[1] [Mr. Greville wrote the review of the Memoirs of King Joseph Bonaparte which appeared in two successive articles of the Edinburgh Review.]
THE CATHOLIC OATH.
April 1st.—I went to a Council yesterday and got into a difficulty. Without any previous notice, Mr. Monsell, a Roman Catholic, came to be made a Privy Councillor. I had never sworn a Roman Catholic and did not know what to do, so I proposed to Monsell to put it off till another day, and meanwhile I would ascertain how he was to be sworn. The difficulty was told to the Queen, and the Prince set about finding what was to be done. He looked out the 10th George IV. (Emancipation Act), and, just as we were summoned into the Queen's presence, Granville brought the volume, put it into my hands, and told me I must administer to Monsell the oath set forth there, in lieu of the oaths of abjuration and supremacy. I was sure it was a mistake; but there was no time to remonstrate, and I was compelled to bring him in and administer the oath. As soon as I got back to my office and looked into the matter I found it was all wrong, and that he had not, in fact, been sworn at all. What he ought to have done was to take this oath in one of the Law Courts, and then to have the Privy Councillor's oath administered to him, and so I sent him word.
Afterwards I met Sidney Herbert, and he told me what he believed to be the cause of Drouyn de Lhuys' coming here, and the actual state of affairs at Vienna. We have proposed the reduction of the fleet; the Russians refuse. The Emperor Napoleon would like, if possible, to obtain some great success in the Crimea, and is not indisposed to continue the war if he can see a reasonable hope of such an achievement; but when he despairs of this his mind inclines to the other alternative, to make peace (which would be popular in France), and he does not care very much about the terms and is not averse to waive the condition as to the fleet. But our Government want to insist on it, or go on with the war, and Sidney Herbert believes they have succeeded in talking over Drouyn de Lhuys and persuading him to join us in this determination, and to carry it off to Vienna. However, he is very likely to be talked over again there, and it remains to be seen whether the Emperor, if he really wishes for peace, will not join with Austria in opposing us, and accepting some other conditions. I always fancied that we had come to a regular unmistakeable agreement with Austria what we should ask of Russia, and that she had bound herself to join in the war if the terms agreed in were refused, but, according to Sidney Herbert, this has never been done. Clarendon did, indeed, at last state distinctly to Austria the terms on which France and England meant to insist, and Austria expressed her concurrence in them as a matter of opinion, and her desire to obtain them, consenting also to unite her efforts to theirs in attempting to obtain them; but she never consented to go to war if they were not conceded, therefore we have no reason to complain of her if the negotiations break off on these grounds, and she refuses to depart from her neutrality. She has all along said, she wished with all her heart we could succeed in taking Sebastopol, but as we had not succeeded, and apparently could not, it was impossible to press very stringent terms on Russia; and she has never held out any expectation to us of joining in the war against Russia, unless Russia refuses such reasonable and not humiliating terms of peace as she herself thinks indispensable for the objects to the attainment of which she has all along been a party. The best chance of peace now is that the Emperor Napoleon may think he is not likely to do any great things in the Crimea and that peace is his best policy, and he is the real arbiter of peace and war. If he prefers following in the wake of England, and to defer to our war policy, peace will ascend to Heaven, and the odious war will be resumed with more fury than ever, and no one can guess how long it will last, nor what will be the end of it.
THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON AT WINDSOR.
April 17th.—Yesterday I went out 'with all the gazing town' to see not the least curious of the many curious events I have lived to witness, the entry of the Emperor and Empress of the French into London. The day was magnificent, the crowd prodigious, the reception not very clamorous, but cordial and respectful. A fine sight for them to see such vast multitudes, so orderly and so prosperous, and without a single soldier except their own escort. The Queen received them with the utmost cordiality, and omitted none of the usual forms practised between Sovereigns. She met the Imperial pair at the entrance to the Castle, embraced the Emperor and then the Empress when she was presented to her.
April 20th.—The visit of the Emperor has been one continued ovation, and the success of it complete. None of the Sovereigns who have been here before have ever been received with such magnificence by the Court or by such curiosity and delight by the people. Wherever and whenever they have appeared, they have been greeted by enormous multitudes and prodigious acclamations. The Queen is exceedingly pleased with both of them; she thinks the Empress very natural, graceful, and attractive, and the Emperor frank, cordial, and true. He has done his best to please her, talked to her a great deal, amused her, and has completely succeeded. Everybody is struck with his mean and diminutive figure and vulgar appearance, but his manners are good and not undignified. He talked a very long time to Lord Derby on Tuesday at Windsor and to Lord Aberdeen on Wednesday. This last was very proper, because he had a great prejudice against Aberdeen, and fancied he was his enemy, which Aberdeen knew. When he was invested with the Garter, he took all sorts of oaths—old feudal oaths—of fidelity and knightly service to the Queen, and he then made her a short speech to the following effect:—'I have sworn to be faithful to Your Majesty and to serve you to the best of my ability, and my whole future life shall be spent in proving the sincerity with which I have thus sworn, and my resolution to devote myself to your service.' The fineness of the weather brought out the whole population of London, as usual kept in excellent order by a few policemen, and in perfect good humour. It was a beautiful sight last night when the Royal and Imperial party went to the Opera in state; the streets lit by gas and the houses illuminated and light as day, particularly opposite the Travellers' Club, where I was. I am glad the success of the visit has been so great, and the contentment of all the parties concerned so complete, but it is well that all will be over tomorrow, for such excitement and enthusiasm could not last much longer, and the inconvenience of being beset by crowds, and the streets obstructed, is getting tiresome.
I saw Cowley for a moment yesterday. He told me the Russians refused any conditions which imposed loss of territory or limitation of naval forces, and they declined to offer any counter project, though they are ready to discuss anything we propose. He therefore considers the continuance of the war unavoidable, and does not believe Austria will join in it, though Drouyn de Lhuys still writes his own expectation that she will. He said they had never said or done anything which bound them to join, and that their diplomacy had been much more adroit and successful than our's, but that this was principally the fault of the French, who never would consent to take a peremptory course so as to compel them to be explicit. The consequence of this is, that it will be impossible to produce the diplomatic correspondence, and its retention will put Parliament and the press in a fury, and expose the Government to attacks which they will find it very difficult to repel or to silence. They cannot give the reason why, and their enemies and detractors will believe, or at least insist, that they do not dare disclose their own share in the transaction. I asked Clarendon how it was that the French Government in their last paper in the 'Moniteur' said so positively that they had secured the cooperation of Austria if the last conditions were refused by Russia; he replied that he supposed they said so in order to make it the ground of an accusation against Austria when the Conference broke up and she refuses to declare war. Clarendon thinks we shall get the better of Russia, but that it will be by blockading her ports and ruining her commerce, and not by military operations, and that this may take two or three years or more, but is certain in the end.[1]
[1] [The failure or suspension of the negotiations for peace at Vienna was formally announced to Parliament on May 21, and the protocols of the Conference laid upon the table.]
THE SEBASTOPOL COMMITTEE.