Whig and Tory Meetings on Reform--Resolution to carry the Bill--
Holland--Radical Jones--Reform Bill thrown out by the Lords--
Dorsetshire Election--Division among the Tories--Bishop
Phillpotts--Prospects of Reform--Its Dangers--Riots at
Bristol--The Cholera at Sunderland--An Attempt at a Compromise
on Reform--Lord Wharncliffe negotiates with the Ministers--
Negotiation with Mr. Barnes--Proclamation against the Unions--
Barbarism of Sunderland--Disappointment of Lord Wharncliffe--
Bristol and Lyons--Commercial Negotiations with France--Poulett
Thomson--Lord Wharncliffe's Proposal to Lord Grey--Disapproved
by the Duke of Wellington--Moderation of Lord John Russell--The
Appeal of Drax _v._ Grosvenor--The Second Reform Bill--Violence
of Lord Durham--More Body-snatchers--Duke of Richmond and Sir
Henry Parnell--Panshanger--Creation of Peers--Division of
Opinion--Negotiation to avoid the Creation of Peers--Lord
Wharncliffe's Interview with the King--Opposition of the Duke
of Wellington--The Waverers resolve to separate from the Duke.
September 22nd, 1831 {p.197}
[Page Head: PROSPECTS OF THE REFORM BILL.]
The night before last Croker and Macaulay made two fine speeches
on Reform; the former spoke for two hours and a half, and in a
way he had never done before. Macaulay was very brilliant. There
was a meeting at Lord Ebrington's yesterday, called by him,
Lyttelton Lawley, and of members of the House of Commons only,
and they (without coming to any resolution) were all agreed to
prevail on the Government not to resign in the event of the
Reform Bill being rejected in the House of Lords. I have no
doubt, therefore, in spite of what Lord Grey said, and the other
circumstances I have mentioned above, that they will not resign,
and I doubt whether there will be any occasion for it.
There was a dinner at Apsley House yesterday; the Cabinet of
Opposition, to discuss matters before having a general meeting. At
this dinner there were sixteen or seventeen present, all the
leading anti-Reformers of the Peers. They agreed to oppose the
second reading. Dudley, who was there, told me it was tragedy
first and farce afterwards; for Eldon and Kenyon, who had dined
with the Duke of Cumberland, came in after dinner. Chairs were
placed for them on each side of the Duke, and after he had
explained to them what they had been discussing, and what had been
agreed upon, Kenyon made a long speech on the first reading of the
Bill, in which it was soon apparent that he was very drunk, for he
talked exceeding nonsense, wandered from one topic to another, and
repeated the same things over and over again. When he had done
Eldon made a speech on the second reading, and appeared to be
equally drunk, only, Lord Bathurst told me, Kenyon in his
drunkenness talked nonsense, but Eldon sense. Dudley said it was
not that they were as drunk as lords and gentlemen sometimes are,
but they were drunk like porters. Lyndhurst was not there, though
invited. He dined at Holland House. It is pretty clear, however,
that he will vote for the second reading, for his wife is
determined he shall. I saw her yesterday, and she is full of pique
and resentment against the Opposition and the Duke, half real and
half pretended, and chatters away about Lyndhurst's not being
their cat's paw, and that if they choose to abandon him, they must
not expect him to sacrifice himself for them. The pretexts she
takes are, that they would not go to the House of Lords on Tuesday
and support him against Brougham on the Bankruptcy Bill, and that
the Duke of Wellington wrote to her and _desired_ her to influence
her husband in the matter of Reform. The first is a joke, the
second there might be a little in, for vanity is always uppermost,
but they have both some motive of interest, which they will pursue
in whatever way they best can. The excuse they make is that they
want to conceal their strength from the Government, and
accordingly the Duke of Wellington has not yet entered any of his
proxies. The truth is that I am by no means sure _now_ that it is
safe or prudent to oppose the second reading; and though I think
it very doubtful if any practicable alteration will be made in
Committee, it will be better to take that chance, and the chance
of an accommodation and compromise between the two parties and the
two Houses, than to attack it in front. It is clear that
Government are resolved to carry the Bill, and equally clear that
no means they can adopt would be unpopular. They are averse to
making more Peers if they can help it, and would rather go quietly
on, without any fresh changes, and I believe they are conscientiously
persuaded that this Bill is the least democratical Bill it is
possible to get the country to accept, and that if offered in time
this one will be accepted. I had heard before that the country is
not enamoured of this Bill, but I fear that it is true that they
are only indifferent to the Conservative clauses of it (if I may
so term them), and for that reason it may be doubtful whether
there would not be such a clamour raised in the event of the
rejection of this Bill as would compel the Ministers to make a new
one, more objectionable than the old. If its passing clearly
appears to be inevitable, why, the sooner it is done the better,
for at least one immense object will be gained in putting an end
to agitation, and restoring the country to good-humour, and it is
desirable that the House of Lords should stand as well with the
people as it can. It is better, as Burke says, 'to do early, and
from foresight, that which we may be obliged to do from necessity
at last.' I am not more delighted with Reform than I have ever
been, but it is the part of prudence to take into consideration
the present and the future, and not to harp upon the past. It
matters not how the country has been worked up to its present
state, if a calm observation convinces us that the spirit that has
been raised cannot be allayed, and that is very clear to me.
September 24th, 1831 {p.199}
Peel closed the debate on Thursday night with a very fine speech,
the best (one of his opponents told me, and it is no use asking
the opinions of friends if a candid opponent is to be found) he
had ever made, not only on that subject, but on any other; he cut
Macaulay to ribands. Macaulay is very brilliant, but his speeches
are harangues and never replies; whereas Peel's long experience
and real talent for debate give him a great advantage in the
power of reply, which he very eminently possesses. Macaulay,
however, will probably be a very distinguished man. These debates
have elicited a vast deal of talent, and have served as
touchstones to try real merit and power. As a proof of what
practice and a pretty good understanding can do, there is
Althorp, who now appears to be an excellent leader, and contrives
to speak decently upon all subjects, quite as much as a leader
need do; for I have always thought that it should not be his
business to furnish rhetoric and flowers of eloquence, but
good-humour, judgment, firmness, discretion, business-like
talents, and gentlemanlike virtues.
Dined at Richmond on Friday with the Lyndhursts; the _mari_ talks
against the Bill, the women for it. They are like the old
divisions of families in the Civil Wars.
My brother-in-law and sister are just returned from a tour of
three weeks in Holland; curious spectacle, considering the state
of the rest of Europe, nothing but loyalty and enthusiasm,
adoration of the Orange family; 2,000,000 of people, and an army
of 110,000 men; everybody satisfied with the Government, and no
desire for Reform.
Paris, on the point of exploding, is again tranquil, but nobody
can tell for how long. They bet two to one here that the Reform
Bill is thrown out on the second reading; and what then? The
meeting at Ebrington's was flat, nothing agreed on. Hume wanted
to pass some violent resolution, but was overruled. Milton made a
foolish speech, with prospective menaces and present nothingness
in it, and they separated without having done good or harm.
Newmarket, October 1st, 1831 {p.200}
[Page Head: PROSPECTS OF THE REFORM BILL.]
Came here last night, to my great joy, to get holidays, and leave
Reform and cholera and politics for racing and its amusements.
Just before I came away I met Lord Wharncliffe, and asked him
about his interview with Radical Jones. This blackguard considers
himself a sort of chief of a faction, and one of the heads of the
_sans-culottins_ of the present day. He wrote to Lord Wharncliffe
and said he wished to confer with him, that if he would grant him
an interview he might bring any person he pleased to witness what
passed between them. Lord Wharncliffe replied that he would call
on him, and should be satisfied to have no witness. Accordingly
he did so, when the other in very civil terms told him that he
wished to try and impress upon his mind (as he was one of the
heads of anti-Reform in the House of Lords) how dangerous it
would be to reject this Bill, that all sorts of excesses would
follow its rejection, that their persons and properties would be
perilled, and resistance would be unavailing, for that they (the
Reformers) were resolved to carry their point. Lord Wharncliffe
asked whether if this was conceded they would be satisfied. Jones
replied, 'Certainly not;' that they must go a great deal further,
that an hereditary peerage was not to be defended on any
reasonable theory. Still, he was not for doing away with it, that
he wished the changes that were inevitable to take place quietly,
and without violence or confusion. After some more discourse in
this strain they separated, but very civilly, and without any
intemperance of expression on the part of the Reformer.
On Monday the battle begins in the House of Lords, and up to this
time nobody knows how it will go, each party being confident, but
opinion generally in favour of the Bill being thrown out. There
is nothing more curious in this question than the fact that it is
almost impossible to find anybody who is satisfied with the part
he himself takes upon it, and that it is generally looked upon as
a choice of evils, in which the only thing to do is to choose the
least. The Reformers say, You had better pass the Bill or you
will have a worse. The moderate anti-Reformers would be glad to
suffer the second reading to pass and alter it in Committee, but
they do not dare do so, because the sulky, stupid, obstinate High
Tories declare that they will throw the whole thing up, and not
attempt to alter the Bill if it passes the second reading. Every
man seems tossed about by opposite considerations and the
necessity of accommodating his own conduct to the caprices,
passions, and follies of others.
Riddlesworth, October 10th, 1831 {p.201}
At Newmarket all last week; all the Peers absent; here since
Friday. Yesterday morning the newspapers (all in black[1])
announced the defeat of the Reform Bill by a majority of
forty-one, at seven o'clock on Saturday morning, after five
nights' debating. By all accounts the debate was a magnificent
display, and incomparably superior to that in the House of
Commons, but the reports convey no idea of it. The great speakers
on either side were:--Lords Grey, Lansdowne, Goderich, Plunket,
and the Chancellor, for the Bill; against it, Lords Wharncliffe
(who moved the amendment), Harrowby, Carnarvon, Dudley, Wynford,
and Lyndhurst. The Duke of Wellington's speech was exceedingly
bad; he is in fact, and has proved it in repeated instances,
unequal to argue a great constitutional question. He has neither
the command of language, the power of reasoning, nor the
knowledge requisite for such an effort. Lord Harrowby's speech
was amazingly fine, and delivered with great effect; and the last
night the Chancellor is said to have surpassed all his former
exploits, Lyndhurst to have been nearly as good, and Lord Grey
very great in reply. There was no excitement in London the
following day, and nothing particular happened but the Chancellor
being drawn from Downing Street to Berkeley Square in his
carriage by a very poor mob. The majority was much greater than
anybody expected, and it is to be hoped may be productive of good
by showing the necessity of a compromise; for no Minister can
make sixty Peers, which Lord Grey must do to carry this Bill; it
would be to create another House of Lords. Nobody knows what the
Ministers would do, but it was thought they would not resign. A
meeting of members of the House of Commons was held under the
auspices of Ebrington to agree upon a resolution of confidence in
the Government this day. The majority and the magnificent display
of eloquence and ability in the House of Lords must exalt the
character and dignity of that House, and I hope increase its
efficacy for good purposes and for resistance to this Bill. It
may be hoped, too, that the apathy of the capital may have some
effect in the country, though the unions, which are so well
disciplined and under the control of their orators, will make a
stir. On the whole I rejoice at this result, though I had taken
fright before, and thought it better the Bill should be read a
second time than be thrown out by a very small majority.
[1] [Not all of them; neither the 'Times' nor the 'Morning
Herald.'.]
[Page Head: DORSETSHIRE ELECTION.]
While the debates have been going on there have been two
elections, one of the Lord Mayor in the City, which the Reformers
have carried after a sharp contest, and the contest for
Dorsetshire between Ponsonby and Ashley, which is not yet over.
Ponsonby had a week's start of his opponent, notwithstanding
which it is so severe that they have been for some days within
ten or fifteen of each other, and (what is remarkable) the
anti-Reformer is the popular candidate, and has got all the mob
with him. This certainly is indicative of some _change_, though
not of a _reaction_, in public opinion. There is no longer the
same vehemence of desire for this Bill, and I doubt whether all
the efforts of the press will be able to stimulate the people
again to the same pitch of excitement.
Buckenham, October 11th, 1831 {p.203}
Came here yesterday; nobody of note, not lively, letters every
day with an account of what is passing. The Radical press is
moving heaven and earth to produce excitement, but without much
effect. There was something of a mob which marched about the
parks, but no mischief done. Londonderry and some others were
hooted near the House of Lords. Never was a party so crestfallen
as I hear they are; they had not a notion of such a division.
There seems to be a very general desire to bring about a fair
compromise, and to have a Bill introduced next session which may
be so framed as to secure the concurrence of the majority of both
Houses. The finest speeches by all accounts were Harrowby's,
Lyndhurst's, and Grey's reply; but Henry de Ros, who is a very
good judge, writes me word that Lyndhurst's was the most to his
taste.
October 12th, 1831 {p.203}
The Reformers appear to have rallied their spirits. Lord Grey went
to Windsor, was graciously received by the King, and obtained the
dismissal of Lord Howe, which will serve to show the King's entire
good-will to his present Ministers. Ebrington's resolution of
confidence was carried by a great majority in the House of Commons
after some violent speeches from Macaulay, Sheil, and O'Connell,
and very moderate ones and in a low tone on the other side.
Macaulay's speech was as usual very eloquent, but as inflammatory
as possible. Such men as these three can care nothing into what
state of confusion the country is thrown, for all they want is a
market to which they may bring their talents;[2] but how the
Miltons, Tavistocks, Althorps, and all who have a great stake in
the country can run the same course is more than I can conceive or
comprehend. Party is indeed, as Swift says, 'the madness of many,'
when carried to its present pitch. In the meantime the Conservative
party are as usual committing blunders, which will be fatal to
them. Lord Harrowby was to have moved yesterday or the day before,
in the House of Lords, a resolution pledging the House to take
into consideration early in the next session the acknowledged
defects in the representation, with a view to make such
ameliorations in it as might be consistent with the Constitution,
or something to this effect. This has not been done because the
Duke of Wellington objects. He will not concur because he thinks
the proposition should come from Government; as if this was a time
to stand upon such punctilios, and that it was not of paramount
importance to show the country that the Peers are not obstinately
bent upon opposing all Reform. I had hoped that he had profited by
experience, and that at least his past errors in politics might
have taught him a little modesty, and that he would not have
thwarted measures which were proposed by the wisest and most
disinterested of his own party. I can conceive no greater
misfortune at this moment than such a disunion of that party, and
to have its deliberations ruled by the obstinacy and prejudices of
the Duke. He is a great man in little things, but a little man in
great matters--I mean in civil affairs; in those mighty questions
which embrace enormous and various interests and considerations,
and to comprehend which great knowledge of human nature, great
sagacity, coolness, and impartiality are required, he is not fit
to govern and direct. His mind has not been sufficiently
disciplined, nor saturated with knowledge and matured by
reflection and communication with other minds, to enable him to be
a safe and efficient leader in such times as these.
[2] This was very unjust to Macaulay, and not true as to
Sheil; to O'Connell alone applicable.
[In reading over these remarks upon the Duke of Wellington, and
comparing them with the opinions I now entertain of his present
conduct, and of the nature and quality of his mind, I am
compelled to ask myself whether I did not then do him injustice.
On the whole I think not. He is not, nor ever was, a little man
in anything, great or small; but I am satisfied that he has made
great political blunders, though with the best and most patriotic
intentions, and that his conduct throughout the Reform contest
was one of the greatest and most unfortunate of them.--July
1838.]
October 14th, 1831 {p.205}
[Page Head: LORD GREY AND BISHOP PHILLPOTTS.]
The town continues quite quiet; the country nearly so. The press
strain every nerve to produce excitement, and the 'Times' has
begun an assault on the bishops, whom it has marked out for
vengeance and defamation for having voted against the Bill.
Althorp and Lord John Russell have written grateful letters to
Attwood as Chairman of the Birmingham Union, thus indirectly
acknowledging that puissant body. There was a desperate strife in
the House of Lords between Phillpotts and Lord Grey, in which the
former got a most tremendous dressing. Times must be mightily
changed when my sympathies go with this bishop, and even now,
though full of disgust with the other faction, I have a pleasure
in seeing him trounced. The shade of Canning may rejoice at the
sight of Grey smiting Phillpotts. Even on such a question
Phillpotts was essentially in the right; but he lost his temper,
floundered, and got punished. It was most indecent and disgusting
to hear Brougham from the Woolsack, in a strain of the bitterest
irony and sarcasm, but so broad as to be without the semblance of
disguise, attack the bench of bishops. I am of opinion that it
would have been far better never to have let them back into the
House of Lords, but now that they are there I would not thrust
them out, especially at this moment. Lord Grey in this debate
gave no handle certainly, for he interposed in their favour, and
rebuked Lord Suffield, who attacked them first, and told him he
was out of order, and then Phillpotts very foolishly attacked
him.
October 15th, 1831 {p.206}
A furious attack in the House of Commons upon Althorp's and John
Russell's letters to Attwood by Hardinge and Vyvyan. Peel not
there, having hopped off to Staffordshire, to the great disgust
of his party, whom he never scruples to leave in the lurch. They
made wretched excuses for these letters, and could only have
recourse to the pretence of indignation at being thought capable
of fomenting disorders, which is all very well; but they do
foment discord and discontent by every means in their power. With
a yelling majority in the House, and a desperate press out of it,
they go on in their reckless course without fear or shame. Lord
Harrowby made a speech in the House of Lords, and declared his
conviction that the time was come for effecting a Reform, and
that he would support one to a certain extent, which he
specified. In the House he was coolly received, and the 'Times'
hardly deigned to notice what he said. Parliament is to be up on
Thursday next, and will probably not meet till January, when of
course the first thing done will be to bring in the Bill again.
What, then, is gained? For as Ministers take every opportunity of
declaring that they will accept nothing less efficient (as they
call it) than the present Bill, no compromise can be looked for.
Lord Harrowby is the only man who has said what he will do, and
probably he goes further than the bulk of his party would approve
of; and yet he is far behind the Ministerial plan. So that there
seems little prospect of getting off for less than the old Bill,
for the Opposition will hardly venture to stop the next _in
limine_ as they did this. I do not see why they should hope to
amend the next Bill in Committee any more than the last, and the
division which they dreaded the other day is not less likely, and
would not be less fatal upon another occasion. If, then, it is to
pass at last, it comes back to what I thought before, that it
might as well have passed at first as at last, and the excitement
consequent on its rejection have been spared, as well as the
odium which has accrued to the Peers, which will not be forgotten
or laid aside.
The Dorsetshire election promises to end in favour of Ashley, and
there will be a contest for Cambridgeshire, which may also end in
favour of the anti-Reform candidate. These victories I really
believe to be unfortunate, for they are taken (I am arguing as if
they were won, though, with regard to the first, it is the same
thing by contrast with the last election) by the Tories and
anti-Reform champions as undoubted proofs of the reaction of
public opinion, and they are thereby encouraged to persevere in
opposition under the false notion that this supposed reaction
will every day gain ground. I wish it were so with all my soul,
but believe it is no such thing, and that although there may be
fewer friends to _the Bill_ than there were, particularly among
the agriculturists, Reform is not a whit less popular with the
mass of the people in the manufacturing districts, throughout the
unions, and generally amongst all classes and in all parts of the
country. When I see men, and those in very great numbers, of the
highest birth, of immense fortunes, of undoubted integrity and
acknowledged talents, zealously and conscientiously supporting
this measure, I own I am lost in astonishment, and even doubt;
for I can't help asking myself whether it is possible that such
men would be the advocates of measures fraught with all the peril
we ascribe to these, whether we are not in reality mistaken, and
labouring under groundless alarm generated by habitual prejudices
and erroneous calculations. But often as this doubt comes across
my mind, it is always dispelled by a reference to and comparison
of the arguments on both sides, and by the lessons which all that
I have ever read and all the conclusions I have been able to draw
from the study of history have impressed on my mind. I believe
these measures full of danger, but that the manner in which they
have been introduced, discussed, defended, and supported is more
dangerous still. The total unsettlement of men's minds, the
bringing into contempt all the institutions which have been
hitherto venerated, the aggrandisement of the power of the
people, the embodying and recognition of popular authority, the
use and abuse of the King's name, the truckling to the press, are
things so subversive of government, so prejudicial to order and
tranquillity, so encouraging to sedition and disaffection, that I
do not see the possibility of the country settling down into that
calm and undisturbed state in which it was before this question
was mooted, and without which there can be no happiness or
security to the community. A thousand mushroom orators and
politicians have sprung up all over the country, each big with
his own ephemeral importance, and every one of whom fancies
himself fit to govern the nation. Amongst them are some men of
active and powerful minds, and nothing is less probable than that
these spirits of mischief and misrule will be content to subside
into their original nothingness, and retire after the victory has
been gained into the obscurity from which they emerged.
Newmarket, October 23rd, 1831 {p.208}
Nothing but racing all this week; Parliament has been prorogued
and all is quiet. The world seems tired, and requires rest. How
soon it will all begin again God knows, but it will not be
suffered to sleep long.
London, November 11th, 1831 {p.208}
[Page Head: RIOTS AT BRISTOL.]
Nothing written for a long time; I went after the second October
meeting to Euston, and from thence to Horsham, returned to
Newmarket, was going to Felbrigg, but came to town on Tuesday
last (the 8th) on account of the cholera, which has broken out at
Sunderland. The country was beginning to slumber after the
fatigues of Reform, when it was rattled up by the business of
Bristol,[3] which for brutal ferocity and wanton, unprovoked
violence may vie with some of the worst scenes of the French
Revolution, and may act as a damper to our national pride. The
spirit which produced these atrocities was generated by Reform,
but no pretext was afforded for their actual commission; it was a
premature outbreaking of the thirst for plunder, and longing
after havoc and destruction, which is the essence of Reform in
the mind of the mob. The details are ample, and to be met with
everywhere; nothing could exceed the ferocity of the populace,
the imbecility of the magistracy, or the good conduct of the
troops. More punishment was inflicted by them than has been
generally known, and some hundreds were killed or severely
wounded by the sabre. One body of dragoons pursued a rabble of
colliers into the country, and covered the fields and roads with
the bodies of wounded wretches, making a severe example of them.
In London there would probably have been a great uproar and riot,
but fortunately Melbourne, who was frightened to death at the
Bristol affair, gave Lord Hill and Fitzroy Somerset _carte
blanche_, and they made such a provision of military force in
addition to the civil power that the malcontents were paralysed.
The Bristol business has done some good, inasmuch as it has
opened people's eyes (at least so it is said), but if we are to
go on as we do with a mob-ridden Government and a foolish King,
who renders himself subservient to all the wickedness and folly
of his Ministers, where is the advantage of having people's eyes
open, when seeing they will not perceive, and hearing they will
not understand? Nothing was wanting to complete our situation but
the addition of physical evil to our moral plague, and that is
come in the shape of the cholera, which broke out at Sunderland a
few days ago. To meet the exigency Government has formed another
Board of Health, but without dissolving the first, though the
second is intended to swallow up the first and leave it a mere
nullity. Lord Lansdowne, who is President of the Council, an
office which for once promises not to be a sinecure, has taken
the opportunity to go to Bowood, and having come up (sent for
express) on account of the cholera the day it was officially
declared really to be that disease, he has trotted back to his
house in the country.
[3] [Riots broke out with great violence at Bristol on the
29th of October, the pretext being the entry of Sir
Charles Wetherell into that city (of which he was
Recorder), who was notorious for his violent opposition
to the Reform Bill. Much property was destroyed, and
many lives lost.]
November 14th, 1831 {p.210}
For the last two or three days the reports from Sunderland about
the cholera have been of a doubtful character. The disease makes
so little progress that the doctors begin again to doubt whether
it is the Indian cholera, and the merchants, shipowners, and
inhabitants, who suffer from the restraints imposed upon an
infected place, are loudly complaining of the measures which have
been adopted, and strenuously insisting that their town is in a
more healthy state than usual, and that the disease is no more
than what it always is visited with every year at this season. In
the meantime all preparations are going on in London, just as if
the disorder was actually on its way to the metropolis. We have a
Board at the Council Office, between which and the Board at the
College some civilities have passed, and the latter is now ready
to yield up its functions to the former, which, however, will not
be regularly constituted without much difficulty and many
jealousies, all owing to official carelessness and mismanagement.
The Board has been diligently employed in drawing up suggestions
and instructions to local boards and parochial authorities, and
great activity has prevailed here in establishing committees for
the purpose of visiting the different districts of the metropolis,
and making such arrangements as may be necessary in the event of
sickness breaking out. There is no lack of money or labour for
this end, and one great good will be accomplished let what will
happen, for much of the filth and misery of the town will be
brought to light, and the condition of the poorer and more
wretched of the inhabitants can hardly fail to be ameliorated. The
reports from Sunderland exhibit a state of human misery, and
necessarily of moral degradation, such as I hardly ever heard of,
and it is no wonder, when a great part of the community is plunged
into such a condition (and we may fairly suppose that there is a
gradually mounting scale, with every degree of wretchedness up to
the wealth and splendour which glitter on the surface of society),
that there should be so many who are ripe for any desperate scheme
of revolution. At Sunderland they say there are houses with 150
inmates, who are huddled five and six in a bed. They are in the
lowest state of poverty. The sick in these receptacles are
attended by an apothecary's boy, who brings them (or I suppose
tosses them) medicines without distinction or enquiry.
I saw Lord Wharncliffe last night, just returned from Yorkshire;
he gives a bad account of the state of the public mind; he thinks
that there is a strong revolutionary spirit abroad; told me that
the Duke of Wellington had written to the King a memorial upon
the danger of the associations that were on foot.
Roehampton, November 19th, 1831 {p.211}
[Page Head: OVERTURES FOR A COMPROMISE.]
On Tuesday last I went with the Duke of Richmond to pass a day at
Shirley Lodge, a house that has been lent him by Mr. Maberly, and
there we had a great deal of conversation about Reform and general
politics, in the course of which I was struck by his apparent
candour and moderation, and when I told him that nothing would do
but a compromise between the parties he acceded to that opinion,
and said that he should like to go to Lord Wharncliffe, and talk
the matter over with him. This was on Wednesday. Yesterday morning
I called on Lord Wharncliffe, and told him what Richmond had said.
He was sitting before a heap of papers, and when I told him this
he laughed and said that Richmond was behindhand, that matters had
gone a great deal further than this, and then proceeded to give me
the following account of what had passed. A short time ago
Palmerston spoke to his son, John Wortley, and expressed a desire
that some compromise could be effected between the Government and
the Opposition leaders, which John imparted to Lord Harrowby and
his father. The overture was so well received by them that Stanley
went to Sandon, Lord Harrowby's place in Staffordshire, in his way
to Ireland, with Lord Grey's consent, to talk it over with Lord
Sandon. After this Lord Wharncliffe went to Sandon, and the two
fathers and two sons discussed the matter, and came to a sort of
general resolution as to the basis on which they would treat,
which they drew up, and which Wharncliffe read to me. It was
moderate, temperate, embraced ample concessions, and asserted the
necessity of each party refraining from demanding of the other
what either was so pledged to as to be unable to concede without
dishonour. On Wharncliffe's return to town he again saw
Palmerston, and communicated to him Harrowby's concurrence in an
equitable adjustment of the Reform question, and then suggested
that if Government really desired this, it would be better that he
(Wharncliffe) should see Lord Grey himself on the subject.
Palmerston told Lord Grey, who assented, and gave Wharncliffe a
rendezvous at East Sheen on Wednesday last. There they had a long
conversation, which by his account was conducted in a very fair
and amicable spirit on both sides, and they seem to have come to a
good understanding as to the principle on which they should treat.
On parting, Grey shook hands with him twice, and told him he had
not felt so much relieved for a long time. The next day Lord Grey
made a minute of their conversation, which he submitted to the
Cabinet; they approved of it, and he sent it to Wharncliffe to
peruse, who returned it to Lord Grey. In this state the matter
stood yesterday morning, apparently with every prospect of being
arranged. Wharncliffe had already spoken to Dudley, Lyndhurst, and
De Ros, the only Peers of his party he had seen, and to the
Archbishop of Canterbury, who were all delighted at what had
passed. He had written to the Duke of Wellington and Peel, and he
is busying himself in consulting and communicating with all the
Peers and influential Commoners of the party whom he can find in
town. The terms are not settled, but the general basis agreed upon
seems to be this: the concession of Schedule A, of representatives
to the great towns, and a great extension of the county
representation on one side; the abandonment, or nearly so, of
Schedule B, such an arrangement with regard to the L10 qualification
as shall have the practical effect of a higher rate, and an
understanding that the manufacturing interest is not to have a
preponderating influence in the county representation; a great
deal to be left open to discussion, especially on all the
subordinate points.
[Page Head: NEGOTIATION WITH THE WAVERERS]
Such is the history of this curious transaction, which affords a
triumphant justification of the course which the Opposition
adopted; indeed, Palmerston admitted to Wharncliffe that their
tactics had been entirely judicious. It is likewise a great homage
rendered to character, for Wharncliffe has neither wealth,
influence, nor superior abilities, nor even popularity with his
own party. He is a spirited, sensible, zealous, honourable,
consistent country gentleman; their knowledge of his moderation
and integrity induced Ministers to commit themselves to him, and
he will thus be in all probability enabled to render an essential
service to his country, and be a principal instrument in the
settlement of a question the continued agitation of which would
have been perilous in the extreme. Besides the prospect of a less
objectionable Bill, an immense object is gained in the complete
separation of the Ministry from the subversive party, for their
old allies the Radicals will never forgive them for this
compromise with the anti-Reformers, and they have now no
alternative but to unite with those who call themselves the
Conservative party against the rebels, republicans, associators,
and all the disaffected in the country. After all their
declarations and their unbending insolence, to have brought down
their pride to these terms, and to the humiliation of making
overtures to a party whose voice was only the other day designated
by John Russell as 'the whisper of a faction,' shows plainly how
deeply alarmed they are at the general state of the country, and
how the conflagration of Bristol has suddenly illuminated their
minds. That incident, the language of the associations, the
domiciliary visits to Lord Grey at midnight of Place and his
rabble, and the licentiousness of the press, have opened their
eyes, and convinced them that if existing institutions are to be
preserved at all there is no time to be lost in making such an
arrangement as may enable all who have anything to lose to
coalesce for their mutual safety and protection. Whatever may be
the amount of their concessions, the Radicals will never pardon
Lord Grey for negotiating with the Tories at all, and nothing will
prevent his being henceforward the object of their suspicion and
aversion, and marked out for their vengeance. By what process
Althorp and John Russell were induced to concur, and how they are
to set about swallowing their own words, I do not guess.
As a proof of the disposition which exists, and the good
understanding between Wharncliffe and the Government, he told me
that some time ago Ward and Palmer went to him, and said that in
the City the majority of men of weight and property were
favourable to Reform, but not to the late Bill, and that they
were desirous of having a declaration drawn up for signature,
expressive of their adherence to Reform, but of their hope that
the next measure might be such as would give satisfaction to all
parties. Wharncliffe drew this up (there was likewise an
acknowledgment of the right of the House of Lords to exercise
their privileges as they had done) and gave it to them. It is
gone to be signed, having been previously submitted to Grey and
Althorp, who approved of it.
November 21st, 1831 {p.214}
Came to town from Roehampton yesterday morning, saw Henry de Ros,
who had seen Barnes[4] the evening before, and opened to him the
pending negotiation. His rage and fury exceeded all bounds. He
swore Brougham and Grey (particularly the former) were the
greatest of villains. After a long discussion he agreed to try and
persuade his colleagues to adopt a moderate tone, and not to begin
at once to _jeter feu et flamme_. Henry's object was to persuade
him, if possible, that the interest of the paper will be in the
long run better consulted by leaning towards the side of order and
quiet than by continuing to exasperate and inflame. He seemed to a
certain degree moved by this argument, though he is evidently a
desperate Radical. Henry went to Melbourne afterwards, who is most
anxious for the happy consummation of this affair, but expressed
some alarm lest they should be unable to agree upon the details.
There is an article in the 'Times' this morning of half-menacing
import, sulkily and gloomily written, but not ferocious, and
leaving it open to them to take what line they think fit. In the
afternoon I met Melbourne, who told me they were going to put
forth a proclamation against 'Attwood and the Birmingham fellows,'
which was grateful to my ears.
[4] [Then editor of the 'Times' newspaper.]
November 22nd, 1831 {p.215}
[Page Head: PROCLAMATION AGAINST THE UNIONS]
The King came to town yesterday for a Council, at which the
meeting of Parliament on the 6th of December was settled. The
proclamation against the unions (which was not ready, and the
King signed a blank) and some orders about cholera were
despatched. Lord Grey told me that the union had already
determined to dissolve itself.
My satisfaction was yesterday considerably damped by what I heard
of the pending negotiation concerning Reform. Agar Ellis at
Roehampton talked with great doubt of its being successful, which
I attributed to his ignorance of what had passed, but I fear it is
from his knowledge that the Government mean, in fact, to give up
nothing of importance. George Bentinck came to me in the morning,
and told me he had discovered from the Duke of Richmond that the
concessions were not only to be all one way, but that the altered
Bill would be, in fact, more objectionable than the last, inasmuch
as it is more democratic in its tendency, so much so that Richmond
is exceedingly dissatisfied himself, for he has always been the
advocate of the aristocratic interest in the Cabinet, and has
battled to make the Bill less adverse to it. Now he says he can
contend no longer, for he is met by the unanswerable argument that
their opponents are ready to concede more. I own I was alarmed,
and my mind misgave me when I heard of the extreme satisfaction of
Althorp and Co.; and I always dreaded that Wharncliffe, however
honest and well-meaning, had not calibre enough to conduct such a
negotiation, and might be misled by his vanity. He bustles about
the town, chatting away to all the people he meets, and I fear is
both ignorant himself of what he is about and involuntarily
deceiving others too; he is in a fool's paradise. I spoke to Henry
de Ros about this last night, who seemed by no means aware of it,
and it is difficult to believe that Lyndhurst and Harrowby should
not be perfectly alive to all the consequences of Wharncliffe's
proceedings, or that they would sanction them if they had really
the tendency that George Bentinck gives me to understand.
The cholera, which is going on (but without greatly extending
itself) at Sunderland, has excited an unusual alarm, but it is
now beginning to subside. People seeing that it does not appear
elsewhere take courage, but the preparations are not relaxed, and
they are constantly enforced by the Central Board of Health (as
it is called), which is established at the Council Office, and
labours very assiduously in the cause. Undoubtedly a great deal
of good will be done in the way of purification. As to the
disorder, if it had not the name of cholera nobody would be
alarmed, for many an epidemic has prevailed at different times
far more fatal than this. On Friday last we despatched Dr. Barry
down to Sunderland with very ample powers, and to procure
information, which it is very difficult to get. Nothing can be
more disgraceful than the state of that town, exhibiting a
lamentable proof of the practical inutility of that diffusion of
knowledge and education which we boast of, and which we fancy
renders us so morally and intellectually superior to the rest of
the world. When Dr. Russell was in Russia, he was disgusted with
the violence and prejudices he found there on the part of both
medical men and the people, and he says he finds just as much
here. The conduct of the people of Sunderland on this occasion is
more suitable to the barbarism of the interior of Africa than to
a town in a civilised country. The medical men and the higher
classes are split into parties, quarrelling about the nature of
the disease, and perverting and concealing facts which militate
against their respective theories. The people are taught to
believe that there is really no cholera at all, and that those
who say so intend to plunder and murder them. The consequence is
prodigious irritation and excitement, an invincible repugnance on
the part of the lower orders to avail themselves of any of the
preparations which are made for curing them, and a proneness to
believe any reports, however monstrous and exaggerated. In a very
curious letter which was received yesterday from Dr. Daur, he
says (after complaining of the medical men, who would send him no
returns of the cases of sickness) it was believed that bodies had
been dissected before the life was out of them, and one woman,
was said to have been cut up while she was begging to be spared.
The consequence of this is that we have put forward a strong
order to compel medical men to give information, and another for
the compulsory removal of nuisances. It is, however, rather
amusing that everybody who has got in their vicinity anything
disagreeable, or that they would like to be rid of, thinks that
now is their time, and the table of the Board of Health is
covered with applications of this nature, from every variety of
person and of place.
November 23rd, 1831 {p.217}
Dr. Barry's first letter from Sunderland came yesterday, in which
he declares the identity of the disease with the cholera he had
seen in Russia. He describes some cases he had visited,
exhibiting scenes of misery and poverty far exceeding what one
could have believed it possible to find in this country; but we
who float on the surface of society know but little of the
privations and sufferings which pervade the mass. I wrote to the
Bishop of Durham, to the chief magistrates, and sent down L200 to
Colonel Creagh (which Althorp immediately advanced) to relieve
the immediate and pressing cases of distress.
[Page Head: DISAPPOINTMENT.]
Saw George Bentinck in the afternoon, who confirmed my
apprehension that Wharncliffe had been cajoled into a negotiation
which Government intended should end by getting all they want.
Richmond, Grey, and Palmerston were in a minority of three in the
Cabinet for putting off the meeting of Parliament. One of the
most Radical of the Cabinet is Goderich. Such a thing it is to be
of feeble intellect and character, and yet he is a smart speaker,
and an agreeable man. The moderate party are Richmond, who cannot
have much weight, Stanley, who is in Ireland, Lansdowne, who is
always 'gone to Bowood,' Palmerston, and Melbourne. Yet I am led
to think that if Wharncliffe had insisted on better conditions,
and held out, he would have got them, and that the Cabinet were
really disposed to make all the concessions they could without
compromising themselves. The meeting in the City yesterday was a
total failure. Henry Drummond, who is mad, but very clever, and a
Reformer, though for saving the rotten boroughs, spoke against
the declaration, some others followed him, and after a couple of
hours wasted in vain endeavours to procure unanimity the meeting
broke up, and nothing was done. I saw Wharncliffe last night, who
was exceedingly disappointed.
November 28th, 1831 {p.218}
The negotiation with Wharncliffe goes on languidly; he wrote to
Lord Grey the other day, and suggested some heads as the basis of
an accommodation, consisting of some extension of Schedule B,
excluding town voters from county voting, and one or two other
points; to which Lord Grey replied that some of the things he
mentioned might be feasible, but that there would be great
difficulty about others, that he feared nothing might come of
their communications, as he would not hear of any other Peers who
were disposed to go along with him. It is not a bad thing that
they should each be impressed with a salutary apprehension, the
one that he will have the same difficulties to encounter in the
House of Lords, the other that nobody will follow him, for it
will render an arrangement more probable than if they both
thought they had only to agree together, and that the rest must
follow as a matter of course. The Duke of Wellington has written
again to Wharncliffe, declining altogether to be a party to any
negotiation. De Ros told me that he never saw such a letter as
Peel's--so stiff, dry, and reserved, just like the man in whom
great talents are so counteracted, and almost made mischievous,
by the effects of his cold, selfish, calculating character. In
the meantime the state of the country is certainly better, the
proclamation putting down the unions has been generally obeyed,
the press has suspended its fury, and the approach of the meeting
of Parliament seems to have calmed the country to a great degree.
The event most to be desired is that the Government may carry
their Bill quietly through the House of Commons, amendments be
carried in the Committee of the House of Lords, and upon these
there may be a compromise, though after all it is impossible not
to have a secret misgiving that the alterations which appear
desirable may prove to be mischievous, for it is the great evil
of the measure that being certainly new no human being can guess
how it will work, or how its different parts will act upon one
another, and what result they will produce.
There seems to be a constant sort of electrical reciprocity of
effort between us and France just now. The three days produced
much of our political excitement, and our Bristol business has
been acted with great similarity of circumstance at Lyons, and is
still going on. Talleyrand produced the 'Moniteur' last night with
the account, lamented that the Duc d'Orleans had been sent with
Marshal Soult to Lyons, which he said was unnecessary and absurd,
that Soult was the best man for the purpose of putting it down. It
was begun by the workpeople, who were very numerous, not political
in its objects, but the cries denoted a mixture of everything, as
they shouted 'Henri V., Napoleon II, La Republique, and Bristol.'
He was at Lady Holland's, looking very cadaverous, and not very
talkative, talked of Madame du Barri, that she had been very
handsome, and had some remains of beauty up to the period of her
death; of Luckner, who was guillotined, and as the car passed on
the people cried (as they used), 'A la guillotine! a la
guillotine!' Luckner turned round and said, '_On_ y va, canaille.'
[Page Head: POULETT THOMSON.]
We have just sent a commission to Paris to treat with the French
Government about a commercial treaty on the principles of free
trade. Poulett Thomson, who has been at Paris some time, has
originated it, and Althorp selected George Villiers for the
purpose, but has added to him as a colleague Dr. Bowring, who has
in fact been selected by Thomson, a theorist, and a jobber,
deeply implicated in the 'Greek Fire,' and a Benthamite. He was
the subject of a cutting satire of Moore's, beginning,
The ghost of Miltiades came by night,
And stood by the bed of the Benthamite;
but he has been at Paris some time, understanding the subject,
and has wound himself into some intimacy with the French King and
his Ministers. It is, however, Poulett Thomson who has persuaded
Althorp to appoint him, in order to have a creature of his own
there.
I have never been able to understand the enormous unpopularity of
this man, who appears civil, well-bred, intelligent, and
agreeable (only rather a coxcomb), and has made a certain figure
in the House of Commons, but it has been explained to me by a
person who knows him well. He was originally a merchant, and had
a quantity of counting-house knowledge. He became member of a
club of political economists, and a scholar of M'Culloch's. In
this club there were some obscure but very able men, and by them
he got crammed with the principles of commerce and political
economy, and from his mercantile connections he got facts. He
possessed great industry and sufficient ability to work up the
materials he thus acquired into a very plausible exhibition of
knowledge upon these subjects, and having opportunities of
preparing himself for every particular question, and the
advantage of addressing an audience the greater part of which is
profoundly ignorant, he passed for a young gentleman of
extraordinary ability and profound knowledge, and amongst the
greatest of his admirers was Althorp, who, when the Whigs came
in, promoted him to his present situation. Since he has been
there he has not had the same opportunities of learning his
lesson from others behind the curtain, and the envy which always
attends success has delighted to pull down his reputation, so
that he now appears something like the jackdaw stripped of the
peacock's feathers.
November 30th, 1831 {p.220}
Went to breakfast at the Tower, which I had never seen. Dined
with Lady Holland, first time for seven years, finished the
quarrel, and the last of that batch; they should not last for
ever. In the morning Wharncliffe came to me from Lord Grey's,
with whom he had had a final interview. He showed me the paper he
gave Grey containing his proposals, which were nearly to this
effect: conceding what the Government required, with these
exceptions and counter-concessions, an alteration in Schedule B
with a view to preserve in many cases the two members; that
voters for the great manufacturing towns should have votes for
the counties; that London districts should not have so many
representatives; that when the franchise was given to great
manufacturing towns, _their_ county should not have more
representatives; that corporate rights should be saved, though
with an infusion of L10 voters where required; that Cheltenham
and Brighton (particularly) should have no members. These were
the principal heads, proposed in a paper of moderate length and
civil expression. Grey said the terms were inadmissible, that
some parts of his proposal might be feasible, but the points on
which Wharncliffe most insisted (London, and town and county
voting) he could not agree to. So with many expressions of
civility and mutual esteem they parted. He is disappointed, but
not dejected, and I tried to persuade him that an arrangement on
this basis is not less probable than it was.
The fact is it would have been nearly impossible for Government
to introduce a Bill so different from the first as these changes
would have made it, as the result of a negotiation. They would
have been exposed to great obloquy, and have had innumerable
difficulties to encounter, but if the Bill goes into a Committee
of the Lords, and the other clauses pass without opposition, the
Government may not think themselves obliged to contest these
alterations. I think the Government would accept them, and
probably they feel that in no other way could they do so. It
seems to me that the success of these amendments depends now very
much upon the Opposition themselves, upon their firmness, their
union, and above all their reasonableness. Saw Talleyrand last
night, who said they had better news from Lyons, that there was
nothing political in it. News came yesterday morning that the
cholera had broken out at Marseilles.
December 3rd, 1831 {p.221}
Wharncliffe showed me his correspondence with the Duke of
Wellington on this negotiation. They differed greatly, but
amicably enough, though I take it he was not very well pleased
with Wharncliffe's last letter, in which he distinctly told the
Duke that his speech on the Address, and declaration against any
Reform, was what overthrew his Government. This he never will
admit, and, passing over the proximate cause, always refers his
fall to (what was certainly the remote cause) the Catholic
question--that is, to the breaking up of the Tory party which
followed it, and the union of the old Tories with the Whigs and
Radicals on purpose to turn him out. In this correspondence
Wharncliffe has much the best of it, and I was surprised to find
with what tenacity the Duke clings to his cherished prejudices,
and how he shuts his eyes to the signs of the times and the real
state of the country. With the point at issue he never would
grapple. Wharncliffe argued for concession, _because_ they have
not the means of resistance, and that they are in fact at the
mercy of their opponents. The Duke admitted the force against
them, but thought it would be possible to govern the country
without Reform 'if the King was not against them'--an important
increment of his conditions; there is no doubt that 'the King's
name is a tower of strength, which they upon the adverse faction
want'--and he continued through all his letters arguing the
question on its abstract merits, and repeating the topic that had
been over and over again urged, but without reference to the
actual state of things and the means of resistance. It seems,
however, pretty clear that he will oppose this Bill just as he
did the last, and he will probably have a great many followers;
but the party is broken up, for Wharncliffe and Harrowby will
vote for the second reading; the bishops will generally go with
them, and probably a sufficient number of Peers. If Lord Grey can
see a reasonable chance of carrying the Bill without making
Peers, there can be very little doubt he will put off that
resource till the last moment.
December 4th, 1831 {p.222}
Dined with Talleyrand yesterday. He complained to me of Durham's
return, and of 'sa funeste influence sur Lord Grey:' that because
he had been at Brussels and at Paris, he fancied nobody but
himself knew anything of foreign affairs; he praised Palmerston
highly. In the evening to Lady Harrowby, who told me John Russell
had been with her, all moderation and candour, and evidently for
the purpose of keeping alive the amicable relations which had been
begun by Wharncliffe's negotiation. When Lady Harrowby said it was
over, he replied, 'For the present,' said how glad he should be of
a compromise, hinted that Sandon might be instrumental, that he
might move an amendment in the House of Commons; abused Macaulay's
violent speech--in short, was all mild and _doucereux_--all which
proves that they _do_ wish to compromise if they could manage it
conveniently. Lord John Russell told her that there was no going
on with Durham, that he never left Lord Grey, tormented his heart
out, and made him so ill and irritable that he could not sleep.
Durham wanted to be Minister for Foreign Affairs.
December 7th, 1831 {p.223}
Parliament opened yesterday; not a bad speech, though wordy and
ill-written. There was an oversight in the Address, which was
corrected in both Houses by Peel and Lord Harrowby, but not taken
_as an amendment_. Lord Grey begged it might be inserted in Lord
Camperdown's address, which was done. It was about the King of
Holland and the treaty. The Address says that they rejoice _at
the treaty_, whereas there is none at present. Lord Lyttelton
made a very foolish speech, and was very well cut up by Lord
Harrowby, and Peel spoke well in the other House.
December 8th, 1831 {p.223}
[Page Head: AN APPEAL FROM LORD CHANCELLOR BROUGHAM.]
At Court yesterday to swear in Erskine,[5] Brougham's new Chief
Judge in Bankruptcy and Privy Councillor. The Chancellor is in a
great rage with me. There is an appeal to the Privy Council from
a judgment of his (in which he was wrong), the first appeal of
the kind for above a hundred years;[6] I told him it was ready to
be heard, and begged to know if he had any wish as to who should
be summoned to hear it. He said very tartly, 'Of course I shall
have somebody to hear it _with me_.' I said, 'Do you mean to hear
it yourself, then?' 'And pray why not? don't I hear appeals from
myself every day in the House of Lords? didn't you see that I
could not hear a case the other day because Lord Lyndhurst was
not there? I have _a right_ to hear it. I sit there as a Privy
Councillor.' 'Oh,' I said, 'you have certainly _a right_ if you
choose it.' 'You may rely upon it I shall do nothing unusual in
the Privy Council,' and then he flounced off in high dudgeon. I
told Lord Lansdowne afterwards, who said he should not allow it
to be heard by _him_, and should make a point of summoning all
the great law authorities of the Privy Council. This was the case
of Drax _v._ Grosvenor, which excited great interest, in which
Brougham tried to play all sorts of tricks to prevent his
judgment being reversed, which tricks I managed to defeat, and
the judgment was reversed, as is described farther on. I never
had the advantage of seeing the Chancellor before in his sulks,
though he is by no means unfrequently in them, very particularly
so this time last year, when he was revolving in his mind whether
he should take the Great Seal, and when he thought he was
ill-used, so Auckland told me.
[5] [Right Hon. Thomas Erskine, a son of Lord Chancellor
Erskine, Chief Judge in Bankruptcy, and afterwards a
Justice of the Court of Common Pleas.]
[6] [It was an Appeal in Lunacy. No other appeals save in
Lunacy lie from the Court of Chancery to the King in
Council, and these are very rare. Drax _v._ Grosvenor
is reported in Knapp's 'Privy Council Reports.'.]
The cholera is on the decline at Sunderland, but in the meantime
our trade will have been put under such restrictions that the
greatest embarrassments are inevitable. Intelligence is already
come that the Manchester people have curtailed their orders, and
many workmen will be out of work. Yesterday a deputation from
Coventry came to Auckland, and desired a categorical answer as to
whether Government meant to resume the prohibitory system,
because if they would not the glove trade at Coventry would
discharge their workmen.
December 11th, 1831 {p.224}
Yesterday Harrowby had an interview with Lord Grey, the result of
which I do not know; walked with Stuart (de Rothesay) in the
morning, who had seen the Duke of Wellington the day before. I
said I was afraid he was very obstinate. He said 'No, he thought
not, but that the Duke fancied Wharncliffe had gone too far.'
[Page Head: THE SECOND REFORM BILL.]
To-morrow the Reform Bill comes on. Some say that it will be as
hotly disputed as ever, and that Peel's speeches indicate a
bitterness undiminished, but this will not happen. It is clear
that the general tone and temper of parties is softened, and
though a great deal of management and discretion is necessary to
accomplish anything like a decent compromise, the majority of
both parties are earnestly desirous of bringing the business to
an end by any means. What has already taken place between the
Government and Wharncliffe and Harrowby has certainly smoothed
the way, and removed much of that feeling of asperity which
before existed. The press, too, is less violent, the 'Morning
Herald' openly preaching a compromise, and the 'Times' taking
that sort of sweep which, if it does not indicate a change, shows
a disposition to take such a position as may enable it to adopt
any course.
_In the evening._--Called on Lord Bathurst in the morning; met
him going out, and stopped to talk to him. He knew of the meeting
in Downing Street; that Lords Harrowby, Wharncliffe, and Chandos
were to meet the Chancellor and Lords Althorp and Grey; that
Chandos had gone to Brighton, ostensibly to talk to the King
about the West Indies, but had taken the opportunity to throw in
something on the topic of Reform; that the King desired him to
speak to Palmerston, and allowed him to say that he did so by his
orders. (The King, it seems, knows nothing of what is going on,
for he reads no newspapers and the Household tell him nothing.)
Accordingly Chandos did speak to Palmerston, and the result was a
note to him, begging these three would meet the three Ministers
above mentioned. Lady Harrowby told me that they went. Brougham
did not arrive till the conference was nearly over. There was an
abundant interchange of civilities, but nothing concluded, the
Ministers declining every proposition that Lord Harrowby made to
them, though Lord Grey owned that they did not ask for anything
which involved an abandonment of the principle of the Bill. They
are, then, not a bit nearer an accommodation than they were
before.
George Bentinck told me this evening of a scene which had been
related to him by the Duke of Richmond, that lately took place at
a Cabinet dinner; it was very soon after Durham's return from
abroad. He was furious at the negotiations and question of
compromise. Lord Grey is always the object of his rage and
impertinence, because he is the only person whom he dares attack.
After dinner he made a violent _sortie_ on Lord Grey (it was at
Althorp's), said he would be eternally disgraced if he suffered
any alterations to be made in this Bill, that he was a betrayer
of the cause, and, amongst other things, reproached him with
having kept him in town on account of this Bill in the summer,
'and thereby having been the cause of the death of his son.'
Richmond said in his life he never witnessed so painful a scene,
or one which excited such disgust and indignation in every member
of the Cabinet. Lord Grey was ready to burst into tears, said he
would much rather work in the coal-mines than be subject to such
attacks, on which the other muttered, 'and you might do worse,'
or some such words. After this Durham got up and left the room.
Lord Grey very soon retired too, when the other Ministers
discussed this extraordinary scene, and considered what steps
they ought to take. They thought at first that they should
require Durham to make a public apology (i.e. before all of them)
to Lord Grey for his impertinence, which they deemed due to
_them_ as he was _their_ head, and to _Althorp_ as having
occurred in his house, but as they thought it was quite certain
that Durham would resign the next morning, and that Lord Grey
might be pained at another scene, they forbore to exact this.
However, Durham did not resign; he absented himself for some days
from the Cabinet, at last returned as if nothing had happened,
and there he goes on as usual. But they are so thoroughly
disgusted, and resolved to oppose him, that his influence is
greatly impaired. Still, his power of mischief and annoyance is
considerable. Lord Grey succumbs to him, and they say in spite of
his behaviour is very much attached to him, though so incessantly
worried that his health visibly suffers by his presence. There is
nothing in which he does not meddle. The Reform Bill he had a
principal hand in concocting, and he fancies himself the only man
competent to manage our foreign relations. Melbourne, who was
present at this scene, said, 'If I had been Lord Grey, I would
have knocked him down.'
December 13th, 1831 {p.227}
Lord John Russell brought on his Bill last night in a very feeble
speech. A great change is apparent since the last Bill; the House
was less full, and a softened and subdued state of temper and
feeling was evinced. Peel made an able and a bitter speech,
though perhaps not a very judicious one. There are various
alterations in the Bill; enough to prove that it was at least
wise to throw out the last. Althorp, who answered Peel,
acknowledged that if the old Bill had been opposed in its
earliest stage it never could have been brought forward again, or
made an avowal to that effect. In fact, Peel is now aware (as
everybody else is) of the enormous fault that was committed in
not throwing it out at once, before the press had time to
operate, and rouse the country to the pitch of madness it did. On
what trifles turn the destinies of nations! William Bankes told
me last night that Peel owned this to him; said that he had
earnestly desired to do so, but had been turned from his purpose
by Granville Somerset! And why? Because he (in the expectation of
a dissolution) must have voted against him, he said, in order to
save his popularity in his own county.
[Page Head: CONFESSION OF A BODY-SNATCHER.]
Met Melbourne at Lord Holland's; they were talking of a reported
confession to a great extent of murders, which is said to have
been begun and not finished, by the Burkers, or by one of them.
Melbourne said it was true, that he began the confession about
the murder of a black man to a Dissenting clergyman, but was
interrupted by the ordinary. Two of a trade could not agree, and
the man of the Established Church preferred that the criminal
should die unconfessed, and the public uninformed, rather than
the Dissenter should extract the truth. Since writing this I see
Hunt put a question to George Lamb on this point, and he replied
that he knew nothing of any other confession, which is not true.
I have heard, but on no authority, that some surgeons are so
disagreeably implicated that they choose to conceal these
horrors.
December 14th, 1831 {p.228}
People generally are mightily satisfied at the tone of the
discussion the other night, and, what is of vast importance, the
press has adopted a moderate and conciliatory tone, even the
'Times,' which, is now all for compromise. It is clear as
daylight that the Government will consent to anything which
leaves untouched the great principles of the Bill, and the
country desires to see the question settled, and, if possible,
rest from this eternal excitement.
December 20th, 1831 {p.228}
The second reading of the Reform Bill was carried at one o'clock
on Saturday night by a majority of two to one, and ended very
triumphantly for Ministers, who are proportionately elated, and
their opponents equally depressed. Croker had made a very clever
speech on Friday, with quotations from Hume, and much reasoning
upon them. Hobhouse detected several inaccuracies, and gave his
discovery to Stanley, who worked it up in a crushing attack upon
Croker. It is by far the best speech Stanley ever made, and so
good as to raise him immeasurably in the House. Lord Grey said it
placed him at the very top of the House of Commons, without a
rival, which perhaps is jumping to rather too hasty a conclusion.
He shone the more from Peel's making a very poor exhibition. He
had been so nettled by Macaulay's sarcasms the night before on
his tergiversation, that he went into the whole history of the
Catholic question and his conduct on that occasion, which,
besides savouring of that egotism with which he is so much and
justly reproached, was uncalled for and out of place. The rest of
his speech was not so good as usual, and he did not attempt to
answer Stanley.
* * * * *
1832.
Panshanger, January 1st, 1832 {p.229}
[Page Head: PANSHANGER.]
Distress seems to increase hereabouts, and crime with it.
Methodism and saintship increase too. The people of this house
are examples of the religion of the fashionable world, and the
charity of natural benevolence, which the world has not spoiled.
Lady Cowper and her family go to church, but scandalise the
congregation by always arriving half an hour too late. The hour
matters not; if it began at nine, or ten, or twelve, or one
o'clock, it would be the same thing; they are never ready, and
always late, but they go. Lord Cowper never goes at all; but he
employs multitudes of labourers, is ready to sanction any and
every measure which can contribute to the comfort and happiness
of the peasantry. Lady Cowper and her daughters inspect
personally the cottages and condition of the poor. They visit,
enquire, and give; they distribute flannel, medicines, money, and
they talk to and are kind to them, so that the result is a
perpetual stream flowing from a real fountain of benevolence,
which waters all the country round and gladdens the hearts of the
peasantry, and attaches them to those from whom it emanates.
Panshanger, January 6th, 1832 {p.229}
Talleyrand, Dino, Palmerston, Esterhazy, came yesterday and went
away to-day--that is, the two first and the Seftons did. There
has been another contest in the Cabinet about the Peers, which
has ended in a sort of compromise, and five are to be made
directly, two new ones and three eldest sons called up. Old
Talleyrand came half-dead from the conferences, which have been
incessant these few days, owing to the Emperor of Russia's
refusal to ratify the treaty and the differences about the
Belgian fortresses. One conference lasted eleven hours and a
quarter, and finished at four o'clock in the morning.
Gorhambury, January 7th, 1832 {p.229}
[Page Head: EFFORTS OF THE MODERATE PARTY.]
Came here to-day. Berkeley Paget and Lushington; nobody else. Had
a conversation with Lady C. before I came away; between
Palmerston, Frederick Lamb, and Melbourne she knows everything,
and is a furious anti-Reformer. The upshot of the matter is this:
the question about the Peers is still under discussion; Lord Grey
and the ultra party want to make a dozen, _now_, the others want
only to yield five or six. Lord Grey wrote to Palmerston saying
the King had received his proposition (about the Peers) very
well, but desired to have his reasons in writing, and to-day at
twelve there was to be another Cabinet on the subject, in order
probably that the 'reasons' might go down by the post. The
moderate party in the Cabinet consists of Lansdowne, Richmond,
Palmerston, Melbourne, and Stanley. Palmerston and Melbourne,
particularly the latter, are now heartily ashamed of the part
they have taken about Reform. They detest and abhor the whole
thing, and they find themselves unable to cope with the violent
party, and consequently implicated in a continued series of
measures which they disapprove; and they do not know what to do,
whether to stay in and fight this unequal battle or resign. I
told her that nothing could justify their conduct, and their
excuses were good for nothing; but that there was no use in
resigning now. They might still do some good in the Cabinet; they
could do none out of it. In fact, Durham and the most violent
members of the Cabinet would gladly drive Palmerston and
Melbourne to resign if they could keep Stanley, who is alone of
importance of that squad; but he is of such weight, from his
position in the House of Commons, that if he can be prevailed
upon to be staunch, and to hold out with the moderates against
the ultras, the former will probably prevail. Durham wants to be
Minister for Foreign Affairs, and would plague Lord Grey till he
gave him the seals, unless his other colleagues put a veto upon
the appointment. But the anxiety of the Reformers to make Peers
has not reference to the Reform Bill alone; they undoubtedly look
further, and knowing their own weakness in the House of Lords,
they want to secure a permanent force, which may make them
stronger than their antagonists in that House. Otherwise they
would not be so averse to all questions of conciliation, express
their disbelief in conversions, and trumpet forth their
conviction that any individual of the late majority will vote
just the same way again. The earnest desire of the moderate party
in the Cabinet is that those who will vote for the second reading
shall make haste to declare their intention, and I have written
to Lady Harrowby to endeavour to get Lord Harrowby to take some
such step. I had already written to De Ros, urging him to speak
to Wharncliffe, and get him to take an opportunity of giving the
King to understand that the necessity for a creation of Peers is
by no means so urgent as his Ministers would have him believe.
Panshanger, January 13th, 1832 {p.231}
Returned here yesterday; found Melbourne, Lamb, the Lievens, the
Haddingtons, Luttrell, the Ashleys, John Ashley, and Irby. While
I was at Gorhambury I determined to write to Wharncliffe and urge
him to speak to the King, and accordingly I did so. I received a
letter from him saying that De Ros had already spoken to him,
that he had had a conversation with Sir Herbert Taylor, which he
had desired him to repeat to the King and to Lord Grey, that he
had intended to leave the matter there, but in consequence of my
letter he should ask for an audience. This morning I have heard
again from him. He saw the King, and was with him an hour; put
his Majesty in possession of his sentiments, and told him there
would be no necessity for creating Peers if the Government would
be conciliatory and moderate in the Committee of the House of
Commons; he promised to tell me the particulars of this interview
when we meet.
Last night Frederick Lamb told me that Lord Grey had sent word to
Melbourne of what Wharncliffe had said to Sir Herbert Taylor, and
Lord Grey assumed the tenour of Wharncliffe's language to have
been merely an advice to the King not to make Peers, whereas all
I suggested to him was to explain to the King that the creation
was not necessary for the reasons which have been assigned to his
Majesty by his Ministers, viz., the intention of all who voted
against the second reading last year to vote against it this. In
the meantime the dispute has been going on in the Cabinet, time
has been gained, and several incidents have made a sort of
cumulative impression. There is a petition to the King, got up by
Lord Verulam and Lord Salisbury, which is in fact a moderate
Reform manifesto. It has been numerously signed, and Verulam is
going to Brighton to present it. I have been labouring to
persuade him to make up his mind to vote for the second reading,
and to tell the King that such is his intention, which he has
promised me he will. When I had obtained this promise from him I
wrote word to Lady Cowper, telling her at the same time that Lord
Harris (I had heard) would vote for the second reading, and this
letter she imparted to Melbourne, who stated the fact in the
Cabinet, where it made a considerable impression. All such
circumstances serve to supply arms to the moderate party.
This morning Melbourne went up to another Cabinet, armed with
another fact with which I supplied him. Lord Craven declared at
his own table that if the Government made Peers _he would not vote
with them_, and if he was sent for he should reply that as they
could create Peers so easily they might do without him. All such
circumstances as these, I find, are considered of great
importance, and are made available for the purpose of fighting the
battle in the Cabinet. As to Lord Grey, it is exceedingly
difficult to understand his real sentiments, and to reconcile his
present conduct with the general tenour of his former professions;
that he _was_ averse to the adoption of so violent a measure I
have no doubt--his pride and aristocratic principles would
naturally make him so--but he is easily governed, constantly
yielding to violence and intimidation, and it is not unlikely that
the pertinacity of those about him, the interests of his party,
and the prolongation of his power may induce him to sacrifice his
natural feelings and opinions. It is very probable that, although
he may have allowed himself to be at the head of those who are for
the creation, he may have such misgivings and scruples as may
prevent his carrying that point with the high hand and in the
summary way which he might do.
January 15th, 1832 {p.232}
This morning Frederick Lamb showed me a letter he had got from
Melbourne to this effect: 'that they had resolved to make no
Peers at all at present; that to make a few would be regarded as
a menace, and be as bad as if they made a great many; but that as
many as would be necessary to carry the Bill would be made, if it
was eventually found that it must be so;' he added 'it only
remained for people to come forward and declare their intention
of supporting the second reading.' This is certainly a great
victory, and I do believe mainly attributable to our exertions,
to the spirit we have infused into Melbourne himself, and the use
we have made of Wharncliffe and Verulam, and the different little
circumstances we have brought to bear upon the discussion. What
now remains is the most difficult, but I shall do all I can to
engage Peers to take a moderate determination and to declare it.
Lamb told me that the King has an aversion to making _a few_
Peers, that he has said he would rather make twenty-five than
five, that whatever he must make he should like to make at once,
and not to have to return to it. Anyhow, time is gained, and a
victory for the moment.
London, January 20th, 1832 {p.233}
[Page Head: WHARNCLIFFE'S INTERVIEW WITH THE KING.]
Came up on Monday last. I have been changing my house, and so
occupied that I have not had time to write. Wharncliffe came to
town on Wednesday, and came straight to my office to give me an
account of his interview with the King, in which it appears as if
he had said much about what he ought, and no more. He told his
Majesty that the reports which had been circulated as to the
disposition and intentions of himself and his friends, and the
argument for the necessity of making Peers, which he understood
to have been founded on these reports, had compelled him to ask
for this audience, that he wished to explain to his Majesty that
he (Lord Wharncliffe) had no intention of opposing the second
reading of the Reform Bill as he had done before, that he had
reason to believe that many others would adopt the same course,
and if Ministers showed a moderate and conciliating disposition
in the House of Commons, he was persuaded they would have no
difficulty in carrying the second reading in the House of Lords.
He then implored the King well to consider the consequences of
such a _coup d'etat_ as this creation of Peers would be; to look
at what had happened in France, and to bear in mind that if this
was done for one purpose, and by one Government, the necessity
would infallibly arise of repeating it again by others, or for
other objects. He was with the King an hour dilating upon this
theme. The King was extremely kind, heard him with great
patience, and paid him many compliments, and when he took leave
told him that he was extremely glad to have had this conversation
with him. Sir Herbert Taylor gave Lord Wharncliffe to understand
that he had made an impression, only impressions on the mind of
the King are impressions on sand. However, from Taylor's cautious
hints to him to persevere, it is likely that he did do good. He
is himself persuaded that his audience principally produced the
delay in the creation of Peers.
In the meantime he was not idle at Brighton. Lord Ailesbury, who
saw the King, consulted Wharncliffe, and agreed at last to tell
the King that his sentiments were the same as those which Lord
Wharncliffe had expressed to him, and Lord Kinnoull and Lord Gage
have promised him their proxies.
[Page Head: THE WAVERERS AND WELLINGTON.]
Yesterday morning he came to me again, very desponding. He had
found Harrowby in a state of despair, uncertain what he should
do, and looking upon the game as lost, and he had been with the
Duke of Wellington, who was impracticably obstinate, declaring
that nothing should prevent his opposing a Bill which he believed
in his conscience to be pregnant with certain ruin to the
country; that he did not care to be a great man (he meant by this
expression a man of great wealth and station), and that he could
contentedly sink into any station that circumstances might let
him down to, but he never would consent to be a party directly or
indirectly to such a measure as this, and, feeling as he did, he
was resolved to do his utmost to throw it out, without regard to
consequences. Wharncliffe said he was quite in despair, for that
he knew the Duke's great influence, and that if he and Harrowby
endeavoured to form a party against his views, they had no chance
of making one sufficiently strong to cope with him. He spoke with
great and rather unusual modesty of himself, and of his
inadequacy for this purpose; that Harrowby might do more, and
would have greater influence, but that he was so undecided and so
without heart and spirit that he would not bestir himself.
However, he acknowledged that nothing else was left to be done.
In the evening went to Lady Harrowby's, where I found him and
Lord Haddington. We stayed there till near two, after which
Wharncliffe and I walked up and down Berkeley Square. He was in
much better spirits, having had a long conversation with these
two Lords, both of whom he said were now resolved to sail along
with him, and he contemplates a regular and declared separation
from the Duke _upon this question_. In the morning he had seen
Lyndhurst, who appeared very undecided, and (Wharncliffe was
apprehensive) rather leaning towards the Duke, but I endeavoured
to persuade him that Lyndhurst was quite sure to adopt upon
consideration the line which appeared most conducive to his own
interest and importance, that he had always a hankering after
being well with Lord Grey and the Whigs, and I well remembered
when the late Government was broken up he had expressed himself
in very unmeasured terms about the Duke's blunders, and the
impossibility of his ever again being Prime Minister; that with
him consistency, character, and high feelings of honour and
patriotism were secondary considerations; that he relied upon his
great talents and his capacity to render himself necessary to an
Administration; that it was not probable he would like to throw
himself (even to please the Duke) into an opposition to the
earnest desire which the great mass of the community felt to have
the question settled; and that both for him and themselves much
of the difficulty of separating themselves from the Duke might be
avoided by the manner in which it was done. I entreated him to
use towards the Duke every sort of frankness and candour, and to
express regret at the necessity of taking a different line,
together with an acknowledgment of the purity of the Duke's
motives; and if this is done, and if other people are made to
understand that they can separate from the Duke _on this
occasion_ without offending or quarrelling with him, or throwing
off the allegiance to him as their political leader, many will be
inclined to do so; besides, it is of vital importance, if they do
get the Bill into Committee, to secure the concurrence of the
Duke and his adherents in dealing with the details of it, which
can only be effected by keeping him in good humour. On the whole
the thing looks as well as such a thing can look.