The alarm created here by the Indian news is very great, and Ellenborough (reckoned a great authority on Indian matters) does his best to increase it. The serious part of it is that no one can tell or venture to predict what the extent of the calamity may be, and what proportions the mischief may possibly assume. It is certain that hitherto the Government and the East India Company have been in what is called a fool's paradise on the subject. They have been so long accustomed to consider our Empire there as established on so solid a foundation, and so entirely out of the reach of danger, that they never have paid any attention to those who hinted at possible perils, and I don't think anybody ever foresaw anything like what has occurred, and they were disinclined to adopt any of the precautionary recommendations which would have been attended with expense, and the Press, and the public who are always led by the Press, took the same easy view of the subject. While the Russian War was going on a clamour was raised against Government for not calling away all the British troops in India and sending them to the Crimea, and those who went mad about the Crimean War would willingly have left India without a single European regiment, and have entrusted all our interests to the fidelity and attachment of the Native army. Though our Government was willing enough to enter into anything that the passion of the multitude suggested, they were not so insane as all that; but as it is, we may consider it most providential that the mutiny did not show itself during the Russian, or indeed during the Persian war. If it had happened while we were still fighting in the Crimea, we could not have sent out the force that would have been indispensable to save India. At the present moment the interest of the public is not greater than its apprehensions and alarm. Rumours of every sort are rife, generally of the most disastrous kind, and though the mails only come at a fortnight's interval, and it is physically impossible that any intelligence should reach us during those intervals, the public curiosity is fed and excited by continual rumours, which generally circulate stories of fresh disasters and dangers. There is a disposition in some quarters to make if possible poor Anson the scapegoat, and, now that he is dead and cannot defend himself, to attribute to him and to his misconduct or laches the misfortunes that have befallen us. I know not what he may have written home to the civil and military authorities; but, if I may judge by the tenor of his correspondence with me, I should infer that he has warned the Government against leaving India without adequate protection, and constantly urged the expediency of sending out fresh troops. I have long expected that the day would come when we should find reason for regretting our expansive policy and our going on with continual conquests and annexations.
We are overrun with Royalties present and prospective. Besides our Princess Royal's bridegroom, there are here the King of the Belgians' son and daughter, Prince Napoleon, the Queen of the Netherlands, and the Montpensiers as Spanish Princes, in which capacity Persigny has had to pay his court to them, and they have had to receive the Ambassador of Louis Napoleon.
July 19th.—Although it is impossible that any fresh accounts should have come from India, reports are rife of fresh insurrections and of all sorts of evils. Amidst all the bad news from India the good fortune is that so many of the Native troops, and not only the military, but the whole population of the Punjaub, have shown so much fidelity and attachment to the British Government. It is the strongest testimony to the wisdom and justice of our rule, and of the capacity of the natives to appreciate the benefits they derive from it, for beyond all question the introduction of European civilisation into the East, and the substitution of such a government as that of England for the cruel, rapacious, and capricious dominion of Oriental chiefs and dynasties, is the greatest boon that the people could have had conferred upon them. Our administration may not have been faultless, and in some instances it may have been oppressive, and it may have often offended against the habits and prejudices of the natives, but it is certainly very superior in every respect, and infinitely more beneficent than any rule, either of Hindoos or Mahometans, that has ever been known in India. However, people much more civilized and more sagacious than the Indians do not always know what is best for them, or most likely to promote their happiness, so it will not be surprising if these disorders should continue to increase, supposing the means of immediately and effectually suppressing them should be found wanting.
TEMPER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
For the last week the House of Commons has presented a more animated appearance than during the preceding months of this dull and passive session. Gladstone has reappeared and proved that his oratorical powers have not been rusted by his retirement, and John Russell has come forth showing his teeth, but not yet attempting to bite the Government. Palmerston, evidently nettled by these two, as well as by Roebuck and Disraeli, has spoken with considerable asperity, and with an insolent air of superiority and defiance, which has hitherto not been usual to him, and which has given no little offence. There are evident symptoms of an approaching cessation of that humble and deferential submission to his will which has hitherto distinguished his servile majority, and though it is not clear in what way they will assert their independence, those who watch the symptoms think that he will not find the same passive disposition in the next session, and if anything should go seriously wrong there would be open and general rebellion. Up to the present time, however, there is nothing to be seen but a certain amount of restlessness and a disposition to find fault, and the Government seem still to command the same enormous majorities, and Palmerston to be as powerful as ever, if he is not quite so popular. A violent effort is made by a number of Liberals in the House of Commons to renew the contest with the House of Lords for the admission of the Jews (the newspapers contain all the details of this attempt), which cannot be pursued without mischievous results, and will fail in its object.
August 2nd.—The Civil War in India, for such it may be called, supersedes every other object of interest, and the successive mails are looked for with the utmost impatience. The Government, though anxious and nervous, are not disheartened, and as far as we can judge the authorities in India have not been deficient in the emergency. Canning writes in good spirits, and all accounts agree in reporting that he has done his work hitherto very well. The discussions in Parliament have been on the whole creditable. Disraeli came down to the House of Commons with a long set oration, in which he entered at great length into the causes of the present confusion, and the misgovernment and bad policy which had engendered it, and although his speech was able, and probably contained a great deal that was true, it was deemed (as it was) mischievous and ill-timed, and very ill received by the House. He was rebuked with some asperity by Tom Baring, his own political adherent, and by Lord John Russell, who declared it to be the duty of the House to give every support to the Government in such a crisis. In the House of Lords Ellenborough was as mischievous and ill-disposed as Disraeli in the Commons, and was no better received. Granville administered to him a severe lecture, by no means ill done, and the House of Lords went with Granville.
THE PRINCE CONSORT.
Last week was passed at Goodwood, with fine weather, and the usual f�te with the unusual accompaniment of foreign Royalties. First the Comte de Paris for a night, and then the Queen of the Netherlands for two. The young French Prince is good-humoured and unpretending, the Queen is very gay, natural, and pleasing. I renewed an acquaintance I had made with her at Ems many years ago. It is a new feature in the present day the flitting about of Royal personages. Besides these I have named, the Prince Napoleon has been finishing a tour through England and part of Ireland by a visit to Osborne, and the Emperor and Empress are coming to Osborne for a week. Prince Albert has been to Brussels for the marriage of the Princess Charlotte, where he seems to have made his first experiment of the effect to be obtained from his newly-acquired title of 'Prince Consort of England,' as I see that he signed the marriage contract immediately after the Queen Marie Am�lie, and before an Austrian Archduke who was present.
August 12th.—I was at Stoke on Saturday and Sunday, and went over to see Bulstrode; surprised to find the place less d�labr�, and more capable of being restored than I expected. I passed the first fifteen years of my life there, and don't know whether the place or myself is the most changed. To feed our curiosity during the intervals between the Indian mails, the newspapers, the 'Times' especially, collect all the letters they can obtain, and publish them day by day. We have had a success in China, but I always tremble for the consequences of our successes there, lest we should be seduced or compelled into making permanent settlements and further extensions of our Empire in the East. Parliament is approaching its close, and the Government ends the session with unimpaired strength, but depending entirely on Palmerston's life, for there is nobody else capable of leading the House of Commons. There are growing symptoms of independence on the part of the House in the shape of adverse votes every now and then, principally on matters of estimates.
August 20 th.—I have read over the few preceding pages, and am disgusted to find how barren they are of interest and how little worth preserving. They show how entirely my social relations have ceased with all those friends and acquaintances from whom I have been in the habit of drawing the information which the earlier parts of this journal contain, and consequently my total ignorance of all political subjects. There was a time when I should have had a great deal to say upon passing events of interest or importance, but all that is gone by.