RECONCILIATION OF STATESMEN.
The Duke of Bedford has just been here; he came from Lord Aberdeen, who tells him the Peelites are all verging towards a union with Lord John, some more, some less; Graham is devoted to him, Sidney Herbert and Cardwell perfectly well disposed, the Duke of Newcastle gradually becoming so, and Gladstone at present the least friendly, but Aberdeen thinks is getting more friendly, and will eventually join his standard, and Aberdeen himself is doing all he can to bring about this union. He is going to speak to the Queen about it, with a view of reconciling her to Lord John without knowing how necessary it is. The Duke said he rather doubted the expediency of Aberdeen's speaking to Her Majesty, but I told him it was better he should, and very necessary to take all means to remove her feeling against Lord John. I also told him what had passed between the Queen and Clarendon, and how he had endeavoured to persuade Her Majesty that it would be impossible for himself to be Prime Minister, and that if Palmerston failed from any cause, her only course would be to send for Lord John, and to do so frankly and graciously. I begged him to let Lord John know this, as it was so desirable to bring about a reconciliation between them, which this fact would be calculated to promote. The Duke owned it was very handsome conduct on the part of Clarendon, as it is indeed on the part of Aberdeen, after all that Lord John did in breaking up his Government; but Aberdeen is a gentleman and a patriot, sincerely attached to the Queen, and to the best interests of the country, and while he has retired altogether from public life and the turmoil of politics, he is anxious still to exercise the great moral influence which he possesses to advance the public interests according to the dictates of his judgement and his conscience.
Hatchford, March 30th.—On Friday last Disraeli brought on the Government India Bill, which Ellenborough told some of his friends would be 'a great success,' and which everybody expected would be an improvement on Palmerston's. Never was there a greater failure; the bill was received with general aversion and contempt. The Radicals, who want to keep the Government in for the present, could not stomach it, Roebuck pronounced it a sham, and Bright, who detests Palmerston, said he preferred his bill of the two. It is evidently impossible that this bill can pass, and everybody sees what a fix it places public affairs in, and what difficulties and uncertainties present themselves on all sides. The only people who are pleased are the Palmerstonians. They think that when this bill has been rejected or withdrawn theirs will pass, and this will, ex necessitate, compel Derby to retire and open the way to Palmerston's return to office. They are therefore chuckling over the dilemma, but it may be without its leading to the realization of their hopes. There are a great many men in the House of Commons, Peelites or Radicals principally, but also some others, who cannot endure the notion of Palmerston's coming back, and who will oppose his bill, after the other has been swept away, merely to prevent his return. What the Radicals would like is that both bills should be referred to a Select Committee, and a third bill be concocted out of the two; but this scheme would not be likely to meet with general approbation, for it would be in fact a delegation of the proper functions of government to the House of Commons. It appears not unlikely that both bills will fail and that no measure at all will pass this year. The Government people are extremely dejected at the state of affairs, but it is said they do not mean to resign upon the defeat of their bill.
Meanwhile John Russell has made a sort of overture to Granville, i.e. he sent George Byng to him on Sunday to invite him to say what he thought would be the most eligible course to adopt in the present state of affairs, and with reference to the Government bill. This was not very judicious on his part, and Granville was an odd man to select, being in a different House of Parliament, and so bound to Palmerston that he could not avoid communicating to him the overture and his reply to it. George Byng says Granville appeared a good deal surprised, but he thought rather pleased. Granville said he could give no immediate answer, but would write to him, which he did the next day, and told him George Lewis would go down to Pembroke Lodge to see Lord John. I have no idea that anything will come of this, for none of the late Cabinet can or will transfer their allegiance from Palmerston to Lord John, unless the former consents to it, and abdicates his position of chief of the Whig party, which he seems to have no thoughts of doing, and it is impossible to conciliate their rival claims and pretensions.
MR. DISRAELI'S INDIA BILL.
April 2nd.—A letter from the Duke of Bedford this morning says that Lord John is inclined to throw out the India Bill, as it is too bad to admit of any improvement, and that he thinks if he does this Palmerston will support him; but the Duke adds that it is rumoured that the Government will not go out if their bill is defeated. It is easy to understand that Palmerston can desire nothing so much as that Lord John should take the lead in opposing the India Bill, and that he should support him, because in that case, and the defeat of the bill by a large majority, which probably would happen, and the Government going out, he would infallibly be sent for again, and in re-forming his Government he would no doubt invite Lord John to join it, but this would only lead to a fresh series of difficulties, and most likely to a long course of abortive negotiations. How the junction between the two leaders is to be effected it is difficult to conceive, although there are several ways in which it might be brought about, if they were disposed to make mutual concessions. The starting point might be the complete union of the whole Whig and Liberal party, which all profess to desire most anxiously, and which the mutual antipathies and disagreements of the two leaders at present prevent. If Palmerston would consent to go to the House of Lords as Premier, and to leave Lord John with a high office (India, for example) as leader in the House of Commons, something might be done. Lord John might possibly be induced to cede his claim to the highest place on this condition, but it is not unlikely that he would require more than that: first, that Clarendon should not be at the Foreign Office, which Palmerston would no doubt not agree to; and secondly, certain places and seats in the Cabinet for the Peelites, who have recently consented to follow his standard and cast their own lots with his. Then various complications present themselves connected with these questions.
April 4th.—The Duke of Bedford has written to Lady Derby that her lord must make up his mind to be beaten on his India Bill, but that he hopes he will not think it necessary to resign upon it when he is. Brougham writes from Paris that the feeling against us there has been greatly exaggerated, that the Emperor alone is friendly to us, but that though the general sentiment is unfriendly, nobody dreams of going to war with us, nor indeed with any other Power.
April 8th.—Derby made a striking speech at the Mansion House the other night, which has been severely ridiculed by the 'Times,' but which nevertheless contained a good deal of truth. He said that there were very few questions nowadays in which different Governments could act differently, and he invited not only every sort of criticism, but of suggestion, as to the Indian Bills and measures now before Parliament. The inference deducible from his speech (and in which I have since been confirmed) is that, happen what may, he does not mean to resign, and that the Government will not go out, unless they are positively turned out. They say this unlucky India Bill was the sole work of Ellenborough, and that the democratic clauses are the result of an old fancy of his, but nobody can be desirous of admitting the paternity of such a measure.
LORD JOHN RUSSELL'S RESOLUTIONS.
April 16th.—I have been confined to the house for several days, and unable to mix in the world and hear what is going on, but have seen enough to know that there is nothing but confusion, perplexity, and irritation in the political world. During the brief recess everybody was speculating about what would be done when Parliament met again, what was to be the fate of the rival India Bills, and how far the Government would be affected by the result of contests concerning them. The Government hangers-on affected to be very well satisfied with the state of affairs, and proclaimed their intention not to go out whatever might happen with regard to their bills. The Palmerstonians evidently expected that such storms would arise as the Government would not be able to weather, and that something would turn up advantageous to them. John Russell, who must be doing something, said that the Government bill was so bad that no alterations could make it tolerable, and that he was disposed to move some Resolutions, which might be the foundation of a really good measure. He concocted these Resolutions, and wrote word to the Duke that 'he had written to George Lewis and to Macaulay, who both approved of his scheme.' Accordingly, as soon as Parliament met he announced that Resolutions ought to be drawn up, and that he was ready to draw them up. This produced great excitement. The Government saw in this move a plank of safety for themselves, and Disraeli said he was ready to receive Lord John's Resolutions, or to draw up Resolutions of his own; many people said that if Resolutions were to be drawn up at all, it ought to be by Government, and not by any independent member, and it was eventually settled that Disraeli was to do it. Everybody saw that this, as far as it went, was advantageous to the Government; it gave them certainly a reprieve, and possibly an opportunity of ridding themselves of the Indian difficulty altogether for this year, and the consequence was a burst of indignation and resentment against Lord John for thus coming to their aid as it was called, and concerting such a measure (as he was accused of doing) with Disraeli himself. The 'Times' attacked him with the utmost bitterness, and there is a general clamour against him on the part of the late Government and their friends. It is not very easy to divine his true motives in this matter. To judge by the asperity with which he has spoken of the Government bill, one should not suppose he could be moved by any auxiliary purpose to them, and I do not believe there has been any concert, direct or indirect, between them; but as all parties agree that the Government have derived advantage from his move, the rage he has excited is not unreasonable, and the breach between him and the Palmerstonian Whigs is much widened, and become more difficult to heal. Granville, who I suppose speaks the sentiments of his colleagues, says that it is evident they could not return to office with the same Government exactly as before, and that it is not desirable to turn the Government out at present, even if they could, and he thinks it would not be wise to attempt to carry Palmerston's India Bill, in which it is not sure they should succeed. He thinks there was concert between Lord John and Disraeli, not direct, but through Horsman, and he says that George Lewis, so far from approving his Resolutions, strongly protested against them; but it is not impossible to reconcile two statements which seem at first sight to be directly opposed to each other. Lord John says he imparted to George Lewis and Macaulay his scheme (i.e. of drawing up Resolutions), not the Resolutions themselves, while George Lewis seems to deny approval of the Resolutions; but this is only a possible solution of the apparent contradictions.