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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF HENRY REEVE, C.B., D.C.L

BY

JOHN KNOX LAUGHTON, M.A.

HONORARY FELLOW OF GONVILLE AND CAIUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE PROFESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY IN KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON

IN TWO VOLUMES

VOL. II.

CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME

PORTRAIT OF HENRY REEVE AET. 68.

From a Photograph taken by RUPERT POTTER, Esq.

XIII. THE WAR IN ITALY (1859-60)

XIV. LITERATURE AND POLITICS (1860-3)

XV. LAW AND LITERATURE (1863-7)

XVI. CHURCH POLITICS (1868-9)

XVII. THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR (1869-71)

XVIII. THE GREVILLE MEMOIRS (1871-4)

XIX. FOXHOLES (1874-9)

XX. OUTRAGE AND DISLOYALTY (1880-2)

XXI. THE FRENCH ROYALISTS (1883-5)

XXII. RETIREMENT (1886-9)

XXIII. THE ONE MORE CHANGE (1890-5)

LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF HENRY REEVE

CHAPTER XIII

THE WAR IN ITALY

How far the murderous attempt of Orsini, on January 14th, 1858, was connected with the political relations of France and Italy it is as yet impossible to say. It was, and still is, very commonly believed that in his youth Louis Napoleon had been affiliated to one or other of the secret societies of Italy, that he was still pledged to this, was bound to obey its orders, and that Orsini was an agent to remind him that the attainment of high rank, far from releasing him from the bond, rendered it more stringent, as giving him greater power and facility for carrying out the orders he received. The independence of Italy was aimed at; and it had been intimated to the Emperor that Orsini's was only the first of similar messages which, if action was not taken, would be followed by a second, with greater care to ensure its delivery.

All this may or may not have been mere gossip. What is certain is that, during the latter months of 1858, secret negotiations had been going on between the Emperor and Victor Emanuel, the King of Sardinia, or rather his minister, Cavour; and that an agreement had been come to that Austria was to be attacked and driven out of Italy. Accordingly, on January 1st, 1859, at his New Year's reception of the foreign ministers, Louis Napoleon took the opportunity of addressing some remarks to the Austrian Ambassador which, to France and to all Europe, appeared threatening.

Similarly, at Turin, it was allowed to appear that war was intended; and on both sides preparations were hurried on. In France, as in Austria, these were on a very extensive scale. A large fleet of transports was collected at Marseilles; troops were massed on the frontier of Savoy; and, on the part of the Austrians, 200,000 men were assembled in readiness for action. On April 23rd Francis Joseph, without—it was said—the knowledge of his responsible ministers, sent an ultimatum to Turin, requiring an answer within three days: at the expiration of that time the Austrians would cross the frontier. The allies utilised the delay to complete their preparations; and before the three days had ended the advance of the Franco-Sardinian army had begun.

The campaign proved disastrous to the Austrians, whose half-drilled and badly-fed troops and obsolete artillery were commanded by an utterly incompetent general. They were defeated at Palestro on May 31st; at Magenta on June 4th; and again at Solferino on June 24th. Nothing, it appeared to the Italians and the lookers-on, could prevent the successful and decisive issue; the Austrians would be compelled to quit Italy. Suddenly Louis Napoleon announced that he had come to an agreement with the Emperor of Austria and that peace was agreed on. The disappointment and rage of the Italians were very great; but, as Louis Napoleon was resolved, and as Victor Emanuel could not continue the war without his assistance, he was obliged to consent, and peace was concluded at Villafranca on July 11th.

For the next eighteen months much of the correspondence refers to the inception and result of this short war, mixed, of course, with more personal matters, and at the beginning, with news as to the state of Tocqueville's health, which was giving his friends the liveliest anxiety. The Journal for the year opens with:—

January 6th.—We went to Bowood. It was the first time Christine went there. The party consisted of the Flahaults, Cheneys, Strzelecki, the Clarendons, Twisletons,[Footnote: The Hon. Edward Twisleton, chief commissioner of the poor laws in Ireland. He married, in 1852, Ellen, daughter of the Hon. Edward Dwight, of Massachusetts, U.S.A.; and died, at the age of sixty-five, in 1874.] and Leslies. What agreeable people! For a wonder we shot there on the 10th, and killed 140 head.

January 12th.—We had a dinner at home—Trevelyan, just appointed governor of Madras, Phinn, Baron Martin, Huddleston, W. Harcourt, Merivale, and Henry Brougham.

From Lord Brougham

Cannes, January 3rd.—I grieve to say Tocqueville has been worse. His doctor dined here t'other day and T.'s brother came for him at ten o'clock. I have as bad an opinion of the case as possible.

Cannes, January 9th. The Italian affair is very naturally cause of anxiety, but I feel assured this, for the present, will pass away. I find there is a strong feeling getting up of the Austrian army being as good as the finances are bad, but the French finances are not likely to be very much better. However, though the present alarm will pass away, what a sad thing for the peace of the world to depend, not on the general opinion and feeling, but on the caprice, or the jobbing, or the blunders of a few individuals! Who can be quite sure that Morny's stockjobbing has had nothing to do with the late most silly conversation? [Footnote: Presumably, the sinister remark addressed to the Austrian Ambassador on New Year's Day.] L. N. himself is quite clear of all such blame. He tries all he can to prevent M. and others from their pillaging, but he never can succeed. However, it is to the risk of more blunders that I look as placing peace in greatest jeopardy. I don't believe L. N. or any one of them would, if they knew it, run the risk of a general war (and the least war means a general war); but they may any day get into a scrape without intending it, for they have not the security of free discussion to warn them.

From Lord Hatherton

Teddesley, January 12th.—Do me the kindness to write me one line to tell me what you know of the state of M. de Tocqueville. Is it dangerous? There is no man out of this kingdom who possesses so much of my admiration and regard.

This general lull after the late Reform agitation is very natural. There are four parties waiting each other's moves; three, at least, exclusive of Bright's, which is the least. There are the present Government, the late Government, and the country—which, as I read it, has little in common with any of them, but is at present without a leader. Any very powerful man, who had been living by, would now have had a great field before him.

I attended the day before yesterday a very remarkable meeting of the Birmingham and Midland Institute at Birmingham. Lord Ward [Footnote: Created Earl of Dudley in 1860.] in the chair. The report, and all the officials and speakers, especially those from the town, complained of the indifference of the artisans, mechanics, and labourers of that town to instruction and education generally. It seems, on the showing of Bright's friends, that these fellows, the noisiest of their class about Reform, are the most ignorant and the least desirous of improving themselves. Such is the report of Bright's own friends. Mr. Ryland, the vice-president and real manager of the institution, who is also Bright's friend there, is the loudest in his complaints of this body. Ryland further told me that he believed there was not a workman in the town who, if consulted individually, would express his approval of all Bright's principles. Mr. Ryland is a solicitor.

I am all anxiety to see your January number.

To the Marquis of Lansdowne

62 Rutland Gate, January 25th.

My dear Lord Lansdowne,—I have omitted, but not from forgetfulness, to express to you the very high gratification Mrs. Reeve and myself derived from your most kind reception of us at Bowood, and I am sure we shall always retain the liveliest recollection of this most agreeable visit. But, in truth, I waited till something should occur which might have the good fortune to interest you, and I think the accounts I continue to receive from France, on the present threatening aspect of affairs, may be of that nature. M. Guizot says to me, in a letter of the 23rd inst.:—

'Jusqu'à ces jours derniers je n'y voulais pas croire. J'essaye encore d'en douter; mais c'est difficile. Ce sera un exemple de plus des guerres faites par embarras de ne pas les faire bien plus que par volonté de les faire. Je suis porté à croire que l'Empereur Napoléon serait charmé de ne plus entendre parler de l'Italie; mais pour cela il faudrait qu'il n'y eût plus d'assassins italiens, plus de Roi de Sardaigne, plus de cousins à marier, plus de brouillons révolutionnaires à contenter. Aujourd'hui, et malgré toutes les paroles contraires, il me paraît probable que ces causes de guerre prévaudront sur la modération naturelle, sur le goût du repos voluptueux, sur l'avis des conseillers officiels, et sur le sentiment évident du public. Que fera l'Allemagne? Le tiendra-t-elle unie? Là est la question. L'Angleterre y peut certainement beaucoup. Je ne vois plus que là une chance pour le maintien de la paix.'

These words are so remarkable, coming from a man whose disposition is ever so much more sanguine than desponding, that I have quoted them at length.

We have all been greatly touched by the close of Mr. Hallam's most honourable, useful, and I may say illustrious life. [Footnote: He died on January 21st, 1859.] It so chanced that my sister-in-law, Helen Richardson, who has been to him a second daughter for the last few years, came up from Scotland on Thursday [January 20th]. On Friday she went down with Mrs. Cator to see him. He perfectly knew her, and seemed charmed to see her again; but before she left his bed-side the light flickered in the socket, and he expired a short time afterwards in their presence, conscious and without pain to the last. I thought the notice of him in the 'Times' of Monday very pleasing, and was inclined to attribute it to David Dundas, but I know not whether I am right….

I remain always

Your obliged and faithful

H. REEVE.

From Lord Clarendon

The Grove, January 26th.—I am much obliged to you for M. Guizot's letter, [Footnote: Apparently that of January 23rd, quoted in the previous letter to Lord Lansdowne.] which Miladi and I have read with interest, as one always does everything he writes. I showed it to G. Lewis and C. C. G., feeling sure you would have no objection. It is impossible not to agree in his gloomy view of things. It must be owned that the position the Emperor has made for himself is one of extreme difficulty. His idée dominante has been how to pacify Italian conspirators by bringing away his army from Rome, without having the Pope's throat cut or letting in an Austrian garrison there; and he determined that driving the Austrians out of Italy was the indispensable preliminary step. He was urged to do this and to think it easy both by Russia and Sardinia; and we may be sure that the Sardinians would not have committed themselves as they have done, and incurred such inconvenient expense, if they had not received promises of active support. How would it be possible then for L. N. to recede? Cavour would show him up, and fresh daggers and grenades would be prepared for him. I look upon war, therefore, as certain. We have only to hope that Austria may continue to act prudently, and not furnish the cause of quarrel which her enemies are looking for, and which might turn against her those who, for decency's sake, wish to remain neutral; and next, that Germany may be united by a sense of common danger. This may tend to limit the area of the war; but altogether it is a deplorable gâchis, out of which L. N. can no more see his way than anyone else.

From Lord Brougham

Cannes, January 26th.—I must throw myself and the cause of law amendment on your kindness, under a great evil which has befallen us. The 'Quarterly Review,' under Mr. Elwin, was so favourably disposed to law reform as to resolve upon inserting a full discussion of the subject on the occasion of Sir E. Wilmot's volume on my 'Acts and Bills;' and Bellenden Ker had undertaken it, and was, as a law reformer and as, under Cranworth, in office as consolidation commissioner, certainly well qualified to do the article. But he made such a mess of it; in fact, treating Eldon, Ellenborough, &c., and other obstacles to law reform not introductory, but, as I understand, making a whole article upon that. The consequence has been that the whole has failed, and this most valuable opportunity been lost of having the Tory journal's adhesion to law reform now. It is barely possible they may take it up hereafter. But surely the natural place for this statement is the 'Edinburgh Review,' and I should feel great comfort for the good cause if I thought you would thus help us. The matter in Sir E.'s book renders it very easy to show what has been done of late years.

Poor Tocqueville is one day a little better, another a little worse; but I have little or no hope of his getting through it.

Shortly after this Lord Brougham made a flying visit to London. A note in the Journal is:—

February 26th.—I dined at Lord Brougham's, and met Dr. Lushington, Lord Glenelg, Lord Broughton; all—with our host—over 80.

But the state of Tocqueville's health continued, for Reeve, the most engrossing personal consideration, and just at this time the deadly malady took a favourable though delusive turn. Tocqueville—says M. de Beaumont [Footnote: Gustave de Beaumont: Oeuvres et Correspondance inédites d'Alexis de Tocqueville (1861), tome i. p. 116.]—hoped for the best. 'How could he do otherwise when all around him was bursting into life? and so he kept on his regular habits, his schemes, his work. He read, and was read to; he wrote a great many letters, and devoured those which he received in great numbers. There was not one of his friends who did not receive at least one letter from him during the last month of his life.' The following is his last letter to Reeve. The writing is painfully bad, the letters often half formed, or crowded one on top of another; even the orthography is imperfect; but the words and ideas flow in full volume.

Cannes. le 25 février.

Cher Reeve,—Il y a un siècle que je ne vous ai écrit. Je n'étais pas libre de le faire. Le mois de janvier tout entier s'est passé au milieu de la crise la plus douloureuse. Je ne crois pas qu'il y ait aucun mois de ma vie qui mérite mieux que celui-là d'être marqué d'une croix noire dans l'histoire de mon existence privée. Jetons dans l'oubli, s'il est possible, des jours et surtout des nuits si cruels, et bornons-nous à demander à Dieu de n'envoyer rien de semblable désormais, soit à moi, soit à mes amis. Depuis trois semaines j'occupe février à réparer les méfaits de janvier. Je vais aussi bien que possible: mes forces sont en grande partie revenues. Les bronches semblent en voie de guérison rapide. Ainsi n'en parlons plus.

I have just been reading an excellent article on the Catacombs, in the 'Edinburgh Review.' It is a subject which has always interested me, but very likely I should not have begun with this particular article if I had not known it was by you. Circourt wrote to me about it, and so deprived me of the pleasure of finding it out for myself, which I think I could have done. But, in any case, the article is exceedingly interesting … Though I have been enjoying myself in following you underground, what is now going on on the earth's surface calls for close attention. I am here hard by one of the old military roads which have led into Italy from time immemorial, as at this day. I hear that great preparations are being made all along the valley of the Rhone and the neighbouring country. What I am sure of, because it is taking place under my very eyes, is, that the railway from Marseilles to Toulon is being pushed forward at an unheard of rate. It is the only link wanting to complete the chain of communication between Brest, Cherbourg, Paris, and Toulon. There was no expectation of this railway being finished before the middle of summer; but now it is understood that it will be ready within a few days—an instance of doing the impossible. Such efforts presuppose some great object which it is desired to accomplish at once.

I am told, perhaps incorrectly, that Prussia has decided to remain neutral—at first, at any rate; and, by the same authority, that Russia will be neutral, but in a spirit friendly to France. This would be very serious; for Russia gives nothing for nothing. If it is so, the Emperor's project would appear less silly. It would explain how an ambitious prince, whose throne is tottering, who is bound to excite the admiration of France and to gratify the national vanity, [Footnote: Fleury, one of the most faithful and attached of the Emperor's followers wrote in words almost identical (Souvenirs, tom. i. p. 330): 'C'était par une série de faits grandioses par des spectacles flattant l'orgueil et les instincts du pays, que Napoleon III allait, pendant de longues années, non seulement occuper, réjouir la France, mais encore fixer l'attention, l'étonnement et bien souvent l'admiration du monde.'] who is stopped by no scruples, might find it an excellent opportunity for bringing on a personal war—if I may say so; for driving the Germans across the Alps and naming himself the Dictator of Italy. It is true that no great material advantage can result from it; but L. N. is sufficiently well acquainted with France to know that the glitter of such a course would probably content her. All this would be easy to understand if Maria Theresa reigned at Vienna, Frederic at Berlin, and Mme. de Pompadour at Versailles; in a word, if we were in the eighteenth instead of the nineteenth century. But being, as we are, in the nineteenth century, the designs which are ascribed to the Emperor are to be condemned as in the highest degree treasonable to humanity and to France. Kings can no longer claim to be guided only by their personal interests and passions; and now—when it is agreed that England cannot remain neutral in a war between France and a great Continental Power; when it is admitted that a Continental war, however short, would surely awaken the hatred of all princes and all neighbouring people, and would end in a coalition against France—now, I say, to plunge into such an adventure would be not only the most silly, but the most wicked thing which a Frenchman could do.

La longueur un peu désordonnée de cette lettre, mon cher ami, vous prouvera mieux que tout ce que je pourrais dire les progrès de ma santé. Je vais écrire à Mme Grote. Rappelez-nous, je vous prie, tout particulièrement au souvenir de Lady Theresa et de Sir C. Lewis. J'espère que Lord Hatherton ne m'a pas oublié. Mille et mille amitiés à tous les Senior. Je n'ai pas besoin d'en dire autant pour Mme et Mile Reeve. Tout à vous de coeur, A. T.

Reeve replied immediately:—

62 Rutland Gate, 1 mars.—Votre lettre me fait le plus sensible plaisir. Les nouvelles indirectes de votre santé qui me sont parvenues de temps en temps m'avaient excessivement préoccupé. J'ai su que le mois de janvier avait été mauvais, et quoique j'eusse bien des fois l'envie de prendre la plume, elle m'est tombée des mains lorsque j'ai réfléchi que j'ignorais malheureusement dans quel état de corps et d'esprit ma lettre pourrait vous trouver. Pendant tout l'hiver j'ai reçu par lettre et de bouche une infinité de demandes sur votre état. Vous ne sauriez croire à quel point tous vos amis d'Angleterre, qui sont encore plus nombreux que ceux dont vous avez une connaissance personnelle, m'ont témoigné pour vous d'intérêt, de considération et d'affection. Aussi votre convalescence est une bonne nouvelle pour nous tous—les Lewis, les Hatherton, les Grote, Knight-Bruce et tant d'autres. Je me permets cependant de dire que le sentiment que j'ai eu toutes les fois que je me suis transporté par la pensée à votre chambre de malade est bien autrement profond. Mon amitié pour vous est une des affections les plus vives qu'il m'ait été donné de conserver. Je n'ai rien de plus cher. Et l'idée que vous souffriez tant de mal, sans qu'il me fût possible de vous offrir le moindre soulagement, m'à été extremement pénible. Pour un malade la lecture de mes 'Catacombes' ne me paraît pas excessivement gai, mais je reconnais là votre aimable souvenir de l'auteur. Bref, vous êtes en convalescence. Le soleil printanier, même dans nos climats, luit d'un éclat extraordinaire. Déjà au mois de février les arbustes poussaient des feuilles. Dieu veuille que cette douce chaleur de l'année vous rende bientôt à la santé et à la Normandie.

There is no doubt that the state of public affairs is more serious than it has been since 1851. [Footnote: Sc. in France, before the Coup d'état.] The meaning of what has lately been going on in public, and of the secret plots which have been hatching for a long time, is very clear. As to France, I say nothing; for, after all, she has the chances of success, which will smooth away many apparent difficulties. But the peace of Europe depends on Germany and on England. Shall we succeed in maintaining it? The attitude of England is, I think, good. Without any hostile demonstration, she has shown very clearly that she will be no party to any breach of the treaties. Lord Cowley's mission to Vienna has been arranged between him and the Emperor, but I have no faith in it. It is merely a device to make people think he is acting in agreement with the English Cabinet, and so conceal a scheme to which the English Cabinet is totally opposed. Opinion here is unanimous against French intervention in Italy. Unfortunately, we are in a very bad position at home. The Cabinet is deplorably weak, and it has just lost two of its principal members. The Reform Bill, brought in yesterday, raises more questions than it answers; but it will probably serve to give prominence to the dissensions in the Liberal party. 'Tis a real misfortune; for a disunited party cannot assert any influence in Europe.

Lord Brougham is returning to Cannes, though with little inclination to stay among such grave causes of anxiety. So long as France is free to act by sea, the road to Italy does not lie through Var, but in the ports of Toulon and Marseilles. Shall you soon be hearing the guns of the second Marengo?

The action of England at this important crisis was curious, but characteristic. The destinies of Europe were shaking in the balance; the fortunes of France, of Italy, of Austria, probably also of Prussia, and very possibly of Russia, were at stake; so the English Government thought it a suitable opportunity to tinker the constitution and introduce a Reform Bill—which nobody seems to have wanted—mainly, it would seem, to 'dish' the Whigs. It was, however, they themselves who were dished. Mr. Henley, the President of the Board of Trade, resigned on January 27th. So also did Mr. S. H. Walpole, [Footnote: Mr. Walpole died, at the age of 92, on May 22nd, 1898.] the Home Secretary, who wrote to Lord Derby: 'I cannot help saying that the measure which the Cabinet are prepared to recommend is one which we should all of us have stoutly opposed if either Lord Palmerston or Lord John Russell had ventured to bring it forward.' None the less, the Bill was introduced on February 28th. On the second reading it was negatived; a dissolution and a general election followed; and on the meeting of Parliament, in June the Ministry were defeated on an amendment to the Address, and resigned.

But though the want of confidence appeared to be based on the question of the Reform Bill, there is no doubt that there was a widespread mistrust of the foreign policy of the Government. For some years past, perhaps ever since Mr. Gladstone's celebrated Neapolitan letters in 1851, successive waves of sentiment in favour of Italian independence and unity had passed over the country; and Lord Derby, or Lord Malmesbury, had perhaps fancied that this sentiment might be invoked in their defence. They had not, indeed, taken any overt action, but there was a general idea that they were inclined to favour the designs of Italy and of France. Now, to favour the cause of Italian independence was one thing; to favour the ambitious and grasping schemes of France was another; and the leaders of the Liberal party were not slow to denounce the Government, which—as they alleged—was ready to plunge the country into war for the sake of currying favour with the master of the insolent colonels of 1858.

Reeve's own view of the questions at issue may be gathered from the letters which he wrote to the 'Times,' [Footnote: January 19th, The Policy of France in Italy; April 28th, The Policy of France, both under the signature of 'Senex.'] and more fully, more carefully expressed in the article 'Austria, France, and Italy' in the 'Edinburgh Review' of April. In this he distinctly combats 'what is termed the principle of "nationalities"' as unhistorical. The theory is, he says, 'of modern growth and uncertain application;' and he goes on to show in detail that it is not applicable to any one of the Great Powers of Europe.

'Of all the sovereigns now filling a throne, Queen Victoria is undoubtedly the ruler of the largest number of subject races, alien populations, and discordant tongues. In the vast circumference of her dominions every form of religion is professed, every code of law is administered, and her empire is tesselated with every variety of the human species…. But above and around them all stands that majestic edifice, raised by the valour and authority of England, which connects these scattered dependencies with one great Whole infinitely more powerful, more civilised, and more free than any separate fragment could be; and it is to the subordination of national or provincial independence that the true citizenship of these realms owes its existence…. It is the glory of England to have constituted such an empire, and to govern it, in the main, on just and tolerant principles, as long as her imperial rights are not assailed; when they are assailed, the people of England have never shown much forbearance in the defence of them. Such being the fact, it is utterly repugnant to the first principles of our own policy, and to every page in our history, to lend encouragement to that separation of nationalities from other empires which we fiercely resist when it threatens to dismember our own.'

He then goes on to speak of the administration of such nationalities, and continues:—'The spirit of the Austrian Government in the Italian provinces we heartily deplore. All things considered, it would have been better for Austria herself if England and the other Powers had not insisted in 1815 on her resuming the government of Lombardy, or if the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom had been erected into a distinct State; but that consideration is utterly insufficient to justify a deliberate breach of the public law of Europe.'

And he adds a note:—'We believe that we are strictly correct in stating that the Emperor Francis, foreseeing the difficulties his Government would have to encounter in Lombardy, and anxious to avoid causes of future dissension with France, expressed his strong disinclination to resume that province; but it was pressed upon him by the other Powers, and especially by the Prince Regent of England, as the only effectual mode of excluding the influence of France from Northern Italy.'

The argument, throughout, is that the attack on Austria about to be made by France and Sardinia was an unprovoked aggression, a violation of European treaties; on the part of Sardinia, for lust of territory, and on the part of France, for a desire to remodel the map of Europe, to annex Savoy— which was to be the price of her assistance—and to carry out the ideas 'conceived at the time of his early connexion with the Italian patriots in the movement of 1831.'

From Lord Hatherton

Teddesley, March 5th.—I have been from home two days….Pray excuse my not having thanked you before for your kind announcement of Tocqueville's convalescence. But the same day brought me a letter from a friend of Tocqueville's brother, … telling me the accounts were very unpromising. I hope and believe yours is the more reliable account.

I have not a doubt that L. Napoleon means war, and will not be baulked of it. It is a disagreeable thing for England to know that, if he succeed, he will have acquired some valuable experience in the embarkation and disembarkation of an armament of 45,000 men, with as many more to follow it; and that if they are not wanted in the Mediterranean, they may be used elsewhere, while we are totally unprepared; and I fear, through the weakness of our Government, from the nature of our institutions, for purposes of defence in times of peace, are likely to remain so.

From Count Zamoyski

Paris, March 29th.

My dear friend, I am not surprised at your regret; my own is very keen. Throughout his whole life Sigismond Krasinski was obliged to conceal his true self. Out of regard for his father, who was always a pitiful courtier of success, he denied himself the liberty of saying what he thought, acknowledging what he wrote, or showing to whom he was attached. I was one of those whom he supported by his zealous co-operation. You knew him as a poet; he had become a politician, and seemed destined to exercise a great influence. His loss is irreparable. To me he was a friend and a brother-in-arms.

His widow, his two sons—of twelve and thirteen, and his daughter, of seven, are here. She is occupied in collecting all her husband's writings, with the intention of publishing all that is of value. She thinks, and rightly, that a judicious selection of his letters would be especially interesting as containing the secret of his life—a secret which he guarded so carefully. If, therefore, you will send me what you have, or bring them when you come here in a month's time, you will oblige both his widow and friends. His sons had never been separated from him—which will assure you that their early education has been well cared for. Their mother proposes that they should continue their studies here, attending a college, and having lessons in Polish history and literature, which can be had here better than in Poland.

So it is settled that we are to have a congress! But what will it do? What can be done in such a matter in so short a time? The 'Moniteur' has rightly pointed out that it is necessary to 'study the questions.' For that, time is especially wanted. It would need something like a council sitting through years, reigns, wars, to bring about salutary and lasting results. I am told that nowadays everything must go by steam—this, as well as the rest. To which, I answer that the result will be nothing but water mixed with blood….

I am sorry to see the English Press more and more unjust to the Emperor Napoleon. It is really silly to keep on schooling France—not the Emperor—for preferring an imperial to a parliamentary government. If the English had the institutions which in France seem to be but the concomitants of despotism, they would educe from them a large amount of political liberty. But if the French—like the woman in Molière prefer being governed, it would be wise for the English peers to accept the fact; and instead of sneering at and irritating France whenever she wishes to do some good, to get out of the beaten track, to conquer hearts, not territories, it would be better honestly to co-operate with her, and thus attain valuable results—a profitable success, and the deliverance of France from the fatal support of Russia, which she accepts as a pis-aller, but which in the long run can only be to her hurt. More than all others, the English Press, which is so proud—which has good reason to be proud—should assist in the 'study of the questions;' should anticipate the negotiations; should elevate and elucidate them by judicious suggestions, basing everything on a firm alliance of the Western Powers.

But alas! where is the English statesman, where is even the great writer or the newspaper capable of inaugurating such a policy? For lack of these, we see England vying with France in courtesy to Russia—in anxiety to please her. But to this the Emperor Napoleon does at least add his theory of nationalities, which is sufficient to reassure us on the score of his flirtation with Russia; does the English Government or the English press do anything of a similar nature? Alas! Alas! England is certainly great, but it is selfishly for herself. Will she never be able to offer other nations—whatever the circumstances may be—anything but insults, or her own institutions as patterns.

Pardon de ce bavardage et mille amitiés—avec tous mes compliments pour
Mesdames Reeve.

L. ZAMOYSKI.

Je joins un mot de la Ctsse. K. pour vous, reçu à l'instant.

From the Countess Krasinska

Paris, 29 mars.—Le Comte Zamoyski a bien voulu me communiquer votre lettre, monsieur, et j'ai été bien sincèrement touchée du souvenir d'affection que vous conservez à un ami qui n'a cessé non plus, je puis vous le garantir, de vous porter un sentiment inaltérable et sincère. Bien souvent, en me parlant des jours de sa jeunesse, mon mari me parlait de cette amitié qui vous unissait et qui en a été un des meilleurs rayons. Il m'avait aussi parlé des manuscrits que vous aurez, et je vous avoue que vous allez au-devant de mes désirs et de ma prière en voulant bien les communiquer. Je tiens infiniment à recueillir tout ce qui a échappé à ce grand coeur et à cette vaillante plume, et je commence un travail qui ne sera sans doute complet que dans quelques années. Je vous serai donc on ne peut plus reconnaissante si vous vouliez bien confier entre mes mains ce que vous possédez, soit en copie, soit original, comme vous le voudrez, m'engageant à vous remettre ce précieux dépôt dès que nous en aurons fait usage, et dès que vous le réclamerez.

J'espère lorsque vous viendrez à Paris que je pourrai vous présenter, monsieur, les deux fils de Sigismond et sa petite fille, et vous demander pour les enfants un peu de ce coeur que vous aviez pour le père.

From Lord Brougham

Cannes, April 9th.—I fear I have but a bad account to give of poor Tocqueville; he has been worse again, and to-day he received the Communion. Dr. Maure has just told me he hardly thought he could live over the month, but he (Dr. M.) has always been much more desponding than the other physician. One great evil has befallen him. Beaumont, who had really been a nurse to him these three weeks, is suddenly called away to Paris by the telegraph, owing to some illness in his own family, and this is an irreparable loss to Tocqueville.

We are all here in great anxiety about peace and war. Cavour, whose conduct—and that of his master—is as bad as possible, has no doubt received strong assurances of support from L. N. and his vile cousin; and the war party at Turin are exulting, considering that the Congress can do nothing to prevent the outbreak with Austria, upon which they reckon for certain, and, I fear, with some reason. The utter want of good faith in L. N. becomes daily more manifest…. Yet, though even the military men are crying out against the war, and all other parties, without any exception, are against him, one sees nothing that can effectually shake him, unless he were to be defeated in the war he has been endeavouring to bring about. The whole prospects are as gloomy as possible for the friends of freedom and of peace.

From Lord Brougham

Cannes, April 10th.—Many thanks for your letter, which gives me information much beyond what my other letters give, but far from agreeable either as to home or foreign affairs. This destruction (I fear I must call it) of the Liberal party by the personal vanity, which they call by the higher name of ambition, of two persons is truly deplorable; and the conduct of the Government in dissolving is such as can hardly be exceeded in folly. We shall have an increased split, I fear, of the Liberals, and a weaker Government than ever. I grieve to say that matters look as ill for peace in this country and Italy as ever. The conduct of Cavour is abominable.

I grieve to give you a worse account than ever of Tocqueville. Dr. Maure had condemned him from the first, but Dr. Sève had sanguine hopes, at least, of a long time being given. But I have just seen him, and he now says it is an affair of days. So all is nearly over. Mme. T. is also very ill, and Beaumont being forced to leave them is most vexatious.

From Lord Clarendon

G. C., April 10th.—Do you chance to have a proof-sheet of that part of your article which treats of the rights of Austria to Lombardy and Venice and her reversionary rights to the other States, and, if so, will you lend it to me? You have made the whole case so clear that I should like to read it over again, as it may be necessary to say something on the subject in the House of Lords when Malmesbury makes his statement, and I see that the 'Edinburgh Review' will not be out till Friday, otherwise I would not trouble you.

G. C., April 13th.—Many thanks for the proof-sheets, and Schwarzenberg's despatch and Duvergier's letter, which I enclose. I was kept at home by a slight attack of gout yesterday, and did not see Malmesbury, but on Monday he told me that he had hopes of being able to announce a disarming of the three would-be belligerent Powers. Until he makes that statement I shall not believe in its probability. Palmerston and Lord John seem well aware that any encouragement to war would be most unpopular at home, and I don't expect that there will be much discussion on Friday.

From the Duc d'Aumale

Orleans House, April 11th.

On my return from Claremont I find your letter. With my brothers I had just been deploring the great loss sustained by the Liberal party. [Footnote: The death of Tocqueville was prematurely announced a week before it actually took place.] Of all the men of mark in our deliberative assemblies, M. de Tocqueville was certainly the most stainless. He had the rare advantage of not being obnoxious to any of the parties existing in France, by which I mean all self-respecting parties, such as will be taken into account on the day when France shall become herself again. He would certainly have been one of the most important members of the first free government in our country. Even as things are, he was one of our public characters whose voice carried most weight, and who was best fitted to enlighten the minds of others. God has taken him from us before his time. Forgive me for retaining so much selfishness and party spirit before the coffin of so good and amiable a man; for regretting his public more than his private virtues.

From M. Guizot

Paris, April 15th.—… France does not understand, approve, or wish for an Italian war now any more than she did six months ago. I persist in thinking that in his inmost soul, and of his own judgement, the Emperor Napoleon would also be glad to be rid of it, provided it should be quite clear that it is not of his free will that he backs out of his promise, and that, in remaining at peace, he is yielding to imperious necessity, to the interest, will, and influence of Europe. On Europe, therefore, the matter depends; and, in this, Europe is England, for Prussia will follow England. It is, therefore, towards you that all of us who are friends of peace and good sense now turn our eyes. Do not fall a prey to the disease which has mastered all the politicians of the time. Do not be afraid to take the initiative, to incur the responsibility; decide and act according to your own opinion, instead of waiting for circumstances to decide and act for you. On this condition alone the peace of Europe will be saved; without it, it will not. And of this be sure: that if war does break out, we shall feel, no doubt, that you have been wanting in the foresight and resolution which would have prevented it….

From Lord Brougham

[Cannes] April 17th.—Poor Tocqueville died this morning, not at Hyères, as the papers which announced his death a week ago say, but at a house a mile from Cannes. His two brothers were with him; and his poor wife is so ill that she will not long survive him.

People in high quarters in England seem bent on believing that the Congress will do wonders. I don't expect it. There is such bad faith in the man on whom it really all turns, and he is in such a state, by the universal opinion of France and of Europe being against him, that I should not be surprised at any desperate act to regain the place he has lost. You may naturally suppose the preparations which, chiefly naval, are going on must mean something, and he seems resolved that no restraint on them shall be imposed when others agree to disarm. Why should he not agree to stop, and not to add to his means—as everyone that comes from Marseilles tells us he is doing, though gradually? The reason he will suffer no restriction to be imposed is that the army would regard this as a concession, and he won't risk any offence in that quarter. The worst of it is that they—the officers—though just as averse to an Austrian war as the country at large, would by no means dislike a dash at England, and I cannot get out of my mind the risk there is of his making that attempt when we are unprepared. The perfidy would be overlooked in the success, though temporary. And in the midst of all this we have Malmesbury at the F. O. and Derby premier!

From Lord Clarendon

G.G., April 19th. I am delighted you approved of what I said last night,[Footnote: In the House of Lords.] and much obliged to you for letting me know it. I thought Derby's speech excellent, though perhaps a trifle too bellicose in the latter part for John Bull, who always wants a little preparation before he is taken over rough ground. He is under the strict neutrality delusion just now, and has not yet thought of realising his rôle in a European war.

Your article is attracting great attention, and seems to be working a great deal of good. Where did you get the information contained in the note to p. 566? [Footnote: See ante, p. 13.] I meant to have used it, and to have appealed to Aberdeen to confirm the statement, but thought it prudent to ask him beforehand whether he agreed.

The article on 'Austria, France, and Italy,' in the April number of the Review brought Reeve the following letter from Mr. Edward Cheney, till then a mere acquaintance, though between the two a friendship quickly sprang up which was broken only by death. Mr. Cheney had lived for several years in Italy, and his letters—always interesting, frequently amusing—commonly relate to Italian affairs; but he was a well-read, accomplished, and large-minded man, and in his judgement on literary questions Reeve had great confidence.

Audley Square, April 20th.

My dear sir,—At the risk of appearing intrusive, and perhaps impertinent, I cannot resist my strong inclination to express the great satisfaction with which I have read the article in the last number of the 'Edinburgh Review' on the Italian question. I do not presume to attribute the authorship to yourself, though the clearness of the style, the closeness of the reasoning, and the candour of the deductions would naturally lead me to that conclusion; but, in truth, its merits are far beyond its technical excellencies, and I rejoice peculiarly on its appearance at a moment when public attention is concentrated on the affairs of the Italian peninsula, and when the public, too, has so much need of enlightenment. A man who writes as the author of that article has done confers an incalculable benefit on his countrymen; and, as one not altogether incompetent to form a judgement on the subject, I beg to offer him my congratulations.

I have lived many years in Italy, am minutely acquainted with every part of it. I have many friends and intimates amongst its natives. I admire the country, and like its people; and, while doing justice to many of their excellent and amiable qualities, I cannot be blind to the fact that most of the misfortunes which have befallen them are attributable mainly to their want of constancy, their want of ambition, and—the word must be spoken—their want of courage. They are now on the eve of another and more serious revolution; they are rushing with reckless indifference upon a danger the extent of which they cannot realise to themselves, but which must inevitably overwhelm them. A European war must be the consequence, a war in which England must ultimately take a part; and the man who calmly and dispassionately endeavours to open the eyes of his countrymen to the truth, and who, regardless of passing obloquy, dares to assert it, is their real benefactor; and though, at the first moment, he may share the fate of those who tell unwelcome truths, justice will ultimately be done him, though not, perhaps, till the cry of regret is raised that his warning and advice were both neglected. I would conclude my letter with another apology for having thus far intruded on your valuable time; but you yourself will be able to suggest my best excuse in the deep interest which we both take in the subject.

Believe me, my dear Sir,

Very sincerely yours,

EDWARD CHENEY.

From M. Guizot

Paris, April 21st.—J'ai reçu et lu votre article il y a déjà plusieurs jours, et je l'ai trouvé excellent. Il est impossible de mieux résumer les faits, de mieux établir les droits et de faire mieux pressentir la bonne politique. Lord Derby et Lord Clarendon vous ont donné pleinement raison. Ils ont gardé, l'un et l'autre, chacun dans sa position, une juste mesure, tout en parlant avec une grande franchise. L'effet est grand ici.

The question is how to get clear of this imbroglio, the handiwork of a lot of mischief-makers, who are at once timid and rash, obstinate and unenterprising, conscious of their weakness, yet persisting in their folly. We are waiting impatiently for the decisive answers from Turin and Vienna; and then the congress; and then your elections; and then—what? I have passed the best part of my life in doing, and am not yet accustomed to waiting without knowing what for….

From Lord Brougham

[Cannes] April 21st.—I am extremely obliged to you for sending the article, which I have read with the greatest satisfaction. There are one or two things of minor importance on which I differ. The matter of Genoa as connected with Piedmont, I need not say, is not one of these. Indeed, it might have been put stronger, and without reference to Lord W. Bentinck; for, if I rightly recollect, when I, in 1817, attacked Castlereagh on the misdeeds of the congress in 1815, I put the surrender of Genoa to Piedmont in the very front of the charges against the congress—independent of Lord W. B.'s proclamation, and on the ground of the Genoese hatred of Piedmont. I again referred to this the first night of the session.

I broke through my rule of never attending funerals yesterday. The last time I broke it was my dear friend Follett; this time it was Tocqueville. I should have been the only member of the Institute, but Ampere had set out from Rome on receiving T.'s letter, and arrived the day after his death. He is carried to Tocqueville—near Cherbourg, as you know; one of his brothers and a nephew accompany it. Mme. T. is not nearly so ill as was believed. It is bronchitis, not lungs; so she expects to go by slow journeys in a few days.

April 22nd.—Since I wrote yesterday I have received an account which, whether true or not, shows the opinion they have in Italy of our great ally. A man who had stood his friend and prevented the King of Holland from disinheriting him, has lately been at Paris, and was kindly received by him. So far is certain, and his kindness to those who befriended him formerly is a good quality he really possesses. But it is added that he told him to tell his nation not to be disheartened by the congress, because care would be taken to make proposals which must be rejected, and that he was as ready as ever. I really believe there is nothing too base in the way of perfidy he would scruple to do, if his resolution was fixed and it appeared clearly to be his interest. There has, however, been a change in him of late, as to determination. He is more easily swayed by others than he was, and he falters more when left alone. Altogether, it is a cruel calamity for the world to have such a person to depend upon. I wish someone would show how much he appeals to the multitude—the mere mob. He is still a socialist in practice; and if anyone will read the Robespierre papers, he will see that there is a deliberate design to make the poor—the persons without property—rule. One man whom I afterwards knew (Julien de Paris), and who had been a philanthropist exalté, states, in one of his reports to the Committee of Public Safety, that those who have no property are the great majority, and therefore must govern. There could be no greater service to France than a full exposition of these principles—the ones which L. N. adopts; and at the same time a full account of the abominable character of the first Napoleon, of which the materials are abundant in the correspondence with Joseph, [Footnote: Mémoires et Correspondance politique et militaire du roi Joseph (6 tom. 8vo. 1854).] and also in the printed, but unpublished, vols. of his whole correspondence.

[Cannes] May 4th—I suppose some folks will now have discovered what reliance there is to be placed on a capricious and absolute man. It was clear from the first that he had resolved upon this Italian speculation, and that as soon as he could mitigate the universal feeling and opinion against him, he would have his way. The congress, whether suggested by him through Russia or not, was only one means of delay till all was ready, and one way of putting Austria in the wrong, or making an outcry against her as if she was—for really, except in the clumsy way of doing it, I can see nothing to blame in her refusal. She is treated as the aggressor. Now all she has done, or could do, was in her own defence, and nothing in the world can be more absurd than pretending that she is the cause of the war. If she beat the allies ever so much, she does not gain one inch of territory, while their real object is to strip her. As for L. N. considering himself aggrieved by her breaking off the negotiation and beginning to defend herself, it can only be on the supposition that he has a right to interfere on behalf of the Italians. Indeed, the same thing may be said of Sardinia. It is considered that she is aggrieved if the other Italian States are aggrieved; and now comes this rising in Tuscany and the smaller duchies to embarrass one party and so far help the other. But there is no reason to believe that any rising in Lombardy will take place.

The unaccountable part of it is the Austrians delaying their attack. It seemed clear that their plan would be to march upon Turin before the French could get up, and yet they have suffered 40,000 men to be landed at Genoa, and a considerable force to cross by Mont Cenis, without doing anything. Can it be that the sudden notice to Piedmont was an act of the Emperor without his ministers being consulted, and that they are less prepared than was supposed? Bunsen's son, who is in the Prussian mission at Turin, wrote ten days ago that the Government was ready to remove to Genoa, expecting the Austrians to come before the French arrived, and knowing Turin to be indefensible. It now seems that there must be a battle before Turin can be taken. All the road from Paris to Marseilles has been encumbered with troops, and all the steamers have been taken by the Government, and more men will be sent if wanted. The usual effect of a war has been perceived—namely, making the multitude rally round the Government—consequently there is less outcry against the war than there was, except amongst thinking people and those who are suffering from the suspension of all trade. The Emperor himself will probably join the army when they are prepared for an advantageous movement. He is playing a game that may be desperate. This Russian alliance is denied, but substantially it is true, and I have little doubt that some undertaking is effected to give leave to Russia in Turkey, on condition that she does something for Poland (one of L. N.'s hobbies) and helps some Italian arrangement for the cousin.

The next letter is endorsed by Reeve—'An affectionate record of a long friendship. I have inserted it in the copy of his Journals.'

From Mr. C. C. Greville

May 6th.—I will not delay to thank you warmly for your kind note. Your accession to the P. C. office gave me a friendship which I need not say how much I have valued through so many years of happy intercourse, which I rejoice at knowing has never been for an instant clouded or interrupted, and which will, I hope, last the same as long as I last myself. It is always painful to do anything for the last time, and I cannot without emotion take leave of an office where I have experienced for so many years so much kindness, consideration, and goodwill. I have told Hamilton that I hope still to be considered as amicus curiae, and to be applied to on every occasion when I can be of use to the office, or my personal services can be employed to promote the interest of any member of it. Between you and me there has been, I think, as much as possible between any two people, the 'idem velle, idem nolle et idem sentire de republicâ,' and in consequence the 'firma amicitia.' God bless you, and believe me always,

Yours most sincerely and faithfully, C. C. G.

From Lord Brougham

[Cannes] May 18th.—I really begin to feel anxious about the peace of Europe, and not without some alarm as to our own position. There can be no doubt that for the present (if not more permanently) this man [the Emperor], working on the French feeling, has got the mob, military and civil, with him. The war has ceased to be unpopular, and all reckon upon victory. If they succeed, he will, for a while, be satisfied with the gratification of his vanity and the strengthening of his power; but soon after he will be pushed by his unruly supporters, and will try a deeper game. Of this they are as much convinced in Germany as of his existence, and even Prussia will not persist holding back. If she does, and if the Russian alliance continues, she will be destroyed as soon as Austria is weakened. I, therefore, expect to see Prussia take timely precautions. They are prepared at Frankfort to split with her if she does not.

I am now satisfied that the Austrians intended only a razzia to Turin, and then to carry on only a defensive contest; and having been prevented—partly by the floods, and partly by our untimely intermeddling, and partly by their old error of having one head at Vienna, and another with the army—they have now given up the razzia, and will act on the defensive. This will not prevent them taking advantage of any opportunity of attacking, should they be able to do so with a certainty of success; but for any such dash I look rather to the French than to them. Certainly the Man is in a great difficulty if the Austrians steadily pursue this plan; for the expectations are wound up to a high pitch in France—especially in Paris and the great towns—of his doing something speedily, and the French nature is not to wait with calmness and patience. Even in this remote quarter, the thousands of fine troops passing raises a great feeling for the war.

_To Lord Brougham

C. O., May 21st_.—To the very best of my belief, the Queen's Speech will not be delivered till June 7th, but I speak without authority…. I have the greatest doubt whether it will be possible to unite all those sections of the H. of C. which are not to be regarded as Lord Derby's supporters, in a direct adverse vote—on the address or otherwise; and if the attempt is made—as it probably will be I think it will fail. [Footnote: The attempt was made, and did not fail. The Ministry was defeated on the amendment to the address by 323 to 310.] The Government say they have 307 men on whom they can rely, and a fair chance that fifteen or twenty more men will not consent to take part in an active, offensive campaign. Indeed the country gentlemen say pretty generally that they will not attempt to turn the Government out, until they are satisfied that a more stable Government can be formed. But how is this possible when the numbers are—on one side a compact body of more than 300, and—on the other side, a divided body of 350? What we hope, therefore, is this: that John Russell and the Radicals will take a course on the subject of Reform which will be resisted by the moderate Liberals; and that the result will be a fusion between the moderate Liberals and the large Conservative phalanx. For it is clear that without some degree of support from the Conservatives, no other government can be carried on. As for any lasting or sincere union between Lord Palmerston and Lord John, it is quite hopeless, [Footnote: The event falsified this forecast. In the Ministry which Palmerston now formed Lord John was Foreign Secretary, and continued so till Palmerston's death in 1865.] and the desire to keep the latter out of office is so general and intense, that it is probable he would fail to make a Cabinet, even if the Queen sent for him—which she will certainly not do until the last extremity. On the other hand, there is the great objection to Palmerston that he holds language about the Italians and the French—to whom he is entirely devoted—which is quite at variance with the convictions of every man of sense in the country. There can be very little doubt that the war will spread. The whole of Germany is burning with ardour to support Austria; and if the French gain a battle on the Po, nothing will prevent the whole strength of Germany from coming to the rescue. [Footnote: Louis Napoleon's fear of this is a sufficient explanation of his ambiguous policy after Solferino.] The position of France is, in reality, most critical, for all her best troops are in Italy, and she would have great difficulty in placing 100,000 men on the Rhine, where she may have to confront half a million of combatants.

Hortensius' [Footnote: William Forsyth, Q.C., for many years standing counsel to the India Office. As the author, among other works, of Hortensius, and residing, as he still resides, at 61 Rutland Gate, Lord Brougham, in writing to Reeve, invariably refers to him as either 'Hortensius' or 'your neighbour.' In 1872 he published Letters from Lord Brougham to William Forsyth, with some facsimiles to show his 'extraordinary hand.' 'I think,' wrote Mr. Forsyth, 'the hieroglyphics will puzzle most readers;' but the samples he has given are as copper-plate compared with some of the letters to Reeve of about the same date.] appointment was, I believe, purely an act of Lord Stanley's, and I dare say your kindness in mentioning his name had due effect. Hortensius applied, by letter, for the appointment, and about three weeks after came a letter to say he was appointed.

From Lord Brougham

[Cannes] May 24th. I have been reading over again your excellent article on the subject of the day, and I may say of the place; and the more I reflect on it, I come the nearer to your view in all respects. Really the more we consider this abominable man's conduct (and his accomplice Cavour is quite as bad, though not so foolish), the greater indignation we feel at the unprovoked breach of the peace. The audacity of the pretence from a despot and usurper exceeds precedent. What can be said too of Russia, which keeps her hold of Poland only ten years longer than the settlement of 1815! It really would be important, now that the attempt has been made to represent [the first] Napoleon as the friend of oppressed nationalities, that we should direct men's attention a little more to the enormities in that man's whole history. Party motives arising out of our English divisions to a certain degree prevented the real truth from being generally felt respecting him. There was the usual exaggeration on both sides. One party painted the devil blacker than he was, crediting to him crimes which he never committed. The other, because their adversaries thus painted him, would allow nothing against him, and exaggerated his merits—though it were difficult to overrate his capacity, and his military genius especially. But the more his moral guilt is examined the blacker it will appear, and the late publication, which you call candid, I believe has been true and full owing to careless superintendence. When I say publication I mean printing, for it is not really published, though copies are freely given. The publication of Joseph's memoirs is also full of important matter.

Now from these and the existing materials, a full and plain account of the man ought to be prepared, [Footnote: This is what M. Lanfrey began to do, and was going on with at the time of his lamented death, at the age of forty-nine, in 1877.] and you may rely on it that great effect against the present man would be produced; for he ostentatiously connects his policy with the former one's, and there is the greatest care taken to suppress attacks on Napoleon I. in the periodical publications—at least in the newspapers. But if the English and German and Belgian press are full of the facts, and repeatedly lay them before the world, no policy of the French press can long keep the truth from reaching the public. However, I am drawn away from what I had intended to mention—the present state of the public mind on the war question in this country. The giddy and warlike nature of the people, and his going to the army, has produced an effect not only in removing the unpopularity of the war, but in raising a warlike spirit—at least for the present. If victory comes, this will be increased. It is probable he may for the present be satisfied with the strength which he will derive from it; but the army will probably join with the mob in wishing for further proceedings, and then we shall find that Germany will be attacked, and I must even say that we shall do well to be prepared in England. I believe, however, that the Austrians in Italy will make it a lingering affair by defensive operations, and this will exhaust the French patience. The lies of the Sardinian press, and indeed official accounts, make it impossible to tell how far they have at the beginning suffered a check. But I plainly perceive that, if something brilliant is not done, L. N. will be shaken.

* * * * *

From Count Zamoyski

Paris, May 28th. May is passing and your plans are not yet realised; we still await your arrival. Mme. Krasinska is leaving Paris for Warsaw, and has charged me to forward you the enclosed, in which she gives you the address of the person here who is ready to receive the papers you have promised her, which both she and the friends of the deceased await with lively interest.

Having written thus much on the matter in hand, Zamoyski turned again to politics and the discussion at some length of the situation in Italy, out of which many of the Poles fondly hoped their freedom was to come. The English mistrust of Napoleon, he argued, was as injudicious as unfounded, and could do nothing but harm by forcing France into the arms of Russia. One of the many wild suggestions afloat at the time amounted to little less than a complete remodelling of the map of Europe. Austria, deprived of her Italian provinces, was to be compensated on the lower Danube; as a balance to which, Russia was to occupy Constantinople, and, to mark her friendship to France—who was entering on the war for an idée—would restore freedom to Poland. And there were some who believed it. Zamoyski was clearer-headed; but his mind also was warped by sense of wrong, and his fancy was as wild as the other. If England, he urged, will not act in concert with France, let her at least emulate the noble example France is setting. She is preparing to free Italy; let England, as her part in the generous rivalry, free Poland. Russia is still England's enemy. This is England's opportunity. And he seems to have persuaded himself that, if she did not avail herself of it, she would be a recreant to the cause of liberty and humanity. It is very curious.

From the Countess Krasinska

Paris, 26 mai.—Je vous remercie infiniment, Monsieur, de votre bonne lettre et de tout ce que vous voulez bien me dire de celui que nous ne cesserons pas de regretter, et qui m'a bien et bien souvent parlé de vous et des années de jeunesse passées avec vous dans une étroite et sincère amitié. Ce souvenir a été constant dans son coeur! Je regrette infiniment aussi que les évènements politiques vous aient empêché de venir à Paris, comme vous vous le proposiez. Je suis obligée de partir pour Varsovie, et crains de vous manquer si vous venez bientôt ici. Dans tous les cas, si vous vouliez bien confier vos précieux manuscrits [Footnote: If sent to M. Okrynski, the letters were returned; for they were afterwards given to Sigismond's grandson, the present Count Adam Krasinski (see post. p. 389).] à M. Victor Okrynski, Rue de la Pépinière 66, je vous en serai bien reconnaissante. C'est chez lui que je laisse en dépôt ce que nous avons rassemblé jusqu'ici.

It would seem from the following note that Lord Macaulay had spoken to Reeve of Dr. Thomas Campbell's "Diary of a Visit to England in 1775; by an Irishman;" a small book—little more than a pamphlet—which had been published at Sydney in 1854. It had struck Reeve that such a "Diary" might be the text for an interesting article in the "Review;" and the correspondence respecting it derives a peculiar value from its near approach to the close of Macaulay's labours.

From Lord Macaulay

Holly Lodge, Kensington, June 1st.

Dear Reeve,—Before you determine anything about Dr. T. Campbell's Diary, you had better read it. I have lent my copy, which is probably the only copy in England, and do not expect to get it back till next week. When it comes, I will send it to you, and we will then talk further. Ever yours truly, MACAULAY.

From M. Guizot

Val Richer, June 11th.—… On the Continent, it seems to me, there is now only one question—Will Austria remain obstinate? If she does, if she is determined to fight on, although beaten; not to give up her Italian possessions, although she has lost them in Italy, and to impose on the conquerors of Milan the necessity of being also the conquerors of Vienna—in that case the actual beginning of the war is a trifle; we are advancing towards a general war and European chaos. The mere continuance of the struggle will be quite sufficient to make it impossible for anyone—for Lord Derby as much as for Lord Palmerston—to stop it or to foresee where it will lead. Has Austria the will and the strength to prolong the struggle? Or will she be alarmed and intimidated by her first defeats, and be persuaded to make such concessions as will give, if not Italy herself, at least her patrons for the time being, a decent pretext to declare themselves satisfied, and to retreat in triumph? I repeat this seems to me the only question. If I were to judge by the reports that reach me from Germany, no doubt is there felt. Austria, both emperor and country, are said to be perfectly determined to fight to the last extremity, being convinced that in their extreme peril, and when, in their persons, European order is endangered, they will find allies and a chance of safety. But I do not put much faith in rumours which promise a somewhat heroic firmness. Great things are apt to come to nothing nowadays, and it may well be that the Italian question will fall through, and all this noise end in some transaction which will be neither a true nor lasting solution. Italy has long been the scene of events that end thus….

From Lord Clarendon

G.C., June 13th.—You have always taken such a kind and friendly concern in my affairs that I think you will like to know how I stand. Palmerston, by the Queen's desire, insisted on my returning to the F.O., and I felt that, though most unwilling to accept the offer, I had no sufficient plea for declining it. But when Palmerston very properly placed any office at the disposal of Lord John, he claimed the F.O. as his right. I gladly recognised that right and the superiority of his claims to my own.

I was most warmly pressed by Palmerston and my former colleagues to take any other office; but for that I saw no necessity, and I was sure I should best consult the public taste by making way for some one who had not been in Palmerston's former Government. The Queen sent for me, and very kindly tried to shake my determination; but it had not been lightly taken, and she did not succeed. So I am still free, and great is my happiness thereat.

From Lord Macaulay

June 27th.—If I were to renew my connexion with the "Edinburgh Review" after an interval of fifteen years, I should wish my first article to be rather more striking than an article on Campbell's Diary can easily be. You will, no doubt, do the thing as well as it can be done.

Some other hand, therefore, supplied the article on "A Visit to England in 1775" which appeared in the October number of the "Review."

To Madame de Tocqueville 62 Rutland Gate, June 30th.

Dear Madame de Tocqueville, [Footnote: Mme. de Tocqueville was an Englishwoman, and the correspondence was naturally in English.] I reproach myself exceedingly for having delayed so long to express to you, or, rather, to endeavour to express to you, how strongly Mrs. Reeve and myself participate in that sympathy and sorrow which your irreparable loss has inspired to the whole world, but most of all to those to whom the friendship of your husband was one of the blessings of life. I cannot accustom myself to the thought that the intercourse I had the happiness to maintain with him for twenty-five years is really at an end; and that the events of the world in which he took so constant and enlightened an interest are still rolling onwards, while his pure intelligence has passed to some higher and nobler sphere. We now look back, indeed, with a pleasure that heightens our regret, to those delightful days we spent at Tocqueville in 1856, and to his visit to England in 1857. Nothing, indeed, was wanting, either to his fame or to the love he inspired those who knew him; and to both these sacred recollections our thoughts will be directed as long as we survive. What, then, must be the loss and the void to you, who lived, as it were, in that light? I dare not think of it, were it not that your thoughts will rise to that source which has consolation for all earthly sorrows. I have heard of you, and seen your admirable letters to Mrs. Grote and Mrs. Merivale, which assure me of the resignation and piety that still support you. Mrs. Reeve and Hopie desire to join in the cordial expression of their affectionate regard; and I remain Your most faithful servant,

H. REEVE.

The Journal here notes:—

In August I left town for Ambleside and Abington, to shoot. Thence I went to the George R. Smiths', at Relugas; near Forres. Shot there, and then crossed the Moray Firth to Skibo and Uppat. Then I went on to Langwell, in Caithness, which the Duke of Portland had lent the Speaker (E. Denison), and spent some days with him. Returned to town by sea from Aberdeen. Shooting in September at Chorleywood and Stetchworth—the latter first-rate; then to Roxburghshire; afterwards to Raith.

To Lord Brougham

Relugas, near Forres, August 26th.—Your very kind note of the 23rd has followed me here, where I am spending a few days on my way to Sutherland. Towards the latter end of October I shall be returning to England, with Mrs. Reeve and my daughter, and if you are still at Brougham at that time, and disposed to receive us for a day or two in this patriarchal fashion, it will give us the greatest pleasure to come.

Louis Napoleon's amnesty appears to me to be the most judicious act of his reign, and, if he would only follow it up by giving a more legal character to his administration, I think he would soon rally many persons to himself. All that the French seem at this time to require is that the Government should observe the laws it enforces on other people—a very moderate request.

I will endeavour to find out about the Chancery Evidence Commission. It is a monstrous absurdity that your name should not appear in a commission destined, if anything, to give effect to the principles you have so long and constantly advocated.

C.O., September 26th.—I sincerely hope that, whatever day the Edinburgh banquet takes place, I may have the honour of attending it. I shall probably be at Raith at the time. Considering what you have been, for more than half a century, to the "Edinburgh Review," and the connexion which was thus so long maintained between yourself and Edinburgh, I am most anxious, as the humble representative of that journal at the present time, to do anything in my power to contribute to a mark of respect paid you in Edinburgh; and I should have gladly attended the dinner, even if I had not been, as I probably shall be, within easy reach of it.

From Lord Brougham

Brougham, September 27th.—Many thanks for your great kindness about the Edinburgh dinner, which I look forward to with some dismay; for the requisition, which was signed by the heads of all parties, and in very kind terms, makes it impossible not to attend, and, beside the plagues incidental to all such proceedings, I have the excessive suffering from the blanks by which I shall be surrounded. To go no further than what you allude to, it may possibly be October 25th, and certainly not later than 26th; and that is the anniversary of the "Edinburgh Review" fifty-seven years ago. Then Jeffrey, Horner, Smith, Allen, Murray, Playfair, Thomson—all gone; and of later years, Cockburn, your father, Eyre. It is really a sad thing. And then, beside our set, there were A. Thomson, Moncreiff, T. Campbell, Cranstoun, Clerk, D. Stewart, W. Scott—all, except Horner, Playfair, and Scott, D. Stewart and A. Thomson, T. Campbell, alive in 1834, when I was last in Edinburgh. I must struggle the best I can, but this feeling nearly overpowers me.

I send you by this post a Paris paper I have just received, evidently sent on account of the article marked, which is so far gratifying that it is by a very eminent man, who signs it; but I chiefly value it on account of the attack upon England for not having raised a monument, [footnote: Lord Brougham was at this time greatly interested, and indeed excited, about a proposed monument to Sir Isaac Newton. His letters frequently allude to it.] and on account, also, of the statement that he was the greatest of all men—which will not be very agreeable to our friends of the Institute.

The Journal records:—

Lord Brougham was elected Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh. I attended a banquet given him there on October 26th. I then went from Raith to Brougham and Appleby, High Legh, and Teddesley, shooting at all these places, and at Crewe likewise, where I began to shoot with a new breech-loading gun. I must have shot thirty-five or forty days this year, and paid a great number of visits in country houses. We did not go abroad.

Lord Macaulay had meantime received some further particulars as to the MS. of the 'Visit to England,' and sent them to Reeve with the following:—

Holly Lodge, November 11th.

My dear sir,—I have just received the enclosed letter, which may, perhaps, interest you. It might be worth while to put a short note at the end of the next number of the 'Edinburgh Review.'

Very truly yours,

MACAULAY.

Endorsed—Lord Macaulay. His last note to me. He died December 27th [really 28th].

The note referred to appeared in the number for January 1860, with the sympathetic remark: 'This very note was, in fact, his last contribution to these pages, made within a short time of his death.'

To Lord Brougham

62 Rutland Gate, December 29th.—I communicated to Mrs. Austin your very kind intention of writing some notice of Mr. Austin in the 'Law Review,' and she has sent me the enclosed paper—very striking, I think it, especially considering the state of physical exhaustion and mental grief in which she lies. Nothing can equal her devotion to his memory. She has, I think, omitted to state that one portion of the lectures delivered by Mr. Austin at the London University were published by Murray in 1832, under the title of 'The Province of Jurisprudence Determined' You are aware that this book retains a very high position, and, as John Austin never would republish it in his lifetime, copies of the volume fetch seven or eight guineas. I hope now it will appear again, with additions, as all the drafts of his lectures are in existence, most carefully elaborated by himself. Hortensius has written a very nice article for the 'Edinburgh' on the progress of legal reform and on your bills. I hope you will like it. The Review will be out on January 14th.

I forgot to say just now that, as Mrs. Austin and I have no copy of the enclosed paper about her husband, we should be much obliged to you to preserve and return it to us.

The pamphlet 'Le Pape et le Congrès' has certainly astonished the world. My Catholic friends call it the pamphlet of the Emperor Julian; and certainly, considering what the Pope has done for him, and he has done for the Pope, it is an act of apostasy. To engage in a contest with Rome is, however, still no small enterprise, and I question if the Emperor has strength of purpose to carry it through. The Popes protested, in their day, against the Treaty of Westphalia and the Treaty of Vienna; multo magis, will they protest against the decisions of the Congress of Paris? It must be acknowledged that matters look more favourably than they did for our own policy and influence in the Congress.

_From Lord Brougham

Cannes, January 1st_, 1860.—First of all accept for yourself and Mrs. R. all the good wishes of the season from all here. Next, let me say how gratified I am with the very interesting, and, in the circumstances, extraordinary communication of Mrs. A. It is of the utmost importance, and confirms me in the design I had newly formed, of making my account follow this. It could be made for the next number of the 'Law Review;' in the present number giving a short notice, lamenting the great loss, and announcing a full article for next number. I had intimated the probability of this to Francis—the editor—and what I have received this morning from you strongly confirms me. There will, therefore, be only a general statement this time. Really I feel the deepest interest in the subject, when I regard the strong and stern virtues of the man, beside his great talents and learning.

Poor Macaulay, I would give as a foil—of course, only to yourself, privately. He had great abilities; and though I widely differed with him in his views of history—which I, being of the science school, thought should be different from an anecdote book, yet I admit the great merits of his work, and especially of his essays. But I much objected to his running away from our death-struggle in 1834, though his defence was that his sisters would have to go out in the world as milliners if he stayed to fight with us. I had myself made such sacrifices that I felt entitled to complain. However, I pass over that on the ground he gave. But, then, what is to be said of two sessions in the House of Lords without one word of help to the Liberal cause, or indeed to any cause? What but that it was owing to the fear of making a speech which would be thought a failure—that is, would be injurious to his former speeches. Now, such a consideration as this J. Austin was wholly incapable of allowing even to cross his mind. He acted on what he conceived were just principles, and sacrificed to them all regard for himself. How differently did those men act of whose set Macaulay was!—his father, Stephen, H. Thornton, &c. However, his loss is a very melancholy one, because he goes out of the world in full possession of his faculties, and in more than just appreciation of his merits.

The Journal for 1860 begins:—

The new year opened at Chevening on a visit to Lord Stanhope. The party consisted of the Morleys, Hayward, Goldwin Smith, and afterwards the Grotes.

I went to Chevening again in 1862; and for a third time, with Christine, in 1885; the host changed, but the same hospitality.

We sent a round-robin to the Dean of Westminster, begging that Macaulay might be buried in the Abbey. He was buried there on January 9th. I was there. The same day we started for Paris by Southampton. Saw the Circourts, Rauzans, Guizots, &c.

Charles Greville had introduced me to Fould, then minister of finance. On Sunday, January 15th, Fould told me of the conclusion of the treaty of commerce with England, and the same evening we all dined at M. Chevalier's, with Cobden, Lavergne, Passy, Parieu, and Wolowski—the promoters and authors of the treaty. The next day (16th) I dined with Fould at a state dinner; Metternichs, Bassanos, Auber, Ste.-Beuve, Bourqueney. I took down Mrs. Baring. Lord Brougham was also in Paris.

Albert Pourtalès, my old fellow-pupil at Geneva, was now Prussian ambassador; saw a good deal of him. This was a very interesting visit to Paris.

In some very rough notes, Reeve jotted down the particulars he learned at this time. They amount to this: That between January 16th and 21st, 1859, a treaty was signed between France and Sardinia, by the 5th, 6th, and 7th articles of which Savoy was to be ceded to France when Lombardy and Venetia were conquered and given to Piedmont. Nice was to be ceded when Piedmont got the rest—of what, is not stated—presumably, of Italy. This treaty was known only to the Emperor, Niel, and Pietri, in France, and in Sardinia to the King and Cavour. It was afterwards made known to Villa-Marina, on condition that he should seem to know nothing about it.

On July 8th, 1859, when the Emperor returned to Valeggio from Villafranca, he told the King of Sardinia that peace was made. The King said he would not accept it, and would continue the war on his own account. The Emperor shrugged his shoulders and said 'Vous êtes fou.' Afterwards, however, in telling the story to the Queen of Holland, he declared that he only said 'Vous êtes absurde.'

It appears to have been in conversation with Pourtalès, on January 17th, that Reeve picked up this curious story. During the past few years many State papers at Berlin had been stolen: amongst others, a letter from the Tsar to the King of Prussia, written in the summer of 1855, to the effect that Sebastopol could not hold out another month. This was sent to Paris by Moustier just in time to revive the drooping spirits of the French Government, after the repulse of June 18th.

Supposing this to be true—as Reeve certainly believed it to be—it was only paying off Prussia in her own coin; for at least under Frederick II.—the Prussian agents had shown a remarkable skill in obtaining secret intelligence, either by purchase or by theft. In one case, in 1755, ten important papers and the key of the cipher were stolen from the Count de Broglie, the French ambassador, by his colleague and intimate friend, Count Maltzahn, the Prussian ambassador, who obtained access to his rooms in his absence. 'There is no doubt,' wrote De Broglie, 'that we are indebted for this to the King of Prussia. I am quite sure that Maltzahn would not have done it without an express order.' [Footnote: Le Secret du Roi, par le Duc de Broglie, tom. i., p. 131]

_From Mr. C. C. Greville

January 15._—I am very glad to hear that Fould has responded with such alacrity, and I shall be most anxious to hear from you again after your interview and dinner with him. I told him in my letter that you had been acquainted with the Emperor when he resided in England, and I hope he will report your arrival to H.M., and that you will be summoned to the imperial presence; it would be very interesting to have a conversation with the great man himself, and you might enlighten his mind, and correct some of the erroneous impressions he is likely to have formed from Cobden's conversation.

So far as I understand the line taken by our Cabinet, they are acting properly enough. I suppose France will want our support for the annexation of Savoy, and Palmerston will be for giving that, or doing anything else to obtain the transference of the revolted states and provinces to Piedmont; the aggrandisement of Sardinia and the humiliation of Austria being his darling objects, for which he will sacrifice every other consideration, unless he is kept in check, and baffled by the majority of the Cabinet. In the beginning of this week there was very near being a split amongst them, which might have broken up the Government; but I conclude matters were adjusted, though I do not know exactly how. P., J. R., and Gladstone go together, and are for going much further in Italian affairs than the majority of the Cabinet will consent to; and, as the latter know very well that their views will be supported by public opinion, I trust they will get the better of this triple alliance. As Austria appears to have admitted her inability to draw the sword again, the Pope seems to be left without any resource; but it does not follow that Austria will consent to such an aggrandisement of the King of Sardinia as France may be willing to consent to, and, as we shall, I suppose, earnestly advocate. She would probably more easily consent to the promotion of a new North Italian kingdom; and I much doubt if Tuscany really wishes for annexation to Piedmont. She would probably much prefer the promotion of a fresh state, of which Florence would be the capital, and Tuscany the most influential member. How impossible it is to form any opinion as to the tortuous, ever-shifting policy of L. N.! The only thing we ought never to lose sight of is to keep quite clear of him, and to be always on our guard. If the natural limits of France are to be extended again to the Alps, how long will it be before they are extended to the Rhine also?

I went to see Mrs. Austin yesterday, and found her very well and in very fair spirits; very anxious to talk about him, and much gratified at the letters she has received from various friends, bearing testimony to his great merits and high qualities, particularly one from Sir William Erle. Brougham is writing a notice of him for the 'Law Magazine.' She seems very unsettled in her plans, and says she changes her mind continually. Lady Gordon is better, and Mrs. Austin is going to Ventnor, to her, in a short time. She means to be much occupied with the papers he has left, which appear to be all about law, and it is very doubtful whether they will, if published, be very interesting to the world in general.

The Journal notes:—

We returned to London on January 23rd. Parliament opened next day. London dinners began. Dined at Thackeray's, Milman's, Galton's, Lansdowne House.

From Lord Clarendon

The Grove, February 2nd.—I am much obliged to you for De la Rive's brochure [Footnote: Le Droit de la Suisse, by William de la Rive, son of the celebrated physicist, Auguste] which is written with great force and spirit; he makes out an excellent European case for the slice of Savoy he claims for Switzerland, and he manages to gives an agreeable impression of those unpleasant people, the Swiss. It is a valuable work at this moment; for the annexation of Savoy to France is a serious affair, not only because it makes Italy French, but because it is the first step towards the remaniement de la carte.

When we made our first convention with France, on going to war together with Russia, I thought it would be prudent to put in a clause that neither Power should get any benefit for itself from the war. The Emperor accepted the proposal cheerfully; said it was a grand precedent, &c. &c.; but when I read over the convention with Walewski, prior to signature, the clause was omitted, and I had it restored. In the case of Savoy, we must admit that our policy makes objection on our part not only difficult but absurd. We have been telling the Italians that they were justified in expelling their rulers and electing a new sovereign, and that treaties could not be pleaded against accomplished facts; and how can we remonstrate against the annexation of Savoy to France, if V. Emanuel releases the Savoyards from their allegiance, and they elect L. Nap. for their sovereign?

To Lord Brougham

62 Rutland Gate, March 5th. Since my visit to Paris I have never had a doubt that Louis Napoleon was pursuing, and pursuing actively, a scheme for the annexation of Savoy, and that nothing which this country can say—for doing is out of the question—will have any effect in preventing it. The King of Sardinia is the dog and the shadow. He drops his bone to clutch a phantom of Italian empire, which will dissolve as he approaches it. The most amusing part of it is that the policy of his imprudent friends here (J. R. and so on) has urged him on to pursue the shadow without remembering what it would cost in substance.

The Reform Bill is considered so very mild a production that I begin, for the first time, to think it will pass. Even the Tories could conceive nothing so moderate, and they had better close with the bargain. I have no doubt it will be rather favourable to the Conservatives than to the Radicals. For example, where there are to be three seats, in the large towns, the Conservative minority will probably carry one out of the three.

March 14th.—Your volume of scientific tracts arrived just after I had sent off my last letter. I am very much indebted to you for it, and I shall probably have occasion to refer to your learned paper on the cells of bees in the review I am going to publish of Mr. Darwin's book. As for Newton, I should be glad to give my vote in favour of a monument whenever a suitable opportunity occurs. It is very embarrassing to know where to place monuments to men illustrious in letters and science. Westminster Abbey is crowded, and can take no more statues. We are going to put up a mural monument to Hallam there; and, by the way, if you had been in England, you were invited to be on the committee; I still hope you will give your name.

Events have taken a prodigiously lucky turn for the Government, and I think it is long since we had any administration so strong as Lord Palmerston now is. Gladstone's triumph is complete on all points, and people are so weary of J. R. and his Reform Bill that I think all parties are ready to swallow this last dose, de guerre lasse. Then will follow the dissolution in the autumn, and we may expect a strong Liberal majority.

The affair of Savoy will pass off quietly enough if he leaves the neutralised territories to Switzerland; but if not, it will become serious enough, for it is expressly provided by the final act of the Congress of Vienna that, if Sardinia evacuates those districts, no other Power but Switzerland shall move troops into them, and this arrangement was subsequently confirmed by a very formal declaration of all the Powers….

Mrs. Austin is making arrangements for a new edition of her husband's lectures, with considerable additions.

The Journal has here:—

March 15th.—Dinner at home. The Due d'Aumale, Lavradio, Lady Stanhope, Lady Molesworth, Lady William and Arthur Russell, Lord Kingsdown, the Lord Advocate, Professor Owen, Colonel Hamilton, and Colonel Greathed.

From Lord Clarendon

[Sunday] March 18th.—If you happen to be passing Grosvenor Crescent way on Tuesday or Wednesday, about twelve o'clock, will you look in upon me, and we will have a talk about the awful fix in which Europe in general and England in particular are now placed?

By reason of his connexion with Geneva, Reeve had all along necessarily felt the keenest interest in the negotiations between France and Sardinia, which he had discussed in an article on 'France, Savoy, and Switzerland' for the April number of the 'Edinburgh Review.' He had possibly already intended to visit the 'debateable land' as soon as the Review was sent to press, or very possibly the advisability of doing so was suggested in this interview with Lord Clarendon. At any rate, on April 4th he started for Paris, and, after seeing his friend Pourtales, went on to Geneva in company with Sir Robert and Lady Emily Peel. By the 12th he was back in Paris, where, on the 15th, he had long interviews with Fould and Thouvenel, the minister of foreign affairs, the minutes of which he wrote out at considerable length, and two days afterwards read them to Lord Palmerston. He reported to Palmerston that Thouvenel was willing to make 'a reasonable adjustment of the Swiss frontier,' which he believed meant 'an extension of the Swiss territory to the Fort de l'Ecluse and Saleve.' Palmerston, however, refused the overture, saying, 'We shall shame them out of it.' 'So,' added Reeve, in relating the affair, 'neither he nor the Swiss got anything at all.'

From Lord Brougham

Cannes, April 20th.—I hope my account of J. Austin will appear in the 'Law Magazine and Review.' It is written con amore, though very far from such an article as I could have wished to make it. The letter of Mrs. Austin was invaluable, and I inserted her very words in more instances than one; but your mention of the effect produced by the publication now out of print was still more valuable. I only trust that it may all be printed correctly, for it must be too late for me to have proofs.

The roguery of L. N. and Cavour exceeds all belief; but they have cheated one another, and have probably overreached themselves. The lies they tell about the Nice vote are unheard of even in the time of Napoleon I. We believe here that thousands of Piedmontese having no residence were sent to vote. However, there is a real majority, though nothing like the unanimity pretended. In Savoy there is entire unanimity. I suppose Normanby believes the Tuscans have not voted for their annexation; but he believes whatever anybody writes to him from Florence.

To Lord Brougham

C. O., May 16th.—I cannot remember any passage in Macaulay's writings which can be called an attack on Henry V. In the Introduction to the 'History of England' there is a passage in which he speaks of the French wars of the English kings, and speculates on the results which might have ensued if the conquests of Henry V. had not been lost by Henry VI. Perhaps this is what Lord Glenelg meant; but I am writing from the office, where I have not the books to refer to.

I don't know what sort of monument the Lord Chief Baron proposes to erect. To put Macaulay on a level with Newton and Bacon would be absurd. His mind was essentially what the geologists would call 'a tertiary formation;' theirs were 'protogenic.' But I think some monument to Macaulay may very fitly be placed in Trinity Chapel. We meet on Tuesday to consider what is to be done for Hallam in Westminster Abbey; but there will certainly be no statue, probably a slab and bust only.

I hope you are coming up for the debate in the Lords on Monday,[Footnote: On the repeal of the paper duty, a Government measure, which was rejected by the Lords.] which will be one of great interest. I cannot think there is anything solid in the so-called constitutional objection—which is to be urged on behalf of the Government—to the interference of the House of Lords with a bill of this nature.

From Lord Clarendon

Grosvenor Crescent, May 16th.—Many thanks for your letter and opinion of Aix-la-Chapelle waters, which seem exactly to fit my case, but I should be very reluctant to go there just now, as the inconvenience of it would be great. I shall try change of air next week, and, if that won't do, why alors, comme alors, as the life I am now leading is intolerable. The gout came again very sharply last night, but not, I am sure, owing to your most agreeable dinner, which could only do good. I have not passed three such pleasant hours for a long while.

I have seen one or two peers to-day sorely puzzled as to the vote they shall give on Monday. My only doubt is about the damage it may do the House of Lords; and I can't quite go Lyndhurst's [Footnote: In a closely reasoned speech, rightly considered remarkable from a man of eighty-eight, Lord Lyndhurst maintained that it was no unusual thing for the Lords to veto bills for repealing taxes as well as bills for inflicting them, and quoted numerous precedents. The bill was thrown out by 193 to 104.] length, who says that if there is no precedent it is high time, and the proper opportunity, to make one.

The Journal here records:—

Mr. Greville resigned the clerkship of the council in May; as Mr. Bathurst could not carry on the business, he had to resign too [Footnote: This is written on the blank page of the 'Chronology,' apparently from memory, and the dates are somewhat confused. Greville resigned in May 1859. It was then settled that there should be but one clerk; Bathurst acted by himself for a twelvemonth, and resigned in May 1860.]. It was settled that there should be but one clerk of the council. Lord Granville, I believe, wished to appoint me, but some obstacle stood in the way. I never exactly knew what; but if it was the Court, it is singular that I should have been so well received at Balmoral. What I desired was that the registrarship of the P. C. should become the second clerkship of the council, I offering to do my share of the general business; but this they declined. On June 9th Arthur Helps was appointed clerk of the council. I felt great irritation at the manner in which I had been treated; but it certainly turned out very well for me in the end, as I continued to hold an easier office, and eventually obtained the same income, without the annoyance of attending the Court at Balmoral, or Osborne, or elsewhere.

On May 15th we had to dinner Lord Clarendon, Prince Dolgoroukow (the one who wrote the book [Footnote: La Verité sur la Russie, 1860. Cf. Edinburgh Review, July 1860, p. 175.] on Russia), Lord Stanley, Sir R. and Lady E. Peel, Hodgson, and Cornewall Legh.

On August 4th we made an expedition from Farnborough, with the Longmans, to
Selborne. Lunch with T. Bell. [Footnote: The editor of White's Selborne]
Walked to the Lithe and the Hanger. A charming day.

From Lord Brougham

Brougham, August 5th.—I have been reading the last 'E. R.,' which is a most excellent number. The ballot article [Footnote: 'Secret Voting and Parliamentary Reform.'] is admirable, and will prove useful. I may send you a few remarks on the G. Rose article. [Footnote: 'Diaries and Correspondence of George Rose.'] But I am delighted with the showing up of Miss Assing, [Footnote: 'Correspondence of Humboldt and Varnhagen von Ense.' In editing this, Miss Assing had shown—according to the Review—a singular want of taste and discretion.] only I don't think it is as much as she deserves.

To Lord Brougham

C. O., August 7th.—I have been making short country visits at several places near London since the termination of my Judicial Committee labours, or I should certainly have called to see you before you left Grafton Street. Now I am starting on Saturday next for Aix-la-Chapelle, where I propose to take a few baths. I return on the 25th, and shall proceed to Aberdeenshire at the end of the month….

The victory of the Government last night was very decisive;[Footnote: On the motion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the reduction of the duty on paper.] and I am heartily glad of it, for the protectionist cry of the paper-makers took one back before the Deluge.

I saw Mrs. Austin yesterday at Weybridge, and was glad to find her so well.
She desired to be remembered to you. She is very busy with J. Austin's
MSS.; but, in fact, they are in perfect order, and might be sent at once to
the press.

And then the Journal—

Later in August went to Aix. I went over to Bonn to see Bunsen, who was dying, but full of enthusiasm for Italy. Came home on August 27th.

CHAPTER XIV

LITERATURE AND POLITICS

Early in August Mrs. Henry Reeve had gone on a visit into Dorsetshire, and at the time of her husband's return from Aix was in Cornwall—at Pencarrow, near Bodmin—on a visit to her old friend, Lady Molesworth. Reeve, thus left to himself, started almost immediately for Scotland on a visit to Sir James Clark, who, with Lady Clark and his son—the present baronet—was then living up Dee-side at Birk Hall, lent him by the Queen.

The Journal's scanty notices of a very interesting visit can be happily replaced by extracts from the letters which he wrote almost daily to his wife at Pencarrow.

To Mrs. Henry Reeve

Birk Hall, Ballater, September 1st.

My dearest wife,—Matters have turned out here very pleasantly. I proceeded to Aboyne by rail, and then posted along the Dee-side to this place—the Strath most beautiful; a lovely mixture of wood, water, and heather, with mountains beyond. I got here just before six, and found the Clarks and Van de Weyers sitting down to an early dinner in order to go to the Gillies' Ball at Balmoral, in honour of the Prince's birthday, to which I found myself also invited. We drove up to the Castle, which is eight miles off, through a fine wooded glen, in the moonlight. The old house of Balmoral has quite disappeared, and the Castle is now a very fine edifice, decorated in excellent taste. On arriving, we waited in the library, where arrived Lady John Russell and her boys, the Farquharsons of Invercauld, young Peel [Footnote: Robert Kennedy Peel; son of Lady Alice and Colonel Peel, who had been Secretary of State for War in the Derby Ministry of 1858-9.] (Lady A.'s son), the William Russells, the Duke of Argyll—and then the Court. Nobody was in mourning, as it was a birthday; the Queen in white, with a floating sash of Royal Stuart tartan from her shoulders: about half the men in kilts. The Queen made a circle, and then we went into the ball-room, where about a hundred and fifty of the tenants, servants, &c., with their wives and daughters, were assembled. Reels then began, which were danced with great energy, and also jigs—very droll. Prince Arthur danced like mad; and Princess Alice was 'weel ta'en out' by the gamekeeper. I stood in a corner talking with the Duke of Argyll, &c. At last the Prince came round, and conversed very courteously for ten minutes. He had heard I had been in Germany lately, so we soon got into the heart of German and Austrian questions. All this lasted two hours, and then the Queen withdrew into the supper-room, where there were sandwiches and champagne. She went round again, and talked to Lord Melville, behind whom I was standing, and then made me a very gracious bow, but without saying anything to myself. Soon afterwards we drove home, and got back here at half-past one. To-day we are going up to Balmoral again to write our names and see the Castle; and to-morrow the Queen is coming here to call on Mme. Van de Weyer. I am rather amused, after divers recent occurrences, to find myself in so much royalty, and I had not anticipated any civility from them. But I see the Clarks are very kind about it, having had Helps here last week, and probably are desirous to remove any misconception which may have existed. So that, in fact, nothing can turn out better, and I have certainly no reason to be dissatisfied with my reception.

Ever yours most affectionately,

H. REEVE.

Birk Hall, September 4th.—At last we have got a beautiful day, quite warm and bright. Nothing can be more lovely than this Strath of the Dee, with its birch woods and pine-covered mountains. We went up a hill yesterday—the Coyle—and looked across the glen to the broad snow fields which still encircle the black cliffs of Lochnagar. To-day we are going up to Alt na Ghuissac, and shall lunch at the Queen's hut. H. M. called here on Sunday, and was remarkably pleasant and jolly. P. Albert drove, with P. Leiningen on the box; the Queen, Princess Alice, and Princess Leiningen in the carriage, and one man on a seat behind. Nothing can be more simple, courteous, and even droll, than she is, seen in this way, eating Scotch cakes, and asking for the 'prescription' to make them, and making Leiningen taste the birch wine—which is not bad. To-day they are gone on a wild expedition over the hills, and are to sleep in some little inn on the brae-side, where the people are supposed not to know who they are. The Queen will be seven hours on her pony. She rides through all weathers and over all places, and chaffs everybody for not taking exercise enough.

I shall leave this on Friday for Braemar—else I should have to appear
at another Balmoral ball—and on Saturday proceed to Keir, where I spend
Sunday with Stirling, who is very sorry you are not of the party. On Monday
I go on to the Moncreiffs, at Alva (near Stirling), and on Thursday to
Kirklands, making some calls in Edinburgh as I go through.

Birk Hall, September 5th.—The day kept its promise, and was fair to the end. We drove up this glen, which is Glen Muich, to the loch which terminates it, about six miles off. There stands the Queen's hut, with a few fir-trees about it. It deserves its name—a small Highland cottage, with a room on each side the door and two rooms behind; a little plain wooden furniture and a Kidderminster carpet. There are two or three other wooden cottages about for the attendants. Here we lunched—for everybody lunches in this royal region; and then mountain ponies to go up to the Dhu Loch, about 1,200 feet higher—very wild, grand scenery, and a very rough, boggy path, on which Van de Weyer's contortions were very droll. Madame stayed under the royal honeysuckles below.

I suppose Hopie and I shall go to Raith on the 15th, if they can take us in. At any rate, we shall leave Kirklands on that day; but our movements cannot be quite fixed till we hear.

Braemar, September 7th.—Very fortunately I have had magnificent weather just when I wanted it. Clark gave me two good days of shooting on the hill on Wednesday and yesterday; we got about ten brace each day, and I had a famous hard walk. This morning I came on here by the Queen's private road through Balmoral and Invercauld. The scenery is wonderfully beautiful; and, if it were not for my love of the sea, I should admit that Braemar is the finest thing in Scotland. I have been up the glen this afternoon, past Mar Lodge, to the Linn of Dee—a fine cascade through rocks; the water is so clear that you can see the rocks under it, and wild blasted pines growing all round. I was sorry to leave Birk Hall. The Clarks are admirable hosts, and made their house most agreeable…. You will have lamented, as I do, the untimely cutting off of our poor friend, the late Lord High—I mean Ward. [Footnote: See ante, vol. i. p. 314.] There seems to be a fatality about Madras. Somme toute, the more I see of the chances of life, the more I am persuaded that, as my lot has been cast on such small but easy cushions, I ought to be perfectly content.

The Queen came back on Wednesday night in high glee with her lark over the hills to Grantown. [Footnote: The Queen's account of this 'lark over the hills' is in Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the Highlands (8vo. 1868), pp. 189-203.] They slept at a very little Highland inn, and were waited on by the maid only. The beds were awful, for they could not stand the feather bed, and, that being thrown aside, nothing soft remained beneath. General Grey found it so hard that he got up and put on his clothes to lie in. However, they were in high glee, and were not found out till they went away in the morning, when the man of the house said, 'Gin I'd known it was the Queen, I'd hae put on my Sunday claiths and waited on her mysel'.' They gave the Highland lassie a 5 £. note, at which she nearly fainted.

I hope by this time to-morrow I shall be at Keir. I am here at a little Highland inn for to-night, but not so ill off as H. M. I shall have to post to Blairgowrie to-morrow to get there in time for the train.

Keir, near Dunblane, September 9th.—I left Braemar yesterday morning at 6 A.M.; posted across the Grampians by a very wild pass; reached the railroad at Blairgowrie, and came on here in the afternoon. The first person I found in the hall was Motley. His wife and Lily arrived in the evening. Mrs. Norton, the Wyses, and Sir James Campbell also here. A most pleasant party to fall into, and your absence very much regretted. Keir is more beautiful than ever, and glorious in this fine weather which floods the Carse of Stirling with light. It really does seem as if the harvest would pick itself up after all.

I shall proceed to Alva to-morrow, and to Kirklands on Wednesday. I don't yet know whether the Fergusons can receive us on the 15th. If they can, we shall go to Raith on that day, and return to London from Edinburgh by sea…. At any rate, I expect to be in London either on Friday, 21st, or Monday, 24th—I'm not quite sure which. I suppose, if you don't go to Saltram, you will come up about the same time. There will be a good many things to look after and think of for the Spanish expedition. I am up to my neck here in Stirling's Spanish books.

P.S.—I am a year older to-day than I was yesterday.

The Journal records that he returned to London on September 22nd.

From Lord Clarendon

Wiesbaden, September 14th.—I have been idle and absent at Baden, or I should sooner have answered your letter and told you with what pleasure we will execute your commission. [Footnote: See post, p. 54.] I was very sorry to have missed you here, though it would have been but a glimpse, as you were going next morning. I shall hope to see you before you start on your enviable Spanish tour, as I mean to go home as soon as my cure is complete, for Lady C. feels Alice's absence, [Footnote: Lady Alice Villiers, married on August 16th, 1860, to Lord Skelmersdale, created Earl of Lathom in 1880. She was accidentally killed by the overturning of her carriage on November 23rd, 1897.] and is lonely with only two children out of six.

I passed two very pleasant days at Baden with the Aug. Loftuses and the
Princess of Prussia, who is domiciled there, and we returned last night.

The Grove, September 30th.—I returned here last night without touching at Grosvenor Crescent. If I had gone there, I should have been at home ten minutes within the twenty hours from Paris, which is a fair rate of speed when one remembers that in pre-railway days one travelled hard and got shaken much to arrive at Paris in three days; and in pre-steamer times I was once eighteen hours in getting from Calais to Dover. Yet people are not satisfied; and Rothschild told me he was bullied by everybody about the slowness of the Ligne du Nord.

I am afraid I shall not have the pleasure of seeing you, as I cannot go to London to-morrow, and from Tuesday till Friday we are engaged to the John Thynnes. In the improbable event of your charming expedition being postponed, we should be quite delighted if you and Mrs. and Miss Reeve would come here on Saturday.

As it is now nearly twenty-two years since I left Spain (how time flies!), new generations have sprung up of whom I know nothing. There are two persons—Mme. de Montijo and Olozaga [Footnote: Reeve had known him as the Spanish ambassador in Paris fifteen years.]—who I should have liked you to see as social and political ciceroni; but the former is at Paris, in the deepest affliction at the death of her daughter, and the latter is just gone to Italy, as I heard two days ago from Howden. Of course you know that clever, agreeable little fellow Comyn, who was chargé d'affaires here, and is now under-secretary at the F.O. in Madrid? If not, I will send you a letter to him.

I wound up at Wiesbaden by a severe attack of gout, which seemed to please my Esculapius more than it did me; for when I showed him my misshapen scarlet claw of a foot, he rubbed his hands and said, 'Oh dat is a beautiful manifest podagra.' It came just at the same time as the Skelmersdales, and prevented my going about with them. Wasn't that just like the gout?

I never doubted that as soon as the guerillero business was over and civil organisation began, Garibaldi would prove a mischievous, spoiled child…. The French Government and their friends want the Pope to remain at Rome, thinking that la France Catholique would resent his evasion, as a proof of mistrust of the Emperor; but the Emperor wants him to go; as he would then withdraw his garrison and let Rome take its chance, which he thinks would close his accounts with the followers of Orsini; and he dislikes having to reinforce his garrison, which he must do if the Pope decides on remaining.

I have brought the amethyst beads you desired to have for Mme. Van de Weyer, and I dare say somebody will be going up to-morrow or next day by whom I can send them to you. The man wanted rather more than 5 £ for them, but on my walking away from his shop, he, of course, gave them for that sum.

From Lord Brougham

Brougham, October 1st.—We have all here been greatly disappointed at not having seen you and our kinswoman,[Footnote: Miss Reeve, Brougham's second cousin twice removed. Through the Robertsons, Brougham and John Richardson were second cousins.] and I believe we have little chance now, as you talked of going abroad as soon as your quarterly labours were over. We shall be here the whole month; then take our southward flight….

If you can find an opportunity of noticing my volume on the Constitution which is to appear in November, it would be very serviceable to the publisher. It is only a reprint of that part of the 'Political Philosophy,' and lays down true and sound principles—at this time necessary to be well learnt.

To Lord Brougham

62 Rutland Gate, October 2nd.—I am extremely obliged to you for the copy of your Glasgow address, which in some degree consoles me for not having heard it, and for having lost the pleasure of seeing you this year at Brougham. Nothing can be more felicitous than some of the illustrations you have introduced, and the occasion of a mere scientific meeting has been turned to the best political purpose. No doubt in that region the absence of party gives a broader and a nobler aim to the exertions of your society, and it is gratifying to see how heartily men meet to combine, in these days, without party badges. But if this opinion were to be expressed by the 'Edinburgh Review,' we should be told by John Russell & Co. that we have no business to wear blue and buff, which is the final cause of reviews and editors.

The political article which I have just sent to the press is on the United States under Mr. Buchanan—a great show-up of that scandalous scene of corruption, slave-trading, and anarchy. I am afraid it is now too late to introduce an allusion to your discourse. As to home politics, there is little to be said; as to Continental affairs, there is too much. The mountebanks in Southern Italy have now very nearly upset the coach, and the question is whether the Sardinians or the French are to march to Naples. I hope it will be the former, but it is quite clear Louis Napoleon means to support the Pope in Rome.

Lord Clarendon is just come back from Wiesbaden. We start on Saturday for
Madrid, via Valencia, and shall be about six weeks in Spain and Portugal.

And so they started—Reeve, his wife, and daughter—Reeve, as usual, noting merely the stages of the tour, trusting to his wife to fill in the details. Extracts from Mrs. Reeve's Journal are here given in square brackets.

Journal

October 8th.—We started for Spain by Paris, Lyons, and Marseilles. Sailed in the 'Céphise' for Valencia on the 10th.

11th.—[Hopie and I came on deck soon after eight. We spent the day lying down, and only caught glimpses of the coast of Spain when a roll of the 'Céphise' brought land and sea above the line of her sides.]

12th.—[About 4 A.M. the wind changed, and we were able to use sail, which steadied the vessel, besides assisting her progress. I went on deck at nine, found the Mediterranean more like my 'Caire' experience, and was told that we should probably be at Grao by twelve…. Henry has set up an acquaintance with a Mexican who knows a little of England and English, and is going to pass the winter at Valencia. About one o'clock we were in the harbour of Grao. We landed in boats, and found ourselves surrounded by a crowd of clamorous porters and tartana drivers—one of the scenes characteristic of landing in a country where police regulations do not exist ensued. However, Henry's Mexican acquaintance came to his rescue, and two courteous Gauls to mine. They were taking the French despatches into Valencia, and offered Hopie and me seats in their tartana—a covered cart not on springs, which is the cab of the country. We joyfully accepted, leaving Henry to struggle through custom-house and other difficulties as best he could. The drive (into Valencia) is about two miles, part shaded by an avenue and carefully watered by men stationed at intervals, who ladled the water in buckets out of the runlets on each side of the road. We took up our quarters at the Fonda de Paris, and congratulated each other on having arrived in Spain.]

13th.—[We went out at eight o'clock. Our first point was the market, which we found in full activity. Such supplies of fruit and vegetables can only be found in a city surrounded by leagues of huerta…. We went to the plateria, but found the shops poor, and the articles displayed were coarse and ill-wrought. We visited the churches of St. Martin, St. John, and the cathedral, and ascended the tower del Miguelete. The churches are so dark that it is quite impossible to distinguish the pictures, much less to judge of their beauty. The panorama from the tower is most beautiful: the city and plain of Valencia, the Mediterranean and the encircling mountains, the fertile huerta, and the glorious sky of deepest blue above….

Placards of a bull-fight on the morrow caught our eyes; and Hopie and I, taking the bull by the horns, declared our intention of going to it, and suggested that places should be taken. After a very feeble resistance, Henry consented, and our valet-de-place was directed to ascertain the price of a box.]

14th.—[The price asked for a box being too high, we took reserved seats, and at two o'clock started on foot…. The Plaza de Toros at Valencia is a new building, only completed this year; it holds twenty thousand persons, and is the largest in Spain…. 'El Tato' is the second matador of Spain: he is a well-looking and remarkably well-grown young man, and a well-grown figure is set off to great advantage by the dress. The horses used are only fit for the knacker's yard; they are contracted for at about six pounds each; on this occasion thirteen or fourteen were killed. As regards the horses, it is a cruel and disgusting sight; but as between the bull and the matador, the display of courage, eye and presence of mind, as well as of skill and agility, is most interesting and exciting.] We saw 'El Tato' kill six bulls…. [At dinner our conversation turned on the sight of the day. 'Tableau de moeurs espagnoles,' said a Frenchman, raising his shoulders. 'In Peru, where I have seen many bull-fights,' he went on, 'they use high-spirited and valuable horses, and the picador would be for ever disgraced if he allowed the bull to touch his horse.']

15th. [From Valencia to Madrid is 308 miles; the time from 4 P.M. to 6.20 A.M., and our train was pretty punctual.]

16th.—Saw Isabella and her Court enter Madrid. She was shot at [by a foolish, half-witted lad, who did not know how to load his pistol, and had no motive for the crime, or rather attempt]. Delighted with the gallery. [There are a few seats and no visitors; and the wisest thing travellers can do, and by far the pleasantest, is to spend all the hours of all the days they are in Madrid that the gallery is open in contemplating its treasures.]

17th.—[Immediately after breakfast, Hopie and I went to the Museum. Henry joined us presently, and we remained till four o'clock.]

18th, Thursday.—[We had intended to make the Toledo excursion to-day, but an undoubted attack of gout confines Henry to the sofa. Hopie and I walked before breakfast to the Church of the Atocha, where we were shown … in a wardrobe in the vestry, the crimson velvet robe which Isabella had on when the Curé Merino stabbed her. [Footnote: On her way to the church, February 2nd, 1852. The priest, a Franciscan, was garotted in due course.] It has the stain of blood on the lining; the massive embroidery in gold saved her life by turning aside the knife…. After breakfast we took a walk through the unfashionable parts of the town: narrow streets, noisy and crowded, where open stores with bright-coloured scarfs and petticoats collected round them men in the peasant dress—short jackets, breeches, and gaiters partly open. These were picturesque, but the streets and houses were uninteresting enough.

There can be no doubt that Madrid is the least interesting capital in Europe, and that it is only worth the traveller's while to go there for the sake of the pictures…. It is settled that we leave Madrid on Saturday evening, and Henry has therefore consented to our going to Toledo tomorrow without him.]

19th,—[Excursion to Toledo, fifty-six miles by rail.]

20th, Saturday.—[After dinner started for Granada, where, after thirty-six hours (rail and diligence), we arrived on Monday morning.]

27th, Saturday.—[At 6 P.M. we stow ourselves in the interior of the diligence, and pound along the dusty road towards Santa Fé. It is dusk before we get there, and dark after.]

28th, Sunday.—[From Granada to Malaga is seventy-six miles. Guards are not only stationed along the road, but two or three are taken on the diligence. The roads were not good; we seemed to be crossing a series of sierras, and when day dawned, after a fresh, almost cold night, we found ourselves amid ghaut-like hills, and wondered when the topmost point would be gained and the descent to Malaga begun. I think it is at Fuente de la Reina that the magnificent view of the Mediterranean, the port and city of Malaga, and the long perspective of zigzags down spurs of mountains is seen. Neither the French nor English Handbook speaks of this view with the enthusiasm it deserves. It is far finer than the view on the heights looking down on Trieste and the Adriatic…. We entered Malaga about 10 A.M.; the descent had taken about two hours.]

29th.—[Very early it was announced that an unexpected boat had come in, and was going on to Cadiz…. At 2 P.M. we went on board… but she did not steam till six. We should have been very irate at the delay but for the remarkably good dinner they gave us…. We made a détour and went very slow at starting, to avoid a vessel sunk in the harbour, on which a provisional pharo is placed. This vessel, the 'Genova,' had on board shells and powder for the Morocco war, when it was discovered that spontaneous combustion had broken out in the coal—a defect of Spanish coal—and, fearing she would not only blow up herself but also the city of Malaga, they determined to sink her; and, after a deal of bad practice by the guns of fort and fleet, she went under water, and there she has been eight months.]

30th.—[Cadiz. On the 31st crossed over to Puerto Santa Maria; and on November 1st to Seville by rail.]

November 2nd.—[Henry has again a threatening of gout, and must have recourse to rest and remedial measures. He sent us out to buy the works of 'Fernan Caballero;' but only one volume was to be had, and no explanation was given us of the strange fact that the writings of the most popular novelist in Spain are not to be obtained in the capital of Andalusia, where she lives, and whence all her characters and scenery are taken. No satisfactory map or guide-book of Seville could be found. I took a catalogue of the books that the shop contained back to Henry. They were chiefly of a religious character. Hopie and I took an exploring walk as far as the Plaza and Church of San Lorenzo, stopping now and then to peep into the cool patios filled with flowers, and a murmuring fountain often in the middle, which you see through the corridor, sometimes with a door of iron trellis, sometimes open. All the windows of the basement have iron gratings and wooden shutters; and the courting and sweethearting is carried on with the lady inside and the lover outside the railing. Not that we saw anything of the kind as it takes place of an evening; but the construction of the houses explains the descriptions as given in these charming tales of 'Fernan Caballero.']

3rd.—[Hopie and I set out to 'do churches'… After breakfast to the Museum…. We then joined Henry, who was better, and had been to call at the Palace, and drove to Alfarache, about four miles' distance.]

4th.—[In the afternoon to Cordova (eighty-one miles), returning to Seville on the evening of the 5th.]

6th.—[A decidedly grey day, unfortunately for our plans of picture-seeing. We did a little shopping… and then went to the Museum; but, alas! there was not more light than you would have in Trafalgar Square; and those Murillos at a distance from the window were scarcely visible. We were so vexed on Henry's account. We spent the afternoon in writing letters, bathing our faces with milk, and hoping the mosquito bites, which have driven us well-nigh distracted, will be less conspicuous to-morrow, when we are to spend the morning at the Palace, and be presented to the Infanta.]

7th.—[Nine o'clock was the hour named by the Duke, and a few minutes after we were at the Palace of San Telmo (in bonnets and our tidiest dresses). We were shown into a room on the ground floor, and in a few seconds the Duc de Montpensier [Footnote: For the circumstances of the Duc de Montpensier's marriage, see ante, vol. i. p. 181.] came in attended by an A.D.C. He received us very graciously, asked if we would drive or walk round the grounds, and said he thought we had better see the gardens first, and then the house and pictures…. Our promenade, with an occasional rest, took nearly two hours; and then, returning to the Palace, H.R.H. showed us the state rooms and the pictures, many of great beauty and merit, all very interesting; and then, suggesting we should like to take off our bonnets, desired the A.D.C. to show us rooms…. A servant waiting outside the door showed us into a drawing-room upstairs, where we found two ladies of the Infanta's suite, and an old marquis, whose gold key showed he was the chamberlain. In a few minutes the double doors of a larger room were thrown open, and 'los Duques' and the four Infantas, their daughters, came in…. When the dejeuner dinatoire was announced, the Duke told Henry to offer his arm to the Duchess, then he advanced towards me, the chamberlain took Hopie, the children and the suite followed. We were eighteen at table. … Servants stood behind us with paper flappers, whisking away the flies, who swarmed round the sweet dishes on the table; and H.R.H. complaining of les mouches, I ventured to complain of les moustiques. He smiled, and said, 'I noticed that you had been victimised.' Breakfast was very gay and agreeable; the Duke has the family talent for conversation, and the Duchess is very amiable, and of course speaks French. She wore a high, plain silk dress of the prevailing colour, and a black chenille net. The Infantas had black silk skirts with a broad piece of black velvet at the bottom, and white piqué shirts. We left the table in the same order as before, and, after a few minutes in the salon, the Duke took Henry into his private room. The Duchess requested us to be seated, and asked us questions about our tour, &c…. and then, rising, she said Adieu, and left the room. The Duke took us to the large library on the ground floor, to show us the albums and other things of interest…. There was an interesting portrait of an elderly lady in a black dress and mantilla, which H.R.H. pointed out as being that of the lady who writes under the name of 'Fernan Caballero;' and on Henry's mentioning that we had tried in vain to purchase her novels, he desired the librarian to see whether there were duplicate copies, and, on hearing there were, gave us a set, as well as a coloured lithograph of the Palace and photographs of the Duchess, himself, and the princesses…. It was altogether a most interesting and agreeable morning, and we came away charmed with the courtesy and kindness of 'los Duques.']

9th.—Back to Cadiz; very stormy voyage to Lisbon. Home to Southampton, November 22nd.

From Lord Clarendon

The Grove, December 6th.—I was glad to get your letter, as I thought you must be due about this time, and I had not heard of your arrival. I can imagine no change for the worse equal to that of coming from the blue sky and thermometer of Andalusia to the fogs and hydrometer of London, and your impaired respiratory organs must make that change peculiarly pleasant.

I am very glad your impressions of Spain are the same as Granville's. He raves of the things he has seen, and of the good hotels and general civility; and says he tasted no garlic since he dined at the Maison Dorée at Paris. Spain must indeed be changed since my time!

We returned from Ashridge [Footnote: The seat of Lord Brownlow.] this afternoon, and are off again next week. Paterfamilias is obliged to drink the cup of gaiety to the dregs, which is almost worse than being in office.

Pray remember us very kindly to Mrs. Reeve. As soon as we are free agents, we shall hope for the pleasure of seeing you here.

To Lord Brougham

C. O., December 10th. I have not the slightest intention of plunging at present into the turbid waters of Indian finance, still less of engaging in the personal controversy of Trevelyan's merits or grievances…. I am not sure that his view of extensive reduction is not, in reality, more rational and possible than Wilson's view of extensive taxation. Probably, however, both will be needed before we have done. But I suspend my judgement on the question, and I shall not venture to discuss it in the 'Review' at present.

We returned from Spain and Portugal a few days after you had the kindness to call in Rutland Gate. I proceeded immediately to call on you in Grafton Street, but you had already gone north. Since then I have been unceasingly occupied at the Judicial Committee. Our journey was very successful and agreeable. We coasted round the whole peninsula, and went up to Madrid, Grenada, Seville, Cordova, &c.

The changes taking place in France are (if sincere) most remarkable. My friends think that one of L. N.'s objects is to have a debate on his foreign policy and his relations with Italy, which—as he well knows—will be extremely adverse to the Italian cause, and afford him a pretext for abandoning Victor Emanuel. There is some idea that when Francis II. evacuates Gaëta, he will surrender it, not to Victor Emanuel, but to France. I expect this affair in Southern Italy to end by a Muratist demonstration; in other words, the Neapolitans will place themselves under the protection of France to escape from the Piedmontese…. Thank God, your namesake and my friend, Henry Brougham Loch,[Footnote: Now Lord Loch, then secretary to Lord Elgin, in China. He and Harry Parkes had been treacherously seized by the Chinese on September 18th, and kept in vilest durance and imminent danger of being put to death till October 8th, when, after the capture of the Summer Palace, both the prisoners were released.] is safe. We have been very uneasy about him, and not without cause. The China war is a slough of despond: the further we advance the more we shall flounder, until we are half ruined by our successes.

62 Rutland Gate, December 24th.—I have shut myself up for some days, to try to get rid of an irritation in the larynx, which has troubled me for some time past; but in this weather one's library is the most secure retreat.

62 Rutland Gate, January 3rd.—I see the Court of Queen's Bench in Canada has decided in favour of the extradition of the fugitive slave who turned and slew his pursuer. This surprises me; for surely, by our law, such an act is not murder. What, however, interests me most is to know whether the case can be brought up to the Privy Council by way of appeal. I do not know what form the proceedings in Canada have taken; but I apprehend the proceedings are civil, not criminal, and therefore appealable. If it does come here, it will be a matter of great interest.

The reference is to the celebrated case of John Anderson—or Jack—a negro of Missouri, who, in 1853, had been met by one Diggs, a white man, thirty miles away from his home. In accordance with the laws of the State, Diggs attempted to seize him. Anderson killed Diggs, and—by 'the underground railway'—made good his escape to Canada, where he had lived ever since. In 1860 he had been recognised, and, on formal application for his extradition, he had been arrested. The Court of Queen's Bench in Canada accepted the argument that they had to decide only as to the evidence of the commission of the crime, not as to the nature of it, and remanded the prisoner. In England the excitement was very great. The Secretary of State sent out an order that Anderson was not to be given up without instructions from him; and the Court of Queen's Bench sent out a writ of habeas corpus, directing the man to be brought before it. But meanwhile an application for a writ of habeas corpus had been made to the Court of Common Pleas in Canada, and the prisoner had been discharged on the technical ground that he was not charged with any crime included in the Extradition Treaty, as, for instance, murder; for the indictment was that he did 'wilfully, maliciously and feloniously stab and kill, &c.,' words which meant, inferentially, manslaughter; and manslaughter was not recognised by the treaty.[Footnote: See Annual Register, 1831, part ii. p. 520.]

The Journal here mentions the awfully sudden death of a friend of many years' standing:—

January 8th.—The Frederick Elliots and Marochettis dined with us. There was a frost, and torches on the Serpentine. Mrs. F. Elliot drove round to see it, and went home and died in the night [of a spasm of the heart. The news reached Reeve by a note from Mr. Elliot, dated seven o'clock in the morning].

From Mr. E. Twisleton

Bonchurch, January 24th.

My dear Reeve,—I am much obliged to you for your letter of the 18th instant, which has been forwarded to me here. I am sorry to say that I have so much on my hands at present that I could not undertake to write an article on American affairs; though I am equally obliged to you for the proposal.

I lament what has taken place in the United States. Although, in a narrow political sense, a disruption may be useful to England, in another point of view it is a misfortune, inasmuch as the maintenance of one confederation during seventy-two years, over such a vast extent of territory, with no civil war, and only two foreign wars, is the greatest thing which the English race has done out of England, and its dissolution is sure to be viewed with pleasure by all who in their hearts hate free institutions and the English race.

Since Brown's attempt to excite an insurrection of the slaves in Virginia, I have thought it impossible to avoid a civil war, if the anti-slavery feeling in the North went on increasing in intensity, as I have known it to increase during the last ten years; but I had not the most distant idea that Lincoln's election would lead to immediate secession on the part of even a single state. In the north of the Union they have been absolutely taken by surprise, and have hardly yet made up their minds as to the course they will pursue. If Congress had merely to deal with South Carolina, it could easily checkmate that one state; but the difficulty arises from the number of states, which either side with South Carolina or will not act against her.

I have the highest respect for Tocqueville's opinion; but I do not happen to remember what he has written respecting secession. I well understand the difficulty for a confederation if any one state has a settled permanent determination to secede from it. But, under the constitution, Congress has ample powers to levy the federal revenue and maintain the laws of the Union in South Carolina—and to pass all laws necessary for this purpose. Moreover, everyone in the Union who levies war against the United States Government is guilty of treason, and there is no recognition in the constitution of any right in any state to secede from the Union. Under these circumstances, everyone in South Carolina caught in arms against the federal Government is liable to be hanged. With such laws and powers, an united Congress and a resolute president, like General Jackson, would soon reduce South Carolina to submission; and my belief is that the same might be the case if there were a league against the Union of the cotton states alone. For a time Congress would baffle such a league quite as effectually as the Swiss Confederation put down the Sonderbund.

Pray give my kind regards to Mrs. Reeve. I expect to be in London at the end of next week, and I shall be happy to communicate and receive ideas on American politics. The critical point at present is the course which will be pursued by Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Yours very truly,

EDWARD TWISLETON.

The Journal notes:—

February 26th.—Dined with the Apponyis, now Austrian ambassador; Duchess of Wellington, Clarendon, Lewis, Lady Westmorland, and Mme. de Bury, who was in great favour at Vienna.

To Lord Brougham

62 Rutland Gate, March 1st.—Never was a session opened with so little interest. I believe it is quite true that the Tories are resolved to ménager Palmerston as much as possible, and to enter into no hostile combinations against him with the Radicals. In fact, Palmerston is gaining ground with the Conservatives, and losing it with some sections of the Liberals. He has exasperated the Irish Catholics to the last degree; and for my own part, I think his language and conduct about Mr. Turnbull's resignation highly discreditable. It is another specimen of the unhappy influence of Shaftesbury's ignorance and bigotry. However, the practical result is that the Government have lost Cork by a large majority, and that at the next election there will hardly be a ministerial candidate returned in Ireland.

It is impossible not to see that the general tendency of the public mind in this country is rather towards conservatism than reform. Even the reformers are compelled to haul down their bill; and if the Tories had better men to fill the offices, I think they would, in two or three years, have a fair chance of regaining power and keeping it.

At the present moment, the bishops seem to be the most eager combatants; in France they are denouncing the Emperor [Footnote: In January 1860 Reeve was told in Paris that the Pope spoke of him as the beast of the Apocalypse.] as Pontius Pilate; in England they are thirsting for the blood of a few heterodox parsons. Nothing is talked of here but 'Essays and Reviews.' In my humble opinion they by no means deserve the importance attached to them, either in point of style or in point of substance.

Keep my secret, but I have in preparation a regular mine under Eton College. There has been of late a good deal of discussion about it, with very little knowledge. Fortunately, I have lighted upon the evidence taken by you before your celebrated committee in 1818, all which is still quite applicable. Eton is very little improved, and the depredations of the Fellows go on with shameless audacity. I mention this to you because your committee has been of so much use to us; but I wish to keep the thing very quiet till the next number of the 'Review' makes its appearance.

From Lord Brougham

Cannes, March 4th.—It is very odd that for two or three days I had been reading and discussing with one or two Eton men here the subject on which you propose to do infinite service, but of course I shall not even drop the most remote allusion to your plan. The conduct at Eton is perfectly scandalous; our two boys never cost less than 200 £. a year while they were there; and I believe the case is understated, and not overstated, in the 'Cornhill Magazine,' and other places. One of the men who spoke to me about it said it was no fault of mine, but of Eldon, that it had not all been set right forty years ago—alluding to the Education Commission to which you refer. I recollect being reluctantly forced to insert the exemption in the Act and in the commission of inquiry. He had opposed the whole bill, and we defeated him in the Lords when he attempted to throw it out—a very extraordinary event in those days. But Rosslyn, Holland, and others who had charge of the bill, were apprehensive of being beaten on a further stage if we held out on the exemptions. In 1819 (the year after) I endeavoured to remove the exemptions in the Extensions Act to all charities, and this gave rise to Peel's very shabby attack on the whole inquiry when I was very unwell, and wholly unprepared, and to my defence in the speech which I have often said I could not now make if I would, and would not if I could. I venture to refer to it, however, as the most remarkable I ever made in all respects.

When you have sprung your mine, I hope and trust the 'Quarterly' will follow your example. If Elwin was still in command I feel confident he would, for he has always joined against Eldon & Co. I highly approve your keeping it quite secret on every account.

Here the Journal has:—

April 9th.—I was elected a member of 'The Club,' in place of Lord Aberdeen—proposed by Lord Stanhope; the greatest social distinction I ever received.

This was the literary club founded in 1764 by Reynolds and Johnson, which, in the course of years, had dropped all extraneous title, and become simply The Club. 'It still continues the most famous of the dining societies of London, and in the 133 years of its existence has perhaps seen at its tables more men of note than any other society.'[Footnote: Edinburgh Review, April 1897, p. 291.] Gibbon, who became a member of it in 1774, had suggested the form in which a new member was to be apprised of the distinction conferred on him. This has continued in use to the present day, and on April 9th, 1861, a copy of it was sent to Reeve, signed by the president of the evening:—

Sir,—I have the pleasure to inform you that you have this evening had the honour of being elected a member of The Club.

I am, Sir,

Your obedient servant,

GEORGE RICHMOND.

This was followed, a week later, by another letter from the same writer:—

10 York Street, Portman Square, April 16th.

My dear Mr. Reeve,—I have just returned to town and found your note of the 10th inst., and I lose not a minute in writing to say that the election which I had so much pleasure in announcing to you, I announced as president for the night, and in the form of words prescribed by Gibbon. The moment I had written it I began a note to you in my own proper person, but I did not know whether it would be quite regular to send it, and I had to leave town on the following morning. The 'Sir,' and 'I am, Sir,' which anything but express what I feel, I most gladly exchange now, if you will allow it, for a very different greeting, and I beg to remain, my dear Mr. Reeve,

Very faithfully yours,

GEORGE RICHMOND.

The Bishop of London was elected on the same night with you, and it may interest you to know that the members present were:—

Lord Lansdowne.
Lord Clarendon.
Sir H. Holland.
Sir David Dundas.
The Dean of St. Paul's.
Sir Charles Eastlake.
Lord Stanley.
Lord Cranworth.
Lord Stanhope.
Duke of Argyll.

To Madame de Tocqueville

62 Rutland Gate, April 17th.

My dear Madame de Tocqueville,—I have just published, in the 'Edinburgh Review,' a short notice of that book and that life which are to you the dearest things in the world, and to all of us, his friends, among the dearest. A few separate copies have been struck off, and I send one to you by this post, which will, I hope, reach you with this letter. It was a matter of sincere regret to me that I found it impossible to execute my intention of translating the two volumes, [Footnote: Oeuvres et Correspondance inédites d'Alexis de Tocqueville, publiées et précédées d'une notice par Gustave de Beaumont.] partly because I found that I was too prominently noticed in them, and partly because our friends, the Seniors, were much bent on the undertaking. I therefore relinquished it in their favour. But I always intended to express in my own manner my deep affection for the memory of your husband, and my estimate of his genius as a man of letters and a statesman. This I have attempted to do in this article, and though I am sensible that it falls far short of the subject of it, yet you will discover in it traces and reminiscences of that which was one of the greatest happinesses and honours of my life—our mutual friendship.

From Lord Brougham

Cannes, April 24th.—I have read the Eton article with great satisfaction, and I really think it must have the best effect. But Ker, to whom I lent my copy of the number, is not quite satisfied; but he takes extreme views. He also thinks you have not ascribed enough to the Education Committee of 1818, or rather to the effect of our being thwarted by Eldon, Peel, &c. But he was very deep in that controversy at the time, having defended the committee in a pamphlet, and I believe also in the 'Edinburgh Review,' and may be apt, therefore, to take an exaggerated view of the subject.

I am still cruelly hurt at the Newton monument being for ever cushioned. If Elwin had remained editor of the 'Quarterly' it would have been taken up, and on right grounds. Indeed, a learned professor had actually prepared a scientific and popular article on the subject; but Elwin retired, and the 'Quarterly Review' will now do nothing. Altogether I believe there never will be a monument to the greatest man that England ever had, or will have.

I am anxious to read the rest of the number, but have only just got it, and I sent it to Ker after I had read the Eton; and I am unwilling to delay thanking you for that.

The Journal notes:—

Went down to Weymouth alone for a few days in May, Read Buckle's second volume on the way.

June 17th.—Dinner at Lansdowne House to the Comte de Paris and the Due de Chartres; Elgins, Holfords, Bishop of Oxford, Grotes, &c.

From Lord Clarendon

G. G., June 28th.—I did not expect that any answer to the Eton article would be attempted, for it was unanswerable; the facts were real facts, and the moderation with which they were stated made them all the more telling. The commission is the proper corollary to it; and so many parents of ill-educated boys appear to think.

To Mr. G. Dempster

62 Rutland Gate, August 5th.—In spite of Sir H. Holland's drugs, I see my fate is sealed; and as I cannot even now put on a shoe, it is vain to hope that I shall be able to walk for some time; and, indeed, to avoid relapses, I must undergo a regular cure of Vichy water. Therefore, with extreme regret, I make up my mind to turn my face south, instead of north, as soon as I can move…. I fear that, having lost the present month, there is little hope of our reaching Scotland at all this year.

Accordingly, the Journal has:—

Bad fit of gout in July and August. Went to Vichy on August 10th. The heat was extreme, and the waters made me worse. Thence to Clermont, Pontgibaud, Gergovia. Home on the 31st.

September 1st.—To Torry Hill [Lord Kingsdown's]—first time; shot there. Farnborough; Atherstone; Torry Hill again on the 21st. Stetchworth-good shooting.

From Lord Clarendon

Harpton Court, September 22nd.—I would have gladly escaped the Prussian mission,[Footnote: For the coronation of the King.] which is not much to my taste, but the Queen insisted, and the Viscount [Footnote: Lord Palmerston.] and the Earl [Footnote: Lord John, created Earl Russell on July 30th, 1861.] attached political importance to it, so I yielded, and Lady C. and Constance and Emily are, also on royal recommendation, to accompany me. The two latter are of an age to like a lark, which is more than their respected parents do. I need not say that my hope of doing any good by a flying visit in the midst of a carousal is exceedingly small; but I know the King well, and shall have no difficulty in telling him what I believe to be the truth concerning his interests.

I am sorry to hear that you have been worried by gout, and that Vichy did you no good. I am inclined to speak well of Wiesbaden, for the glorious weather I had there (94° in the shade always) made the waters effective, and somehow I felt younger; but that pleasant sensation is now rather on the decline.

From M. Guizot

Val Richer, 7 Octobre.

My dear Sir,—Votre tante, Madame Austin, qui est ici depuis quinze jours, a fait hier, en se promenant dans une petite voiture traînée par un âne, et qu'elle menait elle-même, une chute dans laquelle elle s'est fait, au coude du bras droit, une luxation qui nous a fait craindre d'abord une fracture grave. Mon médecin de Lisieux, que j'ai envoyé chercher sur le champ, a réduit la luxation, c'est-à-dire ramené les os du coude dans leur emboîtement naturel. Petite opération fort douloureuse, mais simple et sans gravité au fond. Madame Austin en sera quitte pour deux ou trois semaines de repos et d'immobilité absolue de son bras, qui est contenu dans des éclisses. Au premier moment, elle a été fort ébranlée par cet accident. Mon médecin une fois arrivé, elle s'est remise; elle a eu un peu de fièvre cette nuit; mais elle a dormi, et elle est assez bien ce matin, presque sans souffrance de son bras. J'espère qu'elle se remettra promptement; mais je n'ai pas voulu que vous ignorassiez la cause de la prolongation de son absence. Ma fille Henriette écrit à Sir Alexander Gordon. Avec la santé de Madame Austin, tout accident peut être grave; mais je crois que vous pouvez être sans inquiétude sur les conséquences de celui-ci. Mon médecin est un homme habile qui soignera très bien votre tante, et mes filles lui épargneront un mal très pénible, l'ennui de l'immobilité.

Je ne vous parle pas aujourd'hui d'autre chose. Si vous étiez là, nous causerions. De loin, il n'y a rien qui vaille la peine d'être écrit. Tout à vous, my dear Sir,

GUIZOT.

The gout was still threatening; so, according to the Journal:—

To Aix in October; back by Paris. Went to stay with Lord and Lady Cowley at
Chantilly; they had hired the chasse and the château. Shooting there,
November 11th. Home on the 16th.

At this time Lord Brougham was preparing the autobiography which was published shortly after his death. Early in November his brother, Mr. Brougham, wrote to Reeve, begging him to bring his influence to bear, and induce Lord Brougham to make this biography interesting and amusing. He wrote:—

From Mr. W. Brougham

Paris, November 14th.—Mind you dwell on books of biography which have failed for lack of personal matter and anecdotes, and use this argument, which (for reasons I need not trouble you with) will, I know, have more weight than anything you can urge—that, irrespective of any question of his own fame or reputation, if he wishes the book to be eminently successful in a commercial point of view, he must give as much as possible every detail, no matter how minute, and tell everything connected with his own history and doings. That circumstances he may consider trivial all have the greatest interest with the general public, who are the buyers he must look to; that people don't want to read history in such a book as his autobiography; what they want is his life, and not a history of his times—anecdotes or peculiarities of his Bar and Bench friends; how he worked as a boy to make himself mathematician and orator; how he worked for the English Bar; his early associates in Edinburgh, both at school and college, and all connected with the beginnings of the 'Edinburgh Review;' his early associates in London before he came into Parliament in 1809, and for years afterwards; all he did at Birmingham in '90, '91, and '92, when he lived there with his tutor; all he can recollect of his mother and grandmother-paternal, but more especially maternal. In short, every personal thing, no matter how trifling, will be the making, as the omission will be the marring, of the book.

I am persuaded that a good strong letter from you will have immense effect; and don't be afraid of making it too long; the more topics like those I have hastily put down above you can give him to think over, now he is quietly at Cannes, the more chance we have of his digging into his mind and early recollections, and producing what we want.

Don't forget to quote Guizot; also tell him that Lord Malmesbury's heavy book was saved solely by the gossip in the third and fourth volumes. The first two are heavy historical matter that would have sunk a 74.

The letter which Reeve wrote in consequence of this has unfortunately not been preserved, but it is evident from Lord Brougham's reply that it closely followed the lines suggested by his brother.

From Lord Brougham

Cannes, November 17th.—I have not words to express how grateful I feel for your most kind letter, which arrived this morning. I fear I must admit all you say on the necessity of much personal matter. However, I really feel certain that, with the political and general, there will be a number of personal anecdotes interspersed. Thus in the Queen's trial, numberless singular anecdotes, professional and other; and on the changes of government and the unity of our administration, strange things of individuals: e.g. Lord Grey having, six months before taking office in 1830, positively declared to Lansdowne that he had resolved never to take office; and in 1822, to me, that unless I would consent to take office, and be leader in the Commons, nothing should induce him to take part in any administration—there being then an expectation of an offer to us; in answer to which I positively refused leaving the progressives. I give these as examples of what the correspondence contains. I quite feel, however, that something personal and in early life will be desiderated. If you look at my 'Life of Robertson' you will see all you refer to about his being at Brougham, and about the translation of 'Florus,' and other anecdotes, and a good deal about my grandmother. Indeed, in that Life, and in my contributions to the 'Law Review,' there are numberless anecdotes of interest.

I cannot conclude on this subject without expressing how grieved I am to see what you say of my old and dear friend Richardson. He wrote in very good spirits last spring, and I fear he has had some severe illness since. Pray let me know how this is.

The mention of him reminds me of an instance that matters which derive their whole interest from connexion with myself are thus very hateful to set down. He had given me a sermon and a hymn, written by the Principal's father—my great-grandfather. When I attended the Glasgow congress last year, the hymn was by mere accident sung in the church where we were on the morning after our arrival:

Let not your hearts with anxious thoughts
Be troubled and dismayed, &c.

I believe I was the only person in Glasgow who knew that the old minister was the author, or who knew of his existence. [Footnote: Cf. Life and Times of Lord Brougham, i. 30.] Now such things would make the narrative a tissue of mere egotism. However, I feel the force of your remarks exceedingly. Certainly when Guizot's book came out, and I was asked my opinion of it, and some defects were pointed out, I could not avoid saying there was a worse defect than all they mentioned; there would be a defect of readers. And so it has proved; I have, with all my respect for him, and desire to read, been unable to get through a volume.

I must set about digging in my published works for anecdotes; and, as in the case of Robertson's Life, I may find a great number which, apart from personality, may be interesting in their connexion with events. Again repeating my gratitude, believe me, most sincerely yours,

H. BROUGHAM.

To Madame de Tocqueville

Paris, November 15th.

My dear Madame De Tocqueville,—Although on the point of leaving Paris, I must write two lines to express to you my gratitude for allowing M. de Beaumont to return to me some of my own letters, which derive some value in my eyes from their connexion with my ever-lamented and illustrious friend. I have had a melancholy satisfaction here in seeing the bust which M. Salaman has made. It surpasses my expectations, especially as regards the mouth and forehead, and I trust that even you will not be entirely disappointed in it.

From Lord Clarendon

The Grove, November 19th.—I have only a minute for writing, as we have had Princess Alice here all day, and I, of course, could do nothing but the very easy task of entertaining her.

I was very glad to get your letter, as I thought you were still abroad, and I only hope you are as glad to find yourself at home again as I am, though I am not sorry to have been to Berlin. I rather envy you being at Paris during the late crisis, and getting the first impressions upon it…. I have no doubt the deficit is about what Senex [Footnote: Reeve was at this time writing occasional letters in the Times under the signature of 'Senex.' Lord Clarendon seems to have known this. Other correspondents did not; notably Lord Kingsdown, some of whose letters innocently comment on the opinions expressed by Senex.] puts it at. I read your admirable letter with great pleasure, and thought it must be yours, though I did not understand whence it was written.

I should very much like to have a talk with you. If you are not engaged, why shouldn't you and Mrs. and Miss Reeve come here on Saturday? We have asked Granville and C. C. G.; and I believe Lewis is coming. Miladi would write to propose this to Mrs. Reeve, but thinks she will consider two letters unnecessary.

From Lord Brougham

Cannes, December 8th. There is a new complication of the American case, and I fear, though I don't join in what I find the universal feeling in England, that the Government of Washington will hold out. But even if they give in, this hesitation, and their manifest fear of the mob, is the most complete confirmation of all I have been so long and so often preaching, of the extreme mischief of mob-government. They are in the hands of the mob—and one of the worst mobs in the world. You see they even are under this dominion as to their military operations; for their disaster at Bull's Run was owing to the clamour forcing their comrades to advance and do something; and now no one can have the least doubt that, if Lincoln and Seward were left to themselves, a war with England would be the thing they most dreaded; yet it is very possible they may feel unable to resist the mob-clamour, and may bring on that calamity. The mob of Paris threw France into all the horrors of the reign of terror (1793-4), which have left such indelible disgrace on the French, and which stopped all improvement both in France and in Europe for a quarter of a century, and which even now create such a force in favour of despotism—as they did in the first Napoleon's time. But I don't think the evils of mob-government—that is, of the supreme power being in persons not individually responsible—can be more clearly manifested, though they may not lead to such atrocious crimes, than in the States of America—and the southern as well as the northern—for the mob governs in both. My opinion will be the same, even if, contrary to probability, the Washington men are stout enough to resist the mob; for this hesitation and this struggle against the insanity of war could only be occasioned by the mob tyranny.

Prince Albert died on December 14th. It was impossible to allow an event so important in the political as well as in the social history of the reign to pass without a notice in the 'Edinburgh Review,' and that on the earliest occasion; though, in the middle of December, some special arrangement had to be made for it. It was, in fact, brought into the concluding pages of the article on 'May's Constitutional History of England.' But the subject was one which called for exceeding care and delicacy in the handling. The services of Prince Albert to the Crown had been many and great; but by the country at large they were still looked on with jealousy and suspicion. A profound sympathy was everywhere felt for the death of the Queen's husband; the death of a man regarded by an ignorant prejudice as the embodiment of German influence in the Cabinet might easily be considered as no great loss. Reeve seems to have consulted Lord Clarendon as to how much or how little it was prudent to say; in answer to which Lord Clarendon wrote:—

The Grove, December 31st.—I feel, as you do, that the events of the last month are too vast in themselves and in their consequences for discussion by letter, though I should much like to have a day's talk over them with you.

I am very glad that you mean to undertake the task—a labour of love—of doing honour to the Prince, as I am sure it will be admirably performed; but I would suggest to you not to be too precise as to the manner in which he exercised his political influence…. There is a vague belief that his influence was great and useful; but there is a very dim perception of the modus operandi…. Peel certainly took the Prince into council much more than Melbourne, who had his own established position with the Queen before the Prince came to this country; but I cannot tell you whether it was Peel who first gave him a cabinet key. My impression is that Lord Duncannon, during the short time he was Home Secretary, sent the Prince a key when the Queen was confined, and the contents of the boxes had to be read or signed by her.

The concluding sentence in the next letter from Lord Clarendon refers to the feeling which had been roused in Canada by the threat of war between England and the United States. The Canadians showed an exemplary loyalty; and great numbers of Irish—many of whom (like O'Reilly) had been known at home as turbulent characters—now not only pressed forward to be enrolled in the militia, but formed themselves into special regiments.

The Grove, January 21st.—I cannot help telling you how excellent I think your article on the Prince. You have said the right thing in the right way, and have so hit the happy medium between justice to him and no flattery or exaggeration, that I am sure the article will be read with pleasure by everybody, because it exactly reflects the public feeling.

The Belligerent and Neutral article is also very good, and I expect that the temperate and sensible way in which the author recommends the abandonment of rights we can never again exercise will have some useful results.

The loyalty of Canada is far greater than I expected; but that the French and Irish there should come out so strong for the Crown against Democracy is indeed a surprise. That Captain Eugene O'Reilly was a tremendous patriot in '48; and if I had not put him in prison for a little time to cool, he would have made a greater donkey of himself than he did.

The next letter from Lord Clarendon relates to a point on which widely different opinions have been and will be held, till it is decided in the only practical way. It would be foreign to our present purpose to argue it here; but it is interesting to see the opinion of the man who, more distinctly than any other, was responsible for the great change theoretically introduced into our maritime code by the Declaration of Paris.

The Grove, January 28th.—With respect to alterations in our maritime law and usages, I don't know what Russell's opinion may be, but I know that Palmerston does, or did, think the time come for relinquishing rights that we can no longer exercise. He readily assented to the doctrines laid down at Paris in '56, and was so entirely of my opinion about going further that he tried it on at Liverpool some time afterwards; but that part of his speech was so ill received, and he received so many remonstrances against giving up the palladium, &c. &c., that he told me when he returned to London that the pear was not ripe, and that we must give public opinion a little more time to become reasonable.

On January 9th Charles Sumner had spoken at great length in the United States Senate, proving, very much to his own satisfaction and that of his fellow-citizens, that the surrender of Mason and Slidell was a great moral victory, confirming the principles of maritime law for which they had always contended, and which the English now admitted. A short telegraphic summary of this had caught the mail at Halifax, and been published in the 'Times' of the 20th; but it was not till the 27th that the United States papers, with the full report, reached England. Of this the 'Times'—on its own part—took no further notice; but on February 1st it published a long and most scathing criticism of it by 'Historicus' (Mr., now Sir, William Harcourt).

From Lord Clarendon

The Grove, January 30th.—When you can spare it, I shall be very glad to see Sumner's speech….

Russell was, of course, guided in his despatches by the law officers, and it is no wonder, therefore, that they should resemble the papers that had previously appeared—many of which were written by lawyers—or that they should be a reproduction of them; as a government could not, without risk of failure in its peaceful object, express itself with the vigour of Senex or the 'Edinburgh Review.' The most important despatch of all, however, and the one upon which everything hung—viz. the demand for reparation—was well conceived and executed, and did its work effectually.

From Lord Brougham

Cannes, February 16th.—I yesterday met Miss Courtenay, who gave me the very pleasing information that Mrs. Austin had excellent accounts of Lady Duff Gordon, and was quite easy about her. I trust you will confirm this account, and also add to it a general good account of Mrs. Austin herself.

I hope there is a good article on the Amendment Cases in the 'E. R.' They have stupidly omitted to send it from Grafton Street. The 'Quarterly' came, and a better article than our friend your neighbour's never was written. I admired it so much that I wrote to him about it. Pray tell him my opinion of it, in case my letter should have miscarried, and that I admired it far more than I did the very spiteful article of someone inspired by a personal enmity against myself, and who has not the common sense and fairness, when relying on the wholly immaterial circumstance of my mis-stating the day of the Westminster election (the night of Princess Charlotte's running away), to see that Dundonald [Footnote: Autobiography of a Seaman, ii. 892. It has, however, been recently shown (Atlay's Trial of Lord Cochrane, pp. 330 et seq.) that Lord Dundonald had very little to do with it.] makes the Duke of Sussex fall into the very same mistake.

Cannes [February].—I am much obliged to you for your kind letter, and rejoice to hear of the good intelligence [Footnote: As to the health of Lady Duff Gordon.] from the Cape which will be such a relief to my valued friend, her mother.

The American news is a good deal more favourable, but still they are not out of the wood, or anything like it; and, even if they beat the Southerners in the field, the re-union is as far off as ever. Their only safe course is to regard the whole campaign as a kind of drawn battle, and both sides to negotiate as to terms of separation.

I have no doubt that a certain most intriguing ambassadress is at the bottom of the spiteful attack in the 'Quarterly,' and she will find her own letters rise up in judgement against her. She never will forgive my having been at the dancing school with her, because that makes her near eighty, and she pretends only to be seventy-four.

I am in constant expectation of a paper from a great mathematician, to which will be added, by B. Ker, artistic matter on monuments. It will be all sent to you, in the hope that it may assist whoever you have put on the monument question.

Cannes, March 17th.—I am extremely sorry to find that, after all, I cannot finish you the Cambridge article on Newton, to be used at your discretion, or that of your contributor; for Mr. Routh has no less than five wranglers, including the senior, as his pupils, and this has entirely occupied him, to the exclusion of all other work. I trust it will not prevent the article. In truth, my discourse at Grantham contains all the learning on the subject, and it may be used without any acknowledgement whatever, and I shall never complain of the plagiarism.

The Journal records:—

April 4th.—Breakfast to the Philobiblon at home. There came the Due d'Aumale, Van de Weyer, Milman, Lord Taunton.

To Mr. Dempster

Exeter, April 25th.—If that providence which shapes our ends will but finish those I rough-hew, I trust that the second week in October, or perhaps a few days earlier, will see us at Skibo. We hope to start straight for the far North as soon as ever my autumnal egg is laid….

We have hit on an Easter ramble, original and agreeable. I sent down my horses to my father's-in-law, in Dorset, and for the last week Christine and I have been riding gently along the coast of South Devon. Yesterday we went to see Sir John Coleridge's place at Ottery St. Mary, and he drove us also round the neighbourhood. To-day we have been at Lady Rolle's, at Bicton, on our way from Sidmouth, to see her gardens and arboretum, which are really marvels of beauty and growth. To-morrow we shall saunter on to Dawlish, and so at last reach Plymouth, I believe. I want to get out of the way of the Exhibition opening, which bores me. At Torquay we expect to find the Fergusons of Raith and the Scotts of Ancrum.

I hear that other literary entrepreneurs have been as much struck as I am by the power and judgement there is in all that is written by a certain young author of our acquaintance.[Footnote: See ante, vol. i. p. 374.] To write as well as that is a gift; but it is more for it cannot be done without infinite practice, labour, and good sense.

At Devonport they saw Mount Edgcumbe and the ironclad frigate 'Warrior' then still a novelty, and unquestionably the most powerful ship of war afloat. The Journal adds: 'Back to town on May 3rd.'

From Lord Brougham

Cannes, April 22nd.—I have just got the new number, and hasten to say how much I am pleased with the only article I have had time to read with care, the Alison.[Footnote: 'Alison's Lives of Lord Castlereagh and Sir C. Stewart,' April 1862.]Nothing can be more able or more triumphant, and it is quite fair and candid towards Castlereagh, and much more than fair towards Ch. Stewart, Indeed, if the letter to me deserves half what is said in its praise,[Footnote: Sc.' one of the most caustic and successful pamphlets that have appeared in defence of an unpopular cause.'] he never could have written it himself; and his gross stupidity in construing what I have said of his brother, and affixing a meaning which none but himself ever did, or could, was at the time admitted by his friends, whom he had consulted, and in spite of whom he had published—among others, Strangford, from whom I heard what had passed. I have a copy of my own, which I should like the author of the article to see, and shall send it through you when I return, for it is out of print. One of the blockhead's follies was the not perceiving how great a panegyric I had bestowed on his brother's speaking in the H. of Commons, after fully stating its defects. In fact, he had much greater weight as leader than Canning, who, by the way, is too much praised in the article. Such a book as Alison's is almost incredible for its badness of all kinds; but the author (on p. 521, line six from foot) gives him a pull or two as to style by 'ineligible for election'—though that is a trifle. The care with which the whole subject is treated, and the gross errors—partly from ignorance, partly from adulation—exposed is quite admirable.

I have naturally been attracted to the Monument article, but have not had time fully to profit by it; only I am greatly indebted to the learned author for what he says of my Grantham address.[Footnote: 'Public Monuments,' April 1862, p. 550.] However, I should have been far better pleased had he left me out altogether, and dwelt at more length on the disgrace of the country never having erected a monument to the greatest man she ever produced—indeed, the greatest [that has] ever been. He seems not to be aware of the one in Westminster Abbey having been raised by his niece's family, and not by the public.

Cannes, April 27th.—I have a complaint to make of the 'E. R.' last number. In the learned and able article on 'Jesse's Richard III.,' at p. 307, Lingard is referred to as having quoted the commission of the High Constable. I have scanned every line and every word of Lingard and find no such commission. But in a note to the third volume of Hume, note R, the commission is given verbatim from Rymer. Jock Campbell used to hold that a false reference was an offence that ought to be made penal. I don't go so far, but the evil is very great. I have lost three or four hours in consequence. Therefore, pray have inquiry made of your contributor whether or not I am right; and if not, where in Lingard the quotation is.

Reeve referred the 'complaint' to Hayward, the writer of the article, who replied:—

I believe B. is right, for when I corrected the proof I looked in vain in
Lingard, although I was firmly convinced that he had quoted the document.
But pray remind his lordship that, when Campbell spoke of a false
reference, he meant one with volume and page.

Lord Brougham's answer to this defence is not given, but it is impossible to allow it to pass without protest; for, whatever Campbell may have meant, it is very certain that a false reference, with volume and page cited, by which the falsehood is at once made manifest, is a venial offence in comparison with a false reference given vaguely, which may keep the victim hunting for it for hours, as this one actually did keep Lord Brougham.

From Lord Brougham

Cannes, May 7th.—I wish to suggest to you the positive duty of taking care that justice is done upon the trumpery, and one-sided, and altogether insignificant Life of Pitt by Stanhope. Murray having published it, of course the 'Quarterly' has puffed it, and done so with an entire ignorance of the subject which is hardly conceivable. Therefore take great care before you commit the subject to any unsafe hands.

To Lord Brougham

62 Rutland Gate, May 11th.—As I have lived for many years on terms of personal friendship, and indeed intimacy, with Lord Stanhope, and am indebted to him for many acts of kindness, it would be quite impossible for me to attack his book, even if I thought as ill of it as you do. I shall, therefore, content myself with recording the very different view which I entertain of the success of Mr. Pitt's administration. I think it may be shown that both in peace and in war he was one of the most unsuccessful ministers who ever exercised great power.

On these lines Reeve himself wrote the article, which was published in the
'Review' of July, and brought him the following:—

From Lord Stanhope

Grosvenor Place, July 17th.

My dear Mr. Reeve,—Allow me to say how very much I have been gratified in reading the article on my 'Life of Pitt' in the new number of the 'Edinburgh.' Had the criticism been hostile I assure you that I should not have felt that I had the smallest reason to complain; nor should I have inquired or even wished to know the writer's name. But as the matter stands, I would ask to convey to him through you my acknowledgement for his very indulgent appreciation of myself, as well as for the perfect fairness and honourable candour with which the public questions at issue between us are discussed. It would be a pleasure to me if either now or at some time hereafter he would permit me to become acquainted with the name of a critic who is evidently so accomplished as to render the praise of no slight or mean account. Believe me,

Very faithfully yours,

STANHOPE.

It does not appear that Lord Stanhope ever knew who the writer was.

Meantime the Journal notes:—

This was the year of the second Great Exhibition.

May 15th.—The Binets came to see us. On the 21st the Duc d'Aumale's fête to the Fine Arts Club; took Binet there. Went to the Derby with Binet and Stewart Hodgson. Xavier Raymond came.

July 22nd.—Dined at the Clarendon with the Comtes de Paris and Chartres, on their return from the American war. Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar and the Due d'Aumale were there.

July 31st.—Left London for Germany. By Ostend and Cologne to Wiesbaden, where the Boothbys and Hathertons were. Then to Nuremberg, Munich, Salzburg, and through the Tyrol to Venice. Stayed there till the 24th.

August 25th.—Went to Arquà to see Petrarch's house and tomb. Milan; Italian lakes. Back over the St. Gothard, Lucerne, Paris. Home, September 9th.

To Lord Brougham

C. O., September 11th.—Your very kind letter of last month would certainly not have remained so long unanswered if I had been in England. But we have been travelling for the last five weeks in the Tyrol and the north of Italy; my letters were not forwarded, and I only received that which you had been good enough to address to me on my return to London yesterday. There is probably no living opinion upon the character and administration of Mr. Pitt so enlightened and valuable as your own, and I am gratified in the highest degree to find that my attempt to place the leading acts of his administration in a somewhat new light meets with your approval. The chief defect in Lord Stanhope's book is, in my opinion, that it does not present any connected view of Mr. Pitt as a statesman at all; and this the reader of the article may infer from every page of it. I began to write with a disposition to place Mr. Pitt rather higher than he had been placed before in the 'Review;' but upon a careful survey of his conduct on each of these questions, I found the ground crumble away under me.

As to the state of the army from 1783 to 1803, it was deplorable. Did you ever see Sir Frederick Adam's notes on what the army was when, at the age of 14, he entered it.[Footnote: In 1795. These notes do not seem to have been published.] When the Duke of Wellington first went to the Peninsula, he gives a wretched account of the forces—ignorant officers and rascally men. One of the grandest services the Duke rendered to his country was that he raised the character of the army and made it a most admirable instrument. But that was long after the days of Pitt.

The present Duke of Wellington tells me he is very well pleased with the article on his father's supplementary despatches in the last number of the 'Review,' and I think it is fairly done. They are a mass of most interesting and instructive materials, but very few persons will master them, whilst the trash that Thiers calls history circulates broadcast in Europe. I heard in Paris on Sunday that 65,000 copies of his 20th volume are already sold.

To Mr. Dempster

C. O., September 12th.—We returned to England on Tuesday, after a pleasant tour, but the weather drove us from the mountains to the plains, and instead of preparing ourselves to graduate in the Alpine Club, we loitered in the galleries of Munich, Venice, and Milan, or amongst the remains of Padua and Verona. On the Lago Maggiore we met the Speaker [Footnote: Mr. Denison, afterwards Lord Ossington.] and Lady Charlotte, and with them crossed the St. Gothard to Lucerne…. We still hope, if it suits you, to come down to you when I have got quit of the 'Review.' I shall be engaged in London till October 7th, and then we are going for a few days to Raith… but I hope about the 12th or 13th we may reach the far North.

From Lord Brougham

Brougham, September 14th.—I can well believe that Wellington is satisfied with the review [Footnote: "Wellington's Supplementary Despatches," July 1862.] of his father's correspondence. It is very ably and very fairly done. But I wish it had reprimanded the Duke for making the publication nearly useless by giving no table of contents. When I complained of this, he said it had been considered, and that an index would have been hardly possible. My answer was that I did not want an index, but only a dozen of pages giving the dates and the titles of the letters in succession. As it is, one can find no letter without turning over the whole of a volume.

Well, what shall we now say of the Disunited States? My last letter from J. Parkes,[Footnote: Probably Joseph Parkes, the well-known agent of the Liberal party. He died August 11th, 1865, but none of the obituary notices mention his wife.] who is married to a Yankee, and in correspondence with many men of note in the North, represents the feeling to be growing for mediation, but mediation on the ground of a re-uniting of the South, which means no mediation at all. But he says that the real feeling of the Americans, both N. and S., is of great respect for England, and pride in their descent from and connexion with us. The tone of the press, however, shows that this feeling dares not be shown, and that the popular clamour—that is, the mob-cry—is t'other way.

The Journal has:—

September 12th.—To Torry Hill; shooting for ten days.

22nd.—Rode over to Leeds Castle with Lord Kingsdown. Farnborough, Stetchworth, Chorleywood (W. Longman's).

October 8th.—To Raith, with Christine and Hopie. Mrs. Norton there. Then by Elgin and Burgh Head to Skibo. Shooting there. To Novar; back to Edinburgh and Kirklands, October 26th. Then to Abington on the 29th, and to Brougham—amusing visit. I was asked to read Lord B.'s Memoirs, and dissuade him from publishing them. To Ambleside to see Harriet Martineau. Thence to Badger Hall [Cheney's], November 8th. Went over Old Park iron works. Home on November 11th.

December 17th.—We went to Chevening, and met there the Grotes, Milman, Lord Stanley, Scharf, and Hayward. Lewis came on the 19th. Most agreeable party.

22nd.—Shooting at Stetchworth.

31st.—To the Duke of Newcastle's at Clumber. Sir F. Rogers [afterwards Lord Blachford] there.

1863.—The year opened at Clumber. The Webbes of Newstead, the Manners-Suttons, Venables, and Herbert came there. Shooting good; caught three pike; rode with the Duke to Thoresby and Welbeck, through Sherwood Forest.

January 6th.—To the Speaker's at Ossington.

12th.—I was made treasurer of the Literary Club [Footnote: This must not be confused with The Club (see post, 133), which had long since dropped the 'Literary.'] (Walpole's) on Adolphus' death.

February 25th.—Prince of Wales' first levee.

March 7th.—The Princess of Wales entered London on her marriage. I saw it from the Board of Trade rooms on London Bridge. Took the Dempsters there.

27th.—The Duke of Newcastle, Baron Gros (French ambassador), Lord Stanley, Mr. Adam, Lady Molesworth, Lord Kingsdown, and the Heads dined with us.

It appears by the next letter, from Lord Clarendon, that Reeve had asked him to review the first two volumes of Kinglake's 'Invasion of the Crimea,' then on the point of publication.

The Grove, January 11th. Some time ago I desired my booksellers to send me the first copy they could procure of Kinglake's book, and I shall read it most carefully…. There are many reasons why I should not like to review the work; but I am equally obliged to you for the offer, and I shall, of course, communicate to you unreservedly my opinions upon it.

With this promise of help at first hand, Reeve undertook the review himself; but the letters which follow show that, though the hand was the hand of Reeve, the voice was the voice of Clarendon—a collaboration that gives the article a very singular interest.

From Lord Clarendon

The Grove, January 23rd.—Although I'm sure it is unnecessary, yet it occurs to me to ask you not to quote my opinion of Kinglake's book; as, for the present, and for a variety of reasons, I should prefer its not reaching him in an indirect manner. I long for a quiet talk with you, and am sorry that it must be postponed for a few days; but in the meanwhile I may perhaps be able to refresh my memory by referring to my private correspondence, which is in London. Let me have a line to say what impression the book makes in the world, as far as you have yet been able to observe. I shall look with curiosity and some anxiety for the effect it produces at Paris.

January 25th.—Hayward has written to ask my opinion of the book. He is at Broadlands, and says that Palmerston is, on the whole, well pleased with the portrait of himself, and that Lady P. is enchanted.

I think as you do of the second volume; there is nothing finer, that I know of, in the English language than those successive battle pictures. He beats Napier out of the field. The 'Times' does not seem to like the portrait of itself. I thought the article yesterday ingenious. I shall hear shortly what effect the book produces at Paris. Persigny will, of course, prohibit its entrance, but he will not be able to shut out all the papers that contain extracts.

The Grove, February 8th.—I fear that my notes would not be legible or intelligible to anyone but myself, and I should much like to have a little talk with you on the book. Could you come here on Saturday next and stay till Monday? or if you should chance to be engaged on Saturday, would you come down by the ten o'clock train on Sunday morning? I do not propose Saturday morning, as I must myself be in London at the Schools Commission on that day.

G. C., February 25th.—I shall be very glad to see the article in print. I am sure it will make a great sensation. Kinglake would induce people to believe that the Emperor was under an urgent necessity to turn away the attention of his subjects from his action at home, and that he therefore dragged us into the war fourteen or fifteen months after the coup d'état. It would, I think, be worth while to get some facts respecting his status in France at that time. If I am not mistaken, he was in no trouble or danger at all; for the nation had accepted him as a sort of deliverer from the rouges, the fear of whom had been terrifying people out of their senses.

G. C., March 4th.—The article quite comes up to my expectations, and I like it very much. I cannot think it obnoxious to the charge of dulness; but on that point I may not be an impartial judge, as the diplomatic details are to me intensely interesting.

I have hardly any observations to make that would be worth your attending to, but I will mention one or two things that have occurred to me.

And this he did at considerable length, suggesting several confirmations, modifications, or additions.

So long as this article was to be considered as an ordinary contribution to the 'Edinburgh Review,' it bore merely the authority of the 'Review,' which, however great, was in no sense official; but now that the share of Lord Clarendon in its authorship is revealed, it assumes an extreme importance, as an original, though necessarily partial, account of what took place, and may be held as definitely settling the fate of some of the extraordinary misstatements which—foisted on the credulity of the public by the literary skill, the brilliant language, and the unblushing audacity of Mr. Kinglake—have been accepted as history, and have passed into current belief. Perhaps nothing concerning the Russian war is more commonly repeated than the statement that we were tricked into it by the Emperor of the French for his own selfish ends, and in his desire to be received into the brotherhood of sovereigns; that our ministers were blindly following the lead of Louis Napoleon, and were guilty of a very gross blunder. It is unnecessary and would be out of place to enter here on the examination and demolition of all this, as given in the pages of the 'Edinburgh Review;' and equally would it be out of place to discuss the question—as unknown to Kinglake or to Reeve in 1863 as it was to Palmerston or Clarendon ten years earlier—whether we were not then, whether we have not been ever since, 'putting our money on the wrong horse.' If we were, if we have been—a thing which many among us are still unwilling to believe—it is at least certain that in 1853, as in 1840, it was all but universally held in this country that it would be prejudicial and dangerous to our most important interests for either Russia or France to obtain sovereign control over the Ottoman dominions, and that all the resources of diplomacy or of war ought to be exerted to prevent it. In the joint article before us, the condition of affairs in 1853 is thus stated in a few words:—'Russia had formed the design to extort from Turkey, in one form or another, a right of protection over the Christians. She never abandoned that design. She thought she could enforce it. The Western Powers interposed and the strife began…. England has no call to throw off the responsibility of the measures taken on any other Power. Those measures were taken because they were demanded by her own conception of the duty she had to perform; and by far the largest share of that responsibility rests with this country. We see no reason to deny it; and if the case occurred again, we should see no reason to act with less determination.' And again as to the prosecution of the war after the raising of the siege of Silistria—which, according to Kinglake, was unnecessary; or the invasion of the Crimea—which was unjustifiable, to be accounted for, not by any large views of politics or of war, but by paltry personal passions and influences of the most contemptible kind:—England and France declared by their despatches of July 22nd, that the sacrifices already imposed on them were too great, and the cause they had taken in hand too important, for them to desist, unless they obtained from Russia adequate securities against the renewal of hostilities. They therefore demanded:—l. That the protectorate claimed by Russia over the Principalities by virtue of former treaties now abrogated, should cease. 2. That the navigation of the mouths of the Danube should be free. 3. That the treaty of July 13th, 1841, should be revised in the sense of a restriction of the naval power of Russia in the Black Sea. 4. That no Power should claim an official protectorate over the Christian subjects of the Porte. On August 8th, Austria entirely adopted these principles, and on the 10th she urged Russia to accede to these demands. On the 26th Russia positively rejected these terms. Had they been accepted, it is needless to add that the Crimean expedition would not have taken place. Here, then, is the clear and precise ground on which the war assumed an offensive character against Russia—viz. to compel her to submit to terms of peace, which England and France held to be necessary to the future safety of Turkey, and which Austria had fully adopted. This is the political explanation of the war, and it was fully justified, as each preceding step of the allies had been justified, by a fresh refusal on the part of Russia to agree to the terms proposed by the allies. It is unnecessary to carry this examination further. It has been introduced here merely as an illustration and a proof of the historical importance of the article now that Lord Clarendon's share in it is understood, and we are made acquainted with the peculiar opportunities which Reeve possessed—not only as Clarendon's friend, but as in actual, confidential conversation with Lord Stratford when he ordered up the fleets. [Footnote: See ante, vol. i. p. 312.]

The fine old motto of the 'Edinburgh Review,' Judex damnatur cum nocens absolvitur, is, when reduced to practice, apt to strain the relations between the 'judex' and the 'nocens;' and in this case the very outspoken review, published under Reeve's sanction, caused a coolness between the two men, the editor and the author, who had previously been on friendly terms. It is, in fact, easily conceivable that, in earlier years or in other lands, powder would have burnt or small swords flashed. Being when and where they were, they dropped out of each other's circle. And this continued for upwards of three years, when a chance meeting opened the door to reconciliation.

From Mr. Kinglake

9 St. George's Terrace, Marble Arch,

November 14th, 1866.

Dear Reeve,—I think I perceived yesterday that my malice—malice founded, I believe, on a couple of words, and now of some three years' standing—had not engendered any corresponding anger in you; and if my impression was a right one, I trust we may meet for the future upon our old terms. Shall it be so?

Faithfully yours,

A. W. KINGLAKE.

CHAPTER XV

LAW AND LITERATURE

By what must seem a curious coincidence, in 1863 and the two years immediately following, death carried off all who had been mainly instrumental in forming Reeve's career. Greville, who introduced him to the 'Times,' died in 1865; his mother died in 1864; in 1863, his early patron and assured friend, the Marquis of Lansdowne, died on January 31st, at the ripe age of 82; his uncle, John Taylor, the head of the Taylor family, a man of singular ability as a mining engineer, died on April 5th; and Sir George Lewis, whose retirement from the editorship of the 'Edinburgh Review' had paved the way for Reeve's succession, died on April 13th. Much of Reeve's correspondence with Lord Clarendon—Lewis's brother-in-law—refers to the wish of the widow, the Lady Theresa Lewis, that a collected edition of her husband's contributions to the 'Review' should be published. The wish was only partially carried into effect; seven of the articles were collected in a volume published in 1864 under the title of 'Essays on the Administrations of Great Britain from 1783 to 1830;' and Lewis's brother, Sir Gilbert Lewis, who succeeded to the baronetcy, published his letters in 1870. The following letter from Lord Clarendon refers to the death (on January 31st) of Lewis's stepdaughter—Lady Theresa's daughter by a former marriage—and wife of Mr., now Sir, William Harcourt:—

G. C., February 3rd.—I came up early yesterday morning, and only received this evening your most kind letter directed to The Grove, or I should have thanked you for it sooner.

A great misfortune has befallen us, and we are all very sad, but derive some comfort from the calmness and resignation with which my sister is bearing up against her grief. To William Harcourt it is, indeed, as you say, a wreck of all happiness and hope; but no man under such trying circumstances could have displayed more fortitude, or more tender concern for others. I meet him to-morrow at Nuneham for the last sad office.

I grieve for Lord Lansdowne, and yet it is impossible not to feel that, at his age, and with rapidly increasing infirmities, a prolongation of existence was not to be desired. He was a rare combination of high qualities, and we shall not look upon his like again.

The next letter, also from Lord Clarendon, refers to the 'Albert
Memorial':—

The Grove, March 29th.—I knew you would approve of the Cross. I myself should prefer it to any other form of memorial, if it was in the centre of converging roads, or of a great place surrounded by buildings more or less harmonising with it; but placed in Hyde Park, with no local assistance beyond its imaginary connexion with the Exhibitions of '51 and '62, I have my fears that it will be thought unmeaning.

I forget at this moment the exact height of the design, but I do not think it is to be 300 feet; and Mr. Scott is to consider whether the proportions may not generally be reduced. He may wish to build the largest cross in the world, but neither the Queen nor her committee have any such desire…. I don't think that a grant by the representatives of the people, as a supplement to their voluntary contributions, and aided by the subscription of the Queen, would destroy the feeling of the monument. There might perhaps be less sentiment, but the whole would be more national.

From the Journal:—

May 4th.—Lord Hatherton died at Teddesley. His illness had been long. When we parted at Wiesbaden in August last, I knew we should not meet again. Never was there a kinder and more active friend. The confidence he showed me was unbounded; insomuch that in November he placed in my hands the original correspondence of the ministers with himself in June and July, 1834, on the Irish Coercion Bill, which led to the breaking up of Earl Grey's Cabinet. These I have power to publish; but, if not published, I mean eventually to return them to the Littleton family.

This I did in July 1864. The volume was published in 1872.

To Mr. Dempster

C. O., July 10th.—I am rather like a boy to whom some benevolent genius offers a basket of peaches, and who feels rather shy of taking the biggest of them; but, on the other hand, it would be a shabby return for great kindness to keep you in suspense. I, therefore, answer that, sauf cause majeure, we hope to be with you on the evening of Tuesday, August 11th. We shall probably go down to Aberdeen by sea, starting on Saturday, the 8th, if decent berths can be obtained, and I have sent to take them. If this fails we should start on Sunday evening by rail. I cannot express to you how delightful to me is the thought of the kind welcome of Skibo, and the fresh air of your hills, after a very long and laborious season. But I have still a month in the mill, and a huge list of causes to be disposed of.

The 'Edinburgh' will be out on Thursday. You will find it very Scotch.

The Journal notes:—

We went to Chichester, on a visit to Dr. McCarogher; and from there to
Goodwood races.

August 8th.—To Scotland by sea. Beached Skibo on the 11th. Shooting on the 12th with Sir Kenneth Mackenzie, Seaforth, and Dempster.

25th.—To Brahan. Little old General Kmety there; very good fun; but he does not look a hero.

To Mr. Dempster

Brahan Castle, August 26th.—We performed our pleasant but slow journey very well, and arrived at five P.M. The weather yesterday was the worst I have seen this year in Scotland. I declined to face the woods, but we got a walk by the Conan in a gleam of sunshine. However, the house and its collections, and their most amusing and hospitable owner, afforded us ample amusement. I am sorry, for my own sake, that this country is constantly gaining stronger claims on my affection and regard; for am I not born a dweller by our inglorious southern streams and downs? If, however, there be such a thing as transmigration hereafter, let me hope that I shall come out at last as a Highland laird.

The Journal continues:—

August 28th.—To Invergarry, where we lunched with Mr. Peabody; and to Glenquoich—Ed. Ellice's. The Elchos, Sir F. and Lady Grey, and Lowe there.

31st.—Excursion from Glenquoich to Loch Hourn. Then by Oban to Glasgow. Visit to the Belhavens at Wishaw, September 4th, and to Abington. Home on the 10th.

September 15th.—Torry Hill. Shooting there for some days.

17th.—Mr. Ellice died suddenly [Footnote: Of heart disease and eighty-two years. He was found dead in his bed.] at Ardochy, only a fortnight after we left his house. That excursion to Loch Hourn was his last.

To Mr. Dempster

Torry Hill, September 21st.—What a sudden and painful loss is this abrupt termination of the life of our kind friend at Glenquoich! It is scarcely three weeks since we left him in his usual health and spirits, and now—as Evelyn says—all is in the dust…. I have had an unpleasant accident, though—thank God!—not a serious one. Turning round very suddenly to shoot a partridge behind me, without seeing that Lord Kingsdown was on his pony about fifty yards off, a pellet of shot from my gun hit him in the cheek, and another hit his pony in the eye. Conceive my horror! Fortunately, the wound was very slight, and, indeed, was well in half an hour; but if it had hit him in the eye I never should have forgiven myself.

From Lord Clarendon

The Grove, October 4th.—I was very glad to hear from you this morning, but very sorry to learn that you have cause for deep anxiety respecting your mother, and I fear, from what you say, that she is hopelessly ill and suffering much. I sympathise with you sincerely. I joined my people at Lathom a month ago, and we returned last week from our peregrinations, all well, except myself, who can't shake off the gout, which is a disappointment after having taken the trouble of a Wiesbaden cure.

On the day of my last bath there I received an urgent request from our Foreign Secretary that I should proceed to Frankfort and observe the conference. I did so, and was interested and amused. It was an opportunity that may never occur again of meeting the sovereigns of Germany, great and small….

The impression made upon me by the E. of Austria was very agreeable. He had none of the proud manner of which at one time we heard so much, but, on the contrary, he was frank and gentlemanlike, and told me the difficulties in which Germany was placed by such an effete institution as the Diet, and the advances making by Democracy, which, for the first time, were dangerous, because the people had reason and justice on their side. He told me, also, all the steps he had taken to secure the co-operation of the K. of Prussia, which were straightforward and deferential; and he complained, though without bitterness, of the manner in which they had been misrepresented…. It may be that some good will come, perhaps before the close of the present century, from a public avowal by congregated sovereigns that their subjects had grievances of magnitude, and that delay in redressing them was full of dynastic danger.

One can conceive no more complete diplomatic fiasco than the three great Powers of Europe giving a triumph to Gortschakoff. The mistake originally made was thinking that Russia was weak and in trouble, and would therefore yield to menace. Several months ago I took the liberty of suggesting that, although Russia was powerless for an aggressive war, she would be found as strong and formidable as ever in resisting any attack from without, and that foreign dictation would probably have the effect of uniting all the parties into which Russia was divided. I don't mean to deny, however, that intervention of some kind was inevitable; but the difficulties attending it were either overlooked or not foreseen, and the mode of dealing with them has consequently been unskilful.

Continuing the Journal:—

October 5th.—To Aiupthill. On the 17th to the Grove; Odo Russell there. 24th, to Torry Hill, with Christine and Hopie. Met the Roger Leighs there; also the Heads and Sir Lawrence Peel. High jinks on Hopie's twenty-first birthday.

November 19th.—To Shoeburyness, to see the trial of Sir William Armstrong's 600-pounder gun.

My mother was exceedingly ill during the autumn, and it became apparent that her illness was mortal. She was attended with great assiduity by Dr. Fyfe. For this reason we remained within reach of London.

From Lord Westbury [Footnote: At this time Lord Chancellor.]

Basingstoke, November 28th.—I shall be much obliged to you if, by the application of the whip to the printer, you can get him to strike off a few copies of the notes of my opinion on the appeals in the matter of the 'Essays and Reviews' by Tuesday afternoon, so that a copy may, on the evening of Tuesday, be sent to Lords Cranworth, Chelmsford, and Kingsdown. The notes are not long, but I am anxious that they should be, as soon as possible, in the hands of the three noble lords I have named. I hope we shall be able to give judgement about December 15th.

Lord Brougham's next letter refers to one of the few unpleasant passages in Reeve's life. In October 1863 the 'Edinburgh Review' had an article on J. G. Phillimore's 'Reign of George III.,' in which the book was somewhat roughly handled. That the comment was honest is quite certain; that it was just would probably be the opinion of most historical students; but Mr. Phillimore thought that it was neither one nor the other, and being—as the 'Saturday Review' described him—one whose 'normal position was that of a belligerent,' he replied to the review by a studiously offensive and personal pamphlet, [Footnote: This sensitiveness to literary criticism was, perhaps, a family failing. Some forty years before, Phillimore's uncle, Sir John Phillimore, was fined 100£. for bludgeoning James, the author of the Naval History, for some unflattering remarks on the discipline of the 'Eurotas' whilst under his command.] bearing the title 'Reply to the Misrepresentations of the "Edinburgh Review."' According to this, the article was a spiteful attack made by 'Mr. Reeve' himself; it was mainly noticeable for its ignorance, its malice, its time-serving toadyism of Lord Stanhope, and should be contrasted with another article in the same number of the 'Review' on 'Austin on Jurisprudence,' which was outrageously belauded because Austin was 'Mr. Reeve's' uncle. In point of fact, the article on Phillimore was written by the present Judge O'Connor Morris, and that on Austin by John Stuart Mill, neither of whom was an intimate friend of the editor's. Phillimore did not notice, or was not sufficiently acquainted with Reeve's family history to appraise yet another article on 'Tara: a Mahratta Tale,' by Captain Meadows Taylor—Reeve's cousin. If he had, he would certainly have made it the subject of some more scurrilities.

Cannes, January 7th.—I have only a moment before the post goes to write, and it may be too late another day. Pray allude to Phillimore's pamphlet, and give some explanation on certain parts of it. I have not read the whole of it, but friends here who borrowed it of me have, and they tell me that some explanation is required. They are a good deal prejudiced, however, owing to your having praised Stanhope's book, of which they have a very bad opinion. I myself rather agree with them, though not going to the same length. Of Phillimore, I only know that he did good service in the Commons for a public prosecutor, and was very shabbily supported by the friends of Law Amendment. But I had a very poor opinion of the book, though he is a very clever man, and the Yankees considered him the first man in the House of Commons.

Reeve's letters for several months had been leading up to the next sad entry in the Journal. For a woman of seventy-five, a serious and prolonged illness could scarcely have any other issue.

My mother's illness was approaching its melancholy end. On January 8th I sat up all night at Brompton. On the 9th she was speechless. On Sunday, the 10th, at 3 P.M., she died. On the 16th she was buried in the Brompton Cemetery. Edward James Reeve read the service. Arthur Taylor, John, Richard, John Edward, and Fairfax Taylor, Sir A, Gordon, P. Worsley, W. Wallace, J. P. Simpson, R. Lane, Dr. Fyfe, and John Cox attended.

On the 17th I went to Essex Street Chapel, where Madge preached her funeral sermon. He had preached my father's funeral sermon just fifty years before. My mother survived my father nearly fifty years. This is not the place to comment on her singular virtues!

We went to Boulogne on the 18th for the first period of mourning, and visited Amiens and Abbéville. Home on the 25th.

To Mr. Dempster

62 Rutland Gate, January 11th.—Your long kindness and friendship tell me how much I may rely on your sympathy. My dear mother expired yesterday afternoon, in perfect serenity. However long one may have anticipated such a stroke and, as I told you in July, I knew it was impending—one cannot realise it till it falls. As Gray said to Mason, 'A man has but one mother;' it is a blank that cannot be filled up. But I have the consolatory thought that my dear mother's life was complete in its usefulness, its energy, its unquenchable zeal for the good of others, its Christian endurance of sorrow and of pain; and no one ever lived in this world more fitted to enter upon another. Christine was with her to the last.

From the Duc d'Aumale

Orleans House, 11 Janvier.—Hélas! cher Monsieur; je n'ai pas de consolation à vous offrir; je ne puis que vous assurer de ma profonde sympathie. Je juge de ce que vous devez souffrir par ce que je ressentirais à votre place. Mon coeur est avec le vôtre. H. D'ORLÉANS.

From Lord Clarendon

January 11th.

My Dear Reeve,—I heard to my great regret a little while ago that the day of your affliction was fast approaching, and I knew at once by your envelope this afternoon that the hour had come. I thank you for your kind thought of not allowing me to hear by public report an event that so deeply affects your happiness; and I know from my own sad experience how to feel for you in this trial—the loss of a mother's never-failing love and sympathy, and of one's own daily occupation, that real labour of love, in ministering to her comfort and soothing the ills of declining years. You have the consolation, and it is one to be grateful for, my dear Reeve, that your last impressions are of a calm and painless passage from this life, such as you would have most desired for her whom you have so loved and can never forget. Lady Clarendon and my daughters desire me to send you their kind regards and the expression of their sincerest sympathy.

Believe me, my dear Reeve,

Ever yours truly,

CLARENDON.

To Madame de Tocqueville

Boulogne-sur-mer, January 20th.

My dear Madame de Tocqueville,—One's own sorrows bring back with increased vivacity the sorrows of others and the melancholy recollections of other years, for at each successive blow a great gap is made in life, and one feels that another record of the past is closed. We have come to this place for a few days to regain a little health and spirits after the long and anxious year we have passed by my dear mother's sick bed. All our cares have unhappily been vain, and about ten days ago she breathed her last. I cannot express how great a loss this is to me, or how deeply I feel it. Your dear and ever-lamented husband was one of those who appreciated the exquisite simplicity and energy of my mother's character, and the words he let fall from time to time about her are very precious to me.

To any one who now reads the book, [Footnote: See ante, vol. ii. p. 66.] and considers the later course of the lives of its authors, it is difficult to conceive the excitement which was raised about the case referred to in the next note from the Journal. The remembrance of it seems to throw a doubt on the reality or immutability of 'first principles.'

February 8th.—Judgement was given by the Judicial Committee on the great ecclesiastical cause of 'Essays and Reviews.' It was drawn with great care by Lord Westbury, who read it all over with me before it was submitted to the committee.

From Lord Brougham

Cannes, February 13th.—I received your melancholy letter [Footnote: Announcing the death of his mother.] some time ago, but I did not answer it because I felt that your excuse for not taking notice of Phillimore's attack was too good, and I had no comfort to offer you. I suffered most severely myself by the same loss, and I have not, after above twenty years, learnt to forget it. Your letter brought it back strongly to my mind, as it also did the memory of my excellent friend your father.

I find my opinion, and those I cited in support of it, is confirmed by the articles in the journals—such as the 'Saturday Review' [Footnote: February 6th, 1864.]—which, though attacking Phillimore in some particulars, yet show that some answer to him, or explanation of matters which he represents, was wanted. But I dare say his attacks will be forgotten, and you may be right in doing nothing that can help to keep them in people's recollection. [Footnote: Reeve, who was always averse from any controversy of this nature, took no public notice of the pamphlet, and Phillimore died early the next year.]

I have just got your new number and not read a page of it, as the 'Quarterly' came with it, and I was anxious to read the review of our friend your neighbour's book, [Footnote: The Life of Marcus Tullius Cicero.] which is learnedly and most justly praised, and the value of the praise not impaired, like that of the 'Saturday Review,' [Footnote: February 6th, 1864.] by praising Houghton's (Dick Milnes') poems in another article.

The Journal has:—

February 20th.—Went to Farnborough. The Longmans just installed in their new house.

To Ampthill at Easter. On April 1st to Paris, with Christine and the
Dempsters. I had the gout all the time.

April 3rd.—Races at Vincennes. Embassy ball on the 5th. Persignys and Morny there. Breakfast at Vaux with Marochettis on the 6th. Met Sigismond Krasinski's son Ladislas at his mother's.

From Lord Clarendon

G. C., April 6th.—As five years of freedom had augmented my inveterate dislike of office, you may suppose that I made a gallant resistance—quite à la Danoise; but at last I could not help taking an oar with old friends in a boat which they believed to be sinking, and in which they fancied I might be of some use. If the Government had been as clear of some of the worst shoals a fortnight ago as it is now, nothing would have induced me to say 'Yes.'

I hope that Stansfeld's exit and Palmerston's speech, and, more important still, the feeling throughout the country upon the Mazzini affair, will mend our relations with France by showing Frenchmen of all classes and colours that the alliance is here estimated at its real value; indeed, nothing will go well in Europe if England and France are supposed to be pulling different ways; and if they had been acting together, instead of being en froid six months ago, the Dano-German difficulty would never have attained its present developement. Some soreness was natural at our not agreeing to the congress; but too much has been made of the tone of J. R.'s answer, and offence ought not to be taken where none was intended, but quite the reverse, as I can certify from the conversations I had at the time with the writer….

It was this letter which suggested to Reeve to propose to Lord Clarendon the advisability of coming over to Paris himself 'to see the Emperor and endeavour to settle joint action on the Danish question.' He wrote also to the same effect to Lord Granville.

From Lord Granville

London, April 9th.

My dear Reeve,—Many thanks for your note, and for the suggestion it contains. I [had] already had some talk with Clarendon and Russell on the subject. The first thought that it was too late now, and urged some minor objections, but in my opinion he is wrong, and I hope the matter will be arranged. Yours sincerely,

GRANVILLE.

From Lord Clarendon

London, April 9th.—Your letter is very important. It has been settled at the Cabinet that I shall go over on Tuesday. It is particularly troublesome and inconvenient to me; but I shan't mind that, if any good is to be done and that the friendly motive of my going is appreciated.

From M. Fould

Dimanche [April 10th].

Mon cher Monsieuer,—Je me suis empressé de transmettre à l'empereur la nouvelle que vous voulez bien me donner et qui me fait grand plaisir.

Mille compliments bien désirés,

ACHILLE FOULD.

The visit led to no result, as the French refused to act. The Journal continues:—

April 20th.—Interesting day at Versailles with Feuillet de Conches and Soulié; took the Dempsters and Hamiltons of Dalziel.

My father's old friend Dr. de Roches died at Geneva on April 18th. On the 23rd, Christine and I went to Geneva on a visit to the Binets. Saw Mme. de Roches, who also died a few days afterwards. Returned by Lausanne and Neufchatel to Paris, and home on May 1st.

From Lord Brougham

Paris, May 15th.—I have been reading the new number of the 'E. R.,' and have been greatly interested in it. The review [Footnote: Sc. of Renan's Life of Jesus.] is most ably and learnedly done, though in one or two places a little obscure. But the subject was most difficult to handle, and I think no one can complain of Renan being unfairly treated; indeed he is lavishly praised, though he is rejected—but rejected most candidly.

I have also read the first article, [Footnote: Diaries of a Lady of Quality.] on Miss Wynn's book. I am convinced that the facts must be taken with large allowance; some of them are to my personal knowledge erroneously given—from no intention to deceive, but from hasty belief. But there is one story which on the face of it is not only untrue, but impossible; which she appears to have had from a Mrs. Kemble, and to have swallowed whole. How could any being believe in Lord Loughborough's telling such a tale? Mrs. K. may have, from ignorance, supposed that a prisoner on trial for his life can be examined by the prosecutor's counsel; but can anyone suppose that such a story as Davison's murder of his old companion could have happened, and no one even heard of it, or of his being hanged, as he must have been, on his own confession? I knew intimately those friends of Miss Baillie who are said to have been present, and I never heard a word of it from them—probably because they regarded the story as ridiculous.

From the Comte de Paris

Claremont, le 23 mai.

Mon cher Monsieur Reeve,—N'ayant pas eu le plaisir de vous rencontrer depuis mon retour d'Espagne, j'ai passé samedi chez vous pour vous parler d'une affaire que j'aurais préféré traiter de vive voix. Ne vous ayant pas trouvé, il me faut aujourd'hui avoir recours à la plume, car le temps presse. Je voulais vous dire que mon mariage avec ma cousine Isabelle sera décidément célébré lundi prochain, le 30 mai. Je n'ai pas issued d'invitations pour assister à cette cérémonie, mais il y a certaines personnes dont la présence serait pour moi une grande satisfaction à cause des anciennes relations qui ont existé entre elles et ma famille. Je n'ai pas besoin de vous dire que vous êtes de ce nombre, mon cher Monsieur Reeve, et surtout après la lettre si aimable que vous m'avez écrite à propos de mon mariage je ne puis me refuser le plaisir de vous avertir de sa célébration, afin que, si vous le pouvez, vous veniez y assister. Si j'avais pu vous en parler de vive voix, je vous aurais mieux dit que je n'ai adressé à personne d'invitation formelle, qu'en vous faisant cette proposition je ne veux vous imposer aucune gêne, mais que par cela même votre présence n'aurait que plus de prix à mes yeux.

Vous m'excuserez de n'avoir cherché ce matin qu'à vous expliquer ma pensée aussi brièvement que possible. En ce temps-ci tous mes moments sont comptés.

La cérémonie aura lieu à la chapelle catholique de Kingston à 10-1/2h. a.m.
Le train qui part de Waterloo Station à 9h.40 pour Surbiton arrive à temps.

Votre bien affectionné,

LOUIS PHILIPPE D'ORLÉANS.

As to which the Journal says:—

May 23rd—The Raymonds and Mlle. Lebreton came.

24th.—Dined with Raymond at Claremont. Great royal dinner; fifty-two persons; was presented to the Infanta Isabella.

30th.—Marriage of the Comte de Paris. Banquet at Claremont. Ball at the Duc de Chartres'—Ham House. I drove Chartres from Claremont to the ball.

June 7th.—The centenary dinner of The Club; twenty-five members present; Milman in the chair. Lord Brougham was there. I sat between the Bishop of London (Tait) and Eastlake.

There was at this time much sentimental sympathy with Denmark in her unequal struggle against the combined forces of Prussia and Austria; but as France, Russia, and Sweden, which, equally with England, were parties to the treaty of 1852, refused to give Denmark any active support, the practical feeling was that English interests were not involved to such an extent as to render it advisable to assert them by force of arms.

From Lord Clarendon

G. C., June 24th.—As far as I can make out there is no real war feeling in the country, though a great disposition in the H. of C. to turn out the Government, whether it decides upon being pacific or bellicose; and I expect that a vote of censure, or want of confidence, will be successful. If you hear anything reliable on the subject, pray let me know.

June 26th.—The island-occupation plan is very well devised, and if our cat was jumping that way, it would be worthy of very serious consideration; but it won't do to embark single-handed in such operations…. The peace feeling at home becomes stronger every day, except for mere party purposes, and I don't believe that sending the fleet to the Baltic even would meet with support, as we are under no obligation to do so; though if German operations were to extend beyond the peninsula, and Copenhagen was menaced, a different policy must, of course, be adopted.

The Journal goes on:—

July 20th.—The Duc d'Aumale's ball to the Prince of Wales; beautiful night.

21st.—To Ongar, to see my uncle, Edward Reeve.

24th.—Went to Aix by Rotterdam, with W. Wallace; met the James Watneys at Aix. Back by Ostend, August 3rd.

August 9th.—Joined Christine and Hopie at Perth, and proceeded to Skibo.
Marochetti and Seaforth there. Shot with Marochetti. On the 25th left
Skibo. Thence to Brahan. On the 31st, pic-nic to the Falls of Rogie, with
Lord Blandford playing on the bugle.

September 1st.—To Raith. 7th, to Arniston. 10th, to Ancrum, Kirklands. 16th, to see Harriet Martineau at Ambleside. 18th.—Home.

September 22nd.—Torry Hill. 23rd, excursion to Margate races, with Lord Kingsdown. Shooting at Torry Hill.

Mr. Richardson died at Kirklands on October 4th. Attended the funeral at
Ancrum on the 10th. Mr. Liddell read the English service at the grave. To
Brougham on my way back.

October 13th.—Left London on a visit to the Marochettis at Vaux.

23rd.—Visit to the Guizots at Val Richer. 27th, to Caen. 28th, to Angers. 30th, to Saumur.

November 1st.—Amboise. 2nd, Loches. 4th, Paris.

7th.—Home.

8th.—Dinner at Lord Granville's.

23rd.—Munro of Novar died very suddenly. He was buried at Kensal Green on December 1st.

To Mr. Dempster

C. O., November 24th. You may conceive with how much surprise and concern I received this morning a telegram from the factor at Novar, to announce the sudden death last night of my old and much-valued friend, the Laird of Novar, for whom, in spite of his singularities, I had a most sincere regard. I have telegraphed to Butler Johnstone, in Dumfriesshire, and to his son at Rokeby, and urged them to go down immediately; but it has occurred to me that perhaps you would take the train and go over yourself, as there is no one there to give any directions, and the factor is a new man. I have also telegraphed to Raith at Cannes…. Let me know if you hear any particulars. I wonder whether he left a will; very probably none.

C. O., November 28th.—We felt so much alike in our regard for Novar, that I was confident that we should feel exactly alike in this most sudden and terrible catastrophe. I could well have spared many a better man, and, in spite of his peculiarities, there are few persons for whom I could feel a more sincere and painful regret. For more than twenty years I have shared with Novar many of the pleasantest hours of life; and although we were in many respects very dissimilar, there are few persons for whom I felt a greater sympathy. I have no doubt you decided rightly as to not going to Novar. My telegram, fortunately, reached Butler Johnstone and his son, both of whom were in the country, and they speedily got down to Novar. I am told they have decided to inter our poor friend in London—a decision I should not have taken myself, but which I bow to, as it is their wish.

Mrs. Butler Johnstone was so much agitated by this event—for she was passionately attached to her brother—and so entirely solitary—for there was no one with her but young Theobald Butler—that my wife thought it her duty to go down to Brighton with her on Saturday, to endeavour to calm and comfort her until Harry can come back to his mother, which I hope will be to-morrow….

I have heard from Ferguson, who little expected to survive his cousin and inherit Novar.

C. O., December 1st.—I am just returned from the funeral of our poor friend at Kensal Green. It was as quiet as possible…. There is no will at all; but every paper and letter of Novar's is carefully preserved, and accurately docketed, so that the whole state of his affairs and accounts may be seen in a moment. The personal property is enormous; he cannot have had much less than 24,000 £ a year. Ferguson's share of the entailed estates is about 5,000 £ gross rental; everything else goes to the B. J.'s. I am very much pleased with the spirit in which B. J. takes all this—a great desire to do whatever is right to those who may have any claim on Novar, and no brag or ostentation. He and Harry immediately determined, as money is no object to them, they would allow nothing to be sold, but would keep together the gallery of pictures and everything else Novar collected. The quantities of things are incalculable…. I thought these details would interest you. For my part, I feel that I have lost one of the persons in the world with whom I had spent the most pleasant hours, and for whom I had an extreme regard.

The Journal mentions:—

Shooting at Haslemere and Farnborough to the end of the year.

January 2nd, 1865.—Went to Strawberry Hill. A large party in the house; Clarendon, Duc d'Aumale, Lady Hislop, Perrys, &c. On the 5th to Torry Hill. 12th, to Ampthill. 13th, down to Woburn with Lord Wensleydale and Froude. 14th, to the Grove.

When at Torry Hill I got a note from Charles Greville asking me to come up to see him. I did so on the 10th. It was then he asked me to take charge of his journals. Some further conversation took place between us. On the 17th I was with him till half-past seven, and in the same night he died. [Footnote: See post, p. 230.]

From M. Guizot

Paris, 1 février.

My dear sir,—Je regrette Charles Greville. C'etait l'un des spectateurs politiques les plus clairvoyants, les plus fins et les plus équitables que j'aie rencontrés en ma vie; et un ami fidèle sans se donner tout entier à personne. Vous devez regretter beaucoup son amitié et sa société. Ses mémoires seront bien curieux. Je suis charmé qu'il vous les ait légués. Personne ne saura mieux choisir ce qu'il en faut publier, et le moment opportun pour les publier. Quand vous prendrez une résolution à cet égard, je vous prie de m'en avertir; vous en désirerez, ce me semble, une édition française….

The Journal here gives a remarkable contribution to the history of the French Revolution of 1830, the substance of which Reeve afterwards published in the 'Edinburgh Review,' in an article on 'Circourt' (October 1881).

March 14th.—The Club elected the Duc d'Aumale and Tennyson.

19th.—Mrs. Gollop [Mrs. Reeve's mother] died. I joined Christine at Strode, and attended the funeral at Lillington.

April 5th.—M. de Circourt has been staying with us for three weeks; inexhaustible in memory, anecdote, and conversation. I first knew him at Geneva in 1830, where he took refuge after the storm of the Revolution, and where he soon afterwards married Anastasia de Klustine.

I asked him the other day what he knew of the 'Ordonnances' of July. He was at that time, with Bois-le-Comte and Vieil-Castel, one of the chief employés of Prince Polignac, in the Office of Foreign Affairs; and from his wonderful memory and facility, Polignac used often to send him to Charles X., to relate the substance of the despatches from foreign Courts. But, although he was thus versed in foreign affairs, he knew very little of what was passing in the interior of France, though from the violence of the conflict between the Court and the Chamber he foreboded a catastrophe.

Polignac told him nothing of the Ordinances, nor had he told the Princess, his wife; for Circourt dined with them on the day they were signed—it was Sunday, July 25th, 1830. The minister was distrait. The Princess got C. aside to the piano after dinner, and said to him: 'Il se passe quelque chose;—do you know what it is?' Neither of them knew. C. thinks, however, that Bois-le-Comte was in Polignac's confidence.

In consequence of the absence of Marshal Bourmont on the Algerian expedition, Polignac was minister of war ad interim [as well as minister of foreign affairs]; but he had not made the smallest military preparations, or even inquiries, as to the possibility of putting down a popular tumult. On that Sunday, for the first time, he sent for the officers in command of the troops. A dispute arose between them, which Polignac had to settle. It then turned out that in the whole of the first military division, which included not only Paris, but Orleans and Rouen and all the intermediate places, there were not 12,000 men. In Paris itself about 3,400 at that moment, including the gendarmerie.

The reason of this was a political and military combination which the Government had formed, but which I never before heard mentioned by anyone. Polignac had for some time been intriguing to detach Belgium from the King of Holland's dominions—chiefly from a fanatical desire to release a Catholic population from their Protestant connexion, but in part, also, from a notion that a military demonstration on the side of Belgium would be popular in France, and would disarm the Opposition. So that the movement which took place at Brussels shortly after the Revolution of July, and was attributed to the example of that democratic explosion, had, in fact, been prepared by Polignac himself. This is strange enough; but what is still more strange is that the very means taken to promote this lawless object proved to be the ruin of Charles X. and his minister.

With a view to the occupation of Belgium, or at least of a demonstration on the frontier, they had assembled two large camps at Luneville and St.-Omer; and in these camps the bulk of the available forces of the kingdom were collected, especially as Bourmont had with him a considerable and well-appointed army in Africa. So that at the very moment when troops were most needed in Paris, one portion of the King's army was beyond the seas, and another out of reach on the Belgian frontier.

Bourmont was perfectly aware that some such scheme as that of the Ordinances was hatching, and the King had given him special orders to terminate the campaign in Algeria, to carry off the treasure from the Kasbah, and bring the troops back to France, as soon as possible. About a month before the Revolution, a ciphered despatch came from Bourmont —which, I think, Circourt said he was told to transcribe—in which the marshal earnestly entreated the King to take no important step till his return; adding that he hoped in a few weeks to terminate the African expedition, and to prove to the King what he was capable of in his Majesty's service. He had calculated that by the month of September he could bring the greater part of the army hack to Paris, and that the success they had recently had in Africa had attached the troops to himself, as their commander, so that he would be in a condition to crush all resistance; and had this plan been pursued, it is by no means impossible that the coup d'état might have succeeded, as we have seen on some subsequent occasions.

But Bourmont's despatch in cipher had exactly the opposite effect from that contemplated by the marshal. It produced in the mind of Polignac a violent jealousy of his military colleague, and the determination to act in Bourmont's absence, so as to have all the credit to himself, and remain at the head of the King's Government. On the day the Ordinances were signed, Polignac said to Circourt: 'From this day the King begins to reign, which he has not done before.' These were the motives which precipitated the blow, and caused it to overwhelm its authors with ruin and confusion.

April 8th.—I was elected a corresponding member of the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques, in France.

14th.—Went to Paris, and on the 22nd took my seat at the Institute.

From Lord Clarendon

The Grove, April 23rd.—Fould is not reasonable about Mexico; for he well knows that it is we who had to complain of France, and not France of us, in the original convention, and that ever since we got out of it, so far from thwarting French designs, we have done what was in our power to support them; our Government can't help to float a bad loan, but I am sure we have done the French no harm at Washington. It will be good policy on the part of Maximilian to encourage Confederate soldiers, provided they don't come and squat in too great numbers. I understand that the French army is not to be withdrawn until it is no longer wanted by Maximilian, but that will not be till the day of judgement—if then.

The journey to Algeria is an inscrutable business. McMahon, I am told, has insisted strongly upon it, and says that the Imperial presence is indispensable to relever the tone of the colony; but that is hardly reason enough for such a grosse affaire as absenting himself from Paris for six weeks; but if he wishes to create alarm and make people feel how much he and social order are bound up together, and that they want him more than he them, then the expedition has a motive, and may have a great success.

Palmerston had the gout all last week, and was unable to attend the Cabinet yesterday, but he is expected in town tomorrow, so I hope it is a slight attack. The uneasiness on one side and excitement on the other, whenever he is ailing, are curious to observe; for it is pretty generally understood that until he dies there will be no real shuffle of cards. Last autumn the Tories talked tall about the majority that the general election was to give them, but of late they have come down very much, and the best informed among them now say that things will remain pretty much as they are.

The Journal continues:—

April 27th.—Excursion to Port Royal and Dampierre, where we were received by order of the Duc de Luynes. Circourt was with us. 28th, to Fontainebleau. Met William Stirling and Lady Anna there; they were just married. 30th, races in Bois de Boulogne. Took Mrs. Henry Baring there. Dined at the Embassy.

May 3rd.—Excursion to Reims with Circourt and Belvèze.[Footnote: The Comte de Belvèze, an intimate friend of the Circourts, a man, Reeve wrote, 'of great wit and discernment.' In 1873 he had printed, for private circulation, a small volume of Pensées, Maximes et Reflèxions, a copy of which he gave Reeve, who 'highly valued it for its intrinsic merit and its rarity.'] Back to London by Lille and Laon.

13th.—My uncle, Tom Reeve, the rector, died. I attended the funeral, and went on to Thorpe Abbotts.

June 10th.—Party given by the Hudson's Bay Company to see their ships at Gravesend. Dined there.

Went to Bracknell and Ascot.

From Lord Clarendon

The Grove, June 11th. I make you my sincere compliment upon the article, [Footnote: 'Dissolution of Parliament,' by Reeve. It appeared in the July number of the Review.] and thank you for giving me an early read of it. It is by far the ablest defence I have yet seen for the donothingness of the Government about Reform; and you have most skilfully brought all the different schemes face to face, in order to knock their heads together, at the same time that you show yourself, as the organ of the Whig party, to be liberal and progressive, and not only ready, but anxious, to adopt any plan of Reform that will really effect that which reasonable men unite in desiring. I think the article will do great good; and I only wish that it could be circulated among classes rather lower than the ordinary readers of the 'Edinburgh Review.'

Might you not in the last page enlarge a little more upon the opposition which the Tories, for party purposes, or from shortsightedness, have always made to Liberal measures? For that in reality is the strong case against them; and in judging of their fitness for power, the electors should consider how the country would have stood if their persistent opposition had been successful; how we should have passed through the political crisis of '48 if the Corn Laws had been unrepealed; or the cotton famine, if Free-trade had not been established. The electors should also well consider whether they will accept, as governors and guides, men who predicted evils of the worst kind from measures which have produced the happiest results.

All these points are well alluded to in the last page, but they seem to me to want a few grains of salt; and we may be sure that Lord Robert Cecil [Footnote: The present Marquis of Salisbury. His elder brother, Viscount Cranborne, died three days after the date of this letter, June 14th.] in the 'Quarterly' will pepper the Whigs abundantly.

The Journal at this time has:—

Gout in July. Went to Aix on the 25th. The Aumales, Alcocks, and Lord St.
Germans there. Home on August 17th.

August 9th.—To Scotland. We went again to Skibo. Harry Butler Johnstone there. Stayed at Skibo till the 30th. Then to Brahan. Found the Fergusons at Novar. Lord Kingsdown had taken Holme House, near Nairn. Went to see him there. Cawdor Castle. Then to Pitcorthie [James Moncreiff's] [Footnote: At this time Lord Advocate. Created a baronet in 1871, and a peer, as Lord Moncreiff, in 1874.] and Raith and Abington.

September 23rd.—Dined with Lord Granville to meet Castalia Campbell and Lady Acton. Lord G. was married on the 26th [to Miss Campbell].

To Torry Hill in October; also to Badger Hall and High Legh, and Loseley (then rented by Thomson Hankey).

November 15th.—Went down to Woodnorton [near Evesham], to see the Aumales at their farm. Shot there.

But the great topic of the latter part of the year, the subject which was in everyone's mind, was the cattle plague—the rinderpest—which threatened to become a matter of extreme national importance. When, at the time that now is, people are inclined to grumble at the precautionary measures adopted by Government, they should look back to the records of 1865 and read of the very serious alarm then felt. Writing to Dempster, himself a high authority on agricultural questions, Reeve naturally spoke of this, and the correspondence is largely filled with such sentences as:—

September 22nd.—A nearer acquaintance with the cattle disease is a very disagreeable addition to one's knowledge. They are afraid it will last for many years, and sweep off a great portion of the cattle in the kingdom…. You'll think I have got the rinderpest myself to write about nothing but these brutes.

September 28th.—The disease has now spread to sheep, and I verily believe we shall have a meat famine.

October 12th.—The ravages of the disease increase. We were to have gone to pay two visits in Essex this week, but our hosts are so distracted by the loss of their kine and the absence of dairy produce that they broke up their party and put us off.

October 18th.—The opinion of the Cattle Commission is that nothing can be done to stay the plague without putting a stop to all transport or movement of live cattle; and I expect this will be done. But how are we to be fed?

November 23rd.—The Lords of the Council have at last resolved to give all local authorities in Britain the power of stopping the entry of cattle into their own district, and all beasts brought to the Metropolitan Market are to be killed there.

And thus this plague, the illness and death of Lord Palmerston, and—more personal—the alarming illness and slow, lingering convalescence of Miss Charlotte Dempster—'my fair contributor,' as Reeve used to call her—fill the correspondence of the year. One note only, an account of Reeve's visit to Woodnorton, has a more particular interest.

To Mr. Dempster

C. O., November 23rd.—My last campaign has been in Worcestershire, where I went to see a barnful of princes and princesses in a house much more like a very wild Highland shooting quarter than an Englishman's hunting-box. However, this only made the whole party more jolly; and as the stables are very superior to the house, I shall entreat them, the next time I go, to give me a loose box instead of a bedroom. Cutbush is supposed to have slept on a dresser in the servants' hall; and a stray Frenchman who arrived one evening was laid up in the smoking-room, on a sofa.

And, according to the Journal, the year closed with—

Visits to Farnborough, Denbigh (Haslemere), and Timsbury [Ralph Dutton's, near Romsey].

Between Reeve and the Duttons there was a friendship of many years' standing, and they were there, wrote Mrs. Reeve, 'a pleasant little party of ten, only Henry has had a very bad fit of gout and could not join the shooters, or even the dinner-table some days: too provoking!' They remained at Timsbury for a week, and then:—

January 10th.—A pleasant party at Torry Hill, with Sir E. Head and Kit. Pemberton. Shooting in the snow, which was heavy.

18th.—Sir C. Eastlake was buried.

One day at a dinner party of Royal Academicians at Eastlake's, they were discussing the merits of Solomon the painter and praising him. 'Yes,' said Valentine Prinsep, 'but Solomon in all his glory is not R.A.ed like one of these.'

24th. We were invited rather late in the morning to the christening of Sir Robert and Lady Emily Peel's infant daughter, and to a banquet afterwards. Christine came down to my office at two o'clock, and we went across to Whitehall Chapel. Sir Robert stood rayonnant at the door; Lady Emily looked the picture of maternal beauty; and in the chapel we found a small but remarkable party—Duke and Duchess of Wellington, Lord and Lady Russell, the Gladstones, Lady Ely, the Dufferins, &c., about fifty in all. Lord Russell said he had never been inside that building [Footnote: Now the Museum of the Royal United Service Institution.] before. Gladstone was very cordial, and we joined our enthusiasm about the roof of the building and the Rubenses. The Queen stood Godmother.

After the ceremony we all adjourned to Whitehall Gardens. I was unluckily obliged to go away, but Christine stayed for the luncheon, which was superb. Gladstone proposed the health of the infant.

25th.—Dinner at Orleans House, on Condé's departure for his journey to the East; Murchison and Trevelyan there. The Prince de Condé [Footnote: The eldest son of the Duc d'Aumale, born in 1845, died at Sydney on May 24th, 1866. The Duke's second and third sons lived only a few weeks; the fourth, the Duc de Guise, born in 1854, died in 1872.] reached Sydney, but caught a fever there and died. His poor mother never recovered the shock.

27th.—John Edward Taylor, my oldest friend,[Footnote: A first cousin, elder son of Edward Taylor; see ante, vol. i. p. 167.] died.

A couple of months later Mr. Taylor's daughter, Lucy, was married to William Markby, going out to Calcutta as a judge on a salary of 4,000 £ a year. 'She is a very lucky girl' wrote Mrs. Reeve, 'her face her sole fortune, to win the love of a man so clear-headed and warm-hearted.'

Circourt came on a visit to us in March. We went together to Lincoln. I
spent Easter at Lord Wharncliffe's at Wortley, with the Samuel Bakers (the
African traveller) and the Tankervilles, and rejoined Circourt at Frystone
(R. M. Milnes'). Thence to Ampthill, also with Circourt.

From Lord Westbury

March 1st.—I send you the proof of the judgement in Edwards v. Moss, corrected and purged of some of its colloquial pleonastic forms of expression. It is very difficult to reduce a speech to the accuracy of a written composition. In doing so, the merit of the speech is lost, and the 'redacted' elements form a very bad paper. Old Tommy Townshend, when he heard of a good speech being printed, used to ask 'How does it read?—for if it reads well, it was not a good speech.' A judgement orally delivered extempore may be satisfactory to the ear, but when reduced to paper, the sentences become involved and jejune.

The diction of a good composition is [Greek: lexis katestrammeon], the diction of a speech is [Greek: lexis eiromeon]. I cannot understand how the senators or the Roman plebs could follow or endure the elaborate periods of Cicero, if they were delivered as written. I am sure with the funeral oration of Pericles, a common audience would have sat with mouths open, incapable of following a single sentence. So also with the orations of Livy. In fact, if the speeches delivered in the Roman Senate or the Athenian Forum were anything like the speeches reported, to listen to them must have been a great strain upon the mind and attention of the hearer.

I am writing to you whilst a learned counsel is arguing, but whose words and meaning are so obscure and involved that I am much in the condition of my supposed [Greek: aplous hakroataes] of the funeral oration.

The Journal goes on to speak of a subject of peculiar literary and historical interest.

April 11th.—Started with Christine and Circourt for Paris viâ Havre, and at Rouen paid a visit to the Cardinal-Archbishop (Bonnechose).

The publication in 1864 of three volumes of the letters of Marie Antoinette, under the title 'Louis XVI., Marie Antoinette et Madame Elisabeth. Lettres et Documents inédits;' publiés par F. Feuillet de Conches, and of another volume—' Correspondance inédite de Marie Antoinette. Publiée sur les Documents originaux;' par le Comte Paul Vogt d'Hunolstein—had excited a keen controversy, in which one party, led by Professor von Sybel, the historian of the Revolution, maintained that the letters were forgeries. On the other hand, Reeve wrote an article for the 'Edinburgh Review' of April 1866, on the 'Correspondence of Marie Antoinette' in which he argued that the letters edited by M. d'Hunolstein were of very doubtful authenticity, but that those of the larger work of M. Feuillet de Conches were genuine. His visit to Paris gave him the opportunity to make a further examination, of which, and his interview with Sybel, he wrote a curious account.

Sunday, April 15th.—I called on M. Feuillet de Conches, the editor of the Marie Antoinette letters, whose authenticity is impugned, and on leaving his house I called on Lavergne, where I met M. de Sybel, the German professor, by whom these charges have been most actively brought and disseminated. I found that M. de Sybel, though in Paris, had not seen anything of Feuillet's collection, though he had publicly stated that he was going to Paris to clear up the whole story. Upon this I assured him (as was the fact) that I knew Feuillet would receive him with the utmost courtesy, if he would call upon him, and would show him anything and everything in his collections bearing on this matter; and as he appeared to hesitate, I offered myself to conduct and introduce him. Upon this he hesitated still more, and at last said that the fact was that his mind was so fully made up on the subject, and his conviction that these documents are forged is so complete, that no amount of ocular evidence would shake it, and he should only conclude that the author of these fabrications was a very skilful fellow.

Upon this I desisted from any further attempt to bring M. de Sybel acquainted with M. Feuillet's collection, but I made this note of the conversation (which took place in the presence of M. de Lavergne) to show how strong M. de Sybel's prepossessions are. I have myself again examined the documents, and though I have doubts as to one or two of them, said to proceed from the Abbé Vermond's papers, I see no reason to disbelieve the genuineness of the vast majority of the letters of the Queen which Feuillet possesses.

Home on April 26th.

May.—Dr. Watson said, dining at the Literary Club, that he had been present at the death of Lord Palmerston. He retained his usual courtesy and cheerfulness in his last illness, and when Lady Palmerston came into the room he kissed his hand to her. The immediate cause of his death was his taking a walk on the terrace at Brocket without his hat. The apothecary remonstrated—upon which he said: 'Oh! it's only what the bathers call taking a "header."' As the hour of dissolution approached he lost his consciousness, but still spoke occasionally. His last words were (apparently as if his mind was at work on a treaty) 'That's article ninety-eight; now go on to the next.' Very characteristic end.

From M. Guizot

Val Richer, June 9th.—I had little doubt of the war, and I now consider it as begun. With the exception of the Italians and M. de Bismarck, everyone is entering on it with regret and uneasiness. I have never known France so unanimous in the desire for peace; but notwithstanding the injury to our interests and the shock to our opinions, the country has no confidence in its right to resist, and has lost the habit of it. There will be grumblings and prophecies of misfortune, but there will be no opposition; and if there should be any military success, followed by territorial aggrandisement, people will forget their ill humour, and will even applaud a little, but always without confidence. It is impossible to stray with impunity from the path of sound policy; as soon as we leave it, we enter on the wrong path and advance by that. In this life it is not possible to remain stationary.

I understand your political attitude. There is no reason why you should take part in the struggle; but what I do not understand, what I regret, is the manifest uncertainty of your opinions. Not only do you do nothing, but you seem as if you did not know what to believe. As lookers-on you are undecided, as actors you are inert. In the state of trouble and weakness in which the intelligence of Europe is now plunged, you, simply by letting your opinions be clearly seen, by the directness of your language, might have an enormous influence on the course of events. But in England, as everywhere else, the idea of moral force seems lost. It is true that such idea requires a knowledge of what one thinks, and of what one desires. It is possible not to give material support to a cause, but it is necessary to have one.

In any case, I am extremely glad that Lord Clarendon remains at the Foreign Office. He will, perhaps, see more clearly, will act with less want of foresight than others. Is it true that, on account of the state of affairs on the Continent, there is in England a tacit suspension of hostilities between the two parties, and that the Cabinet is no longer seriously attacked?…

Je suis charmé que le second volume de mes 'Meditations' vous ait intéressé. Je ne sais pas le nom de la personne qui fait, dans 'l'Edinburgh Review,' un article sur le premier volume. Dites-moi si elle aurait quelque envie de parler du second, et si vous voulez que je vous en fasse envoyer, pour elle, un exemplaire. Most cordially yours,

GUIZOT.

War broke out between Prussia and Austria in June.

June 9th.—Party down to Gravesend by water to see the Hudson's Bay Company's ships. Dinner at Gravesend.

July 13th.—To Aix-la-Chapelle by way of Paris. Heard Mignet read his notice of Tocqueville at the Institute. Spent a fortnight at Aix, and visited Bruges in our way home.

August 11th.—Went to Novar, by Perth. Thence to Braban, to Ardross, and to Foss, where Lord Kingsdown had taken a moor. Then to Dunnichen; called at Glamis and Kinnaird Castle. Then to Eaith, and to Lord Belhaven's at Wishaw; the Warwicks and Sir A. Alison there. Home on September 17th.

To Mr. Dempster

Dunnichen, September 10th.—Your kind letter from Paris reached me at Novar, at the precise moment when I was about to take the field with the new laird on August 13th. It gave me real pleasure to have something of your company on that day; and when we had reached the back of Fyrish, and could command the Dornoch Firth and the hills beyond it, even to Dunrobin, I looked with affectionate eyes to the woods of Skibo.

The season has been favourable. Raith and I—neither of us a first-class walker—killed seventy brace on the Monday, and I got thirty brace alone on several succeeding days. From Novar we went to Brahan, where everything is as lively as usual, and Seaforth in great force,… I then joined Lord Kingsdown at Foss, on Loch Tummel, a delightful place in the centre of the Perthshire Highlands, where you see all Scotland at your feet, from Ben Nevis to Lochnagar. By this time the grouse were becoming wild, and we had descended to fifteen or sixteen brace a day, but we had a splendid drive of blue hares, and slew 367 of them. I then came on here, where I find a most comfortable house, a most kind reception, and a most sociable neighbourhood…. All in short is extremely pleasant, and it is most agreeable to see George so perfectly in his place, and at the head of a well-managed estate….

From Lord Westbury

September 5th.—I am anxious, before I leave for the Continent, to know if I can be of any service at the sittings of the Judicial Committee. My present purpose is to go to Biarritz, and thence to Italy. But if I can be of utility, and am really wanted, I would return from Biarritz by November 1st, and could devote the whole of November to diligent attendance on the Judicial Committee. I am sorry that I cannot offer to attend during December, as matters of a pressing nature will then require my presence in Italy.

It is, I think, very desirable that the sittings of the Judicial Committee should be certain and continuous at and during a considerable portion of the year; and I should be glad to see the practice adopted of its beginning to sit on November 1st in every year, and continuing its sittings until Christmas if required. You will know whether the state of business at present renders this desirable….

Lord Justice Knight Bruce is a great invalid, and it is hardly fair to expect that, after a laborious term, the Lords Justices should at once commence sitting at the Privy Council. These considerations induce me to write to you. But you will fully understand that, if it is possible to do without further aid, I shall be much obliged to you not to accept my offer. I shall not write to the President or the Lord Chancellor until I have heard from you.

To Lord Westbury

C. O., September 28th.—Under the peculiar circumstances of the present year and the state of business in the Court, the Lord Chancellor thinks it right to acquiesce in your lordship's suggestion that the Judicial Committee should sit one month earlier than usual in order to dispose of the existing arrear of causes. The Lord Chancellor is, however, of opinion that this sitting in Michaelmas term should be regarded as exceptional and not to be drawn into a precedent, and that it will be expedient hereafter to adhere to the established practice and to the order in Council which directs the sittings to be held after each term. For many years the sittings have been invariably so held in December, February, and June and July; and at each sitting the whole of the business ready for hearing has been disposed of. The only exception to this order occurred last summer in consequence of the illness of Sir James Colvile; and the consequence is that (for the first time for many years) there is now an arrear to be disposed of. Your lordship's timely assistance will, however, enable the court to clear off this arrear by this extraordinary sitting; and it is not to be anticipated that the same necessity will occur again, although it undoubtedly exists at the present time. When November 1st approaches, I shall have the honour to send the printed cases and the usual summons to your lordship's residence in London, and I shall give ample notice to the parties that the Judicial Committee will meet for the despatch of business on that day.

From Lord Chelmsford[Footnote: At this time Lord Chancellor.]

7 Eaton Square, October 3rd.

Dear Reeve,—Lord Westbury's letter is satisfactory. Your communication to him, which was highly judicious, has contributed mainly to put things on the right footing.

Knight Bruce's state of health, following upon what I should think must have been for some time his felt incapacity for work, ought to be a warning to him to terminate a life of useful labour by an honourable retirement. If the hint is lost upon him, he will be a great impediment to the efficiency of the Judicial Committee.

I suppose the temporary assistance of Lord Westbury will not dispense with the necessity of providing some permanent addition to the strength of the tribunal. Your suggestion as to Vice-Chancellor Kindersley quite met my views, and I suppose might still be carried out with advantage. Of course I can do nothing of this sort without Lord Derby's sanction, and therefore I should like to have your confirmation of my opinion that this is the best plan that can be resorted to for the present, before I communicate with him on the subject. A letter sent to my house will be forwarded in my box which I receive daily. Yours sincerely, CHELMSFORD.

The Journal notes:—

Visits to Sparrow's Herne and to Shendish (Charles Longman's), Parnborough and Torry Hill. The Judicial Committee sat early-November 1st.

November 8th.—Lord Westbury, Froude, Lecky, Mrs. Norton, Bayleys, Simpson, and Longman dined with us. It was very amusing. [Mrs. Reeve wrote of it as 'brilliant;' and of Lord Westbury as resembling Falstaff and Lord Bacon rolled into one.]

The earliest critical notice of the battle of Lissa, fought on July 20th, appeared in the 'Revue des deux Mondes' of November 15th. It was at the time, and has been ever since, generally attributed to the Prince de Joinville; an error which gives the following letter a more especial interest, though it may be thought doubtful whether the suggestion offered by the Prince was correct:—

From the Prince de Joinville

Woodnorton, 22 novembre.

Mon cher Monsieur Reeve,—Mon frère Aumale vient de me communiquer votre aimable lettre, à laquelle je m'empresse de répondre. Les éloges que vous donnez à l'auteur de l'article sur Lissa sont très-mérités, car le travail est très-intéressant; mais ils ne sont pas pour moi, car je suis complètement étranger à la paternité de ce remarquable morceau, auquel je ne reproche qu'une chose—la sevérité de ses jugements sur un homme dans la position de Persano.

J'ignore absolument le nom de l'auteur; mais le style élégant, la précision des informations et quelques détails d'opinion que je ne partage pas m'avaient fait supposer que nous devions attribuer à Jurien de la Gravière le travail en question. En tous cas, quelque soit l'auteur, je demande à tous mes amis de lui renvoyer le mérite et la responsabilité qui lui appartiennent.

Croyez toujours, Monsieur, à mes sentiments d'amitié.

FR. D'ORLÉANS.

To Lord Westbury

G. O., November 28th.—I received the revised judgements yesterday, and have sent them to the printers for correction. I will take care that your emendations are carefully made, and I will again look them all carefully over. Unless I hear again from you to the contrary, I do not understand that you wish to see another revise of them (as it is termed) before they are issued.

In spite of your own preference for the 'wild freshness of morning' and all the dewdrops hanging on the roses, I must be allowed to assure you that, in my poor judgement, they are improved by this severe revision, and that the judicial style is, like Musidora, when 'unadorned adorned the most.' Of that style I think these judgements will be quoted hereafter as masterly specimens.

From Lord Kingsdown

Torry Hill, Sittingbourne: January 7th, 1867.

My dear Reeve,—I have read your paper, and have no hesitation in saying that I think the smallness of your salary quite a scandal and a disgrace to the Court of which you are so important an officer. Knowing as I do the past services which, during a period of more than twenty years, you have rendered to the board, whilst its position has been gradually settling, I should say that 2,000 £. a year would be not at all more than a fair remuneration to you during the remainder of your term of office. If the country could be certain, by the same salary, of securing an equally efficient successor, I should think it money well laid out. Your duties are of a very peculiar character; and often require, in addition to the qualities required for the discharge of the ordinary routine duties of a registrar, others of a much rarer description. The correspondence with the different tribunals whose decisions are reviewed, and with the different departments of the Government, which are sometimes disposed to shift to the Judicial Committee the determination of matters not properly belonging to it, demand not unfrequently the exercise of great tact, discretion, and delicacy. But unfortunately a large salary does not always secure services of corresponding value, and sometimes, I am afraid, rather has an opposite tendency, and operates as a temptation to jobbery. On the whole, I should say that 1,500 £. a year would be a fair offer to a new man; but I think that the Treasury should have the power to increase it to any amount not exceeding 2,000 £. after ten or fifteen years' service, on the recommendation of the committee.

The next letter, from Lord Wensleydale, is interesting as a piece of verbal criticism; showing, also, how a pilot in avoiding Scylla may easily run his bark into Charybdis, or how a writer, whilst objecting to a harmless 'firstly,' may perpetrate an atrocious 'differ with.'

Ampthill Park, January 31st.

My dear Reeve,—I was much pleased to hear that 'firstly' was an error. I hope you will take some course to indicate your judgement—'a very best authority'—and to prevent the 'Edinburgh Review' giving the word its high authority. I have taken every opportunity to amend Acts of Parliament when I find the error in Dom. Proc. I have a sort of mania on the subject.

I have not had an opportunity of looking at the Bishop of Oxford's case. I differ with him entirely about the Banns case, and, between ourselves, think he is oily and saponaceous.—Yours ever sincerely,

WENSLEYDALE.

The following, from Professor—afterwards Sir Richard—Owen, seems to refer to a proposed review of the Duke of Argyll's 'Reign of Law,' and possibly, also, of the Rev. Edwin Sidney's 'Conversations on the Bible and Science.' Whether Owen was too drastic in his methods or not does not certainly appear; but, for some reason, the article was either not written or not published, though the friendly relations between Owen and Reeve remained unaffected.

Sheen Lodge, Richmond Park, March 9th.

My dear Reeve,—The end and aim of the 'Reign of Law' is to exalt our conceptions of its head, and to destroy pretenders to the throne. The Duke has shown, as you observe, caution in avoiding the latter application. But the old 'Edinburgh' was once eminently iconoclastic, and its reputation still floats on the brave work of its youth. I fear, too we should have lost some best bits and hits of dear old Sydney had his editor been too precise in defining a personality. As to the other old Sidney, I, too, know him well; his libellus is small game, but it is the type of a class doing much mischief. You think I have been too outspoken. Believe me, it is only a question of time; and you will speak out quite as plainly when the 'Forlorn' has made the breach safe. But one would wish to see the 'Blue and Yellow' in the post of honour.

I had misgivings at the first that I might be unfit for your want. My time draws on, and, under a sense of responsibility for its use, I cannot write platitudes.

Sincerely yours,

RICHD. OWEN.

The Journal for 1867 begins with—

Usual engagements in the early part of the year. Circourt came in April, and we went together to Norwich.

To Paris in April. Met Mrs. Grote and Hayward on the road. Morny gave me a card to see the Great Exhibition before it opened. A great banquet at the Embassy on the 25th. On the 30th with Chevalier to Lemaire's fabrique. He gave me my aluminium binocle. Ball at the Marine. Dined at Julian Fane's. [Footnote: The secretary of the embassy.] Binet came to Paris from Geneva. May 6th, went to see Thiers on the last evening. May 7th, dined with Mon, the Spanish ambassador. Home on the 8th.

May 11th.—Some of the Novar pictures were sold. I bought my Cuyp, small Claude, P. Veronese, Watts, Rubens' drawing, Palma Vecchio, and some small ones.

Visit to Torry Hill in June, but Lord Kingsdown was dying. [Footnote: He died on October 7th.] I took De Mussy down to see him. I went there again in July.

From Lord Kingsdown

Torry Hill, June 26th.—It is most kind in you to write to me as often as you do, and always whenever you have anything agreeable to tell me. Both your last letters are full of such matter. It is inexpressibly pleasing to me to receive so many marks as I do of the kindness and affection of my friends; and if any or all of those who professed a disposition to come and see me would do so, I should be delighted to receive them, collectively or individually. I have a letter from Cranworth this morning, most kindly offering to come down here on Saturday next. If you could look up and send down anybody as a companion to him, it would be more agreeable to him and to me. Possibly Peel [Footnote: Sir Lawrence Peel.] might be induced to come.

I have not, of course, the face to ask you to come down on Saturday, but I hold you to your promise to see me again here before you go to the North.

I am, truly and gratefully yours,

KINGSDOWN.

The Journal mentions some of the functions of the season.

June 27th.—Dinner at home to the F. Stanleys, [Footnote: The present Earl and Countess of Derby.] Mme. Mohl, Seaforth, Lecky, Blumenthal, T. Bruces, Fords remarkably pleasant.

29th.—Dinner at the Duc de Chartres', at Ham. The Russells, Clarendons, Saxe-Weimars, Waldegraves, A. Kinnaird.

July 10th.—Holland House garden party. Lady Derby's party to the Pasha of Egypt. On the 19th, grand ball, at the India Office, to the Sultan.

From Lord Cairns

5 Cromwell Houses, South Kensington, July 17th.

Dear Reeve,—I enclose the Indian judgement, revised, and also the 'Agra' judgement [Footnote: A case of collision in the Channel between the ship 'Agra' and a bark, 'Elizabeth Jenkins.' The judgement was delivered on the 20th by Sir William Erle.] with a few verbal alterations. I am sorry I cannot deliver the latter; but the state of our work in Chancery is such that the sittings cannot be well curtailed, even for an hour. I trust some member of the board, with a strong nautical twang, will be so good as to deliver it; and if the speaker could but adopt that hitch of the trouser which made Lord Clarence Paget so effective in the House of Commons, it would, I have no doubt, add much to the effect of a composition otherwise so tame.

Yours faithfully, CAIRNS.

From Lord Kingsdown

Torry Hill, July 30th.—I hear you are starting for Scotland the end of this week, and I cannot let you go without repeating to you once more my earnest and most cordial thanks for the great kindness which you have shown to me during my long sickness, both in constantly writing to me and in many other ways. I wish I had a letter from you this morning, for the upshot of what passed last night in the House of Lords far passes my comprehension. If you should find occasionally a leisure half-hour, and will employ it in informing me of your proceedings on the moors, I shall be very grateful.

I think it not impossible that in the course of your wanderings you may fall in with Jowett. If you do, pray explain to him how very sensible I was of his friendship in offering to come down here to see me, and how very much I was mortified at being obliged to decline his offer. In my present condition, it is absurd even to suppose plans for the future; but I do not quite despair of seeing you here during this next partridge or pheasant season.

The Journal mentions that—

Gladstone agreed to write the political article for the 'Edinburgh' in October. It was called 'Sequel to the Session.' Curious conversation with him about the Irish Church.

August 3rd.—Went down to Weybridge to see Mrs. Austin. It was the last time, for she died on the 8th, when I was at sea, on my way to Scotland. We arrived at Aberdeen on the 9th, and learned it there. To Novar and Ardross, where good shooting. Then to Uppat, boating and fishing with the Duke of Sutherland, George Loch, and Forsyth.

We went from Uppat to Brahan; then to Dunnichen and Springfield, a place near Roslyn the Dempsters had taken. Then to Abington and home.

From M. Guizot

Val Richer, 15 Août.

My dear Sir,—Sir Alexander Gordon m'avait annoncé la perte que nous venons de faire. Je dis nous, car Madame Austin était pour moi une vraie et intime amie. Je l'ai connue dans mes joies et mes tristesses, dans mes succès et mes revers. Je l'ai trouvée toujours la même, la même élévation d'esprit, le même coeur sympathique et dévoué. Je n'espérais plus la revoir; je le lui disais dans la dernière lettre que je lui ai écrite, et en me répondant il y a un mois, elle me disait presque adieu. Mais la distance est grande entre l'adieu annoncé et l'adieu réel. Sa mort est pour moi un vrai chagrin. Et pour mes filles aussi, à qui elle a temoigné tant d'affection et de bonté.

J'ai prié Sir Alexander de m'envoyer la meilleure gravure en photographie qui existe d'elle. Envoyez moi aussi, je vous prie, ce qui sera publié sur son compte, et ajoutez y tous les détails que vous recueillerez.

Sadly and sincerely yours,

GUIZOT.

CHAPTER XVI

CHURCH POLITICS

Early in October, Reeve, with his wife—Miss Reeve—was staying in Scotland—set out for Geneva, and, travelling by easy stages through Antwerp, Luxembourg, Metz—'a very pretty, attractive town,' not yet brought into vulgar repute by its siege and surrender in the Franco-German war—Nancy, Strasbourg, and Bale, arrived on the 12th. The weather was cold and wintry; and, after a short stay at Geneva, they went on to Marseilles, where Reeve's uncle, Philip Taylor, the founder of the 'Forges et Chantiers,' was still living, a hale old man of eighty, with his wife, 'some seven years younger, and not at all old in figure, look, and voice.' Then to Cannes, which was coming fast into note—'building going on with great activity, and ground fetching higher prices every year'; and, after an excursion to Nice and Mentone, they turned northwards, were at Paris on November 6th, and reached home on the 10th. The Journal adds:—

January 6th, 1868.—Went on a visit to Loseley Park, then occupied by the Thomson Hankeys—the old seat of Sir Thomas More. Mlle. Ernestine declaimed there.

From Lord Westbury

January 14th.—Pray, if you can, give us a paper with some variety, and not wholly composed of dreary Indian appeals, the hearing of which always reminded me of the toil of Pharaoh's charioteers, when they drave heavily their wheelless chariots in the deep sands of the Red Sea.

Who is it that has dug so deep into the Talmud, and written that remarkable paper, [Footnote: 'The Talmud,' Quarterly Review, October 1867.] for which, a century ago, he would have been the subject of a writ De haeretico comburendo?

Hinton St. George, January 16th.—Your arrangement is a very good one, but, for fear of accident, I will certainly leave this place on Monday, February 3rd, so that you may count on me for Tuesday if required. The gorge rises at the thought of being fed on curry, rice, and chutnee sauce for three weeks; I shall certainly contract a disease of the liver. If you can send us occasionally to sea on an Admiralty case, it will be a little relief. I have observed that petitions for prolongation of patents frequently occupy an (apparently) undue time. If there are any such, I think we may despatch them. I hope Lord Justice Cairns will use the days he gains for reducing the arrears in Chancery. I am much obliged to him for his kind expressions.

The best advice that his friends can give Rolt [Footnote: Sir John Rolt resigned in February 1868, and died in June 1871.] is to resign. It is the only chance of long life. Let him not be afraid of ennui from idleness. He has a great love of the country and country pursuits, and that is all-sufficient. Age cannot wither it, nor custom stale its infinite variety. And it is so much better to be a looker-on than an actor in life. Aristotle, in the last chapter of his 'Nicomachean Ethics,' sets himself to consider what can be the happiness of the gods; and he finds nothing in which he can put it but in contemplation. And it might be so, if it were still true. 'And God saw (contemplated) all that He had made, and behold it was very good.'

I thought it was an 'Ebrew Jew' that wrote the article entitled 'Talmud.' I have only read a few extracts. It is quite in keeping with the times that it should be in a Tory journal. The Conservatives have begun by being avowed reformers, and next they will be declared free-thinkers. This is the first step to their confession. Their great schoolmaster, Dizzy, gets his compatriot to publish this article. I am glad to hear from you that it is shallow; but novelty and originality now are nothing but the reproduction of forgotten things; and, to speak seriously, I thought it seemed a thing likely to lead many to some form or other of Arian opinions.

The following refers to a work recently published by Longmans. Mr. Longman had apparently suggested it as a fit subject for an article in the 'Review ':—

To Mr. T. Longman

C. O., January 31st.—I have read Rudd's translation of Aristophanes with a good deal of interest. It is as good as it can possibly be without the slightest gleam of fun or genius. Frere's translations are blazing with both, and that constitutes their charm. Rudd is evidently a worthy, dull man, who administers the Aristophanic champagne as if it were mere brown stout. It is for this reason that I have felt a difficulty about reviewing him, and the more so as I am overladen with all kinds of articles. But if a favourable opportunity occurs, I will not forget it.

I am deeply grieved at the loss of poor Head. [Footnote: Sir Edmund Head died suddenly on January 28th.] He was one of the best and pleasantest companions I have ever known, and latterly we have lived very much indeed together. It is frightful to think how very many are already gone of those who made life agreeable; and gone, most of them, suddenly and prematurely.

The Journal records:—

February 11th—I was elected to be treasurer of The Club in place of Sir Edmund Head [deceased]. I proposed Lord Cranborne, afterwards Lord Salisbury, at The Club.

For many years from this time The Club was such an important factor in Reeve's social life, and enters so largely into both his Journal and his correspondence, that a list of its members, as it stood in 1867, has a strong personal interest.

The Club

March, 1867 Date of Election

1 Lord Brougham March 9th, 1830.

2 Earl Stanhope May 14th, 1833.

3 The Dean of St. Paul's February 23rd, 1836.

4 Sir Henry Holland February 18th, 1840.

5 Mr. Charles Austin March 7th, 1843.

6 Lord Kingsdown February 25th, 1845.

7 Earl of Clarendon May 20th, 1845.

8 Professor Owen May 20th, 1845.

9 Monsieur Van de Weyer February 9th, 1847.

10 Sir David Dundas February 23rd, 1847.

11 The Duke of Cleveland June 5th, 1849.

12 The Bishop of Oxford June 5th, 1849.

13 Lord Overstone June 25th, 1850.

14 The Duke of Argyll June 17th, 1851.

15 Lord Cranworth June 17th, 1851.

16 Sir Wm. Stirling Maxwell February 21st, 1854.

17 Mr. Gladstone March 10th, 1857.

18 Earl Russell April 21st, 1857.

19 Mr. George Grote March 9th, 1858.

20 Lord Stanley February 14th, 1860.

21 Sir W. Page Wood February 14th, 1860.

22 Mr. George Richmond February 14th, 1860.

23 The Bishop of London April 9th, 1861.

24 Mr. Henry Reeve April 9th, 1861.

25 Sir Roderick I. Murchison June 18th, 1861.

26 Sir Edmund Head February 25th, 1862.

27 Mr. Robert Lowe May 12th, 1863.

28 Mr. Spencer Walpole March 8th, 1864.

29 The Dean of Westminster February 28th, 1865.

30 Mr. J. A. Froude February 28th, 1865.

31 The Duc d'Anmale March 14th, 1865.

32 Mr. Alfred Tennyson March 14th, 1865.

33 Lord Cairns February 27th, 1866.

34 Mr. Edward Twisleton April 24th, 1866.

From Lord Clarendon

Rome, February 2nd.—I cannot let an old friend like yourself hear by common report an event most interesting to us, and which will therefore, I am sure, not be without interest to you. Emily [Footnote: Lord Clarendon's youngest daughter. The marriage took place on May 5th.] is to marry Odo Russell. [Footnote: Afterwards Lord Ampthill.] It has been an attachment of some standing on his part, and as she has become very certain of its depth and sincerity, they came to an understanding two days ago. His worldly goods are not superabundant, but he is very rich in all the qualities likely to make a woman happy; he is very clever and accomplished, and I speak with a knowledge of him for many years when I say that he is one of the best-tempered and kindest-hearted men I ever was acquainted with. Such a son as he has always been must make a good husband. In short, we are all very happy….

How I should like to have a talk with you upon home and foreign affairs, and how I should like to think that you viewed them less gloomily than I do! There is great expectation at Rome that Italy will break up, and that the Holy Father will recover his provinces. Italy, mishandled as she has been by quacks, is doubtless very sick; but she is still proud of the union, and will fight for it against all comers. Things look black, and are, to my mind, getting blacker, every day in France. That paries proximus concerns us, in our present uneasy condition, more than one likes to think of.

From Lord Chelmsford

7 Eaton Square, February 10th, 11 P.M.—Your letter, just received, has caused me the greatest perplexity. To provide you help on the sudden is impossible; and, agreeing with you that it is desirable to supply Lord Kingsdown's place with a strong man, I ask, Where is the judicial Samson to be found? I think it highly improbable that Mellish would abandon his professional profits for the barren honour of a right honourable title and a seat at the board. Besides, there is no knowing what the Commission, which is inquiring into all the superior Courts, both original and appellate, may recommend; and I hear of very sweeping suggestions being made. I therefore feel that, at present, I am fettered in my attempts to add strength to the Judicial Committee. In your difficulties, I hardly know what to advise; but could you not take the Admiralty cases and postpone the others, getting Phillimore to join you till Kindersley can return? This is the only possible escape from the necessity of closing your sittings that occurs to me at the present moment.

The Journal here notes:—

February 12th—The Duc d'Aumale dined with us, to meet Lady Minto, G. Lefevre, and E. Cheney. A spy got hold of this little dinner, and it was reported to the French Government as a conspiracy. Mon [the Spanish Ambassador in Paris] told Raymond of it afterwards.

14th—I dined with the Joinvilles; and on the 16th with the Duc de Nemours at Bushey. Xavier Raymond was staying with us.

February 23rd—I walked back from the Temple Church with Lord Chancellor Chelmsford. Two days afterwards he was turned out of office by Disraeli.

From Mr. Robert Lytton [Footnote: At this time secretary of legation at Lisbon, and known in the world of letters as 'Owen Meredith.' Afterwards Earl Lytton.]

Lisbon, February 22nd.

My dear Mr. Reeve,—I am ashamed of having left so long unanswered your last very kind letter. But for the last three weeks I have had little leisure, and less health to enjoy it. Indeed, this is really my first free moment since your letter reached me. Your excellent and welcome news of Emily's engagement [Footnote: Lady Emily Villiers. See ante.] to Odo Russell was confirmed by the same post in a line from Emily to Edith, [Footnote: Mrs. Lytton, the Lady Emily's first cousin.] and has given us the greatest pleasure—me especially; for I have a great regard for Odo, and any other settlement of this particular Roman question [Footnote: Odo Russell was at this time, and had been for the last ten years, living at Rome, practically—though not formally—ambassador to the Vatican.] would have much disappointed my hopes. Emily, in her letter to my wife, spoke of remaining at Rome for another month or more (the marriage not being fixed to take place before May, at the Grove); but I see by the papers that Lord Clarendon is already on his way homeward, and I am much intrigué by that article in the 'Times,' which has, I see, been re-echoed by other papers, suggesting some modification in the present Cabinet on account of Lord Derby's health.

The present Portuguese Government does not seem to be at all favourably disposed towards Mr. Flores, or to think more highly of him than you do. But in this country one can never be quite sure what the pressure of political opposition or support may wring from a weak Government in the way of concession to any intriguant; and, if Flores can command votes, he may be listened to; otherwise not, I fancy.

The monthly F. O. bag has just brought me the January 'Edinburgh,' for which a thousand thanks. I have not yet had time to cut the leaves of it. Pray accept my best thanks for the cheque mentioned in your letter. I am all the more grateful to you for the good will on behalf of 'Chronicles and Characters,' to which you so kindly and generously give renewed expression, because I have just seen what I cannot but think a very unjust notice of the book in the 'Athenaeum.' In endeavouring to illustrate a continuous strain of thought passing over a wide range of subject, one of my chief aims was diversity of form and variety of style; but there can be no doubt that versatility is always in danger of running into imitation. Play always on the Jew's harp, and no one will accuse you of imitating the tone of any other instrument. I do not pretend that my own instrument is an organ: but I would rather it should be the smallest harmonicum than the strongest and shrillest Jew's harp.

From Mr. S. H. Walpole

Ealing, March 29th.

My dear Mr. Reeve,—I am quite ashamed of myself for not having thanked you before for your valuable hints about the effect and ultimate consequences of Gladstone's motion. [Footnote: March 30th, for the Disestablishment of the Irish Church, of which notice was given on March 23rd.] I have long thought that his aim and object has been for years to separate the Church from the State, and so set up an episcopal and sacerdotal power, which would endeavour to exercise an unbounded control over the consciences, actions, and private judgement of men. The only check upon this is the supremacy of the civil power in the external government of the Church, and the obligation of the clergy to submit and subscribe to the doctrine and liturgy which, once for all, the Church and State have concurred in prescribing. All ritualism, all tractarianism, and much high-churchism is in secret, if not in avowed, rebellion against such a supremacy; and if it [Footnote: Sc. the supremacy of the civil power.] could only be struck down in Ireland, it would not be long before an attack on it was made in England. What may happen to-morrow I cannot regard with much satisfaction. Gladstone's motion is the most impudent assault on the Crown which any ex-minister ever made; and Stanley's amendment is an illogical surrender of our best defence. He ought to have ended in plain words, by saying that 'the House is of opinion that the disestablishment and disendowment of the Church in Ireland would be contrary to, and in direct violation of, the fundamental and essential articles of the Treaty of Union.' The country would have then understood what we were about; it can hardly understand it now.

I am out of heart and have many misgivings when ex-ministers of the Crown, and the actual minister of the Crown, assail or abandon the Crown's prerogative for the value of place and power.

Yours always very sincerely,

S. H. WALPOLE.

Walpole's interpretation of Gladstone's 'aim and object' may now appear strained. It was, however, certainly held, at the time, by many who argued that Gladstone's character was itself a direct contradiction to the charge of his proposed measure being one of spoliation and robbery. [Footnote: See post.] It is, perhaps, more probable that he was greatly influenced by the Utopian sentimentalism which so powerfully influenced his later career, and led him to the extreme courses so bitterly condemned by many of his old colleagues and adherents. At the same time it must be remembered that when, nearly thirty years later, a Radical measure was brought forward for the disestablishment of the Church in Wales, with the avowed intention of advancing by it to the disestablishment of the Church of England, although the great body of the Church, clergy and laity, vehemently denounced it as antagonistic to the best interests of the Church and the country, there were many of the extreme ritualistic section who openly favoured and supported it, with freedom on their tongues and sacerdotalism in their hearts.

The Journal here has:—

Went to St. Leonard's with the Watneys for Good Friday (April 10th). On
Easter Sunday to Holland, with Circourt. Dined with Baudin, [Footnote:
The son of Charles Baudin, the distinguished admiral. Cf. Les Gloires
Maritimes de France, par Jurien de la Gravière.] the French minister at
the Hague.

April 13th.—Spent the evening with the Queen of Holland at the Old Palace. 14th, evening with the Queen. 16th, went on, by Utrecht, to Aix, where Circourt and I remained ten days. Came home by Antwerp.

From Mr. Robert Lytton

Madrid, April 29th.

Dear Mr. Reeve,—I must apologise for not having sooner thanked you for your very kind letter of the 8th, which reached me just as I was starting (paperless and penless) for Madrid. The cares of this world (in the shape of house-hunting), quite unaccompanied by the deceitfulness of riches, have, I am sorry to say, eaten up every hour of my time not otherwise absorbed by official visits and presentations, &c., since we reached—a week ago—this pretty, busy, but horribly hot and dear, town.

I am really pained to think that your kind intention on behalf of my book should already have been the occasion of so much trouble to you, dear Mr. Reeve; and I can only say that I am all the more grateful to you for not having altogether abandoned it. A notice in the 'Edinburgh' will at all times be most valuable; and the more touches there may be in it from your pen, the more valuable it will be. The notice in the 'Times' was indeed very kindly written, and very kindly inserted, and I doubt not that it will be very advantageous to the book in many ways.

I am greatly and agreeably struck by the animation and showiness of Madrid—after Lisbon, which is one of the dullest towns I ever saw. Life at Lisbon is en robe de chambre; here it is all en toilette. Madrid is like a pretty provincial who has been to Paris, and come back mise à la mode, and with a decided taste for spending more money than she has at her bankers'. The beauty of the women's faces, too, as you see them in the streets, the Prado, and at the opera (for I have not yet seen the beau monde at home), is very agreeable. Pretty faces seem to be as plentiful here as gold nuggets in the streets of Eldorado, when Candide saw them.

The day after we got to Madrid, Narvaes died, and till yesterday he has been lying in state and receiving the visits of a grateful public at all hours of the day. Yesterday his body, empaillé, was removed with due honours to be buried in Andalusia. The story goes about the town that on his deathbed his confessor, having told him to forgive his enemies, he replied: 'I have none.' 'Impossible! A man who has been governing Spain so long must have many.' 'But I assure you there is no man alive whom I even suspect to be my enemy.' 'No enemies?' 'None; I have shot them all!'

I sincerely hope that you will be able to visit Spain in the autumn. About that time, if still here, I shall try to see Seville and the South. But my plans are entirely dependent on Crampton's [Footnote: Sir John Crampton, minister plenipotentiary at Madrid, retired from the public service on July 1st, 1869.] movements; and I fear we shall have to pass the summer at Madrid, which I rather dread on account of the children, who have already caught feverish colds. With my wife's affectionate greetings, and my own respects, to Mrs. Reeve, pray believe me to be yours very faithfully,

R. LYTTON.

The Journal records:—

May 6th.—Disraeli was in the chair at the Literary Fund dinner. [He spoke—wrote Mrs. Reeve—with grace, and had a brilliant reception. I never heard such cheering at any previous dinner. He has stormy nights in the House of Commons, and how it will end is still uncertain; but his wonderful tact and control of feature, voice, and language give him marked advantage.]

From the Comte de Paris

York House, Twickenham, le 20 mai.

Mon cher Monsieur Reeve,—Je ne puis résister au désir d'appeler votre bienveillante attention sur le dernier numéro de la 'Revue des deux Mondes,' que je ne vous envoie pas, sachant que vous la recevez, où notre excellent ami X. Raymond a traité la question de l'église d'Irlande.

Je veux en même temps réclamer votre indulgence pour son travail, et vous demander de ne pas vous étonner si vous n'y retrouvez ni la clarté de style ni la variété de connaissances qui distinguent votre ami. Ne le lui reprochez pas trop sévèrement, car, s'il est coupable, ce n'est pas de cela.

Élevé dans le respect de la loi, je ne puis vous en dire davantage, et je me bornerai à vous rappeler qu'il y a actuellement dans la loi française deux articles, l'un interdisant aux exilés d'écrire dans les journaux, qui ne me permet pas de me présenter comme collaborateur de la 'Revue;' l'autre, punissant les journaux qui publient des articles sous des signatures autres que celle de l'auteur, qui ne me permet pas de vous en dire davantage.

Je termine en vous priant de me croire toujours

Votre bien affectionné,

LOUIS-PHILIPPE D'ORLÉANS.

From the Dean of St. Paul's

Deanery, St. Paul's, June 19th.

My Dear Reeve,—Your article [Footnote: 'The National Church,' which appeared in the Edinburgh Review of July.] I think admirable. I have ventured to make one or two verbal suggestions, but on the main of your argument I am fully with you. There are only two points which I should propose for your reconsideration. I do not quite see the bearing of your argument about the Cardross case, and do not quite understand the decision of the Scotch judges. [Footnote: The Free Church minister of Cardross had been deposed by the Church Courts for drunkenness. He applied to the civil court for redress, and was thereupon summarily ejected from the Free Church. The Court of Session decided that the defenders—the Church Courts—'are invested with no jurisdiction whatever, ecclesiastical or civil.'] Surely every corporation, or, indeed, every club, has, and must have, the power of excluding—excommunicating is only the theologian's term for the same thing—any member who flagrantly violates its rules and first principles. If a member of the Athenaeum were to get roaring drunk and disturb the place, and endanger the character of the club, the committee or a general meeting might eject him, though he would have some plea in his vested right in the property of the club—the house, library, &c. If the mistake in the Cardross case was that the culprit was ejected without trial, that, I think, should be distinctly stated. If the flaw is that it was done by the Church officers, without the general consent or sanction of the Kirk, this also should be made clear. I rather demur to the division of the ecclesiastical property now held by the Irish Church, according strictly to the proportion of its members to the rest of the population. Possession, and possession for three centuries, ought, I think, to be taken into account. But this is a question rather of detail than of principle. But the real difficulty you have stated fairly and clearly: On what terms, and under what character, is the Protestant Church, when disestablished, to hold the property—the churches, parsonages, &c.—which is to remain to her? The Church must have a constitution—I do not see why not ratified by Act of Parliament—by which the trustees which represent her will legally hold that property. She must not be exposed in a few years to a Lady Hewley's charity case. [Footnote: Sarah, Lady Hewley, at her death, in 1710, left landed property in trust for the support of 'poor and godly preachers of Christ's holy Gospel.' The original trustees were all Presbyterians; but in the course of a hundred years the trust had got into the hands of Unitarians, and the case was brought to the notice of the Charity Commissioners. After a prolonged litigation, it was finally decided by the House of Lords (August 5th, 1842) that, by the terms of the bequest, Unitarians were excluded from participating in the charity.] I suggested to the Archbishop of Armagh—a good-natured, but not a very powerful, man—that the Irish Church, when in one sense free, should yet retain, of its own will, the advantages of the supremacy of the Crown and of the law. She should take, as the fundamental tenet of her constitution, conformity to the Articles and Formularies of the Church of England, which the majority of the English hold, in their meaning and interpretation. On this principle she might retain a jurisdiction, amenable to law, over her members; her members be protected against episcopal tyranny, against that which is now the great danger, parsonocracy, which I rejoice to find that you repudiate as strongly as I or Stanley. Ever very truly yours,

H. H. MILMAN.

From Lord Cairns

July 23rd.—Many thanks for the copy of your article on the National Church. I had begun to read it with great interest in the 'Edinburgh Review,' not knowing that it was directly from your pen, and I shall now continue the perusal with increased pleasure…. I will enclose with this, in exchange for your paper, a copy of my speech on the Irish Church—a Diomedean exchange; the value of ten oxen for a hundred.

During all this spring Reeve had suffered a great deal from gout, so, by the advice of Sir Henry Holland, who spoke strongly of the necessity of change of air and of rest from all work and effort, he and his wife started for the Continent on July 24th. Passing through Paris, and staying a few days at Fontainebleau, they went on to Clermont-Ferrand in Auvergne, and to Royat, then newly come into vogue as a health resort. After about three weeks of the baths and the mountain air, Reeve was so far recovered as to be able to walk a little; and on August 18th they passed on to Geneva, where they were joined by their friends the Watneys, with whom they went on to Evian, and thence by the Valais to the Bel Alp, an hotel 7,000 feet above the sea-level, commanding magnificent views. 'Christine,' wrote Reeve in his Journal, 'went up the Sparrenhorn with Binet,' whilst, according to Mrs. Reeve, 'Henry and Mrs. Watney, not being moveable bodies, sat at windows and pooh-poohed the energetic use of legs.' From the Bel Alp, Reeve, still very much of a cripple, 'was carried'—the expression is his own—to Brieg. Thence, by the Furca, to Hospenthal and to Zurich, the falls of the Rhine, Bâle, and Paris, where they stayed a few days, and returned to London on September 10th.

From the Comte de Paris

York House, July 26th.—I had already seen the remarkable article which you have just published in the 'Edinburgh Review,' when I received the copy you so kindly thought of sending me, and which I shall keep as a souvenir of the author. I hasten to thank you, and to tell you with what interest I have read this study, so full of curious facts and remarkable appreciations. If I was called on to decide the question in its entirety, I should decline, in the first place as a Catholic. Indeed I cannot place myself at the Protestant point of view so as to judge what services the union of Church and State has rendered to the religious principles which are the basis of the Protestant faith. And the lay system of the official Church of England is so foreign to our ideas of religious authority that it is difficult for us to be impartial towards it. Those who do not belong to the Anglican Church are naturally tempted to attribute to this subjection everything in her which, in their eyes, is error or change. I should also decline as a Frenchman, for I confess that what troubles me most at the present time is the relation between the Catholic Church and the State, a relation which has been equally prejudicial to both, when founded on a political union.

But without trying to judge such a delicate question, which will be a subject of controversy as long as the world is given up to the disputes of man, I have found a real pleasure in seeing this clear explanation of the principles which form the basis of a system whose adherents are so many and so distinguished….

From Lord Clarendon

The Grove, August 2nd.—Lord Russell does not much like some parts of the article on the Irish Church, and wishes to write five or six pages on the subject for the November [Footnote: Sic for October.] number; but not feeling sure whether you would accept them, he has asked me to inquire—which I hereby do. If you have not set out for Russia, [Footnote: Sc. or other out-of-the-way place. It has been seen that, at the time, Reeve was at Royal.] perhaps you will write him a line yourself, as I start for Wiesbaden on Tuesday.

As no note from Lord Russell appeared in the October number, it would seem probable that Reeve did not encourage the idea. His own relations to Lord Russell were not such as to prompt him to any undue complacence, and he was at all times extremely averse from anything like a controversy either in or about the 'Review.' It has happened to the present writer to have statements or opinions put forward in his contributions to the 'Review' called in question in the daily or weekly papers, and to have been pointedly requested by the editor to take no notice of the hostile letters or criticisms. As the articles were strictly anonymous, the responsibility, of course, rested with the editor, who, probably for that very reason, was strongly opposed to an early revelation of a writer's personality.

The Journal notes visits to Farnborough and Denbigh, and some shooting at Torry Hill; but the gout was still troublesome, and in October Reeve and his wife went into Cornwall, where, after a week's visit to Lady Molesworth at Pencarrow, they went to Penzance, to the Land's End and the Logan Stone—on to which Mrs. Reeve clambered—and thence to Falmouth and Torquay, where they met the Queen of Holland and Prince Napoleon, with whom they spent two evenings. 'Her Majesty,' wrote Mrs. Reeve on November 4th, 'is a clever, original woman, speaking four tongues perfectly well, conversant with literature and politics, and finding in them consolation for an uncongenial family.' The sittings of the Judicial Committee, which began on November 10th, called Reeve back to town, where, on the 27th, he had the sad news of the death of his old friend Colonel Ferguson of Raith, and, for the last three years, of Novar.

From Lord Clarendon

Grosvenor Crescent, November 13th.

My dear Reeve,—The Queen of Holland has proposed to dine here in the unfurnished cupboard where we have our frugal repasts, on Monday next at eight. We have no servants, plate, or usual appurtenances, and only six can be crammed into the locale. Will you be one of them? and will Mrs. Reeve excuse us for asking you alone on account of our no room? Please let me have an answer as soon as you can.

Ever yours truly,

CLARENDON.

Endorsed—The dinner consisted of the Queen, Cockburn, Seymour, and self.

From the Bishop of Lincoln [Footnote: Christopher Wordsworth. Cf. ante, vol. i. pp. 31, 68. VOL. II.]

November 21st.

My dear Reeve,—It is very good of you to write as you do concerning my promotion. I should indeed have been well content to remain in the peaceful harbour of Westminster for the remainder of my days, instead of putting out to sea in a rather weather-beaten bark in stormy weather. But such kind words as yours encourage me to hope that, if I am wrecked in the storm, I may be picked up by some friendly vessel and brought to land again. I have, my dear friend, your congratulations, and let me have also your prayers. I am, my dear Reeve,

Yours sincerely,

CHR. WORDSWORTH. [Footnote: He had not yet adopted the episcopal signature.]

I send you three pamphlets. Do not think me troublesome, but you ought really to take up (pardon me for saying so) the question of the approaching great Roman Council, which will probably affirm the personal infallibility of the Pope, and be fraught with the most important results to Europe, political as well as ecclesiastical.

From Lord Cairns

Windsor Castle, November 29th.

My dear Reeve,—I send you in a separate cover my notes of a judgement in Rugg v. Bishop of W. for printing and circulation; and I enclose in this a letter which I have had from Lord Westbury, which is in accordance with the judgement as it stands, but which it would perhaps be best to put in print and circulate along with the judgement. I hope in a week or ten days to have Mackonochie ready—that is, if I am not smothered in the meantime by the books and pamphlets which the Ritualists daily shower upon me.

Yours faithfully, CAIRNS.

As the general election had left his party in a minority of about 130, Disraeli resigned on December 4th, and Mr. Gladstone, who had put the disestablishment of the Irish Church prominently before the electors, formed a ministry which was from the beginning pledged to the measure. It was known that this would meet with no support from Lord Westbury, so that he was necessarily 'left out in the cold,' not without some misgivings as to what a man so cunning in fence might say or write when his opinions were sharpened by a sense of personal injury. To Lord Westbury, however, the slight was lost in his wrath at the barefaced avowal of a plan of spoliation; and, without taking the trouble to date his letter, he wrote:—

From Lord Westbury

[December].—These written judgements are a great bore. I imagine (no doubt from vanity) that, at the end of the argument, I could have pronounced viva voce a much more effective and convincing judgement than that which I have written. The vis animi evaporates during the slow process of writing; the conception fades and the expression becomes feeble. What we shall do with the other case of Mackonochie I dread to think. I wish we had knocked it off while the iron was hot, as we used to do the running down cases. There is no chance of a decision this side of Christmas.

I have come up to town on some private matters, and have not the least notion of mingling in any political matters. In fact, I gave my people to understand so clearly last session that I would reject with abhorrence any measure that embodied these two wicked things—l. Stripping the Irish Church of its property to convert it to secular uses, which is robbery; 2. Destroying episcopacy in, and the Queen's supremacy over, the Established Church in Ireland, which is a wanton, unnecessary, and most mischievous act—that of course I could not expect any communication from them.

The weakness of the Government in its legal staff in the House of Commons will be very great, but the opposition will be weaker. It cannot be expected that Palmer [Footnote: Sir Roundell Palmer, afterwards Earl of Selborne, had been successively Solicitor—and Attorney-General during the whole of the Liberal Administration 1859-66; but on the formation of Mr. Gladstone's Government declined the Great Seal with a peerage, on account of his disapproval of the proposed disestablishment and disendowment of the Irish Church. Notwithstanding Lord Westbury's forecast, he did speak very strongly against the Bill on the second reading (March 22nd, 1869), voted with the minority against it, and took an active part against it in the Committee.] will take a very active part in opposition. Then what lawyer have they? But in the House of Lords I hope the principles of English law and of political expediency will be abundantly illustrated and explained, and shown to be in direct opposition to the Government's destructive and revolutionary measure; and if this be done, as the people of England are a law-loving and law-abiding people, there may be a great reaction in public feeling. And what will Wood be able to do against those opposed to him?

What a Cabinet! 'Misery,' says Trinculo, 'makes one acquainted with strange bedfellows'—so, it seems, does unlooked-for prosperity. Only fancy Granville, Clarendon, and the rest, pigging heads and tails with John Bright in the same truckle bed! I am very thankful that I have an opportunity of conversing in quiet with philosophers and poets at Hinton.

The following, written in a feminine hand on a half-sheet of note-paper, belongs to this time. It is endorsed by Reeve—'Lord Derby's acrostic on Gladstone;' but it does not appear whether the attributing it to Lord Derby was on positive knowledge or on mere current gossip. The name of the author was certainly not generally known.

G was a Genius and mountain of mind;
L a Logician expert and refined;
A an Adept at rhetorical art;
D was the Dark spot that lurked in his heart;
S was the Subtlety that led him astray;
T was the Truth that he bartered away;
O was the Cypher his conscience became;
N was the New-light that lit up the same;
E was the Evil-One shouting for joy,—
'Down with it! down with it! Gladstone, my boy!

[Footnote: Another, slightly different, edition of this acrostic, with the answer to it from the Radical point of view, is given in Sir M. E. Grant Duff's Notes from a Diary, 1873-81, vol. i. p. 126.]

From Lord Cairns

December 7th—Putting aside the well-regulated party feeling which we ought all to endeavour to cultivate, the sensation of a period of repose after twenty-five years of hardish work is, to me, so novel and agreeable that I fear I do not look on my exit from office [Footnote: On the fall of Disraeli's ministry.] with the solicitude that I ought. But I do not the less appreciate the kind sentiments in your note, and I can safely say that upon the Judicial Committee, whether as Chancellor or as Lord Justice, it has been a very great pleasure to me to co-operate with anyone whose anxiety and efforts for the efficiency of the tribunal, and whose ability to contribute to that end, are as great as yours.

I am most desirous that the two ecclesiastical judgements should be given before Christmas, as I may be absent for some weeks after that day. I hope to send you my draft in Mackonochie on Wednesday, and I will beg you to print and circulate it as soon as possible. I wish I could have done it sooner; but it is magnum opus et difficile, and I have had judgements in chancery and other work on hand, and in this I felt obliged to trust to no amanuensis.

The following letter is from the widow of Sir James Smith, the botanist (d. 1828), and at this time in her ninety-sixth year. By her maiden name she was Pleasance Reeve, an old family friend, but not a relation of her namesake. Her letters are not less remarkable for the clearness and strength of the writing, than they are for the vigour of the thought and the lucidity of the expression. Five years later, just as she had completed her one hundredth year, Reeve and his daughter paid her a visit at Lowestoft, which is recorded on a later page. [Footnote: See post, p. 215.]

Lowestoft, December 16th—Surely, dear Mr. Reeve, this is not the first time you have inquired of me concerning Lowestoft china? Either you, or Dr. Hooker it might be; whichever it was, I sent him all that I knew about it, and that all is very little, for I am one of the sceptics, and have been filled with doubt and surprise at the reports I have heard. But I am told I am quite mistaken, and that it surely had arrived at a great state of perfection; that foreign artists had been employed; and that, if what is shown is not Lowestoft china, what other is it? For there is a peculiarity in it which those acquainted with [it] know at first sight, and which is totally different from Chelsea, or Derby, or Worcestershire, or Staffordshire. This I admit. One peculiarity Mr. S. Martin observed. The bottoms of the saucers have very slight undulations, looking, as he said, like a ribbon that requires ironing to be perfectly flat and smooth. This, when he showed me, I also noticed; and, I must add, I have seen the same in real Chinese china; but he told me he could distinguish better, and that it was not the same. Also, there is a uniformity in certain little flowers and roses which is seen in no others. The shapes are good, and as the manufacture advanced the painting was improved; armorial bearings were represented, and gilding.

S. Martin, who could send you a much more perfect account than I can, always calls on an old woman—the widow of Rose, a painter—who recollects their melting guineas for gold to gild with. She, perhaps, is dead now, for when he last called she was bedrid, and nearly insensible. I recommend you to ask of Mr. S. Martin, Liverpool, who, I am sure, would give you much information I cannot.

What I do know I will tell as well as I can—That in my early youth there was a manufactory; that I often went and saw Mr. Allen dab a piece of white clay on a wheel, and, with his foot turning the wheel, with his right hand he formed a handsome basin or cup in a minute or two. The china basins, cups, saucers, pots, jugs—everything was made here, painted here, by poor sickly looking boys and girls, for it was a very unwholesome trade—baked here; and they had a shop in London, which, I suppose, took off the bulk of their manufactured articles. I remember the great water-wheel which ground the clay—a fearful monster, sublime, I must say, for it 'hid its limits in its greatness;' but the beautiful lake that supplied it with water, and was covered with water-lilies, was one of my favourite resorts.

Gillingwater [Footnote: Historical Account of the Ancient Town of Lowestoft (1790).] tells us that Mr. Hewling Luson found the clay on his estate in 1756, made experiments, was defeated; other persons took it up, and were also hindered through jealousy; another trial proved unsuccessful, but repeated efforts succeeded, and the manufacture began, and went on till about the end of the century, or early in 1800, when my brother bought a few articles at the final sale by way of remembrance, but these, though pretty, are by no means the choicest specimens. A man in the town has a whole dinner service, with, I think, ducal bearings; and only last summer Mr. Bohn [Footnote: Henry George Bohn, the well-known publisher, and almost equally well-known collector of articles of vertu.] gave 5 £ to an old man for one little cup, which the poor fellow intended as a legacy to his daughter, and he unwillingly sold it; but 5 £ bribed him—or it might be more; the original price was probably 4_d_. or 6_d_. at most.

Pray, dear Mr. Reeve, take no trouble to correct the name in Mrs. Palliser's book of pottery. I never was a patroness of the Lowestoft china, know but little about it, and do not wish my name to appear as being in any other way connected with it than as being an inhabitant of the same town.—I am, dear Mr. Reeve, yours faithfully,

P. SMITH.

And the Journal winds up the year with—

December 31st—To Hinton St. George, on a visit to Lord Westbury.

1869. The year opened at Hinton, shooting with Lord Westbury. Montague Smith was there. Nothing ever amused me more than Lord Westbury's society, and I became intimate with him. He was a strange mixture of intellectual power and moral weakness, and his peculiar mode of speaking was at once precise, pertinent, and comical. He had hired Hinton from Lord Paulet, and lived there with a host of children and grandchildren. On Sundays all dined together—I think, thirty-two of them.

From the Duc d'Aumale

Woodnorton, 16 janvier.—… Nous aurons une passable chasse à tir le jour sacramental du lr février. Voulez-vous en être? L'ennui est que c'est un lundi, et que le train du dimanche est d'une lenteur fabuleuse. Voulez-vous venir dîner et coucher ici samedi 30, ou dimanche 31?

H. D'O.

From a later note of the Duke's, it appears that Reeve was unable to accept the invitation to the passable chasse, which he would have enjoyed, especially as after four years there was no longer a question of the 'loose box' or the 'kitchen dresser.'

The next letter, from Lord Westbury, is in evident answer to one from Reeve about Lord Campbell's 'Lives of Lyndhurst and Brougham,' then newly published, of which a very severe—not, it was thought, too severe—article appeared in the 'Review' for April. The article was not by Reeve; but we may fairly suppose that he—to some extent, at least—inspired it; and that—also to some extent—the inspiration was supplied by Lord Westbury.

Hinton St. George, January 24th—I wish you were here for two or three days' shooting before the season closes, as the weather is so mild and beautiful, and I hear that in London it is miserably cold. So tell Mrs. Reeve that her Zomerzet is a favoured county after all.

As to what you say about the book, I remember a celebrated dinner at the Temple, to which I invited Lyndhurst, Brougham, Campbell, and Charlie Wetherell, when the latter warned Lyndhurst and Brougham of Campbell's design, in terms almost prophetic of what has occurred. 'My biographical friend will excel in exhibiting every little foible; Hunc tu Romane caveto.' I cannot describe the whole scene to you, but will some day vivâ voce.

From the Duc d'Aumale

Woodnorton, January 31st.

My dear Mr. Reeve,—An absence at Badminton, where I struggled for a few hours' sport, first with the frost and then with hurricanes, has prevented me from sooner answering your letter of the 26th.

I have searched the archives at Monte Cassino very minutely; I do not know those of La Cava, which have the reputation of being very curious, but more local and of less general interest than those of Monte Cassino. The Cassinesi had a printing press, to which we owe many beautiful publications, some unpublished sermons of St. Augustine's, several works by the eloquent and learned Father Tosti, &c. They had prepared an edition of an unpublished Commentary on Dante, and also of the valuable correspondence of Mabillon, Montfaucon, and other clerics of the Congregation of St. Maur, when, in consequence of the events of 1848, their printing presses were sequestrated. At that time they were suspected of Liberalism. Now, when secularisation has replaced sequestration, it seems to me that the Italian Government ought to continue the literary and archaeological work of the monks, as it has substituted itself in their proprietary rights; just as, after the French Revolution, the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres carried on the immense work of the clerics of the Congrégation de St.-Maur.

This is my first impulse on reading M. de Circourt's letter. However, we will speak of it further when I have the pleasure of seeing you again, which I hope will be soon. Mille amitiés.

H. D'ORLÉANS

The Journal notes:—

In London the usual dinners. Dined at Mr. Gladstone's on February 1st. This was the first dinner he gave after becoming Prime Minister. There were present Lord Lansdowne, Clarendon, Hammond, Northbrook, Helps, Kinnaird, Doyle, Hamilton, and Salomons [Footnote: Created a baronet on October 26th of the same year.]—an odd party. He received us in the hall.

April 9th—To Paris. 10th, at the Institute; saw Guizot, Mignet, St.-Hilaire, Wolowski, Chevalier, &c., there. 18th, Chapel at the Tuileries; saw the Emperor there—I think for the last time. 20th, went to La Celle, [Footnote: La Celle St.-Cloud, about four miles from Versailles, where M. de Circourt lived throughout the evening of his life.] and spent some days there with Circourt. ['Henry,' wrote Mrs. Reeve, 'enjoyed his days in the country with M. de Circourt vastly. We thought it unreasonable to go all three, and a maid, to his small house; so Hopie and I careered about the streets, went to a play, and to a dance at the Chinese Embassy!—not very Chinese, as the minister is American, so also is his wife, and the guests were mostly his country-folk.']

23rd—Dined at M. Guizot's. 25th—Dined with Thiers, and met Mignet, St.-Hilaire, Duvergier, and Rémusat.

The Royal Academy Exhibition took place for the first time in Burlington
House. I dined with the R.A.s at Pender's.

From M. Guizot

Val Richer, May 13th—I took up my summer quarters here a week ago, leaving the fifth volume of my 'Mémoires' in Paris, ready printed and on the eve of publication. You will receive it next week. It deals entirely with my embassy to England in 1840. I am anxious to know what will be said of it in England; it will be very kind of you to supply me with the information. You know that I love and honour England sufficiently always to say what I think of her; and what she thinks of me concerns me closely, whether our opinions are or are not the same.

I have found many letters and conversations of yours for 1840. But it was more especially after this, and during the first year of my ministry, that you helped me so effectively in preserving peace and re-establishing friendly relations between our two countries. I hope you will not object to my saying so….

The Journal mentions:—

May 22nd.—Visit to Tom Baring's, at Norman Court. [Mr. Baring—wrote Mrs. Reeve—is the head of the house of Baring Brothers; an elderly gentleman and a bachelor, very simple, but very kindly. The house is not large for the park and property, which is, all together, about 7,000 acres; but pictures and china are renowned; so is the cooking; and, with such wealth as is at our host's command, all the details are in perfection. In the park there are many fine beech and other trees, and the yew grows wonderfully, contrasting its dark tint with the soft, white may. On the slope of the hill, about three miles off, grow service-trees and juniper; and, from the ridge, one sees across the New Forest to the Solent and the Isle of Wight.]

June 4th—Went to Windsor to see Mr. Woodward and the Queen's library. Then to Farnborough for the Ascot week.

July 2nd.—Watney's water-party to Medmenham Abbey, where we were all photographed.

13th—Lucy Duff Gordon died at Cairo. Alexander asked me to write an epitaph, which was put up there.

From M. Guizot

Val Richer, July 14th—When your letter of the 8th arrived I was on the point of writing to ask you to tell me what is the best History of England from the accession of Queen Anne to that of Queen Victoria. I have the 'Pictorial History of England,' Lord Stanhope's 'Eighteenth Century,' and Mr. Alison's big volumes on the recent revolutionary times. These do not satisfy me; I do not want political or moral appreciations. What I should like would be a book in which all the events of any importance are related in chronological order. I particularly hold to knowing the correct dates. It is only on this condition that history can be materially known and morally understood. It will be very kind of you to give me the information I want. I amuse myself by relating to my grandchildren, at one time, the history of France, at another, the history of England. They take great interest in it. I want them to know both correctly, and understand them well.

The Journal continues:—

July 16th.—Met the Duke of Leinster at Robartes' at dinner. He had made a capital speech in the House of Lords a few days before, which I heard. It lasted only three minutes; but it stated these facts:—That he had given land and houses, with complete success, to priests, Presbyterians, and Episcopalians; that all were grateful, and they lived happily together.

He afterwards told me, at this dinner, that he had not given the houses and glebes to any ecclesiastical persons, but to certain lay members of each congregation, in trust for their respective ministers. This was exactly what I had suggested some little time before. The Duke said that, having called one day to inquire for a very old Catholic priest living in one of these houses, while he was sitting by his bedside, the Episcopalian clergyman came into the room for the same purpose.

Sunday, 18th.—Dinner at Lord Granville's. I had not dined with him for some years—since his marriage. The room was rather dark when I went in. Lord Granville said something, as I understood, about a foreign countess to whom he presented me, but I did not catch her name, and concluded she was some Italian relative of the Marochettis. Lady Granville did not appear, being unwell; and Lady Ailesbury, the only other lady present, did the honours. The party consisted of the Duc de Richelieu (whom I had met the night before at the Clarendons'), the Duca di Ripalta, Lord Clanwilliam, Lord Tankerville, Baron Brunnow, Count Strogonoff, Chief Justice Cockburn, and myself.

Upon sitting down at table I found myself between the Duc de Richelieu and Lord Clanwilliam, and one removed from the foreign lady, who turned out to be H.I.H. the Grand Duchess Marie of Russia. Strogonoff is the man she married three years after her first husband's death—but she had to wait till Nicholas died too. When Nicholas first observed his daughter's preference for the young officer, he took him by the arm and pointed out from the window the view of Fort George. Strogonoff thought the Emperor's manner strange, but did not take the hint till his brother officers reminded him that Fort George is a State prison; so there was no more love-making till after the Tsar's death.

The Princess is at this time fifty, still extremely handsome, with a long string of enormous pearls round her neck. Nothing could be more lively and agreeable. She first carried on a contest with my neighbour, the Duc, about the Emperor Napoleon; said he was only trop bon, and lauded him to the skies. The Duc came out as the pure Legitimist, though he said his own party had not a shadow of a chance; that the Emperor had been going down ever since the fatal Italian campaign; that there were no Orleanists in France, and that the Duc d'Aumale was conspiring against the Comte de Paris, &c. &c.—a tissue of absurdity. Then, sotto voce to me, 'Je voudrais bien jouir davantage de votre société, mais vous voyez comme je suis placé' (i.e. next the Princess). 'Très conservative dans mes principes, je n'aime pas les princes. Il faut vivre avec ses égaux.' He said this twice. The second time I replied, 'Monsieur, cela est bon pour les ducs—mais nous autres?'

'Ah! sous ce rapport je ne fais aucune distinction. Hors des princes, tout est égal.'

A good deal of conversation about the Irish Church Bill which is just now in the crisis of the Lords' amendments. H.I.H. asked me my opinion. I replied that they were now disputing about nothing at all—i.e. the application of a surplus which will not exist for many years. Brunnow said he was of the same opinion.

Lord Clanwilliam and I had a great deal of talk. He had been with Lord Castlereagh at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1818. Spoke a good deal of Metternich, justly. When M. met Guizot in London after 1848, he was struck by the motto G. had adopted—via recta brevissima. Lord Clanwilliam said that the shortest way was also the best. 'Yes,' added Metternich, 'and it has also the advantage that on that path you don't meet anybody'—'auf diesen Weg wird niemand begegnet.'

Sitting upstairs after this dinner I had a curious conversation with Brunnow and Lord Granville on the causes of the Crimean War. They agreed that had either Aberdeen or Palmerston been in power alone, the war would have been prevented; but that the combination of the two rendered it inevitable.

Brunnow said that there was, at one moment, a period of about ten days during which the war might have been prevented, if Lord Granville had been sent off on a special mission to St. Petersburg, but the Cabinet refused; and then came Sinope. He declared that he had always told the Emperor that Aberdeen, though averse to war, had not the power to prevent it; and in proof of his own sincerity he caused a million of Russian money which was in the Bank of England to be removed, as early as September 1853, though this was against the opinion of Nesselrode.

After his return to England on the peace, Lord Aberdeen said to him, with great emotion, 'I never deceived you, my dear Brunnow.' To which B. replied: 'No; my dear lord, you never did.' He said that at Paris in 1856 Walewski had at once told him that the Emperor Napoleon was resolved to have peace.

It was a most pleasant and curious evening, and everyone went away in good humour.

25th—Went to Aix with Helen Richardson. Over to Cologne and Kreuznach with the Watneys and Boothbys. Dined with Goldsmid at Bonn. Saw Professor Sybel there.

The following letter, on a subject in which Mrs. Oliphant took much interest, was addressed to Reeve rather in his editorial than his personal capacity. The two were very well acquainted, but do not seem to have corresponded in ordinary course.

Dunkerque, August 14th.

Dear Sir,—You will, I have no doubt, think it extremely womanish and unreasonable on my part to have proposed writing a paper on such a much-discussed subject as Mr. Mill's book, without indicating the manner in which I should treat it; but my object was, first, to know whether it was open, and if you would be disposed, other things harmonising, to entrust it to me. I will not say, as was my first impulse, that your own intention of taking up the subject is quite sufficient answer for me; for, of course, you are the best judge in that respect, and I am really anxious to have an opportunity of saying my say, with gravity and pains, on a matter so important.

I entirely agree with you in your opinion of Mr. Mill's theory of marriage and the relations between men and women. I think it is not only fallacious, but a strangely superficial way of regarding a question which is made only the more serious by the fact that a great deal of suffering and much injustice result, not from arbitrary and removable causes, but from nature herself, and those fundamental laws which no agitation can abrogate.

My own idea is that woman is neither lesser man, nor the rival of man, but a creature with her share of work so well defined and so untransferable, as to make it impossible for her, whatsoever might be her gifts and training, to compete with him on perfectly fair terms. There may or may not be general inferiority of intellect—I have no theory on the subject; but intellect, in my opinion, is not the matter in question. Could the burdens of maternity be transferred, or could a class of female celibates be instituted, legislation might be able to do everything for them. But beyond this, I do not see how we can go, except in the case of such measures as those you refer to for the protection of the property of married women, which has already been anticipated by ordinary good sense and prudence, and thus been proved as practicable as it is evidently needful.

I am disposed to accept gratefully such safeguards of practical justice, and also every possibility of improved education, though I put no great faith in the results of the latter; the great difficulty in the case of every female student being, in my opinion, not the want of power, or perseverance, or energy, but the simple yet much more inexorable fact that she is a woman, and liable, the moment she marries, to interruptions and breaks in her life, which must infallibly weaken all her chances of success. This is the line I should take in any paper on the subject; and as few people could speak more fully from experience, I think perhaps my contribution to the discussion—from within, as it were, and not from without—might be worth having. Believe me, truly yours,

M. O. W. OLIPHANT.

And, on the lines here indicated, Mrs. Oliphant wrote the article on 'Mill and the Subjection of Women' in the October number of the 'Review.'

On August 24th, Reeve with his wife started for Scotland; but the grouse had been nearly exterminated by the disease, the shooting was everywhere very indifferent, and a month was passed in a number of friendly visits, of which little trace is left beyond the bare names. On September 21st they returned to London, where, in preparing for a contemplated journey to Portugal, he had to arrange for the sittings of the Judicial Committee immediately after his return. The following shows the kind of difficulty he had to contend with:—

From Lord Cairns

September 27th—I am very sorry that I shall be unable to take part in your sittings after Michaelmas Term. I have arranged to give up November to that dreadful arbitration of the London, Chatham, and Dover, which, in a weak moment, Salisbury and I undertook; and, after that, I go to Mentone, where I have taken a house for the winter…. I should regret very much to dissever myself from the sittings of the Judicial Committee, which I have always found agreeable, both from the interesting character of the business, and from the pleasant composition of the tribunal; and I hope in next year to be able to afford more service than I have in this; but for the next sitting I must not be reckoned on. I hope you will enjoy your run to Portugal.

This contemplated tour was, no doubt, mainly for the pleasure and interest of visiting a country still unknown to him, but with a slight pretext of business, as chairman of the Lusitanian Mining Company. A few days before his departure he received the following from Lord Clarendon:—

The Grove, October 3rd—You will not find Murray at Lisbon, as he is on leave; but a letter shall be written, and to Doria, the chargé d'affaires, to render you any service in his power. Do you want one to the consul at Oporto?

I am glad you approved what I said at Watford. I never dreamt of the speech making a sensation, but it has; and as there was nothing remarkable in it, it is a proof that people were looking for an assurance from somebody that a policy of spoliation was not meditated.

I can't say I got much good from Wiesbaden, where mental torpor, and not a dozen red boxes per day, is required.

* * * * *

And so, accompanied by his wife and daughter, and armed with these letters of introduction and 'a Foreign Office bag, more,' wrote Mrs. Reeve, 'to give us importance, I suspect, than to convey despatches,' Reeve started as soon as his work was cleared off and the October number of the 'Review' was fairly out of his hands.

CHAPTER XVII

THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR

For some reason best known to himself, Portugal is not a favourite hunting-ground of the tourist; and the country—though almost at our door, though bound to us by alliance in war and friendship in peace for more than two hundred years, though possessing beautiful scenery and the grandest of historical associations—remains comparatively unknown. So far as he was concerned, Reeve had long wished to dispel this darkness, and the fact of his being Chairman of the Lusitanian Mining Company gave him the desired opportunity. His Journal of the tour is here, as on former occasions, elaborated by extracts (in square brackets) from Mrs. Reeve's.

October 9th—Started for Portugal on board the 'Douro' from Southampton. Fine passage. Landed at Lisbon on October 13th. Hôtel Bragança. Kindly received by Pinto Basto. Excursion to Cintra on the 14th.

15th.—Dined with Pinto Basto and met Fonseca. 16th, to Caldas. 17th, to Alcobaça; then drove on to Batalha, and slept at Leiria. These great monasteries, now deserted, with their architecture and their tombs, are of the highest interest.

18th.—From Leiria to Pombal, and thence by rail to Coimbra [armed with letters of introduction from Count Lavradio, including one to the 'Rector Magnificus,' described as 'homme aimable et fort instruit, surtout dans les sciences physiques.']

[The buildings of the University are not remarkable either way. The Rector received us very courteously; showed us himself the splendid view from the tower, the Salle where degrees are conferred, and allowed us to peep into a gallery and through a window to see the lecture-rooms; then, making his bow, sent us with an attendant to the chapel, where we were joined by the Professor of German, Herr Dürzen, clad in the ample cape or cloak and with the black jelly-bag cap which is the academic costume. He took us to the library, a large and striking saloon with carved and gilt pilasters and galleries…. There are about 900 students, of whom a large proportion comes from the Brazils. They look very picturesque in their floating drapery and hanging headgear; but the cape must be always impeding the free use of arms and legs, and the cap—now that its original use as a begging purse has ceased—might well be exchanged for a 'sombrero.' Herr Dürzen accompanied us to the Botanic Gardens, where his friend and countryman, Götze, showed us a splendid magnolia, Australian pines, and a great variety of eucalypti…. We then drove to the entrance of the footway leading to the Penedo da Saudade, a walk much affected by the Coimbrese. Then to the Quinta da Santa Cruz, the summer residence of the monks. Truly they had made them lordly pleasure-grounds, orange groves, hedges like tall walls of arbor-vitae, terraces leading to fountains and cascades, azulejo-lined benches surrounding marble floors, shaded by grand old laurels…. The Quinta now belongs to a rich butter factor, who lets everything ornamental go to wreck and ruin, or just clears it off for farm purposes…. The butter factor's dogs came out barking and biting as we left the garden. Henry made a timely retreat; the professor showed fight, and came off second best, with his mantle torn. Then to the Church of Santa Cruz and to the monastic buildings attached….]

20th.—Coimbra to Mealhada, then to Luso, and walked to Busaco. Convent of Busaco. Scene of battle. Rail to Estarreja [which we reached at 6 P.M. A splendid full moon lighted our drive to Palhal. Mr. Cruikshank met us at the station, and drove Henry in his dog-cart; Hopie and I, with our bags, went in the char-à-banc which had been procured from Aveiro. The distance is about eight miles, seven of which are a gentle ascent, and then a steep pitch down of one mile. Flags were flying in honour of the arrival of the chairman of the 'Lusitanian Company,' and after dinner a display of fireworks. Mr. and Mrs. Cruikshank are a pleasing and intelligent young Scotch couple. Three of their children are at Granja, a little bathing village two or three stations further, and Mrs. Cruikshank and her eldest little girl came back to receive us.]

21st.—[The mine at Palhal yields copper ore; that of Carvalhal lead ore. The Pinto Basto family have the concession of the mines, and own much of the surface. From five to eight hundred persons are employed—all Portuguese, except the three mining captains, the dresser of the ores, a carpenter, and a blacksmith. The English colony consists of about thirty souls; there is a school for the children, and on Sundays they meet for Divine worship after the manner of Wesleyans. The wages of these Cornishmen are eight, ten, twelve pounds a month, and there are very tidy houses on the property, with a large cottage, or house, for the agent—Mr. Cruikshank. The works are in the ravine below the house, and the Caima furnishes ample water power…. Many women and girls are employed preparing the ores, some of them remarkably good-looking…. Their wages are from two to three shillings a week. The scenery—pine-clad hills, streams on the hill-side, ravines, and burns—reminded one of Scotland; but oranges and camellias in the gardens, arbutus, myrtle, laurustinus, cistus, all wild, tell of a different climate…. We explored Palhal on Thursday, and Carvalhal on Friday; Henry and Mr. Cruikshank going into details at the works, whilst we went, with Mrs. Cruikshank, to call on the wives, visit the school, &c…. On Friday evening we took the train at Estarreja, and so to Oporto.]

25th.—Adolph Pinto Basto

26th.—Drove to Carvalho with Elles.

27th.—Drove to Leça do Balio with Oswald Crawford, the consul. Interesting Templars' church.

28th-30th.—By rail from Oporto to Madrid, thirty-six hours by Badajos, Merida, Alcazar.

31st.—Madrid. Gallery. Bull-fight for the benefit of 'El Tato.' [We had seen him at Valencia, nine years ago, in the pride and bloom of his career—a career cut short not so much by the fury of the bull as by the ignorance of the surgeon. Presently the chief door of the arena was unbarred, and an open carriage, with three men in the dress of matadors and 'El Tato' in the 'plain clothes' of a peasant drove round. Great was the sensation. The men shouted, the women wept, the old lady at my elbow shed floods of tears; cigars and hats were flung to him; he bowed, kissed his hand, wiped his eyes. Then the regular work of the day commenced.] Very cold.

November 2nd.—Left Madrid for Avila, passing the Escorial.

3rd.—Avila and then on to Burgos.

4th.—Burgos. Cathedral. Monuments.

5th.—Reached Biarritz at 10 P.M., and so to Paris.

8th.—Paris. Saw Désclès in 'Frou-frou.' Great actress.

Home on the 9th. A well-spent month.

From the Comte de Paris

York House, le 11 novembre.

Mon cher Monsieur Reeve,—Mon oncle Aumale et moi nous vous remercions des paquets que vous nous avez envoyés ce matin; mon oncle me charge de vous dire qu'il n'a pu vous écrire aujourd'hui, étant fort occupé des soins à donner à la Duchesse d'Aumale, qui est toujours dans un état assez grave, mais que vous lui ferez grand plaisir si vous voulez venir passer au Woodnorton la semaine du 22 au 29 novembre; il y aura quelques chasses à tir.

Je viens de mon côté vous demander de nous faire le plaisir de venir, avec Madame et Mademoiselle Reeve, déjeuner ici dimanche prochain à midi et demie; c'est le seul jour où je puisse vous voir, car je pars lundi matin pour le Worcestershire.

Veuillez me croire votre bien affectionné,

LOUIS-PHILIPPE D'ORLÉANS.