May 1st.—Ellice flattered himself that he could get up a party in the House of Commons which would have power enough to stop the progress of the Indian measure, and to lead to a better measure next year, as well as to the formation of a Government; and in pursuance of this scheme it was arranged that Lord Harry Vane should move the postponement of Indian legislation, and Ellice told me they should be supported by 150, and many men of note. All this went off in smoke last night. After a short debate the motion was rejected by an immense majority, and Ellice could only muster 55 people.
The hopes of those who are trying to bring Lord John and Palmerston together are damped by a letter I have received (and shown to George Byng) from the Duke of Bedford, who says: 'I saw much, of Palmerston and Lady Palmerston last week, but could see no disposition to reunion, although we came to that point more than once. I suggested to Lady Palmerston the wish of many that Palmerston should go to the House of Lords. She said that Palmerston had always entertained a great dislike to it, and hinted, or more than hinted, that he would place no confidence in John as leader of the House of Commons.' I went to hear Professor Owen lecture yesterday. His style of lecturing is very good, but the subject (vertebrated animals) was too scientific for my ignorance.
Savernake, May 11th.—I have been out of town all the last week, at Chester, and came here on Saturday. While I was at Chester the Duke of Bedford sent me a note he had received from Lord John, which looked like the beginning of a rapprochement between him and Palmerston, though it did not amount to a great deal, and may lead to nothing. I was obliged to return it, and was too much occupied to copy the contents of it here. I refer so often to this subject, because it appears to be the one upon which the existence of the present Government depends, for as soon as the Liberals can come to an understanding and act in concert, the doom of the Ministry will be sealed. Without their committing any great faults they seem to be falling into greater contempt every day.
LORD CANNING'S OUDE PROCLAMATION.
The only point of attack the Opposition have found has been the affair of Canning's recent Proclamation.[1] Canning has not been lucky in his Proclamations, the first having been severely criticised for its clemency, and the second for its severity. The complaint against the Government is for having made public their disapproval of it and their censure of his acts. I think their disapprobation quite right, and that they were right in conveying it to Canning, but they might have refused to express any opinion or to publish or half publish any of the correspondence that passed, though it cannot be doubted that such refusal would have drawn upon them all sorts of attacks and reproaches, but it would have been the proper course for them to adopt. It is, however, certainly premature to express any definite opinion upon an act of which we are not yet furnished with an explanation.
I went yesterday to see Littlecote House, Mr. Popham's, a very curious, interesting old house, and the scene of the Wild Dayrell story and murder, the tradition of which has been often narrated, but the truth never ascertained. I saw all the rooms, including the one in which the murder is supposed to have been committed, but they have been much altered. There is a fine old hall, hung round with the armour and buff coats of Colonel Popham's troopers, and it is a remarkable fact that they are all so small that no man of ordinary size could wear them, a clear proof that the present generation are much bigger than our ancestors of two centuries ago. King William III. slept at Littlecote for two or three nights in 1689 (while King James was at Salisbury), and he seems to have left behind him a good many papers, which have ever since been preserved in the house. There is also a large collection of miscellaneous letters of the time of the Civil War, more or less curious, which were preserved by a lucky accident. Popham told me that his father told him there was a mass of papers in an old box under the roof of the house which had better be destroyed. His son went up for the purpose, and discovered the contents of the box, saved the papers, and had them arranged in a book. I urged him to publish them, and I hope he will. I had only time to look over a few of them; as autographs alone they are valuable.[2]
[1] [The Proclamation of March 3, addressed to the chiefs and people of Oude, is here referred to. It was strongly opposed and attacked as a wholesale measure of confiscation, before the motives and policy of the act were understood; but Lord Canning's object was to reinstate the talookdars in their possessions by a tenure under the British Crown, and subsequent events have shown that the resettlement of the conquered province was accomplished without violence or injustice.]
[2] [Amongst these Littlecote papers was found the correspondence of Queen Henrietta Maria with Charles I. when she went to Holland to raise money for carrying on the Civil War. I am not aware that they have been published.]
THE WHIGS NEGOTIATE.