Suave, mari magno turbantibus aequora ventis,
E terra magnum alterius spectare laborem.
Of course, his duties at the Council Office required him to be in town during the season and while the Court was sitting; and in the April of this year he noted a breakfast at Lord Houghton's, to meet Renan, and presiding as a Vice-President at a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries. Otherwise the Journal is almost a blank, containing little beyond the dates of going to Foxholes or returning to town.
But though thus in a measure withdrawing from the swirl of society in which so much of his life had been passed, he in no sense lost touch with the movements of the day, and in none of these did he take a more lively interest than in those which affected the state of France. And that seemed particularly unsettled. No one could attempt a forecast of the future, though wild guessing was easy. Nothing was certain; everything was possible. Hope was guided rather by fancy than by reason, and tinted the years to come in brighter colours than—now that those years have passed —history has warranted. For many years back the French Princes had been Reeve's occasional correspondents, but their letters had seldom had any political significance. At this time they began to have a more serious importance; and during the next six years those of the Comte de Paris, more especially, are full of deep and pregnant meaning. In England, the topics of the day were the dissolution in March, Mr. Gladstone's Mid-Lothian campaign, which will live in history as an instance of the noxious admixture of sentiment and politics, and the overwhelming success of the Liberal party at the polls, which brought Mr. Gladstone back to office, at the head of an absolute majority in the House of Commons of 56. Reeve, of course, followed the progress of the election with anxious eyes. To Mr. T. Norton Longman he wrote:—
Foxholes, April 2nd.—The Liberal gain on the Elections is far more than I anticipated, and I begin to hope there may be a decided Liberal majority. What I most deprecate is an even balance of parties. If the Liberals are strong, they will be moderate; if weak, they will be violent.
It is raining heavily to-day—rather damp for the electors, but a capital thing for the country and for my shrubs.
The further course of the election brought him the following letters from the Comte de Paris:—
Château d'Eu, le 12 avril.—Je vous remercie de tout mon coeur des voeux que vous m'adressez à l'occasion de la naissance de mon fils, et je suis heureux de pouvoir vous donner les meilleures nouvelles de la mère et de l'enfant.
Je suis bien peiné d'apprendre que vous avez été si longtemps souffrant cet hiver. La rigueur de la saison peut bien en avoir été la cause, et j'espère que l'été achèvera de vous remettre. Nous serions heureux, la Comtesse de Paris et moi, si durant cet été vous pouviez, avec Madame et Mademoiselle Reeve, renouveler la visite que vous nous avez faite au château d'Eu il y a trois ans. Depuis lors la maison a été toujours en deuil; l'événement qui vient de s'accomplir ici nous permet, j'aime à le croire, une année plus heureuse.
The result of the elections in England has caused great surprise in France. Nothing led us to expect such a complete change in the opinion of the electorate. When I saw Mr. Gladstone a few months since, he did not seem at all confident of his party's speedy return to power. A year or two ago I should have greatly regretted the fall of Lord Beaconsfield; but my opinion is entirely changed since Lord Salisbury's speech in honour of the Austro-German alliance. Lord Beaconsfield's term of power has had the one good result of obliging the Government which succeeds him to pay more and closer attention to Continental politics than the English Cabinet did in 1870 and 1871. But for some time back the Russophobia of the Foreign Office and its agents has been so great that it looked as if England was going to give up the idea of preserving the equilibrium of the Continent, and become the accomplice or the dupe of those who played on this passion.
20 avril.—Je m'empresse de vous remercier de votre lettre et de vous dire tout le plaisir que la Comtesse de Paris et moi nous aurons à vous voir ici avec Madame et Mademoiselle Reeve. Malheureusement les trois dernières semaines d'août sont le seul moment où je ne serai pas ici, et si vous venez un peu plus tôt en France je vous prierais de commencer par le château d'Eu…. I have read the article on M'Clellan by Mr. Curtis, in the last number of the 'North American Review.' It did not teach me much, for I have often talked it all over with M'Clellan, in his visits to Europe. But the article is good, and all the facts alleged are perfectly true. Lincoln was very weak in this business, the tool—without knowing it—of Stanton and Halleck. The author sometimes closes his eyes to M'Clellan's faults, which, though they do not excuse Lincoln, impartiality will not permit us to ignore. M'Clellan was an excellent organiser and a skilful general, but he made blunders; he could not take a decided resolution at the proper time, and it is not correct to say that he was considered a faultless general: he was loved, appreciated, and respected by all, and justly considered as the best chief of the Federal armies, when Grant, Sherman, and Thomas were as yet little known. Personally, he was, at times, very indiscreet: he permitted those about him to speak of the President in insulting terms, and he wrote the letter quoted by Mr. Curtis. An extremely silly thing, for it could not possibly do any good, and it was easy to see that his enemies would use it against him. With these exceptions, I entirely share the views of the author of the article.