In October, 1869, a noble and commanding figure, which had occupied for many years a prominent place in the eyes and thoughts of Englishmen, disappeared from the scene, namely Edward Geoffrey Stanley, fourteenth Earl of Derby. The author of the sketch of his life given in the Times thus eloquently sums up the enumeration of his eminent qualities: "We have spoken of Lord Derby chiefly as a statesman. But, after all, it was the man—ever brilliant and impulsive—that most won the admiration of his countrymen. He was a splendid specimen of an Englishman; and whether he was engaged in furious debate with demagogues, or in lowly conversation on religion with little children, or in parley with jockeys while training Toxophilite, or rendering 'Homer' into English verse, or in stately Latin discourse as the Chancellor of his University, or in joyous talk in a drawing-room among ladies, whom he delighted to chaff, or in caring for the needs of Lancashire operatives—there were a force and a fire about him that acted like a spell. Of all his public acts none did him more honour, and none made a deeper impression on the minds of his countrymen, than his conduct on the occasion of the cotton famine in Lancashire. No man in the kingdom sympathised more truly than he with the distress of the poor Lancashire spinners, and perhaps no man did so much as he for their relief. It was not simply that he gave them a princely donation; he worked hard for them in the committee which was established in their aid: he was indeed the life and soul of the committee; and for months at that bitter time he went about doing good by precept and example, so that myriads in Lancashire now bless his name. He will long live in memory as one of the most remarkable, and indeed irresistible, men of our time—a man privately beloved and publicly admired; who showed extraordinary cleverness in many ways; was the greatest orator of his day, and the most brilliant, though not the most successful, Parliamentary leader of the last half-century."
The death of the gallant Irishman, Lord Gough, recalled the thoughts of many to the tumultuous scenes of the Peninsular War in which the earlier portion of the veteran's life was passed. To Sir Hugh Gough was entrusted the command of the land forces in the opium war with China in 1842, when he took Canton, Amoy, Ning-po, and Chin-Kiang-Foo, forced his way, in conjunction with Admiral Sir W. Parker, for a hundred and seventy miles up the Yang-tse-Kiang, and dictated peace to the Emperor of China at Nankin. After this he was appointed Commander-in-Chief in India, and held that office during the Sikh War in 1845, though to the tactics of Sir Henry Hardinge, the Governor-General, who consented to serve under Gough, the decisive victories of Moodkee, Ferozeshah, and Sobraon are usually ascribed. When the Sikhs rebelled at the beginning of 1849, Gough marched against them, and, though he met with a severe check at Chilianwallah, inflicted such a crushing blow on the enemy at Goojerat, a few weeks later, that the war was practically brought to an end. A grateful country did not fail to recognise and reward his military achievements. He was created a Viscount, received a pension both from the Crown and from the East India Company, and was raised, in 1862, to the dignity of a Field Marshal.
All through the year 1869 France remained at peace with all her neighbours, and the Emperor and his Ministers vied with each other in making pacific declarations on every suitable occasion. Yet there was a different ring about a speech which he made to the soldiers at the camp at Châlons. He told them always to keep alive in their hearts the remembrance of the battles fought by their fathers, and those in which they had been themselves engaged, "since the history of our wars is the history of the progress of civilisation." According to this doctrine, though all things now wore a peaceful appearance, yet if France were to go to war for whatever cause (for the justice of a war was superbly ignored by the speaker), the interests of civilisation would necessarily be advanced. But for the present the French Government was content to live quietly. In Italy, according to an announcement made by the Foreign Minister, the Marquis de Lavalette, though the Pope's Government was making progress in the organisation of its forces, the time had not yet arrived for France to return purely and simply to the September Convention, and to evacuate the Pontifical territory. With regard to Prussia, the language of the Emperor and of the French Foreign Office was uniformly friendly.
The Chambers which had been elected in 1863 were dissolved in April of this year, and new elections were ordered. This was a favourable opportunity for the Emperor's Government to put in practice the aspirations towards greater liberty and a more constitutional system with which the Emperor had declared himself to be animated. If the Government had left the people alone, and allowed them to return the representatives of their choice, it might have been believed that there was some sincerity in those aspirations. But, on the contrary, there never were elections at which the system of official candidates was more unsparingly resorted to, nor where the freedom of the electors was more unblushingly interfered with. The elections were going on all through May. Thiers and Jules Favre were returned for Paris, and Gambetta, Picard, Jules Simon, and other Liberals for the department of the Seine; yet so Conservative were the instincts of the general population, and so assiduously did the Government by its action labour to encourage and reward these instincts, that the number of Opposition candidates returned for the Legislative Body did not much exceed thirty. Napoleon seems to have felt that his government was too successful. Though the Imperial system was founded on the crime of the 2nd of December, the Emperor, to do him justice, earnestly desired to make its origin forgotten by conforming it to the march of ideas and to the needs of French society. It may be questioned whether, in thus acting, he was really consulting its stability. Perhaps if he had carried on the government silently and resolutely, keeping the army in good humour by bribes and flatteries, and not trying to make compromises either with Liberalism or with the honest patriotism of men like Guizot, he might have given to it a longer duration. But he wished to be two things at the same time—a ruler supported on bayonets and a ruler supported on ideas; and this was not a feat easy of accomplishment. Besides his strength was being undermined by a wasting and painful disease, and he wished to preserve the Imperial crown for his son. In the summer he announced his intention of introducing the system of the responsibility of the Ministers to the majority in the Chambers, together with various other privileges and liberties which the French Legislature had been deprived of since the coup d'état; he declared that the system of personal government was distasteful to him and that he desired to abandon it. A Senatus Consultum embodying these reforms was introduced into and discussed in the Senate with great parade in the month of September. It was received with something of coldness and reserve by the majority of the Senators, for which they were rebuked by Prince Napoleon, in a speech which, while expressing gratitude to the Emperor for what he had conceded, disgusted by its broad Radicalism the Emperor's best friends and supporters in both Chambers. Several of the Ministers—among whom were Rouher, Lavalette, and Baroche—unable to see their way to a practical reconciliation between the Empire and the maxims of constitutional government, resigned their posts on the introduction of the Senatus Consultum. It was, however, carried, and with a good effect, doubtless, so far as foreign opinion was concerned; in France, the measure and motives of the Emperor's liberalism were so well understood that the new project awakened little interest.
The Corps Législatif, as soon as it was assembled, proceeded to examine questions connected with election returns. Illegalities and abuses of power were reported from all parts of the country. That odious tool of despotism, the "official candidate," had never been so generally and so offensively put forward. One election in particular, that for the Haute Garonne, in which the Government nominee, an obscure marquis, had defeated the illustrious M. de Remusat, attracted special attention from the impudent illegalities that had been resorted to in order to secure the seat. In one parish 141 electors had deposited their voting-papers in the electoral urn, which the mayor then put away in his bedroom! When the votes came to be examined, 133 were found to be for the official candidate, and only five for M. de Remusat. But forty-one of the electors went before a notary and signed a solemn declaration that they had voted for M. de Remusat. But in spite of corrupt practices of all kinds, which a scrutiny brought to light in this and other elections, the servile majority in the Chamber usually sustained their validity. Nevertheless, the position of the Minister of the Interior, after all these disclosures, was not an agreeable one; and M. Forcade de la Roquette, together with his colleagues, resigned office. The Emperor accepted their resignations and addressed himself (December 27th) to M. Émile Ollivier, formerly a member of the Opposition, requesting him to form an Administration and submit for his approval the names of those who were to fill the different offices.
In Spain the revolution continued its desolating course. Early in the year a republican insurrection broke out at Malaga, and was not suppressed without much bloodshed. The constituent Cortes, for the election and assembling of which careful preparations had been made by Serrano and Prim in the preceding year, met at Madrid on the 11th of February. In a House of 350 members, about 240 (of whom nearly two-thirds were Progresistas and the rest Unionists) were found to be supporters of the Government, 70 or 80 were Republicans, and about 20 Carlists. A committee was appointed to prepare a new Constitution. Its report was read on the 31st of March; it proposed the retention of monarchy and of the principle of hereditary succession, the adoption of the system of two Chambers, and of Ministerial responsibility; the Catholic religion to continue to be the religion of Spain, but all other forms of belief and worship to be tolerated, subject only to the laws of universal morality. The article of the Constitution establishing a monarchy was finally carried (May 20th) by 214 to 71 votes. But the difficulty of finding a monarch remained for the time insuperable. Till an eligible candidate could be found, it was thought desirable, in order to give greater solidity to the Government, to raise Serrano to the Regency. The ceremony of his installation was performed with great pomp and circumstance on the 13th of June. Divergences of opinion manifested themselves among the prime movers of the September revolution. Prim, the ablest and most daring among them, publicly declared that the late dynasty should never reascend the throne of Spain, and that he would never, directly or indirectly, aid in any endeavours in favour of the Prince of the Asturias. Serrano was more cautious; he was generally supposed to be a secret adherent of the said Prince. Topete was an avowed supporter of the Duke of Montpensier. The crown was first offered to the King of Portugal, but he declined to accept it. Prim then conceived the strange notion of offering it to the Duke of Genoa, a boy of fifteen, then being educated at Harrow. With his usual energy Prim overcame all opposition among his colleagues to this extraordinary scheme, except so far as Topete was concerned. The sturdy Admiral thought it absurd and quitted the Ministry rather than have a hand in carrying it out. But the opposition of the King of Italy and of the young Duke's mother caused this plan to fall to the ground. In the autumn republican risings took place in many of the large towns. The insurgents at Valencia proclaimed the democratic and federal Republic in a high-flown and flowery manifesto, the chief parts of which consisted in an infatuated and ridiculous eulogy on their own brilliant virtues. But the troops remained faithful to the Government; Valencia was reduced after a three hours' bombardment, and in the other cities revolt was ultimately put down. A law was passed in October, similar in its object to a Habeas Corpus Suspension Act in England, for the suspension of individual guarantees.
STREET FIGHTING IN MALAGA. (See p. [516].)
General Grant was inaugurated President of the United States on the 4th of March, 1869. The convention for the settlement of the Alabama and other claims, which had been agreed to by Lord Stanley and Mr. Reverdy Johnson, was rejected by the Senate in the course of the year, and an important diplomatic correspondence on the subject passed between Mr. Fish, the American Secretary of State, and Lord Clarendon.