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LORD LYONS
A RECORD OF BRITISH DIPLOMACY
BY
LORD NEWTON
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOLUME I
WITH PORTRAITS
LONDON
EDWARD ARNOLD
1913
All rights reserved
PREFACE
It was the practice of the late Lord Lyons to preserve carefully the whole of his correspondence, whether official, semi-official, or private, and upon his death this accumulation of papers passed into the possession of his nephew, the present Duke of Norfolk.
I have been able to draw to some extent upon my own diary and recollections of the five years (1881-1886) during which I served as a member of Lord Lyons's staff at the Paris Embassy, but that period represents only a very small portion of his official career, and it is from the above mentioned papers that this work has been almost entirely compiled. All the material was placed unreservedly at my disposal, and I desire to make full acknowledgment of this mark of confidence. I desire also to express my gratitude to the numerous persons who have readily given their consent to the publication of important letters in which they possess a proprietary interest: notably to Emily Lady Ampthill, Lord Clarendon, Lord Derby, Lady Granville, Lady Ermyntrude Malet, Lord Rosebery, the Hon. Rollo Russell, Lord Salisbury, and Lord Sanderson.
I am indebted to Mr. J. F. Marshall and Mr. Alan Parsons for their assistance in sifting the enormous mass of documents found at Norfolk House, and to the Hon. Arnold Keppel for a service rendered at a subsequent period. Finally, I have to thank Mrs. Wilfrid Ward for an interesting contribution entitled "Lord Lyons in private life," containing personal details only available to a near relative.
NEWTON.
October, 1913.
CONTENTS OF VOL. I
[CHAPTER I]
Early Life
Early Life—Enters Diplomatic Service, 1839—Appointed unpaid attaché at Athens—Unfavourable prospects—Paid attaché at Rome, 1853—Condition of the Papal States—Life at Rome—Appointed Secretary of Legation at Florence—Question of the 'Tavola di Stato'—Sent to Naples to deal with the case of the Cagliari—Success of his mission and appointment as Minister at Florence—Succeeds to peerage on death of his father—Appointed Minister at Washington, 1858.
[CHAPTER II]
Washington
1859-1860
Arrival at Washington—Effect produced in America by the Franco-Austrian War—Feeling in America with regard to England—San Juan and Mexico—Rising passions between Northern and Southern States—Disclaimer of matrimonial intentions—Accompanies Prince of Wales on Canadian tour—Delight of President Buchanan at receiving a letter from Queen Victoria—Prince of Wales's visit to the United States.
[CHAPTER III]
Outbreak of Civil War—The 'Trent' Case
1860-1861
Crisis caused by election of President Lincoln—Mr. Seward as Secretary of State: his threatening language—Capture of Fort Sumter—Desirability of England and France acting in conjunction—Danger of an attack upon Canada—Growth of ill-feeling towards England—Effect of battle of Bull's Run—Mr. Seward on the essential difference between American policy and that of Foreign Nations—Seizure of a Foreign Office bag—British Consuls and the Confederate Government—The Trent incident: seizure of Messrs. Mason and Slidell—Lord Lyons's decision to maintain complete reserve—H.M. Government urged to provide for defence of Canada—Attitude of American public—Instructions of Her Majesty's Government—Mr. Seward's reception of the despatch—Liberation of Messrs. Mason and Slidell—Lord Lyons's consideration acknowledged by Mr. Seward—Advantage of occasional silence.
[CHAPTER IV]
Course of the Civil War
1862-1865
Course of the Civil War—Mr. Seward's altered policy towards England—Visit of the French Minister, M. Mercier, to the Confederate Headquarters—Lord Lyons declines to accompany him—Rumoured intention of France and England to mediate—Breakdown in health owing to overwork—Failure of French attempt at intervention—Dissatisfaction in Northern States—Indiscretion of a British Consul—Arbitrary proceedings of American cruisers—Lord Russell and the Alabama—Grievances of foreigners resident in the United States—Liability of British subjects to military service—Method of recruiting the Northern armies—Hardships of 'Volunteers'—The Bounty System—Surprising proposal by Mr. Seward—Reciprocity negotiations: Lord Lyons's objections to a Canadian representative—Difficulty of obtaining redress for aggrieved British subjects—Lord Lyons directed to proceed to Canada and to report on its defence—Return to Washington—Breakdown in health—The work at the Washington Legation—Proceeds to England—Retires temporarily from Diplomatic service owing to ill-health.
[CHAPTER V]
Constantinople
1865-1867
Offer and Acceptance of Constantinople Embassy—Sir Henry Bulwer—Comparative calm at Constantinople—Arrogance of French Ambassador, M. de Moustier—Lord Stratford de Redcliffe on Turkey—Sultan Abdul Aziz and his passion for ironclads—The Principalities: Prince Charles of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen chosen as Hereditary Prince—Difficulties relating to his Investiture—Crete: The Fortress of Belgrade—Lord Stanley on Greece—Russian policy towards Turkey—Pro-Russian proclivities of Napoleon III.—Projected visit of the Sultan to France and England—Mr. Hammond's apprehensions with regard to the Sultan—The Dragoman system at Constantinople—Appointed Ambassador at Paris.
[CHAPTER VI]
The Second Empire
1867-1869
Arrival at Paris—The Empress on the Roman Question—The Emperor's desire for a Conference—Mr. Odo Russell on erroneous French impressions with regard to the Papacy—Prince Napoleon on the probability of war with Germany—Credulity of the Emperor of Russia—Visit of Prince Napoleon to Germany: his impressions—Difficulties of Napoleon III.—General uneasiness in France and depression of Emperor—Suggested offer of throne of Spain to Duke of Edinburgh—Lord Clarendon's conversations with the King of Prussia and Moltke—Lord Clarendon and Napoleon III.—Lord Clarendon at the Foreign Office—Views of the Crown Prince of Prussia—Emperor's love of Conferences—The Luxemburg Railway affair—Apprehensions in England and Belgium of French designs—Views of Queen Victoria and Gladstone—Confidential instructions to Lord Lyons—Desire of Empress to visit India—Lord Lyons requested to vote on party question in House of Lords—Formation of Constitutional Administration under Emile Ollivier—Distrust of the Emperor.
[CHAPTER VII]
Secret Proposals for Disarmament
1870
Attempt by Lord Clarendon, at request of Count Daru, to induce the Prussian Government to partially disarm—Emile Ollivier on disarmament—Memorandum by Lord Clarendon communicated to Bismarck—Objections raised by Bismarck—Count Daru on Bismarck's arguments—Intended reduction of the French army—Second attempt by Lord Clarendon—Bismarck's final answer.
[CHAPTER VIII]
The Franco-German War
1870
Internal situation in France—Further military reduction sanctioned—The Plébiscite: general uneasiness—Official satisfaction at result of Plébiscite—Sycophantic diplomatists—Gramont appointed Foreign Minister—Official views respecting the value of British colonies—Accurate prophecy by Lord Clarendon—Death of Lord Clarendon: Lord Granville Foreign Secretary—The Hohenzollern Candidature—Explosion of Chauvinism—Lord Lyons's explanation of the manner in which the war was forced upon the Emperor Napoleon—Conduct of the Empress during the early stages of the war—Fall of the Empire: Thiers and Jules Favre—Thiers's mission—Malet's mission to Bismarck—Consent of Bismarck to receive a representation of the Provisional Government.
[CHAPTER IX]
The Government of National Defence
1870-1871
Departure from Paris to join Provisional Government at Tours—Chaudordy on cession of territory—Attempt of Gustave Flourens to overthrow the Government at Paris—Thiers's interviews with Bismarck—Bismarck and Les militaires—Gladstone on cession of territory—Denunciation by Russia of Black Sea clauses in Treaty of Paris—Question of Bismarck's connivance—French and German grievances against England—Lord Lyons joins Provisional Government at Bordeaux—Difficulty in securing a French Representation at Black Sea Conference—Revival of French hopes at close of 1870—Bombardment of Paris—Thiers willing to cede territory: his superiority to Jules Favre—Armistice—General election—Thiers's conduct of the Peace Negotiations—Peace conditions accepted—Outbreak of the Commune: Lord Lyons and other diplomatists go to Versailles—Malet and Paschal Grousset—Murder of the Archbishop of Paris and the hostages—Suppression of the Commune—Return to Paris.
LIST OF PLATES IN VOL. I
| FACING PAGE | |
| [Lord Lyons] | [Frontispiece] |
| From a photograph taken at Boston, U.S., in 1860 | |
| William Henry Seward | [32] |
| Prince Napoleon | [194] |
LORD LYONS
A RECORD OF BRITISH DIPLOMACY
CHAPTER I
EARLY LIFE
Born in 1817, Richard Bickerton Pemell Lyons, second Baron and first Viscount and Earl Lyons, eldest son of the distinguished Admiral Sir Edmund (subsequently first Baron Lyons), was apparently destined like his younger brother for a naval career, since at the age of ten he was already serving as an honorary midshipman. A sailor's life, however, must have been singularly uncongenial to a person of pronounced sedentary tastes whom nature had obviously designed for a bureaucrat; in after years he never alluded to his naval experiences, and it was probably with no slight satisfaction that the navy was exchanged for Winchester. From Winchester he proceeded to Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his degree in 1838, being apparently at that period a quiet, well-behaved, hard-working youth, living carefully upon a modest allowance, and greatly attached to his parents and family.
In the following year he entered the diplomatic service as unpaid attaché at Athens, where his father occupied the position of Minister. In 1844 he became a paid attaché at Athens, and passed thirteen uneventful years at that post.
At this stage of his career, prospects looked far from promising; he had started later than usual, being twenty-two at the period of his entry into the service; younger men were senior to him; he had had no opportunity of distinguishing himself at Athens, and as he laments in a letter to the Foreign Secretary, Lord Malmesbury, written in April, 1852, he felt 'mortified and humiliated that a man six years younger than himself had been passed over him as Secretary to the Legation in which he had served for thirteen years.' Promotion indeed seemed so remote that, having reached the age of thirty-five, he seriously contemplated abandoning diplomacy altogether.
As a matter of fact, there was no cause for uneasiness. In 1852 he was transferred as paid attaché to Dresden, and early in the following year received the gratifying intimation that Lord John Russell, who had been struck with his capacity, had appointed him paid attaché at Rome. 'What I mean for him,' wrote Lord John Russell, 'is to succeed Mr. Petre, and to conduct the Roman Mission, with £500 a year. If there were any post of Secretary of Legation vacant I should gladly offer it to him, as I have a very good opinion of him.' The importance of the post at Rome consisted in the fact that, whereas technically dependent on the Tuscan Mission at Florence, it was virtually semi-independent, and might easily form an excellent stepping-stone to higher and more important appointments if activity and discretion were displayed.
In June, 1853, Lyons started for his new post carrying despatches, and as an illustration of the conditions of travel upon the continent at that period, it is worth noticing that the expenses of his journey to Rome amounted to no less a sum than £102 3s. 3d., inclusive of the purchase and sale of a carriage, although no man was ever less prodigal of public money. Nor is there any record of any official objection to this somewhat alarming outlay.
In 1853 the Pontifical Government, exercising its sway over some 3,000,000 inhabitants of the Roman States, was in possession of no inconsiderable portion of the Italian peninsula, and presented the remarkable spectacle of a country jointly occupied by two foreign armies whose task it was to protect the Pope against his own subjects. With this object, 10,000 Austrians were stationed in the Ancona district, and 10,000 French troops in Rome, the latter paying their own expenses, but the former constituting a heavy charge upon the Holy Father with his embarrassed revenue and increasing deficit. The foreign policy of the Government was in the hands of Cardinal Antonelli, and not long after his arrival Lyons was able to write that in spite of 'his peculiar position' (unaccredited to the Government in Rome), and that in some quarters England is regarded as the natural enemy of the Papacy, I have found that notwithstanding a very strong opinion to the contrary, at Rome, as at most other places, one succeeds best by transacting one's business in the most plain and straightforward manner, and through the most direct channels. By acting on this principle and by being very quiet and unobtrusive, I think I have in part allayed the suspicions which are felt towards us always more or less at Rome, and I am certainly on a better footing with Cardinal Antonelli than I had at all expected to be.
The business between His Majesty's Government and that of Rome was not of an overpowering nature, and was chiefly concerned with the proposed establishment of regular diplomatic relations; with the alleged intention of the Papal Government to create a Hierarchy in Scotland, and with the inconvenient zeal of ardent Protestants in the Papal dominions. As regards the establishment of diplomatic relations it seems highly doubtful whether the Papal Government really desired to see a new Protestant Mission at Rome: Cardinal Antonelli disclaimed any intention of creating Roman Catholic Bishops in Scotland, but the religious activity of British subjects in the Pope's dominions was a constant source of petty troubles. It must be admitted, however, that it was singularly easy to fall out with the Papal Government. The importation of Bibles was forbidden, the distribution of tracts was punished with imprisonment; one man of English extraction was incarcerated for a lengthy period because, according to his own statements, he had not communicated with sufficient regularity; and there were over 600 political prisoners in gaol at Rome at the same time.
As for the official relations between England and the Papal Government they were friendly enough, and when the Crimean war broke out, feeling at the Vatican was strongly anti-Russian, for it was believed that whereas the Roman Catholic Church had nothing to fear from Protestants and Mussulmans, the Greek schism was a real and threatening danger.
The following letter addressed to his brother, Captain Lyons, gives a not uninteresting description of the life led in Rome by an unmarried diplomatist without much private means, and incidentally shows the deep affection which he entertained for his family.
Rome, January 3rd, 1855.
You may imagine what a relief to me it was, after reading your letter of the 18th, to see Admiral Dundas' arrival at Constantinople announced in the Malta paper. Your letter of the 3rd is almost, indeed I think quite, the most interesting I ever read. The only drawback to the delight all these letters are to me, is that you were still lying up. That I hope is over, and that you will be very prudent about it. We have now a weekly post from Constantinople and Malta, which is a great comfort. Mention all the details you can in your letters about the siege and operations by sea and land. The Malta papers bring nothing that can be depended upon. Besides the intense interest, it is a great advantage to me diplomatically to have good intelligence to communicate here, and is a great help to getting information, which is useful to me, on Roman matters. Details about Sir E. and yourself are always the most precious things you can write, and they cannot be too numerous or too minute.
My ménage consists of two men. I am obliged to have two, in order not to have to open the door myself, if I send one out. I have a good-sized sitting room, much better furnished than most Roman Lodgings, a second sitting room, which serves as Anteroom, and Breakfast Room, good Bedroom and a Dressing Room. I have very little sun, which I think an advantage, though in general it is thought the greatest of disadvantages—I breakfast at home, and dine with some of the other Diplomatists at a little quiet Table d'Hôte, where there is a very good dinner. In winter I dine out three or four times a week, and always spend the evening in society. I never do anything at all in the way of hospitality. With the immense number of English here, it would be impossible for me to get on, unless I made this rule. In summer I had some men occasionally to play at Whist, all of course Foreigners. I have taken my present lodging to the end of June. My hope is to go to England for two or three months about that time. I pay between 14 and £15 sterling a month for my apartment. It is in a capital situation—and a second floor. It is an admirable country for long rides, but very bad for short ones. The pavement of the Town is so slippery that it is dangerous to ride over it—most of the gates are at a very great distance, and after you pass them, you have a mile or two of stone wall, before you get out into the open country—which is beautiful and excellent for riding. The result is that I never do ride. Being almost the only Englishman here who has anything to do, beyond sight seeing and amusement, my hours do not suit my Countrymen. My great friend is a Count Gozze, Austrian Secretary of Legation. He is an old Dresden friend of mine. Rome is a very rainy place, which obliges me often to hire a carriage to go out in the evening. The hired carriages are good, but dear, about nine shillings for an evening. Lord Walpole is here—no one else I think that you know. I have scribbled all this because you ask me, and because little details about the writer (if one really cares for him) are generally the most interesting parts of letters, written where there are no great events going on. You would think me oldwomanish if I mentioned half my anxieties about you and my Father.
A few months later, the brother, Captain Lyons, an exceptionally promising and gallant naval officer, died of wounds received before Sebastopol.
In 1856 promotion came in the shape of the secretaryship of Legation at Florence, but he continued to be employed in Rome, and stood twenty-second on a list of twenty-four secretaries of Legation. His prospects of further advance did not appear reassuring, and in March 1857, he writes to his father (now a peer), 'My chance at present seems to rest almost entirely on Lord Clarendon's disposition to give practical effect to the good opinion he expresses of me. I should trust with more confidence to that, if he had not promoted six secretaries of Legation before me during my residence here, and afterwards offered me as promotion the post of Secretary of Legation at Florence. Had it not been for your visit to England at the critical moment, I should now have been no more than simple Secretary of Legation, doing nothing at Florence.'
In the autumn of 1857, Lord Normanby, Minister at Florence, having gone on leave, Lyons was sent to take his place, and, instead of having nothing to do, found himself at once involved in one of those trivial questions which so deeply exercised the diplomacy of a former generation, but which are now of rare occurrence.
Earlier in the year the Pope had paid a visit to Tuscany, and during his stay at Florence a banquet was held in his honour, to which the members of the diplomatic corps were invited. Much to their indignation they were not accommodated at the Tavola di Stato or Sovereign Table, where His Holiness was seated, and Lord Normanby, the British Minister, a K.G., Ex-Viceroy, and social magnate, considered that an apology was due from the Tuscan Government. Unfortunately for Lord Normanby, his colleagues, having previously agreed to support him, backed out of their undertaking, and the task of extracting an apology fell upon Lyons, for Lord Normanby had departed uttering dark threats that he would not return unless the apology was forthcoming. The Foreign Office took up the matter seriously, and for no less than three months an animated controversy was carried on, in the course of which 'The Tuscan authorities showed themselves so thoroughly wrongheaded that every time the subject was mentioned they said or did something which made it more difficult for them to go back,' and Lord Clarendon administered to them 'a severe rebuke.' Finally, whether owing to the severe rebuke or not, some sort of expression of regret was obtained; the injured Lord Normanby returned to his post, and Lyons resumed his duties at Rome. Whence he writes on March 6, 1858:—
The question of Reforms in the Papal Administration, which was so much agitated during the Pope's journey and immediately afterwards, appears to be entirely forgotten. The repressive measures which have been adopted in France since the attempt on the Emperor[1] would seem to render it difficult for H.M. to urge other sovereigns to Liberal reforms. The mode in which the intelligence of the attempt was received at Rome was shocking. One can hardly say that any class expressed horror: the lower people openly declared their regret that the crime had not been successful, and the middle classes took little pains to conceal that they shared this feeling. In fact the policy which is supposed to be adopted by France of coquetting with the Liberal Party, without doing anything serious in their favour, has alienated the sympathies of this part of Italy.
Reforms of a simple character were evidently urgently needed in the Papal Administration, for just about this time a Canadian bishop and other British tourists were openly plundered on the main road between Rome and Civita Vecchia.
The turning point in Lyons's fortunes may be said to have arrived when early in March he received orders from Lord Malmesbury to proceed to Naples to inquire into the case of the Cagliari.
The Cagliari was a mail steamer plying between Genoa, Sardinia and Tunis, and on June 25, a number of Mazzinians who had taken passage in her seized the master and the crew, altered the course of the vessel, landed at the Island of Ponza in Neapolitan territory, where they liberated three hundred political prisoners, and subsequently proceeded to Sapri, in the neighbourhood of Salerno. Here they again disembarked, expecting the inhabitants to rise in their favour, but encountered a superior force of Neapolitan troops who killed or captured the whole party, whilst the Cagliari was seized by Neapolitan warships as she was making her way ostensibly to Naples. Some weeks later it was ascertained that amongst the prisoners in Naples were two English engineers, Watt and Park by name, and it was stated that these two men were entirely ignorant of the conspiracy, and had been forced by the conspirators to work the engines under threats of being summarily shot if they refused. Under the circumstances, as was only natural, application was made by the British Government that they should at least have a fair trial, and that the acting Vice-Consul at Naples should be permitted to visit them in gaol.
Diplomatic relations between England and the Neapolitan Government having been suspended for some years, Lord Clarendon wrote himself direct to Signor Carafa, the Neapolitan Foreign Minister, in November, urging the necessity of dealing with the case in an equitable spirit, but with incredible perverseness and stupidity the Neapolitan Government continued to refuse upon one pretext or another either to release the men or to bring them to trial, or even to permit the Vice-Consul to visit them. In March, 1858, Watt and Park were still in gaol, and had been subjected to such abominable treatment that the health of both was completely broken down, and Watt had become partially insane. Under these circumstances, a change of government having in the meanwhile occurred in England, Lord Malmesbury directed Lyons to proceed at once to Naples and inquire into the case. Although the whole question had been considerably complicated, partly owing to a note of Sir James Hudson to the Sardinian Government having been unaccountably altered by a member of his staff, and partly owing to a rooted belief on the part of high Neapolitan legal authorities that engineers were responsible for a ship's course, the Lyons Mission soon bore fruit, and the two unfortunate Englishmen were both set free, nominally on bail, before the end of the month, it having become evident to every one that they were absolutely innocent. But the Neapolitan Government was by no means out of its difficulties. It was pointed out that as two innocent men had been imprisoned for nine months, and treated with great barbarity during the greater part of the time, they were entitled to an indemnity which was fixed at £3000. Worse was to follow, for, egged on by the Sardinian Government, the British Government put forward a demand that the Cagliari should be surrendered on the ground that its capture had been illegally effected. Both these demands were refused, and finally, in May, 1858, a special messenger was sent to Naples instructing Lyons to leave unless within ten days the Neapolitan Government consented to accept mediation, and stating that England would make common cause with Sardinia under certain circumstances.
The message could not have been an agreeable one to deliver, and what the Neapolitan Government disliked more than anything else was the appearance of yielding to Sardinia. 'Ah! s'il n'y avait que l'Angleterre!' had always been the expression used by Signor Carafa; but his Government had placed itself hopelessly in the wrong, and Lyons was able to report that the indemnity would be paid, and that the Cagliari had been placed 'at his disposal.' It was an additional satisfaction to him to add that: 'Far from threatening, I did not even go so far as my instructions warranted, for I did not say that His Majesty's Government proposed that the mediator should retire at the end of three months, nor did I tell Signor Carafa that I was myself ordered to go back to Rome if the mediation should be refused at the expiration of ten days.'
In spite of the unpleasant nature of this affair, Lyons contrived to remain on the very best of terms with the Neapolitan Ministers with whom he had to deal, and Lord Malmesbury was so favourably impressed with his tact and skill that he at once appointed him Minister at Florence. His professional future was now assured; but far greater honours were in store for him, for in November, 1858, came the offer of the Washington Legation, an offer which, with characteristic modesty, he accepted with considerable misgivings as to his competence. Nor could it be said that success had arrived with unusual rapidity, for he was already forty-one.
In the same month he succeeded to the peerage on the death of his father. His mother had died some years previously; his brother had perished in the Crimea, and the only remaining near relatives were his two sisters, one of whom was married to the Duke of Norfolk, and the other to a Bavarian gentleman, Baron von Würtzburg.