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.]