Lord John's Views on the Ministry--Gloomy Prospects--Attacks on
Lord Raglan--Russian and Prussian Diplomacy--Lord Palmerston more
in favour--French View of the British Army--Russian
Negotiations--Lord John Russell in Paris--Conference at
Vienna--Lord Raglan unmoved--Terms proposed to Russia--Failure of
the Duke of Newcastle--Hesitation of Austria and France--Deplorable
State of the Armies--Chances of Peace--Meeting of
Parliament--Further Negotiations--Lord John Russell
resigns--Ministers stay in--The Debate on Roebuck's
Motion--Resignation of Lord Aberdeen--Lord John Russell's real
Motives--Lord Derby sent for--and fails--Wise Decision of the
Queen--Ministerial Negotiations--Lord Palmerston sent for--The
Peelites refuse to join--Lord Palmerston forms a Government--Lord
Palmerston's Prospects--Lord John Russell sent to Vienna--Lord
Palmerston in the House of Commons--General Alarm--Difficulties of
Lord Palmerston--The Peelites secede--Lord John accepts the
Colonial Office--Sir George Lewis Chancellor of the
Exchequer--Death of the Emperor Nicholas of Russia--Lord Palmerston
supposed to be a weak Debater--Weakness of the Government--Fresh
Arrangements--The Budget--The Press.
LORD JOHN RUSSELL'S POSITION.
_January 2nd,_ 1855.--I received yesterday a letter from the Duke of
Bedford relating to the views and position of Lord John Russell. He had
talked over his position with the Duke, disclaimed any wish to be again
Prime Minister, but desired Lord Lansdowne should be in the post; that
he liked personally both Aberdeen and Newcastle but thought them unfit
for the emergency. He had proposed that Palmerston should be War
Minister but was overruled, and now (the Duke asks) what is he to do if
a vote of censure on the management of the war is proposed in the House
of Commons, thinking as he does that it has been mismanaged? He would
willingly break up this Government, which he really thinks a very bad
one (what he wrote to Clarendon being his deliberate opinion), if he
could see a chance of a better being substituted, and if he thought
Derby could carry on the war more efficiently, which he does not. This
letter is a complete reply to the objection Clarendon urged against
Palmerston's being War Minister, for if Lord John himself wished it,
nobody else could well object. He ought to have insisted on it, and, if
he had, it must have been done.
Nothing can wear a gloomier aspect than affairs do at home and
abroad--the Government weak, unpopular, dispirited, and divided, the
army in the Crimea in a deplorable state, and the prospects of the war
far from brilliant, no confidence in the commanding officers there, and
no likelihood of finding more competent ones, everybody agreeing that
till we have 150,000 men in the Crimea we cannot count on taking
Sebastopol, and the difficulty of ever assembling such a force appearing
very great. So far as I can collect, the violent articles which the
'Times' emits day after day have excited general resentment and disgust.
They overdo everything and, while they are eternally changing their
course, the one they follow for the moment they follow with an
outrageous violence which shocks everybody. But as those who complain
most of the 'Times' still go on reading it, the paper only gets more
rampant and insolent, for as long as its circulation is undiminished it
does not care what anybody thinks or says of it.
_January 4th._--I wrote the Duke an answer with my opinion on Lord
John's position and obligations, which has elicited another from him
this morning. He says that it was a few weeks ago that John made a
formal proposal to Aberdeen that Palmerston should replace Newcastle at
the War Department. Aberdeen desired time to consider, and then refused.
Subsequently the matter was renewed, when Palmerston himself objected,
and then it necessarily ended. The Duke thinks that Lord John will not
now stir it again, and will make up his mind to go on, and to defend his
Government in the House of Commons. He consulted Sir George Grey, Lord
Lansdowne, and Panmure, and they all advised him not to resign. It is
strange that while this is imparted to me 'very confidentially,' and I
had heard nothing of it before, it is currently reported, and stated
positively in the 'Morning Herald,' that Lord John and others,
mentioned by name, have insisted on Newcastle's being turned out. That
some part of what has occurred has got out is clear, and I incline to
think that some of his satellites have set to work, and that, by way of
assisting Lord John's object, they have given notice of what was going
on to some of the Derbyites. There is a mysterious allusion to some
impending event in the 'Press' on Saturday last, which looks very like
this.
CENSURES OF LORD RAGLAN.
The 'Times' goes on against Raglan with greater vehemence every day, and
will not be restrained by any remonstrances. Evans has put himself in
communication with Delane (though certainly having no hand in these
attacks) and has sent him an account of his having addressed a letter to
Canrobert many days before the battle of Inkerman for the purpose of
getting him to assist in taking precautionary measures to resist the
attack he was persuaded the Russians would make, and Canrobert's answer,
in which he says that his means are curtailed by the necessity of
providing for the defence of Balaklava, and of extending his line and
making dispositions 'dans l'intérêt de la situation commune,' but that
he has ordered Bosquet to move nearer to Evans' division, and to be in
readiness if anything should happen. There was a passage omitted in the
printed letter of Evans to Raglan in which he alludes to the neglect of
the precautionary measures he had recommended.
Gortschakoff has declared the Emperor of Russia will accept the first,
second, and fourth articles of the four points, and will consider of the
third. This may mean that he really wishes to make peace, or only be
done for the sake of Austria, and to give her a pretext for not
declaring against him. Clarendon is satisfied with Usedom, but not at
all with his proposals. He says the King of Prussia has sent him to try
and make a treaty with France and England entirely out of jealousy and
mortification at Austria having made one, but he does not propose one
similar to the Austrian Treaty, only a _defensive_ one. Clarendon says
the King in his heart hates Russia and winces under the influence he
submits to, that he is indignant at the insults which have been heaped
on him by his Imperial brother-in-law, and the contumely with which he
has been treated, but, being physically and politically a coward, he has
not energy to shake off the yoke he has suffered to be imposed on him.
_Aldenham, January 6th._--I came here to-day. I saw Cowley yesterday,
who has been to Windsor, and tells me that he finds by conversations he
has had with Stockmar that the Queen is much softened towards Palmerston
and no longer regards him with the extreme aversion she did. On the
other hand, she is very angry with John Russell, and this is, of course,
from knowing what he has been doing, and resentment at his embarrassing
and probably breaking up the Government. This relaxation in her feelings
towards Palmerston is very important at this moment, and presents the
chance of an alternative which, if this Government falls, may save her
from Derby and his crew, whom she cordially detests. I hear Newcastle is
very low, as well he may be, for no man was ever placed in so painful a
position, and it is one from which it is impossible for him to extricate
himself. When the Government goes to pieces, as I am persuaded it will,
the Queen is very likely to send for Palmerston, and he and
Ellenborough, as War Minister, might make a Government that would
probably stand during the war, and which in present circumstances the
House of Commons and the country could not but support. My notion is
that Lord John would not take any office, but would support Palmerston,
and advise all his friends and followers to do so. I know no reason why
Ellenborough should not act with anybody, and many of the present
Government might stay in, and certain changes be made which would let in
more Whigs, and so conciliate that party, while the Conservatives would
abstain from supporting any Government which did not contain Aberdeen
and Newcastle. Gladstone might be a difficulty; Clarendon would be none,
for he and Palmerston have pulled very well together, and I have no
doubt Palmerston would be very happy to keep him. This opens a new
prospect, and one very preferable to having Derby and his friends in
office again.
CANROBERT'S OPINION OF BRITISH ARMY.
I asked Cowley about Canrobert's confidential letters to his Government
on the state of our army of which I had heard. He said it was very true,
and he had seen several of these letters, in which Canrobert said that
nothing could exceed his admiration of the British soldiers, but he was
convinced the army would disappear altogether, for their organisation
and management were deplorable; and he entreated his Government, if they
possibly could, to interpose in the interest of the common cause to
procure some amelioration of the organisation, without which nothing
could save the army from destruction. The Emperor, Cowley said, never
mentioned our troops or commanders to him except in terms of respect and
with expressions of his admiration, but he knew that to others he spoke
in a very different tone, and said that our army was commanded by an old
woman.
_January 12th._--I returned to town last night. The Emperor of Russia's
acceptance of the four points, as interpreted by us, of course excites
hopes of peace, but I think few people are sanguine as to the result. It
is suspected to be only a dodge to paralyse the action of Austria, but
unless there was some secret concert with Austria, which is not likely,
I cannot see what Russia is to gain by accepting conditions which she
does not really mean to abide by. Such conduct could only deceive the
Allies for a short time, and, as there is no question of any suspension
of military operations, nothing would be gained in that respect, while
as soon as some decisive test of the Emperor's sincerity was applied,
his real meaning must be made manifest, and then not only would the
_acharnement_ of the Western Powers be increased, but it would be quite
impossible for Austria not to join the Coalition, and to act verily and
indeed against Russia. These reasons would induce me to put faith in the
Russian announcement; on the other hand, it is barely credible that the
Emperor should consent to the sacrifice of Sebastopol in the present
state of the campaign, and with the almost certainty that we cannot take
it for many months to come, if at all.
John Russell is gone to Paris, not for any political object, but merely
to see one of his wife's sisters; but his journey there and
conversations with the Emperor may not be without some consequences. I
hear almost daily from the Duke of Bedford on the subject of John's
conduct, the conduct of the war, and the state of the Government. For
the present he appears to desist from doing anything to make an
explosion. The curious thing is that the public, and particularly the
Derbyite, newspapers should be so well informed as they are of what is
going on. Though the immediate danger of a break up seems to be over, I
still think the _animus_ Lord John exhibits, the manifold difficulties
of the Government, and their undoubted though unjust unpopularity, will
before long break them to pieces.
_January 14th._--I met Clarendon last night and had a talk about affairs
at home and abroad. John Russell at Paris is satisfied with his
conversation with the Emperor, who agreed that we could make no peace
but one which would be glorious for us. Clarendon does not believe the
Emperor of Russia really means to sacrifice Sebastopol, and thinks when
he sent his acceptance of the four points he was not apprised of what
had passed in the Conference, which was merely verbal. Gortschakoff, in
a passion, said, 'I suppose you mean to limit our naval force, or to
dismantle Sebastopol, or both;' to which they replied, 'Yes'; but
nothing was put in writing to this effect. This makes a great
difference, but I do not despair. There is a great question about a
negotiator, and the Queen and Prince want Clarendon himself to go. He
refused point blank; he does not like to leave it to Westmorland alone.
I suggested Canning, but he thought Canning had not had experience
enough, and that it ought to be a Cabinet Minister, and asked, 'Why not
Palmerston?' I objected the difficulty of relying on him, his hatred of
Austria, and the terror he would inspire; and I said Granville might do,
but that I saw no reason why he should not go himself if he had reason
to think it was likely to succeed, though I would not go merely to
return _re infectâ_. We then talked of Lord John and of Newcastle. He
said that Newcastle is exceedingly slow, and has a slow mind, but that
there is no case whatever for turning him out, and he cannot be blamed
for the failures in matters of detail, and as for the great measures the
responsibility belongs alike to all. Lord John never is and never will
be satisfied without being again Prime Minister, which is impossible. I
said the Duke of Bedford assured me that his brother did not _now_ want
to be Prime Minister. 'What does he want then?--to retire altogether?'
'Yes,' said Clarendon, 'that is his intense selfishness; utterly
regardless of the public interests, or of what may happen, he wants to
relieve _himself_ from the responsibility of a situation which is not so
good as he desires, and to run away from his post at a moment of danger
and difficulty. If we had some great success--if Sebastopol were taken,
for example--we should hear no more of his retirement.' As matters are,
however, Clarendon thinks very ill of them abroad and at home. This
disposition of Lord John's keeps the Government in constant hot water,
and no confidence can be placed in Raglan, while it is impossible to
find anybody who would, as far as we can judge, do any better.
LORD RAGLAN'S COMPOSURE.
The Court are exceedingly annoyed and alarmed at Raglan's failure; the
Prince showed Clarendon (or told him of) a letter from Colonel Steele,
who said that he had no idea how great a mind Raglan really had, but
that he now saw it, for in the midst of distresses and difficulties of
every kind in which the army was involved he was perfectly serene and
undisturbed, and his health excellent! Steele meant this as a panegyric,
and did not see that it really conveyed a severe reproach. The
conviction of his incapacity for so great a command gains ground every
day; he has failed in those qualities where everybody expected he would
have succeeded best, even those who thought nothing of his military
genius. But, having learnt what he knows of war under the Duke, he might
at least have known how _he_ carried on war, and have imitated his
attention to minute details and a general supervision of the different
services, seeing that all was in order and the merely mechanical parts
properly attended to on which so much of the efficiency as well as of
the comfort of the army depended.[1]
[Footnote 1: It may be proper to remark that a different and far more
favourable view of Lord Raglan's capacity as a General will be found
_infra_ at the beginning of Chapter XII. of this Journal, upon the
evidence of Sir Edmund Lyons, who was entirely in the confidence of the
Commander-in-Chief.]
_January 19th._--We are still uncertain as to the real intentions of the
Emperor of Russia, and whether he means to accept the terms offered by
the Allies; but my own impression is that he will not accept them _in
our sense_, and that he never will consent to the sacrifice of
Sebastopol till we have taken the place and destroyed the
fortifications, thereby rendering its dismantling a _fait accompli_.
There is certainly nothing in the present state of our affairs which
warrants our lofty pretensions, and the proposal of terms so humiliating
to the Emperor. The only possible grounds that can be imagined for his
acceptance are, his own knowledge of the state of his own country and of
the resources he can command for carrying on the war, and a
dispassionate and farsighted calculation of the disposition and of the
resources of his opponents. It is not impossible that he may foresee
that he must eventually succumb in a contest so unequal and in which the
number of his enemies increases every day. He may deem it better to make
certain sacrifices now, with the view of being able before long to
retrieve his losses, than to expose himself to the chance and great
probability of being obliged to make much greater sacrifices hereafter,
and such as it will be more difficult for him to repair. The Duke of
Bedford tells me that Aberdeen and Clarendon are both hopeless of peace,
and that Lord John and Palmerston do not consider it so absolutely
hopeless; Aberdeen says the negotiations will not last half an hour.
ILL CONDUCT OF THE WAR.
The accounts from the army are as bad as possible; one-third of it is in
the hospitals, and the quays of Balaklava are loaded with enormous
stores of every kind, which it was impossible to transport to the camp.
Very intelligent people therefore entertain the greatest apprehension of
some catastrophe occurring whenever the severity of the winter, which
has hitherto been comparatively mild, sets in. The best security is in
the equally distressed state of the Russians, and in fact nothing but
this can account for their having left us alone so long.
The Duke of Bedford and I talked over the state of affairs here, and the
political possibilities in the event of this Government falling to
pieces or being compelled to resign. We both desire any arrangement
rather than another Derby Government, and we agree in thinking that on
the whole the best would be for Lord Lansdowne to undertake the
formation of a Government, if he can be persuaded to do so, which does
not appear wholly impossible. This would satisfy Lord John, who would
then remain in his present office, half a dozen of the present Cabinet
would go out, some Whigs might replace them, and the thing would
undoubtedly go on for a time. It is impossible for Newcastle to continue
to conduct the war, with the universal clamour there is against him and
the opinion of his own colleagues (at least of such of them as I know
the opinions of) that he is unfit for the post. He has two very great
faults which are sufficient to disqualify him: he is exceedingly slow,
and he knows nothing of the qualifications of other men, or how to
provide himself with competent assistants; nor has he any decision or
foresight. He chose for his under-secretaries two wholly incompetent men
who have been of no use to him in managing and expediting the various
details of the service, and he has a rage for doing everything himself,
by which means nothing is done, or done so tardily as to be of no use.
Then all the subordinate Boards are miserably administered, and the
various useless, inefficient, or worn out officers have been suffered to
remain at their posts, to the enormous detriment of the service. The
genius of Lord Chatham or the energy and will of the Duke of Wellington
would have failed with such a general staff here, and with such a
Commander-in-Chief as Hardinge, and with the _fainéantise_ of Raglan.
_January 20th._--It is only by degrees one can unravel the truth in
political affairs. John Russell told me last night that Austria has
never given in her adhesion to our condition of making the destruction
of Sebastopol a _sine quâ non_ of peace. She joins us in insisting on
the '_faire cesser la prépotence_,' but the means of accomplishing this
remain to be discussed. This is very different from what I had imagined,
and makes it anything but certain that she will join her forces to
our's, if the negotiations fail in consequence of our demands. We are
now endeavouring to bring the Court of Vienna into an agreement with us
as to the conditions to be required, and it is no easy matter to get the
Cabinet to agree upon the wording of the communications we make to her.
This arises from the necessity of looking to the effect of what will
appear in the Blue Books. Blue Books, Parliamentary discussions, and the
Press tie up the hands of a Government, fetter its discretion and
deliberate policy, and render diplomatic transactions (especially with
Governments whose hands are more free) excessively difficult. Granville
told me yesterday morning that the course of Russia had been more
straightforward than that of England and France, and this morning he
reminded me of having said so, and added that we were in a great
diplomatic mess, France always finessing and playing a game of her own;
and I infer from what he said that, having got all she can out of us,
she is now coquetting with Austria, and disposed to defer to her wishes
and objects, and to be less _exigeante_ towards Russia. This is only of
a piece with what Clarendon has often said to me about France and her
way of dealing with us; however, if France will only insist on making
peace on plausible terms, and with the semblance of its being an
honourable and consistent peace, we cannot do otherwise than acquiesce
in her determination, and if we only follow the lead she takes the
public here must needs be satisfied. This is Granville's own idea, as it
is mine, and God grant that affairs may take this turn, and so we may
get out of the tremendous scrape we are in, the escape from which will
be cheaply purchased by the fall of the Government--a consequence that
is almost certain if it does not happen before anything can be done.
Day after day the accounts from the Crimea represent a more deplorable
state of things, entirely confirmative of Canrobert's statements to his
own Government, and it is difficult to read them and not apprehend some
fatal catastrophe. We know nothing of the state of the Russians either
within or without Sebastopol, and this ignorance is not one of the least
remarkable circumstances in this war, but we must conclude either that
their condition is as bad as our's, and that they are unable to attack
us, or that their policy is to let the winter do its work, and that they
do not think it necessary for them to fight sanguinary battles with very
doubtful results when disease is ravaging the allied army and producing
effects as advantageous for them as the most complete victories could
do, as surely, only more gradually.
ABORTIVE NEGOTIATIONS.
_January 22nd._--Every day one looks with anxiety to see and to hear
whether the chances of peace look well or ill, and at present they look
very ill. Clarendon seems to set his face against it--that is, he
considers it hopeless; and it is not promising that the negotiations
should be under the management of one who has no hopes of bringing them
to a successful issue, and whose despair of it evidently arises from his
determination to exact conditions that there is no chance of obtaining.
I hear, too, this morning, that the instructions to Bourqueney are to be
as _exigeant_ as possible--not very wise pretensions anyhow, but they
rather indicate the tone adopted by England than the real intentions of
France, for it is one thing to make great demands and another to persist
in them. It is, however, idle to speculate on the progress of a
negotiation which must be so largely influenced by the operations and
events of the war. Parliament meets tomorrow, and I think a very short
time will elapse before the fate of the Government is decided by some
vote about the conduct of the war. I think the Government themselves
desire it, and, conscious of the state of public opinion and of the
deplorable state of affairs, and most of them thinking there has been
great and fatal mismanagement, they wish the question to be decided,
would not be sorry to be driven out by an adverse vote, and consider
that it would be a better and more respectable way of ending than by
those internal dissensions, which, like a cancer, are continually
undermining them. John Russell sees nothing but difficulties in the
formation of another Government of a Whig complexion including a large
portion of the present Ministers, and says that he does not think Lord
Lansdowne _would_, or that he or Palmerston _could_ accomplish it. He
means now to stand by his colleagues, to accept his share of
responsibility, and defend what has been done.
_January 23rd._--Parliament meets to-day, and probably no time will be
lost in attacking the Government, but it is impossible yet to know
whether they will be harassed by a continual succession of skirmishes
and bitter comments on details, or whether some grand and decisive
assault will be made. The general impression is that the War Department
cannot remain in Newcastle's hands, and if he cannot be got rid of
without the whole Ministry going to pieces it must so end. I think this
is pretty much the opinion of the Ministers themselves; and though I
believe they all, or most of them, personally like him, they seem, so
far as I can see, to be agreed that he is unequal to his post.
With regard to peace, the prospect looks anything but bright. The
negotiations will not begin till we receive positive information as to
the meaning of the Emperor of Russia in accepting the four points. Some
weeks ago Clarendon wrote a despatch to Westmorland, in which he stated
explicitly the meaning we attached to the four points, but this has
never been put officially before the Emperor, that we know of. Buol
acquiesced, as I understood, in our explanation, but John Russell
distinctly told me that Austria had never signified her concurrence in
making the demolition of Sebastopol a _sine quâ non_ condition. Now,
however, some fresh communication has been made by Austria to Russia,
and we will not begin the negotiation until Austria shall have signified
to us that the Emperor's acceptance is such as will warrant us in
negotiating. I am not sufficiently acquainted with all the details to
form a conclusive opinion, but, as far as I can see, we have been
hanging off from being perfectly explicit, and have never yet come to a
complete understanding with Austria, much less with Russia, and I am
afraid of our Ministers committing themselves in Parliament by some
declarations and professions of intentions which may make peace
impossible and break up the negotiations at once, for as to Russia
consenting to dismantle Sebastopol, I look upon it as impossible, and
absurd to expect it. I earnestly hope that Bourqueney may be instructed
to come to an understanding with Austria, and that, if we insist on
terms impossible to obtain, our two Allies may compel us to give way, or
leave us to fight the battle alone. The only thing quite certain is that
we are in a state of the utmost doubt, danger, and perplexity at home
and abroad, all of which is owing to our own egregious folly and
unskilfulness, and the universal madness which has pervaded the nation.
LORD JOHN RUSSELL RESIGNS OFFICE.
_January 24th._--The Government is at an end, or at least it probably
will be before the end of the day. The Duke of Bedford has just been to
me to tell me that last night, after returning from the House of
Commons, Lord John wrote a letter to Aberdeen to resign his office, and
he will not attend the Cabinet to-day. Nobody knows it but Aberdeen
himself, and I am not permitted to tell Granville even, but it will be
announced to the Cabinet this morning. The immediate cause of Lord
John's resignation is Roebuck's motion, of which he gave notice last
night, for a Committee to inquire into the conduct of the war; it is
intended as a hostile motion, and would have been turned into a vote of
censure and want of confidence. Besides this, it seems Hayter had told
Lord John that the aspect of the House was bad, and members of the
Government party disinclined to attend. Accordingly, he said he could
not and would not face the motion; Graham and Sidney Herbert might
defend the conduct of the war, but _he_ could not. Heaven only knows
what will occur. Lord John took no time to consider, but sent his
resignation at once, the moment he returned from the House. I told the
Duke that I thought he had made himself obnoxious to very just reproach,
running away from such a motion, and explaining (as he must do) that he
could not defend the conduct of the war. He will naturally be asked how
long he has been dissatisfied with its management, and why he did not
retire long ago. The Duke said he was aware of this, but he endeavoured
to make out that the case bore some analogy to that of Lord Althorp in
1834, when he resigned in consequence of a motion of O'Connell's. But
this was altogether different. Nothing can, in my opinion, justify Lord
John, and his conduct will, if I am not mistaken, be generally
condemned, and deprive him of the little consideration and influence he
had left. It has been vacillating, ungenerous, and cowardly, for after
all, in spite of errors and mistakes, the conduct of the war admits of a
defence, at least as to many parts of it, and it would have been far
better to stand up manfully and abide the result of the battle in
Parliament, than to shirk the fight and leave his colleagues to deal
with the difficulty as best they may, trying to escape from the
consequences of a responsibility which nothing he can say or do can
enable him to shake off.
MR. ROEBUCK'S COMMITTEE OF ENQUIRY.
_January 26th._--Yesterday morning the Cabinet met, and after some
discussion they resolved unanimously not to resign, but to encounter
Roebuck's motion. Aberdeen went down to Windsor, and there is another
Cabinet this morning. I saw John Russell in the afternoon, and told him
in very plain terms what I thought of his conduct, and how deeply I
regretted that he had not gone on with his colleagues and met this
attack with them. He looked astonished and put out, but said, 'I could
not. It was impossible for me to oppose a motion which I think ought to
be carried.' I argued the point with him, and in the middle of our talk
the Duke of Bedford came in. I asked him if he did not think the
remaining Ministers were right in the course they have taken, and he
said he did. I then said, 'I have been telling John how much I regret
that he did not do the same,' when John repeated what he had said
before, and then went away. After he was gone the Duke said, 'I am very
glad you said what you did to John.' The town was in a great state of
excitement yesterday, and everybody speculating on what is to happen,
and all making lists of a new Government according to their
expectations or wishes; most people place Palmerston at the head. In the
House of Lords Derby asked me what it all meant. Clarendon came up while
we were talking, and gave Derby to understand that he would probably
have to take office again, expressing his own eagerness to quit it. I
now hear that Lord John has been leading the Cabinet a weary life for
many months past, eternally making difficulties, and keeping them in a
constant state of hot water, determined to upset them, and only doubting
as to what was a fit opportunity, and at last taking the worst that
could be well chosen for his own honour and character. He is not,
however, without countenance and support from some of his adherents, or
from those who were so impatient for the destruction of this Government
that they are satisfied with its being accomplished, no matter how or by
whom or under what circumstances; and as he has been long accustomed
to sit attentive to his own applause
from a little circle in Chesham Place, so he will now be told by the
same set that he has acted a very fine and praiseworthy part, although
such will not be the verdict of history, nor is it, as far as I can see,
of the best and wisest of his own contemporaries. Nobody entertains a
doubt of Roebuck's motion being carried by a large majority against the
Government.
_January 30th._--For the last three days I have been so ill with gout
that I could not do anything, or follow the course of events. John
Russell made a cunning and rather clever speech in explanation of his
resignation, George Grey a good one and strong against Lord John.
Opinions fluctuated about the division, some, but the minority, fancying
Government would have a majority because the proposed Committee is so
excessively difficult and in all ways objectionable; but when it became
known that the Derbyites meant to vote in a body for the motion, no one
doubted the result, and it became only a question of numbers.[1] Lord
John seems to have felt no regret at what he has done, and at exciting
the resentment and incurring the blame of all his colleagues; and he
goes so little into society, and is so constantly patted on the back at
home, that the censure of the world produces no effect on him. They tell
me he is in high spirits, and appears only to be glad at having at last
found the opportunity he has so long desired of destroying the
Government. Everybody appears astonished at the largeness of the
majority. Gladstone made a very fine speech, and powerful, crushing
against Lord John, and he stated what Lord John had never mentioned in
his narrative, that he had been expressly asked in December whether he
still wished the change to be made which he had urged in November, and
he had replied that he did not, that he had given it up. This
_suppressio veri_ is shocking, and one of the very worst things he ever
did.
Aberdeen went down to Windsor this morning to resign. It is thought that
the Queen will send for Lansdowne, and ask him if he can make a
Government, or will try, and, if he declines, that he will advise her to
send for Palmerston; if Palmerston fails, then she can do nothing but
take Derby. It seems likely now that we shall have either a Whig or a
Derbyite Government, and that the Peelites will be left out altogether.
The difficulties are enormous, and though everybody says that at such a
crisis and with the necessity of attending to the war, and the war only,
no personal prejudices or antipathies should prevent anybody from taking
office if their services can be of use, men will not be governed by
motives of such pure patriotism; and, whoever may make the Government, I
expect there will be many exclusions and many refusals to join. Some say
that, if Derby comes in, and with the same or nearly the same men as
before, he ought to be kicked out at once, but I do not think so, and,
much as I should abhor another such Government, I think in present
circumstances it must be allowed the fairest play, and be supported
unless and until it commits some flagrant errors.
[Footnote 1: Mr. Roebuck's Motion for a Committee of Enquiry was
carried on the 29th of January by a majority of 157 in a House of 453
members present.]
_January 31st._--The division was curious: some seventy or eighty
Whigs, ordinary supporters of Government, voted against them, and all
the Tories, except about six or seven who voted against the motion;
Cobden and Bright stayed away. John Russell's explanation, had he spoken
the truth, would have run in these terms: 'I joined the Government with
great reluctance, and only at the earnest entreaty of my friends,
particularly Lord Lansdowne. From the first I was disgusted at my
position, and I resolved, unless Lord Aberdeen made way for me, and I
again became Prime Minister, that I would break up the Government. I
made various attempts to bring about such a change, and at last, after
worrying everybody to death for many months, I accomplished my object,
having taken what seemed a plausible pretext for doing it.'
THE GOVERNMENT BROKEN UP.
_February 1st._--Contrary to general expectation, the Queen did not send
either for Lansdowne or Palmerston, but at once for Derby. He went
directly to Palmerston, who declined to join him. He is trying to form a
Government, and I see the Whigs are chuckling over the probability of
his failing and being obliged to give it up, when they evidently flatter
themselves that it will fall again into the hands of John Russell.
Rather than this should occur, I would prefer that Derby should succeed,
and, if he can get no foreign aid, that he should reconstitute the
wretched Government he had before. My disgust at the conduct of my Whig
friends is intense. Although they were to the last degree indignant at
the conduct of John Russell, they have, ever since the interregnum
began, been dancing attendance on him, evincing every disposition to
overlook the enormity of his conduct and to reform the party with a view
of carrying him again to the head of affairs and making another pure
Whig Government. I confess I thought that nobody could refuse to serve
at the present crisis, and, if the Queen sent for Derby, Palmerston, if
invited, could not help joining, and taking the War Department; but I
was wrong. I see in no quarter, as far as I have been able to observe
and judge, any disposition to discard prejudices, antipathies, and
personal feelings and interests, and to make every consideration yield
to the obligations which the present emergency imposes. However, the
game is not half played out yet. Meanwhile we are exhibiting a pretty
spectacle to Europe, and I don't think our example will tempt other
nations to adopt the institutions of which we are so proud; for they may
well think that liberty of the Press and Parliamentary government,
however desirable they may be when regulated by moderation and good
sense, would be dearly purchased at the expense of the anarchy and
confusion which they are now producing here.
LORD DERBY SENT FOR.
_February 2nd._--The Queen herself decided to send at once to Derby, and
the result proves how wise her decision was, for she is relieved from
the annoyance of having him, and he is placed in such a position that he
cannot embarrass her new Government when it is formed. Derby went to
Palmerston, invited him to join and to bring Gladstone and Sidney
Herbert with him. On their declining he gave it up, and Her Majesty then
sent for Lord Lansdowne.
Last night the Duke of Newcastle defended himself in the House of Lords
against John Russell, and replied to his statements in the House of
Commons, and did it very successfully, carrying the House with him. The
whole affair, as it is gradually evolved, places John Russell in a
disgraceful and odious light, and ought to demolish him as a public man,
for he has shown himself to be actuated by motives of pique, personal
ambition, and mortified vanity, and to have been insincere, vacillating,
uncandid, and untruthful. The Duke's statement was crushing, and appears
to me not to admit of a rejoinder. It ought to cover him and his
wretched clique with confusion; but they will probably attempt to brazen
it out, and doggedly to insist that John was justified in all he did.
The discussion last night was very characteristic of Derby. If ever
there was an occasion in which seriousness and gravity seemed to be
required of a man in his position, it would seem to be that of last
night; but his speech was nothing but jeering at the late Cabinet and
chaffing Newcastle; it was really indecent, but very smart and funny, if
it had not been so unbefitting the occasion.
_February 4th._--No one can remember such a state as the town has been
in for the last two days. No Government, difficulties apparently
insurmountable, such confusion, such excitement, such curiosity,
everybody moving about craving for news, and rumour with her hundred
tongues scattering every variety of statement and conjecture. At last
the crisis seems to be drawing to a conclusion. The Queen has behaved
with admirable sense of her constitutional obligations. When Aberdeen
took down his resignation, she told him she had made up her mind what to
do, that she had looked at the list of the division, and found that the
majority which had turned out her Government was composed principally of
Lord Derby's adherents, and she should therefore send for him. Aberdeen
said a few words rather discouraging her; but she said, though Lord
Palmerston was evidently the popular man, she thought, according to
constitutional practice, Lord Derby was the man she ought to send for.
It has been seen how Derby failed; then she sent for Lord Lansdowne,
whom she desired to consult different people and see what their opinions
and inclinations were, and report them to her. This was on Friday. He
did so and made his report, after which, on the same principle which had
decided her to send for Derby, she resolved to send for John Russell,
his followers having been the next strongest element of the victorious
majority. Accordingly, on Friday night or early yesterday morning, she
placed the formation of a Government in his hands. He accepted it, and
began by applying to Palmerston, offering him any office he chose to
take. Palmerston did not refuse, but his acquiescence seems to have been
of a hesitating and reluctant kind, and nothing was definitely settled
between them. Gladstone and Sidney Herbert, and afterwards Graham,
decidedly refused; Clarendon desired to have some hours to consider of
it. However, the result of his applications was so unfavourable that
last night he considered his attempt virtually at an end, though he had
not actually given it up this morning, and some further communication
was taking place between him and Clarendon, which was to be decisive. As
soon as this is over, the Queen will play her last card, and have
recourse to _the man of the people!_--to Palmerston, whom they are
crying out for, and who, they fondly imagine, is to get us out of all
our difficulties. From all I hear, I think he will make a Government,
because he really wishes and is determined to do it, and many of the
most important who would not join John Russell will join him. In the
course of to-day I imagine it will all be settled. The impression made
by Newcastle's speech against Lord John has been prodigious, far greater
and more general than I imagined, and it is confidently affirmed that,
if he had taken office and stood again for the City, he would have been
beaten. He still shows fight against Newcastle, and intended to have
answered him and vindicated himself in the House of Commons yesterday,
if he had not been detained so long by the Queen that the hour was up
when he got there. He means to return to the charge to-morrow. In the
course of all these transactions he urged Lansdowne himself to take the
Government, and offered to continue at the Council Office and lead the
House of Commons, or to take no office at all, and give him independent
support in the House of Commons, or to go to the House of Lords and give
him his best assistance there; but Lord Lansdowne declined all these
offers.
_February 5th._--I have often had occasion to remark on the difficulty
of avoiding making false or erroneous statements in affairs like those I
am treating of, for the reports which we hear from different people
generally vary considerably, and sometimes the same thing repeated by
the same person varies also; not that there is any intention to
misrepresent or mislead, but circumstances apparently trifling are
narrated differently according as the narrator has been impressed by, or
remembers them, and thus errors creep in and accumulate, and at last it
becomes difficult to reconcile statements that have become conflicting
by degrees. However, I can only jot down what I hear, and reconcile the
accounts afterwards as well as I can. Yesterday afternoon I saw
Clarendon, who confirmed his refusal to join Lord John, but with some
slight difference as to the details. He said he had spoken very openly
to him, but so gravely and quietly that he could not take offence, and
he did not. It was not till he received Clarendon's final refusal that
he wrote to the Queen and threw up his commission.
LORD PALMERSTON TAKES OFFICE.
Her Majesty had seen Palmerston the day before, and told him if Lord
John failed she should send for him, and accordingly she did so
yesterday evening. Palmerston had told Lord John, as soon as he received
the commission he should go to him. At present he has only invited
Clarendon and Charles Wood (Whigs) to join him. Clarendon of course is
ready, but Charles Wood demurs, and insists that unless Lord John will
take office in the Government he cannot join, and that the whole thing
will be a failure. Lord John is very averse to take office, and the more
averse because he must then go to the House of Lords, for of course he
cannot remain in the Commons, not leading it. The Duke of Bedford has
been here in a grand quandary, seeing all sorts of difficulties, and in
fact they spring up on every side. He agrees with Lord John, but was
shaken by the arguments of Wood, which are backed up by George Grey and
Panmure. I argued vehemently against Wood's view, and strongly advised
Lord John's not taking office, and I convinced the Duke, who is gone
back to Lord John to talk it all over with him again. On the other hand,
the Peelites want the Government to be restored, with Aberdeen again at
the head of it, and it is very questionable whether they will join at
all, and, if they do, not without much difficulty and negotiation, which
will at least consume valuable time. In short, at this moment the
formation of a Palmerston Government, which was to be so easy, is a
matter of enormous difficulty. The Queen wrote a civil and even kind
answer to Lord John's note giving the task up.
_February 6th._--Great disappointment and dismay yesterday, the Peelites
having refused to form part of Palmerston's Government. Graham,
Gladstone, and Sidney Herbert all declined unless Aberdeen formed a part
of it. Sidney Herbert was very willing to join, but would not separate
himself from Gladstone, who was deaf to all entreaties and
remonstrances. It is believed that Graham is the one who has persuaded
Gladstone to take this course. Aberdeen is anxious, or pretends to be
so, that they should join, and Newcastle certainly is. What Gladstone
says is, that unless Aberdeen is in the Cabinet he can have no security
that his (Aberdeen's) principles will be acted on, and that he may not
be called upon to be a party to measures, relating either to war or
peace, of which he disapproves. However, I have only heard second hand
what he says in conversation with others. It has been in vain
represented to him that there will be an explosion of indignation
against them all in the country for refusing their aid at such a crisis,
and their conduct will never be forgiven. All this, he says, he is aware
of, but his objections stand on too high ground to be shaken. Palmerston
means not to be baffled, and, failing the Peelites, to turn to the Whigs
and make the best Government he can. His popularity, which is really
extraordinary, will carry him through all difficulties for the present.
It was supposed that his popularity had been on the wane, but it is
evident that, though he no longer stands so high as he did in the House
of Commons, and those who know him can easily see he is not the man he
was, in the country there is just the same fancy for him and sanguine
opinion of him as ever. John Russell made a rejoinder to Newcastle in
the House of Commons last night--a plausible speech enough, and it
served to set his friends and the Brooks's Whigs crowing again, and
saying he had made out a complete case; but I do not see that it made
his case a bit better than before. All who are at all behind the scenes
are aware of the fallacies and deceptions in which his statements
abound, and that they are of a nature that may not be exposed.
THE PALMERSTON ADMINISTRATION.
_February 7th._--Yesterday Aberdeen and Newcastle, particularly the
latter, renewed their endeavours to prevail on Gladstone to give up his
scruples and to join the Government, and at last they succeeded, and in
the evening Palmerston was able to announce that he had accomplished his
task and the Government was formed. John Russell, on his side, pressed
all his Whig friends to unite with Palmerston, and by these means the
difficulties were gradually overcome. Lord Lansdowne would not take the
Council Office, but agreed to be the organ of the Government in the
House of Lords, though he seems afraid this should be thought to have
committed him to more trouble and responsibility than he is inclined to
take, and it is only a sort of quasi-leadership that he will own to. I
find the Queen did propose to him to form a Government, and under
certain conditions he was not unwilling to undertake it, but of course
he much prefers the present arrangement. It is admitted on all hands
that both Aberdeen and Newcastle have behaved very well, and done all in
their power to facilitate Palmerston's arrangements. It is, however,
much to be regretted that these Peelites have acted in concert and _as a
party_, and I see from the fact a vast deal of embarrassment and
opposition to the Government in prospect. Already the Derbyites are
sulky and angry to the greatest degree, and the Whigs not a little
indignant that so much anxiety has been shown to get Gladstone and his
friends, and such a high price paid for them; and the fact of their
forming so large and important a part of the Government will secure the
fierce hostility of the Derbyites, and make the support of the Whigs
very lukewarm. The latter, too, will be influenced by John Russell, who,
in spite of his present professions of amity and promises of support, is
sure to be very soon a _frondeur_, and then in open and direct
opposition. He told Clarendon 'he meant to give his best support to the
Government.' Clarendon said, 'You do; well, at what do you think I value
your support?' 'What?' he asked. 'Not one sixpence.' '_At first_
Palmerston will meet with no opposition to signify; if he does, he has
only to dissolve, and the country will give him a majority. But
opposition will gather about him soon enough; extravagant expectations
are raised of the good he is to do and the great acts he is to perform,
all which will only lead to disappointment and mortification. If the
luck which for many years accompanied him should do so still, and some
unexpected success crown his administration, he may thus gain a great
position; but it is idle to depend on the chapter of accidents and,
according to all human probability, he is destined to carry on a
disastrous war or to make a peace (the wisest thing he can do) which
will be humiliating, because so wholly incommensurate with our
extravagant expectations and ridiculous pretensions. However, if any man
can make such a peace it is Palmerston, and it is much better that
Aberdeen should have no concern with the Government, for it would be
much more difficult if he was in the Cabinet, and supposed to have any
hand in it.[1]
[Footnote 1: The Administration formed by Lord Palmerston was composed
as follows:--
First Lord of the Treasury Viscount Palmerston
Lord Chancellor Lord Cranworth
Lord President Earl Granville
Lord Privy Seal Duke of Argyll
Home Secretary Sir George Grey
Foreign Secretary Earl of Clarendon
Colonial Secretary Right Hon. Sidney Herbert (and, on
his resignation, Lord John
Russell)
Secretary at War Lord Panmure
Chancellor of the Exchequer Mr. Gladstone (and, on his
resignation, Sir G. Cornewal
Lewis)
Board of Control Sir Charles Wood
First Lord of the Admiralty Sir James Graham (and, on his
resignation, Sir Charles Wood,
who was replaced at the Board of
Control by Mr. Vernon Smith)
Board of Trade Right Hon. E. Cardwell (and, on
his resignation, Lord Stanley of
Alderley)
Postmaster General Viscount Canning
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Earl of Carlisle
Woods and Forests Sir Benjamin Hall.]
_February 8th._--Now that all is settled there is a momentary lull, and
people are considering what sort of an arrangement it is, and how it is
likely to succeed. Many of those who know better what Palmerston really
is than the ignorant mob who shout at his heels, and who have humbugged
themselves with the delusion that he is another Chatham, entertain grave
apprehensions that the thing will prove a failure, and that Palmerston's
real capacity will be exposed and his _prestige_ destroyed. Some wish
for a dissolution while his popularity is still undiminished, fancying
it will give him a sure majority and will protect him against any
change of opinion; but, unless the Derbyites give him an opportunity by
some vexatious opposition, he can hardly dissolve, and if he did, though
he would gain by it for a time, any change of opinion that might take
place would be found no less in the House of Commons than in the
country.
LORD JOHN RUSSELL'S MISSION TO VIENNA.
_February 13th._--The political wheel turns rapidly round, and strange
events occur, none more remarkable than John Russell's career during the
last month, and the unexpected positions in which he successively
appears. A few weeks ago breaking up his own Government, deeply
offending colleagues and friends, and making himself generally odious,
then trying to form a Government and finding nobody willing to act with
him; he appeared to be in the most painful position of isolation, and
everybody expected that his anomalous and unsatisfactory state would
render him mischievous, and soon conduct him into a troublesome
opposition to the Government. Very differently have matters turned out.
He began by evincing a good and friendly spirit, and scarcely is the
Government formed, when Clarendon proposes to him to go to Vienna as
Plenipotentiary to treat for peace, and John at once accepts the offer,
and yesterday morning his mission was publicly announced. It was a happy
stroke of Clarendon's in all ways, and it was wise in Lord John to
accept it, for it has all the appearance of a patriotic and unselfish
act, will cause his recent misdeeds to be forgotten, and replace him in
the high situation from which he was fallen. It is a very good thing for
him to be thus withdrawn from Parliament for a time. There he is always
in danger of saying and doing something foolish or rash, and it will
leave his followers in a condition to attach themselves to the
Government without abandoning their allegiance to him, which will
relieve all parties from embarrassment.[1]
[Footnote 1: The Conference of the Great Powers which was to open at
Vienna, to which Lord John Russell was sent as British Plenipotentiary,
had been convoked for the purpose of negotiating on the basis of the
four points which contained the demands of the belligerent Allies and
had been accepted as a basis of negotiation by the Emperor of Russia.
These points were as follows:--
1. That Russia should abandon all control over Moldavia, Wallachia, and
Servia.
2. That Russia should relinquish her claims to control the mouths of the
Danube.
3. That all Treaties calculated to give Russia a preponderance in the
Black Sea should be abrogated.
4. That Russia should renounce the claim she made to an exclusive right
to protect the Christians in the Ottoman Dominions.
It was on the third of these points that the principal difficulty of the
negotiation arose, and that the Conference failed to conclude a
peace.]
_February 17th._--Palmerston presented himself to the House of Commons
last night for the first time as Minister, and not apparently with a
very brilliant prospect of success. He made a tolerable speech, giving a
rather meagre account of the formation of his Government, with the usual
promises of vigour. The great point he had to handle was the disposal of
Roebuck's Committee, which he is determined, if he can, to get rid of.
The success of this, his first great operation, seems very doubtful. One
man after another got up and declared he should vote for its going on.
Roebuck insists on it; and Disraeli announced his determined opposition
to any attempt to quash it. If Palmerston fights the battle and is
beaten, he must try what a dissolution will do for him; and I think the
success of it would be very doubtful, for, in spite of all the clamour
that was raised by his name, and his apparently vast popularity in the
country, it looks as if it was of a very shadowy, unsubstantial kind,
and would very likely be found wanting at a general election. The temper
of the House seems to be anything but good, and unless we are very soon
cheered and encouraged by much better accounts from the Crimea, this
Government will not fare much better than the last. The 'Times' is going
into furious opposition, and Palmerston will soon find the whole press
against him except his own paper, the 'Morning Post,' and the 'Morning
Chronicle,' neither of which have any circulation or any influence in
the country. The whole conduct of the 'Times' is a source of great
vexation to me, for I am to the last degree shocked and disgusted at its
conduct and the enormous mischief that it is endeavouring to do; and I
have for many years had intimate personal relations with its editor,
which I do not well know how to let drop, and I am at the same time not
satisfied that their unbroken maintenance is consistent with the
feelings I entertain, and which ought to be entertained, towards the
paper.
ROEBUCK'S COMMITTEE ACCEPTED.
_February 19th._--The Government have determined to knock under about
Roebuck's Committee, and they would have done much better to have done
so at first. What they are now doing will not strengthen them or avert
future attacks; but the state of the House of Commons is such that
nothing but some very unexpected turn can enable them to go on long.
Palmerston has no authority there, the House is in complete confusion
and disorganisation, and, except the Derbyites, who are still numerous
and act together in opposition, in hopes of getting into power, nobody
owns any allegiance or even any party ties, or seems to care for any
person or any thing. There seems a general feeling of distrust and
dissatisfaction, and, except the scattered Radicals and Revolutionists,
who wish to upset everything, nobody seems to know what he would be at,
or what object he wishes to attain. For the first time in my life I am
really and seriously alarmed at the aspect of affairs, and think we are
approaching a period of real difficulty and danger. The press, with the
'Times' at its head, is striving to throw everything into confusion, and
running a muck against the aristocratic element of society and of the
Constitution. The intolerable nonsense and the abominable falsehoods it
flings out day after day are none the less dangerous because they are
nonsense and falsehoods, and, backed up as they are by all the regular
Radical press, they diffuse through the country a mass of inflammatory
matter, the effect of which may be more serious and arrive more quickly
than anybody imagines. Nothing short of some loud explosion will make
the mass of people believe that any serious danger can threaten a
Constitution like our's, which has passed through so many trials and
given so many proofs of strength and cohesion. But we have never seen
such symptoms as are now visible, such a thorough confusion and
political chaos, or the public mind so completely disturbed and
dissatisfied and so puzzled how to arrive at any just conclusions as to
the past, the present, or the future. People are furious at the untoward
events in the Crimea, and cannot make out the real causes thereof, nor
who is to blame, and they are provoked that they cannot find victims to
wreak their resentment on. The dismissal of Aberdeen and Newcastle seems
an inadequate expiation, and they want more vengeance yet, hence the cry
for Roebuck's absurd Committee. Then, after clamouring for Palmerston
from a vague idea of his vigour, and that he would do some wonderful
things, which was founded on nothing but the recollection of his former
bullying despatches and blustering speeches, they are beginning to
suspect him; and the whole press, as well as the malignants in the House
of Commons, tell them that they have gained very little, if anything, by
the change, and they are told that it is not this or that Minister who
can restore our affairs, but a change in the whole system of government,
and the substitution of plebeians and new men for the leaders of parties
and members of aristocratic families, of whom all Governments have been
for the most part composed. What effect these revolutionary doctrines
may have on the opinions of the people at large remains to be seen; but
it is evident that the 'Times,' their great propagator, thinks them
popular and generally acceptable, or they would not have plunged into
that course.
I sat next to Charles Wood at dinner yesterday and had much talk with
him on the state of affairs, and found that he takes just the same view
that I do, and for the first time he is alarmed also, and so, he told
me, is Sir George Grey. He talked much about Raglan, and said that the
Government had been placed in the most unfair position possible, it
being impossible to throw the blame of anything that had occurred on
him, or even to tell the truth, which was that, so far from his making
any exertions to repair the evils so loudly complained of, and sending
away inefficient men, he never admitted there were any evils at all, or
that any of his people were inefficient, or anything but perfect; and he
said that Raglan had never asked for anything the want of which had not
been anticipated by the Government here, and in no instance was anything
required by him which had not been supplied a month or more before the
requisition came. Palmerston, too, said to me that nothing could exceed
the helplessness of the military authorities there; that they seemed
unable to devise anything for their own assistance, and they exhibited
the most striking contrast to the navy, who, on all emergencies, set to
work and managed to find resources of all sorts to supply their
necessities or extricate themselves from danger.
THE PEELITES RESIGN.
_February 20th._--Nothing certainly could be more mortifying than the
reception Palmerston met from the House of Commons on the first night
when he presented himself as Minister, nothing more ungracious or more
disheartening. His entreaty to _postpone_ the Committee was received
with a sort of scorn and manifestation of hostility and distrust. His
position was at once rendered to the last degree painful and difficult.
He cannot avert the Committee, he cannot submit to it without deep
humiliation; many of his colleagues are supposed to shrink from the
disgrace of such a submission and to prefer any alternative to it.
Already there is a general impression that this Government cannot last
long; nobody thinks they would gain anything by a dissolution, the
result of one would be uncertain; but the probability seems to be that
the Conservatives would gain and the Radicals likewise, while the Whigs
would lose, and Peelites and Moderates would be scattered to the winds.
We should most likely see a Parliament still more ungovernable than
this, unless a widespread alarm in the country should rally the whole
Conservative and anti-revolutionary element to Derby and his party,
which would bring them all into office for a time. Palmerston spoke much
better last night than the first night, and with a good deal of spirit
and force; but he has a very uphill game to play, and must already be
aware how fleeting his popularity was, and on what weak foundations it
was built.
_February 23rd._--Graham, Gladstone, and Sidney Herbert have resigned,
greatly to the disgust and indignation of their colleagues, to the
surprise of the world at large, and the uproarious delight of the Whigs
and Brooks's Club, to whom the Peelites have always been odious. These
stupid Whigs were very sorry Palmerston did not leave them out when he
formed his Government, and take whomever he could get instead of them;
and they are entirely indifferent to the consideration that the greater
part of the brains of the Cabinet is gone out with these three, that it
is exceedingly difficult to fill their places, and that we exhibit a sad
spectacle to all Europe, with our Ministerial dissensions and
difficulties and the apparent impossibility of forming anything like a
stable Government. The first thing done was to send off for John Russell
at Paris, and ask him if he would come back and join the Government.
Cardwell was offered the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, which he
refused. It is much to be regretted that these Peelites do not now
dissolve themselves as _a party_ and make up their minds to act
independently and according to their several opinions and circumstances.
Aberdeen much disapproves of the exodus of the three, and was very
anxious Cardwell should accept; but he does not choose to separate
himself from the rest.
_February 24th._--Never was I more surprised than when I heard that John
Russell had accepted the Colonial Office and joins the Government, still
continuing in the House of Commons, and of course acting under
Palmerston. When we think of all he has been doing for the last two
years, his discontent at being in a subordinate capacity though still
leader of the House of Commons, and the various pranks he has played in
consequence thereof, it is inconceivable that he should consent not only
to take office under Palmerston, but to serve under him in the House of
Commons. But it is impossible not to give him credit for patriotic
motives in making such a sacrifice of personal pride and vanity. What
his conduct may be if the Government lasts long enough to allow him to
come home and take his place in it, may be considered doubtful. Last
night the retiring Ministers gave their explanations--Graham in a very
good speech; Gladstone was too diffuse, and Sidney Herbert feeble, but
coming after Graham they had nothing new to say. There is much to be
said for and much against their conduct. If they had accepted office
under Palmerston with the condition that he should try and get rid of
the Committee and that they should retire in case he failed, there would
have been nothing to say, because without doubt they ought not to hold
high offices while a Committee of the House of Commons is sitting in
judgement on their conduct; but the whole course of proceeding is so
anomalous, and the exigencies of the time are so great and peculiar,
that on the whole I think they ought to have stayed in. Palmerston
speaks almost every night, and his speeches do not read amiss; but
everybody says they are feeble and flat, and nothing at present
indicates anything like stability or a long existence to the present
Government. The tone of the House of Commons last night was on the whole
rather pacific than not. Bright made an admirable speech, the peroration
of which was very eloquent.
SIR GEORGE LEWIS CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER.
_February 25th._--This morning George Lewis came to me very early and
told me Palmerston had proposed to him to be Chancellor of the
Exchequer; he set forth very fairly all the reasons for and against
accepting. We discussed the whole subject, and I asked him whether he
felt sufficient confidence in himself to undertake an office of such
vast importance, whether he had sufficiently turned his attention to
financial matters and had mastered the principles and details of
finance. He said he thought he was sufficiently versed therein to
undertake it, having given much attention to taxation and its
principles, and to political economy generally, though he did not know
much about the Funds, but supposed sufficient knowledge about them was
easily attainable. Finally I advised him to accept, and he said he
should make up his mind to do so. So the Admiralty, Colonial Office, and
Exchequer are settled. There is much difficulty and much discussion and
difference of opinion about some of the other places. They are very
wisely going to take in Laing, but very unwisely will not give a place
to Lowe, who, if left out, will contrive to do them some damage.
Granville has moved Heaven and earth to get Lowe an office, but
Palmerston and others set their faces against him. Lansdowne has most
unreasonably and unwisely insisted on Vernon Smith being taken in, and
it is at present intended to make him President of the Board of Control.
He is very unpopular and totally useless, and just the man they ought
not to take in; while Lowe is just the man they ought, to meet the
prevailing sentiment about old connexions and new men.
DEATH OF THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS.
_March 2nd._--News just arrived that the Emperor of Russia is dead. John
Russell had telegraphed from Berlin that he was given over. This great
and unexpected event must have the most important consequences whether
for peace or for war. A disputed succession is not impossible, as it has
long been reported that the Grand Duke Constantine was disposed to
contest the succession with the Cesarewitch, but this will probably turn
out to be a fable. It is supposed that the new Emperor has been all
along inclined to peace, and that he was in disgrace with his father on
that account. If this be true, it renders it still more probable that he
will be anxious to put an end to this destructive and dangerous war, and
the Allied Powers may be less exacting with him than they were disposed
to be with the late Emperor. On the other hand, should the war unhappily
continue, the death of Nicholas is likely to damp the ardour of the
Russians and to relax their exertions, so that we can hardly fail to
profit by it. Clarendon is gone over to Boulogne to confer with the
Emperor Napoleon.
There seems something like a lull here for the moment, and less of
excitement and violence than there was. Palmerston has not been in
office a fortnight, and already he is enormously _baissé_; his speeches
night after night are miserable. The truth is, he never had any power as
a debater, and he is out of his element as leader in the House of
Commons, where he has to answer everybody, to speak on every subject,
and to be continually debating more or less. He has made a few great
speeches, prepared, and on his own subject of foreign affairs, and every
now and then a smart chaffing retort which excited the hilarity of the
House, and that has been all he could do. Then he seems supine and
undecided; he does not fill up the vacant places or seemingly endeavour
to do so, and he does not put good men in the places he does fill up,
all of which does him harm in general estimation. Clarendon has told
Lady Palmerston very frankly that he will soon ruin himself in public
opinion if he goes on in this way. Few things are more extraordinary
than the notion that was abroad of Palmerston's fitness and efficacy.
Never was there a greater delusion, and never one that is so rapidly
being dissipated.
_March 10th._--It is remarkable that, though seven days have elapsed
since the news of the death of the Emperor of Russia reached us, and
that we heard of it by electric telegraph the very day it happened, we
are still without authentic and detailed information of what has since
occurred at St. Petersburg; and of the manifesto of the new Emperor,
which is looked for with so much curiosity, we have only a partial
extract or imperfect summary, so that we have still no means of judging
whether the chances of peace are improved by the accession of Alexander
II.
Palmerston's Government does not seem to take root or gain much
strength; every day seems to prove the more clearly that he is unfit for
the task he has taken on himself. He inspires neither respect nor
confidence, and is totally unable to manage the House of Commons; his
speeches are feeble and bad, and he is not always prudent and
conciliatory, but, on the contrary, pettish and almost offensive. He
finds great difficulty in filling the vacant offices, and he evinces
much want of tact and good management in his endeavours to do so,
offering and retracting his offers in a very loose way. For example, he
offered Sir Robert Peel the Clerkship of the Ordnance, which he
accepted; and then he found Monsell did not mean to resign it, so he had
to withdraw the offer. Then he told him he should be Colonial
Under-Secretary if John Russell would consent. John Russell would not
consent, and then he offered him a seat at the Admiralty. Sir Robert in
some dudgeon demurred, and Palmerston, inferring from his ill humour
that he would not take this place, offered it to Henry Brand, who
accepted, desired his writ might be moved for, and went to the railway
station to go down to the place he represented. Just as he was starting,
a messenger arrived with a letter from Palmerston saying Sir Robert Peel
had taken the Admiralty, so he could not have it, and the gentleman had
to return home without any office at all. This is a sad way of doing
business, and will not make him more popular. Grenville Berkeley
(whipper-in) told me he thought Palmerston was doing rather better
latterly and that there was a better disposition in the House of
Commons; but Jonathan Peel, who is a shrewd, dispassionate observer, and
tolerably impartial, though with no good will to the present Government,
told me a different story. He says the Government is as weak as
possible, Palmerston wretched, and the House of Commons ill disposed and
unruly, and he thinks it absolutely impossible that this concern can
last many weeks. The Derbyites are quite confident of forcing their way
to office, and quite determined to do so; but it is their game to damage
the present Government as much as possible, and they will do everything
in opposition but what may recoil upon themselves after they have got
into office, and no other consideration will restrain them. I regard
with the utmost dislike the prospect of their return, because I think
their conduct so monstrously unprincipled. I hear Gladstone is very much
out of humour, and expect soon to see him and his small band in overt
opposition to the Government. Many fancy that it will end in his joining
Derby, but so do not I. I am not sure that he would be indisposed if a
proper occasion presented itself, but I do not believe any consideration
or any circumstances whatever would induce the Derbyites to admit him
again into their party. Their indignation--that is, of a great many of
them--was unbounded at Derby having offered him office the other day,
and at the great meeting at Eglinton's such manifestations of resentment
were made on that account as to make it nearly impossible (for in these
days nothing is quite impossible) for any future attempt at
reconciliation and reunion to be made.
_March 11th._--A fresh shuffling of the cards is being arranged by which
Frederick Peel is to go to the Treasury, _vice_ Wilson, Vice President
of the Board of Trade; Sir Robert to the War Department, _vice_ his
brother; and Henry Brand to the Admiralty. Palmerston seemed to consider
all the blunders he made about these offices rather a good joke than a
mischievous _gaucherie_. 'Ha, ha!' he said, 'a Comedy of Errors.' George
Lewis told me this morning he thinks the temper of the House of Commons
more favourable, and, if he can succeed in producing a palateable
Budget, that they may get on; he told me the revenue was extremely
flourishing and the country very rich, but the expenses are enormous. He
means to meet them by a loan, but the question is of what amount, and
how much of the additional expense shall be provided by it. He will want
ninety millions to cover the whole.
LORD CLARENDON AND THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON.
Clarendon was much pleased with his visit to the Emperor, who talked to
him very frankly and unreservedly about everything. They lit their
cigars and sat and talked with the greatest ease. He said the Emperor
spoke to him about the English press, and all he said was sensible and
true; that he was aware that a free press was a necessity in England,
and as indispensable as the Constitution itself, and that he had
hitherto believed that the editors of the principal newspapers had the
good of their country at heart, and always acted from conscientious
motives; but that he could no longer entertain that opinion. The press
during the past months, and the 'Times' particularly, had done an
incalculable amount of mischief to England and to the alliance between
us. The effect produced by their language in Germany was most injurious,
and of service only to Russia. When the English papers talked of their
own country in the way they did, of its degradation and disgrace, its
maladministration, the ruin of its military power, and the loss of all
that makes a nation great and powerful, though he (the Emperor) knew
what all this meant, and how much or how little of truth there was in
such exaggerated statements, yet in France they were generally believed,
and it became very difficult for him to reconcile the nation to an
alliance for which he was reproached with making sacrifices and shaping
his policy in accordance with our's, when it was evident from our own
showing that our alliance was not worth having, and our impotence was so
exposed that, whenever peace should put an end to the necessity of the
alliance, we should be entirely at their mercy; and while such was the
feeling in France, in Germany it was still stronger, and there the
'Times' had succeeded in creating a universal conviction that we are in
the lowest condition of weakness and inefficiency: at all of which he
expressed the greatest regret. I was surprised to hear Clarendon say
that he did not believe the resources of Russia to carry on the contest
to be in any sensible degree exhausted, that her commerce had not
suffered at all, and as to her finances she could go on for a good while
with her paper money and the gold which, in a certain quantity, she drew
from the Ural Mountains.[1]
[Footnote 1: In justice to the conductors of the 'Times' it must be
said that although the language of the paper was violent and extremely
annoying to the Government and its Allies, yet it was by the power and
enterprise of the press that the deplorable state of the army was
brought to the knowledge of the public and even of Ministers themselves;
and it was by the 'Times' that the first steps were taken to supply the
deficiencies of the Administration. The fund raised by voluntary
contributions for this purpose amounted to 25,000_l._ and competent
persons were sent out to apply it to the most pressing wants of the
army.]