Footnotes:
[1] [Mr. Barnes was succeeded in the Editorship of the 'Times' by Mr. John Delane, then a young man of about four and twenty. It is unnecessary to remind the present generation with what assiduity, tact, and success he fulfilled the duties of his important position for more than thirty years. The friendly relations which had for some time subsisted between Mr. Greville and Mr. Barnes were strengthened and consolidated under the administration of his successor. Mr. Delane was well aware that he could nowhere meet with a more sagacious adviser or a more valuable ally. He owed to Mr. Greville his first introduction to political society, of which he made so excellent a use, and where he gradually acquired the esteem of men of all parties and a position which no editor of a newspaper had before enjoyed. The influence of the 'Times' newspaper during the ensuing ten or fifteen years can hardly be exaggerated, and, as compared with the present state of the press, it can hardly be conceived. Not a little of this influence was due to those who assisted the staff of the paper by information and counsel, derived from the best and highest sources both at home and abroad, and amongst these the author of these Diaries played an active and important part, some traces of which will from time to time be discovered in the pages of this work.]
[2] [The chief part in Racine's tragedy of 'Andromaque.']
[3] [This division was taken on Lord Sandon's motion against the reduction of the duty on foreign sugars, which was carried against the Government by a majority of 36 in a House of 598. On May 24 Sir Robert Peel moved a direct vote of non-confidence in Ministers, which was carried on June 4 by a majority of one—312 for the motion, 311 against it. On June 7 the intended dissolution of Parliament was announced by Lord John Russell.]
[4] [The terms of Sir R. Peel's Resolution were that 'Her Majesty's Ministers do not sufficiently possess the confidence of the House of Commons to enable them to carry through the House measures which they deem essential to the public welfare, and that their continuance in office under such circumstances is at variance with the spirit of the Constitution.']
[5] [The Ministry, being on the verge of dissolution, compelled Lord Plunket to resign the office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland in order to bestow it, with a peerage, on Sir John Campbell, the English Attorney-General. He went to Ireland and sat in Court a few times and then retired without a pension. But this was justly considered as one of the most outrageous jobs which any Government ever sanctioned. Lord Campbell afterwards filled much higher offices in England, and he presided for several years in the Court of Queen's Bench, and died Lord Chancellor.]
[6] Lord Robert Grosvenor, brother of the first Marquis of Westminster, afterwards Lord Ebury.
[7] [Lord Brougham had not heard the appeal, nor did Dr. Lushington sit on it, on account of their supposed intimacy with Alderman Wood, who was one of the principal legatees.]
[8] [The first Session of the New Parliament opened on August 24, the Whigs being still in office. Lord Ripon moved an Amendment to the Address in the House of Lords, which was carried by a majority of 72 against Ministers. In the House of Commons Ministers were defeated on the Address upon the 28th August by a majority of 91.]
[9] Sir Robert Peel's Administration was composed as follows:
| First Lord of the Treasury | Sir Robert Peel |
| Lord Chancellor | Lord Lyndhurst |
| Lord President | Lord Wharncliffe |
| Lord Privy Seal | Duke of Buckingham (and, on his retirement, the Duke of Buccleuch) |
| Chancellor of the Exchequer | Right Hon. H. Goulburn |
| Home Secretary | Sir James Graham |
| Foreign Secretary | Earl of Aberdeen |
| Colonial Secretary | Lord Stanley |
| Secretary at War | Sir Henry Hardinge (and, on his departure for India, Right Hon. Sidney Herbert) |
| Board of Control | Lord Ellenborough (and, on his departure for India, Lord FitzGerald—on his death, Earl of Ripon) |
| Board of Trade | Earl of Ripon (and subsequently Mr. Gladstone) |
| Duchy of Lancaster | Lord Granville Somerset |
| Postmaster-General | Lord Lowther |
| First Lord of the Admiralty | Earl of Haddington |
| Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland | Earl de Grey |
| Woods and Forests | Earl of Lincoln |
[10] [This is precisely what did occur, though it was many years afterwards. Lord John Russell returned to office as Prime Minister in 1846, and Lord Palmerston resumed the direction of Foreign Affairs; but, after innumerable disputes, which will be related here en temps et lieu, his colleagues could endure it no longer and turned him out in December, 1851; but this event led shortly afterwards to the dissolution of Lord John Russell's Government as is here foretold.]
[11] [Captain, afterwards Sir Charles Elliot, had been the diplomatic agent of the Government in the ports of China at the time of the seizure of opium by the Chinese Government. He was blamed at the time, but subsequent events showed him to have been right.]
[12] [Lord Monteagle was Comptroller of the Exchequer when this great forgery of Exchequer Bills took place, to a very large amount, which the Treasury lost. These bills were put into circulation by a man named Rapallo, the same who advanced money to Louis Napoleon for his Boulogne expedition in 1840. It is probable, therefore, that there was some connexion between the two events.]
[13] [A fire broke out in the Tower of London, Oct. 31, which consumed the grand storehouse and small armoury. The total loss in stores and buildings was estimated at 200,000l.]
[14] They found on enquiry that there was no precedent for the promotion but they have given it notwithstanding. The old guard got it.
[15] [Lord Ripon was President of the Board of Trade and a Protectionist; Macgregor a strong Free Trader, and it is due to him to add that he contributed considerably as Secretary of the Board of Trade to the triumph of Free Trade principles, though he was a very inferior man to his colleague, Mr. Porter.]
[16] [The Marquis de St. Aulaire arrived about this time as Ambassador of France at the Court of St. James'. He was the finished type of a French nobleman and diplomatist of the old school, remarkable for the elegance of his manners and the finesse of his conversation. Nor was he devoid of literary accomplishments. His 'History of the Fronde' was regarded as one of the best works of the period.]
[17] [The then Marquis of Douro lived to succeed his father, and became the second Duke of Wellington, dying in 1884 without issue. His brother, Lord Charles Wellesley, died before him, and the title descended to his son, the third and present Duke of Wellington.]
[18] [Dr. Milman was at this time a Prebendary of Westminster Abbey, afterwards Dean of St. Paul's.]
[19] [The Lichfield monument was designed by Stothard, and executed in sculpture by Chantrey.]
[20] [The Duke of Wellington took office in Sir Robert Peel's Government without any department or salary; but he led the House of Lords. At this very time, however, and long afterwards, his judgement and power of dealing with public affairs were great if not unabated. His correspondence with Lord Ellenborough in 1843 and 1844 shows that he paid particular attention to the affairs of India, read all the papers, and was much more than Lord Ripon the Minister for India; in 1845 and 1846 it was his influence which carried the repeal of the Corn Laws in the House of Lords; and in 1848 at the time of the disturbances on April 10, he astonished the Cabinet by the masterly arrangements he made for the defence of London.]
[21] [Lord FitzGerald was at this time President of the Board of Control.]
[22] He was father of the first Lord Spencer.
[23] The seat of the Marquis of Lansdowne in Wiltshire.
[24] [Baron Parke, afterwards Lord Wensleydale.]
[25] [Sir Laurence Peel, formerly Chief Justice of Bengal. He died in 1884.]
[26] At Bowood there were people professing six, if not more, different religious opinions: Moore, Catholic; Lady John Russell, Presbyterian; Mrs. Butler, Unitarian; Butler, Independent; Rothschilds, Jews; then Church of England people, and what besides I know not, but the assemblage was uncommon.
[27] [One of the first measures of Sir Robert Peel was to send Lord Ashburton to the United States, to settle the long-pending dispute on the boundary of Maine, which he accomplished by a compromise, or, as it was termed by Lord Palmerston, a capitulation; but it was approved by the country.]
[28] [Sir George Grey, formerly Chief Justice of Bengal, not to be confounded with his namesake the Minister. This Sir George Grey was a somewhat ludicrous person, and was commonly known as 'Mr. Pickwick.' He wore a brown coat; but he had some reputation for wit, and was a member of 'The Club.']
[29] [Mr. Bidwell was Chief Clerk in the Foreign Office for many years.]
[30] [A Treaty had been negotiated with France to regulate the Right of Search, which M. Guizot signed on the accession of the Conservatives to office. But no good came of this, for the Treaty being violently attacked in the French Chambers, M. Guizot declined to ratify what his Ambassador had signed.]
[31] [The King of Prussia came over to be present at the christening of the Prince of Wales. He was godfather to the Prince.]
[32] [The paragraph in the speech which foreshadowed Sir Robert Peel's great commercial reforms, was a recommendation to Parliament to consider the laws relating to the importation of corn and other articles the produce of foreign countries. It was this clause which had caused the Duke of Buckingham to quit the Cabinet. He was succeeded as Lord Privy Seal by the Duke of Buccleuch.]
[33] [Sir Robert Peel's measure established a sliding scale of corn duties, descending from 20s. to 1s. as the price rose. It was ill-received by the Anti-Corn Law League, and in the end signally failed.]
[34] After having rolled themselves in the mud, the Government picked the Opposition out the next night and almost washed them clean. Fox Maule moved for a return of the late Judge's sittings in the Jury Court. The Lord Advocate impudently said he had never been absent. Graham refused the papers, and on a division Government had only a majority of twenty-six, and not a very successful debate. Folly on both sides.
[35] [This is the first reference made by the author of this Diary to the events in Afghanistan, which most deeply affected the public during this winter. The disastrous retreat from Cabul began on January 6th; on the 13th Dr. Brydon reached Jellalabad alone. They are, however, adverted to later on. The full account of the disaster at Cabul only reached England on the 7th March, a singular contrast with the hourly communications of later times.]
[36] [Francis Charles, third Marquis of Hertford, born March 11, 1777; married Maria Fagniani in 1798; died March 1, 1842.]
[37] The Duke of Bedford wrote to me: 'I see Peel's carriage followed Lord Hertford's remains out of London! What is the use of character and conduct in this world, if after such a life, death and will as Lord Hertford's, such a mark of respect is paid to his memory by the First Minister of this great country, and this not "the loose and profligate Lord Melbourne," but the good and honest and particular Sir Robert Peel?'
[38] [George Fitzclarence, the eldest of the illegitimate sons of King William IV., was raised to the Peerage soon after his father's accession to the throne, with the title of Earl of Munster. He was born January 22, 1794, and married a daughter of the Earl of Egremont in 1819. He died by his own hand March 20, 1842.]
[39] [On August 4 serious disturbances broke out at Staleybridge and Manchester. Troops were sent down and a conflict took place. At Preston and at Burslem some persons were killed. The riots were caused by a threatened reduction of wages.]
[40] [The Treaty signed at Washington on August 9, 1842, by Lord Ashburton and Mr. Webster, settled the disputed question of the north-east boundary between Canada and the State of Maine, and terminated some other differences between Great Britain and the United States. It was denounced by Lord Palmerston as 'a capitulation,' but generally accepted and applauded by both nations.]
[41] [The Treaty between Great Britain and Hanover for the settlement of the Stade tolls was not signed until July 22, 1844. Lord Palmerston seems to have anticipated by nearly two years the terms of this arrangement in his eagerness to attack it.]
[42] [Canford, near Wimborne, then belonged to Lord de Mauley. It had come to the Ponsonbys from the Ashley family, and was sold after Lord de Mauley's death, to Sir John Guest.]
[43] [The Hanoverian Minister in London.]
[44] [The Queen and Prince Albert made their first visit to Scotland by sea, embarking at Woolwich on August 29, and landing at Granton pier on September 1. Her Majesty was received by the Duke of Buccleuch and accompanied by Sir Robert Peel. The Court stayed in Scotland fourteen days. Lord Aberdeen was instructed to write to the Lord Advocate in the following terms: 'The Queen will leave Scotland with a feeling of regret that her visit on this occasion could not be further prolonged. Her Majesty fully expected to witness the loyalty and attachment of her Scottish subjects; but the devotion and enthusiasm evinced in every quarter, and by all ranks, have produced an impression on the mind of Her Majesty which can never be effaced.' Seldom has an official assurance and prediction been more amply justified than this by the experience of forty years.]
[45] [The seat of the Earl of Verulam in Hertfordshire, formerly the residence of Lord Bacon.]
[46] [Lord Hertford's will was disputed and the litigation occasioned some scandalous disclosures of his past life.]
[47] [The Right Hon. Poulett Thomson, Lord Sydenham, died on September 19, 1841, from lockjaw, caused by a fall from his horse. He was then Governor of Canada, and was temporarily succeeded by Sir Charles Bagot but Sir Charles Metcalfe was appointed to that post in January 1843.]
[48] [Lord Lyndhurst survived, however, more than twenty years. He died in 1863.]
[49] [Felbrigg-Hall, near Cromer, was the residence of the Windham family, and was then occupied by Mr. William Windham, the brother of Mrs. Henry Baring, one of Mr. Greville's most intimate friends.]
[50] [The same mail brought the news (November 22) of the Treaty of Peace with China, the recapture of Ghuznee and Cabul, and the release of the prisoners taken in the Afghan War. Lord Ellenborough, then Governor-General of India, issued a ridiculous proclamation, in which he said that the insult of 800 years was avenged by the carrying off the gates of the Temple of Somnauth as a trophy.]
[51] [Lord Auckland's sister, an old friend of Mr. Greville's. She had been with Lord Auckland in India.]
[52] [This MS. has lately been discovered in Paris (1880).]
[53] [Mr. Algernon Greville was the Duke's Private Secretary.]
[54] [Mr. Edward Drummond, Private Secretary to Sir Robert Peel, was shot in Whitehall by a man named Daniel Macnaghten, on January 20.]
[55] [The American Secretary of State.]
[56] [Lord Brougham in the House of Lords publicly accused M. de Tocqueville, then a Member of the Opposition in the French Chamber of Deputies, of exciting differences between France and England on the Right of Search Question. A somewhat angry correspondence ensued between them, but I had the good fortune to settle the dispute to the mutual satisfaction of these two eminent persons.—H.R.]
[57] [Lady William Bentinck, Mr. Greville's aunt by marriage, was the second daughter of Arthur, first Earl of Gosford. She married Lord William, 1803.]
[58] [Lord FitzGerald and Vesey, President of the Board of Control in Sir Robert Peel's Ministry.]
[59] [Viscount Kelburne, afterwards fourth Earl of Glasgow, was a distinguished patron of the Turf; he died in 1869.]
[60] [At the fire in Whitehall which occurred in 1618, the volumes of the Council Register belonging to the preceding years of the reign of James I. were lost in the confusion or possibly destroyed in the fire. An Order in [Council was passed directing the clerks of the Council to recover possession of these important Records of State wherever they could be found. The volumes referred to in the text are two of the missing registers, but that which is in the British Museum has never been restored to the Council Office. The remainder of the series from the last years of Henry VIII. to the present date is perfect and complete.]
[61] [Sir Edward Sugden was Lord Chancellor of Ireland.]
[62] [Some thirty years later the edifice was completed.]
[63] [The Hon. William Fox Strangways, afterwards Earl of Ilchester, was at this time British Minister accredited to the German Diet at Frankfort.]
[64] [The Government had brought in a Bill in June to restrict the purchase of arms in Ireland. It was vehemently opposed by the Liberal Party.]
[65] [It appears from letters published in the 'Life of the Prince Consort' that Sir R. Peel began about this time to doubt the duration of his own Administration.]
[66] [This remark applies to Henry VIII. In later times it is notorious that William III. frequently visited the Continent, and George I. and George II. their Hanoverian dominions.]
[67] [Lord Eliot, afterwards Earl St. Germans, was Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1841 to 1845.]
[68] [This was the memorable agreement afterwards so signally violated by the French Government. It is remarkable that it should be recorded here, but the terms in which it is stated are not strictly accurate. Indeed, it is corrected in the next page. The French Government always declared that they held the Queen free to marry any of the descendants of Philip V. The idea of a Carlist marriage was a mistake. It never was entertained at all.]
[69] [An insurrection broke out in Catalonia in the month of June against the Government of Espartero, then Regent of Spain. Barcelona was bombarded from the citadel, though without much serious damage. The insurrection, headed by General Narvaez, spread to other parts of Spain, and on July 30 Espartero was compelled to fly from Seville and take refuge on a British vessel off Cadiz. It was believed, at the time, that the French Government, which had always been very hostile to Espartero, had favoured this revolution.]
[70] [Miss Berry and her sister Agnes, who both died at a very advanced age in 1852, were the last surviving friends of Horace Walpole, who called them his 'Strawberries,' and had established a great intimacy between their youth and his own age. Miss Berry's house in Curzon Street was one of the last salons that existed in London, and the most agreeable. It was frequented by all the rank, beauty, and talent of those times. Whenever the lamp over the hall door was lit, any habitué of the house was welcome. Of the two sisters, Mary Berry was born in March 1763, and died in November 1852; Agnes Berry was born in May 1764, and died in January 1852. They were buried in Petersham Church, where Lord Carlisle placed an inscription to their memory.]
[71] [On October 7th a proclamation was issued by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland prohibiting the great Repeal Meeting which was to take place on the following day at Clontarf. O'Connell then abandoned the meeting, but gave the people of Ireland fresh assurances of Repeal. On October 14th he and his son were called upon to enter bail against any charge of conspiracy and misdemeanour which might be brought against them. Such was the commencement of the prosecution of O'Connell.]
[72] [This was Lady Georgiana Fullerton's first novel, entitled 'Ellen Middleton.' It was published in 1844.]
[73] [The House of Lords, having decided in the Auchterarder case in favour of the right of patronage in the Church of Scotland, the Disruption which led to the establishment of the Free Church took place on May 18th, 1843. Lord Aberdeen brought a bill into the House of Lords on June 13th to remove doubt as to the rights of patrons, but it was then too late to heal the breach.]
[74] [The visit of the Duc de Bordeaux to England led to a great demonstration of the Legitimist party, who flocked to Belgrave Square where he had taken a house. It had been intended to receive the Prince at Windsor, but when his visit assumed a strong political character, which gave great umbrage to the French Court, this design was abandoned, and he was not presented to the Queen.]
[75] [Lord Haddington was First Lord of the Admiralty, a circumstance which gave rise to this correspondence.]
[76] [On February 12th, after a trial which lasted twenty-five days, O'Connell was found guilty on all the eleven counts of the indictment relating to conspiracy; an appeal was entered, and judgement deferred. The verdict was subsequently set aside, as will shortly be seen, on a purely technical ground.]
[77] [On February 13th Lord John Russell moved for a Committee of the whole House to enquire into the state of Ireland. It was rejected by a majority of ninety-nine.]
[78] [The Government had brought in a Bill limiting the hours of labour in factories. Lord Ashley moved amendments in the House of Commons and carried them against the Government, of which he was a warm supporter. But eventually Lord Ashley's substantive proposal was also defeated. The Committee was discharged and a new measure introduced.]
[79] [Lord Hardinge was shortly afterwards appointed Governor-General of India.]
[80] [A Bill regulating the duties on sugar at different rates from different countries had been introduced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. On June 14th, Mr. Miles carried an amendment against Government lowering the duties on both British and foreign sugar not the produce of slave labour. But this vote was rescinded on the 17th by a majority of 255 to 233, under the pressure of a threat of resignation of Ministers.]
[81] [A horse called 'Running Rein' had come in first for the Derby, 'Orlando' being second. It was proved that 'Running Rein' was a four-year-old horse, and consequently disqualified. 'Orlando' thereupon took the stakes. This horse 'Orlando' was afterwards purchased by Mr. Greville for his stud; but he did not belong to Mr. Greville in 1844.]
[82] [It was by Lord Aberdeen himself, as now appears by the published correspondence. But it is worth while to record, as a matter of fact, that this pecuniary indemnity to Pritchard was never paid. The British Government had resolved, if no satisfaction was obtained from France to send Mr. Pritchard out in the 'Collingwood,' and a very strong despatch had been drafted, but it was never sent to Paris.]
[83] [On August 4th judgement was given by the House of Lords in the case of O'Connell, and the sentence of the Irish Court reversed. The law Lords only voted, in consequence of an appeal made to the House by Lord Wharncliffe to decide the point on legal grounds only and by the votes of the law lords exclusively.]
[84] [Mr. Greville's attention had long been directed to the subject of the relations of the Roman Catholic Church to the States in other Protestant countries, and he was strongly of opinion that no permanent union could he established between Great Britain and Ireland which did not deal in a liberal and tolerant spirit with the religion of the majority of Irishmen. This was the starting-point of the work referred to in the text on 'the Policy of England to Ireland.' It seemed not impossible that the Ministry of Sir Robert Peel might adopt those views and propose the payment of the Roman Catholic clergy. Peel himself made a step in that direction when he proposed the permanent endowment of Maynooth. But the result of the experiment was not encouraging. Peel was intent on other great designs. He always said that a Minister should have but one great work in hand at a time, and added, 'the payment of the Roman Catholics may one day be carried, but it will be fatal to the Minister who carries it.']
[85] [It will he seen shortly that these penitential reflexions were thrown away. The obstacles to the publication were soon removed. The book was published, nobody was offended, and it had a deserved success. Ministers, in fact, had attached far too much importance to a thing of no importance at all.]
[86] [Dr. Samuel Wilberforce, afterwards Bishop of Oxford, and finally of Winchester, a man not more distinguished for his zeal, activity, and eloquence as a prelate than for his brilliant social qualities. He became one of the most distinguished members of society in London. The Bishop was unhappily killed by a fall from his horse on July 19th, 1873, whilst riding with Lord Granville over the Surrey Hills.]
[87] [Afterwards Lord Chancellor Cranworth, an excellent judge, and a most agreeable member of society.]
[88] [This was the result of their common hatred of M. Guizot. I find in my letters from Paris of the time, mention is made of Lord Palmerston's graceful and flattering overtures to M. Thiers. From that time forth Lord Palmerston's influence and that of his Ambassador, Lord Normanby, were actively employed in opposition to the King's Government; and the quarrel which broke out in the following year may be traced back to this point.]
[89] [The Maynooth endowment had been proposed to the Cabinet by Peel a year before, and postponed out of deference to Mr. Gladstone's scruples. It was this circumstance, which was unknown to Mr. Greville, that rendered the publication of his views on Irish endowments so critical at that time.]
[90] [Sidney Herbert, second son of the eleventh Earl of Pembroke, by his marriage with Catherine Countess Woronzow; born September 16th, 1810; who, after a brilliant political career in the House of Commons, was created, in January 1861, Lord Herbert of Lea, but died in August of the same year.
Henry Pelham-Clinton, afterwards fifth Duke of Newcastle; born May 22nd, 1811; died October 18th, 1864.
These two eminent and accomplished statesmen were the most illustrious followers of Sir Robert Peel. They belonged to that remarkable circle of Oxford men which gave the country Lord Elgin, Lord Canning, Mr. Gladstone, Lord Cardwell—all originally members of the Tory party, but who all became Liberal Ministers. Most of them unhappily died young, but not before they had done enough to be remembered with honour in the annals of England.]
[91] [Mr. Greville acknowledges that these disparaging remarks were precipitate and unjust. Sir Robert Peel's Cabinet was by no means a weak one, and though he exercised in it a paramount influence, he was always desirous to bring forward as much as possible the statesmen of the future. Dalhousie, Lincoln, Sidney Herbert, Cardwell, and Elgin were his political progeny.]
[92] Lincoln has turned out worth a dozen Sidney Herberts, and is the most rising man we have. So much for hasty judgements on untried or half-tried men.—C.C.G., January 1848.
[93] [The Times newspaper announced Mr. Gladstone's resignation on the following morning, the fact having been mentioned by one of the Ministers, and indeed by Mr. Gladstone himself.]
[94] [On February 19th Mr. Thomas Duncombe moved for the appointment of another Select Committee to enquire into the alleged opening of his own letters at the Post Office; but the House was tired of the subject, and the motion was defeated.]
[95] [On April 3rd Sir Robert Peel brought in a Bill for granting 30,000l. a year to the Roman Catholic College of Maynooth. The measure was fiercely combated by the ultra-Protestants, and long remained to be a bone of contention.]
[96] [It was in the course of this Session that Mr. Disraeli began his violent and sarcastic attacks on Sir Robert Peel, which assumed a tone of intense personal hostility.]
[97] He made use of a curiously strong expression, for he said amounting to a question of salvation.
[98] [The Queen gave a fancy ball on June 6th, at which all the persons invited appeared in costumes of the time of George II.]
[99] [Mr. Greville's horse 'Alarm' was first favourite for the Derby, and but for this accident would probably have won the race. It was a painful scene, when the horse was seen rushing wildly, without his rider, across the Downs. Mr. Greville never won the Derby.]
[100] This feeling is now ten times greater than it was then. I had forgotten that I had it so long ago, and within the last two years it is enormously and painfully increased (1854).
[101] [Afterwards Sophia, Queen of Holland, one of the most accomplished and agreeable women of her age.]
[102] [Lord and Lady Francis Egerton, afterwards Earl and Countess of Ellesmere.]
[103] Thus coming events cast their shadows before. Peel says: 'I had adopted at an early period of my public life, without, I fear, much serious reflexion, the opinions generally prevalent at this time among men of all parties as to the justice and necessity of protection to British agriculture....'—Memoirs, p. 98. 'Between the passing of the Corn Bill in 1842 and the close of the Session in 1845 the opinions I had previously entertained had undergone a great change.'...(101).
[104] [The Memoirs of Madame de Rémusat (published in 1879) prove that M. de Talleyrand was strongly opposed to the Spanish policy of Napoleon. But M. Thiers was always disposed to judge Talleyrand harshly.]
[105] [It was in the middle of August that the alarm first began, and the Ministers became uneasy, as is stated in Sir R. Peel's Memoirs, p. 111. In October the accounts from Ireland became alarming. On October 17th Graham first started the question of a suspension of the Corn Laws. The Cabinet assembled on October 31st and November 1st, because immediate decision had become necessary on these questions: 'Shall we maintain unaltered, or modify, or suspend the operation of the Corn Laws?' 'Can we vote public money for the sustenance of the people on account of actual or apprehended scarcity, and maintain the existing restrictions against importation of grain?' 'I am bound to say my impression is we cannot.' (Sir R. Peel's Memoirs, p. 145.)]
[106] [From what passed at the Cabinet of October 31st it became clear there was no chance of a common accord as to the means to be adopted. At another Cabinet on November 6th, Peel proposed to issue an Order in Council remitting duty on grain in bond to one shilling, and to open the ports at a smaller rate of duty till a day named; to call Parliament together and declare an intention of proposing a modification of existing laws. The Cabinet rejected these proposals by a large majority. Sir Robert Peel was only supported by Aberdeen, Graham, and Sidney Herbert.]
[107] [I went to see this performance with Lord Melbourne, Mrs. Norton, and my cousin Lady Duff Gordon, who gave me a place in their box. Lord Melbourne said before the curtain rose that it was a dull play, 'with no μυθος in it,' that was his expression. Between the acts he exclaimed in a stentorian voice, heard across the pit, 'I knew this play would be dull, but that it would be so damnably dull as this I did not suppose!'—H.R.]
[108] All this was true as to the Duke, Ripon, and Wharncliffe, but it is odd no mention was made of Stanley and his opposition: vide letters of the Duke, Ripon, and Wharncliffe.
[109] [Such was the information we had at the time of what had occurred, but from the Memoir since published by Sir Robert Peel this turns out to be a very incorrect and imperfect statement. A Cabinet took place on Tuesday, December 2nd, at which Peel read to the Cabinet a Memorandum (p. 214), in which he said: 'I wish to reconcile the gradual approach towards sound principles with a full and cautious consideration of the relations which have been established, and the interests that have grown up under a different system;...from the principle...that protective duties are in themselves evils, I cannot withhold my assent, but the retrospect from a system long established requires caution and great consideration.... If, in order to meet an unexpected calamity, the import duties on foreign grain were suspended, it would become necessary to avow the course we intended to pursue with reference to the state of the law, when suspension would expire.... It would be quite out of my power, consistently with my recorded opinions and present convictions, to guarantee the existing amount of protection...on the termination of the suspension.... The choice in my opinion is between resistance to alteration in the existing law, and the proposal of a new law that involves...the principle of progressive reduction of protective duties.... I will undertake to propose such a law, and should hope to...to carry it, if it meets with the cordial and unanimous sanction of my colleagues.' The discussions in the Cabinet lasted from November 25th to December 5th. At length Lord Stanley and the Duke of Buccleugh declined to support such a measure, while all the other members of the Government waived their objections. On December 5th Peel resigned, and Lord John Russell was sent for the same day.]
[110] [This was quite true; we did not know what was going on, for the Government had resigned the day before.]
[111] [The article in the Times was not skilfully expressed, and would have been equally effective in more guarded language. I am not sure who wrote it, but I am inclined to think it was Mr. Delane himself (though he seldom wrote anything), and I afterwards heard him express dissatisfaction with it. To a certain extent he was misled, for though Lord Aberdeen made known to him the intentions of the Free Trade party in the Cabinet, he omitted to communicate the all-important fact that the Ministry had resigned on the day after their first conversation, and that the Free Trade party was for the moment defeated.]
[112] [There was a correspondence between them with Peel's consent. Vide Memoir, p. 227.]
[113] [It is very remarkable that in the course of this narrative, derived from the most authentic sources, Lord Stanley's name is never mentioned; yet it is now well known that Lord Stanley was the most energetic opponent of the measures contemplated by Sir R. Peel on the Corn Question, whatever they might be. It is stated in the Edinburgh Review (vol. clviii. p. 556), on the authority of the Aberdeen Correspondence, that Sir Robert Peel did not propose to his Cabinet the repeal or abandonment of the Corn Laws, but the suspension of them in consequence of the Irish famine. The real question was whether the suspension should be temporary or otherwise. Sir James Graham says in a letter in that Correspondence, that 'after Lord John's failure to form a Government when they returned to office, Stanley would have consented to a suspension of the Corn Laws if Peel would have pledged himself to reimpose them when the suspension ceased. The question was not brought to an issue till then, and Stanley seceded, not because Peel proposed repeal, but because Stanley insisted on a pledge to reimpose them after a fixed period, in circumstances which could not be foreseen.']
[114] [Charles, second Earl Grey, the head of the Government of 1830, died on July 17th, 1845, and was succeeded by Henry George Grey, his son, the third Earl. This statesman, therefore, was about to take his seat in the House of Lords for the first time as Earl Grey. But he was so much better known by his former courtesy title of Lord Howick, and the title to which he had just succeeded was still so unfamiliar, that throughout the narrative of these transactions he is styled Lord Howick by Mr. Greville, though Earl Grey is meant.]
[115] [These details will be found in the first part of these Journals, vol. ii. pp. 211-220.]
[116] [On the death of Lord Wharncliffe the Duke of Buccleuch took the office of Lord President of the Council. Lord Stanley resigned office, and Mr. Gladstone became Colonial Secretary.]
[117] [I was myself in Paris during this crisis in the British Government, and I received from Mr. Greville day by day the narrative of the singular vicissitudes occurring in London, related by him in almost the same words in which he recorded them in his journal. This information was of great value at the time, because the future relations of France and England were supposed to be affected (and were in fact affected) by the possible transfer of the Foreign Office from the hands of Lord Aberdeen to those of Lord Palmerston. This event, therefore, excited the liveliest interest in Paris, and was even of a nature to shake the stability of M. Guizot's administration and to encourage the opposition, of M. Thiers. I therefore communicated the information I received to M. Guizot and Lord Cowley (the first Lord Cowley, who was afterwards succeeded in the Embassy by his son). Some of the letters were also shown to the King, who was pleased to say that they were 'du Saint-Simon tout pur.' To complete the picture of the effect produced abroad by the anticipated return of Lord Palmerston to the Foreign Office, I shall here venture to insert a few extracts from the letters addressed by me to Mr. Greville in answer to his communications.
24 Rue de la Paix, Paris: December 20th, 1845.
I think the apprehension with which the possibility of Lord Palmerston's return to office was at first viewed here is somewhat allayed among the leading politicians, but it prevails in its fullest extent at the Bourse and in the country. Rothschild says: 'Lord Palmerston est un ami de la maison. Il dîne chez nous à Francfort. Mais il a l'inconvénient de faire baisser les fonds de toute l'Europe sans nous en avertir.'
The King's repugnance to Lord Palmerston is however insurmountable. He has spoken of him within the last few days as 'l'ennemi de ma maison,' upon which I took the liberty of replying to the person who told it me, that such a speech indicated a gross forgetfulness of the services rendered by Lord Palmerston in the time of Lord Grey to his house. But the Spanish affair still rankles, and for this reason Lord Clarendon would perhaps be less fit for this Embassy than Lord Beauvale or one or two other persons. Lord Clarendon, on the contrary, would be the best possible ambassador if Thiers returned to office. That event, however, is by no means probable. The Opposition is powerless and divided; the Conservative body rather alarmed, and therefore compact. The Ministers are in good spirits.
When Lord Palmerston meant to come here, he employed the Cowleys through Madame de Lieven to enquire of the King how he would be received at the Tuileries. The King coldly replied that he would give him a dinner.
Thiers and his friends, who derive all they know about English affairs from Edward Ellice, are still in high spirits, and affect to believe that Lord Palmerston's first object will be to restore them to power. I am going to see Thiers to-morrow (having purposely deferred my visit), and I shall certainly endeavour to undeceive him. I do not think Guizot has any fear of treachery or hostility on the part of the Whig Government, for he entertains the highest respect for its members, and the common interest and object of the two Cabinets is too obvious to be doubted....
Paris, December 20th, 3 o'clock.
Since I despatched my other letters, yours of Thursday have arrived, and I have communicated their contents to M. Guizot and Lord Cowley.
My conversation with the former was highly satisfactory as regards the maintenance of the most amicable relations with the new Government. He said again and again, 'Je serai exactement de même pour Lord Palmerston que je l'ai été pour Lord Aberdeen,' and that he confidently relied on Lord John's good disposition towards France and himself.
The alarm occasioned by the change all over the Continent, and especially in this country, is far greater than it is in the French Cabinet; but this alarm strengthens M. Guizot's administration, because the Conservative party rely on his prudence and temper as their chief safeguard, and the Opposition would not allow their leaders to be more conciliatory to England than M. Guizot has been.
For many reasons Lord Beauvale is the best Ambassador who can be sent here. In all the highest quarters that opinion prevails, and Lord Cowley also entertains it most strongly. The presence of Lord Beauvale here would give strength to M. Guizot; and if circumstances of difficulty should arise, there is no one in whom the King would have so much confidence.
At this moment, with the Deputies arriving in a state of alarm, it certainly is desirable for Guizot to have as much as possible the appearance of a good understanding with the English Government, and the sooner an effectual and official representative arrives the better.
Ever yours faithfully,
H. Reeve.
C.C. Greville, Esq.
Paris, December 22nd, 1845.
I was sitting last night alone with Princess Lieven in her boudoir before her usual reception began, when the doors were thrown open and M. Guizot entered. His manner was more rapid and emphatic than I had seen it since I have been here. He turned to me and began: 'Vous avez vu combien j'étais raisonnable à l'endroit de Lord Palmerston quand vous êtes arrivé. Je le suis encore, et je vous disais bien en vous parlant de son caractère que j'en concevais moins d'alarme que les autres. Mais vous ne vous faites pas d'idée de l'effet de ce nom-là sur ce pays et sur mon parti. Je sors d'un dîner avec la grosse Banque—des gens dont le plus mince avait certainement cinq millions—je les ai trouvés dans la consternation. On est venu vers moi me prendre la main en me disant: "Mais, Monsieur le Ministre, que ferez-vous de cet homme-là? En six mois nous sommes en lutte ouverte avec l'Angleterre. Il vous fera des difficultés partout—en Espagne, en Orient, à Tahiti—c'est terrible." J'ai voulu les rassurer,' continued Guizot, 'mais c'est frappant—c'est frappant. Tenez, Princesse, vous ne m'avez pas vu ces jours-ci aussi ému que je le suis à cette heure.' He was really agitated.
I replied that if the Whig Cabinet were not resolved to conduct its foreign policy with moderation, it would obviously augment tenfold its internal difficulties; that the Exchange of London would be as much frightened by the prospect of war as that of Paris; that, in short, I firmly believed Lord John was resolved to restrain Palmerston, and would do it. I said I knew that a strong effort had been made to prevent him from returning to the Foreign Office, and that he himself was perfectly aware of the difficulty, which must lead to his ultimate secession from the Cabinet if he was disposed to thwart Lord John's views on foreign policy. In short, that he and the French must look to the policy of the Cabinet, not to the character of the Minister. He was pacified, but the scene was a curious one.
The Deputies are coming to town, and I have seen several leaders of the Opposition. Their opinion is that the change in England will be followed by the fall of Guizot, not as an immediate, but an ultimate consequence. I assured them, as I do the Conservatives, that the Whigs can entertain no desire to bring about a change of Ministry here, which they think quite natural. Their candidate for the Presidency of the Chamber is Dufaure, but Sauzet will beat him by 30 or 35 votes.
Yours, &c.
H. Reeve.
It will be seen in the next volume of these Journals how far these apprehensions and speculations were or were not realised. Lord Palmerston returned to the Foreign Office, not in December, but in the following July, when Lord John Russell's administration was formed. Lord Normanby, and not Lord Beauvale, was sent to Paris as British Ambassador in the place of Lord Cowley, with the most deplorable results, for he threw himself into the arms of the Opposition and quarrelled with the Ministers. The fatal question of the Spanish marriages immediately arose to embroil the two Cabinets, and Lord Normanby remained long enough in Paris to witness the fall, not only of the Ministry, but of the dynasty in 1848. These great events are foreshadowed by the incidents I have attempted to describe.—H.R.]
[118] [Both Lord Melbourne and Lord Palmerston were strongly opposed to the Repeal of the Corn Laws, and never comprehended or embraced the entire theory of Free Trade.]
[119] [Earl Granville, the youngest son of the first Marquis of Stafford, died on January 6th, 1846, at the age of seventy-one. He had filled for many years with great ability the post of British Ambassador at the Court of France.]
[120] [John William, fourth Earl of Bessborough, born in 1781; died May 16th, 1847—an active and able member of the Whig party.]
[121] [It is a striking proof of Mr. Greville's love of truth and justice, that although he had no personal regard for Sir Robert Peel, or intimacy with him, and sometimes judged his actions and his motives with severity, yet at this crisis he took the trouble to write a pamphlet in defence of the Minister, whom he conceived to be unfairly traduced and assailed, not only by his political opponents, but by some of his former friends.]
[122] [Sir Robert Peel's proposal was to effect the total repeal of the Corn Laws in three years. During that interval the duties on corn were to be governed by a sliding scale, beginning at 10s. when the price of corn was below 48s., and falling to a minimum of 4s. as the price rose. The Anti-Corn Law League and the Free Traders at once pronounced themselves strongly in favour of immediate and total repeal. As the price of wheat was at that moment 55s. to 57s. a quarter, the minimum of the duty would have come into immediate operation.]
[123] [Lord John Russell had stated in a letter to the Queen (which was read in Parliament), on December 20th, that 'although he found it impossible to form an Administration, he should he ready to do all in his power, as a Member of Parliament, to promote the settlement of the question.']
[124] [The battle of Aliwal was fought on January 28th by Sir Harry Smith against the Sikhs. This action was followed by the battles of Moodkee and Ferozeshah, and the final defeat of the Sikh army on February 10th at Sobraon. These were the fiercest and most sanguinary battles ever fought by the British in India, The Sikh army had 30,000 men, Khalsa troops, and seventy pieces of cannon, and they were ably commanded. The result of these victories was the annexation of the Punjaub to the British Empire.]
[125] [This stricture has not been borne out by public opinion. If Lord Hardinge was not fully prepared for the emergency, it was owing to his extreme reluctance to go to war; but the magnanimity and gallantry of his conduct in the field, and the splendour of these victories, silenced all criticism, as is fairly stated by Mr. Greville a little further on.]
[126] [The state of Ireland at this time was appalling. A Coercion Bill was introduced by Lord St. Germans in the House of Lords, when he stated that during the years 1844-1845 there had been 242 cases of firing at the person, 1,048 cases of aggravated assult, 710 robberies of arms, 79 bands of men appearing in arms, 2,306 cases of threatening letters, and 737 of attacking houses. The Bill gave the Lord-Lieutenant power to proclaim the disturbed districts, to apprehend persons out of their houses between sunset and sunrise, and to make provision out of the rates for the families of persons murdered.]
[127] [William, fifth Duke of Devonshire, born in 1748, married Georgiana, daughter of John, Earl Spencer, in 1774. Upon the death of this lady in 1806, his Grace married in 1809 Lady Elizabeth Foster, a daughter of the Earl of Bristol and widow of John Thomas Foster, Esq., to whom he had long been attached, and to whom, singularly enough, the late Duchess had been as much attached as the Duke, for she made her a bosom friend, and dreaded nothing so much as the loss of her society. This Duke died in 1811; the second Duchess lived till 1824, spending the latter years of her life in Rome, where she enjoyed an immense popularity and social influence.]
[128] [King-Louis Philippe had been fired at by a man named Lecomte, who was executed for the crime, whilst Lord and Lady Palmerston were in Paris, upon which Lord Palmerston wrote a letter to the King congratulating him on his escape. This was considered impertinent from a foreign minister casually at Paris.]
[129] [James Andrew, tenth Earl of Dalhousie, born in 1812. This prediction was amply verified. He was appointed Governor-General of India by the Whig Government in 1847, and continued to fill that great office with consummate ability till 1856. He was raised to the rank of Marquis of Dalhousie in 1849, but he returned from India in broken health and died in 1860, at the early age of forty-eight.]
[130] [The third reading of the Corn Bill was carried in the House of Lords on June 25; but on the same night the Ministers were defeated in the House of Commons on the second reading of the Irish Coercion Bill by a majority of 292 to 219. Sir Robert Peel announced to the House on June 29 that he had resigned office, and that Lord John Russell had undertaken to form a new Administration. It was on this occasion that Sir Robert Peel delivered his celebrated eulogy of Richard Cobden. The concluding words of his speech on that night were afterwards inscribed on the base of one of the numerous statues raised in honour of this great Minister.]
[131] [Lord John Russell's Administration, which lasted from June 1846 till February 1852, was composed as follows:
| First Lord of the Treasury | Lord John Russell. |
| Lord Chancellor | Lord Cottenham. |
| Lord President of the Council | Marquis of Lansdowne. |
| Lord Privy Seal | Earl of Minto. |
| Chancellor of the Exchequer | Sir Charles Wood. |
| Home Secretary | Sir George Grey. |
| Foreign Secretary | Viscount Palmerston. |
| Colonial Secretary | Earl Grey. |
| Secretary at War | Right Hon. Fox Maule. |
| Board of Control | Sir John Hobhouse. |
| Board of Trade | Earl of Clarendon. |
| Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster | Lord Campbell. |
| Postmaster-General | Marquis of Clanricarde. |
| First Lord of the Admiralty | Lord Auckland. |
| Lord Lieutenant of Ireland | Earl of Bessborough. |
| Chief Secretary for Ireland | Mr. Labouchere (who afterwards succeeded Lord Dalhousie as Vice-President of the Board of Trade).] |
[132] [Lord Bessborough had just been declared Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. Not long before he had declared that Ireland could not be governed without restrictive measures; but it was on the Irish Coercion Bill that the Whigs had turned out the late Government.]
[133] [Philippe de Rohan Chabot, Comte de Jarnac, was at this time First Secretary of the French Embassy in London.]
[134] [Eton College was a peculiar of the diocese of Ely. A scheme had been prepared by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to transfer it to the diocese of Oxford, which Bishop Wilberforce was very anxious to promote. Ely objected, and the case was argued before the Privy Council.]
[135] [Lord Palmerston had not been many days in office before the disputes, which culminated in the great and fatal quarrel about the Queen of Spain's marriage, began. The French were informed, and believed, that Sir Henry Bulwer, our Minister at Madrid, was intriguing to bring about the Queen's marriage with a Coburg Prince, which was a departure from the understanding entered into at the Château d'Eu; and the language of Lord Palmerston led them to believe also that the British Secretary of State was supporting Bulwer.]
[136] [Lord Lyndhurst was accused of having made an exchange with Lord Ripon of an Indian judgeship for a living on Lord Ripon's estate; but both appointments were in themselves open to no sort of objection.]
[137] The living was in Lord Ripon's own park, and close to his house. It was no more a job than when Lord Lyndhurst gave the living of Kenilworth to Lord Clarendon's brother, because it was on his own property also.
[138] 'Alliance' of all Christian sects.
[139] [Lord William Hervey was then First Secretary of the Embassy in Paris.]
[140] They say 'had issue,' which means a child.
[141] It was true.
[142] [More probably Bergenroth, who was employed in deciphering his collection of Spanish State Papers.]
[143] I have very little doubt that this is not true.
[144] [The independence of the city of Cracow was the subject of a special Convention between the Northern Courts at Vienna in 1815, and it was incorporated in the General Treaty of Vienna. Some political disturbances having occurred there, the Northern Powers took the opportunity to annihilate the independence of Cracow, the last vestige of Polish nationality, by handing it over to Austria, and this was done without consulting France and England. This was the first direct and open violation of the Treaty of Vienna, accomplished by some of the Powers in defiance of the others. It therefore gave rise to serious protests. Lord Palmerston declared that the interests and good faith of Europe were as much concerned in the maintenance of small States as of large ones; and Prince Albert, who took a strong interest in the question, caused his views to be expressed in an article in the 'Edinburgh Review' on the Fate of Cracow.]
[145] [Mr. George Cornewall Lewis, then a Poor Law Commissioner, filed a criminal information against Mr. Ferrand for a libel charging him with conspiracy and falsehood in connexion with the Keightley Union enquiry in 1842.]
Transcriber's Note:
Spelling regularised.
Punctuation normalised.