June 30th.—On Tuesday I went to the House of Lords to hear Lord Grey in the matter of the suppressed despatches, and his defence against the various charges brought by George Bentinck and others. He had been exceedingly excited and was resolved to bring the matter forward, though many people thought he had better leave it as it was, and rest satisfied with what had passed in the House of Commons. He promised himself, however, a signal vindication and triumph, and the pleasure of severely chastising his accusers, but it turned out a very unfortunate night, and a painful one to those who heard the discussion. Grey made a long and not judicious speech. He entered into too many details, and said much that he had better have let alone. Then Stanley rose, and after a complimentary exordium set heartily to work, made a réchauffé of George Bentinck's and Disraeli's speeches with his own peculiar sauce of style and diction, and made as bitter, ill-natured, and (all things considered) as ill-timed an attack as ever was heard. But he wound it up with a charge in reference to the memorial of certain planters, which was certainly well founded and made a very disagreeable impression. On this point Lord Grey was clearly in the wrong and could make no sufficient defence for himself; it has damaged him very much, and the Government through him; and this affair has altogether turned out very unhappily, for it has not only wounded the credit and character, and thereby impaired the strength of the Government, but it has struck at the honour of public men, and this is in these times a great evil. There was a very severe article in the 'Times' yesterday morning on Grey, which was, however, not more than the truth. This affair coming at a time when Government has nothing to spare in point of credit and authority is peculiarly disastrous.
PARTY COMBINATIONS.
In the meantime, however, the division on Pakington's motion was generally known to be safe, and accordingly there was a majority of fifteen against it last night, which was ten or fifteen less than was expected; on Sunday last Graham told me that he thought there would be a majority, as he found many people meant to wait for Peel's speech and would probably vote as he did. We then discussed what should be done if the Government should be in a minority, and consequently resign. The same evening I wrote him a note and told him that I thought if this did happen Lord John would consult Peel before he gave the Queen any advice. I am sure he told Peel this, for on Monday night I got a note from him (Graham) begging to see me the next morning. I went to him, when he said with great earnestness that he wanted to impress upon me that it was of the greatest consequence that the Queen (in case the necessity occurred) should send for Stanley forthwith, and that without consulting anybody Lord John should give her this advice. It was very desirable that there should be no appearance of any concert between him and Peel, while a consultation between them would certainly be known to Stanley, and would take away much of the grace of sending for him; that Stanley should have no excuse for declining, and the Queen should tell him she was left without a Government and that she placed herself in his hands, giving him carte blanche, and telling him she was prepared to agree to everything he proposed to her. He said he did not believe Stanley would be able to form a Government, still less to carry it on if he did form one; but he thought it of the greatest consequence that his failure should be complete, and that every opportunity and advantage should be given to him. He urged this with an unction which showed me clearly enough, if I had before had any doubt, which I had not, what his secret thoughts and intentions are, and that he is quite prepared, and Peel too, to come into office provided circumstances turn out favourably for Peel's resumption of power. I promised I would take care that this should be done, and yesterday morning I told the Duke of Bedford, who was just going off to Endsleigh. Every day I find more evidence of the way in which people's minds are turning towards Peel and anticipating his return to power. Emily Eden told me that Auckland was very anxious for a junction, and quite ready to give up his own office to facilitate it. Matters are not yet ripe for such a consummation, but it must end in this manner.
GREAT BATTLE IN PARIS.
The details which reach us of the extraordinary contest which has just taken place at Paris are equally horrible and curious. Hitherto we have been struck by the absence of that ferocity which distinguished the first Revolution, and the little taste there seemed for shedding blood; but the ferocity of the people broke out upon this occasion in the most terrible examples. There was a savage rancour about this exceeding the usual virulence of civil contests; the people not only murdered, but tortured, their prisoners. Since the victory the prisoners have been executed by hundreds, and with hardly any form of trial; indeed, no trial was possible or necessary, they were rebels taken en flagrant délit, at once rebels and prisoners of war. One man, when he was going to be shot, said he did not care, for he had had his revenge already, and he pulled out of his pocket twenty tongues that had been cut out. All agree that the organisation, the military skill displayed, and the vast resources the insurgents possessed in the material of war, were as extraordinary as unaccountable. The preparations must have been long before made, for the houses of their principal fortifications were perforated for the purpose of communication and escape, the staircase removed, and there were telegraphic signals arranged by lights on the tops of the buildings. There certainly was a commander-in-chief who presided over the whole, but nobody knows who he was; and the Government have never yet been able to ascertain who the leaders were. Although distress and famine were the prime causes of this great struggle, it is remarkable that there was no plundering or robbery; on the contrary, they were strictly forbidden and apparently never attempted. It is the only example, so far as I know, that history records of a pitched battle in the streets of a great capital between the regular army and the armed civil power on one side, and the populace of the town militarily armed and organised also on the other, nobody knowing how the latter were organised or by whom directed. Colonel Towneley, who came from Paris last night, told me that it is believed that the old Municipal Guard, who were disbanded by the Provisional Government after the Revolution, had a great deal to do with it, but that the skill with which the positions had been chosen or fortified was perfect. Prodigies of valour seem to have been performed on both sides, and the incidents were to the last degree romantic. An Archbishop appearing as a minister of peace in the midst of the fray, and mounting the barricades to exhort the living and to bless the dying amidst the din and fury of the contest, and then perishing a martyr to his attempt to stop the effusion of blood; women mixing in the contest, carrying ammunition and supplies, daring everything, their opponents shrinking from hunting these Amazons, and at last being obliged to fire upon them in self-defence; the strange artifices employed to convey arms and cartouches. The Garde Mobile, composed of the gamins de Paris, signalised themselves with peculiar heroism, and it is fortunate that they were on the side of the Government instead of on that of the people. There was one boy, not above fifteen or sixteen, a frightful little urchin, who scaled three barricades one after another and carried off the colours from each; Cavaignac embraced him and gave him the Legion of Honour from his own person, and he was carried in triumph and crowned with laurels to a great banquet of his comrades. But it would be endless to write down the particulars of a contest which fills the columns of every newspaper now, and will be recorded in innumerable books hereafter.
July 5th.—Since the division on Pakington's motion the Government stock has considerably risen, and they are now generally considered safe for the present and for some indefinite time to come; they will probably get their Sugar Bill through. The loud complaints that have been made of this waste of time in Parliament have not been without effect, and there is an appearance of getting on with business. Then the Chancellor of the Exchequer's announcement that the deficit of 2,000,00l. will be reduced to 500,000l., and that no new taxes will be wanted, has put people in better humour. The funds are rapidly rising, the harvest promises to be good, and on the whole our prospects are considerably improved within the last week. The state of the Continent, though still bad enough, is somewhat more promising; there appears to be something of a lull from exhaustion and perplexity, there is a chance of the Danish quarrel being arranged. The great victory in Paris, the establishment of a strong military Government, and the evident determination of the Assembly to promote the cause of law and order, and to put down all the wild theories which have been in the ascendant for the last three months, have largely tended to brighten the political sky; and this example may encourage others to act with the same vigour and in the same spirit. The whole world is influenced by all that is done at Paris. But in the midst of this improved prospect we have enough to disturb our tranquillity; it will be impossible for a long time for the Continent to be restored to a healthy state, and its disturbed and impoverished condition fearfully reacts upon us, and paralyses that foreign trade on which not merely the prosperity but the subsistence of vast masses of our population depends. We cannot therefore look forward to anything but great distress and suffering in our manufacturing population; and this, together with Ireland, are enough to keep us in hot water.
FRENCH GENERALS.
The Government, though safer, are not stronger, and nobody thinks they can go on very long, though without any clear idea what is to turn them out, or what is to succeed. It is pretty generally understood now that Stanley has never had the least notion of forming a Government, nor even of making the attempt. Had the event occurred he would have made a pirouette and whisked off; having done his mischief and had his fun, he would have considered his work over. It was very significant that while all the world was fancying he meditated becoming Prime Minister, he accepted the office of Steward of the Jockey Club, to which high dignity he is this day to be promoted. I told Charles Wood this the other day, when he said he had never believed Stanley seriously contemplated being Minister, and that it was clear there were only two men in the country who could be—John Russell and Peel.
Meanwhile the Peelites are playing an odd game: they appear to be disengaging themselves from their chief, without joining the Tories, and they are so conducting themselves as to make any junction with the Whigs very difficult. It is never easy to know what Peel himself is at, and what his real sentiments are. If I may judge from a few words which dropped from Graham the last time I saw him, he and Peel (who are man and wife politically) are provoked with their followers and resent their conduct. What he said was something about 'letting them see the consequences of their insubordination,' or some such expressions. It was the tone in which it was said that struck me. I do not know to which of them they were meant especially to apply, but I suppose to Lincoln and Sidney Herbert.
Brougham told me yesterday that he had been to see Louis Philippe, who had described to him the military men who are now ruling France. He said Cavaignac was a brave and good soldier who had been very rapidly promoted, that he was a downright but honest Republican. When he went with the King's sons to Algiers, he told them, he would serve their father with fidelity, but not from conviction, for his sentiments were republican. He is not a man of great ability; Bedeau, Lamoricière, and Changarnier are all abler men, but they are thoroughly imbued with ideas of military despotism. Everybody believes that the late Government connived at the émeute. Gabriel Delessert told me it was impossible such preparations could be made, and that they should be so organised and abundantly provided without the knowledge of the police.