[1] [The final bombardment of Sebastopol commenced on the morning of September 5th, and continued without intermission until the 8th, when the Russians blew up their magazines and in the night evacuated the southern portion of the city. The intelligence of the fall of Sebastopol reached England on the afternoon of Monday, September 10, and was received with great enthusiasm throughout the country.]
September 23rd.—At The Grove from Saturday to Monday; nobody there but Reeve; nothing very particular. Clarendon said Prussia was very anxious to interpose to renew negotiations, but they would not hear of her interference, and if anything was done it could only be by Austria. He showed me a paper sent by Hudson with an account, very brief, of the state of Italy, which is in fermentation though not in open disturbance. The Sicilian malcontents sent to the King of Sardinia an offer of their crown for one of his sons. He replied, 'You have need of a man, and a boy will be of no use to you.' This they took for a refusal, and they are now thinking of a Coburg; in no case will they have a Murat. I forget what the Neapolitan Liberals want, but I doubt if the country will have either the courage or the power to emancipate itself.
GENERAL CHARLES WINDHAM.
September 28th.—No fresh news, but a letter from Charles Windham (the hero of the Redan), in which he gives an account of that affair which corresponds very closely with the report of Russell, the 'Times' Commissioner. He gives a poor character of the generals in the Crimea, and says the troops, except some of the old soldiers, behaved by no means well. The whole thing seems to have been grievously mismanaged on our part.[1]
I have had much correspondence with the Duke of Bedford about Lord John and his case, which the Duke says, now that he has heard it all and seen the correspondence, he thinks much better than he had supposed, and that John was meditating the publication of a defence of himself, but could not determine in what shape it should be. I earnestly advised him to dissuade his brother from publishing anything, as he could not make an effectual defence of his conduct without making revelations that would be held unjustifiable and cause all sorts of ill humour and recriminations, and render his position, both personal and political, worse than it now is. Some communications in a friendly spirit have taken place between Lord John and Clarendon, but I can see that there is still existing a great deal of soreness and a not very cordial feeling between them. I have been reading Lord Grey's speech on the war, which he has published in a pamphlet, and I think it excellent and unanswerable. I long to write something on the subject and to add to Grey's argument on other parts of the case. I do not care about the unpopularity of doing so, and am only deterred from taking so much trouble by feeling that it would be unavailing, and that to attempt to make the public listen to reason and take a dispassionate view of the various questions connected with the war on which they have been so completely bamboozled and misled, would be like Mrs. Partington and her mop.
[1] [The British attack on the Redan failed, whilst the French attack on the Malakoff succeeded, to the extreme annoyance of the British army and public: but in his assault Colonel Charles Windham (as he then was) displayed the most signal bravery, which in some measure redeemed the credit of the British forces. This circumstance gave him an amount of popularity and distinction which his rank in the army and his previous services did not altogether justify.]
October 2nd.—I have been in correspondence for a long time with Charles Windham, and had a letter from him written a few days after his great exploit at the Redan. I showed his letter to Granville, and he to Palmerston and Clarendon. I was glad to find every disposition to reward his bravery and conduct, and Henry Grenfell told me they had made him a general and were going to give him a division, as Markham and Bentinck are both coming home. This was no more than was reasonable to expect; but great was my astonishment when I was told yesterday morning that they were thinking of making Windham Commander-in-Chief, and I was asked to give any of his letters to me, from which extracts might be made to show to the Cabinet to enable them to judge of his character and talents. I offered to get his journal and letters, from his wife and others, which I did; but at the same time I said I thought it a hazardous speculation to raise him per saltum from being a colonel and brigadier to the command of a great army. B—— said this was true, but the matter pressed and they did not know where to find a man. This morning I gave him some papers, and he then told me Simpson had resigned, and it was necessary to come to some immediate decision. Codrington would have been undoubtedly chosen if he had not apparently (for as yet we know very little) failed in what he had to do on the 8th. With regard to Windham what the Cabinet will do I know not. I suggested that it would be better to try him first in his command of a division and go on if possible for some time longer, but Simpson's resignation compels them to come to some immediate decision, and they do not like to appoint another man pro tempore. I still incline to the opinion that Windham's extraordinary promotion from so low to so high a rank, and his passing over the heads of such multitudes of officers, will occasion great jealousy, envy, heart-burning, and resentment, besides casting a slur on the whole service in the eyes of the world; for when every general in the service is passed over, and a colonel appointed who has never done any but subordinate work, and shown extraordinary bravery and coolness, but no aptitude for command, because he has had no opportunity of so doing, every general and superior colonel now on service will feel himself insulted and a stigma cast upon him. I am not at all sure Windham may do better than any other man would do, but to justify such an appointment he ought to do far better; and, though he is a sharp fellow enough, I have never seen anything in him which indicates real genius or a superior intellect.
October 7th.—At Woburn, where the Duke and I had much conversation about Lord John and his position, and he showed me a great many of John's letters to him about his quarrel with the Government and the conduct of Clarendon to him, which he cannot forgive, though they are again corresponding with ostensible amity. The Duke owns that he does not see how John can take any prominent part in public life, at least for the present, and indeed considers it probable that his career as a statesman is closed; and, what is more, John seems to consider it so himself and to acquiesce in his position, though what his secret aspirations may be none can tell. He has, however, determined to give up his house in town, which looks like retirement. I strongly advised that John should go to the House of Lords, where he might still act a dignified and useful part; his position in the House of Commons would be very anomalous and disagreeable, and it is not at all certain that he would not lose his seat in the event of an election—very doubtful whether he would be returned again for the City; and the thing most to be deprecated is that he should stand and be defeated for that or any other place. The Duke neither agreed nor dissented, but he owned what I said of John's position was true, though he still thought he would be very reluctant to quit the House of Commons for ever, and retire to the Lords.
DEATH OF SIR ROBERT ADAIR.
On Tuesday last, after a few days' illness, Sir Robert Adair died at the age of 93, having preserved his faculties, and especially his remarkable memory, quite to the last. He was the last survivor of the intimate friends of Fox and of the political characters of his times. He had entertained a warm affection for Fox, and he preserved a boundless veneration for his memory; and the greatest pleasure he had was in talking of Fox and his contemporaries, and pouring forth to willing circles of auditors anecdotes and reminiscences of the political events with which he had been mixed up, or of which he had been cognisant in the course of his long life. This he did in a manner quite remarkable at so advanced an age, and he never had any difficulty in finding listeners to his old stories, which were always full of interesting matter, and related to the most conspicuous characters who flourished during the reigns of George III. and George IV.