Ellesmere went to the Duke of Wellington to talk to him about the Navigation Bill, and found him in excellent disposition. He promised to do all in his power to support the Government, and he advised Prince Albert, who called on him a day or two ago, to keep quiet and say as little as possible on the subject to anybody.
April 4th.—The Duke of Bedford told me yesterday morning that Lord John has made up his mind to go to the House of Lords, but that he will not have the Peerage continued to his son. His purpose is to be created with remainder to the Duke. He disapproves of poor Peerages, of men being created without ample patrimonies, and the property which the Duke means to settle on Lord John (he did not tell me the amount or locality, only that it is a good gentleman's property) he does not consider enough for a Peerage. I know not whether he will adhere to this resolution, which, if he does, will form a new precedent. It has only been mentioned to Lord Lansdowne, whose disposition is to retire, but they will never allow him, for his continuing with them is of the greatest consequence to the Government and to Lord John himself; his loss would be irreparable in all ways.
April 6th.—Lord Clarendon[97] had a long interview with Peel, who received him with the greatest cordiality and even warmth. Their conversation was to the last degree open and friendly, and Peel professed the most earnest desire to do anything in his power to co-operate with Clarendon in doing good to Ireland. They discussed Peel's plans, and Clarendon stated to him frankly all his objections to them, and why a great part of them was quite impracticable. All this Peel received with the utmost candour and goodwill, and Clarendon told me he thought he had completely succeeded in proving to him that much that he proposed (the Commission particularly) was quite impossible. I never saw a man more satisfied than he was at this interview, or more gratified at Peel's reception of him. Peel entreated him with the greatest earnestness not to think of leaving Ireland till he had accomplished something great and important towards the regeneration of the country. This, however, Clarendon is not very sanguine as to his power of doing with the present Government. His indignation against his own political friends is boundless.[98] He poured it all out to me the other night, and he is equally indignant about the past and hopeless about the future; hopeless, because John Russell is so infirm of purpose, that he will not predominate over his Cabinet and prevent the chaos of opinions and interests which prevent anything Clarendon proposes being done. Then he says that the Chancellor is a great mortgagee in Ireland, and on account of his own personal interests he resolutely opposes all the plans relating to the transfer of property which by any possibility can affect the mortgagees. Lansdowne and Clanricarde are both Irish proprietors, so they have their own separate interests. The consequence of all this confusion is that he is continually thwarted and baffled in his endeavours to carry measures he thinks essential to the relief of Ireland, and he assures me that he has all along predicted to John Russell and George Grey exactly what has happened. The measures which the Government are now finding themselves obliged to adopt are the very same which he originally proposed and which they rejected. He appears not to have minced matters with John Russell, but to have spoken his mind freely, and visited upon the Cabinet in most unsparing criticism and reproach all their sins of omission and commission.
LANDED INTERESTS IN IRELAND.
Thursday, May 11th (Bruton Street).—For the last fortnight everybody has been occupied with the division in the House of Lords on the Navigation Bill; the greatest whip-up was made on both sides that ever was known, and the lists made and re-made out with such accuracy that every vote was pretty well ascertained, and the numbers quite correctly calculated.[99] Stanley made a magnificent speech, the best it is said he ever made, and one of the most brilliant and effective ever made by anybody. He made a sort of attack on the Duke of Wellington which was both unjustifiable and in bad taste. The Duke behaved oddly in this matter. He gave repeated assurances to the Government that he would assist them in every way he could, but he really gave them no assistance at all, for he refused positively to communicate with any Peers on the subject, would not speak to those who wished to consult him, and he never opened his lips in the debate. I am compelled to believe that Stanley really meant, if he could have defeated this Bill, to have taken the Government if offered to him.
The Protectionists are gone mad with the notion of reaction in the country against Free Trade. Many people, however, say that distress really has produced a very considerable change of opinion, and it is allowed on all hands that in the event of a dissolution the Irish, frantic with distress, would support any Protectionist Government to a man. We hear that Stanley means to overturn the Bill in Committee, as he undoubtedly can, and that the Government will be compelled to restore its integrity again on the report, and this is to be the future progress of the contest.
On Monday night a great event occurred in the House of Commons. Young Peel, Sir Robert's second son,[100] made a maiden speech (on the Jew Bill) of such extraordinary merit, that it at once placed him at the top of the tree. Its excellence and its great promise were universally admitted. Peel came into the House just at the close of it, and it is said that neither he nor Lady Peel had any idea their son was going to speak. The appearance of a young man who promises something great, is in these days of mediocrity an occurrence of enormous value and importance.
A SUPPRESSED DESPATCH.
May 21st.—I have been too much occupied with the Derby and Oaks to write about political matters, but I cannot omit a fresh Palmerstonian affair, as bad or worse than any which have preceded it. On Monday last Lord Lansdowne in reply to a question of Beaumont's said, that 'no communication whatever had been made by the Austrian Government to ours relative to their intervention in Italy,' the fact being that Colloredo had five or six days before gone to Palmerston, and communicated to him by order of his Government their motives, objects, and intentions, as to Italian intervention in great detail. This communication he never imparted to his colleagues, and Lord Lansdowne was consequently ignorant of it. On Tuesday the newspapers reported Lord Lansdowne's answer, on which Colloredo went to Palmerston to complain of it. At the Queen's ball on Wednesday night, Colloredo spoke to Lord Lansdowne and asked him why he had said what he did. Lord Lansdowne had nothing for it but to acknowledge his ignorance. On Friday, the first day on which the House met, I heard what had passed between Colloredo and Palmerston. I resolved to go to Lord Lansdowne. I found him at Lansdowne House, just going to the House of Lords. I began to tell him the object of my calling on him. He stopped me, said he knew all about it, that he was going to the House to correct his former statement, and 'to make the best excuse he could,' that it was exceedingly disagreeable, and the more unaccountable as he had taken the precaution on Monday before he went to the House of Lords to answer Beaumont, to send to the Foreign Office to enquire whether any communication had been received, and the reply was, 'None whatever.' On reference to Palmerston he had said that 'he had quite forgotten it,' and Lord Lansdowne told me that John Russell was as much in ignorance of it as he was himself. I saw that he was exceedingly annoyed, but nothing seems to rouse any of them to any serious manifestation of resentment and displeasure. This is as bad a case as can be, but will have no more result than any of Palmerston's other delinquencies.
June 3rd.—The Duke of Bedford told me a few days ago that the Queen had been again remonstrating about Palmerston more strongly than ever. This was in reference to the suppressed Austrian despatch which made such a noise. She then sent for John Russell, and told him she could not stand it any longer, and he must make some arrangement to get rid of Palmerston. This communication was just as fruitless as all her preceding ones. I don't know what Lord John said, he certainly did not pacify her, but as usual there it ended. But the consequence of not being able to get any satisfaction from her Minister has been that she has poured her feelings and her wrongs into the more sympathetic ears of her late Minister, and I believe that the Queen has told Peel everything, all her own feelings and wishes, and all that passes on the subject.