the Crisis--Summary of Events--Death of
Lord Holland--Lord Clarendon's Regret for Lord Holland--M.
Guizot's Intentions as to France--Effects of the Queen's
Partiality for Melbourne--Resignation of Thiers--Bickerings in
the Ministry--Lord John Russell's Dissatisfaction with Lord
Palmerston--Lord John resigns--Lord John demands the Recall of
Lord Ponsonby--Lord Palmerston defends Lord Ponsonby--M.
Guizot's Policy--Conciliatory Propositions fail--Attitude of
Austria--Asperity of Lord Palmerston--Operations in Syria--
Success of Lord Palmerston and his Policy--Baron Mounier's
Mission to London--Birth of the Princess Royal--Results of the
Success of Lord Palmerston's Measures--The Tories divided in
Opinion as to the Treaty--Retrospect of the Year--Lord Holland
Page 320
CHAPTER X.
Successes in India, China, and Syria--The Hereditary Pashalik of
Egypt--Lord Palmerston's Hostility to France--Lord Palmerston
and the Tories--His extraordinary Position--A Communication
from M. Guizot--Death of the Duchess of Cannizzaro--Her
History--Dinner with Lady Holland--Macaulay's Conversation--
Opening of the Session--A Sheriffs' Dinner--Hullah's Music
Lecture--Tory Successes--Duke of Wellington ill--Irish
Registration Bill--Opposed by the Conservatives--Conservative
Government of Ireland--Petulance of Lord Palmerston--Double
Dealing of Lord Palmerston--Ill Temper of the French--M.
Dedel's account of the State of Affairs--M. Dedel's account
corrected--Termination of the Disputes with France--Bad News
from China--Hostility of the United States--The Sultan's Hatti-
sherif--The Hatti-sherif disapproved by some Ministers--Peel's
Liberality--The Hatti-sherif disavowed--The Bishop of Exeter
left in the lurch--Poor Law Amendment Bill--Lord Granville's
Illness--Death of Mrs. Algernon Greville--Loss of 'The
President'--Government defeated--China Troubles--Danger of the
Government
Page 360
APPENDIX.
The Royal Precedency Question
Page 395
A JOURNAL
of the
REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA
from 1837 to 1852.
CHAPTER I.
The New Reign--Character of William IV.--Political Effects of the
King's Death--Candidates for Office--Lord Durham--The King's
Funeral--The Elections--The Whigs and O'Connell--First
Impression of a Railroad--Lord Stanley at Knowsley--The King of
Hanover--Return to London--Result of the Elections--Liberality
of the Queen--Princess Lieven's Audiences--Conservative
Reaction in the Counties--The Queen and Lord Munster--State of
Parties in the New Parliament--The Corn Laws--The Poor Laws--
Tory-Radicals--Promise of the Queen's Character--Her Self-
Possession--Queen Victoria and Queen Adelaide--The Queen and
Lord Melbourne--Mango wins the St. Leger--Racing Reflexions--
Death of Lord Egremont--The Court of Victoria--Conservatism of
the Whigs--Radical Discontent--Irish Policy of the Government--
Mr. Disraeli's First Speech--Lord Brougham's Isolation--Radical
Politics--Lord Melbourne and Lord Brougham--The Canada
Debates--The Use of a Diary--Duke of Wellington on Canada--On
his own Despatches--On the Battle of Salamanca--King Ernest in
Hanover--English Manor Houses--Festivities at Belvoir Castle--
Life at Belvoir--Reflexions--Beaudesert--Death of Lord Eldon.
June 25th, 1837 {p.001}
I remember when George IV. died, seven years ago, having been
struck by the small apparent sensation that his death created.
There was, however, at that time a great deal of bustle and
considerable excitement, which were caused by the activity of the
new Court, and the eccentricities of the King; but in the present
instance the Crown has been transferred to the head of the new
Queen with a tranquillity which is curious and edifying. The
first interest and curiosity to see the young Queen and observe
her behaviour having passed off, there appears nothing more to do
or to think about; there are no changes, and there is no talk of
change. Her Majesty has continued quietly at Kensington, where
she transacts business with her Ministers, and everything goes on
as if she had been on the throne six years instead of six days.
Animated panegyrics were pronounced upon the late King in both
Houses of Parliament by those who had served him; and Peel
repeated in the House of Commons, in more set phrases, the
expressions of his admiration of the conduct of the Queen on her
first public appearance, which he uttered to me when I saw him
after the Council on Tuesday. Melbourne's funeral oration over
William IV. was very effective because it was natural and hearty,
and as warm as it could be without being exaggerated. He made the
most of the virtues the King undoubtedly possessed, and passed
lightly over his defects.
[Page Head: CHARACTER OF WILLIAM IV.]
King William IV., if he had been born in a private station, would
have passed unobserved through life like millions of other men,
looked upon as possessing a good-natured and affectionate
disposition, but without either elevation of mind or brightness
of intellect. During many years of his life the Duke of Clarence
was an obscure individual, without consideration, moving in a
limited circle, and altogether forgotten by the great world. He
resided at Bushey with Mrs. Jordan, and brought up his numerous
children with very tender affection: with them, and for them, he
seemed entirely to live. The cause of his separation from Mrs.
Jordan has not been explained, but it probably arose from his
desire to better his condition by a good marriage, and he wanted
to marry Miss Wykeham, a half-crazy woman of large fortune, on
whom he afterwards conferred a Peerage. George IV., I believe,
put a spoke in that wheel, fortunately for the Duke as well as
for the country. The death of the Princess Charlotte opened to
him a new prospect, and the lack of royal progeny made his
marriage as desirable an event to the public as it was convenient
to himself. The subsequent death of the Duke of York, which made
him heir to the throne, at once exalted him into a personage of
political importance, and when the great Tory schism took place,
upon the death of Lord Liverpool, Mr. Canning thought the Duke of
Clarence's appointment to the office of Lord High Admiral would
strengthen his Government, and at the same time relieve him from
some of the difficulties which beset him; and he accordingly
prevailed upon the King to revive the office in his person. Soon
after the Duke of Wellington's elevation he found it necessary to
remove the Duke of Clarence, and it is an excellent trait in the
character of the latter that, notwithstanding his vexation at the
time, which was very great, he harboured no resentment against
the Duke of Wellington, and never seems to have hesitated about
retaining him as his Minister when he came to the throne. His
exaltation (for the moment) completely turned his head, but as
his situation got familiar to him he became more composed and
rational, if not more dignified in his behaviour. The moral and
intellectual qualities of the King, however insignificant in
themselves, now became, from their unavoidable influence, an
object of great interest and importance, and in the early part of
his reign he acquired no small share of popularity. People liked
a King whose habits presented such a striking contrast to those
of his predecessor. His attention to business, his frank and
good-humoured familiarity, and his general hospitality, were
advantageously compared with the luxurious and selfish indolence
and habits of seclusion in the society of dull and grasping
favourites which characterised the former reign.
The King seemed to be more occupied with the pleasing novelty of
his situation, providing for his children, and actively
discharging the duties of his high function, than in giving
effect to any political opinions; and he took a correct view of
his constitutional obligations, for although he continued his
confidence to the Duke of Wellington unabated to the last, he
transferred it as entirely to Lord Grey when the Whigs came in.
He went on with his second Ministry as cordially as he had done
with his first, nor does it appear that he took fright at their
extensive plans of reform when they were first promulgated. He
was probably bit by the popularity which the Reform Bill procured
him, and it was not until he had gone too far to recede with
safety that he was roused from his state of measureless content
and unthinking security. The roar of the mighty conflict which
the Reform Bill brought on filled him with dismay, and very soon
with detestation of the principles of which he had unwittingly
permitted himself to be the professor and the promoter; and as
these feelings and apprehensions were continually stimulated by
almost all the members of his family, legitimate and
illegitimate, they led him into those unavailing struggles which
embroiled him with his Ministers, rendered him obnoxious to the
Liberal party, compromised the dignity of the Crown and the
tranquillity of the country, and grievously embittered the latter
years of his life. But although King William was sometimes weak,
sometimes obstinate, and miserably deficient in penetration and
judgement, he was manly, sincere, honest, and straightforward.
The most painful moment of his life, and the greatest humiliation
to which a king ever submitted, must have been when he again
received the Whig Ministers in 1835; but it is to the credit of
Lord Melbourne, as well as of the King, that their subsequent
personal intercourse was not disagreeable to either, and greatly
to the King's honour that he has never been accused or suspected
of any underhand or indirect proceeding for the purpose of
emancipating himself from a thraldom so galling. Of political
dexterity and artifice he was altogether incapable, and although,
if he had been false, able, and artful, he might have caused more
perplexity to his Whig Government and have played a better party
game, it is perhaps fortunate for the country, and certainly
happy for his own reputation, that his virtues thus predominated
over his talents. The most remarkable foible of the late King was
his passion for speechifying, and I have recorded some of his
curious exhibitions in this way. He had considerable facility in
expressing himself, but what he said was generally useless or
improper. He never received the homage of a Bishop without giving
him a lecture; and the custom he introduced of giving toasts and
making speeches at all his dinners was more suitable to a tavern
than to a palace. He was totally deficient in dignity or
refinement, and neither his elevation to the throne nor his
association with people of the most distinguished manners could
give him any tincture of the one or the other. Though a good-
natured and amiable man, he was passionate and hasty, and thus he
was led into those bickerings and quarrels with the Duchess of
Kent and with his own children, which were a perpetual source of
discomfort or disgrace to him, and all of which might have been
avoided by a more consistent course of firmness and temper on his
part. His sons generally behaved to him with great insolence and
ingratitude, except Adolphus. Of the daughters I know nothing.
[Page Head: POLITICAL EFFECTS OF THE KING'S DEATH.]
The various political hopes, fears, and expectations which his
death has raised may be very shortly summed up. Nobody can deny
that it has given the Whig Government a great advantage over the
Tories. Hitherto the Government have been working against the
stream, inasmuch as they had the influence of the Crown running
dead against them; the tide has now turned in their favour, and
to a certain degree they will be able to convert the Tory
principle to their own advantage. The object of the Whigs is to
remain in office, to put down the Radicals and Radicalism, and go
on gradually and safely reforming; above all to proceed as fast
as the innumerable difficulties which impede their course will
let them, in bringing Ireland into a state of quiet and
contentment, and to pave the way for some definite settlement of
the great questions which distract that country. This I believe
to be the object of Lord Melbourne and Lord John Russell, but at
the same time they have colleagues and supporters who have more
extensive and less moderate views, and who would like to see the
Government more cordially allied to the Radicals than it is, and
who are so animated against the Tories that they would do
_anything_ to prevent their return to power.[1]
[1] [A list of Lord Melbourne's second Administration will
be found in the first part of this work, vol. iii.
p. 256. It had undergone no change since 1835, except
that the Great Seal, which had been put in commission,
was now held by Lord Cottenham.]
The great body of the Tories, on the other hand, are thirsting
for office: they are, or pretend to be, greatly alarmed at the
Radical tendencies of the Government, but they are well aware
that in the actual state of the House of Commons they have the
power of keeping the Government in check and of defeating every
Radical scheme while _in opposition_, but that it would be
dangerous to attempt to turn them out and take their places. So
far from being satisfied with this position of exceeding strength
and utility, they are chafing and fuming that they can't get in,
and would encounter all the hazards of defeat for the slightest
chance of victory. It is only the prudent reserve of Peel (in
which Stanley and Graham probably join) that restrains the
impatience of the party within moderate bounds. The Radicals are
few in number, and their influence is very low; they are angry
with the Government for not making greater concessions to them,
but as they still think there is a better chance of their views
being promoted by the Whigs remaining in, they continue to vote
with them in cases of need, though there are some of them who
would prefer the dissolution of the Ministry and war with a Tory
Government rather than the present imperfect alliance which
subsists between themselves and the Whigs. The Whigs then expect
to gain by the new elections and to obtain an accession of
strength to their Government. They think the popularity of a new
reign, and the partial neutrality of the Tory principle, will be
of material advantage to their cause. The Tories, though they
maintain that they shall not lose at the elections, evidently
feel that they take the field under a great disadvantage, and do
not deny that the King's death has been a heavy blow to them as a
party.
June 29th, 1837 {p.006}
All the accounts continue to report well of the young Queen, of
her quickness, sense and discretion, and the remarkable facility
with which she has slid into her high station and discharges its
duties. The Duchess of Kent never appears at Kensington, where
the Queen occupies a separate range of apartments, and her
influence is very silently exercised, if at all. The town is rife
with reports of changes and appointments, some very natural and
others very absurd; all agree that the power vested in
Melbourne's hands is unbounded, and that (as far as Court
appointments are concerned) he uses it with propriety. The great
topic of interest is the question of Lord Hill's removal,[2]
which the Radicals and violent Whigs have been long driving at,
but to which it is believed Melbourne is himself adverse. So Lord
Stanley told me the other day as his belief; and when I said that
though this might be so, it was doubtful how far he would be
induced to fight the battle in his own Cabinet if it was mooted
there, he said that from what he heard, he thought Melbourne was
lord and master in his own Cabinet.
[2] [Lord Hill held the office of Commander-in-Chief from
1828 till 1842, when he resigned it.]
[Page Head: LORD DURHAM.]
The eternal question in everybody's mouth is what is Lord Durham
to have, or if it is indispensable that he should have anything.
When Durham left England, he was the elected chief of the
Radicals, and he was paving the way to future Court favour
through a strict alliance with the Duchess of Kent and Sir John
Conroy. At St. Petersburg his language was always moderate; now
that he is returned, the Radicals, still regarding him as their
chief, look anxiously to his introduction into the Cabinet.
Charles Buller, whom I met the other day, said, in reply to my
asking him if Government would gain at the elections, 'I think
they will gain anyhow, but _if they are wise_ they will gain
largely.' I said, 'I wonder what you call being wise?' He said,
'Take in Lord Durham.' But they want Durham to be taken in as a
pledge of the disposition of the Government to adopt their
principles,[3] whereas Melbourne will receive him upon no such
terms; and if Durham takes office, he must subscribe to the
moderate principles upon which both Melbourne and John Russell
seem disposed to act. After all, it appears to me that a mighty
fuss is made about Durham without any sufficient reason, that his
political influence is small, his power less, and that it is a
matter of great indifference whether he is in office or out.
[3] After this was written, a letter of Durham's appeared
couched in vague but conservative language, and without
any allusion to the Ballot or the Radical desiderata.
July 9th, 1837 {p.008}
Yesterday I went to the late King's funeral, who was buried with
just the same ceremonial as his predecessor this time seven
years. It is a wretched mockery after all, and if I were king,
the first thing I would do should be to provide for being
committed to the earth with more decency and less pomp. A host of
persons of all ranks and stations were congregated, who 'loitered
through the lofty halls,' chattering and laughing, and with
nothing of woe about them but the garb. I saw two men in an
animated conversation, and one laughing heartily at the very foot
of the coffin as it was lying in state. The chamber of death in
which the body lay, all hung with black and adorned with
scutcheons and every sort of funereal finery, was like a scene in
a play, and as we passed through it and looked at the scaffolding
and rough work behind, it was just like going behind the scenes
of a theatre. A soldier's funeral, which I met in the morning--
the plain coffin slowly borne along by his comrades, with the cap
and helmet and sword of the dead placed upon it--was more
impressive, more decent, more affecting than all this pomp with
pasteboard crowns, and heralds scampering about, while idleness
and indifference were gazing or gossiping round about the royal
remains. I would rather be quietly consigned to the grave by a
few who cared for me (if any such there might be) than be the
object of all this parade and extravagance. The procession moving
slowly through close ranks of Horse and Foot Guards holding
tapers and torches in their hands, whilst at intervals the bands
played a dead march, had, however, a very imposing effect. The
service was intolerably long and tedious, and miserably read by
the Dean of Windsor. The Queen Dowager, with the King's daughters
and her ladies, were in the Royal Closet, and the FitzClarences
in the one adjoining. At twelve o'clock she was to depart for
Bushey, and a bitter moment it must have been when she quitted
for ever the Castle where she had spent seven years of prosperous
and happy splendour.
[Page Head: THE ELECTIONS.]
We continue to hear of the young Queen's admirable behaviour, but
all other subjects are swallowed up in the interest of the
approaching elections. There will be more contests than ever were
known, and it is amusing to see both parties endeavouring to
avail themselves of the Queen's name, the Tories affecting to
consider her as a prisoner in the hands of the Whigs, and the
Whigs boasting of the cordiality and warmth of her sentiments in
their favour. The Whigs have the best of this, as they have some
evidence to show in support of their assertions, and the
probability really is that she is well enough contented with
them, as they naturally take care she should be. Of the probable
changes, one of the most important is the defeat of Sir James
Graham in Cumberland, an event which the Whigs hail with extreme
satisfaction, for they hate him rancorously. I am under personal
obligations to Graham, and therefore regret that this feeling
exists; but it is not unnatural, and his political conduct is
certainly neither creditable nor consistent. He is now little
better than a Tory, a very high Churchman, and one of the least
liberal of the Conservative leaders. In Lord Grey's Government he
was one of the most violent, and for going to greater lengths
than the majority of his colleagues. When the Reform Bill was
concocted by a committee consisting of John Russell, Duncannon,
Durham, and Graham, Graham earnestly advocated the Ballot, and
Lord Durham says he has in his possession many letters of
Graham's, in which he presses for a larger measure of reform than
they actually brought forward. In his address he says he has not
changed, and talks of 'having belonged to the Whig Government
before they had made the compact by which they are now bound to
O'Connell.' Tavistock[4] said to me yesterday that this was too
bad, because he knew very well that the only understanding the
Government had with O'Connell was one of mutual support in the
Irish elections, the same which existed when he was in office;
and, moreover, that at that time the majority of the Cabinet
(Graham included) wanted to confer office upon O'Connell, and
that they were only induced to forego that design by the
remonstrances of Lord Lansdowne and the Duke of Richmond, who
insisted upon a further probation before they did so. O'Connell
got nothing, and soon after took to agitating and making violent
speeches. This exasperated Lord Grey, who, in his turn, denounced
him in the King's Speech, and hence that feud between O'Connell
and the Whigs, which was only terminated by the attempt of the
Tories to retake office in 1835. This led to the imperfect
alliance between them, half denied by the Whigs, which exposed
the Government to as much obloquy as if they had concluded an
open and avowed alliance with him, and perhaps to greater
inconvenience. It was a great blunder not securing O'Connell in
the first instance, and certainly a curious thing that such men
as Lord Lansdowne, and still more the Duke of Richmond, should
have influenced so important a matter and have overborne the
opinions of the whole Cabinet. After all this, it is not
extraordinary that his old associates should be disgusted at
seeing Graham become a Tory champion, and at hearing him more
bitter against them than any man on the Opposition benches. The
Tories, on the other hand, rejoice in him, and his bigotry about
all Church matters cancels in their minds all his former
Liberalism in that and every other respect.
[4] [Francis, Marquis of Tavistock, afterwards seventh Duke
of Bedford; born 12th May 1788, died 14th May 1861. He
was one of Mr. Greville's most intimate friends. They
agreed in the main in politics, and had a common
amusement--the turf. Lord Tavistock preferred a life of
retirement, and he refused office, but he kept up an
enormous correspondence with the leading statesmen of
the day. He was consulted by them on all occasions, and
not infrequently by the Queen, and he exercised a
considerable, though inostensible, influence on public
affairs.]
Knowsley, July 18th, 1837 {p.010}
[Page Head: FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF A RAILROAD.]
Tired of doing nothing in London, and of hearing about the Queen,
and the elections, I resolved to vary the scene and run down here
to see the Birmingham railroad, Liverpool, and Liverpool races.
So I started at five o'clock on Sunday evening, got to Birmingham
at half-past five on Monday morning, and got upon the railroad at
half-past seven. Nothing can be more comfortable than the vehicle
in which I was put, a sort of chariot with two places, and there
is nothing disagreeable about it but the occasional whiffs of
stinking air which it is impossible to exclude altogether. The
first sensation is a slight degree of nervousness and a feeling
of being run away with, but a sense of security soon supervenes,
and the velocity is delightful. Town after town, one park and
_château_ after another are left behind with the rapid variety of
a moving panorama, and the continual bustle and animation of the
changes and stoppages make the journey very entertaining. The
train was very long, and heads were continually popping out of
the several carriages, attracted by well-known voices, and then
came the greetings and exclamations of surprise, the 'Where are
you going?' and 'How on earth came you here?' Considering the
novelty of its establishment, there is very little embarrassment,
and it certainly renders all other travelling irksome and tedious
by comparison. It was peculiarly gay at this time, because there
was so much going on. There were all sorts of people going to
Liverpool races, barristers to the assizes, and candidates to
their several elections. The day was so wet that I could not see
the town of Liverpool.
This is a very large place, the house immense, with no good room
in it but the dining room. The country is generally flat, but
there are fine trees and thriving plantations, so that it is
altogether sufficiently enjoyable. It is a strange thing to see
Stanley here; he is certainly the most natural character I ever
saw; he seems never to think of throwing a veil over any part of
himself; it is this straightforward energy which makes him so
considerable a person as he is. In London he is one of the great
political leaders, and the second orator in the House of Commons,
and here he is a lively rattling sportsman, apparently devoted to
racing and rabbit-shooting, gay, boisterous, almost rustic in his
manners, without refinement, and if one did not know what his
powers are and what his position is, it would be next to
impossible to believe that the Stanley of Knowsley could be the
Stanley of the House of Commons.
Just before I left London, the Proclamation of the King of
Hanover appeared, by which he threw over the new Constitution.
Lyndhurst told me of it, before I had seen it, with many
expressions of disappointment, and complaining of his folly and
of the bad effect it would produce here. The Government papers
have taken it up, though rather clumsily, for the purpose of
connecting this violent measure with the Tory party; but it is a
great folly in the Opposition, and in the journals belonging to
them, not to reject at once and peremptorily all connexion with
the King of Hanover, and all participation in, or approbation of,
his measures. Lyndhurst told me that the King had all along
protested against this Constitution, and refused to sign or be a
party to it; that he contended it was illegal, inasmuch as the
States by which it had been enacted had been illegally convoked;
that he was _able_ to do what he has done by his independence in
point of finance, having a great revenue from Crown lands. The
late King was very anxious to give this up, and to have a Civil
List instead; but when this was proposed, the Duke of Cumberland
exerted his influence successfully to defeat the project, and it
was accordingly thrown out in the Senate (I think the Senate) by
a small majority. Though we have nothing to do with Hanover, this
violence will, no doubt, render him still more odious here than
he was before, and it would be an awful thing if the Crown were,
by any accident, to devolve upon him. The late King's desire to
effect this change affords an indisputable proof of the sincerity
of his constitutional principles, and it is no small praise that
he was satisfied with a constitutional sovereignty, and did not
hanker after despotic power.
July 25th, 1837 {p.012}
[Page Head: RESULT OF THE ELECTIONS.]
I remained at Knowsley till Saturday morning, when I went to
Liverpool, got into the train at half-past eleven, and at five
minutes after four arrived at Birmingham with an exact
punctuality which is rendered easy by the great reserved power of
acceleration, the pace at which we travelled being moderate and
not above one half the speed at which they do occasionally go;
one engineer went at the rate of forty-five miles an hour, but
the Company turned him off for doing so. I went to Kenilworth,
and saw the ruins of Leicester's Castle, and thence to Warwick to
see the Castle there, with both of which I was very much
delighted, and got to town on Sunday to find myself in the midst
of all the interest of the elections, and the sanguine and
confident assertions and expectations of both parties. The first
great trial of strength was in the City yesterday; and though
Grote beat Palmer at last, and after a severe struggle, by a very
small majority, it is so far consolatory to the Conservative
interest that it shows a prodigious change since the last general
election, when the Conservative candidate was 2,000 behind his
opponents.
July 28th, 1837 {p.013}
The borough elections in England, as far as they have gone, and
they are nearly over, have disappointed the Government, who
expected to gain in them.[5] The contests have been numerous,
often very close, and in some instances very costly. Norwich, won
with the greatest difficulty by Lord Douro and Scarlett, is said
to have cost £50,000. A compromise was offered at Yarmouth and at
Norwich, but the parties could not come to terms, and the result
has been the same as if it had taken place--two Tories in one
place and two Whigs in the other. There have been a vast number
of changes, and, as always happens, results very different from
what were expected in particular places. The balance is slightly
in favour of the Tories, but the best sign of the times is the
defeat of the Radicals in various places. Grote nearly beaten in
the City, and probably will be turned out on a scrutiny;[6]
Roebuck and Palmer were defeated at Bath, Ewart at Liverpool,
Wigney at Brighton, Thompson at Hull. It was clear enough before
from the Conservative language which was put into the Queen's
mouth by her Ministers, and by that which they held themselves,
that it was the only tone which would be palatable to the
country, and the event of the elections confirms this impression.
This is, after all, the essential point, to which the gains of
either party are entirely subordinate. If the Government keeps
together without internal dissensions, and nothing particular
occurs to produce a change, these Ministers cannot well be turned
out, because, though their majority is small, they have the
undoubted support of the House of Commons, and in my opinion they
will be all the stronger from the Radicals being so reduced in
numbers, as those who remain must support them, and cannot expect
any concessions in return. It is quite impossible to doubt that
there is in the country a strong Conservative reaction, and it is
the more valuable from not being more strongly pronounced. It is
great enough to prove that our institutions are safe, but not
great enough to bring the Tories back into power and to turn
their heads, ready as they always are to be puffed up with every
returning gale of success. The Tories have made one good exchange
in the article of whippers-in, for they have got Planta and
Holmes instead of Bonham and Ross.
[5] [It was found that the Liberals replaced by Tories
amounted to 66, and the Tories replaced by Liberals to
53. The Government therefore lost 13 seats in the
boroughs.]
[6] [Mr. Grote was returned by a majority of only six, but
he was not turned out.]
Everything that could be said in praise of the Queen, of her
manners, conduct, conversation, and character, having been
exhausted, we now hear no more of her. It is an interesting
speculation to conjecture how soon she will begin to think and to
act for herself upon higher matters, as she has at once done on
all minor points connected with her domestic arrangements. It is
generally believed that she is perfectly independent of any
influence in these things, and while in all political concerns
she has put herself implicitly in Melbourne's hands, in all
others she is her own mistress. From the beginning she resolved
to have nothing to do with Sir John Conroy, but to reward him
liberally for his services to her mother. She began by making him
a baronet, and she has given him a pension of £3,000 a year; but
he has never once been invited to the Palace, or distinguished by
the slightest mark of personal favour, so that nothing can be
more striking than the contrast between the magnitude of the
pecuniary bounty and the complete personal disregard of which he
is the object. The Queen has been extremely kind and civil to the
Queen Dowager, but she has taken no notice of the King's
children, good, bad, or indifferent. Lord Munster asked for an
audience to deliver up the keys of the Castle which he had, and
was very graciously received by her, but she did not give him
back the keys. Adolphus FitzClarence has lost his Lordship of the
Bedchamber, but then they only retained Peers, and he keeps the
command of the Royal yacht. He has had no intimation whether his
pension and his Rangership of Windsor Park are to be continued to
him. [In the end, however, they retained everything, and the
Queen behaved with equal liberality and kindness towards them
all.]
July 29th, 1837 {p.015}
The loss of Leeds, news which arrived last night, is a great blow
to the Tories, and the only important Radical triumph that has
occurred. George Byng[7] told me yesterday that all the
applications from the country for candidates sent to the Reform
Club desired that Whigs and not Radicals might be supplied to
them, which affords an additional proof of the decline of Radical
opinions. He owned that they are disappointed at the result of
the borough contests, having lost many places when they had no
idea there was any danger.
[7] [The Hon. George Byng, born 8th June 1806; succeeded
his father the Earl of Stafford, 3rd June 1860.]
July 30th, 1837 {p.015}
[Page Head: PRINCESS LIEVEN'S AUDIENCES.]
Madame de Lieven told me yesterday that she had an audience of
the Queen, who was very civil and gracious, but timid and
embarrassed, and talked of nothing but commonplaces. Her Majesty
had probably been told that the Princess was an _intrigante_, and
was afraid of committing herself. She had afterwards an interview
with the Duchess of Kent, who (she told me) it was plain to see
is overwhelmed with vexation and disappointment. Her daughter
behaves to her with kindness and attention but has rendered
herself quite independent of the Duchess, who painfully feels her
own insignificance. The almost contemptuous way in which Conroy
has been dismissed must be a bitter mortification to her. The
Duchess said to Madame de Lieven, 'qu'il n'y avait plus d'avenir
pour elle, qu'elle n'était plus rien;' that for eighteen years
this child had been the sole object of her life, of all her
thoughts and hopes, and now she was taken from her, and there was
an end of all for which she had lived heretofore. Madame de
Lieven said that she ought to be the happiest of human beings, to
see the elevation of this child, her prodigious success, and the
praise and admiration of which she was universally the object;
that it was a triumph and a glory which ought to be sufficient
for her--to which she only shook her head with a melancholy
smile, and gave her to understand that all this would not do, and
that the accomplishment of her wishes had only made her to the
last degree unhappy. King William is revenged, he little
anticipated how or by what instrumentality, and if his ghost is
an ill-natured and vindictive shade, it may rejoice in the sight
of this bitter disappointment of his enemy. In the midst of all
her propriety of manner and conduct, the young Queen begins to
exhibit slight signs of a peremptory disposition, and it is
impossible not to suspect that, as she gains confidence, and as
her character begins to develope, she will evince a strong will
of her own. In all trifling matters connected with her Court and
her palace, she already enacts the part of Queen and mistress as
if it had long been familiar to her.
August 8th, 1837 {p.016}
[Page Head: CONSERVATIVE REACTION.]
At Goodwood since this day week till Saturday, when I went to
Petworth;--to town yesterday. The county elections have produced
an endless succession of triumphs to the Conservatives, of which
the greatest was that over Hume in Middlesex. The Whigs are
equally astonished and dismayed at this result, for they had not
a notion of being bowled down as they have been one after
another. If the others had known their own strength, they might
have done a great deal more; Bingham Baring[8] could have brought
in another man with him for Staffordshire; Henry Windham could
have won Sussex had he chosen it, and was very near being brought
in without his own consent, and against the wishes of Lord
Egremont, who, having renounced politics, could not endure the
idea of his son being member for the county. Had Lord Egremont
lifted up his finger, Windham would have come in. The most
extraordinary of all these elections is that of Bingham Baring.
He could not stand again with any chance of success for
Winchester, and he went with £5,000 in his pocket to Stafford,
from time immemorial a corrupt borough; there he was beat, and he
was about to return after spending about one half of his cash,
when Lord Sandon pressed him to allow himself to be proposed for
Staffordshire, asserting that nothing was requisite but a
candidate, so much stronger was the Conservative feeling in the
county than people were aware of. Without much hope of success,
his family having never resided in the county, though his father
has some property in it, and being personally unknown to the
electors, he consented to stand, and, though he had no committee,
and nothing was previously organised or arranged, he was carried
by a prodigious majority to the head of the poll. The elections
in which the Conservatives have failed have, nevertheless,
exhibited a vast change in the public mind, for they have
generally been very severe contests, and in Yorkshire, with
nearly twice the constituency that there was at the last
election, John Wortley was within a few hundreds of his
opponents, when on the former occasion he was in a miserable
minority.
[8] [William Bingham Baring, afterwards second Baron
Ashburton, born June 1799, died March 1864. He sat for
North Staffordshire in this Parliament.]
Lord Munster has got back his keys of the Round Tower. Melbourne
found out that the place was held for life, and he sent for
Munster, and told him he had been hasty in disposing of it, that
it was his own doing and not the Queen's, who had acted entirely
by his advice, and that in his situation it was impossible for
him to do otherwise than bestow any vacant appointment upon a
person connected with his own party, but that he was extremely
glad in the present instance to find that he was not at liberty
to deprive Munster of the office. Munster afterwards saw the
Queen, who was exceedingly gracious, and told him she was very
glad to restore the keys to him. The Queen and Melbourne appear
to have both evinced kindness and good feeling on this occasion.
August 25th, 1837 {p.018}
Nothing of any moment has occurred for some time past, and all
the world has been occupied with the elections as long as they
lasted. After much disputing between the two parties as to the
actual result, it appears by an impartial examination of the
returns that the Ministers will have a majority of 30, and
possibly a little more. As the Government members always attend
better than their opponents, the working majority will probably
be usually greater than this. The Conservatives are exceedingly
triumphant at the result, and not without reason. The English
counties have made a very important demonstration in their
favour; they have not lost in the towns, and the Radicals have
been almost everywhere defeated. This latter circumstance is
exceedingly satisfactory, but the Radicals themselves do not
admit that this election affords any proof that their principles
are on the decline throughout the country. There cannot, however,
be a doubt that questions of organic change are not at present in
any degree of public favour. Charles Villiers, one of the
Radicals with whom I sometimes converse, insists upon it that the
Ballot has made great progress, but he also declares that, if
carried, it would prove a Conservative measure, and that better
men would be chosen. He predicts, however, with greater
appearance of reason, that the question of the Corn Laws will,
before long, become of paramount interest and importance, and I
am induced to think that the next great struggle that takes place
will be for their repeal.
[Page Head: TORY OPPOSITION TO THE POOR LAW.]
The Tories behaved exceedingly ill in one respect during the late
contest, and that was in availing themselves as much as possible
of the cry that has been raised against the Poor Law. No measure
of the Whig Government deserved greater credit than this, or
obtained so much unqualified praise and general support. Inasmuch
as the Tories are the largest landed proprietors, they are the
greatest gainers by the new system, and if a Tory Government
should be in power at the period of the expiration of the Act,
they will not hesitate to renew it. Nevertheless when they found
that some odium was excited in various parts of the country
against the new Poor Law and its administration, many of them did
not scruple to foment the popular discontent, and all watched its
progress with satisfaction when they saw that it was exclusively
directed against their political antagonists. It has been
remarked with truth, that Peel has observed an almost invariable
silence upon this head. During the discussion of the Bill he
seldom took any part; never opposed it; but, if appealed to,
expressed his acquiescence by silent nods. Of late, when a great
clamour has been raised against the Act, and language bordering
on sedition has been used, he has never said a word in favour of
the system, which it would have been more generous, manly, and
honourable to do than to cover himself with a cautious and
mysterious reserve on so important a subject. The Duke of
Wellington took part in the original measure very frankly; but at
the end of last year, when Lord Stanhope got up a discussion in
the House of Lords on the subject, though appealed to by Lord
Tavistock, the Duke would not say a word. This was not like him,
for with reference to mere party tactics, it is to his praise
that he is generally 'too fond of the right to pursue the
expedient.' It is this behaviour of the Tories which has shown me
that there may be such a thing as a 'Tory-Radical;' for though I
had heard the appellation, I thought they were contradictory
terms which did not admit of a conjunction. A Tory-Radical is,
however, a politician who for Tory party purposes endeavours to
influence the minds of the people against the laws and their
administration, not because he thinks those laws either ill-
contrived or ill-executed, but because he thinks that the
consequences of such popular discontent will fall upon his
opponents, and that he can render the angry feeling instrumental
to his own selfish or ambitious designs.
August 30th, 1837 {p.020}
All that I hear of the young Queen leads to the conclusion that
she will some day play a conspicuous part, and that she has a
great deal of character. It is clear enough that she had long
been silently preparing herself, and had been prepared by those
about her (and very properly) for the situation to which she was
destined. The impressions she has made continue to be favourable,
and particularly upon Melbourne, who has a thousand times greater
opportunities of knowing what her disposition and her capacity
are than any other person, and who is not a man to be easily
captivated or dazzled by any superficial accomplishments or mere
graces of manner, or even by personal favour. Melbourne thinks
highly of her sense, discretion, and good feeling; but what seem
to distinguish her above everything are caution and prudence, the
former to a degree which is almost unnatural in one so young, and
unpleasing, because it suppresses the youthful impulses which are
so graceful and attractive.
[Page Head: THE QUEEN'S SELF-POSSESSION.]
On the morning of the King's death, the Archbishop of Canterbury
and Lord Conyngham arrived at Kensington at five o'clock, and
immediately desired to see 'the Queen.' They were ushered into an
apartment, and in a few minutes the door opened and she came in
wrapped in a dressing-gown and with slippers on her naked feet.
Conyngham in a few words told her their errand, and as soon as he
uttered the words 'Your Majesty,' she instantly put out her hand
to him, intimating that he was to kiss hands before he proceeded.
He dropped on one knee, kissed her hand, and then went on to tell
her of the late King's death. She presented her hand to the
Archbishop, who likewise kissed it, and when he had done so,
addressed to her a sort of pastoral charge, which she received
graciously and then retired. She lost no time in giving notice to
Conroy of her intentions with regard to him; she saw him, and
desired him to name the reward he expected for his services to
her parents. He asked for the Red Riband, an Irish peerage, and a
pension of £3,000 a year. She replied that the two first rested
with her Ministers, and she could not engage for them, but that
the pension he should have. It is not easy to ascertain the exact
cause of her antipathy to him, but it has probably grown with her
growth, and results from divers causes. The person in the world
she loves best is the Baroness Lehzen, and Lehzen and Conroy were
enemies. There was formerly a Baroness Spaeth at Kensington,
lady-in-waiting to the Duchess, and Lehzen and Spaeth were
intimate friends. Conroy quarrelled with the latter and got her
dismissed, and this Lehzen never forgave. She may have instilled
into the Princess a dislike and bad opinion of Conroy, and the
evidence of these sentiments, which probably escaped neither the
Duchess nor him, may have influenced their conduct towards her,
for strange as it is, there is good reason to believe that she
thinks she has been ill-used by both of them for some years
past.[9] Her manner to the Duchess is, however, irreproachable,
and they appear to be on cordial and affectionate terms. Madame
de Lehzen is the only person who is constantly with her. When any
of the Ministers come to see her, the Baroness retires at one
door as they enter at the other, and the audience over she
returns to the Queen. It has been remarked that when applications
are made to Her Majesty, she seldom or never gives an immediate
answer, but says she will consider of it, and it is supposed that
she does this because she consults Melbourne about everything,
and waits to have her answer suggested by him. He says, however,
that such is her habit even with him, and that when he talks to
her upon any subject upon which an opinion is expected from her,
she tells him she will think it over, and let him know her
sentiments the next day.
[9] [The Queen, in a letter to her uncle, King Leopold,
published with Her Majesty's sanction, speaks
significantly of what she terms 'my sad childhood.']
The day she went down to visit the Queen Dowager at Windsor, to
Melbourne's great surprise she said to him that as the flag on
the Round Tower was half-mast high, and they might perhaps think
it necessary to elevate it upon her arrival, it would be better
to send orders beforehand not to do so. _He_ had never thought of
the flag, or knew anything about it, but it showed her knowledge
of forms and her attention to trifles. Her manner to the Queen
was extremely kind and affectionate, and they were both greatly
affected at meeting. The Queen Dowager said to her that the only
favour she had to ask of her was to provide for the retirement,
with their pensions, of the personal attendants of the late King,
Whiting and Bachelor, who had likewise been the attendants of
George IV.; to which she replied that it should be attended to,
but she could not give any promise on the subject.
She is upon terms of the greatest cordiality with Lord Melbourne,
and very naturally. Everything is new and delightful to her. She
is surrounded with the most exciting and interesting enjoyments;
her occupations, her pleasures, her business, her Court, all
present an unceasing round of gratifications. With all her
prudence and discretion she has great animal spirits, and enters
into the magnificent novelties of her position with the zest and
curiosity of a child.
No man is more formed to ingratiate himself with her than
Melbourne. He treats her with unbounded consideration and
respect, he consults her tastes and her wishes, and he puts her
at her ease by his frank and natural manners, while he amuses her
by the quaint, queer, epigrammatic turn of his mind, and his
varied knowledge upon all subjects. It is not therefore
surprising that she should be well content with her present
Government, and that during the progress of the elections she
should have testified great interest in the success of the Whig
candidates. Her reliance upon Melbourne's advice extends at
present to subjects quite beside his constitutional functions,
for the other day somebody asked her permission to dedicate some
novel to her, when she said she did not like to grant the
permission without knowing the contents of the work, and she
desired Melbourne to read the book and let her know if it was fit
that she should accept the dedication. Melbourne read the first
volume, but found it so dull that he would not read any more, and
sent her word that she had better refuse, which she accordingly
did. She seems to be liberal, but at the same time prudent with
regard to money, for when the Queen Dowager proposed to her to
take her band into her service, she declined to incur so great an
expense without further consideration, but one of the first
things she spoke to Melbourne about was the payment of her
father's debts, which she is resolved to discharge.
October 23rd, 1837 {p.023}
[Page Head: MANGO WINS THE ST. LEGER.]
Since August 30th, nearly two months, I have written not a line,
for I have had nothing to record of public or general interest,
and have felt an invincible repugnance to write about myself or
my own proceedings. Having nothing else to talk of, however, I
shall write my own history of the last seven weeks, which is very
interesting to me inasmuch as it has been very profitable. Having
asked George Bentinck to try my horse 'Mango' before Doncaster,
we went down together one night to Winchester race-course and saw
him tried. He won the trial and we resolved to back him. This we
accomplished more successfully than we expected, and ten days
after he won the St. Leger, and I won about £9,000 upon it, the
first _great_ piece of good fortune that ever happened to me.
Since Doncaster, I have continued (up to this time) to win at
Newmarket, so that my affairs are in a flourishing condition,
but, notwithstanding these successes, I am dissatisfied and
disquieted in my mind, and my life is spent in the alternations
of excitement from the amusement and speculation of the turf and
of remorse and shame at the pursuit itself. One day I resolve to
extricate myself entirely from the whole concern, to sell all my
horses, and pursue other occupations and objects of interest, and
then these resolutions wax faint, and I again find myself buying
fresh animals, entering into fresh speculations, and just as
deeply engaged as ever. It is the force of habit, a still
unconquered propensity to the sport, and a nervous apprehension
that if I do give it up, I may find no subject of equal interest.
November 14th, 1837 {p.023}
[Page Head: CHARACTER OF LORD EGREMONT.]
Yesterday morning I heard of the death of Lord Egremont, who died
after a week's illness of his old complaint, an inflammation in
the trachea, being within a month of eighty-six years old.[10] He
was a remarkable man, and his death will be more felt within the
sphere of his influence (and that extended over the whole county
of Sussex) than any individual's ever was. He was immensely rich
and his munificence was equal to his wealth. No man probably ever
gave away so much money in promoting charitable institutions or
useful undertakings, and in pensioning, assisting, and supporting
his numerous relations and dependants. His understanding was
excellent, his mind highly cultivated, and he retained all his
faculties, even his memory, unimpaired to the last. He was
remarkably acute, shrewd, and observant, and in his manner blunt
without rudeness, and caustic without bitterness. Though he had
for some years withdrawn himself from the world, he took an eager
interest and curiosity in all that was passing in it, and though
not mixed up in politics, and sedulously keeping aloof from all
party conflicts, he did not fail to think deeply and express
himself strongly upon the important questions and events of the
times. In his political principles and opinions he was anti-
Liberal, and latterly an alarmist as well as a Conservative. He
had always opposed Catholic Emancipation, which it is difficult
to account for in a man so sagacious and benevolent, except from
the force of prejudices early instilled into a mind of tenacious
grasp which was not exposed to the changeful influence of worldly
commerce and communication. It is probable that Lord Egremont
might have acted a conspicuous part in politics if he had chosen
to embark on that stormy sea, and upon the rare occasions when he
spoke in the House of Lords, he delivered himself with great
energy and effect; but his temper, disposition, and tastes were
altogether incompatible with the trammels of office or the
restraints of party connexions, and he preferred to revel
unshackled in all the enjoyments of private life, both physical
and intellectual, which an enormous fortune, a vigorous
constitution, and literary habits placed in abundant variety
before him. But in the system of happiness which he marked out
for himself, the happiness of others formed a large and essential
ingredient; nor did old age, as it stole upon him with gradual
and insensible steps, dull the brightness of his intellect or
chill the warmth of his heart. His mind was always intent upon
providing for the pleasure or the benefit of those around him,
and there was nothing in which he so keenly delighted as the
rural festivals with which he celebrated his own birthday, when
thousands of the surrounding villagers were assembled in his park
to eat, drink and be merry. He was passionately fond of children,
and animals of every description found favour in his sight. Lord
Egremont was a distinguished patron of artists, and it was rarely
that Petworth was unvisited by some painter or sculptor, many of
whom he kept in almost continual employment, and by whom his loss
will be severely felt. He was extremely hospitable, and Petworth
was open to all his friends, and to all their friends if they
chose to bring them, provided they did not interfere with his
habits or require any personal attention at his hands: from any
such obligation he considered that his age and infirmities
released him. He received his guests with the utmost urbanity and
courtesy, did the honours of his table, and in every other
respect left them free to abide as long as they pleased, but to
amuse themselves as they could. Petworth was consequently like a
great inn. Everybody came when they thought fit, and departed
without notice or leave-taking. He liked to have people there who
he was certain would not put him out of his way, especially those
who, entering into his eccentric habits, were ready for the
snatches of talk which his perpetual locomotion alone admitted
of, and from whom he could gather information about passing
events; but it was necessary to conform to his peculiarities, and
these were utterly incompatible with conversation or any
prolonged discussion. He never remained for five minutes in the
same place, and was continually oscillating between the library
and his bedroom, or wandering about the enormous house in all
directions; sometimes he broke off in the middle of a
conversation on some subject which appeared to interest him and
disappeared, and an hour after, on a casual meeting, would resume
it just where he had left off. But this habitual restlessness,
which was so fatal to conversation, served perhaps to exhibit the
vivacity of his mind and its shrewd and epigrammatic turn in a
more remarkable manner: few persons visited Petworth without
being struck with astonishment at the unimpaired vigour of his
intellectual powers. To have lived to a great age in the practice
of beneficence and the dispensation of happiness, and to die
without bodily suffering or mental decay, in the enjoyment of
existence up to the instant of its close, affords an example of
human prosperity, both in life and in death, which has fallen to
the lot of few, but which may well excite the envy and admiration
of all.[11]
[10] [See for descent of Lord Egremont, p. 337, vol. ii. of
the First Part of Mr. Greville's Journals.]
[11] The substance of this character of the Earl of Egremont
was inserted in the _Times_ newspaper of Saturday, 18th
November 1837.
November 3rd, 1837 {p.026}
At Court yesterday when the Queen received the Address of the
Commons. She conducts herself with surprising dignity: the
dignity which proceeds from self-possession and deliberation. The
smallness of her stature is quite forgotten in the majesty and
gracefulness of her demeanour.
[Page Head: RADICAL DISCONTENT.]
The Session has opened merrily with an angry squabble between
Lord John Russell and the Radicals, at which the Tories greatly
rejoice. Upon the Address, Wakley and others thought fit to
introduce the topic of the Ballot and other reforms, upon which
John Russell spoke out and declared he would never be a party to
the Ballot, and would not reform the Reform Bill. They were
indignant, and attacked him in no measured terms. The next night
Charles Buller returned to the charge with equal violence, when
Lord John made (by the agreement of all parties) an incomparable
speech vindicating his own consistency, explaining his motives
for making the declaration which he did the first night, and
repelling with great dignity the charges with which he was
assailed.[12] Of course opinions vary as to the expediency and
propriety of his conduct on this occasion, but I do not see that
he could have acted otherwise, and it is much more manly,
straightforward, and honourable to declare at once what his
sentiments and intentions are than to endeavour to evade the
subject for a time, and to raise hopes and expectations which he
has no design of realising, and which, whenever he does declare
himself, as eventually he must, would only excite the bitterer
disappointment and resentment. However, whether he acted wisely
or not, the immediate effect has been to enrage the Radical
section of his party exceedingly, and those who want the
Government to be turned out fondly hope that this split among
them will bring about the consummation. This is not probable, for
angry as they may be, they will still prefer Melbourne to Peel,
and O'Connell (who is all moderation) will throw Ireland into the
scale and entreat them for Ireland's sake to lay aside their
resentment. Such questions as the Ballot can only be carried by
the desire for them gaining ground largely throughout the
country, and this many assert to be the case. At this moment it
is pretty clear that the people care very little about
speculative questions, and want only peace and tranquillity. It
is also said that there is a growing anti-Catholic and anti-Irish
spirit which the Conservatives do their best to excite and
extend. It would be a curious speculation, supposing both these
influences to operate widely, to anticipate the result of their
action upon the great antagonist parties in the country, and see
which would gain most by a coalition of Radical and sectarian
principles. A state of things might by possibility arise when
they would act as mutual checks.
[12] [It was to this debate that Mr. Disraeli referred in
his maiden speech, delivered a few days later, when he
spoke of the 'passion and recrimination of the noble
Tityrus of the Treasury Bench and the learned Daphne of
Liskeard,' and added that 'these _amantium irae_ had
resulted in an _amoris redintegratio_.' The orator was
laughed down before he concluded the sentence.]
* * * * *
[The Editor of these Journals may here be permitted to say, that
it was at this time that his acquaintance with Mr. Greville
began, as he was appointed to an office in the Privy Council on
November 17, 1837. This acquaintance speedily ripened into
confidential friendship, which was uninterrupted for a single day
in the course of the next eight-and-twenty years. Indeed Mr.
Greville's kind offices to his young acquaintance began
immediately; for the appointment of Mr. Reeve having been
attacked with great bitterness by Lord Brougham, who was then
extremely hostile to every department of the Government, Mr.
Greville exerted himself with his usual energy to defend it.
It may not be out of place, though it is out of date, to insert
here, as a memorial of this long friendship, a note written to
the Editor of these Journals by Mr. Greville, on May 6, 1859,
when he had just resigned the office of Clerk of the Council. It
is in the following terms:--
My dear R.,--I will not delay to thank you warmly for
your kind note. Your accession to the Privy Council
Office gave me a friendship which I need not say how much
I have valued through so many years of happy intercourse,
which I rejoice at thinking has never been clouded or
interrupted and which, I hope, will last the same as long
as I last myself. It is always painful to do anything for
the last time, and I cannot without emotion take leave of
an office where I have experienced for so many years so
much kindness, consideration, and goodwill; but I hope
still to be considered as _amicus curiae_ and to be
applied to on every occasion when I can be of use to the
Office. Between you and me there has been, I think, as
much as possible between any two people the 'idem velle,
idem nolle, et idem sentire de republicâ,' and, in
consequence, the 'firma amicitia.'
God bless you, and believe me always
Yours most sincerely and faithfully,
C.C.G.]
* * * * *
November 26th, 1837 {p.028}
It is still a matter of general discussion and speculation
whether Lord John Russell's bold declaration will have the effect
of breaking up the Government by disgusting the Radicals to such
a degree as to make them in spite withdraw their aid on some
important occasion. Those gentry are still very irate and sulky,
but I do not expect they will connive at the overthrow of the
Government; they know better than to open the doors of office to
the Tories. Lord Brougham has taken the field with a violent
Radical speech, and he seized an occasion to set his tongue
wagging against the Chancellor; in short he seems bent on
mischief. He has written word to Lord Granville that he would not
be gagged this Session; he will be glad to lead anybody who will
be led by him; and as the post of general of the Radicals appears
to be vacant, he may aspire to that. His actual position as
contrasted with his vast abilities is indeed calculated to 'point
a moral.'
December 8th, 1837 {p.029}
[Page Head: COMMITTEE ON THE PENSION LIST.]
The notion of a break-up of the Government has gradually faded
away, and though the Radicals have not forgiven John Russell for
his speech, they appear to have no intention of altering their
conduct towards the Government, and some concessions have already
been made partly for the purpose of mollifying them. Government
have given up the Pension List, and it is believed that the
Ballot is to be made an open question. This will be considered
more than an equivalent for the discouraging effect of John
Russell's speech. Peel and the Tories oppose the Committee on the
Pensions,[13] but it is remarkable that on the Civil List
Committee the other day, when Rice proposed that £75,000 should
be granted for pensions, and Grote moved to suspend the grant
till after the Pensions Committee had reported, Peel and his
people (Goulburn, Harding, Fremantle, &c.) supported Grote, and
the Chancellor of the Exchequer was in a minority of one. This
too was an accident, for Francis Baring was absent from the
division on account of the following circumstance. In a speech in
the House of Lords the night before on the Post Office, Lord
Lichfield[14] had attacked Mr. Wallace with great severity, and
immediately after Wallace sent him a message which was tantamount
to a challenge. Alvanley was employed to settle the quarrel,
which he did, but it became necessary to instruct Baring to say
something on the subject in the House of Commons, where Wallace
was going to allude to it. Alvanley detained Baring so long that
he was too late for the division in the Committee; had he been
there and made the numbers even, Rice, as chairman, must have
given the casting vote for or against his own proposition, either
of which would have been very awkward, but it is not very clear
why Peel voted as he did.
[13] [The Chancellor of the Exchequer moved for a Select
Committee to inquire how far pensions granted under the
Acts of the last reign, and charged on the Civil List
or the Consolidated Fund, ought to be continued. The
motion was carried by 293 to 233 votes.]
[14] [The Earl of Lichfield was Postmaster General.]
Lord Roden brought on the Irish question in the House of Lords,
when Mulgrave[15] made a very triumphant vindication of himself
and utterly discomfited the Orangemen. The Duke of Wellington
made a very clever speech, and availed himself of the
contradictory returns of crimes and convictions skilfully enough,
but he had the candour to give Mulgrave ample credit for the
vigour with which he had caused the law to be enforced, and, as
for months past the Orangemen had been clamouring against the
Irish Government for neglecting to enforce the law and for
depriving Protestants of its protection, it was a very
magnanimous admission on the Duke's part, and such a one as few
of his political opponents would have made. It is the peculiar
merit of the Duke that he is never disposed to sacrifice truth
for a party purpose, and it is this manliness and
straightforwardness, this superiority to selfish considerations
and temporary ends, which render him the object of universal
respect and admiration, and will hereafter surround his political
character with unfading honour. Not content with the defeat which
they sustained in the House of Lords, the Orangemen had the folly
to provoke another contest in the House of Commons, and Colonel
Verner brought forward 'the Battle of the Diamond,' giving
Morpeth an opportunity of another triumph as signal as Mulgrave's
in the House of Lords. The Irish Orangemen were left to their
fate on this occasion, for none of their English associates came
to their relief.
[15] [Constantine Henry, second Earl of Mulgrave, created in
the following year Marquis of Normanby. He was at this
time Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. Lord Morpeth was Chief
Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant.]
[Page Head: MR. DISRAELI'S FIRST SPEECH.]
Mr. Disraeli made his first exhibition the other night, beginning
with florid assurance, speedily degenerating into ludicrous
absurdity, and being at last put down with inextinguishable
shouts of laughter.[16]
[16] [Mr. Disraeli's first speech was made on the motion
with reference to what was called 'the Spottiswoode
Gang.' An association had been formed in London for the
purpose of collecting money to test the validity of the
Irish elections wholesale. Mr. Spottiswoode, one of the
Queen's printers, was the president of this
association, which was denounced by the Radicals and
the Irish Members as 'the Spottiswoode Gang,' and
attacked in Parliament by Mr. Blewitt, who moved five
resolutions condemning the institution of the
Spottiswoode fund. Lord John Russell, however,
discouraged the attack, on the ground that the number
of election petitions in the present year was not such
as to warrant any extraordinary measures in regard to
them. Mr. Blewitt withdrew four of his resolutions and
left the House without moving the fifth. _Solvuntur
risu tabulae_.]
The new House of Commons does not promise to be a more business-
like or more decorous assembly than its immediate predecessor.
Already two whole nights have been consumed in the discussion of
two topics so unprofitable as 'the Battle of the Diamond' and
'the Spottiswoode Gang,' and it is said that such a scene of
disorder and such a beargarden never was beheld. The noise and
confusion are so great that the proceedings can hardly be heard
or understood, and it was from something growing out of this
confusion and uproar that the Speaker thought it necessary to
address the House last night and complain that he no longer
enjoyed its confidence, and if he saw any future indication that
such was the case he should resign the Chair. His declaration was
taken very quietly, for nobody said a word.
Brougham made a great speech on education the other night, but it
was so long, tedious, and digressive that he drove everybody
away. He is in a very bitter state of mind, scarcely speaking to
any of his former friends and colleagues, and having acquired no
new friends of any party. He courts the Radicals, and writes
letters and makes speeches directly at variance with all his
former professions and opinions; but the Radicals, though they do
not object to make use of him, will by no means trust him.
I asked Charles Buller if they would have Lord Brougham for their
leader, and he said 'certainly not,' and added that 'Durham had
done nothing as yet to forfeit their confidence.' He enlightened
me at the same time about his own Radical opinions and views and
the extent of them, together with those of the more moderate of
his party, complaining that they were misrepresented and
misunderstood; although for the Ballot and extension of the
suffrage, he is opposed to reform of the House of Lords or any
measure directly affecting the Constitution. He does not admit
that the measures he advocates do affect the Constitution
directly or indirectly.[17] I told him if he repudiated the
violent maxims of Molesworth and others, he should not let these
ultra-Radicals be the organs of the party, as the world did not
and could not distinguish between them, especially as the
Moderates took no steps to clear themselves and establish juster
notions of the character and tendency of their principles. He did
not deny this, but they dread an appearance of disunion; so, as
always happens when this is the case, the most exalted and
exaggerated of the party, who will not be silenced and are
reckless of consequences, take the lead and keep it.
[17] [It cannot fail to strike the reader that all the
measures which were regarded as the tests of Radicalism
in 1837 have long since been carried, and have now the
general assent of the nation.]
December 12th, 1837 {p.032}
On the debate about Pensions the other night Whittle Harvey
outdid himself; by all accounts it was inimitable, dramatic to
the greatest degree, and acted to perfection. Peel was heavy,
Stanley very smart, the Ministers were beaten hollow in the
argument, but got a respectable division, of which they make the
most; but it proves nothing as to their real strength, which has
not yet been tested. John Russell made a wretched speech, being
obliged to vote in the teeth of his former opinions and conduct.
December 14th, 1837 {p.032}
[Page Head: LORD BROUGHAM AND LORD MELBOURNE.]
There was a grand breeze in the House of Lords the night before
last between Melbourne and Brougham. The latter is said to have
been in a towering passion, and he vociferated and gesticulated
with might and main. Jonathan Peel was in the Lobby, and being
attracted by the noise, ran to the House, and found Brougham not
only on his legs, but on tip-toes in the middle of his indignant
rejoinder. Melbourne's attack upon him seemed hardly called for,
but I heard he had declared he would not much longer endure the
continual twittings and punchings that Brougham every day dealt
out to some one or other of the Ministers. The Chancellor, Lord
Lansdowne, and Glenelg, had all suffered in their turns, and so
when Brougham taunted him with his courtly habits, he could not
restrain himself, and retorted savagely though not very well.
What he said was nothing but a _tu quoque_, and only remarkable
for the bitter tone in which it was uttered and the sort of
reproach it conveyed. Probably Melbourne thought it as well to
put an end at once to the half hostile, half amicable state of
their mutual relations, to their 'noble friendship,' and real
enmity, and to bring matters to a crisis, otherwise he might have
had some indulgence for his old friend and colleague, have made
allowance for the workings of deep disappointment and
mortification on his excitable temperament, and have treated him
with forbearance out of reverence for his rare acquirements and
capacity. But the fact is, that Brougham has ostentatiously
proclaimed the dissolution of all his former ties, and has
declared war against all his ancient connexions; he has abandoned
his friends and his principles together, and has enrolled himself
in a Radical fellowship which would have been the object of his
scorn and detestation in his calmer moods and in more prosperous
days.
Le Marchant, who was his secretary for four years, and knows him
well, told me that no man was a greater aristocrat in his heart
than Brougham, from conviction attached to aristocracy, from
taste desirous of being one of its members. He said that Dugald
Stewart, when talking of his pupils, had said though he envied
most the understanding of Horner (whom he loved with peculiar
affection), he considered Brougham the ablest man he had ever
known, but that even then (forty years ago) he considered his to
be a mind that was continually oscillating on the verge of
insanity. Le Marchant said that Brougham's powers of application
exceeded what he had believed possible of any human being. He had
known him work incessantly from nine in the morning till one at
night, and at the end be as fresh apparently as when he began. He
could turn from one subject to another with surprising facility
and promptitude, in the same day travelling through the details
of a Chancery cause, writing a philosophical or mathematical
treatise, correcting articles for the 'Library of Useful
Knowledge,' and preparing a great speech for the House of Lords.
When one thinks of the greatness of his genius and the depth of
his fall, from the loftiest summit of influence, power, and fame
to the lowest abyss of political degradation, in spite of the
faults and the follies of his character and conduct, one cannot
help feeling regret and compassion at the sight of such a noble
wreck and of so much glory obscured.
December 24th, 1837 {p.034}
[Page Head: THE INSURRECTION IN CANADA.]
News of the insurrection in Canada arrived the day before
yesterday, and produced a debate of some animation in the House
of Commons, in which the Radicals principally figured, making
speeches of such exceeding violence that it was only justifiable
to pass them over, because those who uttered them are not worth
notice. Gladstone spoke very well, and Lord John Russell closed
the discussion with an excellent speech just such as a Minister
ought to make, manly, temperate, and constitutional. He is a
marvellous little man, always equal to the occasion, afraid of
nobody, fixed in his principles, clear in his ideas, collected in
his manner, and bold and straightforward in his disposition. He
invariably speaks well when a good speech is required from him,
and this is upon every important question, for he gets no
assistance from any of his colleagues, except now and then from
Howick. This is a fine occasion for attacking the Government and
placing them between two fires, for the Radicals abuse them for
their tyrannical and despotic treatment of the Canadians, and the
Tories attribute the rebellion to their culpable leniency and
futile attempts at conciliation by concessions which never ought
to have been made, and only were made out of complaisance to the
Radicals here. As generally happens when there are charges of an
opposite nature, and incompatible with one another, neither of
them is true.
Since Brougham and Melbourne's set-to in the House of Lords, the
former has been speaking every day and entering a protest about
every other day. He is in a state of permanent activity, and
means to lead such of the Radicals as will enlist under his
ragged banner. He was quite furious about the Civil List, and
evidently means to outbid everybody for popularity. He goes on
belabouring and 'befriending' the Government Lords, but the
effect he produces (if any) is out of doors, for he usually
wastes his rhetoric on empty benches.
The Queen went to the House yesterday without producing any
sensation. There was the usual crowd to look at the finery of
carriages, horses, Guards, &c., but not a hat raised nor a voice
heard: the people of England seem inclined to hurrah no more.
December 30th, 1837 {p.035}
Since the receipt of Colborne's despatches,[18] the alarm about
Canada has subsided, and if Ministers had been aware that matters
were no worse, probably Parliament would have had longer
holidays. Nobody doubts that the insurrection will be easily put
down, but the difficulty will be how to settle matters
afterwards. It does not appear that this Government has been more
to blame than any other, for the same system seems to have been
pursued by all. They might indeed have adopted decisive measures
at an earlier period, and as soon as they found that the Assembly
was invincibly obstinate and deaf to the voice of reason, they
ought to have put an end to the humiliating contest by an
assertion of Imperial power. All that can be said is, that they
tried the conciliatory power too long.
[18] [Sir John Colborne was Lieutenant-Governor of Canada at
the time the insurrection broke out, and the
suppression of it was mainly due to the vigorous
measures taken by him on the spot. For these services
he was raised to the peerage by the title of Lord
Seaton. He died in 1863 at the age of eighty-four.]
Burghley, January 2nd, 1838 {p.035}
Among other changes of habit, it has occurred to me why should
not I begin the New Year by keeping a regular diary? What I do
write are merely fragments of memoirs with passing events briefly
alluded to, and the odds and ends collected from different
sources recorded and commented on. It is not the first time I
have had thoughts of keeping a more regular journal, in which not
only my doings should be noted down and my goings, but which
would also preserve some record of my thoughts and feelings, if
ever indeed I really do think and feel. The reason I have never
done anything of this sort is partly that I have been too idle,
and the result partly of modesty and partly of vanity. A journal
to be good, true, and interesting, should be written without the
slightest reference to publication, but without any fear of it;
it should be the transcript of a mind which can bear
transcribing. I do not in sincerity believe that my mind, or
thoughts, or actions, are of sufficient importance or interest to
make it worth while (for the sake of others) to take this
trouble. I always contemplate the possibility that hereafter my
journal will be read by the public, always greedy of such things,
and I regard with alarm and dislike the notion of its containing
a heap of twaddle and trash concerning matters appertaining to
myself which nobody else will care three straws about. If
therefore I discard these scruples and do what I meditate (and
very likely after all I shall not, or only for a very short
time), the next thing is, Why? It seems exceedingly ridiculous to
say that one strong stimulus proceeds from reading Scott's
Diary--which he began very late in life and in consequence of
reading Byron's--not because I fancy I can write a diary as
amusing as Scott's or Byron's, but because I am struck by the
excessive pleasure which Scott appeared to derive from writing
his journal, and I am (and this is the principal cause) struck
with the important use to which the habit may be turned. The
habit of recording is first of all likely to generate a desire to
have something of some interest to record; it will lead to habits
of reflexion and to trains of thought, the pursuit of which may
be pleasing and profitable; it will exercise the memory and
sharpen the understanding generally; and though the thoughts may
not be very profound, nor the remarks very lively or ingenious,
nor the narrative of exceeding interest, still the exercise is, I
think, calculated to make the writer wiser, and perhaps better.
If I do this I shall read over all I write long before anyone
else will have an opportunity of doing so, and I am not likely to
be over-indulgent if I find myself a bore.
Yesterday morning I left town, slept at Newmarket, saw the
horses, rode out on the Warren Hill, and came here to dinner,
where I find twenty-two people--the Duke of Wellington and Lord
Aberdeen, the Salisburys, Wiltons, and a mob of fine people; very
miserable representatives of old Lord Burleigh, the two
insignificant-looking Marquesses, who are his lineal descendants,
and who display no more of his brains than they do of his beard.
The Duke of Wellington is in great force, talked last night of
Canada, and said he thought the first operations had been a
failure, and he judged so because the troops could neither take
the rebel chief, nor hold their ground, nor return by any other
road than that by which they came; that if Colborne could hold
Montreal during the winter it would do very well, but he was not
sure that he would be able to do so; that the Government ought to
exhibit to the world their determination to put this revolt down,
and that to do so they must seal the St. Lawrence[19] so as to
prevent the ingress of foreigners, who would flock to Canada for
employment against us; that the Queen could not blockade her own
ports, so that they must apply to Parliament for power to effect
this, and they ought to bring in a Bill forthwith for the
purpose. This morning he got a letter (from a man he did not
know) enclosing the latest news, which he thought very good, and
promising better and more decisive results. After breakfast they
went shooting.
[19] The Duke expressed no such opinion in either of his
speeches on Canada (February 4th).
[Page Head: THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON AT BURLEIGH.]
I walked out and joined the Duke, who talked to me for I dare say
an hour and a half about his Spanish campaigns, and most
interesting it was. I told him that the other day Allen[20] had
asked me to find somebody, a military man, to review the
Wellington Despatches in the 'Edinburgh Review,' and that he had
suggested Sir George Murray as the fittest person if he would
undertake it; that I had accordingly spoken to Fitzroy Somerset,
who had agreed to apply to Murray; and, if Murray would not do
it, I begged him to turn in his mind what officer could be found
equal to such a task, and I then asked the Duke if he knew of
anybody. He seemed amazingly pleased at the idea, said he knew
nobody, but Murray was the fittest man. From this he began to
talk, and told me a great deal of various matters, which I wish I
could have taken down as it fell from his lips. I was amused at
the simplicity with which he talked of the great interest of
these Despatches, just as he might have done if they had been the
work of any other man; said he had read them himself with
considerable astonishment and great interest, and that everybody
might see that there was not one word in them that was not
strictly and literally true. He said of his generals, 'that in
the beginning they none of them knew anything of the matter, that
he was obliged to go from division to division and look to
everything himself down to the minutest details.' I said, 'What
on earth would have happened if anything had befallen you?' He
laughed and said, 'I really do not know. There was a great deal
of correspondence about my successor at the time Sir Thomas
Graham went home.[21] I was against having any second in command,
which was quite useless, as nobody could share the responsibility
with me. However, afterwards Graham came back, and then there was
Hope next to him.' He said, 'Hill had invariably done well,
always exactly obeyed my orders, and executed them successfully.'
The fall of Badajoz was a great blow to him, but he did not know
that it was by an act of treachery. The Spanish Government
perhaps did not believe that he was approaching to relieve the
place, but it was a most curious fact, that whereas it was agreed
that the Spanish army should march out over the breach with the
honours of war, they were obliged, after the capitulation, to
make a breach for them to go over, none having been made by the
besiegers. The General, with whom he finds much fault (in the
ninth volume) for disobeying his orders and making false
movements, was Victor Allen, but he said he treated him with
great leniency, and so he did his officers on all occasions, and
was as forbearing and indulgent with them as it was possible to
be.
[20] [Mr. Allen, an accomplished literary inmate of Holland
House, the author of a work on the 'Royal Prerogative,'
and himself an occasional contributor to the 'Edinburgh
Review.']
[21] [The intention of the Government was that if any
accident befell the Duke of Wellington, General Sir
Thomas Graham, afterwards Lord Lynedoch, should take
the command of the British forces in Spain. This
appears from the _Memoir of Lord Lynedoch_, published
in 1880, by Captain Alexander Delavoye.]
[Page Head: THE BATTLE OF SALAMANCA.]
All the movements and operations before the battle of Salamanca
were to the last degree interesting. The Duke was anxiously
waiting for some advantageous occasion to attack Marmont, and at
last it arrived; he saw it happen, and took his resolution on the
spot. He was dining in a farm-yard with his officers, where (when
he had done dinner) everybody else came and dined as they could.
The whole French army was in sight, moving, and the enemy firing
upon the farmyard in which he was dining. 'I got up,' he said,
'and was looking over a wall round the farm-yard, just such a
wall as that' (pointing to a low stone wall bounding the covert),
'and I saw the movement of the French left through my glass. "By
God," said I, "that will do, and I'll attack them directly." I
had moved up the Sixth Division through Salamanca, which the
French were not aware of, and I ordered them to attack, and the
whole line to advance. I had got my army so completely in hand
that I could do this with ease, and in forty minutes the battle
was won--'quarante mille hommes battus en quarante minutes.' I
asked him if it was true that he and Marmont had subsequently
talked over the event of the battle, and that Marmont had
asserted that his orders had been disobeyed, or that this
movement of which the Duke took advantage would not have been
made. He said he believed there had been some conversation on the
subject, and that Marmont had said he was wounded before this
movement took place; he said he did not know if this was true,
but it might be, as there had been continual fighting for some
time previous. I asked him why Bonaparte had not himself come to
Spain to attack him; and if he had with a great force, whether he
would have driven him out. He replied that he thought Napoleon
had satisfied himself that it would be a work of great
difficulty, and what was more, of great length, and he had no
mind to embark in it; and that the French certainly would not
have driven him out: he should have taken up some position, and
have been enabled to baffle the Emperor himself just as he had
done his marshals. He thinks that Napoleon's military system
compelled him to employ his armies in war, when they invariably
lived upon the resources of the countries they occupied, and that
France could not have maintained them, as she must have done if
he had made peace: peace, therefore, would have brought about
(through the army itself) his downfall. He traces the whole
military system of France from its first organisation during the
Reign of Terror, in a letter in the tenth volume of the
Despatches. I asked him how he reconciled what he had said of the
extraordinary discipline of the French army with their unsparing
and habitual plunder of the country, and he said that though they
plundered in the most remorseless way, there was order and
discipline in their plundering, and while they took from the
inhabitants everything they could lay their hands upon, it was
done in the way of requisition, and that they plundered for the
army and not for themselves individually, but they were reduced
to great shifts for food. At the battle of Fuentes d'Onor he saw
the French soldiers carry off horses that were killed to be
cooked and eaten in another part of the field. 'I saw
particularly with my own eyes one horse put upon a cart drawn by
two bullocks (they could not afford to kill the bullocks), and
drawn off; and I desired a man to watch where the cart went, and
it was taken to another French division for the horse to be
eaten. Now we never were reduced to eat horseflesh.' I remarked
that he alluded in one of his letters to his having been once
very nearly taken, and he said it was just before the battle of
Talavera in consequence of some troops giving way. He was on a
ruined tower from which he was obliged to leap down; and if he
had not been young and active, as he was in those days, he should
certainly have been taken.
He talked a great deal of the Spanish character, unchanged to
this day; of the vast difficulties he had had to contend with
from both Spanish and Portuguese Governments, the latter as bad
as the former; of their punctilios and regard to form and
ceremony. 'At the time of the battle of the Pyrenees[22] I had
occasion to send O'Donnel to advance, and he was mightily
affronted because he did not receive the order by an officer from
head-quarters. I was living under hedges and ditches, and had not
been to head-quarters for several days, and so I told him, but
that he should have an order if he pleased in the proper form.' I
asked him if it was not then that he found the troops in full
retreat. He said they were beginning to retreat when he arrived,
'then they threw up their caps and made a most brilliant affair
of it.'
[22] [This expression occurs more than once in these
Journals. No battle is known in history as the 'battle
of the Pyrenees,' but the expression doubtless relates
to the actions which were fought in the Pyrenees, after
Soult took the command of the French army in July
1814.]
It is impossible to convey an idea of the zest, eagerness,
frankness, and _abundance_ with which he talked, and told of his
campaigns, or how interesting it was to hear him. He expressed
himself very warmly about Hill, of all his generals, and said,
'When I gave him my memorandum about Canada the other day I said,
Why it looks as if we were at our old trade again.' He added that
he 'always gave his opinion when it was required on any subject.'
Belvoir Castle, January 4th, 1838 {p.041}
[Page Head: A PARTY AT BELVOIR CASTLE.]
Came here yesterday, all the party (almost) migrating, and many
others coming from various parts to keep the Duke of Rutland's
birthday. We are nearly forty at dinner, but it is no use
enumerating the people. Last night the Duke of Wellington talked
of Hanover, said he really did not know much of the matter; that
neither William IV. nor George IV. had ever talked to him on the
subject or he must have made himself acquainted with it; that the
Duke of Cumberland had written him word that he had never had any
notion of adopting the measures he has since done till he was
going over in the packet with Billy Holmes.[23] The Duke wrote
him word that he knew nothing of his case, and the only advice he
could give him was to let the affair be settled as speedily as
possible. When the late King had evidently only a few days to
live, the Duke of Cumberland consulted the Duke as to what he
should do. 'I told him the best thing he could do was to go away
as fast as he could: Go instantly,' I said, 'and take care that
_you don't get pelted_.' The Duke, Aberdeen, and FitzGerald all
condemned his proceedings without reference to their justice or
to his legal and constitutional right as regards Hanover, but on
account of the impression (no matter right or wrong) which they
are calculated to produce in this country, where it ought to be a
paramount interest with him to preserve or acquire as good a
character as he can. They all declared that Lyndhurst was equally
ignorant with themselves of his views and intentions, with which
in fact the Conservatives had no sort of concern. The Duke also
advised him not to take the oaths as Privy Councillor, or those
of a Peer in the House of Lords, because he thought it would do
him an injury in the eyes of his new subjects, that he, a King,
should swear fealty as her subject to the Queen as his Sovereign;
but somebody else (he thought the Duke of Buckingham) overruled
this advice, and he had himself a fancy to take the oaths.
[23] [The first act of Ernest, King of Hanover, on his
accession, was to suspend the Hanoverian Constitution,
and to prosecute the liberal Professors of Göttingen.]
[Page Head: MR. GREGORY'S HOUSE AND ESTATE.]
To-day we[24] went to see the house Mr. Gregory is building, five
miles from here. He is a gentleman of about £12,000 a year, who
has a fancy to build a magnificent house in the Elizabethan
style, and he is now in the middle of his work, all the shell
being finished except one wing. Nothing can be more perfect than
it is, both as to the architecture and the ornaments; but it
stands on the slope of a hill upon a deep clay soil, with no park
around it, very little wood, and scarcely any fine trees. Many
years ago, when he first conceived this design, he began to amass
money and lived for no other object. He travelled into all parts
of Europe collecting objects of curiosity, useful or ornamental,
for his projected palace, and he did not begin to build until he
had accumulated money enough to complete his design. The grandeur
of it is such, and such the tardiness of its progress, that it is
about as much as he will do to live till its completion; and as
he is not married, has no children, and dislikes the heir on whom
his property is entailed, it is the means and not the end to
which he looks for gratification. He says that it is his
amusement, as hunting or shooting or feasting may be the objects
of other people; and as the pursuit leads him into all parts of
the world, and to mix with every variety of nation and character,
besides engendering tastes pregnant with instruction and curious
research, it is not irrational, although he should never inhabit
his house, and may be toiling and saving for the benefit of
persons he cares nothing about. The cottages round Harlaxton are
worth seeing. It has been his fancy to build a whole village in
all sorts of strange fantastic styles. There are Dutch and Swiss
cottages, every variety of old English, and heaps of nondescript
things, which appear only to have been built for variety's sake.
The effect is extremely pretty. Close to the village is an old
manor house, the most perfect specimen I ever saw of such a
building, the habitation of an English country gentleman of
former times, and there were a buff jerkin and a pair of jack
boots hanging up in the hall, which the stout old Cavalier of the
seventeenth century (and one feels sure that the owner of that
house was a Cavalier) had very likely worn at Marston Moor or
Naseby.
[24] The Duke and Duchess of Sutherland, Lady Salisbury,
Lord Exeter, Lord Wilton, Lady Adeliza Manners, Lords
Aberdeen, FitzGerald, J. Manners, and myself.
[Page Head: LIFE AT BELVOIR.]
To-day (the cook told me) nearly four hundred people will dine in
the Castle. We all went into the servants' hall, where one
hundred and forty-five retainers had just done dinner and were
drinking the Duke's health, singing and speechifying with
vociferous applause, shouting, and clapping of hands. I never
knew before that oratory had got down into the servants' hall,
but learned that it is the custom for those to whom 'the gift of
the gab' has been vouchsafed to harangue the others, the palm of
eloquence being universally conceded to Mr. Tapps the head
coachman, a man of great abdominal dignity, and whose Ciceronian
brows are adorned with an ample flaxen wig, which is the peculiar
distinction of the functionaries of the whip. I should like to
bring the surly Radical here who scowls and snarls at 'the
selfish aristocracy who have no sympathies with the people,' and
when he has seen these hundreds feasting in the Castle, and heard
their loud shouts of joy and congratulation, and then visited the
villages around, and listened to the bells chiming all about the
vale, say whether 'the greatest happiness of the greatest number'
would be promoted by the destruction of all the feudality which
belongs inseparably to this scene, and by the substitution of
some abstract political rights for all the beef and ale and music
and dancing with which they are made merry and glad even for so
brief a space. The Duke of Rutland is as selfish a man as any of
his class--that is, he never does what he does not like, and
spends his whole life in a round of such pleasures as suit his
taste, but he is neither a foolish nor a bad man, and partly from
a sense of duty, partly from inclination, he devotes time and
labour to the interest and welfare of the people who live and
labour on his estate. He is a Guardian of a very large Union, and
he not only attends regularly the meetings of Poor Law Guardians
every week or fortnight, and takes an active part in their
proceedings, but he visits those paupers who receive out-of-door
relief, sits and converses with them, invites them to complain to
him if they have anything to complain of, and tells them that he
is not only their friend but their representative at the assembly
of Guardians, and it is his duty to see that they are nourished
and protected. To my mind there is more 'sympathy' in this than
in railing at the rich and rendering the poor discontented,
weaning them from their habitual attachments and respects, and
teaching them that the political quacks and adventurers who
flatter and cajole them are their only real friends.
We had a great ball last night, opened by the Duke of Rutland and
Duchess of Sutherland, who had to sail down at least a hundred
couple of tenants, shopkeepers, valets, and abigails. The Duke of
Newcastle gave the Duke's health at dinner instead of the Duke of
Wellington, who generally discharges that office. He made a
boggling business of it, but apologised in sufficiently handsome
terms for being spokesman instead of the Duke of Wellington. The
Duke of Rutland made a very respectable speech in reply, and it
all went off swimmingly. To-day I went to see the hounds throw
off; but though a hunter was offered to me would not ride him,
because there is no use in risking the hurt or ridicule of a fall
for one day. A man who goes out in this casual way and hurts
himself looks as foolish as an amateur soldier who gets wounded
in a battle in which he is tempted by curiosity to mingle. So I
rode with the mob, saw a great deal of galloping about and the
hounds conveniently running over hills and vales all in sight,
and then came home. They said a thousand people were out, many
attracted by the expectation of the Duke of Wellington's
appearing, but he was rheumatic and could not come out. He is
incessantly employed in writing military statements and
memoranda, having been consulted by the Government, or probably
by Lord Hill on behalf of the Government, both on this Canadian
question, and on the general government of the army, and he will
take as much pains to give useful advice to Melbourne's
Government as if he and Peel were in office. There never was a
man who so entirely sank all party considerations in national
objects, and he has had the glory of living to hear this
universally acknowledged. Brougham said of him, 'That man's first
object is to serve his country, with a sword if necessary, or
with a pick-axe.' He also said of the Duke's Despatches, 'They
will be remembered when I and others (mentioning some of the most
eminent men) will be forgotten.' Aberdeen told the Duke this, and
he replied with the greatest simplicity, 'It is very true: when I
read them I was myself astonished, and I can't think how the
devil I could have written them.' This is very characteristic,
very curious from a man who has not one grain of conceit in his
disposition; but really great men are equally free from undue
vanity or affected modesty, and know very well the value of what
they do.
Last night I sat next to Lord FitzGerald at dinner, who said that
if ever his memoirs appeared (he did not say that any existed)
they would contain many curious things, and among them the proofs
that the events which were supposed to have been the proximate
cause of the Catholic question being carried were not the real
cause, and that the resolution of the Duke of Wellington is
traceable to other sources, which he could not reveal.
Melton, January 7th, 1838 (Lord Wilton's house) {p.046}
I came here to-day from Belvoir. Last night the Duke of
Wellington narrated the battle of Toulouse and other Peninsular
recollections. All the room collected round him, listening with
eager curiosity, but I was playing at whist and lost it all.
FitzGerald said to me that he had a great mind to write upon
Ireland, and make a statement of the conduct of England towards
Ireland for ages past; that he had mentioned his idea to Peel,
who had replied, 'Well, and if you do, I am not the man to object
to your doing so.' This he meant as a trait of his fairness and
candour; but the fact is that it is Peel's interest that all
Irish questions should be settled, and he would rejoice at
anything which tended to accelerate a settlement, and I am no
great believer in his fairness. I was struck with a great
admiration for Peel during his hundred days' struggle, when he
made a gallant fight; but this has very much cooled since that
time.
FitzGerald said one thing in conversation with me of which I
painfully felt the truth, that an addiction to worthless or
useless pursuits did an irretrievable injury to the mental
faculties. It is not only the actual time wasted which might have
been turned to good account; the slender store of knowledge
acquired on all subjects instead of the accumulation which there
might have been; but, more than these, the relaxation of the
mental powers till they become incapable of vigorous exertion or
sustained effort:--
Quoniam medio de fonte leporum
Surgit amari aliquid, quod in ipsis floribus angat:
Aut quum conscius ipse animus se forte remordet
Desidiose agere aetatem, lustrisque perire.
Or, as Dryden nobly translates it--
For in the fountain where these sweets are sought
Some bitter bubbles up, and poisons all the draught.
First guilty conscience does the mirror bring,
Then sharp remorse shoots out the angry sting,
And anxious thoughts, within themselves at strife,
Upbraid the long misspent, luxurious life.
[Page Head: REFLEXIONS.]
I feel myself a miserable example of this species of injury, both
as relates to the defects and omissions of my early education and
the evil of my subsequent habits. From never having studied hard
at any time, no solid foundation of knowledge has ever been laid,
my subsequent reading has been desultory and very nearly useless.
I have attacked various subjects as I have been prompted thereto
by curiosity, or vanity, or shame, but I have never mastered any
of them, and the information I have obtained has been like a
house built without a foundation, which the first gust of wind
would blow down and scatter abroad. Really to master a subject,
we should begin at the beginning, storing the memory with
consecutive facts, reasoning and reflecting upon them as we go
along, till the whole subject is digested, comprehended, made
manageable and producible at will; but then, for this process,
the mind must be disciplined, and there must be a power of
attention undiverted, and of continuous application; but if the
eyes travel over the pages of a book, while the mind is far away
upon Newmarket Heath, and nothing but broken fragments of
attention are bestowed upon the subject before you, whatever it
may be, the result can only be useless imperfect information,
crude and superficial ideas, constant shame, and frequent
disappointment and mortification. Nothing on earth can make up
for the valuable time which I have lost, or enable me to obtain
that sort of knowledge, or give me those habits which are only to
be acquired early in life, when the memory is fresh and vigorous,
and the faculties are both lively and pliant; but that is no
reason why I should abandon the design of improvement in despair,
for it is never too late to mend, and a great deal may yet be
done.
Beaudesert,[25] January 12th, 1838 {p.048}
On Monday went to Sutton; nobody there but Mr. Hodgson, formerly
my tutor at Eton, the friend of Byron, author of a translation of
Juvenal--a clever, not an agreeable man. The house at Sutton is
unfinished, but handsome enough. Came here on Wednesday; a
magnificent place indeed, and very comfortable house. A good many
people, nobody remarkable; very idle life. Read in the newspaper
that Colburn gave Lady Charlotte Bury £1,000 for the wretched
catchpenny trash called 'Memoirs of the Time of George IV.,'
which might well set all the world what Scott calls
'gurnelising,' for nobody could by possibility compile or compose
anything more vile or despicable. Since I came here, a world of
fine thoughts came into my head which I intended to immortalise
in these pages; but they have all evaporated like the baseless
fabric of a vision.
[25] [The seat of the Marquess of Anglesey near Burton-on-
Trent.]
Beaudesert, January 17th, 1838 {p.048}
To Sandon on Monday, and returned here yesterday; go away to-
morrow. It has been a dreadfully idle life all day long, _facendo
niente_, incessant gossip and dawdle, poor, unprofitable talk,
and no rational employment. Brougham was here a little while ago
for a week. He, Lord Wellesley, and Lord Anglesey form a
discontented triumvirate, and are knit together by the common
bond of a sense of ill-usage and of merit neglected. Wellesley
and Anglesey are not Radicals, however, and blame Brougham's new
tendency that way. Anglesey and Wellesley both hate and affect to
despise the Duke of Wellington,[26] in which Brougham does not
join. They are all suffering under mortified vanity and thwarted
ambition, and after playing their several parts, not without
success and applause, they have not the judgement to see and feel
that they forfeit irretrievably the lustre of their former fame
by such a poor and discreditable termination of their career.
Douro is here, _une lune bien pâle auprès de son père_, but far
from a dull man, and not deficient in information.
[26] Lord Wellesley became good friends with his brother
before his death, and Anglesey has long been the Duke's
enthusiastic admirer and most attached and devoted
comrade.--1850.
Badminton, January 23rd, 1838 {p.049}
The debate in the Lords the other night was very interesting and
creditable to the assembly.[27] Brougham delivered a tremendous
philippic of three hours. The Duke of Wellington made a very
noble speech, just such as it befitted him to make at such a
moment, and of course it bitterly mortified and provoked the
Tories, who would have had him make a party question of it, and
thought of nothing but abusing, vilifying, and embarrassing the
Government. This was what Peel showed every disposition to do in
the House of Commons, where he made a poor, paltry half-attack,
which was much more to the taste of his party than the Duke's
temperate and candid declaration.
[27] [Parliament reassembled on the 16th January. This
debate was on the Address to the Queen on the Canadian
Rebellion. A Bill was at once brought in to give
extended powers to Lord Durham, who was sent out as
Governor General. Mr. Roebuck, as the Agent for Canada,
was heard against the Bill at the bar of both Houses.
The Bill passed, but Lord Durham soon exceeded his
powers under it.]
[Page Head: DEATH OF LORD ELDON.]
Lord Eldon died last week full of years and wealth. He had for
some time past quitted the political stage, but his name was
still venerated by the dregs of that party to whom consistent
bigotry and intolerance are dear. Like his more brilliant
brother, Lord Stowell, he was the artificer of his own fortune,
and few men ever ran a course of more unchequered prosperity. As
a politician, he appears to have been consistent throughout, and
to have offered a determined and uniform opposition to every
measure of a Liberal description. He knew of no principles but
those (if they merit the name of principles) of the narrowest
Toryism and of High Church, and as soon as more enlarged and
enlightened views began to obtain ascendency, he quitted (and for
ever) public life. I suppose he was a very great lawyer, but he
was certainly a contemptible statesman. He was a very cheerful,
good-natured old man, loving to talk, and telling anecdotes with
considerable humour and point. I remember very often during the
many tedious hours the Prince Regent kept the Lords of the
Council waiting at Carlton House, that the Chancellor used to
beguile the time with amusing stories of his early professional
life, and anecdotes of celebrated lawyers, which he told
extremely well. He lived long enough to see the overthrow of the
system of which he had been one of the most strenuous supporters,
the triumph of all the principles which he dreaded and abhorred,
and the elevation of all the men to whom, through life, he had
been most adverse, both personally and politically. He little
expected in 1820, when he was presiding at Queen Caroline's
trial, that he should live to see her Attorney-General on the
Woolsack, and her Solicitor-General Chief Justice of England.