LORD JOHN RUSSELL RESIGNS.
Brocket, February 24th.—Events have come quickly on us. On Thursday night Locke King brought on his annual motion for extension of the suffrage, and moved for leave to bring in a bill. Lord John opposed it, but pledged himself that he would bring in a measure next Session, if he was still in office. Nevertheless he was beaten by two to one—100 to 52. The Conservatives went away, no trouble was taken, and this was the result. The conduct of the Radicals was offensive. Locke King, after Lord John's promise, wanted not to divide; but Hume, Bright, and their faction insisted on dividing, and one of them (I think Bright) insultingly said, 'If you don't divide and beat him, he will throw over his promise and do nothing.' It must be owned that he gave some colour to this suspicion by his conduct. A few nights before Hume asked him if he was going to bring in any measure this year. He said he was not, but that he still intended to do so, at what he should deem to be a fit time for it: not a word of next year. This looks very much as if his promise on Thursday was an impromptu got up for the occasion. Still not a creature in or out of the House expected he would regard such a defeat as this as a matter of any importance, and great and general were the surprise and consternation when Lord John got up, just when the Budget was to have come on, and made an announcement which was tantamount to resignation.[130] The House dispersed in a state of bewilderment, and the town was electrified with the news. At night there was a party at Lady Granville's, and there it became known that the Government was in fact out. It seemed the more unaccountable because Stanley had sent them word of what had been resolved at his meeting, which was neither more nor less than a sham attack on the Income Tax, which the Tories did not expect or intend to succeed. Lord John, however, had resolved to resign after Friday's check, not on that account only, but on the cumulative case of many unmistakeable symptoms of the hostility of the House of Commons and the impossibility of his going on. So he thought he had better 'do early and from foresight that which he should be obliged to do from necessity at last,' as Mr. Burke said on a different occasion. Nobody knew what he was going to do,—none of his followers and subordinates. He saw the Queen in the morning, to whom he no doubt imparted his intention; then he assembled the Cabinet, where it must have been settled, and then he saw the Queen again. Lord Lansdowne was at Bowood, and ignorant of this decision. Carlisle was engaged in the City, not at the Cabinet, and heard from Grey when he came into the House of Lords that they were out. In the evening I was at home and upstairs, and many of the men came up to talk it all over. Ellice said Lord John was quite right. However, I think such was not the general opinion, nor is it mine. Looking at the state of the country and the obvious difficulty, if not impossibility, of forming any other Government, still more of forming one entitled to, or which could obtain, the confidence and support of the Crown and the country, I am very strongly of opinion that he ought to have fought the battle for some time longer, not to have yielded to any hostile manifestations, or to the probability, however great, of damaging or fatal defeats, but to have encountered without flinching all the opposition he might meet with, and not to desert his post till the worst he apprehended should actually occur. Many people think that, in spite of appearances, he would have weathered the storms; and though in the midst of great difficulties, he would eventually have evaded or surmounted them all.
The conduct of the Protectionists about the Income Tax showed how uncertain and little adventurous they were. This is partly explained by the revelation that has been made of the opinions of some of their leading men. It has been for some time apparent that there is a great ambiguity in the conduct of the party, different members of which hold the most discordant and inconsistent language. Disraeli the other night declared he was not going for Protection, that it was out of the question in this Parliament, and that the country must settle the question. Granby directly afterwards says he is for Protection. In the House of Lords, on a motion of Lord Hardwicke's when a great Free Trade debate was expected, and when it was well known that Stanley had been preparing a great speech, he never opened his lips, and the whole thing ended briefly and flatly. But the Duke of Richmond made one of his furious harangues, pointed to Stanley as 'the Leader of the Protectionist party,' and gave a eulogistic commentary on Disraeli's speech, asserting that he only meant that the battle of Protection must be fought on the hustings, where it not only would be fought, but would be won. Still Stanley was silent, and did not utter a word in approval or in repudiation of these sentiments and intentions. Notwithstanding these ambiguities, people still talked of the probability or the possibility of a Protectionist Government. It was said that Stanley had made up his mind to take it, if he could get it, and that he was of opinion that, great as the risks and serious as the consequences might be, it was better to encounter them all than to let slip the best opportunity they should ever have of ousting the Whigs, turning back the current of Free Trade, and restoring the Protective system. Everybody was looking with anxious curiosity for the decision of Stanley's meeting on Friday morning, as to the course they should adopt in reference to the Income Tax; and when it was known (which it was not till after John Russell's announcement in the House of Commons), the impression was that they were afraid to fight on that question; but at night I heard a very strange thing, which placed the condition and prospects of that party in quite a new light. Two of the best men they have in the House of Commons are Walpole and Henley, especially the first. Walpole told Jocelyn in the House of Commons that he would have nothing to do with any Government that would attempt to reimpose any duty on foreign corn, and he added that Henley was of the same mind; and so, in fact, were at least half the members of his party. This statement Walpole made twice over to Jocelyn, and he said the same thing to others besides. If such were the sentiments of some of their best men, what was to become of Protection? how was the battle to be fought on the hustings? and how was Stanley ever to form a Government, and on what principles?
THE PROTECTIONISTS.
However, the Government had resigned; somebody must be sent for, and something must be done. Oddly enough, while all this was going on in the House of Commons, Stanley was dining at the Palace. Yesterday morning the 'Times' (whose editor was at Lady Granville's party) announced the news to the astonished town. I went to my office, where presently Labouchere, Carlisle, Granville, and Evelyn Denison came into my room. Labouchere gave John Russell's reasons for resigning, which to me seemed quite insufficient, and I told them why. Carlisle said nothing, and I suspect agreed with me. Denison did entirely. I then came down here, where I found Brougham fall of indignation and disapprobation of the hasty resignation, and talking mighty good sense about the whole question and the aspect of affairs. We heard this morning that Stanley had been with the Queen, had refused to take office for the present, but said he did not refuse absolutely if no other Government could be formed; and that John Russell, Aberdeen, and Graham met afterwards at the Palace. So matters stand up to this time.[131]
I have seen a great deal of Graham lately, and he has talked to me with considerable openness about the state of affairs, present and prospective; the condition and prospects of the Government, and their recent conduct, pointing out many of the faults they have committed, and what they might have done. He found great fault with Charles Wood's Budget, and his general opinion was that the Government could not go on, and coûte que coûte that we must pass through the ordeal of a Protectionist Government—not that he thought it would stand long, and he was aware that the experiment would be attended with great peril to our institutions, and might lead to very serious consequences. Still that it was inevitable. He said that his joining the Government now would be of no use to them whatever, and he should only involve himself in, without averting, their fate. He was evidently much pleased and satisfied with his own speech on Disraeli's motion.[132] He was conscious of its success, and of the great service he had rendered the Government; for, while disapproving of much that they have done, he is now desirous of reconciling himself with his old friends, looks hereafter to coming into power with them, and is excessively pleased at having put himself on amicable terms with John Russell. He told me that he had said to John Russell the other day, that though circumstances had separated them, and placed them for a long time in opposition to each other, it would always be satisfactory to him to remember, that on the three great questions which he regarded as the most important of his political life, they had been agreed, and had taken the same part, sometimes together and sometimes independently. These were the Catholic Question, Reform in Parliament, and the Repeal of the Corn Laws.
THE PEELITES NEGOTIATE WITH THE WHIGS.
I found Graham in very low spirits, and full of disquiet and apprehensions about the future prospects of the country. This is generally his disposition, and he has communicated much of his alarm and anxiety to me. On Friday morning, after Locke King's division, and before he knew anything of John Russell's intention, I received a note from him in these terms: 'My anticipations are most gloomy. I foresee nothing but confusion; there are no means of escaping it; everything will be shaken, and something more than a Government, I fear, will fall. The "Times," I see, has passed sentence of death on the Administration this morning. It is most likely it will be executed speedily, and I doubt whether for their sakes it may not be said, the sooner the better. They have lost all command over the House of Commons, and indistinct promises of democratic change when made by a Prime Minister are most dangerous, for vagueness encourages hope, and the hope is deferred. This state of doubt and fear cannot last much longer; the public on all hands would greatly prefer a struggle and a settlement.' When he wrote these lines John Russell had already made up his mind to resign.
London, February 25th.—I came to town yesterday morning and found everything unsettled: Aberdeen, Graham, and John Russell trying to agree upon some plan, and to form a Government. At half-past four Delane came into my room, straight from Aberdeen. Aberdeen told him he was still engaged in this task, but, he owned, with anything but sanguine hopes of success. Delane said to him he hoped if he did succeed he would not overlook the numbers and importance of the Liberal party. Aberdeen replied, 'You may rest assured that I am well aware of their importance, and I believe I am at least as Radical as any of those who are just gone out.' I went to Brooks's, found it very full and excited; some persuaded Graham and his friends would come to terms and patch the thing up. Bear Ellice and others thought it impossible, and that Stanley is inevitable. In the House of Commons John Russell made his statement, and when he had made it Disraeli, without tact or decency, denied that it was correct. John Russell was not very discreet in what he said. He ought not to have said a word, nor need he, of what passed between Stanley and the Queen. Disraeli disgusted everybody by what he said, and his manner of saying it. Lord Lansdowne, Carlisle, and Labouchere dined here (Bruton Street), and about eleven o'clock a box was brought to Lord Lansdowne. It was a circular from John Russell announcing the final failure of the Graham negotiation, and that everything was at an end. It broke off on the Papal Question, on which they could not come to an agreement, though John Russell was ready to make some concessions. I don't think Graham wished to complete any combination, and preferred throwing the thing back on Stanley. His extreme timidity and his inveterate habit of magnifying dangers and exaggerating difficulties are very unfortunate and seriously mar his efficiency. If he had some of the confidence and sanguine disposition of Palmerston—if he could only bring himself to think that 'dangers disappear, when boldly they are faced,' it would be better for the country and for himself. Gladstone is expected to-morrow; Sidney Herbert says he will not join a Stanley Government. Everybody goes over the lists of Peers and Commoners whom Stanley can command, and the scrutiny presents the same blank result of men without experience or capacity, save only Herries, who is past seventy, and has been rusting for twenty years and more; and Disraeli, who has nothing but the cleverness of an adventurer. Nobody has any confidence in him, or supposes he has any principles whatever; and it remains to be seen whether he has tact and judgement enough to lead the House of Commons. It seems that in these negotiations everybody has behaved well. There have been no difficulties about persons, no pretensions, no selfishness, no vexatious obstacles from or in any quarter. Had the thing been patched up, Charles Wood was resolved to go. They wanted him to change his office, but he would not hear of it, and said he would not face Halifax. He thought both Grey and Palmerston ought to go out with him, but they declare that one and all were ready to make any sacrifice that might be required.[133]
LORD STANLEY'S ATTEMPT.