Saturday, 9th December.— ... I forgot to say that Lord Melbourne got a letter after dinner from Mr. Cowper (which he showed me) from the House of Commons, in which he said, “The Debate is going in our favour.” Lord Melbourne spoke to me about several of the speakers in the House of Commons; spoke of Sir E. Sugden[355] whom he says is a very clever lawyer, and said, “His father was a hair-cutter; he cut my hair very often.” This is a singular thing. Told me of an affront which the “Demagogue Hunt”[356] offered William Peel one day, in the House of Commons, on the latter’s attacking him. William Peel said something derogatory about Hunt’s extraction, upon which Hunt replied: “If my father was the first gentleman of his family, your father was the last gentleman of his family....”
Tuesday, 12th December.— ... Lord Melbourne, though looking pale, I was happy to see in very good spirits. A few minutes after we had sat down, he turned to me and said, “We have had a great set-to in the House of Lords.” He added that Lord Brougham[357] had made an unexpected opposition against the Message which Lord Melbourne read in my name the day before, pressing my increase of income for my Mother. Lord Duncannon told me that Lord Brougham had lately taken to making cutting attacks against my Ministers, and that he had most unhandsomely attacked my excellent Lord Melbourne, called him “a Courtier,” &c., &c., which, no wonder, roused Lord Melbourne’s temper, and that he returned it Lord Brougham most admirably. He always speaks well, but particularly well this time, Lord Duncannon said. I turned to Lord Melbourne and said I had heard he had spoken so well, “as you always do,” I added. But he is so modest and backward about his own extraordinary merits. He said to me, there might be a like difficulty in the H. of Commons upon this Message. Spoke to me about many other things and about boys at school, and told me a very amusing anecdote about himself. He and Lady Mulgrave were saying how imprudent it was to tell children things which they might not repeat. So he said, “When I was a boy of ten, and came home, my Mother was asking me about the boys at school, and I mentioned who were there, and amongst others the present Lord Boston.[358] My Mother said ‘Oh! every Irby is a fool,’ which is very true; so, when I went back to school, I told this, and said, ‘My Mother says every Irby is a fool.’ This was repeated, and written back to Lord Boston,[359] and created most dreadful offence.” We then spoke about Magnetism, which every body is mad about now; and I said it was very disagreeable to be magnetised, as people got to say such odd things in this magnetic state. “Why,” said Lord Melbourne, “people say odd enough things without being magnetised....” Spoke of Lord and Lady Ashley, their happiness and fondness for each other. I spoke to him of Lady C. Barrington’s[360] gratitude to me, at which his eyes filled with tears. He is the kindest, best, and tenderest hearted man I know; he is so truly excellent, and moral, and has such a strong feeling against immorality and wickedness; and he is so truly kind to me....
Friday, 22nd December.— ... Lord Melbourne spoke to me a good deal about the Privy Purse, about its expenses, the Pensions on it, &c., &c. About the Household Expenditure; about many other things concerning expenditure; about the late Kings, George 4th and William 4th’s fancies, &c., &c. His ideas about all these things are so reasonable and so excellent.... I sat between Lord Melbourne (who led me in) and Lord Palmerston. I was delighted to see Lord Melbourne in excellent spirits, and looking much better. He was very clever and funny about education, at dinner; his ideas are excellent about it, I think. He said that he thought almost every body’s character was formed by their Mother, and that if the children did not turn out well, the mothers should be punished for it. I daresay his noble, fine and excellent character was formed by his mother,[361] for she was a remarkably clever and sensible woman. He told me that the Civil List Bill was read a third time that evening, without any opposition. The news are, I grieve to say, very bad from Canada[362]; that is to say rumours and reports by the Papers, though we have no Official Reports. But Lord Melbourne hopes that it may not be so bad as it is rumoured. There certainly is open Rebellion. This makes it expedient that Parliament should meet again on the 16th January and not adjourn till the 1st Feb. as was at first intended....
Tuesday, 26th December.— ... At 3 I left Buckingham Palace (with regret, as I had passed a pleasant time there), with Mamma and Lady Mulgrave; Lady Mary, Miss Cocks, Mrs. Campbell, Col. Grey,[363] Lehzen, Miss Dillon, and Miss Davys following in 2 other carriages. We arrived at Windsor Castle at ½ p. 5. It was quite dark. The Castle looked very cheerful and comfortable, and I cannot say how much it put me in mind of last summer and of the very very happy days I spent there....
Wednesday, 27th December.— ... Besides our party of yesterday, the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland and the Duke of Argyll (who all stay here till Monday, 1st Jan.) dined here. The Duchess was looking so well; neither she nor the Duke have ever been staying at Windsor before and are delighted with the Castle. I sat between the Duke of Sutherland and Mr. Cowper. I talked a great deal with the latter, and a great deal about Lord Melbourne. He says that all the people who have never seen Lord Melbourne and come to have interviews with him, and those Members of the H. of Commons who dine with him and have not seen or known him before and expect to find the Prime Minister a very proud, stiff person, are quite delighted with his very kind, unaffected, merry and open, frank manner, which I think everybody must and ought to be. He told me some amusing anecdotes about him, &c., &c., and many other funny things. Lord Melbourne is very absent when in company, often, and talks to himself every now and then, loud enough to be heard but never loud enough to be understood. I am now, from habit, quite accustomed to it, but at first I turned round sometimes, thinking he was talking to me. Mr. Cowper says he does not think his uncle is aware of it; he says he is much less absent than he used to be....
H.S.H. Charles Prince of Leiningen
from a portrait by R. J. Lane
INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO CHAPTER VIII
The impression produced by the Queen at this time is vividly described by Princess Lieven in a letter to Lord Aberdeen. “I have seen the Queen twice,” she writes; “I have seen her alone, and I have seen her in Society with her Prime Minister. She possesses a composure, an air of command, and of dignity, which with her childlike face, her tiny figure, and her pretty smile, create one of the most extraordinary impressions that it is possible to imagine. She is extremely reserved in conversation. It is said that prudence is one of her highest qualities. Lord Melbourne adopts, when he is near her, an attitude of affection, of content, of self-consciousness mingled with a great deal of respect, which with his easy manners, the obvious habit of holding the first place amid her surroundings, his dreaminess at one moment, and his gaiety at another, make a picture you can easily realise. The Queen is full of amiability towards him.”
That is a glimpse of the external setting in which these Journals were composed. Lord Melbourne never forgot, from the outset, that the girl to whom he was acting as guardian and tutor was the Sovereign of these Realms. His letters from the first are written in the conventional form of a Minister addressing the Sovereign. Although he obviously tried in conversation to amuse the Queen, and to impart to her youthful intelligence some knowledge of Society, and of the world of Affairs in which she was about to take part, he did not shrink from the graver topics of statecraft, and did not spare her the details of public matters that must have been difficult for her to grasp and comprehend.
There is a passage in one of his letters, written about this time, in which he is explaining to the Queen the powers and duties which it was intended to transfer from the Secretary of State, who combined at that time the administration of Colonial and Military affairs, to a new Secretary of State for War. Lord Melbourne adds these words: “Your Majesty will not suppose that Lord Melbourne by laying before you the whole case has an idea of throwing the weight of such a decision entirely upon Your Majesty. Lord Melbourne will deem it his duty to offer to Your Majesty a decided opinion upon the subject.” This passage illuminates, if taken in conjunction with Princess Lieven’s descriptive passage, the atmosphere in which Lord Melbourne and the Queen were living at this time. To this young Queen he was Roger Ascham and Burleigh in one and in petto.
CHAPTER VIII
1838