The visit of the Emperor Napoleon at Osborne seems to have been spent in discussing the affairs of the Principalities and patching up the quarrels of the Ambassadors at Constantinople. As far as outward appearances go we do not appear to have played a very brilliant part, and the Opposition papers think they have got a good case on which to twit Palmerston, but as I do not know what has really taken place, I abstain from expressing any opinion upon the conduct of our Government.
The session of Parliament has been prolonged beyond all expectation by the vehement and acrimonious debates upon the Divorce Bill in the House of Commons, which has been very ably and vigorously fought by Bethell on one side cum quibusdam aliis, and Gladstone, Walpole, and Heathcote on the other. The Opposition hoped by constant obstructions to wear out the patience of Palmerston and to get the Bill put off till next session. Palmerston, however, was firmly resolved not to submit to this, and when they found that he was so determined, they contented themselves with insisting upon certain amendments, which Palmerston thought it prudent to consent to, and the spirit of compromise and concession which the Government have lately evinced has softened in some degree the asperity of the debates, and at last enabled the Government to carry the Bill. Bethell, who has fought the battle with great ability, is not a little disgusted at the concessions to which he has been forced to consent, and has done so with a solemn protest and warning with regard to the exemption clause for the clergy, which the Government have very reluctantly consented to, but on which Granville assures me they had no option, and that if they had refused to give way they would have infallibly been beaten upon it. I dined at Richmond with Lord Lansdowne yesterday, to meet the Duchess of Orleans and the Comte de Paris. I had never seen her before. She is plain, but pleasing, and with very good manners.
August 21st.—The Divorce Bill having passed the House of Commons, went up to the House of Lords yesterday, when Lord Redesdale attempted to strangle it by a dodge, which he was obliged to give up in consequence of the vigorous attacks made upon him by the Ministerial side, who were supported even by St. Leonards, and particularly by an indignant and effective speech, made by Lord Lansdowne, who, in spite of weakness and gout, from which, he was actually suffering, spoke with extraordinary spirit. If Redesdale had persisted, and gone to a division, the Government would probably have been beaten, and the labour of half the session would have been thrown away. As it is, there is to be a fight on Monday next, the result of which depends on which side can get the greatest number to come up from the country to vote.
CLOSE OF THE SESSION.
September 6th.—Went to Worsley on Thursday last, in order to go from thence to see the Manchester Exhibition, which is very pretty, but appears diminutive after the London and Sydenham Exhibitions. Its principal attraction is in the excellent collection of pictures; it will be a failure in a pecuniary point of view, but there are plenty of rich people in Manchester able and willing to bear the expenses. The session closed very quietly, though not without some grumbling. Some complained that Parliament should not continue to sit while the Indian troubles are going on with undiminished force, others that the Queen should go to Scotland; but the Government have brought their labours to a close very prosperously, and Palmerston continues as powerful and as secure as ever. There is no longer the same enthusiasm there was for him, but there is a universal impression that he is indispensable, and on the whole a feeling of satisfaction and confidence in his administration. Even I myself am compelled in candour to acknowledge that he does at least as well as anybody else would be likely to do, and no complaints can justly be made against the Government of any supineness in sending out adequate reinforcements to India. Lewis told me, just as Parliament was prorogued, that they were thoroughly impressed with the gravity of the case, and conscious of the danger, and that they were going to send out every man they could muster here or in the Colonies, and they have already despatched troops in great numbers with remarkable celerity.
They have made some Peers, of whom the most conspicuous is Macaulay, and I have not seen or heard any complaints of his elevation. Lord Lansdowne has declined the offered Dukedom, which I rather regret, for such a public recognition of his character and services during a long life would have been graceful and becoming, and the report of it elicited from all quarters expressions of satisfaction at such an honour having been so worthily conferred.
While Macaulay is thus ascending to the House of Peers, his old enemy and rival Croker has descended to the grave, very noiselessly and almost without observation, for he had been for some time so withdrawn from the world that he was nearly forgotten. He had lived to see all his predictions of ruin and disaster to the country completely falsified. He continued till the last year or two to exhale his bitterness and spite in the columns of the 'Quarterly Review,' but at last the Editor (who had long been sick of his contributions) contrived to get rid of him. I never lived in any intimacy with him, and seldom met him in society, but he certainly occupied a high place among the second-rate men of his time; he had very considerable talents, great industry, with much information and a retentive memory. He spoke in Parliament with considerable force, and in society his long acquaintance with the world and with public affairs, and his stores of general knowledge made him entertaining, though he was too overbearing to be agreeable. He was particularly disliked by Macaulay, who never lost an opportunity of venting his antipathy by attacks upon him.
HISTORY OF THE LIFE PEERAGES.
Holwood, September 10th.—I came here on Tuesday on a visit to the Chancellor.[1] This beautiful place formerly belonged to Mr. Pitt, and abounds in local recollections of the great Minister in the shape of 'Pitt's Oak,' 'Pitt's Well,' &c. It is close to Hayes, where his father, the great Lord Chatham, lived and died. Nobody is here but Pemberton Leigh.