AMailB :FRfiiis: :■ ■0©SOELISE BAGdl^ // GEORGE CANNING AND HIS FRIENDS ^JrCytff>4ter: ^A^ JL. fwiyx. (Omen/ u/a.CK.c^-^7^,.^>c GEORGE CANNING AND HIS FRIENDS CONTAINING HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED LETTERS, JEUX D'ESPRIT, ETC EDITED BY CAPTAIN JOSCELINE BAGOT WITH ILLUSTRATIONS IN TWO VOLUMES— VOL. IL ' Every country for itself, and God for us all' LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. 1909 SAINTA iiAitiJAitA CONTENTS CHAPTER I THE LISBON EMBASSY AND AMERICAN AFFAIRS (1815-1817) PAGES Waterloo — A mission to America — Easier since Waterloo — Gossip from Paris and from London — Canning returns — On pigtails — Washington after the war — Mount Vernon — Oxford election — First anniversary of Waterloo — Carlton and Camelford Houses — American visitors — Pauline Borghese — The Duke in Paris - - - - i — 43 CHAPTER n CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE (1817-1819) Canning and Peel — The parson's reverie — The parson's politics — A new Speaker— Canning's defence — Canning on the Session — In the days of the Regency — Paris after the war — The Duke and Pauline — ' A wonder-working fellow ' — Attempt on the Duke's life — Brougham in Westmorland — Precautions for the Duke — His sang-froid — American Con- stitution — Duke of Richmond — The revered Ogden — Canning's family — American news — Joe Manton — Lord Talbot in Ireland — Lyttelton on the situation - 44 — 93 CHAPTER III 'THE queen's trial' (1819-1821) Stratford Canning goes to America — Death of George III. — The Queen's return — Queen Caroline — Canning goes abroad — The Troppau Congress — The Bill dropped — Public feel- ing — ' Once aboard the lugger ' — St. Petersburg — London news from Lyttelton — The Russian Post-Office - 94 — 116 V VI CONTENTS CHAPTER IV THE HOLY ALLIANCE (1822) I'AGKS Laibach and Verona — Ministerial clianges — Russia and Turkey — Canning for India — Catholic peers — Hume's economies —Castlereagh's death— Lord Stewart's grief - 117— 132 CHAPTER V CANNING AS FOREIGN MINISTER (1822-1823) Whig opinions — ' For Europe read England ' — Lord London- derry — Lyttelton on Castlereagh — Verona — Henry Wellesley — Spain — Francis Conyngham — Farewell to Liverpool — ' Every nation for itself, and God for us all ' — Ministerial changes — Canning's increasing popularity — Canning ' marching nobly ' — American boundaries — The United States — The Presidency — A 'scene' in the House — A sensational remark — Social functions - - 133 — 171 CHAPTER VI THE SPANISH COLONIES (1823) The allied monarchs offended — Diplomacy — Two alternatives — A vote of censure — The monarchs' complaints — Ignored by Canning — Neutrality — Portugal — Russian intentions — Palmella and Canning — Lord Strangford — The Buck- hounds — Russia and Turkey — World-wide complications — Christopher Hughes — Alexander I. - - - 172 — 204 CHAPTER VII FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS (1824) The Monroe Doctrine — A proposed Conference at St. Peters- burg — Canning on the Greek Question — Russian Mission to the Porte — Mr. Rush's avowal — Russian promises — Canning warns his Ambassadors — His attitude with Lieven — ' Con- ference there shall be none' — The Hague — Poor M. Fagel • — Secrecy at Czernovilz — Indiscreet philanthropy — Lord Byron — Sir Alexander Malet — ' The name to conjure with ' — A Secret Memorandum — Mexico — Proposed Spanish Conference ------ 205 — 241 CONTENTS Vll CHAPTER Viri PORTUGAL AND SPANISH AMERICA (1824) PACES Proposed Conference on Greek affairs — News from Turkey — A premature publication — Portugal asks for help — Polignac intervenes — Canning's reply — Awkward suggestions — Polignac climbs down — France puzzled - - 242 — 258 CHAPTER IX RUSSIAN DIPLOMACY (1824) Acting without orders — Official explanations — An official ' snouch ' — Private reproof — Repentance — American nego- tiations — Mrs. Canning's writing — Independence in South America recognized ----- 259 — 277 CHAPTER X CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION AND RUSSIAN AFFAIRS (1825-1826) Catholic debate — Effect in Ireland — No Popery — ' Queen Chris- tine ' — A visit to the Lakes— Canning at Windermere — Dutch Ministers — Falck cantankerous — The Dutch in India — Uncle Sam's Land — Prominent Americans — A duel — Nicholas and Constantine — Lord Ponsonby — Brazil — Making a Constitution — Don Pedro - - - 278 — 311 CHAPTER XI THE RHYMING DESPATCH (1825-1826) Lord Strangford's trouble — ' A Cossack kiss ' — A great speech — The last joke — ' Tariff reform ' — The cypher despatch — The missing cypher — Success — Not Pyramus, but ' Bottom the weaver' ------ 312 — 325 CHAPTER XII RUSSIA AND THE HAGUE (1826) Lord Strangford — A jobation — A sybaritical street — The Duke goes to Russia — His arrival — Greek negotiations — Strang- ford a spectator — What about Verstolk ?— All about Verstolk — Affairs of the Netherlands — Lord Seaford — Too many Whigs — Russian executions - - - - 326 — 357 Vlll CONTENTS CHAPTER XIII LORD LIVERPOOL'S SUCCESSOR (1827) PAGES Situation in 1827 — Canning's ascendancy — Corn laws — A diplo- matic quarrel — Prince of Orange — Diplomatic amenities — Canning's three great objects — Catholic defeats — Copley's speech — A lertium quid — Anxiety — Foolish Lords - 358 — 383 CHAPTER XIV CANNING PRIME MINISTER (1827) The Horse Guards — Whig opinion — The Duke and Canning — Various offices — Old Tories — Lord Lansdowne — A lost Garter — Lord Grey — Austrian opposition to Canning — Counting heads — An offer of India — Canning's health — Ccesar aiit niillus — Count Lieven complains — The last letter — A vote explained - . - . . 384 — 416 CHAPTER XV THE END (1827-1828) A stunning blow— Ultra Tories— The King's attitude — Lyttel- ton's testimony — The King's sympathy — Huskisson's posi- tion — ' What he would have wished ' — Lord Clarendon's views — Lord Howard de Walden — Huskisson and the Canningites — Foreign expressions on England's loss 417 — 438 I^'DEx 439—463 ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. II. TO FACE PAGE HON. MRS. CHARLES BAGOT (AFTERWARDS LADY MARY bagot) ----- Frontispiece By John Hoppner, R.A. PRINCESS PAULINE BORGHESE - - - "42 From the statue by Canova in the Villa Borghese. LIEUT. -COLONEL LORD FITZROY SOMERSET (AFTERWARDS FIELD-MARSHAL LORD RAGLAN) - - -7° THE RIGHT HON. SIR CHARLES BAGOT, G.C.B. - - 204 By Frederick Pickersgill, R.A. THOMAS HAMILTON, NINTH EARL OF HADDINGTON (lORD binning) ------ 3^8 IX GEORGE CANNING AND HIS FRIENDS CHAPTER I THE LISBON EMBASSY AND AMERICAN AFFAIRS, 1815-1817 In 1 8 14 Canning, who had no longer a definite following in the House of Commons, determined to go to Portugal, in the hopes of improving the health of his eldest son, whose constant ailments were a great source of trouble. The Ministry, knowing of his intentions, offered him the post of Ambassador Extraordinary to welcome the Prince Regent of Portugal at Lisbon on his return from Brazil, whither he had retreated at the time of the French invasion of his country. After considerable hesitation Canning accepted the mission, and was welcomed at Bordeaux and Lisbon. The object failed owing to the Prince Regent declining to return to Portugal at the time expected, and Canning, after spending some time in a private capacity on the Continent, decided to return home early in 1816, and accepted a place in the Cabinet. The Catholic ques- tion was to be considered an open one amongst the members of the Government, and Canning, after having declined the position of Foreign Minister some years earlier unless accompanied with the leader- ship of the House, was fain to be content with the office of President of the Board of Control for India. Early in the following year Charles Abbot, the Speaker, resigned owing to ill-health, and was created Earl of Colchester. He was at the time member for Oxford University, and a by-election was therefore VOL. IL I 2 THE LISBON EMBASSY [CH. i. brought about. Canning was desirous of being a candidate. The CathoHc question, however, was an important factor in determining the nomination of their representative by the College authorities, and Canning had little or no support; while Peel, as an unbending Protestant, was eventually chosen for the seat, which twelve years later he was destined to lose as being in favour of Catholic Emancipation. From this time a correspondence has been preserved between Mr, W. H. Lyttelton, afterwards third Lord Lyttelton,* and Charles Bagot, which continued regularly till the year 1832, from which some extracts are given on subsequent pages. They are the more interesting as regards Canning from the fact that Mr. Lyttelton was a Whig, though to some extent an admirer of the Tory minister ; his respect for the latter's character appear- ing more pronounced at the close of his career. Lyttelton had practically supported Canning's Copenhagen expedition in the House of Commons. Bagot had been appointed in July, 1814, a Special Commissioner in Paris to settle British claims,! and remained there until Napoleon's return from Elba. The Duke of Wellington left Paris early in the year to attend the Congress of Vienna, leaving the Embassy in charge of his military secretary, Lord FitzRoy Somerset. He writes as follows: The Duke of Wellington to Bagot. Vienna, February 2, 1815. My dear Bagot, I just write to let you know that Talleyrand and Lord Castlereagh have entirely agreed regarding the * Born 1782 ; succeeded his brother 1828 ; married Lady Sarah Spencer. Creevey records that ' he came into the House of Commons with great academical fame, and every prospect of being a distin- guished pubHc man. . . . He is as Hvely and charming a companion as the town can produce, and they are said to be the happiest couple in the world ' (Creevey Papers, vol. ii., p. 253). Lady Lyttelton was governess to Queen Victoria's children. t He was appointed by Lord Castlereagh on July 11, 1814, a Commissioner, with the rank of Minister Plenipotentiary, for carry- ing into effect the stipulations of the second and fourth additional clauses of the Treaty of Peace signed at Paris on May 30. i8i5] WATERLOO 3 meaning of their Treaty in our favour, and that Talleyrand is to write to the Minister in France to set him right on this subject. So that your triumph is complete. Ever yrs. most affly., W. Later in the year Bagot was made a Privy Coun- cillor and appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States. The war with America had been con- cluded a few months previousl}^ by the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, but he did not go out to Washington till the following year. In March Napoleon escaped from Elba, and landed in France with but a handful of followers at his back. In two months' time he had collected a powerful and well-disciplined army, numbering over 120,000 men, and had regained the services of most of his former distinguished generals. On June 12 he left Paris to attack the allied armies in Flanders, commanded by Wellington and Blucher^ neither of which armies was in itself numerically equal to the French, while the British troops under Wellington consisted of but little over 30,000 men.* There would seem to have been no lack of confi- dence in the result of the coming campaign — at all events, in the mind of the Duke's aide-de-camp. Lord FitzRoy Somerset. Exactly a week before the battle of Waterloo, at which he was destined to lose his right arm while riding side by side with his great chief, he writes to his brother-in-law from Head- quarters at Brussels. Lieutenant-Colonel Lord FitzRoy Somerset to Bagot. . . . Mrs. Pole and the Duke of Wellington received last night your letters announcing your appointment to America . . . you are placed in a respectable and an important post where the interests of Great Britain must be unceasingly watched. ... I think it de- * Maxwells ' Life of Wellington,' vol. ii., p. 402. 4 THE LISBON EMBASSY [CH. I. sirable that you should not quit England till such events have occurred here, as may enable you on your arrival at the seat of Government to throw cold water upon any disposition on the part of the Presi- dent* to renew his connexion with Bonaparte, which probably he may be inclined to do if he thought that Napoleon could make head against the Allies. . . . I shall always recollect with gratitude the cordial assistance you gave me in Paris. . . . Percyt desired to be remembered to you and to congratulate his Excellency.' Canning to Bagot. Lisbon, {Private.) July 14, 1815. My dear Charles, It was a very great satisfaction to me to receive your letter of the 27th ult., and to hear from yourself what I had before seen and approved, your appoint- ment to the Mission to America. I know not how, or why, you should entertain any doubt of having done rightly in accepting this offer made to you. In my opinion you did exactly right, in * James Madison. f Major Hon. Henry Percy, also on the Duke's staff, who brought home the Waterloo dispatches. He had been on Sir John Moore's staff in Spain, and had so much admiration for that general that he always wore a locket containing his hair, cut off before his burial at Corunna. This locket, with the inscription almost worn out, is now in the possession of the editor. He travelled straight from Waterloo, with the announcement of the battle, to the Prince Regent, whom he found at Mrs. Boehm's party in St. James's Square on June 21. The party immediately broke up. Mrs. Boehm was much annoyed with the battle of Waterloo, as it spoilt her party, much as Canning, as will have been seen from a preceding letter, hoped for war in Spain, because it would restore to him his friend Frere. One, however, was joking, while to the other, a London hostess entertaining Royalty, the battle came at a most inopportune moment. In the ' Memoirs of Charles Young ' there is an amusing account of this episode, and the indignation of the rich merchant's wife that the bearer of the news had not waited till next morning. i8i5] A MISSION TO AMERICA 5 accepting at once without hesitation and of course without that bane to all just decision [experto crede) consultation. As to the disagreeableness of the parti- cular destination, I know not what business you would have to take them into account, in discharging the plain duty of your profession — even if they were tenfold what they are likely to be, but even allowing you an option, I should think that you would have judged wrong if you had not considered those peculiar inconveniences as amply overbalanced by the peculiar importance of the station. Your plan of treatment may or may not succeed with the Yankees, but it is obviously, for your own sake, the proper one. I am afraid, indeed, that the question is not so much how you will treat them, as how they will treat you, and that the hardest lesson which a British Minister has to learn in America is not what to do, but what to bear. But even this may come round. And Waterloo is a great help to you, perhaps a pretty necessary help after the (to say the least) balanced successes and misfortunes of the Ameri- can war. As to the second topick of your letter, me, I am at a loss to imagine in what you suppose a difference of opinion between yourself and me, beyond what must naturally arise from the difference of circumstances, under which you wrote, from those under which I must have written anything that you can have heard or seen — a difference created by that same battle of Waterloo, and nothing less in fact than the difference of peace from war. 'Bating that difference, I do not think that my own sentiments could be more faithfully echoed to me than by your letter. My determination to remain here, publick or private, till next spring, and my earnest wish not to have that plan disarranged by any proposal from home, the rejection of which might be as inconvenient in its consequences, as the accept- 6 THE LISBON EMBASSY [CH. I. ance of it would be painful and distressing to me — are points upon which I have insisted so often in my letters to them with whom you are most likely to have communicated that I really do not understand either the hesitation or the emphasis with which you give me back my own opinions. It is perfectly true that if the war had continued and if it had been thought necessary to have a Mission here, on a scale full as high as mine, (as recommended by the Civil list Committee) I should have thought the displacing me for a new Minister (for such the acceptance of my resignation would have been) on the avowed ground that because I came out to compli- ment, I was therefore not fit for business, a very poor compliment to me, and in effect a base sacrifice of me, personally me, to the attacks of opposition. But the battle of Waterloo has changed a great part of that matter : the views upon which as I understand, the mission is now to terminate, and to terminate with- out any substitution ; are not only agreeable to m}' opinions, but are in truth of my own suggestion. George is at the baths of Caldas, where I am going on Sunday to spend a few days with him and to take his brother to join him. Our other children, Toddles and the little one are at Collares, near Cintra, where Mrs. Canning joins them to-morrow. Lisbon is hardly tenable, this weather, and Caldas is hotter still, but the heat appears to agree with George prodigiously. I do not mind it ; but it is too much for Mrs. Canning and for younger children otherwise in good health. Collares and Cintra are as cool as a grotto and beauti- ful beyond anything that I ever saw, except perhaps the Lakes ; and at the Lakes, last summer, Southey told me that he thought them more beautiful than any- thing that he had ever seen except Cintra. Charles* has a house within 200 yards of ours at Collares. He * Charles Ellis. i8i5] EASIER SINCE WATERLOO 7 is at this moment writing in the next room to me, and has thoughts of writing to you, but lest he should not have time by this Packet, he desires me to say every- thing for him in the way of congratulations and farewell. Remember us — that is Mrs, Canning and me and him — most kindly to Mrs, Bagot, and believe me ever, my dear Charles, Sincerely and affectionately your, G, C, Charles Ellis to Bagot. Lisbon, July 22, 1815. My dear Charles, Canning announced to me the other day (when he was answering your letter) that you were appointed our Minister to the United States. I congratulate you upon it. Does this startle you ? I consider the Mission to America as the best, at this moment, in the whole circle of our Diplomacy for a person wish- ing to rise in the profession. And wishing most anxiously to see you rise in it, I cannot refrain from congratulating you, though you have not merited such treatment at my hands. But possibly I may be reproaching you unjustly and you may not have received a long letter, which I wrote to you from Bordeaux, in reply to yours, I need not say of what date — for I have received but one. I do not feel sure that you will like Washington quite so well as the Chaussee d' Antin — but it will be very good for you. I think you quite right in your intention of being very civil to the Yankees, But if you mind being disappointed, you had better not flatter yourself that you will render them civil to you in return. The Duke of Wellington's magnificent victory will diminish the difficulties and the desagrements of your situation. 8 THE LISBON EMBASSY [CH. 1. Had Bonaparte succeeded in establishing his throne you would I think before long have had some awk- ward and difficult business on your hands. All may now go on well. But what a splendid achievement this of Waterloo has been. It was the only thing that was wanting and the only thing that could add to his Glory. We have just received through Madrid the Capitulation of Paris. I have very little to tell you about myself. I have got a very delightful villa in as beautiful a situation as can be imagined, adjoining to one equally delightful, which Canning occupies, where we mean to pass the three hot months in quiet and seclusion among the rocks and rivulets and orange gardens, which clothe the side of the Cintra mountain. I have had my family there this last fortnight, and am come up to Lisbon to meet Canning on his return from Caldas, whither he has been to pay a visit to George and to convey Willy to keep him company. I am happy to say he makes a very good report of George. With respect to him at least Lisbon has succeeded as well as could have been hoped. If the Prince Regent* would have carried into execution his intention of returning, or if the Govern- ment here would have acted as all required of them, it would have succeeded in every respect. Canning will however equally remain as a private individual. In putting the Embassy on the footing on which they intend to put it as explained by Castlereagh and Huskisson, our Government have judged very pro- perly. There was no alternative but an embassy of the highest or a mission of the lowest order. Adieu, my dear Charles. * The Prince Regent of Portugal, who had fled to Brazil with his Court and nearly 2,000 Portuguese on the entry into Lisbon of Junot and the French army. iSisJ GOSSIt> FROM PARIS 9 » Wellesley Pole to Bagot. Paris, September 25, 1815. . . . You certainly stand very high in Castlereagh's opinion at present, and if you succeed in settling the question of the Fisheries and the West India Trade upon a proper footing, you will, of course, stand still higher, and then the only thing against you not being removed to a better mission will be the importance of keeping you a popular Minister in America, and the difficulty of finding a successor for you. . . . Paris is pretty much as you left it. Nobody dines but the Ambassadors and a few of the Ministers. No French assemblies or balls — full theatres . . . affectation from the Thuileries of the Duke of Wellington and the British Gov^ being in full confidence, and Falke turned out without Stewart's knowing it, and ten days after the Duke had been told he was not to be moved. Everybody thinking that the moment the army is withdrawn Legitimacy will expire, and the Ultras opposing the Ministry (who by the by are becoming more Jacobin every day), and Monsieur and his sons killing a thousand head of game a day by themselves^ and passing their whole time at La Chasse and the theatres. The elections are said to be going every- where in favour of the Jacobins. ... 1 propose going to the Duke's review next month. . . . FitzRoy's house where we are living is delightful, and nothing can be more pleasant than his and Emily's reception of us. They live most comfortably, and have a de- lightful old Frenchwoman cookie — I don't know how to spell it — that travaillezs well. All the English in the world are here, and one detests the sight of them ; they are heartily quizzed, as we all are, as well as detested. . . . You must have forgotten English politics to suppose that Canning could have a chance for Oxford. Nothing but a violent, unrelenting Pro- 10 THE LISBON EMBASSY [CH. I. testant would be tolerated by that sage University, and Mr. Peel was invited (I believe without any intrigue of his) and returned unanimously in conse- quence of his speech, which was a very good one, on the Catholic Question last Session, . . . There was a very strong Protestant feeling roused in England ... a body by no means inconsiderable in numbers or influence had it in contemplation to form an administration purely Protestant, with the express understanding that nothing whatever was to be con- ceded to the Catholics, and that Mr. Peel was to be, if not the head of the administration, at least its leader in the House of Commons. I do not suppose that Mr. Peel has formed any such project, but you may be assured that an administration of the kind I have men- tioned has been by a very considerable party thought to be indispensably necessary for the salvation of Church and State. Sutton promises to make a very good speaker. . . . The Duke of Wellington is now in treaty for Lord Rivers' place in Hampshire. Wyatt says the purchase is very eligible. I think it will not return 2^ %, yet in other respects it may be eligible. The Duke must see it before he buys it. Ever yrs. most affly., W. W. P. Bagot to Lord Binning, M.P.* 41, Upper Brook Street, LOXDON, October 27, 1815. My dear Binning, I received your letter this morning. I had heard whilst I was in Staffordshire of all that had passed relative to the China offer ; but as I did not * Thomas Hamilton, Lord Binning, called by Mr. Creevey ' Binning the Canningitc,' created Lord Melros in the British peerage, 1827, succeeded as ninth Earl of Haddington, 1828. At one time First Lord of the Admiralty, and later Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. i8i5] GOSSIP FROM LONDON II hear it from yourself, and as I always strongly felt the propriety of what you state that it is not fair to refuse an offer and then go about bragging of it, I held my tongue both to you and to others. Your refusal did not require even the short explana- tion which you have given me. It appears to me that nothing short of your being ;^20,ooo in debt, and all the Jews having gone back to Israel, could have warranted your accepting such a proposal. The whole thing was out of your way. They might as well have offered you a Canonry of Windsor, or put you upon the medical staff. It was nonsense altogether, and you had no choice I think but very civilly to say no to it. Amherst did right to take it. His private circumstances are very bad, with- out any prospect of mending but by his own exertions. He has, however, been in the diplomatic line, and this trip may give him what it would not have given you^ a claim to an Ambassador's pension, besides the money which he might have made and saved in the expedition. Here I am. They paid off the Laced(Bmonian and told me (after I had taken leave) that it would be a month before they could get me another ship. # * # * * My new ship wants 150 hands, for whose volunteer- ing I must wait.* This may happen in a week, it may not happen in a month. In the mean time I am quite ready and ride at single anchor. I wish I was off. Had you left London when I received an answer to my letter to Canning ? He wonders why I suppose a difference of opinion between us, and tells me that I echo back his own sentiments. If I did, it was by a very curious coincidence, for I certainly believed his sentiments to be just the reverse, and credited the rumour that he was willing to stay at Lisbon, not- withstanding the refusal of the P.R. of Brazil to return * The ship in which he was to sail for the United States as Minister. 12 AMERICAN AFFAIRS [CH. I. to Europe. I wrote to him by the last mail and told him so. He is now actually out of his office, and a Mr. Croft is officiating. I believe that there are not five people in London whom you know. I saw Lovaine the other day walk- ing with Warrender. O ! Blachford is in Town, having recovered his lighten- ing and won a race at Newmarket, which will probably ruin him. He came to London to prosecute an old woman for stealing a three shilling piece, but she was acquitted. I went last night to see Miss O'Neil* in the Gamester, which I never saw before. Blood and g s, it's very shocking. I met your friend Lady Warrender this morning. Tallow Sir ! mere tallow — stradling tallow that wants snuffing — maisje ne moucherai cctte chandclle. It is quite true that the Duke of Berrif called the D. of Wellington a parvenu. Oh the nice fellow ! I will certainly write from Yankee Land, but I will certainly write no more now, so God bless you, Binning, and believe me thine Very largely, and fully and hugely, C. B. Wellesley Pole to Bagot. March 6, 1816. I write while my mutton chop is getting ready before I go down to the House. . . . Our present * An actress who made some reputation, having come to Drury Lane from the Theatre Royal, Dublin. She married Sir William Beecher. f Nephew of Louis XVIII. He married Miss Brown when in England in exile, which marriage was annulled on the restoration of the French King. J. H. Ward (Lord Dudley) wrote on November 5, 1815 : ' The Due de Berri says that the Duke of Wellington is only an upstart, which you know accounts for his vulgarity in sending back so many valuable articles to their right owners ' — an allusion to the anger of the Parisians at the works of art that Napoleon had taken in his conquests and placed in the Louvre, which were restored to their rightful owners by the Duke (' Letters to Ivy,' p. 290). i8i6] CANNING TO RETURN 13 occupation is being up till two or three o'clock listening to violent speeches ... on the Property Tax. ... I have not seen Henry* or his wife since their marriage, but I hear they are, as usual, extremely happy. They are still at Hatfield. I have heard no more about Buck's! office, or about Mr. Canning, since I last wrote. But I believe Melville refuses to move,! and that the Board of Control has been offered to Canning. You will hear from Mrs. Pole everything respecting Worcester's business with Alvanley and Co. I under- stand from Ponsonby that Worcester comes out perfectly clear. ... I went to Brighton two or three days ago to show the Waterloo medals to the Regent. His gout is gone, but he is so weak on his legs he cannot stand. Wellesley Pole to Bagot. Savile Row, April I, 1816. When you read our newspapers . . . you will be inclined to think that, as one of His Majesty's Ministers, I do well to begin my letter on the First of April. However, we are not quite such Fools as the Opposition thought we were. . . . The pressure against us is likely to end as all former runs at Administration have done, in the disappointment of * Sir Henry Wellesley, afterwards Lord Cowley, married in February, 1816, Lady Charlotte Cecil, daughter of the first Marquis of Salisbury, as his second wife. f Earl of Buckinghamshire, President of the Board of Control, who had died a month earlier. X Lord Melville was First Lord of the Admiralty, and objected to Canning, who was now about to return from Lisbon, having higher office than that of President of the Board of Control, an important office in those days, but barely of Cabinet rank. Mr. Hammond wrote to Bagot in July : ' I had some doubts of the propriety of Canning's acceptance of his present oftice, but I think upon the whole that he has rightly decided. Lord Melville, notwithstanding all his former professions, was, I have reason to believe, inexorably tough. . . .' 14 AMERICAN AFFAIRS [CH. I. the Talents. . . . The loss of the Property Tax was the signal for raising the cry of Economy and Re- trenchment, and many of our best supporters among the country gentlemen have been drawn in by it to go a great deal farther than they intended ; this, I believe, they have for some time begun to feel, and it was really becoming serious, when we were relieved by one of those favourable incidents which the Talents are always so kind as to indulge us with when we require them. Mr. Brougham's speech on the motion for reducing the salaries of the Secretaries of the Admiralty alarmed all the country gentlemen, and all the con- stitutional part of the Opposition. Many country gentlemen voted with Ministers, who would have voted against them had Mr. Brougham been silent, and many of the opposition left the House saying they would not give a vote in countenance of such a doctrine as Mr, B. had held. ... Of this the opposition, I am told, are convinced, so you may guess what a life they lead their friend. You will see in the Morning Chronicle all that part of Mr. B.'s speech in which he abused the Regent, verbatim. . . . Economy is so much the rage both within doors and without that I fear we shall be forced to do many things injurious to the best interests of the country, and cruel and unjust to individuals. . . . The country gentlemen, however, are not yet returned to their natural composure, tho' they are aware of the mischief they were near accomplishing. . . . The Regent is particularly well, but he is still very feeble on his legs. He is in excellent spirits. The marriage seems to give general satisfaction, and to no person greater than to Bogy,* who has made a tolerable bargain for his most uncomfortable house. * Princess Charlotte, only daughter of the Prince Regent and presumptive heiress to the throne of England, was to marry Prince i8i6] QUESTIONS FROM AMERICA 15 I know nothing of Canning. It is reported that he will sail from Lisbon on the loth of this month,* but whether he accepts or declines I have not heard. Rt. Hon. Charles Bagot to Lord Binning, M.P. Washington, {Private.) May 6, 18 16. My dear Binning, . . . You would have told' me all that is happening which would interest me, but you are either grown fat and woolly, or you are leading a bustling committee kind of life which puts everybody but old Rose out of your head. I want to know more accurately than my letters tell me what is really happening upon the death of Ld. Bucks. Is Canning to come in ? Will Melville retire ? If not, will they offer C. Board of Control ? If so, will he accept it ? It is a sad post to offer to him, but I think he should accept it, because as nothing else is open, the Govt, may say, ' We really could do nothing more than offer him the first vacancy which arose.' This will be true, and yet my pride will be hurt at his being in such a clumsy situation. He must decide, as he will, for himself, and I trust in God that his decision may be for his glory and happiness. I wrote to him at Lisbon from Madeira, and just as I was weighing anchor from Funchal roads Ld. Amherst came in and told Leopold, youngest of the three sons of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg. Claremont was bought for her residence from Mr. Charles Ellis, Camelford House was taken for them from ' Bog\%' Lord Grenville. Lord Camelford was killed in a duel in 1804, and his sister, Lady Grenville, had inherited his property. The Princess only lived till the following November, when she died at Claremont after the birth of a stillborn boy. * Canning arrived in England in May, and went straight down to Bath to see his mother, then to Liverpool, and then home to his house in Brompton (' Life of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe'). l6 AMERICAN AFFAIRS [CH. I. me of the death of Lord Buck. If he is in England, tell him to write to me. Here I am in a great red-brick house in the City of Washington, which by the bye is a much better city than I expected. I am in a great situation, as much greater than I conceived when I was in England, but it is a very arduous and a very responsible one. I ought not, however, to repine at that ; on the contrary, I ought to rejoice at it, as I shall if I succeed, but it makes me very anxious. All my first worries are over. I have gone through all my cere- monials, and begin to know people's names and faces; and now the Congress is up, and the members have all dispersed, which gives me rest and time to look about me. I have been very well received here, and I make it my business to endeavour to do away with as much as I can — the mains animus. I shall do something in that way, but no man can hope to do it in any great degree, as it is, in fact, the food upon which the great, and, I am sorry to say, the predominant party in the country is nourished ; but it is much better than it was. They have certainly gained reputation by the war, but they have lost nearly everything else, and I verily believe that they could not have maintained it six months longer. The President is a yellow mixture of Perceval and Heneage Legge of Putney, with not a prepossessing countenance; his tail is of this sort [Here is inserted a sketch of President Madison's head], which I thought had been obsolete.* * James Madison, President 1809 and 1813-1817. In the letter there is inscribed a sketcli of his head in a bob-wig and pigtail or queue. Frequent allusions to matters connected with wigs and people's ' tails ' occur in letters of the early part of the century, when they were fast disappearing, and becoming objects of ridicule. The allusions are often puzzling to modern readers. For instance, Bagot i8i6] ON PIGTAILS 17 I have not time to talk to you about Princess Char- lotte's marriage, loss of the Property tax, and all those matters which by the time my letter reaches England will be as obsolete as Madison's tail. I am afraid that there is great distress in England, but I hope it will all come right. I see that Brougham has jumped into Whitbread's shoes. I have no idea where Charles Ellis is, but if I have time I shall fire a letter at him by this mail to England. . . . The Potomac here, of which nobody ever thinks or speaks, is a noble river, and I think that the coming into the Chesapeake is the grandest thing imaginable. Remember me most kindly to Huskisson, and pray write to me. Yours most affectionately, C. B. P.S. — I congratulate, felicitate, yell, and jump with Lyttelton at his having got a daughter. Tell him so. Bagot to Binning. Washington, {Private.) June i, 1816. My dear Binning, . . . Your letter was really a great pleasure to me, and it has put things to me in a very agreeable light. You may rely upon it that not having received writes to Binning (then Lord Haddington), after Canning's death, saying how much amused he had been at hearing for the first time a saying of ' poor Canning's,' who had remarked, a propos of Lord Londonderr}', that he was ' the only nobleman of his acquaintance of whom it might equally be predicated that he was a high-spirited nobleman on a long-tailed horse, or a long-tailed nobleman on a high-spirited horse.' The last recorded pigtail of any distinction is said to have been worn by Lord Bathurst, as Colonial Secretary in 1828, when his lordship, on being remonstrated with, cut it off and sent it round to his colleagues in an official box (' Letters of Lady Louisa Stuart,' vol. ii., p. 40). After that no Colonial Secretary was troubled by a pigtail till Mr. Lyttelton held the office in 1905. VOL. II. 2 l8 AMERICAN AFFAIRS [CH. I. the intelligence of Canning's acceptance from anybody but yourself, I shall not mention it in any of the letters which I send to England by this mail. Your letter and the newspapers together have made me persuade myself that there could not be so fit a moment for Canning's return to the Government. The Govern- ment have had a squeak — I verily believe a very narrow squeak — I am satisfied that if, instead of being beat at the first vote, and by a great majority, upon the Income Tax, they had just carried it in the first instance, and then gone through a course of diminishing majorities (as they would have done) they would have been forced from their stools. C.'s acceptance therefore will be considered as a necessary assistance — but I see plainly that Jacobinism is raising its crest again in a way that it has not done for years — and that is the Antagonist of Canning. It is in his battles with this monster that he is always great and always useful. If I am not deceived the cry for economy will so assist said Jacobinism that nothing but Canning's powers and courage will be able to stop the confusion to which, if it is carried further, it will most assuredly give rise. On these grounds I now care but little what he is in the Cabinet as it is in the H. of Com- mons that he must serve the State, But, as you say most wisely, his course must be run with great pru- dence, and with patience as well as talent. He must get the lead into his hands as the blacks here get a worm out of their flesh, by a very little every day till they get it all out. The least pull too hard breaks all. I am delighted that there is a prospect of your going to Board of Control in the way you mention. Nothing I should think could be so agreeable to you. Get me Huskisson into the Exchequer (not murdering good Van) and you will be my largest Apollo. What you say of the tone adopted by Castlereagh at the beginning of the Session has been confirmed to i8i6] ON CASTLEREAGH AND CANNING 19 me by letters from persons in no way interested in politicks. I suspect that it was much too high, but it is probably lowered. He certainly does his business particularly like a gentleman, but that is not enough in the House of Commons, Oh, that I had wings like one of the passenger pigeons of this country, then would I fly away and hear Canning's first basting of that American minded Brougham. What a gin-drinking, straddling, corduroy scoundrel he seems to be — Gale Jones on the top of a hackney coach is William Eliot in comparison with him — I never read so unmanly a thing as his attack upon the Prince. I shall — I really shall — be truly obliged to you if you will keep me informed of what goes on — and send me as often as you can such letters as your last. You can have no conception of the pleasure which the arrival of a Packet affords. My thoughts are constantly in England. Not that I am discontented here. I hope that I have more ' nous ' than not to see how fortunate I am in having been placed in this situation, but I have neither society or pleasure — my business is my only amusement, and of that I promise you that there is plenty. If I can execute my business with credit and can make both ends meet I shall not grudge the time which I am destined to pass here in the hope that I shall afterwards be employed in some pleasanter post, in a more important one I cannot well be in the present state of things in the world. . . . Not a line from Lyttelton. He is a blackguard. . . . The Dandy affair is a very very bad one, get out of it how they will. I hate the idea of Alvanley being tarnished, because he is wanted — as to Brummell* — * The leaders of 'the Dandies' were Lord Alvanley, Sir Henry Mildmay, Mr. Pierrepoint, and Brummell. In 18 16 play ran high, and discreditable rumours got about with regard to gambling debts at White's and Brookes' among some of the set ; with the result that, in May, Brummell had to fly to Calais, to end his days in poverty, squalor, and misery. 20 AMERICAN AFFAIRS [CH. I. tempiis abire est — Mrs. Pole has sent me Cam Hob- house's last reign of Napoleon. I have not yet read it — but the little beast is a Jacobin downright I hear. How prodigiously Warrender speaks in the House. He goes wallowing and spouting through all the naval questions like a great grampus. Who wrote the account of the Rat club dinner ? It is inimitable. I have neither time nor stuff for any more. So God bless you, my dear Binny. Give my love to Canning and believe me Yours always most affectionately, C B. Bagot to Sneyd. Washington, June 12, 1816. My dear Johnny, I meant to have written to you by the last Packet, but just as I was about to do so business 'came bothering' like Geo. Talbot's* Fast day, and 1 was forced to put you off. Long long ago you will have heard all about us — How we felt a sea quake off Madeira. How — how I shot at whales in the Tropics, and missed them. How flying fish fell upon deck and Mary pickled them. How our hats were blown off off Cape Hatteras, and how at last we entered the Chesapeake and saw 500 wild swans in a flight, and saw the Potomac and the Patuxent, and the Rappa- hannock and all those mighty waters with the names of which I could have curdled myself in former days. All these things you know, and you know how at last I arrived at Squashington. Snow-Taverns, Cre- dentials, Congress, Visits, Senators, Consuls, Vice Consuls — Packets and their agents. Federalists and Madeira, Democrats and Segars, Slaves smelling like cats, Atheists, Methodists and Cobbetts. * Rev. and Hon. George Talbot, Rector of Wittington. i8i6] WASHINGTON AFTER THE WAR 21 The question is how I do now? Vastly well I thank you, Sneyd, vastly well. I am got into my new house, and if you had got into it, you would hang yourself, or die of dust, and baldness and red brick, panting for the greener groves of thou thy much loved Birmingham. Mary sent home a drawing of it — quod vide — and recollect that it is stark new, and built with unseasoned wood, that it rings like a vault — that the doors won't shut and the windows won't open, and that it stands in a wilder- ness of brick kilns. Still it is a good house — in summer airy and spacious — but in winter! Oh ! jud — jud— jud. Talking of summer, a pint of American summer would thaw all Europe in ten minutes. Sir, it is dreadful — it is deleterious — it leads to madness. Ice houses take fire and scream because they cannot bear it. There is no enjoyment here — all I can hope to do is to prevent being unhappy, and that I shall manage by looking forward, or upward, or backward — anyhow but Yankeeward. Society, as far as I have seen . . . and what a difference there is between vulgar and blackguard company — the latter is to be had here but not good, and it is not proper for my Excellency's table. . . . Notwithstanding all this everybody is uncommonly civil to us ; we have been well received publickly and privately — and I believe we are liked ; so take care that what I have said touching the people does not come back to this country by the fast sailing ship Betsey from Liverpool. Perhaps I ought not yet to form any opinion at all about this nation, having as yet never stirred from Washington. New York and Philadelphia may change my opinion. . . . On Monday I am going to pass a night at Mount Vernon with Judge Washington — Washington's heir and nephew. I hear that he is a very amiable man, and 22 AMERICAN AFFAIRS [CH. i. I shall be curious to see the country seat of the only great man this nation has yet produced. My business is my great amusement, and of that I have plenty, so I shall go steadily through my pilgrimage doing it as well as I can, and considering it as a state of probation till I am recalled to an older and a better world. It is worth crossing the Atlantic to know the pleasure of the arrival of a Packet from England, and the receipt of a huge leathern bag cram full of news- papers and letters : if you could once feel this pleasure you Clergymen of England who sit at home at ease would never fail to contribute something to the said bag. I care about everything and everybody ; ' e'en Horton's* self has charms for me.' Is that my poetry or did anybody else write it ? What a rattling session of Parliament ! It appears to me that the Ministers squoke for it — but all will be well now, and I am glad that your ten per cent, is safe in your pocket. But the Jacobins are abroad again, I see it plainly, and this is one of the many reasons why I rejoice in Canning's return to the Govt. I long to see him flourish his Brougham stick once again. June 15. — Whe — ew — ew — by George this is a Toaster ! I am sitting upstairs . . . and yet I am dissolved. Shadrach was no such great fellow after all. The President,! who is gone into Virginia for the summer, has left me the use of his ice house ; a thousand blessings attend him. . . . Jtme 19. — After all my dear John this will not be a great nation — and I'll tell you why — it struck me this morning whilst I shaved myself. Jacobinism is as old as the world, and not at all * Robert Wilmot Horton, M.P., of Catton Hall, a neighbour of Sneyd's. t Madison. i8i6] THE FUTURE OF THE STATES 23 (as we are apt to imagine) a vice peculiar to modern times. It is nothing more than the decay of good principle which takes place in the ordinary course of nature at the decline of every government. A government founded on Jacobinical principles is an absurdity. But these chaps have not found out that. The French revolution taking place just as they had estab- lished their independence and were seeking to found a nation, they listened like gabies to the shout of Liberty and Equality, and thought that it was new music and truth and virtue. Just as the old Lord Lyttelton took Pole Carew's strong tinge of scurvy for the bloom of youth, they immediately adopted it in all their establishments and habits and are now contaminated up to the eyes with it before they are forty years old — ergo, they will never attain to healthy maturity as a nation. I could talk very learnedly of the inefficiency of the executive, and its causes, of the vast size and remoteness of the Western States, and of the weakness of the trunk which is to bear such enormous branches, etc., etc., but you would mark me not. Do you remember the Quarterly Review of Inchiquin's favourable view of the U, States ? It is admirable — tho' too severe. Read it again.* 1 see by an arrival at New York from Ireland that Sir R. Wilson and gang' are found guilty and sen- tenced to three months' imprisonment.! I like it — I like it * Quarterly Review, No. 20 (January, 1814), by Sir John Barrow. f Sir Robert Wilson, who had had a varied military career in different parts of the world, and was finally removed from the army for taking an active part on the side of Queen Caroline in 1821, had assisted Lavalette to escape from France. Lavalette, like Ney, who was put to death for the same act, had betrayed the cause of the King of France and espoused that of Napoleon, for which he was condemned to die, but was enabled to escape from prison by his wife, who changed clothes with him. Sir Robert "Wilson, with two other British subjects, assisted him to 24 AMERICAN AFFAIRS [CH. i. This land is full of madmen. Since I began writing they have let in to me a Bedlamite, dressed in black Archdeaconousl}^, and with one eye beat out. He delivered the enclosed letter in to my hand, which I send to 3-ou, as I intend to do all my mad corre- spondence. . . . All the ragamuffins of the earth are in the United States — more especially the French ragamuffins, as I have been telling Lyttelton in the following; nervous lines : ^J3 ' Joseph the Just, Iberia's King, Lefevres Desnouettes, Grouchy, Clausel, St. Angely, And all the patriot set, ' Who 'scap'd from Louis' iron sway, Have reached this happy shore. And live upon Tobacco Quay In Lower Baltimore.' . . . June 26th ... I wish you could see a thunder- storm here, j^our thunderstorms in Europe are squibs and crackers to them here — I have a woundy deal to do, Sneyd. I have letters from all persons upon all subjects, few of which I understand, but I answer them all, ay, 'and in King Camb3'ses' vein.' July ^th. — The Packet is arrived. . . . This is the anniversary of American Independence, and they are firing cannon away like smoke. I have received by this Packet instructions four miles long, and full powers to make a convention, which frightens me to death, but I am glad of it too. This is a secret, so don't you go chattering to Thorpe* about it. God bless thee, dear Johnny, Yrs. most aflfectly., C. B. get away from Paris, for which act he was prosecuted in France, and got three months' imprisonment, and received the censure of the Regent. * Thorpe Hall, a neighbouring country house in Staffordshire, belonging to Mr. Inge. i8i6] MOUNT VERNON 25 The nephew of the great George Washington writes as follows to the British Minister : Mount Verxon * June 27, 1816. Sir, The disorder which caused us the disappoint- ment of not seeing you and Mrs. Bagot on the 24th, tho' violent in its onset, was checked by the early application of active medicine, and is now totally subdued, a slight debility excepted. Mrs. Washington and I m3"self again tender our most respectful compliments and renew our request that you will favor us with the visit . . . etc. 1 have the honour to be, sir Very respectfully and sincerely Yr mo. ob. servt Bush. Washington. On July 28 the visit to Mount Vernon, which had been postponed, was duly paid, and is thus described in Mrs. Bagot's Journal, in which there are some amusing pictures of the state of society in the American capital nearl}^ a centur}^ ago : Charles and I set out in the barouche about ten o'clock to go to Mt. Vernon. Stopt at the Inn at Alexandria where Judge Washington's nephew met us to escort us to Mt. Vernon. Arrived there about one. The situation of the house and the view from the back of it the most magnificent I ever beheld. The house itself in a ver}^ bad state of repair, and a very bad low^ one. Winds whistled through it in every direc- tion. Dined at \ past three. After dinner walked to the grave of General Washington, who is buried by his own desire in a kind of vault constructed b}' his own directions, within a short distance from the house. * There is a good engraving of Mount Vernon, Washington's country house in Virginia, in Marshall's ' Life of Washington,' vol. ii., p. I, 1804. This work was 'compiled under the inspection of his relative, the writer of the above, the Hon. Bushrod Washington.' 26 AMERICAN AFFAIRS [CH. i. The grave looked exactly like an Icehouse with a wooden door and keyhole.* Over it grew cedars, cypress trees and one large oak, but being the weeds of the country they did not mark the spot. Passed the long evening in talking, music and tea, and at \ past ten went to bed, heartily tired. Thursday^ 2gth. — Assembled at breakfast at ^ past 9, after it walked about in the gardens and grounds of Mt. Vernon. Found an old gardener who had been brought up in the King's garden at Hanover, and imported into this country by General Washington ; he was nearly twaddling from extreme old age. He told me he considered all the trees and plants as his children. At one, set out on our return home. The roads so bad, we were in danger of being overturned every moment. The scenery very fine and wild, through immense forests of oak, pine, cedar, hickory etc. with patches of enclosed ground and fields of maize. Lytteltofi to Bagot. June 27, 1816. . . . What a strange, uncertain, confounded plight things still are in to be sure, and first as to messieurs the Regent's Ministers. Don't imagine they have * This was the old tomb at Mount Vernon, quite near to the house. Later, Washington's remains were carried to a new tomb, which stands farther aw^ay from the house. When Lafayette revisited America, he went into this vault and knelt by the side of the coffin, and shed tears of gratitude to think that he had known such a man as Washington, and that he had been his friend (Montgomery's American History). So there was some use in the door and key- hole. Stratford Canning succeeded Bagot as Minister at Washington, and wrote home a description of his visit to Mount Vernon on July 2, 1821, curiously similar to the above account. He went to ' Mount Vernon, formerly the seat of General Washington, and still, indeed, his seat ; for there in a brick vault, which looks very much like an ice-house, shaded by a few scrubby cedars, are the remains of him who humbled the pride of England ' ( ' Life of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe,' by Poole). Mount Vernon is now the property of the American nation, and carefully kept in its original condition. The Key of the Bastille hangs up there, brought by Lafayette as an emblem of hberty on the occasion of his visit. r8i6] THE OXFORD ELECTION 2/ gained muchly by their new allies. I have too much aiSo)? about your old connexion with Canning to tell you loooth part of what I think about him ; but take this along with you as a matter of fact, that of all the public men that have appeared in our time, there is assuredly not one that ever had so many bitter enemies, public and private. Nor have any of his squad any weight or value, except perhaps as a man of business (character being out of the question) that sweet Lad of Finance, Billy Huskisson. . . . Town news as follows : Abbot they say will at last get his peerage ; he says that, on the best computation that he can make, he has done as much business in his twelve or fourteen years Speakership as would have taken old Festina Lente (Onslow) seventy-two years at the then rate of sitting. On this peerage of Abbot's comes you know the alarm of an Oxford University election, and all my wishes are for Heber and my fears at Canning, who, they sa}'-, is to be proposed b}^ Dean Hall. , , . Heber, on the other hand, won't run against Canning and Ch. Ch. But we trust Ch. Ch, will be very effectually divided against the Lisbon Ambassador, and, I think, we shall get up a pretty good opposition. En attendant, not only Van but Peele (would you believe it ?) nibbles at the University, and (would you believe it ?) there is not a man among us who would not vote for that enlightened cotton weaver against Canning. . . . Ralph Lambton, Esq., is said to be about to marry Lady Caroline Paget, and the Lord March {en avant, Milord !) the Lady Jane Paget . . . (last new Town joke — Lady Jersey is not the most taciturn of her sex, and she has a few foreigners about her ; I think I remember your taking notice of both these circum- stances. They call her ladyship Lady de Jaser)* . . . * Her ladyship's nickname was ' Silence.' See 'Countess Granville's Letters.' 28 AMERICAN AFFAIRS [cH. i. Sal, my wife's well. Bagot, your brother's well. Caroline, my pudding of a daughter, God bless her ! is quite well and much the fattest of the fat. Foley and John Talbot are Jokes to her. All the world desires to be remembered to you. Ever your very affectionate, W. H. Lyttelton. Planta* to Bagot. Foreign Office, July 12, 1816. . . . Mr. Canning is quite well. I have seen him twice. Once I dined with him at Mr. Mellish's.t He is grown rather thinner and a little more bald, but looks, I think, all the better for it, and is in the highest force and spirits. His family are settled at Bareges. He does not say much as to the improvement of his son's health. His second son has taken a decided partiality to the sea, and Mr. Cg seems inclined to indulge it. Ross has not come up to Town, and Mr. Cg told me he probably would not. Mr. C. gave me a message to send to Mr. Hammond at Paris, in order to check the Luxuriance of his proceedings at the Palais Royal. S. Canning is about to marry Miss Harriet Raikes, with a good fortune. Ever most truly your obliged, Joseph Planta. * The son of an official at the British Museum (1787-1847). He had been at Eton, and was a clerk in the Foreign Office from 1802. He was private secretary to Canning when Foreign Minister, and later to Lord Castlereagh, whom he accompanied to the Congress of Vienna. He was made a Privy Councillor in 1834, and was in Parliament from 1827 to 1841. He was an intimate friend of Stratford Canning's. t Rev. Mr. Mellish, who married Mrs. Leigh's daughter, Canning's cousin. i8i6] ANNIVERSARY OP^ WATERLOO 29 Wellesley Pole to Bagot. Savile Row, July 5, 1816 {received September 19). My dear Charles, . . . Parliament, thank God, is up, and we have finished a most teasing and unpleasant campaign. The Speaker, who keeps an account of the sittings every session, says that our daily average this session was seven hours and some minutes, being above two hours more than ever was before known ; I do not think we have gained much credit by either our oratory or our management . . . the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo passed here without the smallest appear- ance of its being recollected, not a dinner given by anybody, nor a Levee, nor a Ball, nor an Assembly, nor a Review, nor even illumination. In the House of Commons our Leader wanted to postpone some business for a day, so he said the Anniversary of Waterloo was to be celebrated, and therefore he wished the business to be put off, but how it was to be celebrated, or who was to celebrate it, he did not inform us, and in fact nobody celebrated it or seemed to recollect it. A few days after the Duke of Wellington arrived in London (in the middle of the night) he wrote to announce his intention of coming to Mrs. Pole, and when I told the tidings to Liverpool, he seemed somewhat surprised. The Duke's arrival has made very little sensation. The Opposition papers fancy he is come to change the Administration. The fact is he has come for the benefit of the Cheltenham waters. . . . Wherever he appears he is follow'd and Huzza'd as much as he was in 18 14, and great notice has been taken of him by Carlton House, etc. There was a grand dinner there on Friday (and I am now writing on Sunday) composed of the Foreign Ministers, the Cabinet Ministers, the Duke of York, the Duke of 30 AMERICAN AFFAIRS [CH. I. Wellington, Lord Anglesea, and Sir Henry Wellesley.* Very splendid and a most exquisitic dinner. The Prince took me aside with Cas. [Castlereagh] before dinner and said he was much distressed at L"^ Ang. and Henry being in the room together ; that he had never recollected it till he saw them, etc., etc., and he desired me to take an opportunity of explaining to Henry that the circumstance had arisen from mere misadventure.! I told him that I was sure Henry was quite easy about the matter, and I informed his R.H. that in a conversation I had lately had with Henry, he had observed that he now considered Lord Anglesea as the best friend he had ever had in his life. Cas. observed coolly that the meeting was a fortunate circumstance, for it would be impossible they should not very often meet, and therefore the sooner the thing was over the better; upon which P.R. observed that Cas. was the most impudent fellow existing, and so broke up the conversation. Henry did not seem at all annoyed at the meeting and he was satisfied with my report of the conversation. The Duke went this morning to Cheltenham, he returns for the Fete at Carlton House on the 12th. Mrs. Pole of course will write Mary all the history of this dinner with the Cabinet, and the disappointment of Camelford House,1: and its perseverance, etc. etc. Stage effect — Jealousy, etc., etc. Mrs. Pole has had excellent sport with them, all * Right Hon. Sir Henry Wellesley, Mr. Pole's youngest brother, afterwards Lord Cowley. f Lord Anglesea had married Henry Wellesley's first wife im- niediately after her marriage had been dissolved by Act of Parliament in 1810. f Camelford House, then occupied by Princess Charlotte and her husband, Prince Leopold. No great love was lost between Carlton House and Camelford House, and the great Duke was the lion of the day. That they got him to Camelford House is certain, as amongst these letters is an invitation from Princess Charlotte to the Poles to meet him there at nine in the evening. i8i6] CARLTON AND CAMELFORD HOUSES 31 which she will tell Mary. We had the Duke to dinner three days running, and I have been laughing in my sleeve ever since he came. Wellesley dined here twice with the Duke, and they are upon very cordial terms. He presented the Duke at the Levee by desire of the latter, with which he was much pleased. Canning has taken his seat at the Cabinet and has not as yet taken any prominent part. Mr. and Mrs. Patter- son* and the two Miss Catons dined with us. . . . We like the ladies very much particularly the eldest Miss Caton, we reckon her and Mrs. Patterson hand- some and the former particularly agreeable. . . . they give a most flattering account of you and Mary, and indeed we learn from all quarters that you have suc- ceeded in being most popular at Washington. I am fully employed about the new Coinage t . . . I send you a sixpence of the new coin (they will not be issued for at least seven months) . . . look upon the scroll of the Shield, opposite the Harp, and 3'ou will see (with a magnifying glass) my private mark W. W. P. which I am empowered by the Mint Inden- * Lord Wellesley, Mr. Pole's eldest brother, married Mrs. Patterson as his second wife, when she was a widow, in 1825. The Miss Catons were her sisters, daughters of Robert Caton, of Philadelphia (see Creevey Papers, vol. i., pp. 276, 279, where a very different view of the Cators, as they are called, is taken). t Wellesley Pole was Master of the Mint, and a new coinage was issued by him. On January 18, 1817, a proclamation, given from * our court at Brighton,' announced the issue of a new silver coinage. A print was published at the time, called ' John Bull's Visit to " Mat of the Mint " ' (a character in the ' Beggar's Opera '), in which Wellesley Pole is caricatured shovelling coins into a sack, and a doggerel verse was circulated to the effect that— ' It is allowed throughout the town, the head upon the new half-crown Is not the George we so much prize : the chin's not like, the nose, the eyes. This may be true ; but, on the whole, the fault lies chiefly in the Pole.' Another proclamation on July i announced the issue of the gold coin. This was the first introduction of the ' sovereign,' which took the place of the guinea. 32 AMERICAN AFFAIRS [CH. i. ture to place on all coin, that is, I am empowered to place such private mark as I chuse, and I have chosen my Initials . . . our Head is from a model in jasper by Pistrucci, he has done a much finer head for us for the gold coin. . . . You will observe on the reverse of the sixpence an Imperial crown to the Hanover arms instead of the Electoral Cap — I doubt the propriety of the Crown being Imperial — but it is so ordained. We have an unpleasant business with the Algerines, it will probably end in the destruction of their present naval force. How we shall be able to annihilate them as pirates is another question. . . . Ever yrs. most affectly, W. W. P. P.S. — Wellesley says I shall be impeached for putting my initials on the coin of the realm, as Cardinal Wolsey was for placing a Cardinal's Hat on the coin of Henry 8th ! ! Mr. George Hammond writes to Bagot from Paris on July 24 : ' You will before this time have heard of the Minis- terial arrangements in England. I had some doubts on the propriety of Canning's acceptance of his present office, but I think upon the whole that he has rightly decided. Lord Melville, notwithstanding all his former professions was, I have reason to believe, inexorably tough.* Mr. Canning and his family are at Bareges, but I understand that, though his son's general health is rather improved, there has been no amendment in his complaint.' * Canning had returned to England, and was in the Cabinet as President of the Board of Control of India. Lord Melville had opposed his being given higher office. i8i6] A DINNER TO CANNING 33 Wellesley Pole to Bagot. Cheltenham, July 30, 1816. My dear Charles, You will be surprised to receive a letter from me dated Cheltenham. The fact is, I am here on my way to Ireland, when I am going to attend the Queen's County Assizes and look about me, as Sir Charles Coote* has thought proper to declare he will stand for the County at the next Election. The Duke of Wellington goes to London the day after to-morrow, and leaves England for France on the 6th of August ; I had therefore no chance of seeing him but by taking Cheltenham on my way. . . . There was a dinner given to Ministers by the India Company at the London tavern the other day as a compliment to Canning on his appointment to the Presidency of the Board of Control ; there were present (I should think) about 300 persons, and so flat and dull a meeting I never remember. Conceive — the King's health, the Royal Family, the Ministers, and Mr. Canning all drunk sitting without a single cheer or a [illegible], and even 'the Duke of Wellington and the Heroes of Waterloo ' in dead silence, so strikingly so that Col. Allen got up and said that he had been in the habit of considering the D. of W. as peculiarly their own, and that he felt ashamed that the Toast should for the first time be drunk sitting and in silence by the East India Company, and he therefore proposed that it should be drunk standing with 3 times 3, which it was accordingly. I attribute the flatness of this meeting to the times. The Citizens have lost all their feelings of pride and richness and flourishing fatness, trade is gone, con- tracts are gone, paper credit is gone, and there is * Sir Charles Coote, Bart., M.P., of Ballyiin, Queen's County. VOL. IL 3 34 AMERICAN AFFAIRS [CH. i. nothing but stoppage, retrenchments, and bankruptcy. I do not know what effect a continuance of the state the country is now in may have upon our existence as an administration. . . . Your despatches are very much approved, and Castlereagh alwa3's talks of you with the greatest kindness. I hope sooner or later something may come of this. . . . The Algiers ex- pedition you of course have heard of; the newspapers give a very accurate account of its strength. I can't tell you Lord Exmouth's secret instructions, but I think he has a fair prospect of carrying all his objects. We are going on with our coinage very successfully. . . . I sent you one of our sixpences. I now enclose you a shilling. Our gold coin will be beautiful, and I propose putting Pistrucci's George, which he has now made absolutely divine, on all the gold coin with the exception of the lo/- piece, which I fear is too small for it. Ever most affectionately yours, W. W. P. Bagot to Binning. Washington, {Private^ October 24, 1816. Milk graces for your letter of the 13th, written to give me a hint to be cautious about what I say touching matters here. Your letter is a proof what extreme caution is necessary. The anecdotes and stories which you heard at Carlton House grew out of one letter (and one letter only) which Mrs, B. wrote to Lady Worcester, who was ass enough to shew it to Princess Charlotte, the consequence of which might have been (and perhaps has been, tho' I think not) fatal to our success here. 1 have been peculiarly cautious in this respect, and I have reason to think (I say it to you, because it will i8i6] DANGERS OF WRITING HOME 35 go no further) that I have hitherto succeeded in making myself better liked and received than any of my predecessors, by never indulging in any of the sarcasms of which the people are in constant expecta- tion from every European, and especially from every Englishman. But I w^ill be doubly discreet, and fail not to set me right in England if you hear any mischievous use being made of anything which I may have let fall. . . . Travelling is detestable in this country unless one travels in a gig or on horseback by oneself, and can learn to dispense with separate bed and board, which the English Minister cannot do if he were inclined, as he would be exposed to have many disagreeable things said to him in public ; and, moreover, when one has seen the principal cities, one great river, and one great forest, an accurate idea can be formed of all the rest. It is impossible to travel in winter, and in summer it is too hot to walk across the room, . . . Your short account of existing and approaching distresses in England is very frightful, but I was aware that it was all very bad. You have no safety except in the bottom of good sense, which is always found in England, but unfor- tunately that good sense is often not got at till after temper has upset an administration, broke some heads and windows, etc. ... I have never heard a word from Canning. I wrote some months ago to Charles Ellis, and sent my letter thro' Huskisson. Do you know if he ever received it ? I heard some time ago that old Rose* was dying. I went to my tent and wept. Is he dead yet ? In a month's time Congress meets, and then my * George Rose, President of the Board of Trade, then seventy- two. He died in 1818. Z—2 $6 AMERICAN AFFAIRS [CH. i. cares are quadrupled. Well, tl faut passer par tout ceci. . . . We received several days ago the accounts of Ld. Exmouth's success thro' French and English papers. It is very complete, and I rejoice at the old Navy coming into play again. Some of the American newspapers are trying to make out that Ld. Exmouth has been defeated. How can they be so silly? I will tell you, they made out that Ld. Wellington was defeated at Waterloo. W. H. Lyttelton to Charles Bagot. October 25, 1816. My dear Charles, . . . My expedition to Spa did but partially answer. The Continent is — as every newspaper will tell you — absolutely over-run, and infested with Eng- lish, who are like Martial's Epigrams, some good, some tolerable, but the greater number of course sad blackguards — and as public opinion is generally formed upon the character of the majority, a pretty reception we meet with in the first instance at least, and many pleasant things one hears about those charming fellows MM. les Anglais, how this one bolted from such an Inn without paying his bill, how the other knocked down the landlord, how abominably stingy and shabby we are all grown, how furiously we ride, we and our women and our grooms — how barbarously we swarm together, and avoid all good foreign society, and how utterly disqualified we are for it by our total igno- rance of every language but our own. . . . The Revolution has not only impoverished all the gentlemen of Europe, but spoilt their manners, of which melancholy fact you had opportunities enough of satisfying yourself while you were at Paris. The native original blackguard is, however, worse, I appre- i8i6] CANNING AND THE DOCTOR 37 hend — and I am afraid you have now sufficient means of observing him, and comparing his character and behaviour with those of the degenerate species. . . . Amongst other devilish things which I fear belong to your present purgatory — the total absence of any- thing like venerable antiquity — an ancient mansion — grey cathedral, or even an odd crooked old street, must be, is it not ? one of the least. Don't you mean by the bye to make a single excursion from that strange encampment called Washington ? ... as for the Lakes, I suppose you are sick of hearing of them for diplomatic reasons — and that huge fellow the St. Lawrence flows too far north . . . after all you are wise in making everything subordinate to your main plans. Ever most affly. yours, W. H. L. Lyttelton to Bagot. Althorp, December 30, 1816. Since I wrote last, we have had riots, you see — great ones in London, and some pretty little samples in the country, but there is nothing to be apprehended from such rows, except a few broken heads, or at the utmost the loss of a very few lives. It is however to be feared that the Ministers will be of a different opinion, and assure us the state is in danger, and give us a suspen- sion of the Habeas Corpus, or some such pretty des- potic Bill or other.* . . . Everybody agrees that the Doctor has done his part well, and as that old venerable statesman when actual Prime Minister piqued himself upon repealing the * In this year there had been great riots in the East of England and agricultural districts, and the Spa Fields riots had just been suppressed, and early in the following year a Bill to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act was passed. 38 AMERICAN AFFAIRS [CH. I. Suspension,* and being constitutional, it is not un- likely he may still have the same laudable pride, especially as he is as brave as foolish, and fears danger even less than the Regent. By the bye, Canning is now very intimate with this self-same Doctor, which gives one a strange notion of the shortness of their memories, or excellence of their tempers. We are, however, not without our hopes that your old friend is collecting fresh materials for epigrams, and is re- connoitring in disguise. As to Lord Liverpool, you see he is still there — why, except for the old reason of the difficulty of casting the parts, is more than I can tell you. Lord Talbot is certainly going to Ireland, and poor Grenville, I suppose to the D 1, for he is quite over head and ears [in debt]. . . . As to Finance, unluckily old Tierneyf is not at Althorpe this year, or I suppose I could have told you something about it. By the bye, said old boy (do you remember his crying 'Vive le Roi !' to you in St. James's Street, a couple of days before you were off?) has been on the Continent, living chiefly at Orleans, but it was bad economy ; and as to the Picturesque, he says he greatly prefers to everything of that kind he has seen an humble work of Art he sees from his study in Burlington Street — viz., a dead wall. He wrote word not long ago that there were perpetual reports of the Ministers having to turn out, but he could not find who was to turn in. ***** Well ! What shall I tell you next ? Ld. Spencer has just received a gun of Jo. Manton, with his im- proved Forsyth locks. Perhaps your Excellency will * Addington, now Lord Sidmouth and Home Secretary, had repealed the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, which had been passed in 1794, after he succeeded Pitt as Prime Minister. t Ri.^lit Hon. George Tierney (1756-1830) liad been Secretary for Ireland and President of the Board of Control during the administra- tion of Fo.x and Grenville. i8i6] AMERICANS IN ENGLAND 39 like to have one sent out to you. The price, as usual, enormous. But Ld. Spencer thinks with a little habit you will prime one of these guns as quick as you could any other, and they do seem wonderful for keeping out rain. You may discharge them through wax, which you carry (not in your ears, you beast !) for that purpose, and of course it is quite impene- trable to rain. We made an experiment to-day to ascertain this. Then the other advantage of this tool is the quickness of the shot. As to the disadvantages, they appear now to consist in the minuteness and nicety of the workmanship, which no common smith can repair, and perhaps in their being liable to be out of order oftener than the old guns. But I doubt this last. They are perfectly safe, which the old Forsyths were not. December 315A — Here's something that will please you. You know with what recommendations from you the Pattersons came to England. Well ! I can tell you they were extremely pleased with the recep- tion they met with, and they gave such an account as never was heard before of yours and Mrs. Bagot's popularity and influence in America. This I have from Captain Spencer, who heard it all with his own ears at Holkham, where the Yankeys had been for a long time when he was there.* Coke made much — too much of them, and was, as usual, very ridiculous with the young ladies. The male Yankee called Spencer, Spencer, immediately, and talked of Westmorland and Bathurst tout court, and was altogether very coarse, but neither brutal nor sulky nor intentionally uncivil. The women were much better behaved. Coke was so foolish as to go up to town (130 miles, isn't it?) to dine with Patterson at a Hotel, and P. * For the Pattersons, see note, p. 42, and for the friendship of ' Coke of Norfolk ' for tliem and the Catons, and their visits to Holkham, see ' Coke of Norfolk and his Friends,' vol. i., p. 309 et scq. 40 AMERICAN AFFAIRS [CH. I. had the good manners to smoke after dinner in his company, a proper warning, eh ? ^ ^ ji^ ^ ^ Canning to Bagot. India Board, December 23, i8i6. My dear Charles, I cannot forward C. Ellis's letter to you in a cover absolutely blank, though I have not time to blot it with many lines. I must not leave unsaid, however, that I hear a most excellent report of you, and I need not add how much I am rejoiced to hear it. Being, as you know, Ever affectionately yours, G. C. Bagot to Sneyd. Washington in the Wilderness, March 24, 1817. Jack, Your letter of the 2nd of December was tempest- tossed, and it never reached me till the ist of this month. . . . Oh Sirs! I have had a prodigious winter, the busiest, the coldest, the ballest, the teaest, the dinnerest I ever passed. But it is over. The Con- gress and the Frost are both broke up. Mr. Monroe (a man ' altogether of a Foxy appearance ') has been made King of these parts. The diplomatic body (D their souls) is gone to Phiddledelphia, and I begin to have mine ease . . . and look forward to papers from England . . . which I may feed upon at my leisure. My papers will tell me that riots are over, corn grown cheaper, and that ' Parliament has met,' which is an excellent thing . . . how John Talbot has finished his house, and how Talbot is going Lord- i8i7] PAULINE BORGHESE 4I Lieutenant to Ireland with Queen Sheba and gold and apes. Seriously, I have had a swingeing time of it, and have worked harder and done more disagreeable things during the last four months than I ever did in my whole preceding life, and if it does not turn out somehow to my honour, my glory, or my profit, I will foreswear half-kirtles, write to Castlereagh and say I am dead, and go and settle upon the Mippipissi. In England, as far as I recollect, you have a small sort of summer, consisting chiefly of Roses, Swallows, Trouts, Bees, Peas, Buttermilk, and things of that kind. Here we have the Frog, the Fever, the Locust, Lizard, Blackamoor, Thunderstorm, and all the sublimer features of that charming season of which I shall in about six weeks have the full enjoyment. . . . Yours, C. B. The Duke of Wellington to Hon. Mrs. Bagot. Paris, April 9, 1 8 17. My dear Mary, A great length of time has elapsed since I re- ceived a most delightful letter from you : and though I confess that I have no right to complain of not having received a second as till now I have never acknow- ledged the receipt of it, it gave me so much pleasure that I anxiously wish you would write to me again, and let me hear from you sometimes. I assure you that there is nobody in this part of the world wishes you better than I do. I have been here for the last three months, doing as I generally do at Paris, amusing myself and the world as much as I can. I have seen a good deal of your friend Pauline,* who * Pauline Borghese, Napoleon's favourite sister and a beautiful woman, then thirty-seven. When sixteen she had been offered as a bride to Marmont, who declined. Junot was in love with her, and 42 AMERICAN AFFAIRS [CH. I. talks of you sometimes, that is to say when I begin the subject. She is a heartless devil, and as you will prob- ably never see her again, I tell you that she is not fit to wipe your shoes, much less to have your regard. Last year she had a flirtation with a Bohemian Prince whom she certainly wished to marry, and who I believe wished to marry her. But she was so confoundedly clever and there was so little heart in the [illegible] , at least on her part, that the matter failed, and now the Prince is about to be married in his own country. I am now going to say a few words to you about some other acquaintances of yours of a very different description with whom I have passed a good deal of my idle time this winter, that is Mrs. Patterson* and her sisters. I never saw any people that I liked better, and I have regretted their departure much. They talk highly of you, and they have a particular with an income of £48 a year wished to marry her, which Bonaparte, though his great friend, would not allow. She was given in marriage by Napoleon to his Adjutant-General, Leclerc, who was soon got rid of by being sent to an unhealthy climate. In 1803 she married Prince Camille Borghese, from whom she was immediately separated, only to rejoin him on his death-bed. She was with Napoleon at Elba, and wished to join him at St. Helena, and, no doubt, made up to the Duke of Wellington with that object, which was, however, not allowed. Her character was of the worst, but she was a persona grata to the Pope, whereby there probably would have been no difficulties in the way of her marrying a Bohemian Prince. After Waterloo she lived in Rome, but came occasionally to Paris. That she was popular in France may be gathered from Wellesley Pole's letter respecting her supposed arrival at Lyons, written on October 30 following (p. 61). She was in Paris at this time, and occupying herself with flirtations with certain young English noblemen, particulars of which may be found in ' Lady Granville's Letters.' Her former residence had been bought for tlie British Embassy. * Marianne, daughter of Richard Caton, of Annapolis, U.S.A., married to Robert Patterson, of Baltimore. She married afterwards, as a widow, the Marquess Wellesley as his second wife in 1825. She was a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Adelaide (see Rush's ' Courts of London,' p. 286). Mr. Patterson's sister had married Jerome Bonaparte, King of Westphalia. His mother was the daughter of the noted Charles Carroll, of Carollton (see ' Coke of Norfolk,' vol. i., p. 309). h. X ^ y/in?! the .yhitiif hii (^tj/ioi^ti in the ( illn ^y^cr^v&X"' i8i7] THE DUKE IN PARIS 43 taste for Mama, which is always a recommendation for me. Louisa, the youngest, is going to be married to Hervey,* one of my jackanapes, with whom I believe you are not acquainted ; and I am going on a progress to England for a few days in the course of next week, in order to be present at the marriage and for the Prince's Birthday. I say nothing to you about the family, as I am certain you hear of them from other quarters everything that can be told you. Emilyf is here and has not been well, but she is better now and will break up, I should think, in a month or two. She has two beautiful children, and most probably will have a dozen in a few years at the rate at which she goes on. I wish Pris- cilla| could steal a leaf out of her or your book on this point ! ! Pray give my best love to Charles Bagot. You cannot conceive the pleasure it gives me to hear from all quarters how well he is going on in America, and how much you are both liked. I progressed to England last summer, and the Ameri- can Minister took the opportunity of complimenting me in a speech at a dinner at the Lord Mayor's on the conciliatory manners of my kinsman, which had tended so much to consolidate the peace between the two nations. Of course I replied what I ought. God bless you, my dearest Mary — Believe me ever yours most affectionately, Wellington. * Afterwards Colonel Sir Felton Hervey, A.D.C. to the Duke at Waterloo. They were married on April 24. After his death in 1819 she became Duchess of Leeds. t Lady Fitz-Roy Somerset, afterwards Lady Raglan. X Lady Burghersh, her sister, afterwards Lady Westmorland. CHAPTER II CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE Canning, who had gone to Lisbon in 1814, had now returned to England and joined the Cabinet as Pre- sident of the Board of Control. In the House of Com- mons Mr. Lambton moved, and Sir Francis Burdett seconded, a charge against the Government for having perpetrated a job in sending Canning on a mission for the purpose of welcoming the Prince Regent of Portugal back to his dominions. The object of the mission had proved futile, as the Prince had determined to remain in exile in Brazil. The attack, ostensibly on the Government, but really directed against the Pre- sident of the Board of Control, proved a complete failure, and Canning entirely cleared himself of the charges made against him both in the House of Com- mons and outside. It had been even hinted that the welcome retirement of the Princess of Wales from the country in 18 14 had been arranged primarily by Canning, and that the Lisbon Embassy was a reward for his services in the matter.* Wellesley Pole to Bagot. May 7, 18 1 7. . . . Last night Canning made the very best speech in every particular I ever heard. His defence was complete in all its parts, and he carried many of the Opposition with him, even Lord Milton and B. Gurdon. Several others — viz., Mcintosh, Tierney, etc. — ac- * See ' Letters to Ivy from the First Lord Dudley ' (Romilly), p. 239, and ' Canning and his Times ' (Stapleton), p. 210. 44 i8i7] CANNING AND PEEL 45 quitted him of corruption, extravagance, etc., and Mr. Brogham floundered and was not heard, also the young gentleman who brought forward the motion, Brogham and Burdett were the only persons that suggested by their speeches the whole charge. Opposition never made so contemptible a figure, and we divided 270 to 96. Canning, has I think, set at rest for ever all prejudice respecting the quarrel between him and Castlereagh having been such as ought to have been irreconcilable; he put the whole of the question beautifully, forcibly, and most successfully. I never saw such an effect pro- duced in Parliament as by the whole of his speech. . , . At this time Mr. Speaker Abbot, who represented the University of Oxford, retired, and was created Lord Colchester. Canning was anxious to succeed him as member for the University, but feeling there was strongly against anyone with Catholic sympathies. Peel, who had succeeded Wellesley Pole as Chief Secretary for Ireland in 181 3, was returned as a staunch Protestant, for which, as will be seen by the following letter, he had prepared the way by his speeches. Binning to Bagot India Board, May 13, 1817. . . . There never was a speech that did so much for a man as Peel's speech on the Catholic question has done for him. I have heard many better most un- questionably, but his cause wanted an advocate, the Protestants wanted a leader in the House, and he has established himself in that powerful situation. At the height of the popularity which he had thus acquired by his defence of a cause declining in the estimation of all other public men, came little Abbott's vile resignation. On that point it is difficult to form 46 CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE [CH. II. a very precise or positive opinion, whether he did or did not calculate that his resignation would affect Oxford in the way it did, and so calculating timed it for the very purpose of defeating our friend's views and promoting those of the rising advocate of the cause to which he is himself attached. Were you at my elbow I should begin without scruple to d him for a little, plotting, contriving rogue. ... I do think that he was induced perhaps to choose the very moment (because time is a wide word and the end of the session would have answered his personal views as well as Whitsunday) by a desire a sneaking desire, a lurking hope, that very likely never ripen'd itself into an intrigue, that the Anti- Catholic cry and the popularity of Peel might affect the return for the University, and give consequence to the cause he wished well to. . . . Canning certainly, as you well know, thought him his friend. They had some communication some little time ago. It was at Easter, when the little creature was indisposed and his retirement talked of, and he then assured Canning that after the Dean of Ch. Ch. no man should know his intentions before Canning. The Vice-Chancellor knew of them as soon as the Dean, if not before him. Now he knows hours are important, not to say days, on such occasions. I do not say he wrote to these people before he zvrote to Canning, but his intentions were known before they were known to him, and he did not give his own College fair play, for which I understand he is much complained of there. . . . . . . Canning with a contest would surely have been a more honourable choice for the College than Peel without one. . . . The Treason trials have been going on for this whole week. ... I look for nothing but acquittal in the teeth of Law, reason, and justice. If we have an i8i7] THE PARSON'S REVERIE 47 acquittal we shall have a row, for there is much of exasperation, and triumph will set it in a flame. . . . I daresay we shall have no great difficulty in carry- ing the renewed suspension of the Habeas Corpus.* If we do not do that there will be no keeping the peace of the country. . . . If people abuse Canning in their letters to you about his correspondence with the Pitt Club,t do not mind them. He took a manly and an open part — and to none of the public men was the toast so great an insult as to him. Besides really it is of little importance whether they are right or wrong in saying he ought not to write letters to such persons on such a matter. It resolves itself into this, ought he to have made his opinion and feelings known in one shape or another shape ? . . . Yrs. most affly., B. Sneyd to Bagot. Elford, May 23, 1817. My dearest Charles, This very evening as I sot i' my chair a'ter a hearty dinner (I'll mention the particulars). . . . These things, I say, being withdrawn and a bottle of old port and some dried sweetmeats put on the table, sometimes reading, and sometimes having my atten- tion drawn by young swans on the river, fish jumping, and swallows skimming and dipping, all which I could see through the open doors of the conservatory (and * The Suspension of Habeas Corpus was renewed till March, 1818, since which it has never been suspended in Great Britain. The trials for treason of the leaders of Spa Fields riot resulted in acquittal, while a similar failure to convict Huddersfield rioters befell the Ministry in York. t With regard to a toast and speech of Peel's on Protestant ascendancy at a dinner of the Pitt Club, attributing anticatholic feel- ings to Pitt, and aimed at Canning's policy on the subject. 48 CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE [CH. ii. methought 'twas sweet to see). This Riverree was broke by the arrival of the letter bag. The letter bag? Aye ! and a dainty curious letter bag, and in this bag there was a letter. A letter ? Aye ! and a dainty curious letter! The letter was in the bag — etc., etc. But I soon pulled it out, and seeing that it was from you I exclaimed (like Beefington) * from Washington,' ' then is my joy compleat '; and to show my worthyness in receiving it, I was no sooner drunk than I took to my pen, and here I am, you see, thanking you for as pleasant a letter as ever I received * since I left Padua.' ... I left Town about a fortnight ago, taking * mine ease in mine Inn ' at Towcester, and as brutally happy to leave all my dear friends in y^ smoke as ever. Mrs. Pole was (as she always is) all kindness to me. I often dined there, and once I had the honour of meeting our great Duke there, saw him eat and heard him talk, and so far from finding my admiration for the Hero of the world diminish on a near view, he would have raised himself ten stories higher in my estimation, had it been possible to build on the top of a spire. Prettily said ! and clerical withal ! ! . . . Not being on the Turf myself, I pay but little attention to these things, but Batson* who has so long been a favourite for the Derby and Oaks, has, I think, got the Pole evil, so I would advise you to hedge your money before Patter- son returns. By the bye, I was at Mrs. Pole's the night of the Murrica wedding, and saw all the Yankeys, except the Doodle, who was just married. t Even by that dog. Coke of Norfolk, your Patterson showed no better than as a lump of cobbler's wax. . . . Now in respect to ' Politics Sir,' take my word for * Whatever this may mean — Mr. S. Batson was a racing man at the time — but never won a big race. + Felton Hervey, oneof the Dulteof Wellington's A.D.C.'s, married Miss Louisa Caton, Mrs. Patterson's sister. The Duke attended the wedding. i8i7] THE PARSON'S POLITICS 49 it (and never mind what anybody else says) we are doing very well, and shall do still better if we can hang the few execrable traitors we have in the Tower. The Opposition is a poor old Cat-o-nme tails, indeed, but neither head nor hand to direct them in their hurtful purposes, and they are even tired of crying Mew. The corn looks well . . . trade just as it should be — viz., dwindling away by degrees. For what folly it was to suppose that because we had contrivances to fill all the world with ribbons and stockings, that bonnets and legs must and ought to spring up on purpose to pay for and to wear them. And why ? Oh ! that Man- chester, Nottingham, and Coventry people may get drunk four days in the week and make their employers Radford, Bumford, and Peel the richest tofifs in the world ! Trade and commerce are very good things in their way within bounds, but when they overgrow the whole earth, bleeding, purging, etc., are very wholesome evacuations. As for your clistering . . . Lord Sid- mouth* directs it, directs it in a masterly manner to what we modestly call the home department. He finds out and squirts their raggamuffinships very dex- terously, therefore doubt ye not but that the time is coming when all shall see and feel that * the great nation ' is noi France. The world talk a great deal about you and tell me that you and Mary may do whatever you please with the States, and if so, I wish you would both do it and come home, for I want you sadly, and it is the only want I have. Sure I got a good fit of the gout last winter, and it is not so bad a thing as they make it out. As a companion I should prefer it by many degrees to several of my acquaintance and relations . . . but you will never read so far. So with my best love to dear Mary, believe me, dearest Charles, ever most affectly. yrs., t o * Home Secretary. VOL. IL 4 50 CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE [CH. li. Lyttelton to Bagot. Richmond Hill, June I, 1817. . . . The world is in a pretty bustle just at this moment, to be sure, owing to Abbot's resignation, which he took care to manage so that everybody with wondrous few exceptions indeed was taken by sur- prise. All of course for the laudable purpose of serving the ministerial candidate at Oxford and the ditto for the vacant chair. Vansittart and Canning had been canvassing, or at least trying their ground there, for some time — but Canning would not go down for obvious reasons of which his speech has but little diminished the force, notwithstanding its fascinating effect upon the House — and they quarrelled with Van not so much for his Noodleism, which does not much signify in these days in a Chancellor of the Exchequer, as for his Patronage of the Bible Societies — the only good thing he has ever done, as I and five others think. Now they have set up Peel — 1 mean the Ch. Ch. Common room agreed upon preferring him as the Ch. Ch, candidate, and wrote to him the day before yesterday to beg him to stand — and all St. James, etc., affirmed with all its clubs unanimously chattering on that point only, and on the election of a Speaker, that the too hopeful youth had agreed. Meantime we expect Phillimore to stand against him ... he will certainly divide more votes in Ch. Ch. than any other man . . . but this is all idle bother, for it will all be cleared up long before this letter goes . . . so I call myself a fool, write myself down an ass, with the utmost reason, and proceed. This Peel has been wonderfully impudent and aspiring, unquestionably it was a most masterly speech of his, that upon the Catholic claims ... it I8i7] A NEW SPEAKER 51 raised him instantly pegs innumerable, and I don't know how many people have been saying ever since * that young fellow will ere long be at the head of affairs in this country, etc., etc' Well, my youngster sees his vantage and is determined to push it — but to be sure his Protestant Ascendancy toast at Pitt's dinner — his making Billy's ghost utter a sentiment so very hostile to his recorded opinions is [illegible], and all for the sake of bearding Canning and Castlereagh. Now they talk of Abbot taking office under the Cock of Cotton and I know not what changes. It is idle talk enough, I daresay, for the moment, but at no very distant day may come up true. So think the fat-jowled Oxonians — and are making haste to be beneficially as well as orthodoxically represented. ... I go to- morrow on the great process of chusing, seizing, shaving, wigging and gowning a new official Baboon.* . . . June 2. — The new Baboon is chosen and installed, but sans wig, gown, and hat triangular, he made but an ordinary figure, and it was lucky for him, and for the dignity of our proceedings, that the House instantly adjourned. I suppose he is now like a man going to a masquerade trying on his Peruke and viewing him- self in the glass ... he certainly did appear very soft indeed, and actually broke down in his speech and Protestation from the Chair, However, it was enough no doubt to sweat any man, luckily he was at the end of a sentence when his presence of mind failed him, and he stood for about a minute blushing and silent and with quaking knees, and then gave in and sat down after undergoing a premature Hear! Hear! . . . The Oxford Election will, I fear, be uncontested. . . . [Phillimore] says it was astonishing how violent they * Alluding to the installation of Mr. Manners Sutton as Speaker. No reflection on his personal appearance need be assumed, but the official headgear of the Speaker might by some be thought to bear a curious resemblance to the face and whiskers of the animal in question. 4—2 52 CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE [CH. II. were against Canning. I believe the Dean was about his only supporter. , . . Mr. Lyttelton writes again on June 4 describing the voting in the contest between Wynn and Manners Sutton for the Speakership : Many were with difficulty brought into the field, so violent was the odium Grenvillium* . . . Never was anything like the confusion in the House of Commons under the new reign. Sutton will be obliged to wear his hat half the evening. Wynn sits by like a prompter, but as he has no whisper, he is forced to get up and squeak out. In good earnest I am assured that Sutton must fag hard during the vacation, or he will be forced to resign, as Mitford did, from sheer incapacity. Lord Lonsdale is at the bottom of the whole affair, he wanted Sutton's place for his accomplished son-in-law Beckett. . . . Lord Buckingham has, I believe, at length formally ratted. He will presently ask for a larger piece of cheese than they will give him. . . . As for Nugent he has made an interest of his own at Aylesbury, so that he saith, * A fig for the Marquis !' . . . To conclude, here is a charming American anec- dote. Mrs. Herveyt asked the Duke of Wellington the other day for a pinch of snuff. The Duke said he did not know she took it ; to which she answered, that she could not help taking it, since Hervey shook so much on her face from his. There ! is there more wit or more delicacy than that at New York ? Charles Ellis to Bagot. Epinay sur Seine (Paris), July 4, 1817. . . . The times have certainly been very bad, worse. Canning tells me, than the bad times which we re- * The Grenville party, with the Marquis of Buckingham at their head. Wynn was a relation, and Lord Nugent anotlier. t The newly-married wife of the Duke's A.D.C., Colonel Felton Hervey, formerly Miss Caton. \ i8i7] CANNING'S DEFENCE 53 member in beginning life. But I believe I am justified in saying have been, for ' things are looking up,' as people say, and Canning says * we shall get through.' I believe too the suspension of the Habeas to be our salvation. For, you see, the suspension of the Corpus is, with such Judges as Mr. Justice Abbott,* such juries as those of Wooler and Watson, t and such Crown lawyers, as to rest a case of Treason on such an evidence as Castle's, is pretty much out of the question. Opposition certainly, at the beginning of the session, looked confidently to the overthrow of the Government, if not to Revolution, and early in the session they certainly coalesced with the Jacobins. That they were disappointed, I firmly believe to have been owing scarcely more to the premature attempts of the revolutionists, than to the tone which C. took on the opening of the Parliament. His career has been most brilliant. By the same token you will have seen with what a revengeful spirit he has been attacked in the daily Press. Lambton's attack on the Lisbon Mission was most fortunate for him. They had already made an impres- sion on the public mind, by repeated allusions and insinuations in a way which afforded him no means of justification, and might have continued to keep open this sore place as long as they had chosen. Brougham, I understand, was wise enough in his generation to see the advantage of this guerilla warfare, and to have remonstrated with Lambton accordingly; but in vain, and Lambton's motion afforded Canning the™oppor- * Charles Abbott in this year succeeded Lord EUenborough as Chief Justice. t Wooler was prosecuted for publishing an attack on the Ministry in a scurrilous paper called the Black Dwarf, and Watson for the Huddersfield rioting ; neither were convicted, which was considered a victory over the Government (see Walpole's ' History,' vol. i., p. 459 dseq.). 54 CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE [CH. ii. tunity, which nothing else could have given him, for a complete justification and triumph. I have been told the effect of his speech was such as had never before been made in the House. Frere said of that motion that * it was like putting all the Quince into one Apple Pye.' But in spite of this brilliant career, you see, he has lost Oxford ; you will say, how has this happened ? The Speaker timed his resignation so as to make it impossible for Canning to have accepted Oxford, had it been laid at his feet. He could not possibly have thrown Liverpool over at five minutes' notice, and Abbott did not give him so much. He sent him a letter announcing his intention, on the morning of the day on which he wrote to the same eff'ect to the Vice- Chancellor and Hall.* Whether he did this treacherously, or not, he will explain in another place — not that to which he is now promoted. Peel walked over the course, which Canning, they say, certainly would not have done. Peel had just made an Anti-Catholic speech, a very good one I have been told, and he had been put in the chair of the Pitt Club, after the controversy between the managers of that Club and Canning, on the Pro- testant Ascendancy Toast. This looks like coming forward as the No Popery Champion. We shall see. Au reste, the loss of Oxford is the greatest disappointment I have experienced this many a day. But it is not like the negotiation of 1812. He has no cause to reproach himself, nor any of his friends. ... I will deliver your message to ould Hammond on Monday, when he is to dine here. . . Paris is what would be called very gay. Granville has been here six weeks.f Mosley is here in a villa, * Dean of Christ Church. t For the life in Paris at this time from the British point of view, see ' Letters of Countess Granville,' vol. i., pp. 95-127. i8i7] CANNING ON THE SESSION 55 just beyond the Faubourg St. Antoine. Jerseys on their way from Italy. I gave your message to Lord Fitzroy. ... 1 like them very much. Him 1 had not known at all before I came here. Write to me, for I too am an exile. Most affectly. yours, C. E. Canning to Bagot. India Board, {Private.) July 31, 181 7. My dear Charles, Your letter of April came to my hands late in May, in the very midst of our after-Easter session, which, as you will have judged from the reports of our proceedings, was not less troublesome than our session before Easter. It was useless to think of writing to anybody till Parliament was happily up. It is now something more than a fortnight since our release, and I am just beginning to recover from the languor and inertness consequent upon a state of incessant worry, and to be able to go about my busi- ness and do my duties, publick and private, discreetly and soberly. We have indeed good reason to con- gratulate ourselves on the conclusion of our labours, and on the state in which the Country is left at the conclusion of them, after so threatening and perilous an opening. Never was such a change as from January to July. And the merit of it is to be shared between Parliament and the Season. I put Pari* first not irreverently, but in order of time, because our firmness was tried and our tone taken while it was yet uncertain whether we might not have to encounter another scarcity, and therewith another winter's attempt at revolution. If the next three weeks keep the promise of the present appearances, an abundant harvest will remove this 5^ CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE [CH. ll. source of our danger : and for the rest I verily hope that we have provided. I make up for you a parcel of ray speeches during the session, two of which — that on the motion for the reduction of two Lordships of the Admiralty, and that on my own trial — were published by myself — the latter for obvious reasons ; the former, because the debate on that motion was the debate on the issue of which our existence as a Government hinged. The first was volunteered by a shorthand writer and corrected by me, so far as I had the means ; the others are little more than the newspaper reports some- what enlarged and purged of mistakes and absurdities. All together they form something like a history of the session : the first and the last (of which I wish I had a better report) being pretty fair exhibitions of the general feeling, at the respective periods and of our own. The history of the session is also pretty nearly my own, for I have almost lived in the H. of Coms. Thus, tho' old Hammond was over here for six weeks — or more — I could see but little of him, by starts and snatches. I had barely a glimpse and no more of your brother Dick. Frere is our neighbour at Brompton {cum conjuge — the Lady Erroll), but not much the nearer for that till Parliament rose. Yes, Howard* is in the Guards, and what is more hurrying — Gussyf in the Lancers. Charles sent them over to me the middle of June. Howard is still with me at Gloucester Lodge. Guss with his regiment at Canterbury. They return to their father the begin- ning of Sept. and go with him to Italy, for their sister's sake, and there to spend the winter. In spring, I presume, he and all will come back for good. * Charles Ellis's eldest son, then eighteen — Lord Howard de Walden. f His second son, Augustus Frederick. . i8i7] CANNING'S BOYS 57 Frere visits you, by this mail, in the guise of Whistlecraft.* You and I, who like sheer nonsense, shall agree in liking it. Binny, who looks for meaning, does not, nor will it take with the million. I am delighted with your own accounts of your own satis- faction in your present situation. Above all things, or at least above most things, I am glad to hear that you are not ruining yourself. By the way, my con- science smites me, that I did not find time to make any use of the valuable extract from the archives of your Mission, which you sent me for Howard's con- fusion. But I trust we shall yet live and meet to plague him with it, together. Are your wife and babes doing as well as yourself? My second boy is at the Naval College at Portsmouth by his own eager choice (conceived on the voyage home from Portugal), and is getting on there with extraordinary diligence, so much so as to abridge his his three years' study to one and a half — and then to sea. George is much the same, but he is with us, and therefore I hope as happy as his circumstances admit. * Continue to rejoice me with your friendly letters ' (as we say in the East), and (as we are also in the habit of saying), ' What can I say more ?' Ever sincerely and affectionately yours, G. C. P.S. — Planta will no doubt have announced to you himself that he is Under-Sec. of State, vice Cooke. I am heartily glad of his promotion, which he well deserves. * In this }'ear Frere published the first two cantos of his burlesque poem, first produced as ' Specimen of an Intended National Work by William and Robert Whistlecraft, of Stow Market in Suffolk, Harnessmakers, comprising particulars relating to King Arthur and his Round Table.' Byron was greatly pleased with it, and wrote to Murray that he had written a poem ' after the excellent manner of Whistlecraft, whom I take to be Frere.' When the whole poem was completed, it was called the ' Monks and the Giant.' 58 CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE [CH. ii. Wellesley Pole to Bagot. Brighton, August 5, 1817. My dear Charles, I begin my letter to you at an open window looking over the Steyne at the sea — a bright day. N.B. Two fellows just past the window in a Buggy, white hats with green linings — a Phaaton with two women drawn by donkeys. A Pair with a Postilion. There are about fifty of them here besides donkies for riding, and some sociables drawn by donkies. My next door neighbour is a butcher in full business, next to him a ham and cheese monger, then a confectioner and cake man, after that a haberdasher, opposite to him a shoemaker; we are therefore as you may per- ceive in a sweet neighbourhood. After due considera- tion and much reading, Mrs. Pole has found out that going to Dieppe would only save her about 50 miles. . . . She has therefore determined to proceed to Calais, and we start this day week . . . she is quite well, but, like Lady Pomfret* of old, ' Has her tricks, has her tricks.' Thank God there isn't a word of news, and the Lord be praised all the Cabinet are dispersed, and no one of them knows what the other is about, so, Mr. Ambassador, you must not expect to hear anything from me worth a fig. N.B. Old Dr. Jacksonf and Kangaroo Cooket just passing on the Steyne, by Jove, Jackson with his hands behind him — they stop — Jackson raises his head, and sticks his hands (without gloves) in his sides — an old lady in a red shawl in a * Henrietta, Countess of Pomfret, a granddaughter of Judge Jeffreys, Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Carohne, wife of George II., a strong-minded lady (' Caroline the Illustrious,' by Wilkin, p. 376). t Dr. Robert Jackson (1751-1827), a well-known character. j Major-General Henry Cooke, C.B., Coldstream Guards, A.D.C. to the Duke of York, another well-known character of the time. I8i7] IN THE DAYS OF THE REGENCY 59 garden chair drawn by a Footman. Her maid with a broad bottom pushing behind ! . . . By way of improving my French I have got a Swiss servant who speaks the language rather better than I do, but not so well as Castlereagh, so you may guess what a pro- gress I make. By the by, Castlereagh's accident was an ugly one, but it will not signify. I must go and take my ride. I will finish my letter to-morrow. No, I can give you another quarter of an hour. Planta has at last succeeded Cooke,* at which everybody is pleased. . . . How very provoking, the finest breeding season for partridges and pheasants ever known, and I am going to stay in France, God knows how long . . . and a good year's shooting lost at my time of life is never to be regained. Damn these pens of Bramah's, they don't last a moment ! A Traveller and his numerous family in an open Landau ! The children and I saw a keeper put his head into a full grown Lion's mouth, and heard him halloo — I don't know how to spell it — down his throat. True, as that Mary loves wine or you brandy ! The beasts are gone, or we should probably have been in at the death of the keeper. I have often wondered how the devil women con- tinue to talk sans interruption for hours. Georgina Worcestert and Mrs. Pole have been in the next room these two hours, and such a constant clack — yet what in the name of gossipping can they have to say here, where there are neither operas, nor assemblies, nor balls, nor devilments of any kind ? I went into the room to find out w^hat the devils were talking about, and, would you believe it, I found them in full cry discussing the merits of poor Char- lotte 's tongue — Mrs. Pole swearing that I had * As Under-Secretary to Lord Castlereagh at the Foreign Office, t Marchioness of Worcester, daughter of Hon. H. Fitz-Roy and Wellesley Pole's sister, Lady Anne Wellesley. 6o CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE [CH. II. been in love with it about thirty years ago, and Georgina chuckling at the idea. This conversation began about horses, and Mrs. Pole swore I spoil'd a favourite horse of hers by riding to Hanwell to see Charlotte A 's tongue. Here I finish ; to-morrow I will write more non- sense to Mary. Sense has been banished this Realm since Rothschild raised the funds to 84, when all the wise-acres thought they ought to fall. Prosperity, and Trade, and low prices of corn, and Vansittart and Exchequer Bills for ever! God bless you all. W. W. P. Wellesley Pole to Bagot. Paris, Odober 30, 1817. ... I envy you your visit to Mount Vernon. What with rats, squalling young ladies, and all the comforts of an airy country house, you must have passed a pleasant time. I am glad you approve of the sovereigns, but I hope to send you something better shortly. I am quite thick with Denon,* and I have sent for Pistrucci.t . . • I had heard that there was a Protestant intrigue going on ... it could not succeed unless our Premier! was to join it, and I conceive this to be impossible. ... Of one thing, however, I am certain, viz., that under the English feelings last year it would have been impossible for your friend to have carried Oxford, even if there had been no intrigue what- ever. . . . Everything is looking well in England . . . sedition out of fashion. . . . You know probably better than * Baron Dciion (1747-1825), Director-General of Museums and Superintendent of the Mint in France, f Pistrucci, the Italian engraver, j Lord Liverpool. i8i7] PARIS AFTER THE WAR 6l I do the general aspect of foreign politics. ... I think it is very doubtful whether the mediation offered for settling the dispute between Spain and her Colonies will succeed — but all the great Powers are sincere. . . . The French Government are very anxious to get rid of the army of occupation at the end of the three years, and if they pay the whole money, which was to have been paid in the five years, I am sure that we in England should find great difficulty in attempt- ing to resist the removal of the troops. If this happens, that is, if the army of occupation leaves France next year, it is the general belief that Louis le Desire will totter, N.B. There has been a picture painted of Louis's retreat from France on Bony's return from Elba, A wag wrote upon it. Beau Jour — Bis ! Bis ! The same sentiment is said most strongly to prevail throughout our fair France, and, notwithstanding Henri Quatre, whose image is now in the centre of the Star of the Legion of Honour, I fear there will be Pall Mall when we are left to ourselves. The Prussian demands are vehemently pressed. It is said they are to be satisfactorily settled. If they are, our fair France must bleed. Le gros Banquier Baring* is however here, rempli d'Argent, and he will certainly lend while he has Wellington and Co. to back him, but apres — c'est une autre chose. With such a mass of soldiers as are now in being in Europe how the devil peace is to be preserved God knows. Russians, Prussians, Austrians, French, doing all they can. Netherlands the worst army in Europe, and very few in numbers, England wherever the army of occupation is withdrawn, without any army at all. I will tell you a true story. About three weeks ago * Alexander Baring, afterwards Lord Ashburton. 62 CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE [CH. ii. Lord Carrington and his family passed by Lyons ; within a stage of the city, his son who was in a carriage with his sister observed a vast concourse of people, bonfires, and the Lord knows what ; the multitude so great that he began to be alarmed lest he should be stopped. He got out, and asked the people what was the matter ; they said that they understood that Pauline Borghese was in one of the carriages, and that their joy was so great at the thought of once more seeing the sister of their august Emperor that they could not suppress it. Mr. Smith in vain endeavoured to persuade them that Pauline was not there, the crowd continued till they got to Lyons, and while they were in the town the streets were crowded and their Inn besieged, and all kinds of expressions in favour of Bonaparte, etc., etc., reiterated. They were informed that there were in the neighbourhood of Lyons 100,000 men ready to take arms whenever a favourable oppor- tunity should occur. So much for Buckingham ! I wish our American ladies* were safe at home. I suspect they will loiter, they are terribly run down in England now — the courier calls. . . . Ever yrs. most affect., W. W. P, The Duke of IVellington to Hon. Mrs. Bagot. COURTRAY, December 14, 1817. My dear Mary, I received the letter which you was so kind as to write to me in the summer, and I have frequently since heard of you from Mrs. Pole and your sisters and from Mrs. Patterson and her sisters and I am delighted to find that you had recovered from the indisposition of which you complained when you wrote to me. * Mrs. Patterson and her sister, Miss Caton. / i8i7] THE DUKE AND PAULINE 63 I shouldn't like to see Bagot come home too soon as we were certainly never on such good terms (I believe never before on any terms at all) with the Govt, of the United States as we have been since he was appointed the Minister; and as he gives so much satisfaction to everybody both at home and abroad of which I hear from all quarters, I hope he will be able to stay. I shouldn't however like to see him come home like Johnny Newcome, nor you with the loss of all what [illegible] calls your enthusiasm and your patriotism. As for your being bored I don't mind that. First, I believe that you are like me in that respect, viz., that you can find amusement with blackguards if you cannot find gentlemen to keep company with ; and secondly if you cannot, you are one of your lives and fortunes people. You pledged yourself that you would live behind a mountain with your Man if you were allowed to marry him ; and I have no pity for you and won't hear of your being off. Besides how can you complain when you have such elegant amusements as a barbecue ?* I could not avoid reading your account of this amusement to Miss Louisa who was with me when I received it and who was much entertained by it. But she swears she was never present at such an amusement, but she knows what apple toddy is, and whiskey sling and a shote.f She is very entertaining and we all like her excessively. She is very happy with her husband, who is one of my whipper-snappers who I believe you don't know. He is the brother of Lionel Hervey who was with me at Paris, and who had sometimes the impertinence * An American expression, meaning a large social or political entertainment, used by Judge Washington in a letter to Bagot. Originally a Red Indian word connected with cooking. t A little pig. 64 CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE [ch. ii. to venture to laugh when I called a certain person Pauline, I forget whether I told you of a scene I had with her about you. I called upon her one morning and as 1 was going in I saw a Bust of you on a Stove in the Antechamber, on which a rascal of a footman had placed his feet. I was not very well pleased as you may suppose, but I suppressed my anger till I brought her out, and she as usual talked of you with the utmost affection, giving you however here and there a sly cut. After she had gone on for about a quarter of an hour, I said, ' By the bye that is a beautiful bust of her which I saw on the stove in your Antechamber.' ' Oh yes, very beautiful ; it was put there only till I can find a good place for it. Why yes, I should think any place would be better than that ; as it is probable that every person would feel a greater interest for the original than your footman ! ! !' She looked excessively foolish, and the next time I went I found the bust in the Place of Honour in the room. However now that I hope you care as little for her as she ever did for you I suppose I may venture to say that she was always very unworthy of your bust, probably as much so as even her footman. I have not seen Mrs. Patterson or Miss Caton since July last. They have been in Scotland and at Holkham and very much liked everywhere. I am afraid that we shall live there in spring. Louisa is gone over to see them. Your Mama is at Paris and she has not been very well but is better. Papa is in England and is coming here on his way to Paris in order to fetch her home. Emily and Priscilla* are both in your way. Indeed Emily seems to surpass you and intends to have a child for every day in the month of May before she * Lady Fitz-Roy Somerset and Lady Burghcrsh, the Duke's nieces, Mrs. Bagot's sisters. i8i7] A WONDER-WORKING FELLOW 65 finishes. She is to have a fourth I understand next May, in a little more than three years. I saw your children in London last summer and they were very fine and improving. God bless you dearest Mary, give my best love to Bagot and believe me ever yours most afF. W. IVellesley Pole to Bagot. December 14, 18 17. . . . The storm of grief for the loss of Princess Charlotte is past. ... I suppose the meeting of Par- liament will revive the subject, as the state of the suc- cession and the characters of some near the Throne render it probable that opposition will not let us rest. But nothing has as yet transpired, excepting that the Duke of Kent, as I hear but not from authority, has offered to marry for the good of the nation, pro- vided a handsome Pension is settled on Mad. St. Laurent.* . . . We are in treaty for Strathfieldsaye, Lord Rivers' place in Hampshire, for the Duke of Wellington, the papers will tell you we have bought it, but this is not true. The difficulty we have to cope with (provided the title is good) is a large quantity of timber fit for cutting — if we can get the Navy Board to take it ... I think we shall make the purchase. The Duke has seen it and likes it very much. . . . The difficulty of settling the claims of all the world against France you have heard of. . , . The Emperor of Russia has proposed that the Duke of Wellington should be called on to settle them and be put at the head of the Ministers of the four great Powers for this purpose. He has written a most handsome letter * See 'Notes of a conversation with H.R.H. the Duke of Kent,' December 11, 1817, Creevey Papers, vol. i., p. 268, with regai-d to Madlle. St. Laurent. VOL. IL C 66 CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE [CH. ll. to the Duke ... in the letter among other fine things he tells him that the settlement of Europe has been principally owing to his Grace's heroic conduct in the Field as well as his inveterate good counsel in the Cabinet. This is really flattering and I think does Alexander great credit. He says (which is true) that there can be no doubt of all the Powers agreeing unanimously and cordially to his proposal. What a wonder working fellow our Duke is ! — All the ques- tions in the world are wide open — Spain and Portugal, Spain and her Colonies . . . yet are we quite placid in Downing St. . . . no Leader to Opposition. . . . Treason retired beneath the Hop Bolster of the Doctor* . . . if this is not Peace, Prosperity and Plenty, Capital, Confidence and Credit . . . why then you may go and eat Barbecue and drink Flip with Mary and Adams and Carroll, and Catons, and Decaturs,t and Devils on the Banks of Rappahannock . . . here we are all prosperity and stability, etc., etc., and so the Devil take the hindmost. Adieu. W. W. P. Early in 1818 the second attempt on the Duke of Wellington's life was made in Paris. In June, 1816, a conspiracy to destroy his house by fire and explosives had been discovered in time, but the affair was hushed up, as the Duke had previously determined to go to England to take the Cheltenham waters, as may be remembered from the letter from Wellesley Pole of July 5 of that year. On this occasion Sir George Murray, serving on the Duke's staff, had received a * Lord Sidmouth was said to have recommended a pillow of hops to assist George III. to sleep. t The future President and leading Americans. Charles Carroll was the last survivor of the signers of the Declaration of Independ- ence. The Catons of Baltimore have been already alluded to. The Decaturs, father and son, had distinguished themselves as naval officers both in the revolutionary war and in the last war against Great Britain. The son Stephen was killed in a duel in 1820 by the commander of the Chesapeake, Decatur having suggested that he surrended to the Shatnwn somewhat hurriedly. i8i8] ATTEMPT ON THE DUKE'S LIFE 6y letter from Lord Kinnaird, who was known to be in sympathy with revolutionaries, telling him that a French refugee under sentence of death in Brussels had offered to reveal a plot against the Duke's life if Lord Kinnaird would intercede for him and get him a safe conduct to Paris. Murray showed the letter to the Duke, who made light of it, and suggested that Lord Kinnaird should be asked the name of his informant. Two days after Murray had replied to the letter, on February lo, the attempt on the Duke's life described in the following letters, was made. Lord Kinnaird's connexion with the affair got him into some trouble, though the Duke himself acquitted him of acting otherwise than indiscreetly. He was, nevertheless, looked upon with suspicion in England. After inquiry he was arrested, and only escaped being lodged in the Conciergerie by the action of the Duke, for which Lord Kinnaird made but a poor return subsequently. There was a long inquiry held at Paris and Brussels. The man who fired the shot was found to be one Cantillon, a sous officier of the French army. He was kept for some length of time in custody, and finally tried and acquitted by a French jury. Napoleon added a codicil to his will at St. Helena, leaving 10,000 francs to Cantillon, giving as his grounds for this disgraceful legacy that Cantillon had as much right to assassinate the Duke as the latter had to send him into exile at St. Helena. Wellesley Pole to Bagot. Savile Row, March 6, 181 8. My dear Charles, . . . The truth is, that your mission is at this moment by far the most important of any in our Diplomacy, and you have the singular good fortune not only of giving the greatest satisfaction to your own Government but of also pleasing the Americans, so as to have rendered the British Minister at Washington an object of respect and admiration, instead of being 5—2 68 CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE [CH. li. one as heretofore of contempt and ridicule ; this is thoroughly well understood here and by nobody more felt than by Lord Castlereagh ; the negotiations you are concerned in are of the most important nature, and were you to leave your post before the}'- are concluded, you would embarrass Lord Cast, very much and, in my judgment, effectually destroy your Diplomatic character, . . . You could never hope either to be a Rat-catcher or an Ambassador — whereas if you remain (we will say) two years longer at your Post, I think you are certain of being both. ... I should grieve to see you hobbling about London like John Villiers since he gave up his Mission to Lisbon, unregarded and unconsistent ; and this would inevitably be your fate if you came home. I am sure you stand much higher in Castlereagh's estimation than any other man in your line of your standing. . . . You will have seen a great deal in newspapers about the attack made upon the Duke of Wellington's life at Paris, or rather the attempt to assassinate him. I send you FitzRoy's letter to me upon the subject, which contains the best account that was given of the transaction ; as yet no positive discovery has been made though there is some reason to think that the man who fired the shot is known, and Lord Kinnaird and his friend were to be confronted on Monday last, as the latter had contra- dicted all he had said to the former, and to Cazes, and he and Kinnaird were to be brought face to face in order to endeavour to elicit the truth — We have been as you may suppose very uneasy about the Duke, and the Cabinet unanimously advised the Regent to send a positive order to the Duke to quit Paris and join his army — to this he has demurred and for good reasons. He is as you probably know, engaged in negotiating an arrangement of the Private claims, which negotia- tion has been placed in his hands at the desire of the Emperor of Russia (who wrote a very handsome letter i8i8] BROUGHAM IN WESTMORLAND 69 on the subject) by all the Sovereigns of Europe, and he felt that leaving this, and abruptly leaving Paris, would have been prejudicial not only to the interests of all, but to his reputation. He took the matter up very strongly, so much so, that we could not enforce the order — However it is not withdrawn, and he has been desired to leave Paris, as soon as he thinks he can with any degree of propriety. In the meantime he takes every possible precaution. His carriage panels are shot proof — the doors can only open from within. He has arms in his carriage and never goes in it alone. He has two of the English Rifle Corps dressed as footmen always behind his carriage, and the carriage he uses at night is not his English one, but a plain French coach — there are besides precau- tions taken in his house, such as bolted doors, shutters to his bedroom windows etc. He is very sensible of his danger, and he says he shall be able to quit Paris in a fortnight. . . . Our Session of Parliament has been the most easy I ever remember. ... I do not know the cause of it, but Mr. Brougham has hardly taken any part since the Session opened — some say he is sulky at not having been appointed Leader, others that he wants to appear moderate in hopes of persuad- ing the good people of Westmorland to make him their representative* — but whatever the cause may be — the fact is — we have not one long or violent speech from him now where we should have had ten last session. . . . Sidmouth has really come through triumphantly. . . . What do you say to Princess * Mr. Brougham in this year made the first of his three attacks on the Lowthers in Westmorland. He stood, at the end of June, against Lord Lowther and his brother, Colonel Lowther. Preparations had long been making for the contest, and in London a society had been formed, called ' The Friends of the Independence of Westmorland.' The contest was conducted by Brougham with great energy and considerable invective, but in vain. He contested Westmorland again in 1820 and 1826, coming near to beating Colonel Lowther in 1820. In June, 1826, Mr. Brougham made a public entry into Kendal, 70 CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE [CH. ii. Elizabeth's marriage ? Prince of Hesse Humbug* is an oldish, fattish, German General, all moustachios, smoke, and uniform, speaks no language but a kind of iron French which nobody can understand. Captain Clarence was very hot upon marrying Miss Wyckham who had consented, but when the Captain found that the Regent and the Cabinet were deter- mined to prevent his making such a fool of himself he knocked under. If he had persevered it would have given us a great deal of trouble. . . . The only Dand}^ news I know is that Mr. Mayler was killed the other day by a fall from his horse in Leicestershire and tnat Poggyf is going to marry Lady something Cecil. . . . Ever yours most afifectionately W. W. P. Lord FitzRoy Somerset, who was now thirty years of age, was the youngest son of the fifth Duke of Beaufort. He accompanied Sir A. Wellesley as A.D.C. when he first when to Portugal, and returned to the Peninsula with him in 1809, being the bearer of the dispatches announcing Talavera. He was Military Secretary to Lord Wellington in 181 1, and obtained personally the surrender of the French at Badajoz after the storming of that city, and was in all the battles at which and was entertained at a dinner, presided over by Mr. Wakefield, at which songs and skits against the Lowthers were produced, and considerable rowdiness prevailed, which, however, paled to insignifi- cance compared to the fight between the Blues and Yellows at the same time at Carlisle, colours designating the Whigs and Tories which remain to this day. At Carlisle the Yellows were ducked, and their candidate, who had to take refuge in a weaver's shop, was forcibly given a lesson in weaving. In these days, although possibly a little of the bitterness of those violent contests may remain, Lowthers, Broughams, and Wakefields are, if not completely in political accordance, by no means anxious to duck each other or their respective adherents in the ponds at election times. * Princess Elizabeth, third daughter of George III., married Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse Homburg. He became a partisan of Queen Caroline in 1821, and incurred the displeasure of George IV. (Creevey, ii. 20). t Right Hon. Henry Pierrepont. k/L . SoMiny. Q-iU^. Sm^^n^'ll/oUtjcrS^h, ite i8i8] FITZROY SOMERSET 71 Wellington was present. He had been in charge of the Embassy at Paris in the Duke's absence in the early part of 1815, rejoining the Duke at Brussels before Waterloo. Mrs. Wellesley Pole and her daughter, Lady FitzRoy Somerset, were at Brussels at the time, where a daughter was born to the Somersets a month before the battle, who is now living. Riding close to the Duke during the battle, Somerset was shot in the elbow, and had his right arm amputated. After the operation, he called to the orderly who was taking the arm away to bring it back, as there was a ring on the finger which he wanted. The following letter is beautifully written, in much the same hand as the one written just before Waterloo. In an article in the Quarterly Review on Lord Raglan in 1856, much is made of the rapidity with which he learnt to write with his left hand, and the Duke's kindness in retaining him as Secretary after the loss of his right arm ; but it is stated on the authority of his daughter above mentioned that as a boy he was left-handed, and his mother used to have his left hand tied up to force him to use his right. After Waterloo he returned to Paris, and continued there as Secretary to the Embassy till the allied armies withdrew in 1818. He was created Lord Raglan in 1852, and two years later was made Field -Marshal and commanded the British expedition to the Crimea, where he died. Lieut.-Col. Lord FitzRoy Somerset to Wellesley Pole. (Enclosure in Wellesley Pole's Paris, letter of March 6.) Thursday, February 12, 1818. My dear Mr. Pole, You have so often expressed apprehensions for the Duke's safety, that you will be more shocked, than surprised to learn, that he was shot at, the night before last, just as his carriage was entering the Porte Cochere of his house.* Fortunately the shot missed entirely ; * The Duke's house was in the Rue Champs Elys^es. It was from this house that the first shot was fired by Le Grange in the Revolution of 1848. It was subsequently pulled down by order of Napoleon III. (' Life of Wellington,' byjGleig, vol. iii., p. 61). 72 CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE [CH. ii. but however one may exult at his escape on this occasion, the fact that it is intended to take away his life is so clear, that one cannot but dread that another attempt may be more effectual. It appears by the evidence of the coachman and footman, that as the carriage passed by the Hotel d'Abrantes, which you may recollect is at the entrance of the Rue des Champs Elysees, they observed a man standing opposite to it, who, on the approach of the carriage moved on and kept pace with it till he reached the nearest sentry box at the Duke's door, when he stopped and as the carriage was in the act of turning into the gateway the villain fired his pistol. Upon hearing the shot, the horses rather quickened their pace, which the coachman had checked to go more easily over the gutter, and the Duke arrived without accident at the house, totally unaware that he had been fired at, till the footman opened the door and said ^J'espere, Monseigncur, que voire Excellence n'est pas hlesse' He had conceived that one of the sentries' muskets had gone off by accident. Upon ascertaining how the fact stood, the Duke ordered the assassin to be pursued, but as no step had been taken till he gave the directions to that effect, the scoundrel of course made his retreat good. If however, the sentries had been as indeed they ought to have been outside the Porte Cochere, instead of being in it, or if the footman (a Frenchman) had had his wits about him, and upon seeing the man fire, had immediately jumped down and run after him, or had even cried out ^ A V assassin^ he must have been taken ; for two of the Duke's English servants were at the moment coming down the street, and heard the report of the pistol, and whilst they were debating upon what was the cause of the shot at such an hour (it was after midnight) they met the man running: and as one of them had said that the shot might have been fired at the Duke's i8i8] THE SHOT THAT MISSED 73 carriage they had a great mind to stop him, but hearing no alarm they thought it most prudent to let him go by without molestation. Shortly after, some of the guard detached from the Duke's came up to them and asked them if they had seen anybody, to which they replied in the affirmative, and immediately joined with the soldiers in the pursuit. One of the servants ran so fast, that he thinks he saw the same man go into a house in the Rue de la Madeleine^ and stay at the door till he came up, when it was slammed in his face. This house was afterwards examined some hours after, I believe, and it appears that the only lodger is a laquais-de-place now in the service of an Englishman. The soldiers and servants continued their researches but ineffectually. The whole of yesterday was occu- pied by the police in the examination of everybody who could throw any light upon the affair, and in the evening a man came forth who had formerly lived as servant to Burgh, who acknowledged himself the author of an anonymous letter he had addressed Sir Ulysses about a month ago, who had communicated it to the Duke stating that he had been offered a sum of money to assassinate him. He now said that he had no personal acquaintance with the man who had made the proposition to him, but that he should know him if he were to see him, and that he was apprehensive that his own life was in danger in consequence of his refusal to undertake the murder. This laqnais had been in the army and had afterwards lived with General Exelmans where he was probably remarked by the villain who wanted to induce him to perpetrate the crime. Nothing else has transpired which may tend to the discovery of the assassin, with the excep- tion of a letter from Lord Kinnaird to Sir George Murray which you will receive ^hrough Sir Charles Stuart. In this it is stated that a man had asked Lord Kinnaird if he thought the Duke of Wellington 74 CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE [ch. ii. could be prevailed upon to exert his influence with M. De Cazes to grant permission for the return to Paris of three French exiles. Lord Kinnaird replied in the negative, upon which the Frenchman enquired if the Duke would be induced to facilitate their return, on condition of his disclosing a plot, which had been some time in agitation against his life. The rest of the letter contains Kinnaird's answer to this pro- position and the steps which the other considers necessary, if it should be admitted. Murray by the Duke's desire has written to K. to say that before any other step is taken, he must disclose the name of his informer, and as the attempt to assassinate has since been made, Kinnaird's letter will be sent to Lord Clancarty* who will act upon it as he thinks proper. It is impossible so immediately after the event to judge of the effect which the commission of such an outrage will make in Paris. The only people whom I have yet seen are connected with the Court and they as may naturally be supposed, express in strong terms their abhorrence of it, but the French in general are, as Lord Stanhope truly says, so un- principled, and they carry their detestation of the Duke and of the English to such an extreme, that I do not believe many of them will really feel shocked that such an attempt should have been made, more particularly as they consider the Duke to be the author of their present degradation. Much as I have been accustomed to the unostentatious courage and strength of mind so peculiar to the Duke, I acknowledge that he has on this occasion displayed a firmness and a tranquillity which has astonished me, while at the same time he has evinced a disposition to take every pre- caution in his power to preserve his valuable life. He is aware that if a man is determined to destroy him at the certain sacrifice of his own existence, he * Ambassador to the Netherlands. i888] A PRUDENT OFFICER 75 cannot prevent him ; but he thinks, and I am inclined to entertain the same opinion, that as nobody can have any private pique against him, the person who would undertake to assassinate him, would not venture to do so except on an occasion when he might have a good chance of effecting his escape. Self predominates in the minds of every individual in this nation, and I hope that feeling may be the cause of the preservation of the Duke. Measures are taken to guard the Duke's house and to watch the streets immediately leading to it, and he will have an Aide-de-camp always in the house, and he will have a person armed though not in uniform with his carriage. He has promised also never to go about alone and will not make use of his own carriage which is so well known. Should I hear anything further before the messenger is dispatched I will communicate to you. Yours most affectionately, FiTzRoY Somerset. P.S. — Since writing the above, the Duke has shown me his letter to Lord Bathurst which is a very good one ; you will observe that at the end of it he expresses a hope, that if it should be thought advisable to publish any part of his letter, care will be taken not to make known that part of it which relates to the channels which may lead to the discovery of the assassin, or to the precautions which he may think it proper to adopt. I have heard nothing further, except that an Officer of the Landers de la Garde was close to the carriage at the time, whose first impulse was to rush upon the villain, but upon second thoughts he judged it best not to attempt to seize him lest he should fail and being seen to run should be suspected of being the assassin. He therefore contented himself with en- quiring if the Duke was hurt. 7^ CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE [CH. li, Bagot to Binning. Washington, May 24, 18 18. My dear Scotchman, Attend to me. I received your letter of the 5th of March written from the Fye Nancy committee room (apparently you don't mind your business) on the 9th instant. . . . I shall dispose of my American intelligence in a few sentences. I am pretty well. There has been, thank heaven, no summer yet — Washington is in solitude thank heaven again. . . . The President sets out next week for to survey the [Chesapeake, Apropos of the President let me now answer a question in your last letter. He cannot dissolve the Congress — but he can summon it to meet whenever he pleases — and they I believe can meet whenever they please without his summons. They must meet by the Constitution the first Monday of each December, and if it is the first session of the Congress they may keep in session if they please thro' the whole of the next year and till 12 o'clock at night of the 3rd March following when the Congress expires, and the new one which has been elected in the meantime enters on its functions. Do you understand all this, Binny ? The Senate, by the bye, which is a curious body, being partly executive and partly legislative, stands on a different footing. The Senators are elected for six years, but one-third goes out every Congress. The Representatives are only elected for two years and all go out together. But read a certain book called the Federalist written by Alexander Hamilton* (the greatest man the Americans ever had) and Madison — it will tell you all these things, and the rationale of them admirably well. * See Sir Henry Maine's estimate of Hamilton and 'The Federalist' in his ' Popular Government.' i8i8] THE DUKE OF RICHMOND ^^ 1 am very sorry indeed to hear what you tell me of Canning's girl. I trust in God she has got well again. If anything were to happen to the girl it would kill Canning upon the spot. Thank you ten thousand times for Beppo — to me it is charming — much beyond Whistlecraft, much as I admired that. I think it the most playful thing I ever read and very droll and new and polished, in short very clever. The basting of Botherby though, who I take for granted is Sotheby, is most bloody indeed. I suppose however it was necessary for public example. . . . Why should a man shoot at Palmerston ? By the way I hear that the man who shot at the Duke is discovered. I do very much hope he will be very much hanged. I see in the American extracts of the last English papers an account of the division in the House — upon the marriage message — Faith it was a pretty stiff one. Messieurs the Ministers know best whether it was or was not possible to avoid coming to Parliament for more money for the Princes at this moment, but I do think that if it could have been avoided, it certainly ought. As far as I have seen, your Parliamentary warfare is bitter dull this session. . . . I have had a letter from Charles Ellis dated Naples January 7. He gives me a better account of his daughter. — I have been writing to him. Think of my boy Charles being at Eton. I should like to change with him. So the Duke of Richmond is coming out Governor General of Canada.* It is a great and important post no doubt — but it is a miserable existence, and I think there is something melancholy * Charles, fourth Duke of Richmond, who died of hydrophobia when Governor-General of Canada in the following year. In 1787, being in the Coldstream Guards, he had fought a duel with the Duke of York, and being in consequence transferred to another regiment, immediately fought another duel and nearly killed his opponent, a writer named Swift who had abused him, for which he received a great ovation at Edinburgh. The famous ball the night before Waterloo was given by his Duchess. 78 CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE [CH. ii. in a man of his rank who has been Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and has a garter round his leg coming to shiver in North America for subsistence — for that I take to be the history of the appointment. Does the Duchess come with him ? Have you read the letters of that most flippant and conceited of all mortals Horace Walpole to Geo. Montagu ? They have amused me exceedingly, as I acknowledge that all his writings always do — but what a monkey it is, and how one does despise him. I have taken it into my head that you are all very stupid and odious in London — and that the days of fun are over. That you do nothing but talk politics and eat solemn dinners, and now and then by way of being a little gay you marry a Grenville or a Clive, or some such very dull thing. Am I right in all this ? or have you still wags and taverns and men who daff the world aside and bid it pass. The U. States bank has just purchased a plot of ground in Philadelphia to erect the Public bank upon. They have given a thousand dollars a front foot iov the land, and I believe it is not above 130 feet deep. What do you think of that? Pray tell Huskisson this — and remember me to him always most kindly. I think I have heard of a guinea an inch being given in England, but here is 18 guineas an inch or thereabouts — a 1,000 dollars at par is ;^22 5. My paper is full and my head empty. . . . May 27. P.S. — I had some English papers lent me last night to the 14th or 15th April. What upon earth is all this affair of Canning's ? Parts of a letter to him have been published in all the American papers, with his letter to the anonymous writer — I cannot make head or tail of it. The letter to C. is perhaps the most infamous thing that ever was printed in any country. But I i8i8] THE REVERED OGDEN 79 doubt whether C. has done wisely in making any reply whatever to it. Do tell me what it all means. The shocking part of it appears to me to be the indication which it affords of the horrible spirit which prevails in England. I see an address of yours to the electors of Rochester. What are you about, boy ? June 2. . . . Heyday ! So Beppo* is Byron's after all. I thought it had been Frere's. What did you mean by saying I cd. not be at a loss for the author? Did you not think it was Frere's ? It gives one an extra- ordinary idea of the powers, the versatile powers of Byron. . . . Now I must seal this letter, so God bless you, Binny ; and go scratch your back and get your haggis. Yrs. most affectly., C. B. The 'affair of Canning's' alluded to in the post- script, and which Canning himself mentions in his next letter, took place early in April. The country was then in a state of great dissatisfaction. Riots had been taking place in all directions. Lord Castlereagh was the real leader of the Government, and a policy of repression was adopted, for which Canning, though not at the time powerful in the Cabinet, was, at all events, partly responsible. There undoubtedly existed real grievances and hardships which required remedy, but recollections of the French Revolution, and the critical circumstances in England at the time when both statesmen first entered Parliament, probably made them somewhat blind to the real necessities for reform, and more inclined to substitute repression. A certain pro- * Frere started a fashion in poetry with the ' Monies and the Giants.' Byron followed with ' Beppo ' and ' Don Juan,' and wrote in March, 1818 : ' " Berni " is the original of all ; my immediate model was " Whistlecraft " ' (see ' Parodies,' etc., by Henry Morley, 1890, p. 346). 8o CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE [CH. ll. fessional agitator named Ogden had been committed to prison, and though while there he had been cured of a long-standing complaint, and had admitted it to the Home Secretary,* he emerged as a martyr, claim- ing that his complaint had resulted from his imprison- ment and the weight of his chains. Canning, speaking in the House of Commons, and ridiculing the alleged sufferings of the various martyrs to their cause, alluded to ' the revered and ruptured Ogden.' Mr. Hume, the following session, took him seriously to task for the expression, on which Canning demanded an apology, and practically sent him a challenge, as he also did on another occasion to Sir Francis Burdett. Another challenge was now sent to an anonymous pamphleteer. None of these gentlemen, however, had the courage of their opinions as it was understood in those days. A pamphlet of a most violent and scurrilous character was published in the shape of an open letter to Canning, but was speedily withdrawn from circu- lation. Most of it is reproduced in that disgraceful work by Lady Anne Hamilton, called * The Secret History of the Court of England,' and the writer of the pamphlet is there said to be Sir John Cam Hob- house. f The * mad and monstrous sally,' as Canning's alliterative allusion to Ogden is called, comes in for a good deal of abusive attention. On reading the pamphlet, it appears inconceivable that any public man should have paid the smallest attention to it ; but Canning's hot temper induced him to write an answer, dated from Gloucester Lodge on April lo, 1818, which, according to Lady Anne, is as follows : Sir, I received early in the last week the copy of your pamphlet, which you, I take for granted, had the attention to send to me. Soon after I was informed, on the authority of your * Tempeiiey's ' Life of Canning,' p. 122. •f This is not likely. Hobhouse was a Radical and in Parliament. In 1834 he was Commissioner of Woods and Forests and in the Cabinet, and later was created Lord Broughton. He was a friend of Byron's, to whom he had been ' best man ' at his wedding. i8i8] STRONG LANGUAGE 8 1 publisher, that you had withdrawn the whole im- pression from him, with a view, as was supposed, of suppressing the publication. I since learn, however, that the pamphlet, though not sold, is circulated under blank covers. I learn this from (among others) the gentleman to whom the pamphlet has been industriously attributed, but who has voluntarily and absolutely denied to me that he has any knowledge of it or its author. To you, sir, whoever you may be, I address myself thus directly, for the purpose of expressing to you my opinion that you are a liar and a slanderer, and want courage only to be an assassin. I have only to add that no man knows of my writing to you ; that I shall maintain the same reserve so long as I have an expectation of hearing from you in your own name, and that I shall not give up that expecta- tion till to-morrow (Saturday) night. The same address which brought me your pamphlet will bring any letter safe to my hands. I am, sir, your humble servant, George Canning. N.B. — Mr. Ridgway is requested to forward this letter to its destination. The author's reply, sent to the Editor of the Examiner, together with Canning's letter, was again highly abusive, alluding to the 'insult Mr. Canning has lately dared to offer to the people of England '; but at the same time he prudently continued to conceal his identity, and the matter consequently dropped. Canning to Bagot. Gloucester Lodge, (A'o. I.) August 24, 181 8. My dear Charles, Who says that I owe you a letter ? Did not I write to you at the end of the last Session of Parlia- VOL. II. 6 82 CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE [CH. li. ment — but one, a.d. 1817 ? and have I anything from you since to acknowledge ? I am not sure — I will not swear that I have not — but I have no vivid impression upon my mind of any letter from Yankee land (except Birkbeck's letter from the Illinois), and therefore con- sider myself at this moment as originating — setting a-foot — giving commencement to and exhibiting the example of a new correspondence. This year I could not write immediately after the termination of the session, because the election for the new Parliament followed close upon it, and called me to Liverpool almost as soon as I was released from House of Commons. Newspapers will have enabled you to form a judgement of all that passed there, with which I had good reason to be satisfied. It was indeed more flattering, if possible, and more decisive than 1812, and the rather as I have every ground for believing that my position, as a Minister, had nothing to do with the result. I am afraid, therefore, that — however gratify- ing to me personally — it is not a set-off against failures and unpopularities elsewhere. I fear the general complexion of the returns is very unfavourable, and I fear still more that the general state of the publick mind is as (adverse I will not say), but as indifferent as at any period of our history. The dangers, in my conception, are greater than in 1793; the means of resistance, and the sense of the necessity of resist- ance, comparatively nothing. I refer your Excellency for further particulars re- lating to me, in my publick capacity, to the printed pamphlets herewith transmitted. The session was short, and had, indeed, but one fought question — the Indemnity Bill,* How near that was to being a fought question out of the House, I cannot exactly judge, because I cannot * A Bill to indemnify persons who had apprehended those who had taken part in riots or treasonable practices. i8i8] CANNING'S FAMILY 83 take my affidavit before the Lord Mayor as to the identity of my calumniator, but I am nearly certain that I know him ; and if he be whom I believe him to be, he ought to have answered my letter instead of publishing it and pocketing the epithets conveyed in it. However, I am just as well pleased that he did not ; for he might have been a better shot than scribe. ... I send the Liverpool edition [of his speeches] because it contains all, and the other because it is corrected and prettily printed into the bargain — a gallantry of Messrs. Nicol and Bulmer. As to my private concerns, I have not much to tell you. George is rather mended, under a new course of treatment for the last eight months. William is at sea in the Spartan Frigate, his station the channel, but that station having been varied by excursions to Algiers, and since to the ports of France with the D. of Gloucester — liking his profession so much as to satisfy me in having yielded to his choice. Harriet is long entirely recovered of her illness, and she and Carlo are quite well. I trust that all yours — that are under your eye — are flourishing. I hear a noble account of the boy that is at school in England. But this sparseness of your family (to use a word of Mr. Rush's in speaking of the Yankee people) must be one of the most uncomfortable points in ^''our present destination. By the way, have you read Mr. Bristead's book ?* (This apropos will not strike you, but it was upon this book that I was talking with Mr, Rush.) There is a great deal of amusement and, to me, of information in it. But I see, it is not liked in your parts— and no wonder. Charles Ellis, you know, and his whole family are returned — one of them, poor Lady Hervey, in a state of complete decay. Elizaf has had an attack of her * ' Resources of the U.S.,' John Bristed, 1818. See Quarterly Review, xxi., p. 1. t C. Ellis's daughter EUza, who died two years later. 6—2 84 CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE [CH. ii. complaint since her return — a sad disappointment! But Dr. Baillie does not order her abroad again, as I thought he would. He only prescribes shutting up for the winter in a temperature of 60. Now adieu, and let us see when I shall have a long letter from Washington. Yours ever affectionately, G. C. Canning to Bagot. India Board, (ATo. 2.) August 24, 18 1 8. My dear Charles, On bringing my No. i of this date up to Town with me, to send it to the American Mail, I have instituted a rummage into my boxes, and lo ! here is a letter from Mr. Charles Bagot — dated June ist and received here (as per docket) July 14th. It must have met me therefore on my return from Liverpool, when my papers had accumulated as high as my knee, and have been put so carefully by after once reading, that I had almost persuaded myself that 1 had no such debt upon my conscience. Here, however, it is. I certainly did not fail to send Charles Ellis the letter enclosed in it. I have inci- dentally answered most of the questions contained in it. But I had not recollected that you would just about this time be in anxiety about Mrs. Bagot, whose addition to your ' sparse ' population will, I hope, have taken place before this letter reaches you, to your entire comfort and without injury to her health, of which I have been rejoiced to hear generally a better account than I should have expected from the climate. Do you mind heat ? I enjoy it, and such a summer as we have had ! Lisbon was not warmer. Mrs. Canning desired me to add her kindest remem- i8i8] VIEWS ON AMERICA 85 brances to you and Mrs. B. to my other letter, which not having done — I do so here — I am for the second time to-day, my dear Charles, Affectionately yours, G. C. P.S. — Hammond is here : his occupation at Paris being broken up by the arrangements of last spring, but luckily for him enough of it survives his trans- plantation to give him a plea for salary, and for being in town, a bachelor, all these dog days. Bagot to Binning. Washixgton, September 26, 1818. My dear Binny, ... I am very glad that the Roffenses [Rochester] have selected you to represent them in Talkament, and I sincerely hope that they have not emptied your fillibag of all its bawbees — but if they should have done draw on your daddy. ... So you have found out that Rush* is a fine spoken gentleman. I knew that long ago, but it was not for me to show him up — and really he is guiltless of any greater offence. It is not true that the New England States preserve the manners of old England at the time of their settlement to the degree that Rush thinks. They certainly resemble England more than any other part of the States — but the real truth is that there is very little similarity between the two people, and that little is becoming daily less. The practice which prevailed till the revolution of sending the young men of wealth to England for their education has of course ceased. This has greatly contributed to the doing away of original similarity. All the young generation, nearly without exception, are of the democratic party, the creed of which, being hatred of England, leads them to Richard Rush, American Minister in London from 18 17 to 1825. 86 CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE [CH. ll. reject as much as they can what they conceive to be an Enghsh usage. And, let Rush say what he pleases, the blood in the Southern States is a good deal mixed — and if it were not, the climate itself would soon induce a great change in English manners, customs and feelings. . . . I think Canning has too much gout a good deal — I must write him a letter about it, and tell him not to eat cold ham between the courses, and sit writing for ten hours together, and do a world of things of that kind which I know to be his practice. — Nobody has sent me his Liverpool speeches in book shape, but I read them all in the diaries. His speech at the dinner after his election was a most masterly performance — full to the brim of the Reformers. — 1 want him to take the earliest opportunity of flambasting all the repre- sentatives of the good city of London, and Sir R. Wilson. 1 have been reading 'The Heart of Midlothian'; it is inferior to the other Tales, but still very delightful and abounding in the happiest descriptions. Surely it must be Walter Scott who writes them ? I do not see J. W. Ward's name in the new Parlia- ment — the last I heard of him was at Munich. Has he got tired of public life, or cannot old Dudley's huge purse find a seat for him ? October 23. I had written the above last month, and intended to have sent it by the last mail, when I was seized with a fever which confined me for a fortnight to my bed, and prevented my writing to anybody. . . . My whole house has been a hospital — but we are now all retinkered and ready for the winter campaign. My wife and bairns have escaped and are bravely. The Congress meets the middle of next month, but thank God it is the short session, which must close on the 4th of March. The President is already arrived at Washington. I shall be very curious to see the first i8i8] THE KINNAIRDS 87 session of our own Parliament. You are quite right if you can stick to it, in all you say about the necessity of Ministers meeting it with the lowest possible estimates &c. &c. But you will have some stiff battles. There are two Scotchmen whom I still expect to see hanged before I die— and they are the two Kinnairds What mischievous monkies they are. D. Kinnaird's^ speeches at the hustings are the most disgusting things I ever read — and I hear that old K.f is hand and glove with all the Jacobins in all the worst holes and corners of the continent. What things middle-aged Scotch Lords who take to politics are ! ! ! Now good-bye, Binny, for I have really nothing to say — so ring your bell and tell your old crimson footman to bring your great coat. Frank Lady Binning's letter for her. Call at White's to see if James Wortley is there, and ask him if the Cloth bill is to come on the first week of the session. Leave a card at the British Coffee House for Lord Succoth, who William Dundas says is in Town — and be sure you are back to dress at six o'clock, for Lovaine dines exactly at ^ past you know. Yours most affectionatel}^, C. B. Wellesley Pole to Bagof. Savile Row, January 12, 1819. My dear Charles, . . . All my amusements are over, and my troubles are just beginning. Cabinets every day, and Pari' just about to meet. The Pari' will be opened by Commission. The revenue flourishes, the reductions are great, the country is quiet and all the world at * Hon. Douglas Kinnaird. t Lord Kinnaird, who had got into trouble in Paris after the attempt to assassinate the Duke of Wellington, and was arrested. 88 CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE [cH. ll. peace. I am told we shall meet this Parl^ within 7 or 8 as strong as it was in the last. . . . The change of Ministers in France will have surprized you. Cazes* is the real Minister, and the Jacobins are in good spirits. Our newspapers are making a great outcry about the executions of Arbuthnot and Ambrister.f You will receive instructions respecting them by this Packet, so I need not tell you what the determination of the Government is on the subject. The Duke of Wellington is here and has commenced his duties as Master General of the Ordnance and as a member of the Cabinet. He is very well — L'^ Mulgrave continues in the Cabinet without office. Castlereagh is laid up with a regular fit of the gout. . . . There was a Cabinet at his house yesterday, and he lay on his couch, not being able to put his feet to the ground. The Chancellor^ is also laid up with the gout, a third relapse. . . . I forget whether I told you of an impudent witticism of Joe Manton's. I observed to him that his detonators were not approv'd of in Norfolk and that he would never get them into general use unless he did away with the trouble of keeping the Tubes in order. He answered, Lord, Sir, those Norfolk people are strange folks, they are so wedded to old customs, they are three hundred years behind tis — I have no doubt but that they believe in witchcraft — Impudent dog, but * Due de Decazes (1780-1860), President of the Council in France, later Ambassador in London. t Arbuthnot and Ambrister, British subjects, were executed by order of General Jackson during the war against the Seminole Indians. Ambrister was taken fighting in the field against the United States. Arbuthnot was taken prisoner in a Spanish fort, and charged with instigating the Indians to fight against the American troops. Mr. Rush conferred with Lord Castlereagh. Bagot sent home a copy of the proceedings of the court-martial. It was decided not to interfere. The executions made a great impression in England, and were the subject of Parliamentary inquiry ; but the Ministry stood firm. Lord Castlereagh told Mr. Rush later that a war might have been produced ' if the Ministry had but held up a finger.' I Lord Eldon. i8i9] A BREATH FROM IRELAND 89 very comical. . . . Thank Mary for her rotten apples, they made the whole house smell horribly, and there were not I believe above a dozen or two eatable. You see I am duller than forty poets, you will therefore be glad to be rid of me. Ever y most affec. W. W. P. Charles, second Earl Talbot, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, writes to Bagot from the Vice-Regal Lodge on January 17, 1819 : My dear Charles, ... I hear not without some pleasure on your account, my dear fellow, that your pilgrimage from your native land is drawing to a close. ... I am among those of your friends who sincerely rejoiced at the field that was (tottt compliment a part) laid open for the exertion, if not display of your talents. That they have been successfully and satisfactorily called into action I have had more reasons than one to know and to rejoice at. We diplomats do not, if we can help it, condescend to give particulars you know. , . . As for me ... if you had seen me last week Cock shooting in Galway, you would have seen me, as you say to John [Talbot] covered with Sweat, Powder, and Fustian to your heart's content. Ye gods of Erin, how I did fag and blow and tumble about and miss and hit and bag cocks. 'Twas beauti- ful — in 6 days we bagged 185 cocks, out of which I massacred 52. The party were Tom Tatters, alias Lord Manners* alias the Chancellor of Ireland. The Lord Lieutenant, Orlando Bridgman his A.D.C., and James Daly M.P. for Galway, and now and then an odd gun of no great use or celebrity. I never walked so hard. My left leg has failed and I now toddle about with a bandaged leg for all the world like old Chol- * Thomas, first Lord Manners, for many years Lord Chancellor of Ireland. 90 CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE [CH. II. mondely. I suppose we saw from 5 to 6 hundred cocks. I could tell you that my boy Ingestre shot me near the eye, that I was overturned in a pit going to covert — were it not impossible to dwell upon every trifle. . . . There never was a more moveable Viceroy than I am. I have visited Limerick, the Lakes of Killarney . . . were they not ait bout de la monde they would attract the notice of the traveller more frequently ... to Ballinasloe Fair . . . and were it not for an occasional whack on the head which Pat in a moment of friend- ship and fun gives his neighbour, you would think that quiet and order had their principal abode in this Country. These are a strange ^et of mortals, Charles, they are as mischievous and full of tricks as monkeys, and as little to be depended upon — tho' they are good natured and very hospitable. ... I do not think you know any of my household, saving my Comptroller, who, lucky dog, has been rolling about England and the Continent for nearly 12 months, leaving me and my house to go to the devil — but thanks to my little paragon March, we want him not. . . . My outfit was tremendous and too heavy for me to recover I fear^ but I hope the world is satisfied that it is handsome and that we live as becomes our situation. D — n it, you will say, the fellow's pen is perpetual motion when once set going. . . . We may meet next year, for under the rose . . . should the country be as quiet as it is now, and has been since my arrival, I shall apply for leave to visit mes Terres et rnes perdreaux. I am aware that this is an innovation, but we live in times of improvement — this will facilitate my meeting you in the plains of Stafford. I understand my game is in plenty, particularly those odious pheasants, which spoil all shooting. . . . Ever yours, T. i8i9] THE WESTMINSTER ELECTION 9I W. H. Lyttelton to Bagot. Richmond Hill, February 27, 18 19. My dear Carlo, All accounts agree that you are coming home . . . this will catch you at least with one foot on shore. This is the high time of tide with us, and I suppose a word or two on public affairs from a Whig who does not worship the golden calves of the Treasury may not be unacceptable to your Excellency. . . . You see the Opposition is (as I told you it would be) not a little stronger in this Parliament than in the last. The Mountaineers* too, are worsted everywhere. Even Citizen Waithmanf bends the knee to Tierney, and behaves decorously now that he is a Senator. As to Wilson,! he has spoken, as was expected, flippantly, rashly and feebly, and is of no sort of importance. If the Ministers had made him a K.C.B., and would have the sense to distinguish his military from his political merits, they would get quite the whip hand of him. As to the Westminster election now pending, I hear that Lamb§ will carry it. . . . Many of Romilly'sjl voters are so absurd as to say there is some difference between him and Lamb as to talents, public character and so forth. . . . Lamb having indiscreetly used on the hustings the words ' Compot Administration,' some dry Ministerialists have taken pique. Lamb should have remembered that, the easier a lady's virtue may be, the less she likes to be called a , especially in public. * The extreme wing of the Opposition assumed the title of ' The Mountain.' t Robert Waithman, an active reformer (see Creevey, i. 341). t General Sir Robert Wilson. § Hon. William Lamb succeeded as second Viscount Melbourne in 1828. II Sir Samuel Romilly was elected, and committed suicide soon after. 92 CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE [CH. ll. Burdett has disgraced himself, if possible, more than ever, first by his conduct on the nomination, I mean the proposed nomination of Lord John Russell . . . and lately by his treatment of the venerable Perry* . . . Perry . . . having behaved kindly and hand- somely to this Mobagogue, w^ho crams and blasphemes his feeder — see the w^orthy editor's statement of facts and defence of himself. Burdett I understand has come down with ^10,000 ... so much for the purity of election ; what the purse is on the other side I can't tell you. ... Of new orators . . . Scarlett! is the only one who has really acquitted himself very well on our side. . . . As to Denman,t: he made a sad figure two nights ago. . . . To return to Peel, that hopeful youth thought proper to recommend himself to the Regent and the Heir Presumptive (whether he will have recommended himself equally to Castlereagh and Canning remains to be seen) by a studied and servile defence of the great Royal Job which has just been carried. One cannot mistake his views. . . . By the way, in the last debate on this subject, Scarlett having spoken again a few words very good-naturedly, Peel was little less than brutal to him, and the whole House saw and was disgusted with his ill-temper — he sat silent and sulky. . . . Copleston has published an excellent pamphlet on the Bullion question . . . apropos of the Bullion question. . . . Sydney Smith said 'that he got nothing now in town but Soup and Bullion.' . . . We begin to hope that Canning and Huskisson may deem it expedient to act as well as speak on the right side. Roger's new poem, entitled 'Human Life,'§ has been unmercifully worried. . . . Good easy man, he * James Perry, editor of the Morning Chronicle. t Sir James Scarlett, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, 1834 ; created Lord Abinger, 1835. X Lord Chief Justice'; the Queen's Advocate at her trial. § See Creevey Papers, i. 294. i8i9] ROGERS' NEW POEM 93 thought he had no foe but Ward, and John Murray says he took the opportunity of Ward's absence to publish. I suppose Ward will hasten home to join the pack who are fastening on Rogers. . . . The verses are for the most part beautiful . . . the Boy of Egremond (query whether W. Lamb), which is a sorry imitation of the Wordsworthians, and meant, I suppose, to propitiate that silly crew. . . . Sir C. Stuart is still at Paris. ... I conjecture they could not agree about his successor. Some day or other I shall hope to see another, and far better, Sir Charles there. ... I heard lately from Dick, and all was prospering at old Blithfield. Arrah ! I hope we shall all meet there next Christmas. Ever affectly. yours, W. H. L. CHAPTER III 'THE QUEEN'S TRIAL' The year 1819 did not turn out as peaceful and quiet as Wellesley Pole anticipated. In Manchester the yeomanry were employed against the mob, and debates on 'Peterloo' and the 'Manchester Massacres' followed in the House of Commons. The famous 'Six Acts' were passed, aimed at repressing sedition and assemblies of reformers, and curtailing the liberty of the Press. In June the Times reported that Mr. Hume had said in the House that Canning had risen above the sufferings of others by laughing at them. Bell, the publisher, was summoned to the Bar of the House. Collier, the author of the statement, was committed to the custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms, and Mr. Wynn moved that he should be committed to Newgate, but he was eventually reprimanded. Canning then wrote the demand for an explanation from Mr. Hume already alluded to. Bagot's embassy to America terminated this year, and in May, 1820, he was appointed Ambassador at St. Petersburg and made a Knight of the Bath, Stratford Canning, the future Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, George Canning's first cousin, who had, although not much over thirty, already made some considerable reputation in diplomacy, was appointed to succeed Bagot at Washington.* He remained * Richard Rush, American Minister in London, records that on September i8 he had an interview with Lord Castlereagh, who told him of Stratford Canning's appointment. ' In selecting tliis gentle- man,' he writes, ' his lordship said that the Prince Regent had been actuated by an anxious desire to keep up the system of conciliation which had been acted upon with so much advantage to both countries by Mr. Bagot,' adding that he believed Canning to have every qualification for treading in the same path (Rush's 'Court of London,' p. 157). 94 i8i9] STRATFORD CANNING 95 there for four years, and then, like his predecessor, was sent to St, Petersburg, but only on a temporary mission, his eventual destination being Constantmople. At the end of the year he writes to Bagot on the subject of his coming embassy to America,* to which he had been appointed in September : Rt. Hon. Stratford Canning to Bagot. Great Cumberland Street, December 24, 1819. My dear Bagot, I cannot allow another post to go out without thanking you as much as you deserve, if it be possible to do so, for the most handsome as well as most useful letter that it has ever been my lot to receive. The golden maxims of all the sages and philosophers of Greece would not be more valuable in my eyes, and when in after months on the other side of the Atlantic I shall find a moment's relief from the annoy- ances which are so well known to you in the daily offering of the smoke-jack, in the easy arm of a well- stuffed chair, or ir the triumph of a batch of champagne more than usually explosive, you may be sure that so often your name will be repeated by me with grateful and almost pious devotion. Seriously, I am exceedingly obliged to you for so much kindness, and feel confident of deriving the greatest comfort from your letters. If, after your return to town, I should have any further questions to make, I will venture to throw myself again upon your indulgence. . . . Canning is a great deal better, and was able, as you will have learnt from the papers if not from your correspondence, to take an active part in Wednesday's debate; but he still looks pale and feeble. The debate was worthy of other times — very great. Brougham as much so as his very tiresome style of speaking * See Poole's ' Life of Stratford Canning,' vol. i., p. 286. 96 'THE QUEEN'S TRIAL" [CH. ill. will allow him to be. I happened to be under the gallery and was particularly gratified by hearing Denman* get a dressing most amply deserved, and secondly by witnessing the spectacle of an unprepared speech from Plunket.f It was really a piece of good fortune to witness such an exhibition. It would be difficult even for the imagination to crowd a greater number of high qualities — graced as they were by the absence of most of the common parliamentary failings, into a speech of the same compass. Believe me, Very sincerely yours, Stratford Canning. The beginning of the year 1820 was marked by the death of the King, and Parliament was dissolved at the end of February. In June Queen Caroline arrived in England from the Continent. A Bill against her was brought in by Lord Liverpool, and Canning, who had always been the Queen's friend, resigned the Board of Control, in order to take no part against her as a friend and a woman in whose innocence he believed. He remained silent, and went abroad in the winter. To have adopted her cause would have meant joining the party against which he had been fighting for many years. From now till 1822 he took little part in the House of Commons, and resided occasionally in France. Wellesley Pole to Bagot. July 21, 1820. . . . You will also gather as much as I know [from the papers] of the Revolution at Naples, for I have * Sir T. Denman, M.P. for Nottingham, afterwards Lord Denman. f William Plunket, son of an Irish Unitarian minister, born 1765 ; Attorney-General for Ireland in 1807, with a great legal reputation. He supported the cause of Roman Catholic Emancipation, and was one of the most briUiant speakers in the House of Commons. Created Lord Plunket in 1827, when Canning wished to make him Lord Chancellor for Ireland ; but the King refusing, he was appointed Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas in Ireland. i82o] THE QUEEN'S RETURN 97 not yet seen A'Court's despatches.* The business has been, I understand, wholely achieved by the militar}', the whole army, officers and all, with the exception of General Nugent,t being concerned in the Plot. This Revolution has created great alarm here ; but I think without much occasion, for our army is sound, and all our officers particularly so, and under these circum- stances neither the Morning Chronicle nor the Queen will be able to use the military for our overthrow. Nothing can give you a just description of the conduct of the Queen and her allies. Every art is used to make a cry for this amiable innocent throughout the countr3^ Her answers to the various addresses she receives will amuse you ; their wickedness can only be equalled by their l^'ing impudence. She continues in a two window'd house in Portman Street, opposite the Barracks, and parades the streets in a dirty open carriage drawn by two post horses, notwithstanding it has been from the first notified to her that any house she chooses to pitch upon anywhere shall be hired for her, and that she may have any comfort she can desire in equipage etc. etc., but she chuses to appear an oppressed Person, and her doing so still imposes upon a part of the community. . . . When it was found necessary to proceed with the Bill without dela3% it became a matter of course to put off the Coronation, and I do not believe it can take place till next summer : this is a cruel blow to me, for I am afraid that no peers will be made till just before the ceremony and that I shall have another House of Commons session to encounter.^ . . . Some think * See Walpole's ' History,' vol. ii., p. 309 and notes, for A'Court's despatch. On July 2 the Carbonari, joined by the garrison of Naples, successfully revolted against the King, Ferdinand IV. t Count Nugent (1777-1862), Lieutenant-General, was with Wellington in Spain, and s-aw much ser\-ice in Italy and Germany. He commanded the Ncapohtan Army 1817-1820, and became a Field- Marshal in 1849. X He was created Baron I^Iaiyborough of the United Kingdomin 1821. VOL. II. 7 98 'THE QUEEN'S TRIAL' [CH. ill. that she will fly the country before the time of trial comes, others that . . . she will allow the Bill to pass the Upper House without opposition, depending upon the Populace, and upon the examination of her witnesses (not upon oath) at the Bar of the House of Commons, to rebut the testimony given against her on oath before the House of Lords. . . . No person of any rank or character has taken any notice of her, and some of those who have most favoured her in Parliament are loudest against her in private. Lyttelton to Bagot. Putney, August 8, 1820. My dear Charles, . . . Since you left us, matters have been getting worse and worse, and the disapprobation of all that has been done, and of all that is about to be done, in regard to the Queen, has spread and strengthened throughout the Country, Not only the mob (don't be deceived by what your Tory friends may tell you to the contrary) but people of all ranks, and the middle classes almost to a man, and I believe the troops too, side with the Queen — look upon the whole affair as a Court-job, and impute it to the wrong-headedness of one man, and the miserable servility of the instruments of his will. Constitutional men exclaim against the mode of proceeding. Ignorant men (the great majority) believe it to be groundless. Designing men work successfully upon these opinions and prejudices, and threaten, if not the monarchy, the public tranquillity — and men of sense are agreed that every thing is hazarded, and that nothing, in any event, can be gained, by the measures in question. Such is, I give you my word, the state of public opinion and the general position of things to the best of my judgment, without exaggeration. I won't venture on any predictions, but the alarm is general, lest the mob should overpower i82o] QUEEN CAROLINE 99 the Civil force and the troops refuse to act against the mob — and what can then be done, except to prorogue the Parliament, and how the business is ever to be brought to a termination consistent with the indepen- dence and authority of the Legislature and Govern- ment, it is not easy to divine. You will see in the papers a singular proposal made by Lord John Russell to Wilberforce.* What has been, or is likely to be, its effect, I cannot say. It is clearly impossible that such a petition as Lord John's should actually be presented to the King, neither does he say that it should — but something upon that plan may be feasable, and is not, I think, improbable. Everybody without one exception, wishes the business were at an end. The Squires have had some conferences again lately — and from what I heard yesterday in town, I incline to the opinion, that Lord John's/w5^ has taken some effect on a train that may reach far. As to facts, I have heard lately, the K. was sufficiently well received at the two reviews at Hounslow — nothing worse occurring than a cry from 2 Middlesex militia-men, as he was going off the ground — of ' God save the Queen and no Gout !' And, what is more important, that the Q. sallied forth in her new shewy Carriage! on the first of the two days, and came as far as Hounslow or Brentford (I forget which), when she was stopped for some time by some obstacles in the street, as was at the same time the D. of Wellington ; and the D. reports that there was no cheering at all, and it appears from other accounts that she missed that shot entirely. New * A petition to the King, enclosed in a letter to Wilberforce, pray- ing the King to close the proceedings by proroguing Parliament. Letters and petitions were subsequently published, with a preface by Russell explaining his reasons for addressing the letter to Wilberforce as ' the organ of the sentiments of a majority of the House of Commons' (Walpole's ' Life of Lord John Riissefl,' vol. i., p. 121). t There is a print by Cruikshank of this same carriage. It was a high barouche, with six horses, coachman, postilions, and footmen ; a gigantic royal arms on the panel. 7—2 100 'THE QUEEN'S TRIAL' [cH. in. difficulties have arisen, I hear, and unexpected ones, in regard to the Italian witnesses. Several of the chief refuse to come to England on any terms — not liking the pelting and hooting with which their immacu- late countrymen were lately received — and Colnaghi and some other resident Italians quake, lest the mob should massacre them as spies. There is, it is true, very weighty English testimony (as I was assured not long ago by Sir G. of the Admiralty) — that of Naval officers of high character, whom he named to me, who will prove all but adultery, but the main fact can only be proved by the foreigners. Mr. Canning is gone abroad — it is not certain whether with any Commission or not — but the story they tell about him, and which I am pretty sure I have traced to his own authority, is that he tendered (which is done every other day now) his resignation when the proceedings were resolved upon, and that the K. told him he would excuse his taking any part in them. So he magnanimously keeps out of the way till it is over. You will of course hear the truth of this no doubt from the best sources — so I need hardly have mentioned it. It is not admired ; not only Lord Grey, but Lord Spencer and many men of character, say that in this as in many other instances, the principles that used to govern public men in such predicaments are lost sight of — and Mr. C. is again, for this step, and his celebrated speech on the Q., very roughly dealt with in conversation. Lord Anglesea is said to have sent a letter to the K. acquainting H.M. with the public feeling against what was going on — for which the K. cut him at the Levee. Lord A. thought it might be accidental, but he was re-cut, and more decisivel}', at the next Levee. Lord Stafford is quoted to me as having seen (thro' his queer medium) this second proof of Royal sense and temper. ... As to the duration of the trial, Lord Liverpool is of opinion that the case for the prosecution will i82o] CANNING ABROAD lOI take a month, but nobody can tell, and man}- think it will last longer. This must depend on their calling the Italians or not — for if several of those Out- landishers are to be examined thro' interpreters b}' 250 Peers — it may last till next century. . . . Ever yours, W. H. L. Canning to Bagot. A\ TWERP, {Private.) August 11, 1820. My dear Charles, ... I v^as glad to hear of your so speed}^ as well as safe arrival ;* and of 3'our cordial and flatter- ing reception. Let me hear of you now and then. I landed here yesterday on my way to Italy to bring my wife and family safe out of the reach of revolu- tions. My journey will have the additional advantage of taking me out of the way of the first act at least of what I hope will not be a revolution (but what has at least some of the worst characteristics of such a process) at home. God bless you, my dear Charles, Ever affectionately yours, G. C P.S. — No hope I fear in Connaught Place. f It is a question of weeks ! Poor Charles, I was grieved to be obliged to leave him. '&' Hon. Mrs. Wellesley PoleX to Bagot. August 24, 1820. . . . The Lords go through fagging work and within these few days, they have added an hour to their * At St. Petersburg. t Charles Ellis's daughter Eliza died on the day this was written, at his house in Connaught Place. X Catherine, daughter of Admiral Hon. John Forbes, married in 1784 VV. Wellesley Pole, who was created Lord Maryborough in 1821, and succeeded as third Earl of Mornington, in 1842, on the death of his brother, Lord Wellesley. I02 'THE QUEEN'S TRIAL' [CH ill. sittings. The newspapers accurately report the pro- ceedings, horrible and disgusting as it all is. . . . She is losing her popularity, and is not attended as she used to be, but she braves all. Even her friends hardly pretend now to say she is innocent, but they harp upon neglect, ill usage, and persecution, and when it comes to recrimination on her part, God knows what may not happen ! . . . the witnesses yesterday substantiated every fact. . . . Some of the Opposition are behaving shamefully and it is as much as possible a party question with them. ... I am sorry for our national credit to say that the Duke of W. is daily abused, hissed, and treated with the most opprobrious language on his way to and from the House of Lords. Lord Anglesey is also hissed and abused, and his two wives rubbed under his nose. Yesterday, il n'en pouvait plus, so he turned his horse short round and addressed the mob. They shrank away as they generally do when fronted. Canning to Bagot. Paris, October 25, 1820. My dear Charles, ... I trust that in return, the Charterhouse will have eased your mind in respect of your own boy. The character that I hear of that school in every way is so tempting that if I were not almost bound to Eton for one at least, I should send Carlo there to-morrow; to-morrow indeed is only a way of speaking, for I shall be here still some time, perhaps a fortnight before I proceed to England. I am determined not to arrive there, if I can help it, before the House of Lords have disposed, one way or another, of the sad business now before them. How they will dispose of it, I know not, but I think it will hardly find its way to the House of Commons. What is to be the consequence of the failure of the Bill, in i82o] THE TROPPAU CONGRESS 103 one House or the other— God only knows. I foresee no end that can be good for anyone, except Radicals and Liberals and Carbonari, Your Emperor is by this time at Troppau, considering how to prevent the revolution at Naples, which happened some time ago. He had a mind (I hear) that I should be there too. But I should not have relished the Commission even if it would not have been (which it would) the height of impolicy and imprudence to send there any one on our part — where we really have nothing to do. I was very near going, most innocently — not indeed to Troppau but to Vienna, which would have been nearly as bad — and 1 had actually gotten as far as Villach on the road from Venice when it struck me that my visit to Vienna might be misconstrued, an apprehension which paragraphs in the English, French, and German papers afterwards shewed to be well founded. Sagaciously therefore I wheeled to the left and made my way to Salzburg and Munich. But I am sorry to have missed seeing Vienna, though most happy to have escaped all the misconstructions which I now find my appearance there would have occasioned. Things here appear to me to be looking better than when I was here four years ago. But I was in good heart about Naples this time twelve month. And Europe is now in a crisis more formidable than 1793. So Adieu. Ever sincerely and affectionately yours, G. C. P.S. — Pray keep j^our promise of occasional com- munication. The second reading of the Bill of Pains and Penalties directed against Queen Caroline took place early in November, when the majority in favour of the Bill in the House of Lords was so small that it was carried no further. I04 'THE QUEEN'S TRIAL' [CH. III. When Parliament reassembled in December Canning resigned on account of his disapproval of the proceed- ings against the Queen. The Queen finally compromised the matter by accepting an annuity and a residence. She only survived a few months, dying at Brandenburg House in the following August.* The Duke of Wellington made strong efforts to induce the King and Lord Liverpool to bring Canning back, but without success ; and it was not till late in 1822 that Canning returned to office after Lord Castle- reagh's death. His action in absenting himself and taking no active part in politics during the time of the Queen's trial was the subject of adverse criticism, and perhaps remains so to the present day. Whatever might have been the more prudent course for an ambitious politician at the time, there would seem little doubt that Canning took the only line possible to him as a gentleman. From the first years of her marriage Queen Caroline had been an intimate friend. He had regularly accepted her hospitality in old days at Blackheath, and she had been his guest at Southill, where she was the * fairy godmother ' to his children, to one of whom, called after her, she had personally stood sponsor. He did not believe in the Queen's guilt, and was convinced of the folly and error of the whole of the proceedings. f Wclleslcy Pole to Bagot. November 12, 1820. . . . You will observe that the further proceeding upon the Bill after the third reading was adjourned to this day six months — and that the Bill was not * She left Lord Clarendon and Sir Charles Bagot as her executors. f Queen Caroline, in the early days of her unhappy married life as Princess of Wales, had lived at Charlton, near Blackheath, where Canning and several of his friends were frequent visitors. The little Princess Charlotte is described by her governess as being ' very dcliglitful, and tears her caps with showing me how Mr. Canning takes off his hat to her as he rides in the Park, and I hold her up at the summer-house window.' This would be from the garden of Carlton House (' Memoir of Princess Charlotte,' by Lady Rose Weigall). i82o] THE BILL DROPPED 105 rejected as the Opposition papers and the Queen's partizans declare it was. It is a curious circumstance of which I was an eye witness, that when Lord Grey made his observations on L^ Liverpool's motion to adjourn the proceedings on the Bill, he said he did not approve of this mode of putting an end to it, but should move that the Bill be reject and before he could get the word out he was stopped by Lord Holland who whispered him against it, and he immediately took a short turn, and said as the Bill was given up it signified very little what the form was, and he should therefore not oppose Lord Liverpool's motion. The truth is, and this Lord Holland and others knew, that if the Question had been to reject the Bill, not only all those who voted for the third reading, but all those who thought the Queen guilty would have voted against the rejection ; and this body would have formed a very large majority of the House of Lords. The allowing the Bill to drop has, as you may conceive, afforded considerable triumph to the Queen, her Party, and for the moment to the Opposition. . . . I do not think the Queen will have much cause to exult, for she is clearly found guilty. . . . Not only by the majority of 28 who voted for the 2^ read- ing, but by the vote upon the Preamble which states 'whereas she has been guilty of etc., which Preamble was carried without a division. . . . And as to the Opposition, I think the Bill stopping without going to the House of Com^ is a positive death blow to their hopes of removing the Administration. In this letter, which is of considerable length, Mr. Pole then goes on to give a summary of the Government's case against the Queen. He writes : They were so scrupulous ... as not to urge an}' man to vote . . . even if he thought the Queen guilty, Io6 'THE QUEEN'S TRIAL' [CH. in. if he thought the Bill inexpedient. . . . This latitude was fatal to the measure. . . . Opposition on the other hand made a complete party affair of it. . . . Forty of our best supporters voted against the second reading. ... Of the Opposition, throughout the pro- ceedings, only Lauderdale and Donoughmore (Carlton House men) voted with us. . . . If we had carried through our majority of 28, we should have carried it through the Lords and sent it to the Commons. . . . On the whole it is very lucky for us — I don't believe we'd have carried it in the Commons — and it would have been thrown out first reading there. Then follow several pages justifying Canning's attitude, followed by : All the Talents have failed — the King is satisfied with us. . . . Old Mr. Leech* tried to make the King uneasy. . . . We shall now have Canning, as he approved of all our steps. . . . He goes on to describe the illuminations that took place on the Friday after the result as being paltry, ending : Ask W. to read this letter. Charles Ellis to Bagot. November 25, 1820. . . . Canning waited at Paris till he could learn the result [of the Queen's Trial] and arrived in town last Saturday (the i8th). . . . On the subject that occupies the thoughts of all Englishmen, and no small portion of the rest of the world — and yet it is so disgusting a subject that one hates to enter upon it, and at the moment so puzzling a one that 1 hardly know what to say . . . instead of meeting with discomfiture she has obtained Triumph. Liverpool has been forced * Sir John Leacli, one of tlic Prince's Whig friends in the days of the Regency, then Vice-Chancellor (see Croker, vol. i., p. 160). i82o] PUBLIC FEELING 107 to withdraw the Bill, and Parliament is prorogued to the 23rd January, and in the mean time she is squabbling about a Palace, and the Liturgy, and will continue to squabble as long as a grievance is left to her. All well thinking people are praying that she may go.* But it is a little like the praying of the Italian sailors in a storm. . . . Canning to Bagot. Paris, (Private.) February 22, 1821. I wish I had written to you before I set off. Perhaps I did, for I know I intended it and I had so many things to do within the last week of my stay in London, that my recollections of what I did and what I meant to do, but may have left undone, are as confused as those of a worth}^ old gentleman at St. Petersburgh, of whom I shall have a word or two to say presently. Whether I wrote or no, I presume that I have nothing now to tell you of myself that you do not already know through the confidential medium of the newspapers. However, lest that should not be the case, I desire Mr. Backhouse to whom I transmit this letter to be forwarded by the first messenger to St. Petersburgh, to add to it such documents as will illustrate to you fully my late and present position — on the single condition that they are returned without having been out of your own hands and especially not into old Anderson's. And this brings me to your ' Separate ' of Oct. 22nd — Nov. 3 which really alarms me, on your account, * A prayer expressed as follows at the time : ' Gracious Queen, we thee implore, Go away, and sin no more ; But if that effort be too great, Go away — at any rate.' An allusion to Lord Denman's unlucky speech in defence of the Queen, in which he implored the Peers to tell lier to ' Go, and sin no more,' even if they could not find her innocent ! I08 THE QUEEN'S TRIAL' [CH. iii. both mental and bodil}' — It is a sad life that you appear to be leading with that worthy Senior, during the Emperor's absence — Clearer indications of habitual (and in the particular instance, protracted) conviviality than are exhibited in that letter I seldom have witnessed : and the ascendancy which your respect- able old Amphitryon (for I will hope that he and not yourself is at the cost of these compotations) has evidently acquired over your mind, warrants the apprehension that he may at some other time be more completely successful, than fortunately he has been in this first attempt, in inducing you to transmit to the Foreign Office, documents answering to any descrip- tion but that which he suggests to you to give of them — to the utter ruin of your character for sagacity. The letter for Prince Adam Czartoryski* which * A Pole, who had fought against Russia in the rising of 1794. He was sent to St. Petersburg as a hostage, where he eventually found favour with Alexander, and was made Foreign Minister, resigning that office in 1806. He was a friend of Sir Robert Wilson's, who, at the end of 1807, had made a remarkably rapid journey from St. Peters- burg, where he had been sent by Canning with despatches. Wilson, by outstripping the Russian courier, had arrived in time to supply Canning, whom he found in bed on reaching London on December 2, with information that enabled the Minister to frustrate the design of the Russian fleet ('Diet. Nat. Biog.,' Ixii., 138). On his march from Poland to Berhn, Wilson was at Kalisch in February, 1813, and from there, on the day before the far-reaching Treaty of Alliance between Russia and Prussia was signed, he wrote the letter to the Prince which is the subject of Canning's ' chaff.' A copy, or duplicate, had apparently got into old Anderson's hands, which he seems to have persuaded Bagot to have been a letter to the Prince written years before by Canning when at the Foreign Office, and addressed by his Secretary, Ross, but never delivered. Wilson's letter is published in full in the ' Memoirs of Prince Adam Czartoryski ' (Remington, 1888) ; beyond encouraging the Polish cause it is of no importance. The Prince returned later to his Polish allegiance, fighting for them again in 1830, and scheming for support from the Allies during the Crimean War. He sent his Secretary to England in October, 1813, to obtain sympathy for Poland. Canning wrote to Czartoryski from Hinckley at the time, but gave him little encouragement. The Secretary interviewed Canning, but, meeting with scant success, went on to Brougham and Whig leaders (' Memoirs of Czartoryski,' vol. ii., p. 254). Sir Robert Wilson, who was now in Paris, was M.P. for South- wark ; and in this year was dismissed from the army for taking part in a riot on the day of the Queen's funeral, but reinstated later. i82i] A TALE OF A LUGGER 109 Mr. Anderson declares to have been confided to him in 1808 — or 1809 — (I love that scrupulosity) through Ross, which he was to deliver unto the Prince's own hands, and which during the whole of the subsequent 12 years (and especially I admit during the first 5 of them) he could not find any opportunity of so delivering; that letter, in the address of which he persuaded you (towards the end of the 3rd bottle) to recognize Ross's handwriting, and as his power over your imagination became more intense, to discover in its Seal the seal of the late Cacodaemon — That letter, my dear Charles, was written only eight years ago consequently not till four or five years after old Anderson took charge of it, and the handwriting, superscription and seal are those — not of myself, of Ross, and of the late Cacodaemon — but one and all of the then present Sir Robert Wilson. It is dated ' Kalish, Feb. 27th 1813.' How, in the name of all demons, 'John Anderson, your Jo' contrived to get possession of this ' Manuscribendum ' in 1808 or 1809 (for I will allow him the full benefit of the alternative) is matter of curious but awful meditation. You will not doubt that your description and Anderson's authority induced me to open what I con- sidered to be a letter of my own writing, as soon as I received it. What to do with it, when opened, was a nicer question, PVom this difficulty however I have been happily relieved by a most unexpected meeting with the right owner of the letter, here at Paris, Mr. Anderson may depend upon my not taking any unfair means to prejudice Prince Czartoryski's judge- ment as to the true character of the letter — But as in the case of the Lieutenant of a Lugger who took a French prize in the evening; lost her during the night, and retaking her again the next morning found to his great contentment that ' she again proved to be the no 'THE QUEEN'S TRIAL' [CH. III. Ditguay-Trouin of Nantes bound to Havre with a cargo of brandy ' — So I really believe that, notwith- standing Mr. Anderson's circumstantial statement and your valuable confirmation of it, the letter which I have found on the first opening of it, to be what I have ventured to describe it ; will when a second time opened by Prince Czartoryski 'again prove to be a letter from Sir Robert Wilson dated Kalish Feb. 27th 1813.' 1 have just transmitted it to him with an explanatory note. I hope you do not trust to your venerable host exclusively for all your Secret Intelligence. If he is the author of ' Anderson's History of Commerce ' I no longer wonder at the confusion which is said to reign in the Russian tariffs. And now, my dear Charles, let me beg of you to contradict to me, at your first leisure, a report which I have heard here, that you have been and are unwell. I trust your present residence does not disagree with you. There seems to be no other danger of your re- moval from it. I am here in a state of idle existence long unknown to me, dividing with my wife the duty of chaperon to Harriet in the evenings and passing my mornings occasionally in the Chamber of Deputies instead of all night long in the House of Commons. How long this way of life may last I cannot tell, but I calculate at least till Easter. I may add, I hope so, for I hear high promises of the delight of a Paris spring. My address of course is always London and by messenger to Ever affectionately Yours, G. C. P.S. — Let me know how all belonging to you are, as well as yourself. My William is still in the Bay of Naples, or rather perhaps by this time on the way home, for the Liffey's time of service is expired. I must i82i] ST. PETERSBURG III get him transhipped till December next, when his time for passing will arrive. Then nous verrons. Rt. Hon. Sir Charles Bagot, G.C.B., to Binning. St. Petersburgh, {Private.) April 1% i%2i. My dear Binny, I received your letter of the 20th of March 8 days ago, and as you therein express that deep contrition which it becomes you to feel when you have done anything to incur my displeasure, I shall, out of my abundant clemency, extend pardon and mercy to you, but I think you should be reprimanded, and I do hereby reprimand you. Your letter, the handwriting of which is become more Chineser nor ever, is now before me. I shall reply to it paragraphically. ist then, the Catholics — In my opinion whether the Bill passes the Lords or not, it has been received and entertained by the Commons this year in such a manner that we now touch very near to the time when it must be carried, unless what I think not at all improbable, the Catholic clergy may defeat the bill themselves by insisting upon more, and thus alarming and disgusting every- body. 2ndly the Queen — This thank God is now only matter of history. . . . Whilst I am writing this, you are already acquainted in England with the turn of affairs in Italy. I am sanguine enough to believe that the Neapolitan and Piedmontese businesses are both in fact finished- very lucky for the world if they are — for, by my faith, they were most menacing. My Emperor is etale'mg his 'prodigious armies' with a view, as I suppose, to invade the South of Europe (France included) and I think they must have the effect — The Imperial Guards are ordered to march from hence to replace the troops who are ordered to pass the Frontier. We 112 'THE QUEEN'S TRIAL [en. ill. have got up a Greek Revolution for you, but I do not think that it will end in much. The Turks are too strong for them unassisted, and unassisted they will be. The Emperor has been absent almost ever since my arrival here, now ten months. I confess I wish much that he would return. In his absence my posi- tion is an irksome one in one respect — at this corner of the world everything is known in England much sooner than it can be by the way of St. Petersburgh, therefore my communications can scarcely ever be interesting but as they relate to the Emperor himself, his views and sentiments — and these are only to be acquired in personal communication with him. Upon the whole I get on very well here, and I think that I shall be able (but it requires incessant vigilance) to make both ends meet. The climate does me no harm — but it is a shocking climate to live in because it allows so little to be made of life — 2/3rds of one's existence passes by candlelight and in an artificial atmosphere. The King in my mind has done very wisely in going to Ireland. Do you mean to go and see the show ? When is coronation ? Why should you not come and see St. Petersburgh ? . . . You would see by far the finest city in the world and I assure you it is some- thing in life to have seen the Czar upon the throne of his gigantic Empire. His Palaces, his Diamonds, his vassal Princes from the remotest part of the earth, and his vast hedgehog of an army are really things to have seen. . , . Canning is I suppose gone to Paris — if he is not give my love to him, and tell him that ere long he will be edified by an cpistola familiar is from me if I know how to fire at him. Remember me also most kindly to Huskissonius nosier. I got a letter from him soon after my arrival here introducing to me a Mr. Dickens who was travelling with a certain Sir C. Smith — both very gentlemanlike young men, and most fortunately for the credit of England, perfect i82i] NEWS FROM LYTTELTON II3 contrasts to two outrageous raffs hight Copeland who were here at the same time, and have been the jest of the whole country. . . . Get out you old Scotchman, Yrs. affectionately, C B. Lyttelton to Bagot. September I'j, 1821. . . . Now I must go back as far as the Coronation about which I promised you some further intelligence when I wrote last to you. . . . There were sundry symptoms at that time of the influence of the new Mistress, which gave sufficient uneasiness, I believe, to the Beaux in Office ; and there have been men in their situations who would not have put up with the indignities they suffered quite so patiently as they did. Every lesser favour and distinction and many of the more important ones are given without consulting them or their feelings. I think I have it on sufficient authority that the green Ribbands were bestowed in almost every instance by the K. himself, and I am assured that he sent for Lord Melville and offered one to him unexpectedly. Whereupon Lord M. said * I suppose Lord Liverpool has been consulted upon this ?' or some such words. To which H.M. was graciously pleased to reply * Lord L. be d d ! / offer it you, will you take it or not ?' and his Lordship took it, after the old Scotch, or Bute, precedent. As for Lord L. he is well read in English history and I suppose is too loyal to the memory of George 3rd. to object to any precedent drawn from the annals of his reign . . . I knozv positively that Lord Buckingham's Garter was given him in the same way, though the gift was not as far as I am informed accompanied with any equally gracious speech. . . . The late transactions both in Ireland and on this side of the water have certainly not strengthened the existing administration . . . but VOL. II. 8 114 'THE QUEEN'S TRIAL' [CH. III. to be sure in Ireland there never was, no, nor any- where else — such hullabalooing and crazy excess of delight and feasting and cavalcading and spachifying. The accounts in the newspapers are anything but exaggeration. . . . Here are two stories highly Irish to amuse Lady Bagot and to show how the common people took it — When the K. landed in a sort of sham incog there were two fellows with carts on the road, who saw or heard of his approach in time enough to get their horses out of the shafts and crying out, ' Be Jasus, it's the King,' they mounted the beasts and forced their way through the guard just as the carriage was passing, and went floundering and huUooing along close by till the very time when His Majesty alighted at the Phoenix; and it was to this very ludicrous guard of honour that the King addressed himself more particularly when he said he would drink a bumper of whiskey punch to their healths. Well, this is not bad is it, but I recommend the next one. Upon one of the occasions of State a common Irishman clambered up behind the King's carriage and the servants and guard wanted to force him down, but the King prevented them, and the fellow lowering his astonishing face down, to peep in at His Majesty, the King laughed and said something, and gave him his hand to shake, on which the man drew himself up, and / raising his hand aloft as high as he could, cried out, ' Here is the hand that will never be washed.' To return for a moment to the coronation there was a very scandalous indecency, to give it no harsher name, in the K.'s behaviour at the Altar and even during the Communion service. He has a ring that Lady C. gave him, which he then wore and always ; wears, and he kept repeatedly kissing it and looking * at her as he did it during the Ceremony. . . . Upon the whole many persons are of opinion that this is little more than the dotage of an old lover . . . and y^K i82i] LORD HOLLAND'S SPEECH Il5 it is not improbable that opinion may be right — a little time more will probably show this up. . , . Lyttelton then alludes at some length to a personal attack on the Emperor of Russia made in a speech by Lord Holland,* admitting that the Ambassador at St. Petersburg had reason to complain of the effect of ' such a harangue '; but he writes ; I submit to you for your consideration whenever any thing of the same kind occurs again . . . that it is a neces- sary consequence of the despotism of ojie Person, that remarks on the political conduct of the State he governs should be in a great measure personal to himself. . . . A very judicious explanation of the speech from a Whig point of view to a Tory Ambassador. Bagot to Binning. St. Peteksburgh, July Jfl, 1821. My dear Binny, . . . Yes I see Built regularly and he is my delight — He is just what was wanted, and I hope and believe that he will not only keep foolish politics but foolish people and foolish manners in order. I see that Lady Jersey has prosecuted him — I should doubt her success. His article about her was pro- voking enough, but I should scarcely think libellious. 1 hear that Jersey has lost his great cause, the con- sequences of it to himself I am very sorry for — but * On February 19 Lord Holland had made a speech in the House of Lords, during a debate on the conduct of the Allied Powers, in which he attacked the Emperor of Russia, saying of him that ' a Prince who ascended a throne still reeking with the blood of his father, a Prince on whom the crown of his dominions had devolved by an act of assassination, was not to be regarded as an oracle of morality.' He was called to order by Lord Harrowby, who said that such language with regard to a Sovereign would be improper even if we were at war with him. Lord Holland, however, practically repeated his remarks. Mr. Creevey wrote on September 24, saying that Lord Holland had made an apology in the Times (Creevey Papers). t John Bull, a newspaper, edited by Theodore Hook, at this time full of violent and scurrilous abuse of the Queen and her adherents. 8—2 Il6 'THE QUEEN'S TRIAL' [CH. III. I believe that it has been, if I understand the question, very justly decided. We yesterday received by estafette from Paris the account of the death of Napoleon Bonaparte. Strange that one should live to receive with so little emotion the news of an event, which but a very few years ago would have agitated in some way or other almost every individual upon the face of the globe. Ages pass before such men appear again. I hear, but it is only through newspapers, histories of changes and ministerial arrangements — I conclude that there is something in it — the Doctor, I know, wants to go out, and Canning, I hope, wants to come in. You will write me a despatch about all this by return of post — Oh — apropos of post — how could you be such a beetle headed fellow as to talk as you did in your letter to me about my Emperor, and then send your letter hy the post — my private letters some- times escape but, generally speaking, everything ad- dressed to me is opened — and (a word in your ear) is carried to the Czar himself. Your coronation is now over — I should like an account of that too. ... I pass most of my time with a tame bear v^'hich the Grand Vcneiir Navitchkin* has given me, and which, except Frere, is the pleasantest companion I ever talked with — I have a wolf too, but he is a raff. . . . What maggot had Stuart Wortley got into his head that he should let an attack upon the Laybach doings come from him ? Lieven is here, and looking just the same — I know not how long he stays, but I hope till the autumn. I like him — he is dull if you will, but very gentlemanlike and has the best confectioner I know. . . . * The career of his wife is a matter of history, or of Lcs Chroniques Scaiidalciises. A privately pubHshcd letter of the day speaks of enclos- ing his portrait as that of a St. Petersburg beau, 'usually known by the name of Ic nuiri, par prcfi'rciicc, being husband to the Lady Hertford of this land ' (Letters of Lady S. L., priv. pub., Spottiswoode, 1873). CHAPTER IV THE HOLY ALLIANCE What is known as the Holy Alliance originated during the negotiations for the second Treaty of Paris in i8 1 5, when the scheme of a committee of the Powers to police Europe was considered. This scheme had been initiated by the treaty of the four Powers finally opposed to Napoleon, signed at Chaumont on March i, 1814, to which Castlereagh, as representing England, had agreed, and which pro- posed a sort of joint committee, which Metternich described later as the Moral Pentarchy of Europe.* The original idea of the Alliance — Holy only so far as it recognized the divine right of Kings to treat their subjects as they pleased — was the particular design of the Emperor Alexander,who was chiefly inspired thereto by a certain Madame de Krudener, who had exchanged her role of a fashionable beauty for that of an Imperial prophetess. The agreement of the three rulers of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, or, as Brougham called them, the * Three Gentlemen of Verona,' was first definitely formulated at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1818. France was then brought in under certain reserva- tions, secretly agreed to by the Powers. The Prince Regent approved, though he was debarred by the Constitution from making any personal agreement with foreign rulers. * See ' European Politics in the Nineteenth Century,' by Dr. A. W. Ward, an introduction to ' Lectures on the History of the "Nineteenth Century ' (Cambrid^ire University Press, 1902} ; also ' Modern Europe,' by Dr. Lodge, iyo6, p. 640. 117 Il8 THE HOLY ALLIANCE [CH. iv. At this Congress, held in September, it was decided that France, which had been occupied by the allied army under the Duke of Wellington, should be evacuated, a measure advocated by the Duke himself in support of the Emperor Alexander. By a treaty drawn up in November, the five Powers, or the Pentarchy, as it was called, pledged themselves to act in concord for the maintenance of European peace. There is a clear distinction between this committee and what is known as the Holy Alliance, although the policy to be pursued has been generally known as that of the Alliance only. Although Great Britain had consented to the original idea of the European Concert or the moral Pentarchy, neither Castlereagh nor Canning would countenance the more fully developed policy of the Holy Alliance. To that policy, on taking office. Canning showed not only little sympathy, which, indeed, was also Castle- reagh's attitude at Laibach and on the eve of Verona, but he evinced towards it a most determined opposi- tion, and, moreover, wished it to be clearly understood by the Allies that his policy was one of settled con- viction, and in no way adapted, as Count Lieven imagined, to meet Parliamentary exigencies in England.* Whether the attitude of Great Britain which finally disconcerted the Holy Alliance, and made for more liberal ideas in the government of Europe, is to be placed to the credit of Castlereagh or Canning, or to be divided between them, will probabl^^ remain a matter of controversy between their respective adherents. In that connexion a remark of Canning's, in a letter that follows, on the appointment of the Secretary to the British Embassy in Russia, is not without interest. t The first formal meeting of the Holy Alliance took place at Troppau in 1820. They notified the other European Powers of their views, and invited the King of Naples to a Congress at Laibach. This was held in Januar}', 1821. Lord Stewart (afterwards Lord Londonderr}^) represented Great Britain. Mr. Canning * Sec Canniiiif's letter of January 22, 1824, p. 221. f See Canning's letter of July 29, 1824, p. 268. I820-22] LAIBACH AND VERONA I 19 had resigned office in the preceding month. Lord Holland, in his * Reminiscences,' wrote : It is possible that Mr. Canning's retirement from the Cabinet at that critical moment in some degree facilitated the measures of the Holy Alliance . . . who then determined to trample on the rising liberties of Italy . . . through the treachery of the King of Naples . . . and the irresolute, if not insidious, con- nivance of the French and English Cabinets.* The Congress determined to restore the King of Naples by means of an Austrian arm}'-, which, in February 1821, marched into Naples without resist- ance and reasserted the principles of legitimacy. Lord Castlereagh had protested against this monstrous interference with the concerns of an independent State, and repudiated the action of the Holy Alliance, and used language on the doctrines of the Laibach Con- ference which was repeated in almost identical terms by Canning when he succeeded him two years later ; but the Governments of England and France made no serious protest. Lord Stewart was absent during the Congress, and Sir Robert Gordon took his place, who was said to be somewhat prejudiced in favour of Austria. In addition to the question of France and Spain and possible Russian intervention, the Greeks had risen against the Turks, but getting no support from Russia, the movement had collapsed in June, 1821. Another movement against the rorte in the Morea was more successful, and great atrocities took place in Asia Minor and Macedonia. In July, 1821, the Russians made peremptory demands of the Porte to ensure peace and the protection of the Greek Church, and war seemed imminent between the two Powers ; but diplomacy intervened, and for the time being it w^as averted. Before the Congress of Verona took place in the autumn, Metternich, the Austrian Chancellor, had * This latter sentence is from tlic extreme Whig point of view. So far from conniving, Castlereagh protested strongly, and was the only responsible statesman who did so. 120 THE HOLY ALLIANCE [CH. iv. feared that Russia might conquer Spain and form an alliance with her, thus upsetting the balance of power. The French were unwilling that Alexander should march through their country. Sir Robert Gordon was probably inclined towards Austrian views by the diplomacy of Metternich, which, however, was of no avail against the Duke of Wellington, though every endeavour was made by the Chancellor to win him over. In June Sir Robert Gordon wrote to Bagot from Vienna : I have been exposed to some uneasiness in con- sequence of having touched upon the Russian views with regard to Spain in one of my last letters. ... I naturally have been supposed guilty of indiscretion by all parties, and besides may forfeit some of the un- limited confidence Prince Metternich has hitherto placed in me. He is himself exposed to attack from the Cabinet of St. Petersburg for not having kept the secret as entrusted to him, and if b}^ chance it should reach France through the French Ambassador, the consequences might be highly prejudicial. When the Congress met later, Metternich proposed a proces verbal specifying the cases in which the Powers should intervene, to which the Duke flatly refused to subscribe. This was the end of the Congress of Verona. The differences between the Alliance and Great Britain were proclaimed to the world, and, as Canning wrote to Frere soon after,* 'The history of all I could tell in two words — or rather in the substitu- tion of one word for another — for "Alliance" read " England," and you have the clue of my policy.' While all these questions were open and getting daily more complicated abroad, changes w^ere taking place in the Ministr}^ at home. Before the meeting of Parliament in February, 1822, Lord Liverpool, desirous of strengthening his part}^ obtained the services of the small band that had identified themselves with Lord * Festing's 'John Hookham Frere/ p. 257. iS22] MINISTERIAL CHANGES 121 Grenville, who was now again becoming a Tory. His nephew, Lord Buckingham, was the leader. The party consisted of about eight relatives or members representing his lordship's boroughs. Their services were all obtained ; but if they came * tolerably cheap,' it was only cheap for Grenvilles, as they were all well provided for, Lord Buckingham* being given a dukedom and the rest various offices. Lord Holland declared that ' all articles were now to be had at low prices, except Grenvilles. 'f Lord Sidmouth retired from office, and Mr. Peel succeeded him as Home Secretary. Canning, who had given up office in 1820 in consequence of his reluctance to take part in the proceedings against the Queen, was appointed Governor-General of India at the end of March. He soon after carried a Bill in the House of Commons to admit Catholic peers to sit in the House of Lords, but it was rejected by the Upper House. In August Lord Castlereagh, then Lord Londonderry, died by his own hand, and in September Canning, who was about to start for India, was made Foreign Secretary, and became leader of the House of Commons. The King at first objected, but the Cabinet were practically unanimous in their desire to see their old colleague back, though at the time Canning was not popular with the bulk of the Tory party. The Duke of Wellington it was who managed to get over the King's objections, and after some difficulties Canning decided to accept the seals of the Foreign Office, which he had resigned just thirteen years earlier. His foreign policy from that day till his death, in some ways following the lines initiated by Lord Castlereagh, but conducted with more vigour and a broader outlook, was successful in placing Great Britain in the foremost rank among the Powers of Europe — an article of faith which had always been uppermost in Canning's mind from the earliest days of his career, as may be gathered at various intervals from his letters that are here published. * The Marquis of Buckingham. ' He was never satisfied, but always asking for more,' in reward of his political services (see Wellington's ' Civil Despatches,' vol. ii.). t Walpole's ' History/ vol. ii., p. 41. 122 THE HOLY ALLIANCE [cH. iv. Canning at once offered the position of Under- Secretary to his old supporter, J. W. Ward, who, after much hesitation, declined, though a few years later he accepted the position of Foreign Minister in Canning's Government, Another friend and sup- porter of the new Minister, Mr. Huskisson, became President of the Board of Trade. Bagot to Binning. St. Petersburg, January 2, 1822. I am glad that the Grenvilles are taken into the Government ; and (for Grenvilles) they come tolerably cheap. I see no objection to a Dukedom in the head of the Grenville family, but I see many to giving it to the actual blubber head who now reigns over them — Alas ! Alas ! why is Canning to be excluded ? Oh ! the fatal and incomprehensible course which he took in the Queen's business ! I make every allowance and much ought to be made for the King's personal feelings, but it would have been noble in him to sacrifice them to such an object as that of retaining in England and in the Government the unrivalled talents of such a man as Canning. I suppose it will end in his taking the General Gov^ of India — a great position it is true, but one which far inferior men to Canning might perhaps hold with as much public advantage. There is indeed 'a tide in the affairs of men.' Had Canning taken office in 1812, nothing could have delayed or obstructed his march. . . . After the Russians had made their demands of the Porte in July, 1821, both Austria and England were anxious to avert war between the two countries, and diplomacy was successful in inducing both parties to yield somewhat and for the time maintain peace. i822] RUSSIA AND TURKEY 1 23 Planta* to Bagot. (Prh'atc.) January 20, 1822. Here we are with another messenger to you . . . You will see we intend to make your Excellency the great Pacificator, and a very noble role it is. We hope that the last accounts from Constantinople, of which Gordon t has informed you . . . will give you a better chance than you have had yet of bringing about a reconciliation between Russia and the Porte. . . . I have heard nothing more decisive as to Canning's going to India or not, but still continue to think it will end in that. . . . We consider our situation as on the whole prosperous . . . the Government by the breaking up of anything like a third party is very strong. . . . Vansittart foresees constant botheration on economy. . . . We have had that unhappy question in our office . . . the reduction of our poor clerks of which only a few years ago I was one, while we political gentlemen keep the whole of our emoluments, has been a bitter pill to me. Some people think that Squire Hume J will let alone the servants of the public and occupy himself entirely with an attack on the emoluments of the Church. . . . We send you copy of our answer to the Russian Embassy here on their extravagant ukase § ... it is fair yet temperate, and will give the Russians a fair opportunity of backing out with honour. You acted with great prudence in not letting yourself be pushed on by Mr. Middleton|| in that business, in fact, my dear Sir, you have the knack of doing right, and I can assure you your proceedings are fully estimated here, * Under-Secretary to Lord Castlereagh, Foreign Minister. t Robert Gordon, a brother of Lord Aberdeen, Minister at Vienna. + Joseph Hume, who rose from humble circumstances, and, after being a surgeon, entered ParHament, and was for many years a vigorous advocate of economical reform. § Relating to the north-west coast of America, alluded to later. II American Minister at St. Petersburg. 124 THE HOLY ALLIANCE [CH. IV. and if you can but manage to bring about the renewal of the negotiation between the Turlcs and the Russians at present, you will be considered a Phoenix in Diplo- macy. . . . Yrs., etc., J. Planta. Bagot to Binning. St. Petersburg, March 31, 1822. ... I have a deal to say to you . . . for much has happened since I last wrote. Amongst other things, you are out and have entered again into your ancient state of private Binningry. ... I enter into all your feelings. The Board could not be the same thing to you after Canning left it. . . . I have often told you, Binning, that we came too late into the world. We have been caught b}^ reforms at every turn — from the reform which turned quodlihds at Oxford into frightful examinations, down to the revolutions of Mr. Hume which have turned us into clerks and scrubs and paupers. Upon this subject I speak with feeling. The speech of Van. has been a bullet in my thorax. Are we really to be sconced 10 per cent, of our appointments ? It is proposed to take ;^i,20o per annum from the salary of the soussigne. If such is the determination of the Wittenagemot, why let it be so. . . . You say the Whigs are dwindling into nothing. I see it and regret it, for, though I hate the Whigs worse than toads or asps, they, and not Radicals, are the proper material of Opposition. Since I got your letter I see that Canning has spoken on the India Board question and whipped Creevey, which is all right.* Alas, Binning, I cannot reconcile myself to having Canning- transplanted to India. * For Creevey's own opinion on the subject, see the Creevey Papers, vol. ii., p. 35. i822] CANNING AND INDIA 125 I know that the field is wide and large and glorious and independent and (if that is an object) fertile in gold — and what is more, I believe that, as a residence. Canning is capable of enjo3nng it — at least I think so from all I hear about it, and I have latterly heard much, but still it is India and not England. It is renouncing all the chances which may arise in his absence, and it is losing him and his society for years. I know that Lord Hastings is coming home, and conceive that, though Canning may not have declared his intention, he has determined in his own mind to succeed him, therefore I say no more upon the sub- ject, except that there is no man living who desires more than myself that he may have * good luck, ride on and prosper,' as the Psalmist ? (I think) has it.* Pray thank Canning in the name of the people for his joke about Cokef and his preposterous wheedle- lock. ... I send this letter by the post, therefore if * I write but drily, brother Hiley, you will know the reason why. . . .' Thine very affectionately, C. B. Stratford Canning to Bagot. Washington, May 8, 1822. ... I am now on the point of being summoned by the well-known messenger, who unlike other restless spirits, makes his appearance, instead of vanishing, at cockcrow. ... I send you, en attendant, a correspondence * When it became a question, after Lord Londonderry's death in August, of whether Canning joined the Ministry or went to India, J. W. Croker wrote to Peel that Huskisson, who was anxious for his friend Canning to take office, heHeved that his ' peculiar quahty of Parliamentary eloquence ought not to be exported to India like the skates and warming-pans were to Buenos Ayres ' (Croker Papers, vol. i., p. 231). t Thomas Coke, M.P., of Norfolk. 126 THE HOLY ALLIANCE [cu. iv. between the Sieurs Adams* and Political which has a double claim on your attention. This subject of settlements on the North West coast of America is precisely the one to which I alluded so darkly in a former letter, the two interviews, which Adams describes me as having had with him in reference to this question rather more than a year ago, were somewhat of a tempestuous character {entre nous soit dit) and it was your interference about the cele- brated expedition of the Ontario to Columbia River which occurred to my recollection when I wrote to you at the time.:}: . . . You had some trouble on the subject. Here we are all curiosity to know how Spain will take the recognition of her Independent South American Colonies by the Government. . . . Bagot to Binning. St, Petersburg, July 22, 1822. Why, Binny, my good lad — I have nothing to say to you. ... I am enjoying an idleness which is most * John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State. He succeeded Monroe as President in 1825. t Chevalier Pierre de Politica, Envoy of the Emperor of Russia. A correspondence is enclosed from the Daily National Intelligencer, of Washington, of April iq, 1822, beginning with President Monroe's letter to the House of Representatives, who had requested him to furnish the House with information as to any foreign claim to any part of the American north-west coast north of the 42nd degree, and whether there was any contemplated occupation of the Columbia River. % About the settlements connected with the Columbia River and district, see the note to Stratford Canning's letter of March 30, 1823, on p. 61. In 1817 the United States sloop of \\'a.v Ontario sailed from New York intending to form an American settlement and claim to the mouth of the river. Bagot heard of this intention, and warned Sir John Sherbrooke to object, and, if possible, occupy the ground for the Hudson Bay Co. It may interest Canadians in these days to read that though the Ontario sailed from New York on October 4, and was expected to be detained on the coast of Peru, the Governor of Quebec answered in December that it would be impossible to communicate with the mouth of the Columbia overland before tlie sloop, sailing round Cape Horn, would get there ! (Corre- spondence in ' Archives of Canada' at Ottawa, M. 157). i822] CATHOLIC PEERS \2^ congenial to me, and such as 1 have rarely experienced since the happy days of White's window and the rails of Hyde Park (close to Lord Sidney's fountain). . . . As to politics, I leave 3'ou to collect them from the newspapers, for I shall not talk state matters to Scotch Jackanapes's like you, 3^ou will go and tell William Dundas, and Mrs, Bankes etc. etc. — Oh ! apropos of Scotchmen, I am told, but not as yet officially, that I have a young Scotch lord, hight Dunglass* coming out as an attache to me, which, provided that he has not the national cutaneous infirmity, I shall have no objection to, seeing that I have good report of the youth. He is the son of the Earl of Hume or Home, and grandson of the old and illustrious Duchess of Buccleugh, on whose account (though I do not know her) I will make much of him, for I do venerate that grand old dame. If you know any more of this lad, communicate your information. As to your session of Parliament, as it has been the most blackguard, so, it seems, it will be longest that ever sat. You are all scriveners and money changers, and the sooner you are cast out of the Temple the better. — What is the meaning of Canning's delay ? He is losing the season of navigation. Is there any chance that he may not go after all ? Would it were so ! So the Lords will not keep company t with those upstarts the Cliffords, Howards, Talbots, Astons, Blounts, and the other obscure names of our history. O^ ! brave ! ye Rendleshams and Carringtons. Canning's was a rare good speech, but faith, so was Peel's. This youth has, 1 think, made a great figure this session — and selon nioi, he must succeed. By the papers he appears to me always to speak with good taste. Am I right? Why has John William W^ard remained the whole year * Afterwards eleventh Earl of Home, then twenty-four. ■\ The Lords threw out Canning's Bill to admit Catholic peers to sit and vote. 128 THE HOLY ALLIANCE [CH. iv. silent? I suppose that he is not in England. I have seen nothing that I have liked better for a long time than Ld. Londonderry's basting of small Grey Bennet* for his most unfeeling and discreditable attack upon the Doctor, which was mere wanton brutality. How can a man, amiable as I believe Bennet is in private life, so forget what is due to decency and his own reputation ? Van makes a glorious budget, and promises us an excess of ten millions next year, which I suppose will make you all grumble worse than ever. As to your agricultural distress I care not a fico for it. Make the Baker and the Tailor and the Shoemaker and the Upholsterer lower their prices according to the price of provisions, and then the landholder will have no real reason to complain and we shall all be rich in the right way. The real grievance at present is that the low price of provisions has not its fair operation upon articles of manufacture. Depend upon it that I am right comme toujours. Exit old Hertford. I suppose Yarmoutht becomes plethoric rich — but who has the blue ribband ? Is Talbot to be passed over — I hope not. My last begotten is a boy — and the Emperor will be his Godfather, and stand in person which makes me very happy and proud. I shall christen him Alexander and nothing else, and some day or other he will be a great man you may depend upon it. What do you think that I have taken to in my old age ? Cricket and horse racing. It is true, I assure you. We have got up some very good races, and we have cricket matches at this house (I write from the country) every Thursday, in which I take a con- spicuous and brilliant part. I heard by the last post * Hon. H. Grey Bennet, M.P., second son of the fouith Earl of Tankcrvillc. f The ' Marquis of Steyne,' of ' Vanity Fair.' He succeeded to ;£^90,ooo a year, and got his father's Garter. i823] HUME'S ECONOMIES 129 of Worcester's marriage with Emily Smith.* What a compHcation of folly, and I should fear eventually of misery. He never was and never can be steady to any one thing or person, and is, I should suppose, utterly ruined. Does not the marriage, too, fall within the proscribed relationship, or do you cease to mind those matters? The worst of it is that Culling and Lady Anne are sure to have the credit, in addition to their other afflictions, of having connived at it. So the King will not pay you a visit this year. Are your Scotch backs up? Rub them. What you say of the probability of Borino and Granvillef finding them- selves ere long in opposition does not surprise me. I shall keep your observation, as you desire, to myself, but I think it is not unlikely to prove well founded, which I shall much regret. I have changed my house in Town, and got into a small but very pretty one on the English Quay, where I shall be much snugger than in my last, if I can live in it, but I do really struggle against great difficulties, and now that Mr. Hume or Mr. Somebody has taken ^1,200 a year from me, I scarcely know how I can get on. As it is, I am, in points of representation and reception much below the mark at which, from my position, I ought to live. . . . The accounts of distress in Ireland increase. Is everything really done that can be done ? Money by itself will do nothing, there must be very active com- mittees, and the Govt, must lend all its aid in trans- port, etc. How is Uncle Wellesley thought to be doing in his general administration of the country ?| Here I am at the end of my paper, so fare you well. * Daughter of Charles Culling Smith and Lady Anne Wellesley. Lord Worcester's first wife, who died in 1821, was also a daughter of Lady Anne by her first husband, Mr. Fitzroy. t Lords Morley and Granville. j Lord Wellesley had been appointed Lord- Lieutenant of Ireland in succession to Lord Talbot, recalled. Terrible outrages occurred in Ireland in these years, which were not diminished by the new appointment, which was intended as an attempt at conciliation. VOL. IL 9 I30 THE HOLY ALLIANCE [CH. iv. Let me know if it is Spa — Paris or Scotland this year. God bless you, Binny. Yrs. very affectionately, C B. Lord Londonderry's death took place on August 12. Canning, on the eve of his departure for India, was to pay a farewell visit to Liverpool. He went to stay with Sir John Gladstone while negotiations were going on as to whether and in what capacity he should join Lord Liverpool's Government, and from there wrote to Lord Morley that he would accept * nothing less than the whole inheritance of Castle- reagh's position.'* The Prime Minister wished for him as a colleague, and was determined that no offer should be made to him that he could be justified in re- fusing. The King waived his objections with a good grace, and Canning now came back into the Ministry practically on his own terms, as may be gathered from a letter that follows to Bootle Wilbraham,t written from the Foreign Office to say * Here I am !' Canning to Bootle Wilbrahajn. LOXDON, July 31, 1822. My dear Bootle, I have fixed (or rather suggested to be fixed) for the publick Dinner Friday the 30th Aug. or Sat. 31st. Earlier it could not be ... as Mr. Bolton has engage- ments at Storrs . . . later it cannot be without running into the time of the Preston Guild, before which (having allowed myself to be nominated as a Steward on the express condition of non-attendance) I must fly the county. My original intention was ... to have the public Dinner on the 23rd, and then to take Lathom on my way from Liverpool to Storrs. . . . Ever sincerely yours, Geo. Canning. * Staplcton's ' Canning and his Times,' p. 362. t Written on September 16 (p. 133). i822j CASTLEREAGH'S DEATH I3I The news of Lord Londonderry's death, which took place at Foots Cray, reached Canning at Seaforth House. His Under-Secretary and devoted admirer wrote to Sir Charles Bagot in St. Petersburg : Planta to Bagot. Foreign Office, September 3, 1822. You will have been surprised, and you will very properly blame me for it, that 1 have not before written to you on this most melancholy and heart- breaking occasion. Often have I taken up my pen to do so, but I have been so absolutely overwhelmed and wretched, that 1 have not till now been able to carry my intentions into effect. The blow was so awful, and so thoroughly un- expected by me, who was returning from a short rest in the country, and met the fatal news on the road, that it stunned me quite — and though considerable time has now elapsed, I am not yet, and fear I will not be for a long time, the man I was. However, it is very selfish to talk on so of oneself when there are so many other and greater sufferers. I will only add, that having been, as I before said, absent for fourteen days previous to the fatal event, with the exception of one when I was called up to town and saw poor Lord Londonderry for the last time, I never had any idea of the estrangement of his mind, which indeed did not appear distinctly until two days after the last time I saw him. I had thought him during the latter part of the spring very much worn by the session, and though not ill as to his bodily health, much oppressed with the weight of business. . . . Most melancholy has it been indeed to lose such a man in such a way. . . . We have as yet no light as to the successor to be expected at this office, though the Busi- 9—2 132 THE HOLY ALLIANCE [CH. iv. ness is at this moment concocting. Canning, the Duke of Wellington, and Lord Bathurst are all mentioned, but I am satisfied that we are as yet far from a decision. Planta adds that they had just heard from Lord Stewart, who had received the news of his half- brother's death when near Vienna, but had not heard of the manner of it till some days later. Sir Charles Bagot notes in his journal receiving Planta's letter, and writes : ' Never did I receive intelligence for which I was so little prepared — which shocked me more, or from which I saw more disastrous consequences. . . . On public grounds it is at this moment to be peculiarly deplored. His presence at the approaching Congress at Vienna can hardly be supplied by any other man in Europe. It is not to be supposed that Lord Stewart can be fully informed on all his brother's views . . . and if he was, his grief (for he almost adored Lord Londonderry) would dis- qualify him. ... I hope that orders will be sent to the Duke of Wellington, who is now inspecting the fortresses in Flanders, to proceed to Vienna. . . . L^ Dunglas says that the day he dined with him, August 4*'\ he never uttered a word during the dinner. It should seem every fibre of his mind had suddenly broken down ... a mind the great characteristic of which was calmness, self-possession, and impertur- bability. Yet such was certainly the cause of death to a man whom the Whigs and Jacobins of the day loved to describe as revelling at ease in what they were pleased to call the luxuries of office. . . .' CHAPTER V CANNING AS FOREIGN MINISTER Carming to Bootle Wilbraham. FOREIGN' Office, Schicmhcr 16. 1822, ip.6. My dear B. W. Though a little too late for the purposes of in- formation ... I cannot refrain from letting you see by the evidence of a date that the Proposal was that which, as you know, I could alone have accepted; that I have accepted it ; and that in consequence here I am. Lyttclton to Bagot. WiMBLEDox Park, September 25, 1822. . . . This brings me, by the bye, to the considera- tion of an event nearly connected with diplomacy upon which I am sure I sympathize with you. I mean poor Lord Londonderry's death. As a gentle- man he always stood very high in my estimation, and however I may have disapproved of his Foreign and domestic policy, I reckon his death a public mis- fortune, since I don't think it will lead to a change of system, and he was (in my judgment) an abler man for general purposes, and especially an abler Leader of a Party than his successor or successors will form. You may be glad to hear that the opinion 1 have now ex- ^Z2, / 134 CANNING AS FOREIGN MINISTER [CH. v. pressed prevails very generally among my political friends. We did not expect, however, to have seen Canning Foreign Secretary. For my part I am glad of it on the whole. The Catholic Question is my chief reason. You, I suppose, will be glad for very different reasons, and, as he is an old friend of yours, I will sink anything I may have to say against the Right Hon. Gent., and simply wish you joy of his appointment, though I cannot think that to you or anybody else the change will be absolutely for the better. . . . I wish I could wind up with any exhilarating jests, but none have lately reached me. . . . Bobus Smith said to somebody who pointed out Vansittart and Joseph Hume to him, standing together at the Bar of the House of Commons as a good subject for carica- ture : ' Aye ! and the motto should be * penny wise and pound foolish. . . .' N.B. if I don't write again soon it may be laziness, in which I think I am entitled to indulge after so long and laborious a letter as this — and so will you be too after reading it. But as the Emperor is away, I shall look for a letter soon from you nevertheless. Lyttelton to Bagot. Wimbledon Park, October i8, 1822. My dear Charles, . , . You will hear no doubt from the best authority upon what terms your friend Canning was made Foreign Secretary, and if he really intends any important change in our Foreign policy, you must of course for public reasons if for no other be made acquainted with it. It is commonly believed amongst us exoterics that Peel, whose early prudence and pre- mature worldly wisdom made him always peculiarly odious in my eyes, looked with his habitual caution upon the dangerous honour of Leadership and declined i822] WHIG OPINIONS 135 it; and that then and not till then Canning was sent for and treated with, I know not upon what conditions. The Catholic question at any rate stands better than it would have done with Peel Leader : but there is no reason to suppose that the system of compromise (a fatal one in my opinion both to the characters and efficiency of public men) has not been acted upon again in this arrangement, notwithstanding the acknow- ledged importance in Canning's mind of the Question so dealt with. As to the Governor-Generalship, Wynn they say pines and whines and squeaks acutely* for the lust on't, but neither King nor Council nor Court of Directors will ever send his pipes to affright the Ganges; though it is surmised that the proposal of sending out Manners Sutton originated in the wish to place those 'Scrannel Pipes' in the chair of the House of Commons after all, and so lodge him at once, and after some time get a good Office for Binning or Husky or someone . . . there are many voices out of doors at least for Lord Wm. Bentinck, though he did shave the Sepoysf ... as to Lord Melville he would sooner go to the D 1 or to Scotland for life. I hear that Lord Grenville is so liable to some complaint or other of the head . , . that he is afraid of even a single sunbeam upon it . . . his death would scarce be felt anywhere he takes so little part in public affairs, though it is well known that several of the ministerial * C. W. Wynn contested the Speakership of the House of Commons with Manners Sutton, and his squeaky voice gave rise to the joke of the time that members would have to mind their p's and q's, or they would be calling Mr. Speaker ' Mr. Squeaker.' He and his brother, Sir Watkin Wynn, were called ' Bubble and Squeak.' Lord Amherst eventually went to India. t Lord William Bentinck, second son of the third Duke of Portland, was Governor-General of I^Iadras in 1806, when the Sepoys mutinied and the massacre at Vellore took place. The Directors of the India Board considered that the mutiny had been partly induced by the Governor having enforced regulations on the natives which should only have applied to British, one of which was an order that the Sepoys should shave. Bentinck was recalled. He was appointed Governor-General of Bengal in 1827. 136 CANNING AS FOREIGN MINISTER [CH. v. people go to him as to an oracle, and he ma}'^ have had more to say than the world is aware of. He and old Tom, by the bye, publickly disavowed any responsi- bility for what their nephews Duke Bowels and Wynn* did just before the beginning of last Session, when all the Jobs were done, and I suppose if they did not advise them then they have not advised them since. I take it for granted you have heard how intimately, and (1 should say) infamously, P — 1 and the D. of Y. are connected with the Marquis of H — tf — d, and how that exemplary person, now that he has taken to gambling in Politics, buys up all the boroughs he can get hold of. Much may be expected, no doubt, from the morality of a new reign, and the shade of Old George will be tranquillised at last. You speak to me in 3^our last of Barry O'Meara's book.t There are quite facts enough and lies enough in it to furnish disputes for half a century, and to set half the survivors of Bonaparte's contemporaries a-wrangling and fuming for some time to come. Two points, however, seem to be agreed upon among men of sense and fairness on both sides, i. That Bony talked like a very clever fellow. 2. That Lowe acted like a fool and a blackguard. From the first it is by no means inferred that what Bony said was true : and Bony stands just upon the same ground that he did before this publication, quoad all the more questionable parts of his conduct, but not so either Lowe or the Government who employed and continued to employ him. With regard to the authenticity of the report of B.'s conversations, no doubt, I think, is entertained : * The first Duke of Buckingham and Sir Watkin Wynn, who had married Lord Grenville's niece, Charlotte Grenville. Old Tom is the Right Hon. Thomas Grenville, his brother. f ' A Voice from St. Helena.' O'Meara was confidential servant to Napoleon, and an agent of Sir Hudson Lowe. His book had a great sale (sec ' Napoleon,' by Lord Rosebcry, p. 31). i822] FOR EUROPE READ ENGLAND 1 37 and I know a very sensible man of the highest character who is acquainted with O'Meara, and who told me he considered him as far too stupid a fellow to have invented any part of those dialogues.* These are besides the original duplicates taken by a manifold writer (which the Edinhord Review mentions) which furnish a strong presumption against fabrica- tion. . . . Our lands, whether it be from over-produc- tion and mischievous excess of fertility, or from the sort of money in which they pay us for their produce, or from taxation ... or from want of war, or from God knows what, continue to yield no rent to some land- lords, a reduced or extorted one to others. I could give you facts, but they would be melancholy and dull, but the evil is beginning to reach me. . . . Alas, I fear the ' noble rage ' of us all must be * repressed,' and with parasitical arts we must learn to propitiate the dinner-giving Fundholder! Meanwhile you, at Imperial Banquet, sterlet-gorged — But I must conclude Ever affect^^' yrs. W. H. L. Canning to Bagot. Walmer Castle, {Private.) November 5, 1S22. My dear Charles, Your letter of the 12th Oct. has given me one of the few sensations of real pleasure which I have derived from my return to the Foreign Office. By far the greater number of considerations publick and private were against acceptance, and to the last day I hoped that the proposal made to me might be one that I could refuse. That which has been made was the only one that I could not About any other I should * Mr. Lyttelton was on board H.M.S. Norihmnberland with Napoleon when he was sent from Portsmouth to Plymouth en route for St. Helena, in August, 1815. 138 CANNING AS P^OREIGN MINISTER [CH. v. not have had the slightest hesitation. The die being cast, I must make the best of that lot which has fallen to me and place publick duty against private liking and convenience. But ten years have made a world of difference and have prepared a very different sort of 'world to bustle in' from that which I should have found in 1812. For fame, it is *a squeezed orange,' but for publick good, there is something to do, and I will try — but it must be cautiously — to do it. You know my politics well enough to know what I mean — when I say that for ' Europe ' I shall be desirous now and then to read ' England.' I accept and hold you to your menace of ample private communications. Let me hear from you soon and often. Remember me to Lady B. You may con- gratulate my wife, though not me, on our change of destination, for to her and to my daughter the voyage and the climate of India, are real escapes — in imagina- tion at least, if not in reality. Ever, my dear Charles, Sincerely and affectionately yours, G. C* When Lord Castlereagh, who had then succeeded as Lord Londonderry, died, he was about to set out to attend the Congress of Vienna. The Duke of Wellington had been appointed to take his place, but was seized with illness and unable to go. The Congress adjourned to Verona. By the time that the Duke was able to go, Canning had become Foreign Minister. The Duke went through Paris in order to try and arrive at an understanding with M. de Villele, the French Minister, on the Spanish question, and avert the war imminent between France and Spain. On arriving at Vienna, he had to wait some little time before the Congress assembled at Verona, and on October 16 Lord Stewart, British Minister at Vienna, who had succeeded as third Marquis of Londonderry, * This letter is quoted in Stapleton's ' Life and Times of Canning,' i822] LORD LONDONDERRY 139 resigned, for reasons given in the letter which follows, and was succeeded by Sir Henry Wellesley. Third Marquis of Londonderry to Bagot. November 15, 1822. I have been for some time past (as you may con- ceive) so completely bow'd down to the earth by affliction, that it has been with the greatest difficulty that I have got through the publick writing, that perhaps happily for me just now has fallen to my share. . . . You may long since have heard, and without surprize, that I have requested my recall. There are cases of a delicate nature in this world in which a man's own feelings must direct him, and with every admiration for Mr. Canning's talents and abilities, it was impossible for me to serve under him, and it was a duty as much to him as myself to relieve the publick service from all embarrassment. Sir Henry Wellesley succeeds me, and I shall take my departure when the Congress closes. Our official communications will therefore hence- forward cease, but allow me still to hope in a private capacity, when our fates bring us together again on the same spot, that I may still reckon a portion of your regard, for the sake of another, if not for my own. . . . The Emperor of Russia and his great allies think the Spanish Revolution eminently menac- ing to all Europe and wish to act avcc les mesitres preventives. The Duke on the other hand thinks it is only an isolated malady, not contagions, and will carry with it its own cure, if left to itself How reconcile these doctrines ? Strangford is still here, grumbling and out of heart ; he has not been used well, and I can't say how matters will end. . . . The Duke has got up lately. But he is much altered and one cannot fail to be very anxious about him. Believe me, etc., Vane Londonderry. 140 CANNING AS FOREIGN MINISTER [CH. V. Sir G. H. Rose* to Bagot. Berlin', 'November 26, 1822. We had, what in German war books is called ' a blind alarm ' yesterday of fearful news from Spain. . . . Our alarm took place at Paris in consequence of the arrival of a newspaper from Verona bringing, it was affirmed, war news. . . . In Cypher. Russia appears to be eagerly exciting France to war with Spain, but an excellent paper of the Duke of Wellington's has damped considerably the military ardour of the French Cabinet. Nothing has been said about Greeks. Yrs. etc., G. H. Rose. A few weeks earlier Sir George had written with reference to the Foreign Minister's energy on first taking office : What you heard of Mr. Canning's intense applica- tion is true : It was such as to surprize the clerks at the F.O. I saw him there, and indeed was delayed in England by waiting to do so. Rose to Bagot. Berlin, 'November 30, 1822. . . . You mention a man in England, not in office, as dangerous ; I knew him well to be such, he has incom- parably more cleverness than a future neighbour of yours,! he is utterly unprincipled and he will not excite against himself an host of personal enemies in the manner the other did, as I stated to you, and he * Minister at Berlin, son of the Rt. Hon. George Rose, M.P. t Peel (in Staffordshire). i822] LORD BYRON 141 will therefore be able to go the farther unmolested by the most dangerous of all enmities in public life. You will have heard the report that M. de Taticheff is to go to London to avoid collision with H. Wellesley at Vienna . , . but they would be placed in totally different circumstances at Vienna, and I know no man less likely to be impracticable, or to bear old grudges than H. Wellesley. . . . Lord Byron will be enraged at Thomas Moore's speech at the dinner given to him at Paris respecting England. I have no doubt Lord Byron is somewhat mad. I happen to know his deformity rankles fear- fully in his mind from a very curious anecdote told me by an eye witness. Sir George, unfortunately, does not repeat the anec- dote ; he goes on to give information about two swindlers going by the names of Charles Napier and Holland Colville, who had gone to Russia, and about whose arrest there are some letters from Canning to Bagot in 181 1, which, however, being merely con- cerned with official technicalities, are omitted. In Cypher. The Emperor of Russia was pushing matters to an extremity with Spain, with a vehemence which could not be stopped, and France which had stirred the mischief was drawing back affrighted. They feared the Duke of Wellington would set out leaving a protest against their proceedings. A communication was to have been made by the four courts at Madrid, in case we had not partaken. To-day they say affairs were taking a better shape. . . . I learn now that there will be no protest, but that the Duke of Wellington deprecates solemnly what is doing as tending to fearful results. Our envoy at Madrid is to give no support, but is to stop mischief if he can. Yours etc., G. H. Rose. 142 CANNING AS FOREIGN MINISTER [CH. v. Sir /?. Gordon* to Bagot. Verona, {Private?) December 7, 1822. . . . The Spanish question has been the cause of much discussion. Gt. Britain has had to maintain her attitude free of all semblance of interference with the Spanish Govt. The advantages of non-intervention have been pretty generally admitted, but our allies have thought it incumbent upon them at least to declare their sentiments upon the Spanish Revolution and the existing state of Spain. The least ostensible form of doing this has been chosen, viz., that of respectively addressing a despatch to their Ministers at Madrid, which will be communicated to the Cortes. It is to be supposed the language of these despatches will produce explanations which will lead to the with- drawal of the allied Ministers from Madrid. It is difficult to suppose under these circumstances that a war between France and Spain can be avoided, and the difficulties which hence may be brought upon the other European Powers are incalculable. The Duke has done his best to avert these proceed- ings and chances, but without effect. . . . The Duke left this for England on the 30th Nov. I accompanied him as far as Milan — his health is perfectly good. . . . Lord Strangford returned ... to Constantinople. The Turkish question was dismissed in a short and satisfactory manner. Russia has contented herself by making the most just and moderate demands . . . and we flatter ourselves . . . there is little doubt a Russian Minister may be sent to Constantinople. . . . I should mention to you with regard to the pain you have about Strangford's treatment that he left this * Sir Robert Gordon, a brother of Lord Aberdeen, had taken Lord Stewart's — now (1822) Lord Londonderry's — place at the Congress temporarily, pending the arrival of Sir Henry Wellesley as Ambassador at Vienna. i832] VERONA 143 perfectly satisfied. Complete understanding had been established between him and the Russian Govt. . . . Nothing could be less gay than has been our sejour here. We have had neither fetes nor society to amuse us. Fortunately the Burghersh's have been here living with the Duke. . . . Lord London- derry in order to please his Lady has remained to the latest moment in office, and is actually assisting at the Italian Conferences. My Lady's dethronement ^WX take place at Venice, at which place the Emperors will separate. Yrs. etc., R. Gordon. One of the chief questions discussed at the Con- ference at Verona had been the nature of the attitude of France towards Spain, and her projects with regard to an invasion of that country, with the object of ensuring the safet}^ of Ferdinand VII., and enabling him to protect himself against the revolutionary party in his country. The Duke of Wellington visited Paris on his way to the Congress, and conferred with M. de Villele, the French Minister, on the question of French armed interference in Spain. The Duke had Lord Castlereagh's instructions for the Congress, written just before his death, to the effect that England would not join in the policy of the Holy Alliance, and on that fact appears to rest a controversy between the partisans of Castlereagh and Canning as to whether the credit of the policy which eventually defeated the schemes of the three great Continental Powers rightly belongs to the one or the other.* However that may be, the Duke appealed to Can- ning for instructions when at Paris, and was told that he was 'frankly and peremptorily to declare that to any such interference ' (as that of France in Spain), ' come what ma}^, his Majesty will not be a party.' Since the fall of Napoleon, Prince Metternich, the great Austrian Minister, had become the practical ruler of Continental Europe. He had met Lord * See the Creevey Papers, vol. ii., p. 52. 144 CANNING AS FOREIGN MINISTER [cH. v. Castlereagh at Basel at the end of 1814, and there, as he wrote, had ' laid the foundations of a good feeling . . . which the following years cemented and enlarged.' Before Verona he was hoping that the same Minister would represent England, and was much upset on hearing of his death. He wrote at the time : ' I awaited him here as my second self. ... I have just requested the presence of the Duke of Wellington, the only man who can in a measure replace him.' But when the Duke came it was not to support the plans of Metternich, but the views of Canning and the British Cabinet. Whether the action of the British representative at the Congress was determined on by the Foreign Minister before Canning took the helm, or whether it would possibly have been different had Castlereagh lived to be present, it seems clear that Metternich himself thought that the change at the British Foreign Office was not conducive to the successful carrying out of his views in the interest of the Holy Alliance.* At Verona the Duke found himself alone in his opposition to armed interference in Spain. He with- drew from the Congress after a parting interview with the Russian Emperor, at which he emphasized Can- ning's policy that Great Britain considered that nations had a right to set up what form of Govern- ment they pleased, and to manage their own affairs, so long as they allowed other nations to manage theirs. t The Duke then proceeded to Paris to make a last attempt to restrain the aggressive projects of France, Canning made through him a direct offer to France to mediate, which was declined. On Decem- ber 20 the Duke left Paris, and the diplomatic con- troversy was carried on for a short time between Canning and M. de Chateaubriand, but without success. Early in 1823 a French army of 100,000 men crossed the Bidassoa, and marched triumphantly to Madrid and set Ferdinand at liberty. The aggressive policy of the Holy Alliance and the invasion of Spain in * ' Life of Prince Metternich,' by Colonel Malleson (with quota- tions from the ' Autobiography of Prince Metternich '). t See Canning's views on this point expressed in a letter as early as 1792, vol. i., p. 36. i823] HENRY WELLESLEY 145 spite of British remonstrance encouraged Canning to hasten the recognition of the independence of the Spanish colonies in America, which were now in a state of revolt. The policy to be pursued if France occu- pied Spain, which had been put before him in 1809,* that it should be Spain only, without * the Indies,' had now become a practical consideration to the British Foreign Minister. Sir Henry Wellesley,t who had long experience of the state of Spanish affairs from having been Ambassador there since 1809, and who had just left the country to proceed to Vienna, wrote to Bagot his views on the situation a few days before the Duke quitted Paris after his final attempt to effect the mediation offered by Canning. Right Hon. Sir Henry fVcllcsicy, K.C.B., to Bagot. London, Dcccniber 15, 1822. My dear Charles, ... I am very happy to learn from you that my appointment to Vienna will be agreeable to that Court. As to myself, as I am again to go abroad, I prefer Vienna to any other Embassy. . . . You are quite right in thinking that I am heartily glad to be rid of Spain, for it is impossible to conceive a more trouble- some or unsatisfactory situation than it has been ever since the King's restoration. I shall never cease blessing my stars for having escaped without censure, and above all for having been successful in my negotiations for the abolition of the slave trade,:}: in * See the correspondence about Miranda in 1809, vol. i., p. 264. t Sir H. Welleslcy (1773 -1847) was the youngest of the Wellcsley brothers. He had been Secretary to the Treasury in 1808-09, when he went as Ambassador to Spain till 1822, and then to Vienna till 183 1 ; Ambassador to France, 1841-1846. He was created Lord Cowley in 1828. I In 1817 he had negotiated a treaty with Spain for the abolition of the slave-trade. He had left Spain in March, and on February 3 in the following year was appointed Ambassador at Vienna, where he remained for eight years. In Vienna his policy towards Austria was VOL. II. 10 146 CANNING AS FOREIGN MINISTER [CH. v. which, if I had failed, I suppose I never could have shown my face in England again. I am told that poor A'Court is already sick of his situation and would give the world to resume his old one at Naples. I believe that our Government has been, and still is, in great alarm on the subject of Spanish affairs. I do hope that the Powers will leave the Spaniards to them- selves. If the French send any troops into Spain be assured that there will be just such another war there as the last, and that sooner or later all Europe will be dragged into it. A very erroneous notion prevails upon the Con- tinent, and in this country likewise, that all Spanish Constitutionalists are violent Jacobins ; it is certain, however, that more than three-fourths of the country are anxious for a change, and would be satisfied with a moderate constitutional system. But nothing short of the restoration of absolute power will satisfy the King and his friends, and the Moderate party in the country are deterred from making any exertions for modifying the Constitution and for strengthening the King's hands, because they would thereby facilitate to him the means of accomplishing his views. The truth is that the whole difficulty is in the King himself. He was, in the first instance, frightened into accepting the Constitution when with common firmness he might have obtained much better terms. He then for the space of two years entered into every wild intrigue for subverting the Constitution he had sworn to, com- mitting himself in such a manner that he lost even the support of the Moderate part3^ His only chance of succeeding in his projects was on the 7th of July last, when he might certainly have got out of Madrid and have put himself at the head of the Royalists, and too conciliatory to please Canning, and Wellesley complained to the Duke of Wellington that Canning never recognized his services (' Dictionary of National Biography '). i822] SPANISH AFFAIRS 147 upon that occasion he thought himself so certain of success that he declared that nothing would satisfy him but the restoration of absolute power, but his want of firmness upon that occasion ruined the whole project ; all his friends were sacrificed, and I believe that he is now held in as great contempt by the serviles as by the other party. With such a character to deal with, conceive what the embarrassment must be to any army advancing into the Country, for in such a case the Spaniards would of course secure the King's person, and in all probability his life would be threatened as a means of compelling the hostile troops to retire. In short, there is no end to the horrors that may and probably will happen should the French or any other Foreign troops enter Spain. After all, if ever there was a system of Government which justified a revolution it was that of Ferdinand from the period of his entering Madrid in 1814 to that of the 19th March, 1820, when the revolution took place ; my firm belief is that the Forces of all Europe united would not succeed in establishing such a form of Government as would satisfy the great Continental Powers. I believe that the only mode by which their end could be obtained and re-established in Spain would be by the Constitutionalists succeeding in putting down the rebellion now raging upon the frontiers . . . and then proceeding to modify their system, and this I am sure is the object of more than three-fourths of the country. ... I only hope you will not set me down as a Jacobin for my opinions. . . . We lately passed a very pleasant week at Abingdon, where we saw your two girls, whom we thought de- lightful. The eldest, though not so handsome as her mother, put me so much in mind of her that I began to look about me, and at last made a bargain with her 10 — 2 148 CANNING AS FOREIGN MINISTER [CH. v. that she should not torment me in the way Mary did at her age. . . . Adieu, my dear Charles, My kind love to Mary, and believe me most affectiy yrs., H. Wellesley. P.S. — We shall not set out for Vienna before the end of March. . . . As yet there is no intelligence of Lord Londonderry having presented his letters of recall. . . . Planta to Bagot. December 29, 1822. . . . The news that we have here is the appointment of Lord Francis Conyngham* to be my Colleague, and that of my late Colleague, Clanwilliam, to be Envoy and Minister at Berlin, on Rose's being most suddenly brought to bed of an entirely unexpected resignation. Canning was very anxious to do this for Clanwilliam,! and is proportionally glad in having done it. As to * Canning has been blamed for appointing Lord Francis Conyngham to be his Under-Secretary in order to curry favour with the King. This letter does not suggest that Lord Francis was not entirely fitted for the position apart from social considerations. He was the son of the first Lord Conyngham, whom he succeeded in 1832, and was now twenty-five (see Temperley's ' Life of Canning,' p. 186). + When Castlercagh died, Lord Clanwilliam, Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs, resigned. Mr. Temperley says that, from loyalty to his dead chief, Lord Clanwilliam thought it necessary to hate Canning, and gives this instance of Canning's generosity in consult- ing Planta as to what post he could give the former, and subsequently bursting into tears while pressing difterent posts on Clanwilliam ' as the only person to whom he could for Castlereagh's sake be kind ' (see Temperley's ' Canning,' p. 257). Planta remained as an Under- Secretary at the Foreign Office after Castlereagh's death. Lord Clanwilliam was a correspondent of Bagot's, and his letters are generally concise, often amusing, and oftencr illegible. They show no signs of dislike of Canning. In one he relates that on the day when all London was talking of the famous speech that Canning made on Lord Nugent, a very fat M.P., 'who was about to carry the succour of his person to the struggling patriots in Spain,' a great lady met a friend of hers walking with Canning, and asked her friend to come to her party ; then, turning to Carming, said : ' And won't you come too, Mr. ?' forgetting, or pretending to forget, liis name. ' Nugent, perhaps,' replied Canning, to assist her memory. i832] FRANCIS CONYNGHAM 149 Frank Conyngham he is a very old friend of mine, and I love him dearly. He was with me at Aix la Chapelle and worked in my own room there. ... I must only make him work hard and stick to the desk, and Canning will help me in tliat. This Rt. Hon. Gentleman is now rather better than he was ; he was very much fagged a week or ten days ago, and knocked up, a little before me, but now he is re-established. Verona and Spain have worked us all as hard as I ever remember. He will write to you himself on these subjects. As for me, you will say I have done handsomely enough when I tell 3^ou that it is now near twelve at night, and that I start at five to- morrow morning for Blickling.* You will envy me the pheasants when you read this. . . . Joseph Planta. When Canning accepted the seals of the Foreign Office and the leadership of the House of Commons, the situation both in Europe and the near East had become most critical. The policy of repression and reaction which had succeeded to the revolutionary spirit in Europe and the fall of Napoleon was in full sway, and Metternich was practically at the head of it. The monarchs of the Holy Alliance, alarmed at the symptoms of revolution, were prepared to act in unison to crush it wherever it might appear. France, under the guidance of Villele, was specially prepared to deal with Spanish affairs. The Alliance, whose history has already been briefly alluded to, had formu- lated their policy in the protocol, issued at Troppau, which laid down that an}^ States that had undergone a change of government through revolution, the result of which might threaten other States, should, if neces- sary by force of arms, be brought back into the great European alliance — or, in other words, have their revolutionary movement or government suppressed, and legitimacy restored. To this Lord Castlereagh had strong!}^ objected. * Then Lord Sufiiuld's, in Norfolk, one of Anne Boleyn's many reputed birth-places. I50 CANNING AS FOREIGN MINISTER [CH. v. When the Conference adjourned to Laibach, and decided that Austria should march on Naples and restore the legitimate King, Ferdinand, to authority in southern Ital}^, he again protested emphatically, and to him alone is undoubtedly due the credit of first dis- claiming on behalf of England the principles on which the Alliance was acting, and declaring that they were in direct repugnance to the fundamental laws of the United Kingdom. Canning, on taking office, continued to act on that principle, and declared in this year that England had never committed herself to the schemes of interference with the internal affairs of any State, and strongly protested against any such policy as that agreed upon by the allied monarchs. At Laibach the Congress heard that the Greeks had revolted against Turkish rule, and the question of the near East was one of the first that confronted the new Foreign Minister. In the previous autumn, when the Congress was about to meet at Verona, the Cabinet had drawn up instructions for the line Lord Castlereagh should pursue in the interests of Great Britain, but his death occurred, and the Duke of Wellington took his place. Had he lived to attend the Congress, it is impos- sible to say whether he would have adhered to the policy of non-intervention as firmly as did the Duke of Wellington under Canning's instructions. Metternich, who was the ruling spirit in the Alliance, evidently thought otherwise.* From this time the foreign policy of Great Britain was a new departure, though, so far as Verona went, following on the lines initiated by Castlereagh. In Canning's own words, it consisted chiefly of a substitution of the interests primarily of England as against those of Europe. Canning refused to allow England to be associated with a sort of general com- mittee f on European affairs, and determined that she * ' Memoirs of Prince Metternich,' vol. iii., quoted in ' Life of Metternich,' by Col. Malleson (1888), p. 159. t Called the Committee of the European Pentarchy. Recent historical criticism draws a clear line of distinction between the 'Holy Alliance' and this so-called committee (c/. Dr. A. W. Ward's ' Lecture on the History of the Nineteenth Century,' 1902, Cambridge University Press). i822] FAREWELL TO LIVERPOOL 151 should act only when her honour or interests were directly affected. With the principles of the Holy Alliance and with European congresses he was deter- mined to have nothing whatever to do. His views on the latter will be read in subsequent letters. 'No more congresses, thank God !' he had exclaimed shortly before taking office.* Canning, during his farewell visit to Liverpool, before he had accepted the Foreign Office and leader- ship of the House of Commons, had explained his foreign policy in an eloquent speech delivered at the end of August. He pointed out that * a struggle is now going on — in some countries open, in some a tacit struggle — between the principles of monarchy and democracy. God be praised ! in that struggle we have not an}'- part to take ... it is not . . . the duty of this country to side either with the assailants when they aim at too much, nor with those who stand on the defensive when they will grant nothing. Should we be led by any false impulse ... to participate in the struggle itself, we commit, and therefore impair, our authority ; we abandon the position in which we might hereafter do most good, and may bring the danger of a foreign struggle home to our own hearths and to our own institutions.' Later on in the year Canning wrote a long letter to Sir Henry Wellesley at Vienna, giving his views on the position of England with regard to the Holy Alliance in unmistakable and clear language, no doubt somewhat for the enlightenment of Metternich, 'whose pretensions,' he writes, ' are unreasonable, and must be founded on some strange misconception of our obligations, our interests, and our feelings.'! In the letterl that follows he gives a summary of the result of his policy at Verona, and his attitude towards Spain herself, and Spain and her colonies, since he had become Foreign Minister. * Lane- Poole's ' Life of Stratford Canning,' vol. i., p. 343. t Canning to Sir H. Wellesley, September 16, 1823 (Stapleton, P- 374)- I The greater part of this letter is quoted by Mr. Stapleton (p. 369), where the letter begins with the words, ' I am afraid your Excellency will owe me a grudge,' etc., which is a misreading for 'your Emperor,' etc. In the reference to 'Musre' (Cateatonenses) of twenty-seven years ago, the word is misread as ' Music ' by Mr. Stapleton. 152 CANNING AS FOREIGN MINISTER [CH. v. Canning to Bagot. Foreign Office, {Private and confidential.) January 3, 1823. My dear Charles, I send you so short a despatch by this messenger that it is hardly necessary to add anything, de re pnb- lica. Upon all that is not of that nature 1 know you hear from Charles,* by this occasion and from Bin- ning, and though I do not know what they write, I dare say they leave nothing that is interesting to you untold, I am well, though worked to death (but as long as my work prospers I shall not die of it). I am afraid your Emperor will owe me a grudge for the issue of Verona, which has split the one and in- divisible Alliance into three parts, as distinct as the Constitutions of England, France, and Muscovy. First there are the three absolute Crowns, who send three angry despatches to their Ministers at Madrid, with orders to come away if they do not receive submissive answers in fifteen days. Next there is France, who sends a whining despatch to her Minister, with no orders at all as to coming away. Thirdly there is wc^ who are in a course of amicable and furious correspon- dence with Spain — amicable as far as relates to Europe, in which quarter of the globe we defend her against invasion ; furious in relation to America, where we have a squadron now employed in seeking forcible redress for grievances. To keep these two strains simultaneously operating upon the views and feelings of the Spaniards; to hold a shield before them with one hand, and punish them with the other, has been and is still a matter of no small delicacy and difficulty. But I hope we may manage it. One sympton of our success I had the satisfaction of receiving yesterday, * Charles Ellis. 1823] 'EVERY NATION FOR ITSELF* 153 in the shape of a letter from the Spanish Government to their Governor of Porto Cabillo (a military post on the Spanish Main), directing him to raise a blockade, which he had presumed to institute (without reason- able cause, and without adequate force to justify and maintain it), and which we had given notice that we would break without scruple. This letter is sent to us in duplicate to be delivered by our Commander in the West Indies. Promises are at the same time held out of a complete settlement of all our grievances, and in consideration of them we send orders to suspend the execution of our hostile instructions. France in the meantime, tho' indebted to us and professing to feel herself so for our good offices with Spain for the preservation of peace, is (like Polly in the Musas*) ' as jealous as a cat ' of our doings and sup- posed intentions in the West Indies. With all my heart. Villele is a minister of thirty years ago ; no revolutionary scoundrel, but constitutionally hating England, as Choiseul and Vergennes used to hate us, and so things are getting back to a wholesome state again. Every nation for itself, and God for us all. Only bid your Emperor be quiet, for the time for Areopagus, and the like of that, is gone by. Lo ! I have been writing on publick matters after all. Not a word more such shall there be on the next sheet. It is not a violation of this resolution to tell you that Rose has resigned Berlin, and that I have appointed Lord Clanwilliam to succeed him, because you will at once see in that appointment the operation of private motives.! I know him not — have not been ten times in his company — but he was my Predecessor's adopted child. He lost the Under-Secretaryship b^^ my succes- * Reference to ' Musae Cateatonenses.' t On Lord Clanwilliam's appointment, sec Creevey, ii. 60. Also note, p. 148. 154 CANNING AS FOREIGN MINISTER [CH. v. sion. Lord Londonderry intended Berlin for him, as I was assured by Grenville, and by the D. of W. (which assurance was confirmed to me by the K.), and I declared on the day of my acceptance, my determina- tion to do for Ld C. whatever L^ L. would have done for him. Luckily Rose has enabled me to fulfil my declaration much sooner than I expected. That Henry Wellesley succeeds the present L^^ Ly* at Vienna, you may probably know already. There could be no hesitation on my part as to that choice, and right glad I was to have the opportunity of making it. For if Ld Ly had stuck on, he would have puzzled me. To keep him on at Vienna would have been a scandalous dereliction of publick duty ; but yet for me to recall him — you see what that would have been. These are the only resignations that I hear of in the Line, and without resignations (not meaning thereby to suggest yours) I know not how I am to provide an opening for anyone — as the pension list is full to the very maximum allowed by Pari' and beyond it. Henry Wellesley's appointment vacates one pension ; just enough to buy off an Envoy and Min^ (not an Ambassador), and with that I hope somehow or other to make a move that shall bring Switzerland into my power, and enable me to put that mission upon a footing that will spare us the renewal of a question upon it in the H. of C. I must endeavour when I can to do the same by Frankfort, which is really indefensible as it at present stands. Apropos of the H. of Coms., we are working to some changes there (Liv^ and I) which will alter the face of the Treasury Bench — very much for the better. What think you of Bragge and Van retiring? Hush ! not a word to any human being. For it is a great * Lord Stewart, who had succeeded his half-brother as Lord Londonderr}', resigned, for reasons given in his letter to Bagot which follows. 1823] ALTERING THE TREASURY BENCH 155 secret yet — known only to L. and me and Sid^^ (the negotiator of the whole) and the Twins* (as Lambton called them), and yesterday only to the K. — and who to succeed Van? 'H.'f you will say. No— not H. That point could never have been carried. V. would have stuck till doomsday rather. And besides it was of the utmost importance that my cloven foot should not appear in the scheme. No. Robinson is to succeed Van| and H. R. And to crown all, Van is to be crowned with a coronet ! Laugh if you will, but it is a most serious relief to me. I promise you I think this is pretty near all that I have to say to you — except a commission from Borino§ (who, by the way, is to move the Address in the H. of Lds.), which is as follows.! Mr. Villiers' friends are very anxious for his return to England on leave of absence. Lord Clarendon particularly. There is no hurry. If he is here by Easter it will be time enough. Send him, therefore, when it suits you with your first despatches, and keep the messenger in store. All our remembrances to D' B., and therewith believe me as ever, my dear Charles, Yours sincerely and affectionately, G. C. Canning to Bagot. Foreign Office, February 20, 1823. My dear Charles, I have two private letters from you to acknow- ledge, but only one of them requires an answer, that * Bragge Bathurst and Vansittart. t Huskisson, who succeeded Robinson at the Board of Trade. % Nicholas Vansittart, Chancellor of the Exchequer. § Lord Morley. II For these changes to suit Canning's admission into the Govern- ment, see Walpole's ' History,' vol. ii., p. 57 : ' The party in the Cabinet most opposed to Canning was the triumvirate composed of Lord Sidmouth, Bathurst and Vansittart ' {ibid.), but Walpole's view- docs not seem quite to tally with Sidmouth being the ' negotiator of the whole.' 156 CANNING AS FOREIGN MINISTER [cH. v. respecting G. Vis.* Borino applied to me for leave of absence to pass some time with Lord Clarendon ; and I have just received from Borino a letter inclosing one from Ld C. thanking me for compliance So I suppose it is alright. There is no promotion for anyone. The Duke is not ill, but very deaf Not hot at the Thuilleries If Yes, but they are ; and the fire is souffle from the North. God send it be not one which will consume themselves. I dread the war much more for France than for Spain. | Ever affectionately yours, G. C. Planta to Bagot. Foreign Office, February 26, 1823. . . . We are working, working, working as hard as, or a little harder, than we possibly can. . . . We still have hopes, tho' they are not very strong ones, of preventing a war between France and Spain.§ * George Villiers, afterwards fourth Earl of Clarendon. Then an Attache at St. Petersburg ; made Commissioner of Customs in the following November. Lord Morley's nephew. t See WelHngton's ' Civil Despatches,' vol. ii., p. 26 ci scq. The war imminent between France and Spain, encouraged by Russia. The French invaded Spain on April 7 following. J Canning wrote at the end of 1822 : ' There can be no issue of a war between France and Spain that would not be disastrous ... a beaten or baffled French army, flowing back upon France, would infaUibly set France in revolution, a new "Iliad of woes" for Europe.' § Princess Lieven wrote from London to her brother, Alexander Benckendorf , a few weeks later : ' The English public is beginning to display a little common sense . . . they will not spend a shilling on those interesting Spaniards, the object of their good wishes. Public sympathy certainly points in that direction, but the utmost a Jacobin Minister could ofier was a promise of neutrality. Don't tell Bagot my opinion of Mr. Canning; they are intimate friends' ('Letters of Princess Lieven,' p. 64). It was natural tliat the British public, remembering the Peninsular War, where we had fought the French in alliance with the Spanish not so long ago, should sympathize with Spain, and that Princess Lievcn's view of a Minister not in sympathy with the autocratic policy of the allied European monarchies should be that he was a Jacobin. 1823] INCREASING POPULARITY 157 France certainly does not wish to go to war (she may say or do what she will), and if Spain would only be sufficiently frightened, we should have some chance. The session in Parliament has begun very well, and Mr. Canning has done extremely well in all that has yet occurred. Nothing, in short, can be better, and his popularity is increasing every day. We also have a great additional prop in Robinson, whose speech on opening the Budget has met with universal approba- tion. It has been observed upon it that since the days of Mr. Pitt there has not been so able and fair an exposition of the Finances of the Country. With Peel on one side and Robinson on the other, Canning will have the advantage of efficient support, and will no doubt fight a most excellent battle. . . . Planta encloses in this letter one from Sir John Barrow at the Admiralty, who, he says, is delighted with information obtained from Admiral Krusenstern and sent home by Bagot, presumably about the Arctic regions. Sir John writes that 'it corroborates most completely my theory, and gives the greatest hopes of Parry's success.'* Bagot to Biiuiing. St. Petersburg, February 26, 1823. My dear Binny, ... In my letters a small voice whispered that among the other changes made and making Wallace! retires, and you, Tom Hamilton, succeed him. This intelligence has so pleased the undersigned that, * Captain Parry, the Arctic explorer, afterwards Sir E. Parry, who got ;^5,ooo, offered by Government, for reaching a certain latitude north. He made three expeditions to discover the North- West Passage, the last being in the following year, and a voyage to the North Pole in 1827. t Thomas Wallace, who had been at Christ Church witli Canning ; then Vice-President of the Board of Trade. He was made Master of the Mint ; subsequently created Lord Wallace. 158 CANNING AS FOREIGN MINISTER [CH. v. though I conclude you owe me 31,460 letters, I waive all punctilio upon that score, and draw quill to desire that you will instantly let me know if such is the fact — if it is, whether you yourself rejoice in it — how much coriander seed they give you — and, in short, all about it. Now do not plead committees, and beg House of Commons dinners and the like, but answer me like a man, offhand and to the point, for I want very much to see you again endesked. I am told, too, that there is a question of bringing in somehow and somewhere Frankland Lewis.* Tell me if this be true also. The King's speech f was received here on Friday last by a courier of Lieven's. You may conceive with what interest I read both it and the debate upon it. I never remember so unanimous an expression of ap- probation of the course pursued by the Ministry as there appears to have been on this occasion — for Ld. Stanhope and Ld. Ellenborough are a couple of fools who count for nothing. Lord Liverpool's speech is admirable and most important. Brougham's attack upon the E. of R. is cruel, unjust and ungentlemanlike, but his speech very clever. Am I right ? The Morning Chronicle swears that Charles Stuart + is to be recalled from Paris, and for once in my life I believe the said Chronicle — for if there is war between France and Spain, of which, alas, there seems to be too little doubt, C. must desire to have a confidential man of his own there, and I therefore take for granted that Granville will be sent. I heard last week of old * He got a subordinate office, and retired in 1828. In 1830 he was appointed Treasurer of the Navy. t The King's Speech, at the opening of the Session in 1823, declared * His Majesty declined to be a party to any proceedings at Verona . . . which could be deemed an interference with the internal con- cerns of Spain on the part of foreign Powers.' Great Britain would use her best offices in trying to settle the causes of dispute, and endeavour to aixest war. X Sir Charles Stuart, G.C.B., Ambassador at Paris, 1815-1824, when he was recalled, and succeeded by Lord Granville ; created Lord Stuart. 1823] CANNING MARCHING NOBLY 159 Angerstein* being dead, leaving ^7,000,000 behind him. Would he had left me his pictures ! They write me that young Warrender marries a daughter of Ld. Lauderdale's, and that Sir Geo. is being very friendly to his brother. ... I hear C. says that Vanf is to be Ld. Cockermouth. I will not begin another sheet, so avast. I look impatiently for your answer to my last. This goes by post. Yrs. mightily, C. B. Sir Charles Bagot writes again to Lord Binning from St, Petersburg in March, 1823, being then desirous of succeeding Lord Clancarty at The Hague : I can do no harm in lodging my application in Canning's hands. . . . You ought not to complain of the secrecy I imposed upon you. I gave you a good reason for it. You know Canning's hatred of anything that looks an intrigue in managing a favour. * It is the object of his implacable disgust. . , .' How can France be such an idiot, or my Emperor so blind as to provoke this war? Depend on't it is a very formidable business. Canning is marching nobly. Every eye in Europe is upon him. What an extinguisher for O'Meara in the Quarterly RcvicwX but the worst of it is that his book will be read where Quarterly is not read, for I believe that it has been translated into divers tongues. I hope that Huskisson is pleased to be in for Liver- pool, and Canning pleased to be out. * Mr. John Julius Angerstein. The Government bought his pictares for ^£70,000, and formed the nucleus of the future National Gallery. t Nicholas Vansittart, Chancellor of the Exchequer, i8i2-i823,was created Viscount Bexley in this year. \ Croker's article on O'Meara's book about Napoleon at St. Helena appeared in the QuaitctJy Review for February, 1823. See also Creevey Papers, vol. ii., p. 65. l6o CANNING AS FOREIGN MINISTER [cH. v. Kt. Hon. Stratford Canning to Bagot. Washington, (Private.) March 30, 1823. My dear Bagot, . . . My conscience labours to persuade me that it was in order to answer your enquiry about the Slave Convention in the most complete and satisfactory manner that I postponed writing to you till after the Session of Congress; and if I have allowed the greater part of a month to pass away since the close of the Session without executing my intention, you must help me to attribute this additional delay to such causes as are consistent with the unfeigned regard and respect which I entertain for your Excellency. The general tone of the last Session was poco- cnrante. The tariff — a question endeared by frequent discussion — and some petty points connected with the candidates for the next Presidency were the only subjects debated with any degree of warmth. The Slave Convention was ratified without debate, and I enclose, agreeably to your request, the only paper relating to it which has been printed by order of Congress — viz., the treaty, with its annexed notes and my arrangement with Adams for paying the Com- missioners. . . . The House of Representatives, by the way, found leisure for discussing at considerable length the question of occupying the coast and territory adjacent to the Columbia River. The Bill, though ultimately set aside, made progress, chiefly through the support which was given to it by members con- nected with the interests of commerce and the Pacific whale-fishing; nor should I be surprised if it were to meet with better success another year. Colonel Benton, an old antagonist of Jackson,* from Missouri, * Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), Major-Gencral, distinmiislied him- self in tlic American War by the defence of New Orleans (1815); President of the United States in 1828. 1823J AMERICAN BOUNDARIES 161 made an abortive attempt to set the question on its legs in the Senate, and 1 send you a copy of his speech. . . . You will find that we both figure in it.* * Stratford Canning encloses an American newspaper report of the debate in the Senate on February 17, 1823, on the subject of the possession of the Columbia River. Mr. Benton there moved a resolu- tion, and gave a history of the question in his speech. He stated that in 18 17 the United States Government dispatched the sloop-of- vvar Ontario to occupy the Columbia River without opposition, and that later Bagot, Minister at Washington, called on the Secretary of State, Adams, and remonstrated, as considering the establish- ment of an American settlement on the Columbia to be opposed to British interests. The Onfcirio was then recalled (see note, p. 126). The mouth of the Columbia River seems to have been considered to be British at the time, and Mr. Benton pointed out that it might be a possible serious menace to American trade and shipping in the Pacific as a great naval station in the future. The subject then dropped, but, as Stratford Canning relates, it was taken up by the House of Representatives in this year. In 1844 Sir Charles Pakenham urged the retention of the river for Great Britain, and, to facilitate a settlement, Captain Gordon, a brother of Lord Aberdeen's, was sent to the Pacific in command of H.M.S. America to get information and report. He met Mr. Finlayson, representing the Hudson's Bay Company, on the spot. Finlayson endeavoured to show Gordon that it was a fine country, but Gordon repHed that he ' would not give one of the barren hills of Scotland for all he saw- around him.' He depreciated the country from the first, and was supported in his view by two Engineer oi^cers, who were sent over the Rocky IMountains to'examine the district. He was said to have pronounced the river Columbia to be valueless, as the salmon would not take a fly — no doubt a proper opinion from a good Scottish sportsman; but to this day the tradition is beUeved in British Columbia that the river, and the territory as well, were lost to Great Britain on account of the perversity of the salmon. Canning, it will be seen from his letter on p. 266, expressed his determination with regard to another part of the North-West Coast — that Russia should not have the dominion of Behring's Strait, because he understood that there was ' good bobbing for whales ' in those seas. Lord Aberdeen, Foreign Secretary when the question of the Columbia River had to be settled between "England and America, was supposed to be influenced in abandoning British claims because his brother reported that there was bad ' bobbing for salmon ' in that river. It is a fact that in the Columbia and Eraser Rivers, though salmon run up in enormous quantities, they have never been induced to take a fly (see Kingsford's ' History of Canada,' vol. ix., p. 159). Russia made preposterous claims to her rights in the Pacific, and there is much correspondence with regard to Russian claims on the North- West Coast of America among these papers ; but a letter from Bagot to Canning points to the former's belief that there would be no great difficulty in dealing with them, as they were chiefly based on the representations of Russian commercial companies, and were not duly-considered State claims. VOL. IL ■ II l62 CANNING AS FOREIGN MINISTER [CH. v. An Act has been passed to regulate Trade with the Colonies which were opened to American vessels by the Act of Parliament dated last June. Even this subject walked over the course almost without notice, except from Governor Barbour, who took occasion to utter a speech of self-congratulation. The Americans are not contented with our Act, and have put every possible condition into theirs, for the purpose, I con- clude, of bringing us to a negotiation more consistent with their views. The questions involved in these Acts have made a handsome addition to my corre- spondence with no good-will on my part, as I per- ceived from the first that Adams* was impracticable. The fifth article of the Treaty of Ghentf has not yet been taken up. I mean since it was laid down by the Commissioners. The President! is willing to settle the difficulty, if possible, by negotiation ; and I should hope that a reasonable arrangement might be effected without the necessity of a fresh arbitration, which I quite agree with 3'ou in deprecating, except as a dernier rcssort^ and then rather anywhere almost than at Petersburgh. Of the other articles, one is settled, and the other progressing, to all appearance, in a satisfactory manner. . . . Count de Menon, the French cJiargey, as Members of Congress call him, has been passing the winter in your ancient habitation, with a strange medley of attaches^ collected from several of the Consulates, General Harper, and the Bishop of N. Orleans. . . . The chevalier Anduaga, whose honesty you have placed in so distinguished a light, is on the point of returning to Europe, and if he be the same Anduaga, whom you suppose, I admire his matchless impudence in going by the way of England. He has been so little at Washington that * John Quiiicy Adams, Secretary of State. f The treaty between Great Britain and America after the war, signed December 24, 18 14. I James Monroe, President of the United States, 1817-1825. 1823] THE UNITED STATES 163 I have had few opportunities of seeing him. He has not once come up to take leave of the Government. The state of things between this country and Spain has long been such, I conceive, as to make his situa- tion far from comfortable. While he crosses the ocean in one direction, Mr. Forsyth performs the same voyage in a contrary sense. ... A Minister from Mexico we have had at Washington during the whole of the winter. The imperial character of his Government and his total ignorance of English have prevented his forming any intimate relations in society. He has behaved quietly, and looks exceedingly like Souza, the old Portuguese Ambassador in England, except that he has not the advantage of green goggles. The attention of the Yankee public is at present divided between three principal subjects — the next President — War in Europe — and Cuba, including Pirates, Privateers, and Commodore Porter.* The prospect of a good, lasting extensive conflict in Europe is, of course, very flattering to Jonathan's com- mercial views. But I must do him the justice to say that his exultation at the fall of the exchange and the rise of flour does not prevent his bestowing a just share of abuse on the infatuation of his most Christian Majesty. We are dreadfully in arrears for news, having no intelligence from London beyond the end of January. Our present impression is that peace may still be preserved between France and Spain, with the assist- ance of good offices from England, but that the chances are greatly on the side of war. I rejoice to find that our mediation has been offered in an osten- sible shape. With respect to Cuba, an idea has gone abroad that * David Porter commanded the Essex during the war, and in 1813-14 swept British whalers from the Pacific. He was iinallv captured at Valparaiso. In 1826 he took command of the Mexican navy. II — 2 164 CANNING AS FOREIGN MINISTER [CH. v. Spain is to put us in possession of that island, and Clay* and his friends in the West conceive that such an arrangement might interfere with the comfortable navigation of the Gulf of Mexico. The newspapers have taken up the question, and it is gravely debated among them whether the President ought or ought not to interfere to prevent so formidable an increase of British power. Walsh, I see, has taken the pacific side; but the National Advocate has boldly published an address to the people of Cuba to strike at once for independence. Meantime the pirates and Spanish privateers persist in their audacious depredations. Porter, who has been sent to the West Indies with a squadron of small vessels, is of course to sweep the seas in triumph, and his instructions probably direct him to keep an eye on the proceedings of our fleet, which has lately received a considerable reinforcement. The subject of the Presidency is wrapped in obscurity, intrigue, and speculation. It promises to turn rather on private interests, than on public prin- ciples. The general opinion seems to be in favour of the election being brought into the House of Repre- sentatives, in which case the personal influence of Clay would not improbably carry the day. At present Adamst and Crawford are considered the most promi- nent candidates. Calhounj and Jackson mean to stand, but I conceive with little chance of success. But what * Henry Clay had been one of the Commissioners for America to negotiate the Treaty of Ghent. He was Speaker of Congress at the end of tliis vear ; Secretary of State in 1825 ; defeated for Presidency in 1S32 and 1844. His political career covered nearly hfty years. t John Quincy Adams was elected President in 1825. He was now Secretary of State, and was probably the originator of the Presidential message of December 2, containing the principle that Europe was not to interfere in America or to colonize, and the recognition of the United States as the leading Power on the Western Continent, a declaration that came to be \novvn as the Monroe Doctrine. X John C. Calhoun, Vice-President of the United States in 1825 ; strongly opposed Jackson in 1828. 1823] THE PRESIDENCY 165 care you whether a pedagogue from the south or pedagogue from the north is elected to live in the big house without a portico, and to ride about with holsters at his saddle for four or eight years ? Do what you will, you cannot care less about it than I do. I question whether any party is for the present seriously disposed to quarrel with us, and the mistrust of our intentions has so far abated as to render the tone of the press and the temper of the nation far better than they used to be, though still there is no want of room for further amendment. These nearer concernments have made us almost forget the question, but lately in everyone's mouth, of Greece and Constantinople. Thornton — the doctor of that name — presented a memorial to Congress in favour of the Greek cause, but his appeal, though pathetic, had a pecuniary bearing which, in spite of a full Treasury, kept it fast nailed to the table. What an opportunity for your Autocrat, if France goes to war ! Will he, can he have the magnanimity to resist so great a temptation? Is not the moment favourable for frightening the Turks out of their consent to a separate establishment for the Greeks, and would not such a measure, if anyhow practicable, be not only a glorious and most beneficial act in itself, but also the best attainable defence against the danger of Russian encroachment ? . . . I am looking out with much anxiety for the first debates in Parliament. The Whigs of all shades have probably concentrated their forces for the campaign, with agricultural distress, reform, and retrenchment on their banners, and a strong hope of finding the country gentlemen as refractory as low prices and rents unpaid ought ' in justice to themselves ' to make them. This is enough to compose altogether a formidable battery, but, with his eloquence and energy, the advantage of a popular foreign policy, and the conviction which the landed l66 CANNING AS FOREIGN MINISTER [CH. v. interest must feel at least, that nothing is to be got by embarrassing the Government, I trust that the new leader has by this time surmounted the principal difficulties of his situation. . . . My consolation is that I have endeavoured to do my duty, with what success it is for others to pronounce; and, come what will, the term of this nauseous portion of my life cannot now be very remote, notwithstanding the change which has taken place at the Foreign Office. Addington* is meanwhile an important addition to my society. He enjoys the great advantage of having come out with a constitution already broken. . . . Very sincerely and devotedly yours, S. C. P.S. — I have got a note from Adams about your slaves — in which he says that the claims hitherto sent in amount to ;/^6oo,ooo, all kinds of private property included — the number of slaves, 3,000. To say the truth, this is a subject on which I can never bestow a thought without reaction of spirit, t In April, 1823, during a debate in the House of Commons on Catholic Emancipation, Canning being then the leader, there occurred what in these days would have been described as a ' scene.' It can be best described in Mr. Creevey's words J : 'Brougham was laying about him upon Canning's truckling to Eldon for his late admission into the Cabinet, when the latter sprung up in the greatest fury, saying, " That is false !" Upon this we had the devil to pay for near an hour.' The night previously Canning used strong words in the House against Lord Folkestone, of whom * H. N. Addison, an Attach^ (see p. 116, n.). t In June of this year a project for a convention re the slave-trade was sent to Mr. Rush by Mr. Adams, and in January, 1824, Stratford Canning, Rush, and Huskisson were appointed to deal with the question in London. Bagot on first going to America had to negotiate with the U.S. regarding the slaves captured by British in the war and considered as American private property. J Creevey Papers, vol. ii., p. 68. 1823] A 'SCENE' IN THE HOUSE 167 he had said that * he spoke with all the contortions of the Sibyl without her inspiration.' IV. H. Lyttelton to Bagot. April 24, 1823. . . . The whole town has been talking of 3'our friend C. losing his temper the other day, and how impossible it is he should continue to lead. There were reports too of differences having arisen between him and his colleagues towards the end of the late negotiations. Certain it is that the Administration makes a very awkward figure, and presents anything but a united front to the public eye. Wynn too and Grant and Peel at him in the House. Rt. Honble. Friends truly ! . . . As to the Spanish Campaign, I hear that the D. of Wellington says — If the French send a large army there, it will be starved, if a small one it will be beat. . . . The words that Brougham had used which had so roused Canning's temper were that the latter's accept- ance of office was 'the most incredible specimen of monstrous truckling for the purpose of obtaining office that the whole history of political tergiversation could furnish.' Canning jumped up and exclaimed, 'That is false !' The Speaker intervened, Canning stood to his guns, and there was a proposal that both he and Brougham should be committed to the custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms. A way out of the difficulty, as is generally provided by the wisdom of Parliament, was eventually found. The offensive words, it was agreed, had been merely used in a ' Parliamentary,' or what Dickens, who soon after was a press reporter in the House of Commons, has described as a ' Pick- wickian sense,' and peace was restored.* Soon after this the Catholic question was raised in the House by Plunket, but the motion was a failure. There were now not 150 Members in favour of the * Walpole's ' History,' vol. ii., p. 228. l68 CANNING AS FOREIGN MINISTER [CH. v. Catholics. In 1822 Canning had endeavoured to obtain for Roman Catholic peers permission to sit and vote in the House of Lords. The next year Lord Nugent, after- wards the victim of one of Canning's most celebrated satirical speeches,* proposed to admit Catholics in Great Britain to the franchise. The Bill passed the Commons, but was defeated in the Lords, though Lord Liverpool and Lord Harrowby spoke in favour of it. Bagot to Binning. St. Petersburg, May 15, 1823. ... I have got into my head that things are not smooth in the Cabinet. The language of the Courier {vide that of April 24) is very extraordinary, and cer- tainly levelled at Canning. Bowels of Buckingham, t too, has permitted himself language, in evident reference to Canning's speech on the 14th, which, with Wynn in the Administration, is inconceivable. Pray enlighten me upon the whole of this subject. I do trust in God that there are no ill-humours afloat, but it looks uncomfortable. ... I heard of Grant's J ap- pointment soon after I wrote to you. Yes, 1812 — 1812 — hinc lachrymce. I interpreted Canning's dementi to Brougham exactly as you seem to do— that he was in a d d passion is, I suppose, as true as it is natural ; but I felt sure that his formal mode of doinsf the thins: meant that he was determined to crush with one blow and for ever a concerted plan of personal attack which no man could or ought to bear, and I would lay my life that no more such language will be held to him. * Canning convulsed the House of Commons by a speech on Lord Nugent, a very fat man, who had left by the ' heavy Falmouth coach ' to ' carry the succour of his person to the struggling patriots in Spain.' Lord Nugent's action was a breach of neutrality,"but the Leader of the House put forward so comical a view of it that the serious aspect was forgotten (Temperley, p. 252). t The Duke of Buckingham, head of ' the Grenvilles,' sometimes even less elegantly nicknamed. X Right Hon. C. Grant, President of the Board of Control. 1823] A SENSATIONAL REMARK 169 Canning's wish in his speech on laying the papers on the 14th has made a devil of a sensation upon the Continent,* but I think that it has been rather mis- understood — I mean his wish that Spain might come triumphantly out of the struggle. Perhaps he had better not have said it, but too much has been made of it. Lyttelton to Bagot. Wimbledon Park, June 9, 1823. As to the sparring that had been so near a fight between Canning and Brougham on which you discant in your last — I only meant to say that C. showed want of temper in the manner in which he checked B. Very likely it was proper to check him, probably however a month later; and I am quite sure if it had been the late Lord L, [Liverpool] he would have grown cooler and cooler, as he always did, when anything directly personal to himself was touched upon, and have heard the sentence out with his eyes and attention very alarmingly fixed upon the speaker, the likeliest thing in the world to restraint an insult, or make him who had half uttered, qualify and retract it immediately, C.'s boisterous interruption of B. was quite in a different and, as I think, a much worse style, and I doubt whether he will have gained his end by it. I hear old T. [Tierney] said at the time ' how everybody knows how to hit him in the raw.' In a postcript he adds : * A joke of Canning's. Wilmot,t you know, has taken the name of Horton, and the other day Lord Dudley * The circumstances connected with this speech are related further on. t Mr. Wilmot, M.P., afterwards Right Hon. Sir Robert Wilmot Horton. It was of his wife that B3-ron wrote the lines beginning, ' She walks in beauty like the night of cloudless climes and starry skies.' She was a Miss Horton, heiress of Catton in Derbyshire. I70 CANNING AS FOREIGN MINISTER [CH. v. and he met at Canning's, and C, after styling Ward, * Dudley and Ward,' for the first time, turned to Wilmot and said, Wilmot and Horton.' Lyttelton, in another letter about the same time, repeats a better joke than this, when he describes how Lord Tankerville, a large Northumberland landowner, who was small in stature though great in his own estimation, had been giving himself airs at Cassiobury. S3^dney Smith said : ' He expects to be made Duke of Tom Thumberland.' In another letter of July 14 Lyttelton writes some more London gossip : You have long since heard of Lord Hertford's water party, and invitations sent out upon a card with a steam-boat engraved at the top of it, like proposals from the Packet, and how very dull it all was, and how they ran foul of a collier in coming home, the black invisible rascal being sulkily moored, while the steamer, hung round with lamps like a Pagoda, could not see ahead for the bother of his own light. But you may not have heard of the D. of Devon- shire's last breakfast, last Saturda}^, at Chiswick, the first quarter of which I beheld, and then was obliged to ride home at near five to dinner. The quarter which I saw was all upon the lawn, where the D. of Cumber- land, looking like a German Felon, was arm in arm with L^ Lauderdale, looking like a Scotch Pickpocket, and I never saw so many backs turned upon anyone, or two persons, in my life, or so universal a determination not to take one's hat off. Lord Hertford came grace- fully in, attired in ycllozv pantaloons, with the Garter (alas!) on that astonishing ground, and a star on his honourable breast. Not far from him was the D. of Argyle grown quite fat, and looking so debonair and gentlemanlike, that it made one long to transfer the Garter. You must have heard, apropos of the Garter, 1823] SOCIAL FUNCTIONS l/I how scurvily your countryman* . . . has been treated. . . . This is one of the cases that prove, not perhaps that the Chancellorf is Prime Minister, but who is not. However as long as the old Comb (you know who I mean) has no blue ribbon round it, I shall not quarrel too furiously with Lord L. . . . L^ Grenville, who is better ... is going the Tour of the Lakes, a remark- able instance of sensibility to natural beauty in an encyclopedia. . . . Very splendid silk waistcoats have lately been imported hither from Paris, two or three richly brocaded — and in one of these the D. of Devon, shone forth not long ago at D. House. It was green and gold chiefly, and Sir J. Shelley hallooed out to the D. from the other end of a long table : * Duke, you look like a mackerel just caught !' I hope you like this — which will be more, I believe, than the D. did, when the joke was at length conveyed to his sensorium. * Lord Talbot. f Lord Eldon. CHAPTER VI THE SPANISH COLONIES Canning's fear of the dangers to the peace of Europe that might ensue in certain circumstances from the invasion of Spain by France is expressed in his letter of February 20 * He had done his best to prevent the war, but now that it was unavoidable had expressed clearly and distinctly that Great Britain would remain neutral. At the same time, some words that he let fall in the House of Commons, to the effect that he hoped that the cause of Spain might triumph, resulted in some uneasiness among the allied monarchies, and brought forth a protest from the Russian Emperor, which, how- ever, drew no explanation or retractation from the British Minister. The Russian view of Canning's speech, and the interview of the Ambassador at St. Petersburg with the Emperor on the subject of British neutrality, were reported to Canning by Bagot. The Emperor gave the Ambassador an interview at a Court function on Easter Monday. Bagot's private journal records : * The Emperor enquired much after the King and his gout, and told me how much obliged to him he felt for the friendship and attention which is so constantly shown to Count Lieven. He then said to me in a low voice how much he was satisfied with all that he had recently received from England, referring to the despatch to Sir Charles Stuart, and our declaration of strict neutrality.' A few days later Bagot's journal records that Count Nesselrode ' asked to see him, and told him that he had heard from the Emperor at Tsarko Selo, telling him (Nesselrode) to inform Sir Charles that the Emperor was much pleased with the expression of * See note to this letter, p. 156. 172 1823] DIPLOMACY 173 England's neutrality, and about the interview at which he had told him so, at which he had not liked to qualify at the time that expression by any reference to the speech of Mr. Canning on laying the papers before Parliament,* but that he did wish Count Nesselrode to inform the Ambassador that he had deeply regretted the public declaration of Mr. Canning's wish " that the cause of Spain might triumph," which he thought might be productive of great mischief, was too great a sacrifice to public clamour, and was certainly not quite consistent with the unequivocal neutrality expressed in the rest of his speech.' The journal continues that Bagot told Nesselrode that he would certainly make it his duty to report to Mr. Canning the impression which his speech had made in Russia. But — and then he explains away Canning's observation — 'that he could not mean the triumph of military revolt and the faction now exercising dominion in Spain, but that Canning only meant what the people of England mean, what he himself certainly desires, and what I believe that the Allies themselves must desire — viz., that things in Spain should not return to their ancient form, but that the Spaniards might come out of the struggle with something gained on the side of liberty and a consti- tutional form of Government. ... I had a good deal of conversation with him upon this subject, which was, * ' On Monday, April 14, Mr. Secretary Canning appeared at the Bar, and, being called upon by the Speaker, he said that he held in his liand papers wliich he was commanded ... to lay before the House' (Hansard, vol. viii., p. 872 et scq.). He then made a long, clear, and closely reasoned speech, giving the whole history of the question between France and Spain, the Congress of Verona, the instructions given to the Duke of Wellington, the question of the Spanish colonies — in short, the whole historj' of the Holy Alliance, and what the Government had done since he took ofiice. He emphasized Great Britain's position of neutralit}^ and refusal to help Spain by armed interference. The sentence in which occur the words objected to by the allied monarchs is as follows : ' The promise of actual and efficient support to vSpain this country was not prepared to give, and the case Ministers had to consider was this — whether they should withdraw from the question altogether, and treat it with perfect indifference. Indifference they could never feel towards the affairs of Spain, and he earnestly hoped and trusted that she would come triumphantly out of the struggle. But he should not speak truly if he did not say that he was perfectlv convinced the first result of her success and pacification must be the adoption of those alterations in her system whicli they had recommended ' (Hansard). 174 THE SPANISH COLONIES [CH. vi. however, very amicable, and I undertook to acquaint my Government with the Emperor's feelings.' On returning home, the Ambassador was met by a similar protest through Count Bernsdorff, expressing ' the King of Prussia's regret that Lord Liverpool had dragged the Allies before Parliament, and at Canning's expression which had given so much offence here;' and no doubt had to explain all over again to General Scholer, the Prussian representative, according to the best of his diplomatic ability, that, whatever Canning said, he must have meant something else. A report of the above episodes was written to Canning officially in despatches of May 13, and more fully in a private letter of the same date. All the answer Canning vouchsafed to the Monarchs will be found in his next letter, where he writes : * Where shall I begin? Why, I think with your letter of the 13th May and the separate despatch which accompanied it.' Bagot to Canning. St. Petersburg, [Copy.'] {Piivatc) May 13, 1823. My dear Canning, I have been a good deal perplexed in deciding in what way I ought to report to you the remonstrance which has been made to me about your speech in Parliament on the 14th of April. The formal manner of this remonstrance, and the certainty which I felt that it would also be made to you through C' Lieven seemed to render some official communication of it indispensable. I have, however, had a feel in my own mind that there might possibly be some inconvenience^ though I hardly knew what, in my writing a public despatch to you upon such a subject. As the best way out of my difficulty I have written you a separate one, so that you may put it upon the Cabinet Table, or into the small apartment adjoining, as you may judge best.* My position in this business has been rather an * Which alternative Canning took, figuratively speaking, with regard to the Monarchs' conipiaints of his speech can be judged by his reply in his next Ictler (p. 179). \ 1823] TWO ALTERNATIVES 175 awkward one. I have felt that it was rather a delicate matter for me to listen to any remonstrance against, and a much more delicate matter to give any explana- tion of, a speech of yours, or of any Minister of the Crown delivered in his place in Parliament ; but the good-humoured manner in which O Nesselrode excused the Emperor's orders so disarmed and dis- inclined me from taking up the matter in any high- handed way, that it appeared to me that I would only meet the charge and explain your sentiments in the way which I did. What I said seems perfectly con- sistent with the spirit of all my instructions upon the subject, but I shall be anxious to learn that I have not misinterpreted you, or done any mischief. The sentence complained of in your speech has certainly made a great impression here — or at least it is pretended that a great impression has been made. You will have heard of it from other quarters. On the day on which I saw Count Nesselrode the Prussian Minister called upon me and showed me confidentially a despatch written by Count Bernstorff to the Baron de Werther on the 26th of last month, instructing him de ne pas vous laisser ignorer the impression which the speech has made at Berlin. This despatch, which M. de Werther will probably not communicate to you in exfcnso^ is very strong, but it seems to find more fault with Lord Liverpool than with you, you being exempted from the charge made against him of having what is called dragged the Allies before Parlia- ment. I cannot help thinking that this despatch of C* Bernstorff, or some other hint from some foreign quarter, first suggested to this Government the sup- posed expediency of being angr^'-, for I can hardly conceive that, if your speech had at first really made the ill impression which it is now pretended that it has, Count Nesselrode would have allowed a week to pass, after the English newspapers had been in everybody's 176 THE SPANISH COLONIES [cH. vi. hands, before he spoke seriously to me upon the subject. The remonstrance itself signifies very little, for, after all, I am morally certain that this Govern- ment is now perfectly persuaded of the purity of our neutral course, and satisfied that we have no intention whatever of giving any countenance, even the most indirect, to the actual order of things in Spain. I do not know what may be the nature of the com- munications which you may receive from Vienna, nor it v/hat sense Prince Esterhazy* may talk to you ; but, to judge from the language which O Lebzelternf holds here, I do think that this Government is ultra- liberal compared with that of Austria. Unfortunately Lebzeltern's long residence in Spain, and his real knowledge of the country, give great authority to what he says. I fear that secretly they had a great authority at Verona, and he preaches doctrines which are only fit for the siecle de Louis XIV. The word Constitution seems poison to him, and from what he says, which I fancy is always what Metter- nich says, one would think that Austria would never be satisfied with any modification, however good, which Spain might make in her system, or with anything short of the old gilt lumber of Charles the I V'^'s Court. I do not know that there is anything in my other despatches which requires explanation. My despatch upon the military force is drawn from sources upon which I can, I think, entirely rely, and it gives as much detail as you probably can want for general purposes.^ I am, etc., Charles Bagot. * Austrian Minister in London. t Austrian Minister at St. Petersburg. X This despatch gives a detailed estimate of the Russian forces, of which some reductions had been made recently. In 1821 Russia had 900,000 troops of all descriptions ; deducting men considered as not movable, and recent reductions, the despatch estimates the movable army at about 564,000 men, 1,450 guns, and 138,000 horses (No. 21, of May 13). i823] A VOTE OF CENSURE 177 Bagot to Canning. St. Petersburg, [Copy.'] {P rival c.) May, 18, 1823. ... I find (but you will probably have heard more of it than I have) that there is a scheme on foot of sending Ambassadors or high diplomatic agents of some kind to the Council of Castile or to whatever other Notables may be assembled by the Due d'Angouleme to form the provisional Government of Spain. The French Ambassador saw the Emperor two days ago, and I believe principally in order to speak with him upon this subject, but I do not know what passed. I know, however, that the Allies are not without hope that we may be induced to join them in this measure. I shall be curious to learn what Austria will say to the plan, for if she sends an agent he must, more or less, assist in the work of constitu- tion making, a work which Metternich abominates. I yesterday received letters and papers from England to the 29th of last month. They give me the beginning but not the end of Macdonald's Motion, which is, I suppose, the great struggle of the Session and upon which you are all to stand or fall. To judge by your former majorities you are all safe enough, but there are signs in the times, or rather in the Courier, which I do not like, or perhaps do not understand. I hope that all is smooth, but the observations of the Courier and the speech of His Guts of Buckingham have been republished and dwelt upon in the continental news- papers as if they were of serious import. Pray do not let it transpire that I took copies of some of the papers which Nesselrode left in my hands for an hour, or rather which the young Baron Strogo- noff left, for it was he who was sent from the Foreign Office me donncr lecture de ces pieces. I had not time to take copy of the letter to Lord Strangford, but I know that my report of it is very accurate. VOL. II. 12 178 THE SPANISH COLONIES [CH. Vl. Canning to Bagot. Gloucester Lodge, {Private) July 14, 1823. My dear C, Is it possible that I should not have written to you since the ist of March, nor in truth on any political matters since the 20th of February, nor, to be still more candid, anything of importance on political matters since the 3rd of January? So it appears to be by reference to the copies of my private letters to Foreign Ministers, and though I could willingly persuade myself that two or three may have been mislaid, yet as in looking through your letters to me, received since the ist March ... I cannot call to mind any interpolation of an answer on my side of the correspondence, I must fain acquiesce in the belief, however humiliating, that I am 6 months in your debt, and proceed to clear myself. And first — Heaven be praised that the Session of Parliament is nearly at an end ! The H. of C.'s has adjourned, and meets again only to receive Bills from the Lords, and on Sat. I hope we shall prorogue. Not but that (as I once said about the 'weather,' to Frere's and John Sneyd's infinite amusement) at South Hill, we have no right to complain of the Session. It has been a good Session enough, shorter than most of its pre- decessors, but (like Legge's first sermon), though short,* tedious, rather wearing, however, than harass- ing, with only one day that I recollect of great violence, * Dr. Let:jife invited Cannin<» and Frere to come and hear his first sermon. After the service he asked for Frere's opinion. ' You were short,' was the reply. ' Oh, but I was anxious not to be tedious !' * You ivcrc tedious,' said Cannin,^. Tlie joke is alluded to in one of the rhymes of ' Musns Cateatonenses ' of early days, and like Canning's quotation in his previous letter, shows that the wit of that production, if not good, had at all events a lasting quality. I 1823] THE MONARCHS' COMPLAINT 179 and with only one debate, that on the negotiations, which could be considered as a pitched battle. And that battle, you know how it was won.* I therefore do not complain, but yet 10 hours a day for 5 days in the week for 7 weeks consecutively is hard work, and such has been the nature of our campaign since Whit- suntide. It was no relief to the physical suffering that the matters whereon we were engaged were matters of comparatively little interest. 1 have, how- ever, gone thro' it pretty well, and by dint of extreme abstinence (which I find the best rule) without any detriment to health, though worn both in mind and body. It is quite refreshing to return to the labours of the office. Now where shall I begin ? Why, I think with your letter of the 13th of Mayf and the separate Despatch which accompanied it. That separate Despatch is among your private letters, nor ever has been called into official existence. You judged quite rightly in enabling me so to deal with it, though for a reason which perhaps you did not anticipate — the best reason in the world — Lieven never thought of executing the instructions to which it refers. Nor did Werther execute the analogous instruction from Berlin. General regrets and lamenta- tions there have been in many of our conferences, such * The ' pitched battle' alluded to was a three days' debate on the negotiations relative to Spain and the outcome of the Verona Con- ference. Mr. Macdonald moved in the House of Commons a resolu- tion to the effect that the Ministry deserved censure for their failure to protest against the pretended right of the Sovereigns at Verona to make war with Spain, and compel alterations in her Constitution ; also to express sorrow that they had advised Spain to alter her Constitution, and that dignified remonstrance would have been better calculated to secure the nation from risk of being involved in war. Mr. Stuart Wortley moved an amendment to this vote of censure on the Government. Canning, the Leader in the House of Commons, defended his policy in a very fine speech on April 30, and emerged triumphant. Macdonald asked leave to withdraw, but was negatived, and the amendment was carried by 352 votes (Walpole's ' History,' vol. ii., p. 351 ; Hansard, vol. viii.). t Tlie letter about the Emperor's objection to Canning's speech (P- 175)- 12 — 2 l8o THE SPANISH COLONIES [CH. vi. as you describe in your letter of the 26th of March, as having been uttered by Count Nesselrode, but remon- strance, in the name of their Governments, they have not thought of making. Nor should I have heard it with patience, and that they probably had the sagacity to foresee. In short, I think Lieven by this time understands me. Esterhazy, I am sure, does ; Werther, I apprehend, does not, or if he does, is very little reconciled to what he understands. But I pre- sume that he consulted his Colleagues, and that they advised him to hold his peace. I believe that up to the debate on the Negotiations they all entertained a hope that I should not hold my ground, and not they only, but the poor foolish Spaniards (they are very foolish ones) also. I know that Jules* wrote to his Government a few days before the Debate, that, whatever came of it, it would be fatal to me^ that I had been playing one party against the other and deceiving both, and that now both would join against me. I wish you could have seen the iiltrageoiis faces — ultra in either extreme — at the first interview that I had with them after the 30th of April, Since that time I have had pretty much my own way ; and I believe you may now consider my politicks as those of the Government, as well as of the Country; and what these politicks are, is it not written in my published speech of the 30th of April, half a dozen copies of which I send you by this messenger ? Read it carefully through before you offer a copy to Nesselrode, for though it acquits me (I flatter myself) of revolutionary projects, it certainly removes me far from the solidarite of the Holy Alliance. In any case, I hope C' Nesselrode will be satisfied with our Turkish politicks, which I have fashioned very much after your private letter of June i4th.t Strangford has certainly been fancying that he * Polignac, French Ambassador in London. + This private letter follows (p. 184). 1823] NEUTRALITY 181 had the game more in his hands than he really has, and that he was at least secure against any sudden change of counsel on the part of the Emperor. I suspected the contrary (as to the Emperor) before I received your letter; but that has greatly increased my suspicion. In truth the Emperor's forbearance t's very great, and if it is really the offspring of moderation, and a deference for the Alliance, it is singularly laudable. Can it hold out against the temptation of Turkish refractoriness and of an army upon his hands pining for employment ? I do not comprehend Metternich's project of a duet between a Turk and Tatitscheff at Vienna. I suppose there is something in it, more than I see, but as at present advised I see nothing in it, but a proposal sure to be refused. And if so, what then ? Upon this point you cannot go too far in sa3'ing how entirely our vote is at the Emperor's disposal. I need hardly assure you that you are not to believe anything that you hear of supposed encouragement from us to the Greeks — not one word. We have, indeed, checked the partiality of our Employe's in the Levant towards the Turkish authorities, which showed itself chiefly in advantageous speculations in corn, and we have not discouraged the speeches and subscriptions for Greeks at home, for two reasons ; first, that we have no effectual means of doing so, and secondly, that dis- couragement generally inflames enthusiasm. But our neutrality in this quarrel is as strict and sincere as in that of Spain, and I have not uttered a wish for the Greeks, because they, right or wrong, are the assailants. With respect to Spain, it is otherwise. The Invasion was an outrageous act, on the footing on which France thought proper to justify it. Between King Ferdinand and the Cortes there is not a feather of preponderance. The King is as bad a King and the Cortes as bad a Government as one can conceive. But between l82 THE SPANISH COLONIES [CH. vi. invaded and invader the choice is clear. I could not wish France success therefore, but having found success so much beyond calculation, I wish she had made a better use of it. She promised to negotiate, and, when in possession of Madrid, instead of doing so, she pushed on to Seville, intriguing instead of negotiating and attempt- ing to purchase first, and, that failing, to get forcible possession of the person of the King. The Regency which the Junta have erected at Madrid in the meantime drives on at a furious rate, and leaves no locus poenitcntice for the Reformers, The consequence of this policy is that the Cortes are driven to despair ; that they consider the possession of the King as the point of honour as well as of safety ; and that, instead of dropping him in their flight, as it was hoped (most idly hoped) that they would do, to propi- tiate their pursuers, they have carried him to the extremity of their existence, and if they must cease to exist, will, I am grievously afraid, push him out of the world before them. If such a catastrophe does take place, I do verily think that it will be mainly attributable to the uncompromising policy of the French, and to the exaggerated import- ance which they have attached to the separation of the King from the Cortes, And so I have not ceased to tell them prophetically. I wish I may not soon have to lament the accomplishment of my warnings. I am both pleased and surprised to hear from you that you think the Russian Cabinet would be well satisfied that we should have a share in setting things right; if indeed they be rightable in Spain. But is it only in the way in which the French and Pozzo have called upon us to interfere — which has been onl}^ to get the King out of the hands of the Cortes ? To this of course we have turned a deaf ear. But we have uniformly professed our readiness to mediate, or good-office again, i823l PORTUGAL 1 83 if the French would tell us what they meant or what they wanted. They never would. So we have lain quietly upon our oars. By the way, you have not once men- tioned Pozzo.* Is he in high favour ? To be trusted ? Have his opinions great weight with his Imperial Master ? And now, my dear Charles, my hand is quite tired, and so perhaps are you. And I believe I have nearly exhausted my topicks. O no ! One word about Portugal. The Counter Revolution there is just what one could wish. It worked itself. The French had no direct influence upon it, any more than we — none, I mean, beyond what was necessarily incidental to the success of their march through Spain, and the consequent discourage- ment of the revolutionists in Portugal. Those revo- lutionists were the scum of the earth and the Portuguese earth — fierce, rascally, thieving, ignorant raggamuffins ; hating England, and labouring with all their might and cunning to force or entrap us into war. They are gone, gone out like a candle, a tallow-candle, and in their stead reigns Palmella, the very best of Portuguese. I have a great mind to enclose to you a copy of his letter to me, and will, if I can lay my hand upon it, before it is time to make up my packet. What now ? Oh, as to the Courier, your sagacity was not astray. The villain was sold to France, and took his lessons partly from the French Embassy here and partly from our own ultras ; and the time at which he was most audacious was that at which, as I have told you, there were expectations of my overthrow. But I spoilt his French game for him by telling Marcellus (the Charge cV Affaires) that I knew of his proceed- ings. Whether the rogue now repents I know not, nor care. And now, really to conclude. Be civil to * Pozzo di Borgo, Russian Ambassador at Paris, made K.C.B. in 1819. l84 THE SPANISH COLONIES [CH. vi. the Russians, of whom I have happily washed my hands. And believe me, My dear Charles, Sincerely and affect'^ yours, G. C. Tuesday, i^ih. P.S. — I have another letter to acknowledge from you. I am very glad that you have opened yourself to me so completely. I will bear you in mind, and consider all that you have said as favourably as I can and when I can. God bless you. G. C P. P.S. — Can you tell me from what quarter the enclosed manifesto comes ?* Bagot to Canning. St. Petersburg, {Copy.'] {Private.) June 14, 1823. . . . Our eyes are, as you may suppose, fixed for the moment upon Spain. Three days ago we received by a courier sent to the French Ambassador the intelli- gence of the entry of the Due d'Angouleme into Madrid, which, coupled with Abisbal's proclamation and some other circumstances, seem to promise, in the eyes of this Government, a speedier and more effectual termination to the war than was at first expected. No more mention is now made of the possibility of Russian troops being required to march, and if you were again questioned in the House, as I see that you have already been, as to the objects of the Russian Army upon the * An article on the policy of Russia from an P2nglish newspaper of June 12, said to be copied from a Bremen paper and written from St. Petersburg. Noted on the margin to be a forgery. Chiefly about France and Spain from the point of view of the Holy Alliance, and to the effect that England was really in favour of it. 1823] RUSSIAN INTENTIONS 185 Polish frontier, you can say that I have already put questions upon the subject to C'. Nesselrode, whose answer to me was that * undoubtedly the Army was completely ready to march in case of necessity, but that I might be assured that the Emperor would not move a soldier but at the direct invitation of the French Government, the same invitation being at the same time made by the Cabinets of Vienna and Berlin.' These latter invitations, it is true, might be easily sug- gested, but not so; I imagine, the former. I believe that this Government would be really well content to see the Spanish business speedily and effectually settled, and that they would not like that settlement the less if it should have been mainly brought about by our negotiations at Paris and by our friendly intervention. Whether Austria would equally like that it should be so arranged may be another question. "^ ''It Tfr ^! "ff^ From Constantinople we have nothing since I last wrote, but I confess to you that I am not without some uncomfortable feelings upon the whole of that subject. I have been saying for nearly two years that the Emperor does not desire war with the Turks, and that he will not have it. I still believe that such is his present disposition, but we must not be lulled into too great security. I think, but I may be wrong, that both Prince Metternich and Strangford are too much per- suaded that, since Verona, they have the Emperor of Russia completely in hand. Be assured that no man living has him in hand. I repeat that at this moment I believe that he does not seek war with the Porte, but it would be too much to say that he does not contem- plate its possibility.* The conduct of the Porte in * Lord Strangford relates a story that after the Emperor's death in 1825, Nesseh-ode, on being asked by an intimate friend what the late Emperor's real intentions were, replied : ' War ; had he lived it would at this hour have been proclaimed ' (Januar}', 1826). — ' Lives of the Lords Strangford,' p. 156. i86 THE SPANISH COLONIES [CH. vi. regard to the navigation of the Black Sea has touched him very nearly, and as it touches other Powers almost in the same degree, he feels that he has now a fresh and serious complaint against the Turks, and one which is shared in common with almost all the Powers which have hitherto interfered to prevent his hostili- ties. We cannot forget, too, that if the war in Spain terminates quickly and successfully, and there now seems great probability that it will do so, he has nothing elsewhere to occupy either his attention or his arms ; and it is impossible that he should not feel that if the Turks persist, as they seem to do, in making the com- plete fulfilment of former treaties the condition of an adjustment of the points now in immediate dispute, and which have grown directly out of the Greek in- surrection, he has nothing to do but to fire a single cannon, and those treaties and all their stipulations will be blown for ever into the air. The Austrian Minister is, I know, writing strongly in this sense both to Prince Metternich and to Ottenfelt, and urging the adoption of a very high tone towards the Divan, in order to bring them to reason in time. In this he is, I suspect, governed in a great degree by the reasoning which I have used ; but I think it also possible that he has some arriere pensee, and that he is not without a notion that we are supposed to give much more encouragement to the Greek cause than we at first were, and that that consideration may make the Emperor feel his hands so free that, unless his differ- ences are speedily adjusted, it may be impossible to keep him within bounds. All this may be very idle talk on my part. You know what is going on at Con- stantinople and elsewhere, whilst I know nothing, and draw my opinion solely from the little which I see passing here and from my own knowledge of the Emperor's temper and character ; so valcat quantum. 1823] PALM ELLA'S LETTER 1 87 Canning with his last letter had enclosed copies of M, de Palmclla's letter and his answer. An in- surrection against the Constitution had broken out in Northern Portugal in February, which had been with difficulty defeated. The Absolutists then got the upper hand again, and were joined by the King's second son, Dom Miguel. The Cortes was closed, a new Ministry appointed, and autocracy re-established. One party in the new Government was led by M. de Palmella ; it was for moderate measures, and inclined to be guided by British advice. Another party, led by M. de Subserra, was for union with France. Palmella applied to the British Govern- ment in July for troops to give stability to the Portu- guese Administration. The troops were refused, but a squadron was sent to the Tagus to give moral sup- port to the King. Count Palmella to Canning. LiSBONNE, [Copy.] {Confidcnfidle.) Cc 7 juin, 1H22. MoN CHER Monsieur, Permettez moi de profiter du premier moment de mon retour a la liberte pour vous adresser quelques lignes. J'espere que M. Sarmento vous communiquera la depeche que je lui ai ecrite pour annoncer les etonnants et rapides changements qui ont eu lieu dans ce Pays dans I'espace de dix jours. Je vous prie d'accueillir les explications et les details que pourra vous offrir la dessus M, le Chevalier Guerreiro ; le projet du Roi mon Maitre est, je crois, de I'accrediter au plus tot aupres de votre cour en qualite de Charge d'Affaires et en attendant qu'elle puisse faire choix d'un Ministre pour envoyer aupres de sa M. Britannique. L'intention bien prononce de S. M. T. F. est d'accorder une charte a ses sujets par laquelle toutes les libertes essentielles du citoyen se trouvent garanties sans avilir ni annuUer le pouvoir Royal, enfin une veritable Charte Monarchique representative et non pas une i88 THE SPANISH COLONIES [CH. vi. constitution qui coiffe le Roi d'un bonnet rouge a la place de la Couronne. J'espere que cette mesure satisfera les gens senses et les vrais amis de la liberte ; la faction revolutionnaire qui nous a domine n'entendait la liberte que dans le sens actif pour elle : et je puis vous assurer que I'oppression, les exils arbitraires, la venalite dans le gouvernement, la violation la plus effrontee de toutes les belles promcsses que Ton faisait a la nation ; ont tout a fait degrise les Portuguais de fanatisme democratique et les Espagnols vont suivre immediatement notre exemple, malgre les predictions de Lord Grey et de M^ Brougham et malgre les chants guerriers du nouveau Tyrtee * qui leur est venu de votre Pays. Pardonnez, monsieur, a la liberte que je prends de vous ecrire ainsi familierement et a la hate, je vous assure que j'apprecie comme je le dois I'honneur de me trouver de nouveau en relation avec vous. Permettez moi d'ajouter seulement que si notre gouvernement tergiversait ou manquait a I'accomplisse- ment de la promesse que le Roi a faite a la nation (ce qui certainement n'est pas I'intention de Sa Majeste), je ne resterai pas un moment de plus dans le Conseil du Roi. J'ai I'honneur d'etre avec un vif attachement et la plus haute consideration, PALMELLA.f Canning to Count Palmclla. LONDRES, [Co/))'.] Cc iJuiUct, \'^2-},. Je ne saurois vous exprimer mon cher comte Palmella, le plaisir que m'a fait la lettre que je viens de recevoir de V. Ex^e par I'entremise de M. Guerreiro. D'etre assure que vous etiez sain et sauf et, en * Presumably Byron ; ' qui ' in the original copy is ' que.' Neither Pahnella nor Canning could write ^ood French. * For Palmella at this time in Portugal, see Walpolc's ' History/ vol. ii., p. 375. i823] CANNING'S REPLY 189 outre, libre apres tous les dangers que vous avez courus, auroit ete une grande satisfaction.* C'en est une beaucoup plus grande de vous savoir ou vous etes, et de nous voir en correspondance comme Ministres aussi bien qu'amis. Dans Tun et I'autre caractere je me flatte que nous pourrons etre de quelque utilite a nos pays respectifs. J'y travaillerais avec vous, et pour I'un et pour I'autre de tout mon coeur. Vous avez bien des choses a faire, bien des Glioses a replacer : et ce qui n'est pas moins necessaire quoique peut etre un peu plus difficile, de ne pas les replacer trop exactement 011 elles etaient. Je n'ai pas besoin de dire combien je loue votre resolution a ce dernier point ; et combien je me fie a vos lumieres pour ecarter la necessite d'y recourir. Je ne puis pas douter que tout le monde chez vous ne soit assez fatigue d'exces de tous cotes pour se preter volontiers a vos arrangemens ; qui en evitant tout extreme assureront a tous ce qui leur faut, tant pour leur bien etre que pour leur bonheur. Pourquoi I'Espagne n'a-t-elle pas un homme auquel on puisse se fier avec une confiance pareille ? M. Sarmento m'a remis hier ses lettres de recreance; et m'a presente son successeur. II est du a M. Sarmento de ma part, de vous dire, que dans des circonstances assez epineuses, il s'est comporte ici parfaitement a notre satisfaction. J'ai I'honneur d'etre, avec autant d'estime que d'amitie, Mon cher comte Palmella, Votre tres devoue serviteur, George Canning. * For the state of affairs in Portugal, sec Walpole's ' History,' vol. ii., pp. 374 ei. scq. Palmella applied to Great Britain in this month for troops, which Canning refused, but a squadron was sent to the Tagus. In 1824 Subserra, the rival Minister to Palmella, again applied for troeps, but for his own diplomatic reasons, hoping they would be refused, and that France would thereby be able to step in. Canning proposed to send Hanoverian troops, which alarmed the I90 THE SPANISH COLONIES [CH. vi. P.S. — M'"e C. me prie de la rappeler au souvenir de Mad. la Comtesse. Nous esperons que les epreuves par lesquelles elle a passe n'ont nullement nui a sa sante ni a celle de ses enfans, M. Ellis et son fils aine Lord Howard (I'autre est aux Indes) n'ont pas perdu I'impression agreable que nous avoit laissee Thospitalite de Cagliari, et cette chasse de sanglier ou le sanglier n'a pas voulu paraitre.* lis se rejouissent avec moi de vous voir reparoitre dans un poste qui vous convient si bien. Lord Strangford\ to Bagot. Constantinople, {Private and confidential.) August i6, 1823. ... I did not lose a moment in endeavouring to carry my Instructions into effect. I was always of opinion that the time was come when we ought to French ; then Canning cleverly extracted from them a promise not to interfere in Portugal, whereon he withdrew his proposal and Portugal was left to itself. * A reminiscence of Canning's Mission to Lisbon in 1815. t Percy Sydney Smythe, sixth Viscount Strangford of the Irish Peerage, and first Baron Penshurst (1780-1855), described by Byron as * Hibernian Strangford, with thine eyes of blue, And boasted locks of red or auburn hue.' Secretary of Legation at Lisbon from 1802, and, later. Minister Plenipotentiary. He it was who persuaded the Regent of Portugal to leave for Brazil on the advance of the French in 1807. In 1820-1824, as Ambassador at Constantinople, he joined the Austrian Minister in urging on the Porte the necessity of pursuing more conciliatory conduct towards Russia, and of making concessions to its Christian subjects, then in revolt in Greece and the Danube Provinces. After going to Verona in 1822, he obtained concessions both from Turkey and Russia, and the Emperor promised a resump- tion of diplomatic relations with Turkey. In 1824 Wellington con- gratulated him on the result of his diplomac}', but Canning charged him with exceeding his instructions. In 1825 he went as Ambassador to Russia, and later to Brazil. He soon after abandoned his diplomatic career, and took an active part in politics as a Tory peer, showing a considerable taste in literature and poetr)\ 1823] LORD STRANGFORD 191 speak out, and to assume a much higher tone than hitherto, but I could not venture upon it as long as I had no other instructions than the unsigned Memo- randum given to me by the D. of Wellington at Verona, w^hich would not have been sufficient to justify me in pressing matters to a crisis. Mr. Canning's last directions have left me ' ample room and verge enough the character of hell to trace,* and I shall proceed at my Conference to act upon the only principle on which the negotiation can ever be brought to a conclusion, namely, by telling these people broadly and distinctly, that if they choose, by their own obstinacy, to pick a quarrel with Russia, they will have the pleasure of having at the same time a quarrel with us. . . . You may be assured if they are not well frightened this time, it will not be my fault. The Turkish Ministers sincerely, honestly, ardently wish for peace, but the Sultan and the wretches who are flattering his pride seem quite indifferent to the result, and unfortunately everything depends on him — still, I don't despair. ... In Cypher. Do' not think (which from a paragraph in a private letter from Mr. Canning I suspect to be the case) that I speculate too deeply on the pacific disposition of the Emperor. I have no doubt that at this moment the danger of war* is greater than ever, and I shall act here under that conviction. On the reconstruction of the Ministry in 1822, amongst other changes rendered necessary by Can- ning's acceptance of the Leadership of the House of Commons and the post of Foreign Minister was the appointment of Huskisson to the Board of Trade. Wallace, who for some years had held the office of Vice-President of the Board, and to whose efforts it * Between Turkey and Russia on the Greek question. 192 THE SPANISH COLONIES [CH. vi. was due that the old Navigation Laws had been repealed, and the antiquated restrictions on merchan- dise imported in other than British ships removed, considered himself superseded, and consequently resigned. Wellesley Pole, now Lord Maryborough, was Master of the Mint and in the Cabinet. Wallace was eventually pacified by being given the Mint, while Lord Maryborough was appointed to the Mastership of the Buckhounds. This was supposed to have been a distasteful arrangement to the latter, who is recorded to have complained that he had been 'sent to the dogs';* but the alleged grievance does not seem apparent from the following letters on the subject, the first of which was evidently scribbled in haste, and unsigned : Lady Maryborough to Bagot. August 1 8, 1823. My dear Charles, I have just time to tell you that this morning a messenger arrived at Tyttenhanger with a note from Lord Liverpool enclosing this from the K. The generous and flattering manner in which the K. has made the proposal has determined Lord M. to accept.f Lord L. thinks he should materially strengthen his * See Walpole's ' History,' vol. ii., p. 58. t Wellesley Pole, now Lord Maryborough, appears to have devoted considerable labour and ability to the affairs of the Mint with signal success. There is in the possession of the editor his folio MS. volume of some 300 pages, carefully indexed, which contains a complete record of the transactions of the Mint during the years from 181 2 to 1823, with an account of its establishment written by Sir Joseph Banks. Between 18 16 and 1822 Wellesley Pole replaced the entire coinage, and in December, 1823, was presented by the officers of the Mint with a medal of himself by Pistrucci, on the reverse of which is a Latin inscription to the effect that he, ' when the coin of the realm from long wear had become much deteriorated, not only restored it to its pristine beauty, but replaced it by an entirely new coinage . . . he conducted the undertaking with so much wisdom . . . that the old money ceased and the new began to obtain currency in every place at nearly the same moment.' The accounts show that during his Mastership the total number of coins struck, including Colonial and foreign coins, amounted to about two hundred and nineteen and a half million pieces. Of medals it is 1823] THE BUCKHOUNDS 193 Govt, (as I believe) by bringing Wallace to the Mint and Huskisson into the Cabinet. Lord M. will have a favourable retreat in (the) Lodge at Swinley, and pair of gold couples, and he must put on a pair of leather breeches again and follow a stag. Upon the whole it may suit him as well as the confinement of attendance in the Cabinet, which used to bore him. More I can't say, as we are setting off for London, for him to go and pay his respects where due. Love to dear Mary from Most affectionately. P.S. — I suppose my conjecture about Wallace and H. is a secret which I ought not to have written. Enclosure. George IV. to Lord Maryborough. \Copy by Lady Maryborough.'] King's Lodge, {Private.) Sunday, August 17, 1823. My dear Lord, The Mastership of the Buckhounds, as you know, has become vacant by the death of Lord C. Of course I feel very tenacious (as this situation is a part of my own family) on whom it should be conferred. I have had many applications, but I think it right to mention that Lord Liverpool has particularly placed recorded that he struck about fifty thousand, quaintly entered thus in the book in round numbers : ' Waterloo Battle 37,ooo Waterloo Bridge 4,000 Coronation 7,000 Quebec 808' On retiring, his bust, by Nollekens, was placed in the Board Room at the Mint, together with that of Sir Isaac Newton, one on each side of George III., in whose reign the Mint was erected, to distinguish the Masters in whose time recoinage was carried out. His manage- ment, which in modern times would probably pass as ordinary business and appear insignificant, was, in days "before facilities for ti-ansport and communication existed, considered extremely able. VOL. IL 13 194 THE SPANISH COLONIES [CH. vi. before me your name. This would have had no influence with me, I must confess, had not both your- self and Lady Maryborough been most agreeable to me in forming a part of my domestick society. Under these circumstances, should the arrangement be agree- able to your own feelings, I shall be happy to nominate you as Master of the Buckhounds, and to forego the application of others in your favour. Give my kind regards to Lady Maryborough, And believe me, My dear Lord, Yrs. very sincerely, George R. Bagot to Binning. St. Petersburg, September 23, 1823. ... I calculate that this will just come in time to gladden your eyes, lighten your heart, and improve your mind, as you descend from the Paris or other foreign diligence at the White Bear in Piccadilly. . . . When you reach England you will find my Beau Pere in light buckskins with a Jockey cap and gold couples to his belt acting the part of Master o' th' Stag Hounds. He is exceedingly pleased with the appointment, and the King's letter to him was so kind and so flatter- ing that it seems completely to have done away with any feeling (if any feeling existed) about leaving Mint and Cabinet. I think he was getting tired of politics. The hounds are just the hobby he would most like. The post is out of the reach of political storms, and Lady Maryborough has at length the great wish of her heart, a pretty country place of her own in England not too far from Town. I conclude that the consequence of all this is Huskisson's entry into the Cabinet, which gives me the most sincere satisfaction ; he is at last where he should be. . . . 1823] A BLACK REPUBLIC 195 Canning to Bagot. Foreign" Office, (Privafc and secret.) August 20, 1823. My dear C, A person wrote to me a few weeks ago saying that he had important information to communicate about the Emperor of Russia and the W. Indies. This approximation, as you may suppose, struck me as a httle extraordinary. I saw my correspondent, and his information was to this effect : That the Emperor of Russia was now and had been for some time in nego- tiation with the President of Hayti — first through a namesake of the President,* a General Boyer, and latterly through an adventurer of the name of Colom- bier. The object of the negotiation my informer did not profess to know accurately. It might be a mediation for France. But of one thing he was pretty sure, that the Emperor of Russia was to obtain the lie des Vaches, a little island off one of the southern points of S. Domingo, for his pains. I sent this information to Sir Charles Stuart. I inclose a copy of his first answer to it. I had a further answer afterwards (upon which I cannot lay my hand at this moment) in which he told me that he believed all my information to be true. Now, what can this mean ? I do not wish you to enquire or complain officially- — for it is no business of ours — that the Emperor of Russia should bargain a bit of W. Indies out of France or out of the Black Republic of Hayti. But it may be as well that you should try to find out what he is at, and it may be amusing at least that you should let Nesselrode see that you know of his intrigue * Jean Boyer, a mulatto, President of Hayti, 1822-1843. n — 2 196 THE SPANISH COLONIES [CH. vi. with the Negurs. If he questions you about Spanish Colonies, etc., then will be your time. Ever s. your G. C. With this letter there is a copy of a despatch to Canning from Sir C. Stuart in Paris,dated July28, onthe subject of San Domingo, telling him how the President, Boyer, had sent his namesake, General Boyer, to St. Petersburg to ask the Emperor to use his influence with the P>ench Government in favour of his country. Boyer having got into financial difficulties and left Russia, it was proposed that a mulatto named Colombier should be sent to again approach the Emperor. Canning to Bagot. Foreign Office, {Private and coujidential.) August 20, 1823. My dear Charles, Henry Wellesley writes to me that while Prince Metternich continues of opinion that, if the Commercial question were well settled, the Emperor of Russia would not hesitate to send a Minister to Constanti- nople, M. Tatistcheff holds quite a different language, and says that nothing will induce the Emperor to renew his diplomatick relations with the Porte until the affairs of Greece are settled to his mind. Now, this is quite a new view of the case, and one which perplexes all one's notions not a little. The Emperor of Russia has not (so far as I know) ever publickly made the settlement of the affairs of Greece a condition of his renewal of diplomatick intercourse with the Porte, however much he may have had it in his contempla- tion to press that settlement through his own mission when re-established. Indeed it appears to me that there would be a manifest inconsistency in his employ- ment of Lord Strangford to bring about the restoration of the Russian mission, if he meant the affairs of 1823] RUSSIA AND TURKEY 197 Greece, in which he is so jealous of our meddling at all, to be a condition of it. Can this language of Tatis- tcheff's be the occasion of P. Metternich's new anxiety to urge the restoration of the Russian Mission? By all means, help Lebzeltern to urge it. I do not instruct you exactly as P. Metternich requires, because I do not choose to record myself an instrument in his hands, without knowing and being enabled to record at the same time, why and wherefore. But I am as anxious as he can be, though not for his reasons, that the Russian Mission {a Russian Mission, I care not of what size or character) should be sent to Constanti- nople. I wish it, first, because I think that we have too much upon our hands there ; 2nd, because the responsibility is enormous and the interest to us, I think, disproportionate ; 3rd, because, though S'^ has done admirably, he is vagarious and uncertain, and a single false step might spoil all ; 4th, because while we are occupied wholly with Russian interests, English interests are of necessity postponed, and this begins to be found out here and to create dissatisfac- tion ; 5th, because we exhaust our authority in plead- ing for Russia and may miss it when we have occasion to demand for ourselves ; and lastly because, if the Emperor of Russia should go to war after all, while the negotiation is yet in our hmtds, the blame would fall on us — both at Constantinople and in England — just as surely as we are blamed in Russia for having so long deferred this desired consummation. Let but a Russian Mission get back to Constantinople, and I care not if they quarrel with the Porte on the morrow. Care not ! No — care not. Metternich cares, because a Russian war with the Porte must affect Austrian interests deeply, turn which way it will, but more, I believe, because the Emperor of Russia's army is his, Metternich's, talisman for the Government of Europe. 198 THE SPANISH COLONIES [CH. VI. But it is not necessary to us either that Metternich should govern Europe, or that Austria should have leisure to meddle in every other body's affairs, being secure of her own ; or, lastly, that the strength of the Austrian army should remain unbroken, and a terror to evil-doers. In short, had I been in office six months sooner than I was, so as to be in any degree master of the questions to be discussed at Verona, and had I seen as clearly as I think I do now that in the prurient and tantalized state of the Russian army some vent must be found — in short, that the Spanish war was the alternative of the Turkish — I should have preferred peace, certainly, commercial peace, to an}^ war — but deliberately the Turkish to the Spanish. Metternich's choice was, quite naturally, just the reverse. But see the consequence ! The Russians have conquered Spain, so far as it is conquered, without marching ; and their army is (I suppose from Metternich's present fear) as prurient as before. Is it a satisfaction to the Emperor or the contrar}-, that France has not found his army employment ? I have used the word ' conquered ' perhaps with no very precise and accurate application. But it is true as to the question of which we are speaking. Military operations in the field are over. The fortresses hold out it is true, and may do so for some time, but there is no prospect of occupation for an army in the field. Spain and France thus failing, is there any other theatre for a Russian force in the W. of Europe ? None; and therefore is Metternich apprehensive that the Turkish war must come at last. Perhaps so, and therefore am / anxious that we should get the negotiation out of our hands. And as a Russian Mission at Constantinople is the proof of the sum, therefore am I anxious to see one there as soon as possible ; caring comparatively but little, whether everything is previously settled to the Emperor's 1823] WORLD-WIDE COMPLICATIONS 199 mind or not. The military question in Spain, I have said, is, to all appearance, approaching to its solution. But of the political questions which are to follow, I see not the end. How shall matters be settled in Spain, and who shall settle them — France, Russia, Austria, England, Ferdinand, Cortes, Occupation, Guarantee ? What an essay might be written on each of those heads, without coming much nearer to a common understanding ! Add Portugal, Brazil, Spanish America, and add thereto again United States, and see how matters grow into complication ! As yet we are out of the whole affair. Austria and Russia and France are each preparing to draw us into it. But I am disposed to hold off, and let them bake, or drink (as another edition of the proverb has it) as they have brewed. Farewell. I am just setting out for, I hope, 3 weeks holida3^s, the first since Sept. 16, 1822. I want them exceedingly, for I am worn down with work and anxiety. Yrs., etc., G. C. Liverpool, August 27, 1823. (Received October 16 by Mr. Hughes.) My dear Charles, For peticklars respecting the gentleman,* who will deliver this letter to you, I refer your most excellent Ex^y to Col. 3, P. 3, of the enclosed Liverpool newspaper. * Mr. Christopher Hughes, an American diplomatist, known as ' Uncle Sam.' One of those few pubUc men, invaluable to both countries, who did all he could to bring about better feeling between Americans and English, which had been sadly strained by the war. He is mentioned later. Canning had made a speech about him at Liverpool, and enclosed the newspaper report of it. Bagot wrote to Canning on October 29, 1823 : 'Mr. Hughes is my old acquaintance and a very agreeable man,:in spite of the greatest vanity I ever saw in human nature. I have made much of him, and shall make more when lie comes back from Moscow. . . . He is not yet recovered from his delight and astonishment at all that befell him at Liverpool.' 200 THE SPANISH COLONIES [CH. vi. How he came here, how we met here, why he goes to St. Petersburgh, etc., I leave you to gather from him viva-voce, and I hope he will be as acceptable an accident to you in your Metropolis as he has been to me in mine. Ever afFecty yours, G. C. Stratford Canning writes to Bagot from the Foreign Office on September 19 to say that he had returned from America with symptoms of debility and de- clining health, but found London much improved since he left and the country generally more pros- perous, and, 'to crown the chapter of marvels, a popular Administration. The visible head of our diplomacy is in full force of health and spirits, notwithstanding a threat of gout some days ago. He is gone, or, at least, when I saw him yesterday, he was to go to attend a Council at Windsor to-day. Planta is quite as grey and quite as fat as under the preceding dynasty — a fit type of the prosperity of his country and its venerable Institutions. , . . Mr. Decatur and the Catons and Carrolls, with whom I spent a few days — gave ample testimony in conversation of the unabated regard which they entertain for your and Lady Bagot's memory, whether private or official. . . .' Sir Henry We lies ley to Bagot, Vienna, {Private.) October 14, 1823. My dear Charles, . . . Strangford's despatches of the 25th ult passed through Vienna a few days ago. It appears by them that his negociations have been completely successful, and must, I suppose, be followed by the renewal of the diplomatic relations between Russia and the Porte. . . . How ably Strangford has con- ducted his negociations ! he has not escaped, however, without two or three sharp raps upon the knuckles from our Chief. 1823] NEW ArPOINTMENTS 201 We have just received intelligence of the King of Spain's being at the Duke of Angouleme's Head Quarters,* but it does not appear upon what condition he has been set at liberty. I think that everything depends now upon the prudence and moderation of the King and his Councillors, but they will have no idea I am afraid but the re-establishment of the old despotism, which in the course of six months will lead them to another revolution. A'Court, I suppose, will join him immediately. Ever affly. yours, H. Wellesley. Canning to Bagot. Gloucester Lodge, November 16, 1823. My dear Charles, The Gazette of last night announces Granville's appointment as Ambassador to the Netherlands. Do not be frightened — I have other views for him.f But Lord Clancarty's resignation obliged me to fill up the Hague, at a single move, and without a month's delay. In the spring the diplomatick blood may circulate, but at present I was obliged to make the infusion exactly where the puncture afforded an opening. You shall have your leave of absence in the spring (but do not hurry me), and I trust, not to return to St. P. * Ferdinand VII., King of Spain, dethroned by Napoleon in favour of his brother, was liberated in this j-ear by the French, and was invited to a Conference on the question of tlie Spanish colonies to be held in Paris — a Conference that Canning emphatically refused to join on the part of Great Britain. t Sir C. Bagot had asked Canning to send him to The Hague from St. Petersburg for private reasons, and Canning's letter of Januar}' 22 in the following year explains the above letter. Lord Granville was only a short time at The Hague, and then transferred to Paris in succession to Sir Charles Stuart, recalled. 202 THE SPANISH COLONIES [CH. vi. Mr. Cathcart* also shall have Frankfort, but he must wait the winter with \'Ou. Yrs., G. C. On December 17 Bagot wrote a private letter to Canning on an interview that he had had with the Emperor Alexander, on which he had reported in a despatch, in which he, as he states, had onl}'- given an imperfect sketch. [Copy.] My dear Canning, . . . There had been for some time in this town the wildest rumours ... of growing differences be- tween England and Russia, of disgrace that I had fallen into at this Court, and I know not what besides. I have now learnt that the Emperor had long been desirous of having some opportunity of belying all these reports b}^ his manner to me in public. . . . On the night of the Fiangaillcs when a solemn sort of State Ball is given ... the Emperor found me at the foot of the Throne in a very conspicuous part of the room, and having got rid of all his listeners, he entered into a very long conversation with me, much to the perplexity of the Court and my Colleagues, who at least saw that it was a very amicable con- versation. He began by saying that he had received lately despatches from Count Lieven, who told him that the King had invited him to Windsor, and that His Majesty had expressed himself greatly pleased with the issue of the Spanish Campaign, and that he rejoiced sincerely in the deliverance of the Spanish Royal Family. I told him that His Majesty and everyone must rejoice . . . and that so far everything had certainly proceeded very prosperously . . . but * Hon. F. Cl tlicart, third son of the first Lord Cathcart, Minister Plenipotentiary to the German Federation in 1824, and Minister ad interim to Russia in 1826. 1823] ALEXANDER I. 203 there were great difficulties to surmount before the state of Spain could be considered as altogether satis- factory. He said that . . . those difficulties appeared to him to be much aggravated by the character of the Spanish people, amongst whom the violence of party spirit has carried further and was less easily guided than in any other country in Europe. In order to sound him a little, I then asked him whether he thought things were now going on well in Spain. He shrugged his shoulders, and said, ' Why yes . . . but there is need, much need (alluding to the personal character of the King) of good counsel there, and God knows whether it will be received.' After a little pause, and as if he was thinking how he might least ejfarovicher me by what he was about to say, he whispered to me that he did hope that there were no feelings of '' inimitif (that was his word) growing up in the English Cabinet towards Russia, and that (as I have reported in my despatch) the differences subsist- ing between the two Cabinets would not end in my interruption of those intimate, friendly, and unreserved relations which had been, he thought, of such mutual and general advantage. I answered him exactly as I have stated in my despatch, reminding him at the same time incidentally of the power of the public voice in England, of the manner in which it has pro- nounced itself upon some late occasions, and adding that it was not the first time that H.I.M. had seen that the particular nature of our institutions rendered a com- plete unity of councils or measures with other Powers absolutely impossible upon certain points, but that this circumstance could not and most certainly did not in the least degree change our feelings of friendship and con- fidence towards them. He said that he was fully aware of the truth of what I said as to our political position, but that he still feared that he saw in the language and manner of His Majesty's new Prime Minister something 204 THE SPANISH COLONIES [CH. vi. which seemed to wear, if not an unfriendly complexion, at least the appearance of some change of policy, the object of which seemed to be to withdraw Great Britain from those confidential relations in which she had so long stood with regard to the Continental Powers. I then told him with a good deal of earnest- ness . . . He might be sure we should go w^ith them when we could, and that when we could not, we should not fail to give frankly and unreservedly the reasons of our course. He seemed pleased with what I said, and then he told me that he had often greatly regretted that he had not had an opportunity of personally making your acquaintance — that there was a moment when he had hoped that he might have seen you, together with the Duke of Wellington, at Verona ; and that if he had such an opportunity, he felt confident that he could have so explained his own views and principles as would have convinced you that they were not liable to any distrust or suspicion, and that more could have been done to this end in a quarter of an hour's conversation than by any series of diplomatic correspondence. His manner during the whole time was exceedingly bienveillant, and he seemed evidently to endeavour so to mark it to the bystanders. . . .* I am, etc., Charles Bagot. * This is one of some dozen private letters to Canning during this year, mostly dealing with the Russian attitude towards the war between France and Spain ; the question of a Russian Minister being sent to Constantinople, and Russian promises on the subject ; and especially details of Russian claims on the north-west coast of America and Behring's Straits and the Pacific. The whole of the correspondence, both official and semi-official, or such letters as the last quoted, between Canning and Bagot during the time that Canning was Foreign Secretary, with all enclosures, memoranda, etc., is carefully copied, bound, and indexed in several large volumes, and, considering the intricacy and importance at the time of the questions abroad with which Canning liad to deal, might prove of some value to a future historian either dealing with one of the above-mentioned questions or with Canning's career as Foreign Minister. Such details, however, though they may be of interest historically, are naturally entirely outside the scope of this volume. y/w ^/Xujlu .^/(on Air (^)iarlcJ fjXcjot. .O^OlQ). 1 CHAPTER VII FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS On the last day of January, 1824, Lady Granville wrote to her sister : ' I am going on Tuesday to the ventilator* of the House of Commons to hear the debate on the Spanish question. 1 imagine Canning will make one of his bursts.'f Parliament met on February 3, when, after the Address had been moved, Mr. Brougham made a violent attack on the Government and their Spanish policy. He bitterly reproached them with allowing France to invade Spain, and, as he expressed it, for not caring what happened to Spain itself, so long as her colonies in America were not touched. ' I value not my honour,' he said, meaning England's obligation to her former ally : * but touch my pocket ' — the Spanish colonies — 'and you touch m}' life!' Then Canning made his 'burst.' He thoroughly vindicated the policy of the Government, and taunted the Opposi- tion with not having the courage to move an amend- ment to the Address; which was agreed to on the same day. Among the records of the Embassy at St. Peters- burg there is a great deal of correspondence concern- ing the question of the boundaries on the north-west coast of America, and the claims of Britain and the United States respectively, as well as details con- nected with Russian claims, and the preposterous demands embodied in the ukase from St. Petersburg of 1 82 1, J by which Russia made a claim to the naviga- * The only ' Ladies' Gallery ' of those days. t ' Letters of Harriet, Countess Granville,' vol. i., p. 250. X The Russian ukase of September, 1821, indirectly asserted ex- clusive rijJht of sovereis^nty from Behring's Straits to 57° N. lat. on the u-est coast of America, and to 45° N. lat. on the opposite coast 205 2o6 FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS [CH. vii. tion and fishing rights over Behring's Straits, and practically demanded that the northern Pacific should become a mare clausum. President Monroe's declaration and message, the latter arriving at the end of 1823, embodied a principle that the United States would henceforth object to any of the Powers of Europe establishing colonies on either of the continents of America or interfering with existing States.* The extravagant claims of Russia to the Pacific and parts of the north-west coast were eventually aban- doned. The British Ambassador, in one of his letters to Canning, expresses an opinion that probably the Russian claims would not present any very great difficulty on being further inquired into, as they appeared to have been adopted more in deference to the recommendations of Russian trading companies on the Pacific than from a studied policy. Mr. Rush, American Minister in London,t had an interview on January 2 with Canning, who asked for an explanation of President Monroe's message. Canning had not hitherto been aware of this claim of the United States, and wished to know its exact nature and extent. On January 5 Canning again met Rush on the affairs of the north-west coast, and Rush relates that Canning said that ' he was still embarrassed in the preparation of his instructions to Bagot in consequence of the non-colonization scheme laid down in the message.' He wished the negotiations to proceed separately between the three countries concerned, and not con- jointly, to which Rush agreed. of Asia, and prohibited all foreign ships, under pain of confiscation, from approaching within 100 Italian miles of these coasts. * The words of the message were : ' We could not view an inter- position for oppressing the South American States or controlling in any other manner their destiny by any European Power in any other light than as a manifestation of an unfriendly disposition towards the United States. t Canning's discussions with Mr. Rush, on the questions of boun- daries and rights in North- West America, will be found in Rush's 'Court of London,' p. 431 cl scq. The instructions referred to below dealt chiefly with the claims of Russia on the north-west coast (see note, pp. 232-233). 1824] THE MONROE DOCTRINE 207 It was settled on January 21, at the Foreign Office, at a meeting between Canning, Rush, Huslv.] January 15, 1824. Soon after I received your Excellency's despatch announcing the intention of the Russian Government to propose a Conference of the Allied Powers through * Bagot wrote to Lord Straugford, who had succeeded laim at St. Petersburg in July, 1825 : ' Did Stratford Canning' (who had gone to St. Petersburg on a special mission with regard to Greek affairs) ' tell you that the Russian Government had honestly enough acknow- ledged to him that they ]uid distinctly assured me that Ribeaupierre should be sent to Constantinople the moment the Emperor returned to St. Petersburg ? S. Canning wrote this to the Foreign Office, so feu a feu I shall get justified there; but catch me ever believmg a Russian again !' Soon after he wrote again from The Hague : ' Why did Nesselrodc make me write to my Government such measureless lies about Ribeau- pierre's departure to Constantinople ? There was no wit in this, for any man, ' " Be he ne'er so wise, May be deceived by sober lies." I know that he was made to do as he was bid, but I do not acquit the Emperor, and never shall. It was very unworthy of him, and if he wanted to have lies told he should have made Lieven tell tliem, and not me.' (' Lives of the Lords Strangford,' by Fonblanque, pp. 148, 149). 14—2 212 FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS [CH. vil. their Ambassadors at St. Petersburgh on the affairs of Greece, Count Lieven opened the same subject to me by the communication of a despatch addressed to His Excellency by Count Nesselrode, a copy of which I enclose for your information, ... It is almost unnecessary to observe that the plan chalked out in this despatch could not in any case be adopted by His Majesty in the exact shape in which it is there proposed for his adoption. His Majesty's Ambassador might be instructed to declare the opinions of the British Government so far as they are made up, upon the subject upon which the Conference is demanded. He might be further instructed to assist at such a Conference under certain circumstances, and to report to his Gov^^ the opinions of the Ministers of other Powers there assembled. But that a British Minister should be empowered to come to a common decision, upon the discussion with the other members of that Conference, and to send, in concurrence with them, instructions to the British Embassy at Constantinople, is a proposition which it would be impossible for this Government to entertain. The discretion is one which could not be confided even to your talents and experience. To put out of our reach, for so long a period, any effective control, or even any accurate knowledge of the measures to be sanctioned with His Majesty's name, and of the use to be made of his influence and authorit}^, would be as novel in practice as it is irreconcileable with the theory of a responsible administration. . . . Is it meant to establish the proposed Conference 710ZV, while the restoration of a Russian Mission at Constantinople is undecided ? Or was the proposition brought forward in the presumption that that restora- tion would have taken place before the conference was to begin ? . . . i824] THE GREEK QUESTION 213 It has never hitherto been understood by the British Gov* that the settlement of the affairs of Greece was to be a condition of the re-establishment of the Russian Mission at Constantinople. So far has the British Gov* been from at any time admitting such an understanding, that in a note addressed by my Predecessor to Count Lieven in the month of April, 1822 ... an extract of which I enclose . . . Lord Londonderry expressly declared 'that in order to renew with effect the good offices of the British Gov^ at Constantinople, His Majest}' deemed it essential that His Ambassador at the Porte should be authorized to give a formal assurance to the Porte that the Emperor of Russia limited and confined his views to the conditions therein set forth, and that upon those conditions being fulfilled His Majesty would forthwith take measures for renewing his diplomatic relations with the Porte. These conditions were . . .' We are far from saying that such an arrangement ma}^ not be fit to be made, or that it may not be right hereafter to advise, and even for the sake of humanity to insist upon it. But what it is intended to affirm is that this is not the Greek question which we ever have understood the Emperor of Russia to bring forward, or certainly which we ever undertook to press upon the Turkish Ministry as a condition on the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and the Porte. . . . Your Excellency will see by this despatch that the unlucky or mischievous publication in a Constantinople newspaper of a letter from Count Nesselrode to Lord Strangford of the 7th of May (of that part of it I mean which relates to Greece) has excited at Constantinople those very alarms which I have been describing as probable, and has produced an angry temper in the Turkish Gov' which the actual opening of that Con- ference could not fail to confirm and to exasperate. 214 FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS [CH. vii. To open such a Conference, therefore, while the issue of the present negociations is in suspense, would, as it appears to us, greatly diminish the chance of a satis- factory result to those negociations. . . . We think that these objections would be removed in a great degree by postponing the discussion till all the other purely Russian questions shall have been decided, and until the relations of Russia with the Porte shall have changed their present equivocal character and have become like those of Austria, France, and England relations of a perfectly friendly Power. . . . George Canning. Canning to Bagot. {Private and Gloucester Lodge, confidential.) January 22, 1824. My dear Charles, Blessings on the man who ' first invented sleep,' says Sancho Panza. Blessings on him who invented procrastination, which is akin to sleep : for by mere perseverance in tranquillity, here have I the assurance that the object of my long Despatch is achieved, before it takes its departure. It goes, however, that you may see why you have done right in pressing the Russ into a corner ; and that you may give the Russ reason to laud himself for having behaved as a man in a corner should do. You have done a great service in setting Strangford at liberty to act ; and Strangford, I hope, will make a good use of the liberty which you have obtained for him. Really, on looking back to the course of the negotia- tion at Constantinople, it is quite surprising to see how cleverly the Ct. of St. P. has contrived for three years to elude the declaration which you have at last extorted from them ; and to keep us going on all the time as if 1824] MISSION TO THE PORTE 21 5 it had furnished us with something to say on its behalf. Do you remember the story of the Barber's brother, who to obh'ge a neighbour gets into his mill wheel, and consents to turn it for half an hour ; but being once in, is whipped on, every time that he attempts to pause; the miller in the meantime turning his thoughts to his other business ? Strangford has been like this man, and if the wheel had not been stopped by that little despatch which you allude to as having been exported from Vienna, he would have gone on, turning and grinding, another three years, without being allowed to get out, or coming to any conclusion. The restoration of the Russian Mission at Constan- tinople is the greatest point gained this many a day : and on the morning on which the Ambassador — or Minister — (for I will not quarrel for degrees) leaves St. Petersburgh, you may get something to drink — what you please — the liquid bubble in the inside of a frozen bottle of usquebaugh if you will — and charge it to the office. I will face out Hume himself on that article of your extraordinaries. In return for this good work, I hope you will admit that I have done you a benevolent turn in ridding you of your Yankee colleague in the N. W. Coast negotia- tion.* Rush, as I told you, writes to his colleague in something like the tone of the enclosed Memorandum. You are to observe, however, that though not sorry to part on this occasion, we are on the amicablest of terms. Notwithstanding my separate despatch of this date (which is every word of it true) I have very little doubt that the President was encouraged to make his * Canning desired (on January 6) that the negotiations at St. Peters- burg on tlic north-west coast of America and the Russian Ukase of 182 1 should proceed separately between the three countries con- cerned. Therefore Bagot had no longer to consider Mr. Middleton in negotiating, but onlv to deal with the Russian representative (see Rush's ' Court of London,' p. 433). 2l6 FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS [cii. vii. declaration about the South American States by his knowledge of our sentiments.* I enquired of Mr. Rush in August whether he had, or was likely to have, any instructions upon that subject. I found that he had none ; but that if ive would place ourselves on the same line with the United States by acknovoledging the S. A. States, he would say, swear, sign, anything — sub spiritu and with perfect certainty of not being disavowed — to prevent any interference on the part of the Continental Powers or Spain. We were not prepared to acknowledge immediately ; and of course we would not stipulate against Spain. Our flirtation therefore went off; but it left a tender- ness behind it. It was in the midst of this flirtation that I made the speech at Liverpool ; not in reference (as you gave me credit for doing) to Adams' harangue, but, as it has since turned out, with so much effect upon Adams, that in a conference of his own seeking with Addington,t in consequence of Rush's report of our communications, he used the phrase ' the Mother and the Daughters ' — as one quite familiar to their vocabulary. When the President's speech arrived all was consternation among the Allies — and their first suspicion was no less than a Secret Treaty with America. My despatch to Sir C. S. was written in refutation of that suspicion.:]: Rush has avowed to me that he is convinced, his Government would not have spoken out, but for what * This remark, taken with those on the subject in Canning's letter of January 9, is of interest on the question of how far the proposition known as the ' Monroe Doctrine ' was encouraged hy Canning's attitude towards maintaining the balance of power in the old world by the help of the new. On this question see ' The Growth of the Nation ' in Cambridge Modern History, vol. vii., p. 369. Also Temperley's 'Canning,' pp. 179-181. t Mr. H. N. Addington, an authority on the boundary question, who made a report on the Columbia River and Territory in 1810. X Extracts from Canning's despatch to Sir C. Stuart on the subject of what afterwards became known as the Monroe Doclrmc follow. i824] RUSH'S AVOWAL 21/ passed between us : but that is a moral, not a political, and accidental, not a contrived, much less a stipulated, consequence of our intercourse. The President's speech, however, contained another declaration* with which we were not likel}^ to be so much satisfied, I mean that respecting Colonization. I told Rush plainl3^that I must remonstrate strongly upon that point, unless he could explain it to me. He could explain it no otherwise than as pointed at Russia. ' Well then,' said I, ' if such is your feeling towards Russia, how can you expect us, who have no such ground of difference with Russia, to join ournegotiations to yours ? Consent to the separation, and I will say nothing about the principle, but will be satisfied with your assurance that you do not mean no! This was the substance, though the form was not so short and peremptory. The result is what you see, as to the Petersburg negotiation ; and an adjournment of our N.W. discussion with the U.S. till nearer the expiration of the Convention of 1818. But though you do not negotiate jointly with Mr. Middleton, you must nevertheless — ' Be kind and courteous to that gentleman, Hop in his walks and gambol in his eyes, Feed him with apricocks and dewberries. 't As I did Mr. Hughest at Liverpool. The effect of the ultra-liberalism of our Yankee co-operators, on the ultra-despotism of our Aix la * President Monroe's declaration and message, the latter arriving at the end of 1823, embodied the principle that the United States would henceforth object to any of the Powers of Europe establishing colonies on either of tlie continents of America. t Titania, in ' A Midsummer Night's Dream.' X Christopher Hughes (see note, p. 199), United States Charge d' Affaires at Stockholm. Canning proposed his health at a ,dinner in Liverpool in 1823 hi a complimentary speech on our relations with the United States, to which speccli he alludes earlier in this letter. 2l8 FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS [CH. vii. Chapelle allies, gives me just the balance that I wanted.* But you may assure the Emperor of Russia that I am highly and duely sensible of H.I. M.'s condescension, and truly ambitious to deserve his good opinion : and when he has sent his Mission to Constantinople, will talk Greek with him if he pleases. Ever affectionately yours, G. C. The following Memorandum was enclosed with the above letter : Memorandum. [Copy.'] {Secret.) January, 1824. The original Instruction to Sir Charles Bagot was to proceed to negotiate with the Court of St. Petersburgh directly and separately. That course of proceeding was suspended in conse- quence of the intimation received through Mr. Rush, and probably through Mr. Middleton, that the latter might expect instructions from his Government to propose uniting the negotiations of the United States and Great Britain. There was no indisposition on the part of Great Britain to do this. But the principle laid down with respect to Coloniza- tion in the speech of the President of the United States (to which Great Britain does not assent) must be so * This sentence sums up in a few words what Canning meant by 'calhng in the New World to redress the balance of the Old,' while the next sentence contains his determination with regard to negotiating with Russia on the question of Greece and Turkey, which was that the existence of an accredited Russian Minister to the Porte should be a sine qua non to an\' Conference on tlie subject so far as England was concerned. It is also a reply to what Bagot had written to him on December 17, 1823, regarding the expressions of personal good feeling towards Canning himself expressed by the Emperor in a private interview. This is referred to later as an example of how much, or rather how little, effect the Emperor's wish to ' be kind and courteous to that gentleman ' had upon the British Minister, unless he got his own way (see p. 204). i824] RUSSIAN PROMISES 219 particularly displeasing to Russia, that it may be expected to create some difficulty in the negotiation between Russia and the United States. At all events it must interpose a difficulty to that union of counsels between the United States and Great Britain, without which concert would not be advantageous. Under these circumstances it is not thought advisable to send Sir C. Bagot fresh instructions for a tripartite negotiation. He is directed to proceed in the course in which he began, and for which alone his present instructions and full powers authorize him. The settlement between the United States and Great Britain stands for five years yet to come on the Con- vention of 1818. Canning to Bagot. Foreign Office, {Official. Copy^ January 23, 1824. ... I have received His Majesty's Commands to signify to Your Excellency His Majesty's gracious approbation of the judicious and well timed exercise of Your Excellency's discretion by which the Russian Gov^ has been at length brought to a point as to the re-establishment of the Russian Mission at Constanti- nople.* It is a great satisfaction to His Majesty now to understand that that most desirable result of the long protracted and difficult negotiations of Lord Strangford will take place immediately upon the consent of the Turks to complete the evacuation of the Principalities. * * * * * The definite promise of the Russian Mission, and the * M. dc Ribeaupierrc was oflicially nominated in June for the post, but it was never officially announced ; and he was not sent out, as Canninrt determined he should he, before England joined in the preliminaries for a Conference on Greek affairs. 220 FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS [CH. vii. disposition on the part of the Court of St. Petersburgh to postpone the Greek Conference, do in effect exactly meet the object of my despatch No. [omitted], and will prepare Count Nesselrode to receive the communication of its contents without any feeling of disappointment. I read that despatch to Count Lieven yesterday, who . . . was of course not prepared to acquiesce in the conclusion of the despatch, although he could not deny the justness of the reasoning. . . . George Canning. Stratford Canning to Bagot. Foreign' Office, January 23, 1824. My dear Bagot, ... I am still, however, a Yankee in point of occupations, though not of position;* Huskisson and myself being appointed to treat with Rush (and the Colleague — whom he at one time expected, but who is not now to come) of sundry grave and head- breaking subjects.! Our conferences began this morning ; but whether they will terminate in a com- plete clearance of our manifold causes of heart-burning and occasional quarrel, or in water of the very clearest description, remains to be seen. It would afford me sincere pleasure to be concerned in giving a permanent and practical character to that improved state of public feeling on both sides, which principally originated with you ; and there is no denying that the moment appears a favourable one for such an undertaking ; but there are so many points of rivalship between the two countries, with so much prejudice on one side, and so much forwardness, not to say impudence, on * Stratford Canning liad recently returned from the post of Minister to the United States. For this meeting with Rush, see page 166 (note). t For the particular subjects, see ' Residence at the Court of London,' by Richard Rush (United States Minister, 18 19- 1825), p. 434. i824] 'ALL THIS WON'T DO' 221 the Other, that I almost despair of ever seeing my wishes on that subject realized. I see that you are about to plunge into 3^our North- Western negotia- tions, and I congratulate you most heartily on having at least to swim in that element without an attendant Yankee offering a cork-jacket, and watching his oppor- tunity to put your head under water. . . . Yours most sincerely, S. C. CaiiJiing to Bagot. Gloucester Lodge, January 22, 1824. My dear Charles, In reference (as we often, perhaps too often, begin our despatches) to your conference with H.I.M., I enclose you a copy of a private letter which I had occasion to write to H. Wellesley some months ago, which having read I must request you to return to me. I do not mean it as a scolding. But I do wish strongly to impress upon you, as well as H. W., that the Allies must not be allowed to suppose that our difference (where we do differ) from them is merely a feint to avoid conflict with public opinion, while in our hearts we are with them, and wish success to all their under- takings. This is the tone which Count Lieven, etc., tried for a long time to assume with me. On voyait bien, that we could not join with them at Verona, on fietoit pas exigeant — on ne desiroit pas nous comproniettre avec le Parlement — Mais an fond — mais en realite — mais dans laconfiance intime, etc. ' We all meant the same thing/ though we must have certain management, meme certaines divergences asscz prononcees, etc. All this won't do. There are real, fundamental, essential, irreconcileable differences of principle, and every attempt to represent them as trifling or fictitious we must steadily repel. 222 FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS [CH. VII. The times are really too big for compromise of this sort. If things are prevented from going to extremities it must be by our keeping a distinct middle ground between the two conflicting Bigotries and staying the plague both ways. Here now is a note from Spain inviting us to a con- ference on S. America : a conference at Paris* — and the note begins with representing the said Conference as a consequence happily resulting from the Councils of Verona, and the invasion of the Peninsula ! and this to us ! Conference there shall be none. I am sorry that my answer to Spain is not ready to send before the departure of this messenger. But I do not like to detain him for a copy of it, and it is yet to be discussed and settled in Cabinet. This only is sure. Conference there shall be none : with us in it. You may safely assume this point : and ground it, in default of a more seasoned statement, on reference to what is said of a Congress in my conference with the P. de P. [Polignac]. Lieven 1 dare say will send a messenger as soon as I can communicate to him our answer to the Spanish note : and then you shall have a more complete instruc- tion upon it. Ever affectionately yours, Geo. Canning. * Ferdinand, King of Spain, invited his ' dear and intimate allies ' to a Conference at Paris to 'aid Spain in adjusting the affairs of the revolted colonies of America.' The ' dear allies ' were the Courts of Paris, St. Petersburg, and Vienna. A copy of the invitation only was sent to the British Minister at Madrid, an indirect and unusual invitation to a great Power. Canning refused to take part. The United States, by a message from the President to Congress, assumed much the same position. The firm attitude of Canning and the President reduced the Con- ference to a farce. Canning here took the first definite step towards ' calling in the New World,' and his decided expression in this letter is of much interest (see Walpolc's ' History,' vol. ii., p. 360 d seq.). i824] THE HAGUE 223 Canning to Bagof. Gloucester Lodge, {Pyivatc.) January 22, 1824. Now for your own private affairs. I intend 3^ou for the Hague. I have taken the King's pleasure thereupon. But time and mode remain to be contrived, and the most essential points, to give effect to that contrivance, is that the Hague should remain an Embassy: which I am by no means sure that it will,* Thus stands the matter. In the month of March last, Fagelf sounded me; whether I could recall Lord Clancarty,} intimating plainly that he was become disagreeable to the K. of the N. I was not at all surprised at this, but I said that I could not recall Lord C. on that ground, unless I might state it to the King (my master), and that other ground I had none ; as CI. was doing his business very well ; and he was perhaps of all others the Minister whom I should feel the greatest delicacy about dis- placing. Fagel said that he was not authorized to allow me to use the confidence he had made to me of his King's dislike to Cly, and so nothing was done. Soon after this, I think, it was that I received your Hagueish letter.§ In the summer Fagel went home on leave. While he was at Brussels the K. of the N. pressed him to become Nagel'sH successor on his (N.'s) intended retire- * Holland and Belgium, though Protestant and Catholic respec- tively, had been joined in one kingdom, under William I., bj' the Treaty of Vienna. It remained an Embassy till the Belgians revolted in 1830. t Netherlands Minister in London. X Ambassador to the Netherlands. § Bagot had asked Canning to transfer him to a position nearer home (see letter, p. 201). II Foreign Minister for the Netherlands. 224 FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS [CH. vii. ment at the beginning of this year. Fagel accepted, and immediately repented of his acceptance : but said nothing of his repentance till he came back to England. Early in October he told me of his new destination, and announced his approaching recall : entreating me at the same time to try if I could find any means of diverting his promotion, and keeping him here. He told me at the same time (perhaps as an induce- ment to me to exert myself to that effect) that his King had a notion of ending the Embassy in the person of his (F.'s) succession to a Mission. On repeating what passed between Fagel and me to the King, H. My — whose sagacity you know, and whose information as to the feelings of the K, of the N. you (who have been an Under Secretary of State) can account for — was instantly struck with the probability that the recall of Fagel on the discontinuance of the Embassy was a device to get rid of Cly. H. My really wished to serve poor Fagel (who had conceived a horror at his new appointment so great as to induce him to write to his King to decline it), and so keep him here : and for this reason, and perhaps for others 'him thereunto moving,' H. My at once offered to write himself to Cly to advise him to resign. He approved (H. My said) of my delicacy in refusing to act upon the suggestion conveyed to me from the K. of the N. in the Spring. He thought it would be hard to leave it upon me to take such a step with regard to CI. now, or at any time. But he saw that the K. of the N. was resolved to get rid of him, and rather than the Embassy should be lost in the scuffle, he would himself suggest to CI. the propriety of removing him- self. His My wrote, as he said he would. CI. instantly sent his resignation : but utterly denied that he was disagreeable to the K. of the N. — and, what passes human assurance, the K. of the N. denied it too, turned i8=4] POOR M. IvUiEL 225 round upon Fagel for having represented his feelings falsely, reviled him for having withdrawn his consent to be Foreign Minister, and swore that, as he would not serve his King in one capacity, he should not continue to serve him in any other, and that his func- tions as Ambassador should cease at the same time with Cl.'s! So said, so done. Fagel is recalled, avcc tme disgrace cclatantc : and though, upon the knowledge of our King's remon- strance against the change of Embassy into Mission, the K. of the N. consents to replace Fagel by an Ambassador, he has almost given it to be understood that it is the last turn of a Mission of that order, and that when another change takes place it will be for a Minister of the second order. Now this is very probably said because the K. of the N. knows from Fagel that Granville is likely to have another destination,* and therefore that he shall spite everybody — the King, me, Granville, and Fagel — at one blow. As to the Dutch King's wish to have CI. recalled, I can bear witness for Fagel that he was instructed to press me to recall him. Vidi egomet. His King has the effrontery to deny it now, knowing that poor Fagel dares not disprove the denial, which, how- ever, he has in his power. But though this is certain, I am not so certain that dislike to CI. (however natural) was the only or the main cause of the King's wish to get him removed. I am not certain that the reduction of the Embassy was not all along his pressing object, and Cl.'s recall and Fagel's promotion the means of accomplishing it. For if to be rid of CI. was what he wanted, why be angry with Fagel for having been the cause, though not the voluntary cause, of the success of an object which he had six months before been ordered to * Lord Granville, who went to The Hague for a short time, was appointed Ambassador in Paris in the following October. VOL. 11. 15 226 FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS [CH. vil. solicit ? Whereas if economy was the purpose, and the removal only the way to it, then one can account for the Dutch Monarch's rage at being thus thwarted by the accomplishment of his own request. Recalling Fagel, he thought the field clear if Cly was recalled also, or that he could force Cl.'s departure by replacing Fagel with a Minister. But the notifica- tion of Cl.'s resignation was accompanied with that of Granville's appointment to succeed him ; and it had been preceded by Fagel's refusal of Secretaryship of State, and the expression of our King's wish that Fagel should remain Ambassador. Here therefore, instead of the removal of obstacles to the economical plan, were two new obstacles erected ! and the K. of the N.'s dislike to Cly betrayed to Cly into the bargain. If all he cared about was Cly, he might have stomached the rest : but if he had the ulterior object of the saving in his mind, no wonder that he was in a fury at his disappointment. Now in this state of things it is impossible to say when it may be safe to move Granville, even if the opening for him were prepared, which it is not. It would indeed be an embarrassment rather than a facility to prepare it at this moment : and there are difficulties in the way of that preparation which time or chance must remove. We must therefore take time and chance to our aid. If I can keep the Hague, and when I can vacate it, you shall have it. Meantime, I suppose, you would not like to let go where you are. Put off, therefore, your leave of absence as long as you can without inconvenience : and we will see what is to be done. P.S. — I have not mooted the question whether or no ive could keep an Embassy at the Hague with only an Envoy from the Dutch Kg. here. 1824] SECRECY AT CZERNOVITZ 227 It has been done formerly with republican Holland. But I have some suspicion that the Dutch Kg. dislikes an English Embassy chez liti from pride as much as a Dutch one here from economy. The three foregoing letters are not written in Canning's usually clear and legible handwriting, and are in places difficult to decipher; but the reason is explained by the following letter to Bagot, dated from Gloucester Lodge the next day, and marked ' Private': You know that I have had a sivingeiiig fit of the gout. I am afraid that you will think that my hand- writing in my three private letters savours of it. In truth, however, it is not feebleness, but excessive occupation* that has made me, as I find upon reading my letters over this morning I am, nearl}^ illegible. I am tolerably well again, and by dint of the patience and long suffering with which I went through my. last attack, I hope clear for the Session. P.S. — Do you want attaches? Mr. Cathcart shall stay with you till April. By that time I will send you a new Secretary of Embassy. The next letter is in cypher, with postscript and signature in Canning's handwriting; it refers to a private letter accompanying a despatch (No. 46) from Bagot to Canning, of November 22, 1823, on the subject of the secrecy which had been preserved as to the arrangements with regard to Turkey and Greece that had been discussed by the two Emperors at Czernovitz. In it he had told Canning that he had adopted an atti- * Canning's friLud Lord Dudley wrote of him in August, 1827 : ' His habits of industry must appear quite incredible to those who did not know him. I met him once at a country house, where he went for what he was pleased to call his holidays. He had his secretaries about him soon after eight, had despatches ready before breakfast, then wrote all day till six. At tea-time he established himself in a corner of the drawing-room to write his private letters ; and this every day, only now and then with the exception of a ride, and even during that he talked eagerly and fully upon public affairs ' (' Lord Dudley's Letters to Ivy,' p"327). 15—2 228 FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS [Cl\. vil. tude of being much affronted,* and pretending that Nesselrode's attitude in giving no information led him to infer that he had lost the confidence of the Emperor; he had 'desired an interview with Nesselrode, who I was well aware expected, as did the Emperor, the rattling which he got.' There is then an account of the inter- view, at which, after a time, Nesselrode interrupted Bagot in his complaint of the secrecy of what was decided about Turkey and Greece between the Em- perors, and said that he could 'officially assure him that at the time when Czernovitz was fixed upon as the place of interview there was no idea or intention whatever of discussing the affairs of Turkey, and that he did not know till I told him that Lord Strangford had been invited to attend there . . . these unexpected assertions . . . entirely altered my ground . . . they were sufficient for my purpose, and it would have answered no end to push the matter further.' The French Ambassador, the letter goes on to say, made a similar complaint of having received no information, but admitted that he had not so much ground of complaint as had his British colleague. Canning to Bagot. Foreign Office, January 29, 1824. My dear Charles, In the multitude of matters about which I had to write to you by the last messenger, public and private, I overlooked your despatch No. 46 and your private letter reporting the remonstrance you had made to Count Nesselrode on the subject of that despatch. To set your mind at ease, you did perfectly right in making that remonstrance, and perfectly right also in not pushing it further than you did. We had communications from Vienna of the intended * In a previous private letter on October 29 Bagot had written to Canning : ' Do you wish me to be affronted at not having been apprized of the intended interview at Czernovitz, or shall I not mind about it and bear it as one of the sneaps diplomacy is heir to ? My brother of France is furious.' i824] INDISCREET PHILANTHROPY 229 meeting at Czernovitz,* and also of Prince Metternich's voluntary proposal to Lord Strangford to take upon himself to attend that meeting. The notice, it is true, was not given in ver}' good time, and if Lord Strangford had been sent upon an interview with the Autocrats, he might have exercised his discretion very inconveniently before my caution not to stir could reach him. However, as no practical inconvenience has occurred, and as all is now over, and everybody in good humour, I do not think it worth while to stir the matter any more, but I thought you would like to know you had not done wrong. P.S. — Count Lieven will send a messenger early next week, b}^ whom I will transmit to you a copy of our answer to the Spanish Invitation.f Ever, my dear Charles, Yours most affectionately, G. C. Rt. Hon. Sir' Henry IVel/es/ey, G.C.B.,X to Bagot. Vienna, {P rival c.) March 4, 1824. My dear Charles, I have received a letter from Strangford, dated the nth of February, by which it appears that he is at this moment upon a very bad footing with the Ottoman Government, owing to their having discovered that several lonians have been employed during sixteen months in recruiting at Constantinople for the Greeks * The meeting of the Emperors of Russia and Austria, accompanied by Nesseh'ode and Metternich, in the autumn of 1823, already aUudcd to, when Nesseh^ode drew up a Memorandum suggestint^ the divisi(in of Greece, to the preHminary sentence of which Memorandum Canning objected, as it appeared to postpone the Russian Mission to the Porte. t Spain made a last effort to retain Iier colonies by diplomacy, and invited the Powers to a conference in Paris on the question, but Great Britain held aloof, and nothing came of it (see Canning's letter on p. 222). X Ambassador at Vienna. 330 FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS [CH. vil. in the Morea. Lists of the persons there enrolled have been discovered, and members of our septinsular subjects have been taken up ; this together with Lord Byron's proceedings,* who has established himself in Cephalonia, from whence he distributes his succours to the insurgents, have made the Turkish Government furious ; nevertheless it appears by despatches from the Internuncio and the Prussian Envoy, of the same date as Strangford's letter, that Minciackyf has been perfectly well received, and that the negociations are going on with a fair prospect of terminating success- fully. This is the news from Constantinople. As to other news, I suppose your Court feels as we do upon the American question. I have no idea that any ad- vantage would accrue to Ferdinand from a conference. He must in the end acknowledge the independence of the Colonies, but he will never follow our suggestion unless it is supported by the advice of the Allies, and I doubt whether our refusal to assist at a conference will not rather retard than accelerate the settlement of this question. Prince Metternich is extremely moderate upon the whole question, and appears to understand it so well, that I cannot but wish he and Mr. Canning could have a meeting upon it.+ In Cypher. Strangford states in his letter that, in this state of things, you will easily imagine the Russian and Sardinian affairs are altogether suspended; and there * The London Committee of Philhcllcnes had requested Lord Byron to take part in the emancipation of Greece, and he had sailed from Genoa for Cephalonia in the preceding July. He had landed at Missolonghi in January, and died there in the following April. t Russian Envoy sent to Turkey to arrange commercial matters. X This may be noted as a parallel to the Emperor Alexander's similar polite wish about Canning, expressed to the Ambassador at the Russian Court, and previously referred to ; but Canning was not to be persuaded to listen to the Holy Alliance as easily as his Ambassadors. Of congresses and conferences ' there shall be none.' 1824] SIR ALEXANDER MALET 231 is not the slightest chance of my being soon able to resume either negotiation. In fact, I very much fear that our influence here has received a mortal blow. This must either be greatly exaggerated, or else he must have deceived his colleagues as to the extent of the mischief. Most affectionately yours, H. Wellesley. Cmtning to Bagot. • Foreign; Office, April 20, 1824. {Private.) {Received May 13 by Sir Alex. Malet.) The young one whom I send out to you as Attache appears a very gentlemanlike 3^oung one, and of good reputation at Christ Church. The enclosed letter from C. W. W. Wynn contains the best account of him. I have not been able to see more of him than a couple of short interviews at the F.O., but what I have seen I like. I will send you another Attache by the next messenger : and then, but not before, you may let Waddington come away. "^ Enclosure. My dear Canning, I yesterday took an opportunity of making enquiry from Lord Grenville about Sir Alexander Malet,* whose letter I return to you. I find that he is the son of a Sir Charles Warre Malet, who, being the representative of an ancient but decayed family in Somersetshire, was recommended by Sir William * Sir Alexander Malet, Bart. (1800-1885), K.C.B., entered the Diplo- matic service on this occasion. He was subsequently Secretary of Legation at Lisbon, The Hague, and Vienna, and Minister at Frank- fort. He was the father of the late distinguished diplomatist. Sir Edward Malet. -32 FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS [cH. vii. Wyndham to my grandfather, G. Grenville, and by him sent out to India. He was Resident for many years with the Peishwa, and bore a high character. He left a large famil}^ and this is the eldest son, who has been educated at Ch. Ch., and is, I believe, well spoken of. Lord Grenville took occasion when he excused him- self from applying to you to explain to Sir A. P. how little prospect there was that the situation of Attache, even if he could obtain it, would lead to any more permanent Diplomatic appointment. Ever most faithfully yours, C. W. Williams Wynn. Cmming to Bagot. Foreign Office, April 20, 1824, {Private.) By the enclosed copy of a letter from Mr. Pell}^* (from Pellis, a skin) you will gather that I have the * Mr. J. H. Pell}', Chairman of the Hudson's Bay Company. He wrote to Canning from Hudson's Bay House in London, giving his views on what should be the line of demarcation between Russian and British territory in North-West America, on January 8. The Russians claimed a boundary as far south as Litka, in lat. 57°, a place ' not laid down,' Canning says in a long dispatch of January 15 on the subject, 'in our maps,' but in a Russian map of 1802. Canning's dispatch says this place had been placed on the continent in a map sent to the British Ambassador, but Pelly points out that the Russians had no settlements as far south on the mainland, and that Litka was, as a matter of fact, on an island, and could give Russia no claim on the mainland. Lat. 55° is the boundary-line Canning proposes in his dispatch. Russia claimed by their Ukase of 1821 lat. 57° as their southern boundary; the United States proposed lat. 55°. Canning writes : ' It does not seem very uncharitable to suppose that tlie object of the United States in making a selection, otherwise wholly arbitrary, of these two points of limitation, or British dominion, was to avoid collision with Russia themselves, and to gratify Russia at the expense of Great Britain.' Canning in this dispatch refers to his interview with Mr. Rush, when he asked for an explanation of the ' Monroe doctrine ' — ' this extraordinary doctrine,' as he calls it — and to finding that Rush had no instructions on it, but that he (Rush) considered it aimed at Russia, I 1824] A NAME TO CONJURE WITH 233 consent of the Fur Companies to close with the Russian Proposal, and could therefore, if 1 thought proper, instruct you to agree and sign. But I think it better not to take that determination without having heard what Lieven has to sa}'. He does not own, as you see, to having received his Instructions. Does he expect full powers also? In any case, I trust the matter will be concluded either here or at St. Petersburgh before you come awa}-. You shall have the means of coming in June; that is to say, both a ship to bring you and a Secretary of Embassy in whose hands you may leave your Mission ; but who that will be I cannot yet tell. I am trying to persuade Mr. Gordon (from Vienna)* to take it for the job — in his way to promotion ; but he has gotten it into his head that he ought to be promoted without it ; and has (like everybody else in the Line) a positive promise to that effect to plead. / never promise at all. You rejoice, I doubt not, to see how we are sailing before the wind. You remember how early I told you that the * name ' that I meant to * conjure with ' was ' England,' and the spell has worked as I intended, f and not England, and as a 'set-off against the maritime pretensions of the Russian Ukase' of 1821. In the records of the Embassy from which this note is taken, the details and dispatches connected with the whole question of the north-west coast of America are carefully preserved, and might be of interest to a student of the special subject, but, beyond a brief reference, are outside the scope of this work. The history of the Russian and American claims may be found in Stapleton's ' Some Correspondence of George Canning,' vol. ii., where Mr. Addington's memorandum of May, 1810, on the Columbia River and adjacent territory is given. * A brother of the fourth Lord Aberdeen. Afterwards Sir Roloert Gordon, G.C.B. t On November 5, 1822, Canning wrote to Bagot from Walmer Castle, ' You . . . know what I mean when I say that for Europe I shall be desirous now and then to read England ' (p. 138), a policy which he elaborated and explained in his great speech made at 234 FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS [CH. vii. Caiifimg to Bagot. Bath, (Private and most April 22, 1824. secret.) (Received May 13 by Sir A. Mallet.) My dear Charles, How in the Devil's name has this happened ? Your Yankee colleague at St. Petersburgh writes to his Yankee colleague in London that he has * obtained from Sir C. Bagot a Secret Memorandum in Mr. C.'s own handwriting purporting to be a statement of his (Mr. C.'s) conversation with Mr. Rush — a copy of which he encloses,' and therewith he does enclose a paper, the copy of which is herewith enclosed to you.* Plymouth in the autumn of 1823, when he declared that ' England is not called on to mix itself on every occasion ... in the concerns of the nations which surround us' — a broad hint to the Holy Alliance. In this speech he justifies his action in refusing to allow England to be drawn into war by public feeling in favour of Spain when threatened by France. ' While we thus control even our feelings by our duty, let it not be said that we cultivate peace either because we fear or because we are unprepared for war. . . . The resources created by peace are means of war. . . . Our present repose is no more a proof of inability to act than the state of inertness and inactivity in which I have seen those mighty masses that float in the waters above your town is a proof that they are devoid of strength, and incapable of being fitted out for action. You well know, gentlemen, how soon one of those stupendous masses, now reposing on their shadows in perfect stillness — how soon, upon any call of patriotism or of necessity, it would assume the likeness of an animated thing, instinct with life and motion ; how soon it would ruffle, as it were, its swelling plumage ; how quickly it would put forth all its beauty and its bravery, collect its scattered elements of strength, and waken its dormant thunder. . . . Such is England herself : while apparently passive and motionless, she silently concentrates the power to be put forth on an adequate occasion. But God forbid that that occasion should arise !' — possibly a hackneyed quotation, but one which stands repeating, and a fine description of the old three-decker lying at anchor in Plymouth Sound, now to be seen no more. * The copy of this Memorandum is not to be found, neither is tlicre any allusion to the subject among the archives of the .Embassy from which tlicse letters are taken. It probably refers to one of Canning's intervievk^s with Rush on Spanish-American afl"airs, possibly tlie one at Gloucester Lodge on February i, described in ' Tlie Court of London,' p. 437. That Bagot might have had some suspicions of his American colleague, with whom he was on most friendly terms, seems possible 1824] A SECRET MEMORANDUM 235 * Obtained ' from Sir C. Bagot ! Is it possible that you can have made such a communication to Mr. Middleton? ' Obtained ' in some ways perhaps. Are you sure of your locks, your keys, your servants ? Why ! this Secret Memorand — was indeed secret. It was mter arcanissima arcattoriim. Rush will stare, and calculate, and guess in more than the Yankee sense of guessing. I never was more astounded. If I had not come to Bath expressly for two da3's' quiet, I should swear. My hope is that Mrs. Middleton (if there be one) picked your pockets, as the French opera dancer at St. Petersburg once did Lord Malmesbury's. Otherwise you must have taken the drop of usque- baugh which I allowed you on the re-establishment of the Russian Mission to Constantinople prematurely. Ever affectionately yours, G. C. Caiinmg to Bagot. Bath, April 23, 1824. {Private.) {Received May 13 63' Sir A. Malet.) I came here two days ago, partly to get out of Town, and partly to see Liverpool, who is here for his health. Bath waters always do him good : and he is certainly better since he came here; but by no means from his private journal for the day on which Malet arrived with the dispatches, in which journal he records that, after opening his dispatches up to two o'clock, he drove to see Mr. Middleton, and ' urged him in the most earnest maimer not to let it transpire that I had shown him the Russian Memoir on the pacification of Greece.' This, however, is anotlier matter, hut it might give rise to a con- sideration of the question as to how tlie proposals for the division of Greece into principalities, which suhsecpicntly upset botli the (}reeks and the Turks when it appeared prematurely in a newspaper, the Coiistitutioiincl, got into print at a verj' inopportune moment (see Walpole's ' History,' vol. ii., p. 395). 236 FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS [CH. vil well. I return to Town to-morrow — he the end of next week. We hope to be able to shorten the Session, beyond all recent example — so as to be up by the middle of June. All the ' King's business,' as it used to be called in good old times — that is all the Supply — is done ; a thing very rare indeed before Easter. A messenger from Spain has followed me hither : and as Howard* tells me (yes, Howard, who is in function as Under-Secretary, loco Francis Conyngham, who is to be married to Lady Jane Paget t to-morrow) that he has detained Sir A, Malet, for the chance of my having anything to say to you in consequence — I think I may as well send you a copy of a private letter which I wrote to-day to Mr. Hervey (at Mexico); which will inform you at once of what I hear from A'Court X and of what I think of it. P.S. — Extr. of Letter from the Admlty. dated Apr. 21, 1824: 'His Majesty's Ship Thetis is ordered to be prepared to carry out H. My's Seer, of Embassy to St. Petersburgh and to bring home Sir Charles Bagot, H. My's Ambassador.' Canning to Mr. Lionel Hervey. % Bath, (Private.) [Copy.] April 23, 1824. 'My dear Sir, I enclose to you extracts of despatches which I have just received from Sir W. a'Court. I do not make them the foundation of a despatch, because I am * Lord Howard de Waldcn, Charles Ellis's eldest son. t Daughter of the first Marquess of Anglesea. X Sir W. A'Court, then Ambassador at Lisbon, afterwards Lord Heytesbury. § Lionel Charles Hervey (1784-1843), younger brother of Colonel Felton Hervey, the Duke's A.D.C. at Waterloo, who became Sir F'elton Hervey Bathurst in 1818. He had been with the Duke in Paris in 18 14, and was Secretary to the Embassy at Madrid. He was now on a mission in Mexico. i824] MEXICO 237 by no means satisfied as to the degree of credit to be attached to the authority from which Sir W. a'Court derives this intelligence. Upon the whole, however, I believe that, taken together, these reports present a tolerably just picture of the state of mind and counsel in which the Court of Madrid and the Continental Powers find themselves in respect to Spanish America. The three Military Monarchies, with Russia at their head, would willingly confer, if they knew to what end to direct their Conference. France wishes them to go on their own way, and to find a bye-way for herself between them and us, but nearer to our way than theirs, and with some slight inclination (if she knew how) to special French advantage. Spain is be- wildered and irresolute, clings to the hope of foreign assistance at one moment, despairs of the probability of obtaining it, and of its efficacy, if obtained, at the next ; and is of herself equal to no greater effort, than that of stealing out a few Officers, from time to time, to the West Indies. If you can bring the Mexicans to originate a reason- able proposition, the game will be greatly in their favour. You must not lead them to rely upon us for assistance of that sort, which we have so loudly pro- claimed our determination not to allow the Powers to furnish to Spain. We cannot give it, and Mexico, if they play their game properly, will not want it. I am, etc., Geo. Canning. Extract of a Despatch froin Sir IVilliant a'Court dated Madrid, April 12th, 1824. [Enclosure!] The project of sending a number of Officers to South America is in progress. The difficulty lies principally 238 FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS [CH. vii. in the choice, but some have, I hear, been selected, and are gradually moving down to the coast in parties not exceeding three or four together. The intention is, I understand, to embark them in the first instance for the Havannah. Canning to Bagot. Foreign Office, [Official. Copy.'] April 24, 1824. I cannot furnish Your Excellency with a better proof of the disposition of His Majesty's Govt, to cultivate and maintain the relations of intimate con- fidence so happily subsisting between His Majesty and the Emperor of Russia than by enabling you to inform Count Nesselrode that, after a full consideration of Count Nesselrode's despatches to Count Lieven on the subject of the proposed Conferences respecting the affairs of Greece, His Majesty's Govt, consent to with- draw the objection which they had urged and felt against the establishment of those Conferences at St, Petersburgh. Whenever the period for opening them shall arrive, Your Excellency is at liberty to assist at them, with the understanding, of course, that you are not to pledge His Majesty's concurrence in any specified proposition without previous reference home for the consideration and sanction of your Government, , . . With such imperfect materials before us, it is not in my power at present to frame any detailed instructions for Your Excellency, as to the part which you are to take in the discussion on the Russian Memoir; nor is the occasion indeed yet ripe for such instructions. We retain the persuasion in which P'rance and (we have strong reason to believe) Austria concurs, that the negotiations at Constantinople must be brought to their prescribed issue by the restoration of the Russian 1824] SPAIN'S ANSWER 239 Mission consequent on the evacuation of the Princi- palities, before a Conference can be avowedly opened at St. Pctersburgh on the affairs of Greece, without creating such an alarm in the Ottoman Porte, as would render that issue hopeless. . . . George Canning. Canning to Bagot. Foreign Office, May 29, 1824. {Private.) We are in the very pressure and urgency of Parlia- ment, which, though without an Opposition (and we have absolutely none) takes up my time so constantly that I have not been able to get two days together to prepare your instructions on N.W.C. and Greek Conference. I promise them for next week, you see, and I really hope, and fully mean, to keep my word ; but I shall not be surprised if I am obliged to take the Whitsuntide holidays to my aid, and to defer the actual sending off the messenger till the 8th or 9th of June. You will still have plenty of time, the sailing of your frigate (by no fault of mine) being deferred till the beginning of July. My omnium gatherum Despatch of to-day tells you all that we know upon all the subjects mentioned in it. The answer from Spain closes my correspondence upon Spanish America. It is evidently not of Spanish origin. The Count d'Ofalia, I knozv, hesitated very much to adopt the course suggested (or rather pre- scribed to him), seeing as clearly as we do that it sets us entirely free. Austria, so far from being bent upon Conferences, confesses them to be folly without us. And P>ance, so far from being pledged to them, has given us to understand t^^.^t her supposed concurrence is greatly 240 FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS [CH. vil. overstated by M. Ofalia. That concurrence is only conditional. Whence then comes the Spanish Answer ? 'Ask— Where's the North ?' The voice is the voice of Ofalia, but the hand is the hand of Pozzo*: — Pozzo's hand, however, not so rough as the natural hand of Esau, but with a kid glove on — the hairy side turned inwards. Nothing can be more smooth than the style of the Spanish Note — There is not a word to find fault with : — but the matter is (as Ofalia thought it) ruinous to Spain — being intended to be only detrimental to England. Well, we cannot help. Libcravimiis animas nostras. And there's an end. We offered to guarantee Cuba : — which, for a power so shy of guarantees, was a great offer; and might, if accepted, have involved us in great difficulties. But it is refused. And there (as I have said) is an end. A more prudent policy on the part of Spain, and one which I confess I apprehended, would have been to * bear us in hand ' awhile : — to make it impossible for us to find an apropos^ or to say as we now say, ' there's an end.' As to Lisbon, Thornton's letter (than which nothing- can be less satisfactory in point of detail) tells us all that we yet know. The origin of the Queen's conspiracy is yetuntraced. I should be loth to believe that the French were at the bottom of it. Nay, I do not believe that they suggested it, at least in the form in which it displayed itself. And that they — and others — were highly discontented with the King; and thought a stronger and more iiltragious line necessary, I am sure, and that Hyde de Neuville t individually was determined to bring French troops into Portugal, ♦ Pozzo de Borgo, Russian Ambassador at Paris. ■f French Ambassador at Lisbon, he supported Subserra and French against British influence in Portugal. He was recalled in this year at Canning's instigation. i824] PROPOSED SPANISH CONFERENCE 241 I kiioiv. — His Govt, disclaim him. They are right. That one point would be fatal to the repose of Europe. I am called to a Cabinet ; and must therefore have done. We hope to get Parlt. up by the 20th, a session unexampled in shortness as v^ell as in good humour. Extracts from a Despatch from Sir IVilliain cCCourt to Mr. Canning, dated Madrid, April 14, 1824. {Enclosed with despatch alluded to in preceding letter.) Upon the arrival at Paris of the answ^ers of Russia, Prussia and Austria, by which they consented to the establishment of Conferences upon the South American Question, as suggested in the Spanish Circular of De- cember the 26th, the Representatives of those Powers pressed the French Government to appoint a Pleni- potentiary for the same purpose. That M. de Chateau- briand replied in a very evasive manner, declining to go into Conference without some specific explanation of the views of the other Allies, and without knowing what sacrifices they were respectively prepared to make to further the views of Spain, in the event of any obstacles arising to prevent the execution of their decisions. The Spanish Government had been advised to demand to the Courts of St. Petersburgh, Berlin and Vienna, how far it might rely upon their support, in men and money, for the recovery of the Colonies in case of emergency. My informant considered this measure as calculated and meant to put an end to the proposed Conferences, and that it would ultimately lead to an application to England and France for their joint mediation, ad- mitting, perhaps, the independence of some of the Colonies as the basis of negotiation. VOL. II. 16 CHAPTER VIII PORTUGAL AND SPANISH AMERICA Sir Charles Bagot records in his private Journal on June 17 having received Canning's despatches of May 29. On June 17 and July 6 he took part in two preliminary meetings of the Conference on Greek affairs, to which Canning had determined no British Minister should be accredited until a Russian Minister had been sent to Constantinople. Bagot had under- stood that the conditions Canning required had been fulfilled by Russia, and that he would be justified in attending preliminaries. Canning's official despatch of January 15, before reproduced, saying that the British Ambassador ' might be further instructed to assist at such a Conference (in its preliminary stages) under certain circumstances,' or his later despatch of April 24, gave him, no doubt, some encouragement. The Con- ference, however, took place at a most inopportune moment, with results which are described in the next chapter. The Journal goes on to say: 'They [the despatches] set me at ease as to my having taken part in the Conferences. . . . These despatches had all been opened at the Russian Foreign Office, which I am glad of, as there is a private letter of Canning's which it may be very wholesome for their Govt, to have seen.' Lord Strangford at Constantinople was endeavouring to encourage the Turks to carry out their intentions of withdrawing their troops from Greece. On May 12 he wrote to Bagot, giving an example of the difficulties of dealing with a Turkish Government. 242 i824] NEWS FROM TURKEY 243 Lord Strangford to Bagot. COXSTANTIN'OPLE, May 12, 1824. . . . Minciaky, who is really and bona fide one of the best of good fellows, is amazingly popular here, not only among us Christians, but among our infidel friends on the other side of the Golden Horn. ... If our new Russian colleague* be like him, Russia may do here whatever she pleases. ... 1 do not mean to write officially . . . till I shall have received from the Porte an official assurance that the evacuation has been actually ordered. And this communication I do not expect to receive . . . until the beginning of June. The niarche of the Porte in this affair is perfectly Turkish. The evacuation is resolved upon. But the Sultan feels the mortification of being obliged to retreat from the negative which he so strongly maintained in November last. His Ministers wished to save his honour and their own, and the mode which they have struck out is this : They have hitherto justified the presence of the troops by saying that they were quartered in the Principalities at the request of the Hospodars. It is therefore thought necessary that the Hospodars should unsay this, and accordingly orders have been sent to them to address forthwith a Memorial to the Porte, stating that the presence of the troops is no longer required, and begging that they may be with- drawn. I have this information from the most undoubted authority — the secret orders of the Porte were sent off on the night of the 7th. . . . You will have heard of Lord Byron's death at Missolonghi ... it is lament- * The Russian Minister to the Porte, promised, but never sent (M. de Ribcaupierre). 16 — 2 244 PORTUGAL AND SPANISH AMERICA [CH. viil. able that such a man should have thrown away his life in such a manner. . . . Lord Strangford complains of the difficulties of his position with the Turks while large sums of money were being sent to the Greeks in British vessels, saying, of course the Turks thought he was playing a double game, not believing that sums such as ;^3o,ooo in sovereigns could be sent out from England without the licence of the Government. On June 5, Bagot, in an official despatch to Canning, wrote : I have now the satisfaction to acquaint that the day before yesterday Count Nesselrode informed me that H.I.M. had consented to take this step [that is, of sending a Minister to Constantinople], and that I was at liberty to state to Lord Strangford that M. de Ribeaupierre had been designated to fill the office of Imperial Minister at the Porte, whenever his lordship should announce that the evacuation had been completed. He enclosed by the same post a copy of a despatch written to Lord Strangford to the same effect, and goes on to say in his despatch to Canning that from letters received from Strangford, dated as late as May 12, he feels confident that before his despatch can reach Constantinople Strangford will be able to write to say that the Turks had fulfilled their engagement of evacuating the Principalities in Greece. Canning to Bagot. Foreign Office, [Official. Copy.] June 29, 1824. . . . The reports which I had just received from Lord Strangford when I last wrote to Your Excellency, i824] A PREMATURE PUBLICATION 245 encouraged me to hope that before this time I should have to announce to your Excellency the actual evacuation of the Principalities. But by despatches received a few days ago, it appears that that consummation is still deferred, though Lord Strangford's hopes of its accomplish- ment are not diminished. Lord Strangford, however, was not aware at the date of those despatches, of the unfortunate publica- tion in a Paris newspaper of the text of the Russian plan for the pacification of Greece. What effect that publication, when the knowledge of it reaches Constantinople, may have upon the Councils and temper of the Divan, it is not easy to conjecture. I am loth to believe that it will undo all the good that Lord Strangford has been so long labouring to achieve, — but I confess I dread that effect,— and I shall not feel at all assured of the final success of his Lordship's negotiation (and of the con- sequent re-establishment of the Russian Mission) until we shall know that the intelligence of this publication has been received at Constantinople and has proved harmless. This is the second time within twelve months that the unaccountable disclosure of a Russian State Paper to the world has thrown back the work of years, and placed in jeopardy the peace of Europe. Unquestionably the Russian Govt, must feel a deep indignation at such repeated violations of its con- fidence. But whatever be the origin of the disclosure, the mischief arising from it is extreme, and so long as the extent of that mischief is unascertained, it is im- possible to think of taking any steps towards the opening of the Conferences on Greece. . . . George Canning. 246 PORTUGAL AND SPANISH AMERICA [CH. viii. Camting to Bagot. Foreign Office, June 29, 1824. {Private.) {Received July 15 by post.) I did my best to endeavour to persuade Mr. Gordon to accept the Secretaryship of Embassy at St. Peters- burgh : — but he would not. He has judged unwisely for himself, as well as inconveniently for the King's service : but I cannot help it. Mr. Ward has a reasonably fair claim to the appoint- ment, having been so many years acting en chef, though in a subordinate character, and at an inconsiderable, but not therefore an untroublesome. Court.* I select him the rather on account of his relationship.! 1 will hurry your frigate all I can. I have put the drawing of your Convention:]: into good hands, which I hope will save you any trouble. P.S. — Parlt. is up — after a Session of only five months — and one in the course of which there has not been an angry discussion. Canning to Bagot. Foreign Office, [Official. Copy.-] July 23, 1824. Sir, Your Excellency's attention and that of the Court where you reside, will naturally have been attracted to the reports which have for some weeks prevailed throughout Europe of an application made by the King of Portugal to His Majesty for a military * Secretary to the Embassy at Lisbon. t As being a brotlicr-in-law of Canning's predecessor. Lord Londonderr)'. X A Convention on tlic boundaries on the north-west coast of America, wliich was to be sent to Bagot to be signed b^^ him before lie left St. Petersburg. Tiiere is a copy of it amongst liis papers. i824] PORTUGAL ASKS FOR HELP 247 aid, either British or Hanoverian, and of the sup- posed intention of His Majesty to comply with that applicatioa The relations between His Majesty and the King of Portugal are so intimate and the confidence established between them so entire, that any appeal from H.M.F. Majesty to His Ally could not fail to be listened to with kindness and respect and to be weighed with ye most considerate deliberation. . . . * * * * * His Majesty has finally decided not to send troops, either British or Hanoverian, to Portugal, and I have, by His Majesty's command, communicated to the Portuguese Minister the reasons of that decision. . . . The requisition of the Portuguese Govt, for the aid of an auxiliary force was backed with an intimation that, if Great Britain declined to send one, the French army on the frontiers of Spain were read}^ upon invitation, to march to Lisbon. The expediency of enquiring into the causes of such a requisition, before a determination could properly be taken with it or not, was thus entirely overborne by the consideration of the consequence that was to ensue from our refusal. That this consequence was not lightly assumed by the Portuguese Govt., we had the strongest reason for believing. We knew that the French Ambassador at Lisbon had repeatedly offered to the King of Portugal the services of the French army in Spain, and had openly and ostentatiously spoken of his own readiness to call for them, on the first expression of the wishes of H.M. Faithful Majesty. We knew that on one occasion, after the events of the 30th of April, he had actually summoned the 248 PORTUGAL AND SPANISH AMERICA [CH. viii. French garrison at Badajoz to Lisbon, although the good sense of the commander of that garrison had luckily disappointed this rash project. , . . ***** In the meantime, the French Ambassador here con- tinued to renew, on every occasion, the same assurances as to the determination of his Govt, not to meddle with the affairs of Portugal, and not to allow a French force to enter that Kingdom, which had been given on the first advance of the French army into Spain ; but which (it was remarkable) had never yet been tendered by the French Govt, in writing. ***** The absence of Parliament precluded the sending a British force with promptitude, even if the amount and distribution of the British army had been such as to admit of our so doing. The King was therefore advised by His Majesty's confidential servants to refer to His Govt, in Hanover the question of the possibility of promoting the re- quired aid in that Kingdom; and His Majesty was pleased to act upon this advice. In this state of things the Prince de Polignac* came to me to enquire into the origin of the rumours so generally circulated respecting an intention to send troops to Portugal, and upon my stating to him frankly the suspicions entertained of the projects of the French Ambassador at Lisbon, the Prince de Polignac engaged to require from his Govt, a complete and satisfactory explanation of the circumstances which had excited those suspicions — suspicions, the grounds of which the Prince de Polignac still professed to think unreal. * * * * # Upon these assurances (a written Memorandum of which I have now received from the Prince de * French Ambassador in London. i824] POLIGNAC INTERVENES 249 Polignac) the original orders to Hanover have been countermanded. George Canning. Memorandum of a Conversation between the Prince cie Polignac and Mr. Planta. [Enclosure. Copy.] Foreign Office, (Private.) July 24, 1824. The Prince de Polignac called here this morning. After some explanations had passed between His Excellency and me on the subject of the Oyster fisher}^, he said that he had called to make a repre- sentation to you on a subject of great interest to France and to England, on which he had received the express orders of his Court to ask for explanations from the British Government. He meant an intention which was imputed to us of occupying with our naval forces the forts at the entrance of the Tagus, and nommenicnt that of St. Julian. He said that if, in addition to the ships of war in the Tagus, we had possession of these forts also, it would amount to a complete military possession of Lisbon, which would be sufficient to hold in subjection the whole Portuguese army. Prince Polignac proceeded to state that he had the orders of his Court to declare that if such was our intention, the French Government would consider its execution as an act of military occupation of Portugal at a moment of profound peace ; that such act would oblige them immediately to retract all these friendly assurances on the subject of Portugal, which they had lately given, and which they were sincerely desirous to act up to ; and that England would have to consider that she was taking a line which might lead to *de grand inconvenience ' not only on the part of France but of the Allies also. The Prince added that he had received these positive instructions on Thursday 250 PORTUGAL AND SPANISH AMERICA [CH. viii. morning ; but that knowing you were much engaged yesterday he could not break in upon you. He had hoped to find you to-da}^, but in your absence he made the communication to me. I answered that it was one of so important a nature that I, of course, could not say one word more than that I would endeavour to report it faithfully to you — that however, without pre- suming to prejudge what your sentiments might be, he must excuse me, if I said as an individual that it did seem to me most extraordinary that this Remon- strance should come from a Power whose troops were not only in possession of all the ports of Spain, but of its capital and of the whole country. Prince Polignac replied that as to that ' malhcuraise occupation ' it brought them nothing but evil, and that they were most anxious to get out of it by any means — that Spain would never pay her proportion of their troops, and that the whole measure brought nothing but ' malheur ' upon France, from which M. de Villele was doing his best to extricate himself. I said that this question appeared to me to involve considerations of much greater importance than those of mere finance, that however disagreeable it might be to France, the occupation still continued, and that its having been stipulated for (a few weeks ago) for six months longer, did not look much like a desire on the part of France to extricate herself from it. Prince Polignac said that that was done at the earnest and anxious solicitations of the King of Spain, solicitations of such a nature that they could not be refused. I answered that if Spain made her solicitations, might not Portugal make hers, as he knew very well she had done to us lately ? and that, without the least pretend- ing to know, or to tell him, what the intentions of the Government now were, was not the question one between Portugal and England alone, and with which other Powers had nothing to do. 1824] CANNING'S REPLY 251 Prince Polignac concluded by saying that this was a subject to which his Court attached the greatest importance — that he begged I would make a detailed report to you of all he had said, and that he trusted you would allow him to see you on Tuesday in order that he might write the result of his conversation by the mail of that night. I answered that I should report to you as fully and faithfully as I was able. Prince Polignac added to what I have reported on the subject of Portugal that there were strange reports about — that he had persons coming to him from the City to inquire what we were going to do with South America ; what we were preparing as to Colombia par- ticularly ; that our funds fell 2 per cent, yesterday, that the French funds would fall too, and the Colombian funds rise : that he did not know what our interests were, but that as for him, he should prefer the funds of Europe to those of America. Canning to the Prince de Polignac. Salt Hill, \Copyi\ {Confidential) July 25, 1824. MoN Prince, I have received from Mr. Planta* a report of the conversation which Your Excellency held with him yesterday. Long experience of Mr. Planta's accuracy forbids me to imagine that any part of that report can be otherwise than correct. At the same time there are some particulars in it of such a nature that I cannot for- bear from making a few observations to yourself upon them, even before I have the honour of seeing you. Your Excellency's conversation with Mr. Planta turned on two subjects : 1. Portugal. 2. Spanish America. * Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office. 252 PORTUGAL AND SPANISH AMERICA [CH. viii. There has been every disposition on my part to give on both of these subjects explanations the most frank, and, I had flattered myself, the most satisfactory. But Your Excellency must permit me to say that the continued manifestation of that disposition will depend upon the manner and the grounds of any new enquiries. I can hardly believe, for instance, that Your Excellency can have reserved the instructions of your Government to bring forward such a proposition as * that France has an unquestionable right to maintain a military occupation of Spain in time of peace, on the ground that she does so at the request of His Catholick Majesty ; but that England has no right to send troops (if she should so think fit) to Portugal at the request of His Majesty's Ally the King of Portugal.' That no troops are now about to be sent to Portugal Your Excellency already knows ; but I think it right to apprize Your Excellency that any further enquiries of Your Excellency on that subject will lead to the neces- sity of my requiring, in return, some explanation of the views of France as to the continuance of her army in Spain, and of the conditions on which the Conven- tion between France and Spain for a prolonged occupa- tion has been concluded. Your Excellency cannot be surprized if I take the further liberty to remind you that Your Excellency has recently been authorized by your Court to avow (which Your Excellency had hitherto, I have no doubt with perfect sincerity, professed to disbelieve) that the French Ambassadors at Lisbon did summon {niande) the French garrison of Badajoz into Portugal, and did so without any requisition from His Most Faithful Majesty : and that your Govt., while it declares itself to have formally disapproved M. Hyde de Neuville's conduct in this respect, continues him nevertheless its Ambassador at Lisbon, the French army still occupying the same stations in Spain. i824] AWKWARD SUGGESTIONS 253 Under these circumstances surely a British Minister may be allowed to doubt whether it is on the part of his Govt, that further explanation can be required. As to Spanish America, not only have all questions propounded by Your Excellency to me been answered, but generally speaking every reasonable cause of in- quiry been anxiously anticipated. But when Your Excellency reverts to this subject, it will be my duty to meet Your Excellency's interrogatories with others of a corresponding nature. I St. I have yet to learn from Your Excellency whether any and what communications were made on behalf of the French Govt, to Don Augustin Iturbide, previous to his departure for Mexico. Your Excellency is already assured that none were made to him on behalf of the British Government. 2ndly. I might wish to learn the motives of the French Govt, for soliciting M. Hurtado — the agent sent from the State of Colombia to this country — to repair to Paris. 3rdly. I might also feel some desire to ascertain the object of Your Excellency's intercourse with certain agents of other of the new American States now in London. I have refrained hitherto from pressing such questions upon Your Excellency (though perfectly warranted in doing so) because I entertain no jealousy or apprehension of any approximation which France may think it advisable to make towards the new States of America, but I cannot admit the claim, on the part of Your Excellency's Govt, of a right to question me on these matters, without fairly avowing to Your Excellency that henceforth our confidences on the subject of Spanish America must be reciprocal. There is another point upon which it is desirable that Your Excellency should be prepared, before you come to the execution of your new Instructions — Your 254 PORTUGAL AND SPANISH AMERICA [CH. viii. Excellency wishes to see me on Tuesday, in order that you may report to your Court by that night's courier the answers which I shall return to your enquiries. Now, although I have always been ready (as Your Excellency has experienced) to converse with Your Excellency on all subjects, with the utmost confidence and unreserve, I must take the liberty of saying that a communication such as Your Excellency appears to have opened to Mr. Planta cannot properly be received by me otherwise than in writing. As a responsible Minister, it is my duty to be able to report without variation any communication of so serious a nature; and for the conscientious discharge of that duty, it is indispensable that such communication should assume the form of a written document. If Your Excellency should think fit to execute your instructions by an official note, there will be time to address that note to me before our meeting. If Your Excellency is to read to me a despatch from your Court, I must for the reasons above stated, express my hope, that of such despatch Your Excellency is authorized to give me a copy ; or at least to furnish me with a certified Memorandum of its contents. I have, etc., Geo. Canning. Prince PoUgnac to Canning. LOXDRES, [Cd/zV.] {Cotifidciilkllc.) Cc2j/iiilhi,iS2^. Monsieur, J'ai regu hier soir la lettre confidentielle que vous m'avez fait I'honneur de m'ecrire de Salt Hill, en date du 25 de ce mois, je vais y repondre en peu de mots, me reservant, dans I'entrevue que j'espere avoir avec vous aujourdhui, d'entrer dans de plus grands details. M. Planta n'aura sans-doute pas bien saisi ma pensee, i824] POLIGNAC EXPLAINS 255 s'il I'a presentee a Votre Excellence sous la forme d'une proposition qui tendrait a etablir que la France croiroit avoir le droit doccviper militairement fEspagiie, en ternps dc paix^ sttr la demande que lui en feroit S.M.C. tandis qu'Elle refuserait de reconnaitre a I'Angleterre un droit semblable envers le Portugal. Je n'ai pas pretendu entretenir Mr. Planta des droits de la France sur I'Espagne, ni de ceux de I'Angleterre sur le Portugal, mais simplement des rapports que des circonstances differentes avoient etablis entre ces divers pays. Quant a ce que Votre Excellence me marque au sujet des explications qu'Elle pourroit demander a mon Government, relativement a la pro- longation de I'occupation de quelques Provinces d'Espagne par les troupes Frangaises, je ne mets pas en doute que ces explications ne soient donnees avec franchise aussitot qu'elles seront reclamees. Si, dans ma conversation avec Mr. Planta, la question des Colonies Espagnoles a ete introduite, elle n'a pu I'etre qu'indirectment, je n'etais pas venu dans I'inten- tion de la traiter avec lui, et je ne Ten ai entretenue, qu'en lui rapportant les bruits divers, qui, depuis quelques jours, ont occupe touts la Capitale — et qui ont retenti dans tous les papiers publics : Au reste je suis pret a satisfaire au desir de Votre Excellence sur toutes les questions qu'Elle jugerait convenable de me faire au sujet de Don Augustin Iturbide, de M. Hurtado, et de ces Agents des nouveaux Gouvernements de I'Amerique Espagnole avec lesquels Votre Excellence me croit en relation. La politique de la France n'est ni jalouse, ni soupgonneuse, et sous ce rapport, Elle se trouve conformee aux sentiments que Votre Excellence m'exprime dans sa lettre. Pour en revenir a ce qui fait le sujet principal de la lettre de Votre Excellence je dois la prevenir que je suis charge seulement de lui soumettre quelques observations verbales dans le but de maintenir cet 256 PORTUGAL AND SPANISH AMERICA [CH. viii. esprit de bonne intelligence, qui regne entre les deux pays ; et si, il y a trois jours apprenant que Votre Excellence etait a la Campagne, j'ai presente a Mr. Planta une partie de ces observations, en I'invitant d'en donner connaissance a Votre Excellence, afin que Elle fut prevenue du sujet que nous devious traiter ensemble aujourdhui et que notre conversation put alors m'offrir quelque chose de plus positif a trans- mettre a mon Gouvernement parle courrier de cejour, cet empressement de ma part n'a ete que la conse- quence naturelle du desir dont j'ai toujours ete anime de travailler a arreter promptement, et a sa source, toutes les causes apparentes de desunion que la dis- cussion de quelques questions delicates pourrait faire naitre entre les deux Gouvernements ; Votre Excellence sait que mes efforts a cet egard, n'ont pas toujours ete steriles, et j'ignore pourquoi Elle ne rendrait pas aujourdhui a la purete de mes intentions la meme justice qu'Elle a cru pouvoir lui rendre dans d'autres temps j'aurai I'honneur de me presenter dans la matinee chez Votre Excellence, soit au Foreign Office, soit a Gloucester Lodge, selon qu'Elle voudra bien m'en faire prevenir, et a I'heure qu'Elle m'indiquera. J'ai I'honneur D'etre de Votre Excellence, etc., POLIGNAC. Camiing to Bagot, Foreign Office, July 28, 1824. {Confidential.) {Received August 19 by Mr. Ward.) My dear Charles, The despatch No. 27 contains all that I choose to say to the Continental Powers about Portugal. I suspect them — or, at least, Pozzo* — to have been at * Russian Ambassador in Paris. i824] FRANCE PUZZLED 257 the bottom of the whole of the late turmoil there. They suspect the King* of being English — which he is ; of being Liberal — which he is not ; and of intend- ing reforms — which he rather intends (if he has any intention) to evade under pretence of satisfying the promise long ago held out to his people. The Italy Alliance do not approve of even a show of performance of such a promise ; and they (or, as I have said before, Pozzo for them), through the instrumentality of M. Hyde de Neuville,t have been conjuring up a spirit of Ultraism, which had well-nigh laid Lisbon in blood. The French Government are not parties to M. H. de Neuville's extravagancies and intrigues, I believe ; but he believed himself sure of Chateaubriand's appro- bation, and Villelej dare not recall him — at least, till after the Chambers are adjourned. The French are, indeed, in a puzzle between the allies on one side and us on the other, and their whole policy is to keep every question from coming to an extremity, at which they may be forced to take their side with one or the other. The enclosed correspondence with Polignac, which spoiled one of three holidays which 1 had allowed myself at Eton speeches § (my first holidays since January), will show you better than a hundred des- patches how we stand towards P>ance on the most * John VI., Kiiif;; of Portugal. t French Minister at Lisbon. t The P'rench Minister. § Canning's letter to Polignac was written from Salt Hill, near Eton, the scene of his boyish triumphs at the Eton Moiitciii, where he was staying for the Eton ' election ' speeches. At the end of May in the previous year he had stayed at Provost's Lodge, Eton College, with the Provost, Joseph Goodall, on which occasion Dr. Keate asked him to dinner on June 4 at Salt Hill. 'The hour,' the Doctor writes, ' being three — it being necessary for me to leave the table at live to collect my troops on the hill and prepare for the march homewards.' Canning answered that he could not dine away from the Provost, but that he would not fail to pay his respects to Keate at his lev/e at Salt Hill before dinner (E. Stapleton's 'Correspondence of Canning'). VOL. II. 17 258 PORTUGAL AND SPANISH AMERICA [CH. viii. urgent questions of the time. You must not infer from this correspondence, however, that P. and I are ill together. Quite otherwise. We are dear friends ; but one's best friends require a snubbing now and then when they act (as P. unquestionably did in this instance, and as the smallness of his song in the last letter shows that he did) without instructions. CHAPTER IX RUSSIAN DIPLOMACY In June of 1823 negotiations between the Porte and Lord Strangford were concluded, and Bagot was per- suaded that the Emperor was in earnest in his inten- tion to send a Minister to the Porte without delay. The Duke of Wellington, to whom Canning had con- fided his suspicions, could not bring himself to believe that the Emperor intended to break his word. As before related, the Emperor of Russia, after having met the Emperor of Austria, with Nesselrode and Metternich, to discuss the situation as it had become since England had recognized the Greek insurgents, proposed a Conference at St. Petersburg. Metternich did not agree with the Russian view, and the Great Alliance showed signs of disintegration. Canning would take no part in the Conference till Russia had sent a Minister to the Porte. Bagot, believing that the Emperor was in earnest on this point, and that, Lord Strangford's negotiations at Constantinople being concluded, Canning's conditions were practically ful- filled, consented to take part in the preliminary sittings of the Conference at St. Petersburg. Mr. Alison Phillips* says that in April Canning had so far modified his view as to allow this, and Mr. Stapletonf in his account is, as remarked by Sir Spencer Walpole,:}: very tender to Bagot on the * ' Modern Europe,' by W. Alison Phillips, p. 145. t Stapleton's ' Canning,' vol. ii., pp. 419-423. X Walpole's ' History of England,' vol. ii., p. 395. Mr. Stapleton's account of Bagot's mistake is as follows : ' Count Nesselrode was apprehensive if they (the Conferences) were longer deferred that the Austrian, and probably the English, Ambassadors would have taken their departure before they were opened. They 259 17—2 26o RUSSIAN DIPLOMACY [CH. IX. subject. But in spite of Mr. Stapleton's tenderness and Mr. Alison Phillip's views, and though unwilling to imitate Sir Walter Scott in telling 'Tales of a Grandfather,' the editor is bound to admit that Bagot made a mistake in attending the preliminaries to the Conference, which very properly called forth Canning's wrath. The memorandum, or Russian memoire, which had been confidentially communicated to the Allied Powers, and to Canning, with regard to the division of Greece into principalities, had leaked out at a most were not, however, held until after Sir Charles had both received from Lord Strangford the report of his lordship's Conference with the Turkish Ministers, in which they promised to yield to the demands of Russia respecting the Principalities, and had also persuaded the Emperor, in consequence of that account, publicly to designate M. do Ribeaupierre as the future Imperial Minister at the Porte. ' These circumstances, Sir C. Bagot thought, did away with two of the principal reasons for not joining in these Conferences. . . . ' At the first Conference the British Ambassador stated that, being without specific instructions, he could only say Great Britain approved generally. The other Plenipotentiaries expressed similar sentiments, and answered Count Nesselrode that they iwere authorized to send directions to their colleagues at Constantinople in the event of any measure being decided on at the Conferences. The British Ambassador said that he could send no directions to Lord Strangford. ' At the second meeting Nesselrode expressed the Czar's pleasure at the way in which the Greek mcmoivc had been received b}' his allies, and read a paper suggesting that the Ministers of the Allied Powers at the Porte should be instructed to consider this mcmoire as containing the wishes of the Alliance with respect to Greece. The paper was taken by the Plenipotentiaries, without remark, to refer to their several Governments.' Mr. Stapleton goes on to say : ' Sir Charles's proceedings at these Conferences were in every respect judicious ; but it so happened, in consequence of the publication of the Russian uieuwirc, of which fact he was not informed, that he would have decided more fortunately if he had absented himself. His reasons, perhaps, justified him ; but he was not acting under his instructions, and the British Government disavowed his proceedings. ' Before this occurrence it had been for some time settled that Sir Charles Bagot should leave St. Petersburg to hold another ambassadorial station nearer home, and, the Greek question and others still being unsettled, Mr. Stratford Canning was sent on a special mission to St. Petersburg ' (Stapleton's ' Life of Canning,' vol. ii., pp. 419-423)- Canning, writing to the Duke of Wellington in the following November, said that Bagot's compliance in attending, he was per- suaded, ' led the Russian Government to tiunk their point gained, and to hope to get us into the middle of the Conferences without actually sending De la Ribeaupierre ' (' Wellington Despatches [Civil],' vol. ii., p. 339). 1824] ACTING WITHOUT ORDERS 261 unfortunate moment. It was published in the Consti- tutioncl paper, and both Greek and Turk were furious by becoming acquainted with the terms of the pacifica- tion which was preparing for them. Canning repudiated Bagot's action in attending the prehminary Conference. All negotiations eventually ceased between England and the Alliance, and Alexander declared that since England would take no part in the Conference, there was an end to the consideration of the question as far as the two countries were con- cerned, and the Greek question remained in abeyance till early in 1825, when Mehemet Ali of Egypt stepped in. Canning proceeded to snub Bagot for having attended the Conference without specific orders, and later wrote to the Duke of Wellington in explanation of the circumstances to tell him he had done so. The modus operandi was as follows : Bagot to Canning. {Official. Copy. St. Petersburg, No. 33.] July 6, 1824. Sir, Notwithstanding the conditional permission which is given to me by your despatch No. 19 of the 24th of April last, I have not been altogether without apprehension that I may be thought to have deviated in some degree from the spirit of my general orders in consenting to assist at any conferences whatever upon the pacification of Greece before I should have received from you those more detailed instructions upon the subject which you had led me to expect ; but in the peculiar situation in which I have found myself placed, it has appeared to me that I could not any longer oppose myself to the general wish that these conferences should commence without seeming to endeavour to avoid the question in some manner which might be liable to great misconstruction, and possibly to great public inconvenience. The Russian Government was very desirous that 262 RUSSIAN DIPLOMACY [ch. ix. these Conferences should have been held long ago, and it was only in deference to my wishes that they were from time to time delayed ; but the approaching departure of the French Ambassador and myself having made Count Nesselrode more than ever urgent upon the subject, I at length consented to be present at an opening Conference which took place on the 17th of last month. Nothing would have induced me to take this step but the reflection that I then received from Lord Strangford the report of his conference with the Turkish Ministry on the 27th of last April, and that the Russian Government had in consequence of that report consented publickly to designate M. de Ribeau- pierre as the future Imperial Minister at the Porte — two circumstances which appeared to me materially to change my position, and to do away with in a great degree, if not entirely, the principal reason which had been urged against proceeding to any conference — viz., the danger of giving alarm or umbrage to the Turkish Government before they should have con- sented to fulfil those conditions upon which the renewal of their diplomatic relations with Russia was made to depend. It was on the evening of the day on which I had assisted at this first conference that I received by a Russian courier your despatch No. 22, transmitting to me a copy of your letter to Count Lieven of the 29th of May. I hope that I may be thought by His Majesty's Government to have found in this letter some justifi- cation of the step which I had taken, and that the conditions upon which it is there stated that I should receive His Majesty's authority to take part in the deliberations, may be considered as having been sufficiently fulfilled to warrant me in having antici- pated that authority. I have the honour to transmit enclosed the protocol 1824] OFFICIAL EXPLANATIONS 263 of our first Conference, which was drawn up b}* Count Nesselrode from written statements of what we had said at the meeting, with which, at his request, we had respectively furnished him, I am not aware that this protocol required any remarks or explana- tions on my part. The substance of my observations is given with sufficient accuracy ; but I nevertheless enclose a copy of the written paper which I sent to Count Nesselrode, and of which the protocol contains only an abridgement. On Friday last, the 2nd instant, we were invited to a second meeting, at which the protocol of our former conference was read and signed ; after which Count Nesselrode proceeded to read to us the paper of which the enclosed is a copy, and which was received by the Plenipotentiaries without discussion for reference to their respective Governments. You will perceive that, from the very nature of the paper, no further Conference can now be held until the opinions of the Allied Cabinets shall have been received upon the several propositions which it em- braces ; and as these opinions cannot be collected under two or three months, it is highly probable that many circumstances may arise in the meantime which may materially affect some, at least, of the propositions which it contains. The French Ambassador, in the persuasion that no further discussions can take place at present, will avail himself of his leave of absence, and proposes to embark the day after to-morrow for ... . I have, etc., Charles Bagot. Canning to Bagot. [Official. Copy.] Foreign Office, July 24, 1824. . . . your despatches . . . have been laid before the King. I transmit to your Excellency the copy of 264 RUSSIAN DIPLOMACY [CH. ix. a despatch which I thought it absolutely necessary to address to H.M.'s Ambassador at Constantinople in consequence of the receipt of your Exc^^'s despatch No. 33, in which you state that you had been prevailed upon to attend the Conference lately held at St. Peters- burg upon the affairs of Greece. George Canning. Canning to Lord Strangford. Foreign Office, [Enclosure. Copy.] July 23, 1824. My Lord, * * ^ ^ * Your Excellency will learn from Sir Charles Bagot's despatch, that his attendance at that Confer- ence was altogether against his instructions. The reasons which His Excellency gives for having acted against these instructions are by no means satis- factory.* Should the consequence be that which I have all along been apprehensive would follow from a premature disclosure of the Russian project for a Conference on Greece — the breaking off of Your Excellency's Negotiation for the evacuation of the Principalities — Sir Charles Bagot's deviation from his instructions in this important particular, will be most deeply to be deplored. It is to obviate such a consequence that I despatch this messenger to Your Excellency. You will lose no time in apprizing M. de Minciaky, that His Majesty's Govt, have always considered the previous termination of your Lordship's Negotiation, and the consequent establishment of a Russian Minister at Constantinople, after the actual evacuation * The reasons that Canning had then got were only those in Bagofs official despatch of July 6. The private letter to Canning explaining the difficulties of his situation, which follows, was written in August. 1S24] AN OP^FICIAL 'SNOUCH* 265 of the Principalities, as a sine qua non condition of the attendance of a British Minister at any Conference to be held at St. Petersburgh on the subject of Greece. The enclosed despatch to Sir Charles Bagot upon the publication in a French newspaper of the Russian Memoir upon Greece, will show your Excellency that this has been the uniform language of the British Cabinet, as well to its Ambassador at Constantinople as to the Russian Ambassador here; Your Excellency will therefore declare to M. de Minciaky that you have no authority to take any step upon this subject either jointly with M. de Minciaky or separately. And should M. de Minciaky nevertheless persist in bringing forward the result of the Conference at St. Peters- burgh, as a measure agreed to by the Allies, you will apprize the Turkish Ministers that such is not the fact — that your Govt, is no party to that measure. You will continue to refuse your concurrence to any point proceeding upon the subject, till you shall receive fresh instructions. G. Canning. Canning to Bagot. Foreign Office, July 29, 1824. (Private.) (By Mr. Ward.) I will not take the merit, or the blame, of having delayed your ship : but I did forego my intention of sending you a messenger, in part at least for the reason which you suppose; and the same reasons (and the desire not to lose time by the delay) h,ave induced me to save you the trouble of drawing the Convention.* The Convention, however, is not my handiwork. I pressed into my service another hand, which has not lost its cunning altogether; though thirty-five years * The Convention with Russia on boundaries on the north-west coast of America. 266 RUSSIAN DIPLOMACY [CH. IX. have passed since it settled the dispute at Nootka. Ld. St. Helen's has kindly done the work for me. It has been submitted to both the furry and the finny tribes — the Enderbys, the Pellys and the Barrows. The last name will suggest to you how impossible it is that we should submit to see Behring Straits shut against us ; or the navigation of the seas beyond them prohibited to our navigation ; and how absolutely necessary it is therefore to stipulate precisely for their continuing open. In addition to the claims of science, there is very nice 'bobbing for whale 'they tell me, ipsis Behringi in fancibiis, which must be guarded. It is of immense importance to have this Convention signed and to bring the ratification home with you. We shall have a squabble with the Yankees yet in and about those regions. But Russia will be out of it, which is as well for herself as for us — indeed better. I was sorry to have to snub or snouch you, in your old age (the old age of your Embassy) for disobedience of your Instructions : but that disobedience, concurrent with the publication of the Russian Memoir, might have done a world of mischief There cannot be a doubt but that a party in the Russian councils wish for war with Turkey: and hence the two consecutive trans- pirations of the two documents in the world the most likely to break off Strangford's specifick negotiations — ist. Ct. Nesselrode's letter from Czernovitz. 2nd. The Greek Memoir. How it happened that the latter had not reached Constantinople before Strangford had ex- torted the final fiat from the Divan, I cannot calculate. But it has been singularly lucky. That it had not done so, I conclude, both from the fact that Strangford had succeeded, and from his not mentioning a circumstance which if it had occurred to perplex him, would have rendered his success so much the more meritorious. He seldom overlooks such circumstances. But be his faults what they may, he is a singularly clever fellow. 1824] PRIVATE REPROOF 267 He has done great service ; and I mean to reward him substantially.* He has earned the succession to you at St. Pctersburgh : and I destine him for it, though I have not yet told him so. He will not, however, be able to go there at once, for he has asked long ago for a leave of absence ; and obtained it conditionally on the successful conclusion of his negotiation. He will therefore probably come to England before winter : and probably not set out for his new post till the spring. I do not intend that the interval should be lost. Stratfordf who is to be Strangford's successor at Con- stantinople, is now here. I think of putting the Greek question into his hands, and sending him to St. Peters- burgh, on a Special Mission, to treat it there in con- ference, if conference there is to be : and then to proceed to his port with the result of that de- liberation. Tell me, if this appears to you a good plan; and ascertain whether it will be liked la oh vous etes. It is certainly most reasonable, for the thing to be done, and as to the person to do it, he ought to be singularly agreeable to the Emperor of Russia ; for he made the peace for H.I.M. in 1812 which enabled him to discomfit Buonaparte. Take great merit for me, therefore, with M. Nesselrode first, and subsequently with H.I.M. himself for the nomination of Stratford. Represent that of Strangford as a particular compliment to the * Lord Strangford, however, was soon to learn the truth of the proverb ' There's many a sHp,' etc., and all on account of a conference again. t ' In July Stratford Canning was sent to St. Petersburg, but by November Canning, owing to the protests of the Ottoman Govern- ment, and to the formal refusal of the Greeks to be bound by the decisions of the Conference, finally declined to take part in its deliberations. The last thread was thus severed between England and the Continental Alliance. Soon after the discussions on the Russian Circular of January, 1824, were opened, the Emperor Alexander declared all negotiations with England on the subject to be closed ' (Alison Phillips's ' Modern Europe,' p. 146). 268 RUSSIAN DIPLOMACY [CH. ix. Emperor's presumed wishes. And take a credit of another sort for the choice which I have made for a Secretary of Embassy,* in the meantime. He is my predecessor's brother-in-law, consequently acceptable to the Holy Alliance : and he is further peculiarly qualified for the cold and the glare of a snowy clime, by wearing a large brown wig, and spectacles — prob- ably green. He will have nothing to do (as you see by the arrangement that I propose) but to wear them, in the manner most agreeable to the Emperor. I do not mean Stratford to set out till after your arrival. We dined on board your ship the day before yester- day, and found it in very comfortable order. Lord Cathcart has requested that Mr. Cathcart come home on his way to Frankfort. I have no objection. And so, my dear Charles — a pleasant voyage — and a safe and speedy arrival — and till we meet farewell. Bagot to Canning. St. Petei«burg, [Co/)V.] {Private.) August, 1824. My dear Canning, I take my snouc/iing as all diplomatic snouchings should be taken, in meekness and repentance, and I hope that I can truly say that I will never confer Greek no more. Still, I think that my crime was not so much disobedience of orders as error in judgment. I had to choose between two alternatives of responsibility. It was, I know, determined to hold the conferences at all events, and the questions between which I thought that I had to decide were whether I should consider the knowledge which I then possessed, not indeed that the Principalities were already evacuated, but that the * Mr. Michael Ward, the late Lord Londonderry's brother-in-law, who had been for eight years Secretary to the Embassy at Lisbon. i824] REPENTANCE 269 Hospodars had been ordered by the Porte to demand their evacuation ; and the knowledge which I also possessed, that Mr. Ribeaupierre was then publicly desigiie\ as coming sufficiently up to the conditions specified in your letter to Count Lieven of the 19th Ma}', as those upon which I should be authorised to enter into conference, to take upon myself to do so ; or whether I should let the conferences be held without me, and take my chance of all the interpretations which would be put upon such a fact throughout Europe. 1 thought (but it seems that I thought very wrong) that there was infinitely more danger in the latter than in the former. Luck, however, has saved you, and it is no slight consolation to me that Strangford had finished his job before it was jeopardized, as Stratford Canning, and I say, by what I had done. You, I see, are fully persuaded that the publication of the Russian Memoir on Greece in Paris was the work of this Government. I do not believe it, nor is it believed here. That scrubs in the subaltern departments of the offices here may have betrayed it to Greek agents, who no doubt haunt St. Petersburg, and who would certainly have wit enough to see the use which might be made of it, is highly probable ; but I really do not think that the Government here are responsible for it. I regret bitterly that the Herald did not arrive twenty-four hours sooner than she did. Had I got my despatches before my audience I could have made rare good use of Stratford Canning's appointment in my conversation with the Emperor. As it is, however, I have made much of it with Nesselrode, and, sore as he is at the delay of our answer to this Greek Memoir, he acknowledges gratefully the full value of such an answer as a special mission ad hoc. I found that Lieven had already acquainted Nesselrode, by a courier from Paris, who arrived some hours after the Herald, with Stratford Canning's appointment ; that he knew of his 270 RUSSIAN DIPLOMACY [rn. ix. ulterior destination, of his former services at Constan- tinople, of his connection with you, etc., etc., all which had made him appreciate the choice of him just as you could wish. It is a most hiappy hit. I have endeavoured also — and, I believe, successfully — \.o faire valoir'^^x^. I should think that he would do very well if his health can stand it, but he is a terrible subject for such a climate as this. He will, however, have little to do but to take care of himself. I leave a very clear portfolio. There is still a note or two unanswered by the Russian Government upon private claims, but that is all, and as both the Emperor and Count Nesselrode will be absent, nothing will be done here before November at soonest. I am able to think of nothing but public matters this week. At the beginning of next week I may be able to think a little of myself, and perhaps at the end of it, with great exertion, be able to sail, but I can hardly reckon upon sailing sooner. I am, etc., Charles Bagot. Sir Charles was now about to leave St. Petersburg to be appointed Ambassador to the Netherlands in the place of Lord Granville, who went to Paris in November as successor to Sir Charles Stuart. After the prorogation of Parliament, Canning paid a visit to Lord Wellesley, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and had promised to visit Sir Walter Scott at Abbotsford on his way home, but was suddenly recalled to London by the death of Louis XVIII. in September. He was now rapidly rising in popular favour, and all his actions were watched, often with suspicion. His visit had no political significance, but all sorts of rumours prevailed as to its object. Mr. Croker wrote at the time : " It is Canning's misfortune that nobody will believe that he can take the most indifferent step without an ulterior object, nor take his tea without a stratagem."* * Croker Papers, vol. i., p. 268. i824l AMERICAN NEGOTIATIONS 27 1 Stratford Canning to Bagot. {Private and confidential.) Jutv 25, 1824. .... 1 have finally made up my mind not to return to Yankee land. . . . Employment is offered to me in a different quarter. Our negociations with Rush are ending rather as we feared than as we wished ; no convention is likely to be signed on any point beside that of Slave trade, and our convention on that subject has, as you know, been treated most scurvily by the American Senate. Exccutivo contradicente to no purpose. As Government has authorized us to make counter proposals on most of the points under discussion on fair and equitable grounds, it is but reasonable to suppose that, although Rush's instruc- tions will not allow him to close with us, either he or someone else will be authorized to make another attempt at adjustment some months hence.* You are, however, enough acquainted with the counsels of Washington to know that what are sound reasons elsewhere are not always sound reasons there. Wherefore, the ultimate issue of the negotiations must be left to the great discoverer of all things — Time, from whom we have to learn whether the Americans will or will not stand to the extravagant pretensions which your old friend Squintzt has assumed himself, and fretted us to fiddlestrings by bringing forward. It is some comfort that he has got into a scrape which may cost him the Presidency by his confounded duplicity about the Right of Search. The newspapers have perhaps informed you, as they have every one * Stratford Canning, Huskisson, and Richard Rush, representing the United States, were appointed Plenipotentiaries to negotiate on the slave-trade and other questions between Great Britain and America. Their meetings commenced in January at the Board of Trade (see p. 207). The Senate ' contradicted ' the President's approval of the Convention they agreed to. ■f John Quincy Adams, elected President the following year. 272 RUSSIAN DIPLOMACY [CH. ix. else, with the exception of myself, who never saw the paragraph, that I am designed for your successor at Petersburg, after you shall have undergone the happy translation which awaits you ... to the land of Dutchmen. ... I am going (or, rather, intended to go) to Petersburg on a special mission, with the object of which you are of course acquainted, on which I trust that we shall have the opportunity of talking over before long Most truly yours, S. C. Canning to Bagot. Foreign Office, Ju]y 24, 1824. I will not mix condolence with any other matter; and I know too w^ell how vain it is to allow it to occupy much space in what I write to you. Be assured, however, that I have not been unmindful of what you must have suffered from such a blow. It is well that yow were not here sooner. The blow that Canning refers to was the recent death of Bagot's eldest daughter, Louisa, aged seven- teen. The following letter from Mrs. Canning to Mr. Littleton,* reproduced by the kind permission of Lord Hatherton, is of interest as tending to show that she had to some extent acquired the joking manner in which her husband so often wrote — a very natural acquisition, as throughout his career she was accus- tomed to assist him by copying letters and despatches and acting as his secretary. Written clearly in what was then called an Italian hand, the style of the letter appears as an unconscious or perhaps dutiful imitation of Canning. It is fair to add, however, that any such suggestion is distinctly contradicted with regard to her writing by one who * Mr. Edward Littleton, M.P., Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1834; created Lord Hatherton. i824] MRS. CAxNNING'S WRITING 273 was an intimate friend of both.* In 1830 Lady Canning wrote a pamphlet on the Portuguese question! in answer to one that had been circulated by Mr. J. Lamb, which made a considerable sensation. Lord Dudley described its effect at the time, and said : ' It is written with great spirit, and in a clear, natural, vigorous style, and with a force of reasoning which Brougham (who is very much struck by it) has the impertinence to say is by no means frequent in a woman. . . . There is no imitation of her husband's style ; she writes just as she talks — in a brief, acute, terse, way.' Mrs. Canning to Mr. Edward Littleton, M.P. Gloucester Lodge, August 2, 1824. Dear Mr. Littleton, Your clear and scientific disquisition on the culture of young potatoes would do credit to the states- man as well as the county member, and as my request has been the means of bringing to light your hidden talents in that line, I cannot regret so much the trouble which I have occasioned you, though I must confess that my motive was purely selfish I trust that at the meeting of Parliament I shall be able to prove to your satisfaction that your instructions have not been thrown away. I think I remember in the days of my youth to have written in my copy book, amongst other nice maxims in the regulation of one's conduct through life. Never refuse a good offer. In pursuance of that nice system we thankfully accept your kind offer of some venison ; and if a haunch can arrive by Monday next, it will find some of our gourmand flock ready to devour it. Pray give our kindest love to Mrs. Littleton,:}: and * Lord Dudley's ' Letters to Ivy,' p. 352. t See 'Correspondence of Princess Lievcn with Earl Grey,' vol. i., pp. 464, 467. X Cynthia, a daughter of Lord Wellesley. VOL. IL 18 274 RUSSIAN DIPLOMACY [CH. ix. tell her that the Opera has been so bad lately that we have only been three times since she left London, and I do not intend going there any more. Yours most truly, J. Canning. Canning to Bagot. Foreign Office, August lo, 1824. {In cypher.) {Received August 27 by post.) My dear Charles, Among my voluminous despatches by the Herald,* I omitted one very important instruction, which omission I hope this letter will arrive in time to supply. Bring me some tea. Padroe, I think its name is. The tea which comes overland from China to St. Petersburgh. It is black tea, not green. Bring as much as you please, and you shall be honestly paid for it, unless you insist on considering it as a present. G. C. In 1823 there were rumours that France intended to extend her intervention in Spain to the Spanish Colonies in America. Canning had declared that ' we ivill trade with the late Spanish American Colonies, whether France likes it or not.' In October, 1823, France was frankly informed of the British policy with regard to the States in South America; a similar communication was made to the United States. On December 2, 1823, President Monroe's message to Congress, to the effect that inter- ference by any Power with the Spanish American States would be an unfriendly act, the origin of the ' Monroe doctrine,' gave effective support to Canning's policy. France did not like the proposal, the Holy Alliance * The ship that brought out Malct and Canning's latest despatches. i824] INDEPENDENCE RECOGNIZED 275 deeply regretted Canning's attitude, but they took no action. A Conference took place, at the request of Spain, in Paris ; Canning would have nothing to do with it. His point was gained, and without war. On January i, 1825, the Powers were informed that Great Britain recognized the independence of those countries in America which had established their separation from Spain. The policy put before Pitt, and, as will have been seen from these letters, suggested by Miranda in the days of Napoleon when Canning was first at the Foreign Office, was now carried out. The new world was called in to redress the balance of the old. Nearly two years later, this was Canning's proud boast in the House of Commons ; his manner of using the words have been subject to criticism,* but what words or what action of Canning's have been free from party recrimination ? The allusion to the New World and the Old, as will be seen from Canning's despatch which follows, had been embodied in an official letter on the subject in the previous January, and his repetition or quotation of the expresion in the House of Commons was made at the end of 1826. Canning to Bagot. [Official copy:\ Foreign Office, {Confidential.) December 2,1, 1824. Sir, The time being now arrived at which . . . His Majesty's confidential servants feel themselves called upon to advise His Majesty to take a new step towards * Walpole's ' History,' vol. ii., p. 369. Walpoie, though affording the poHcy but scant praise, justifies Canning's perhaps egotistical description of it. Canning's speech was made on December 12, 1826, on the King's message respecting Portugal and the Princess Regent's request for troops. In Walpole's account of Canning's reference to the Spanish Colonies and the words he used, the Speech from the Throne is brought in as affording grounds for criticism of Canning's words, but the King's Speech at the opening of the Session had been read on November 21, and contained no direct reference to Spanish and Portuguese affairs. 18—2 2/6 RUSSIAN DIPLOMACY [CH. ix. certain of the Spanish American Provinces which have separated themselves from Spain ... as to the time at which any such new step should be taken, H.M. Government would be guided, ist. By the reports ... of the situation of affairs in the several American Provinces. 2diy By considerations regarding the essential in- terests of ' His Majesty's subjects and the relations of the Old World with the New.' * From the period at which this declaration was last made (in my letter to Sir W. A'Court of the 30^^ January last) to the present, the States of Mexico and Columbia have been gradually advancing in the con- solidation of their internal institutions, and in the capacity to maintain whatever relations they may contract with Foreign Powers. The commerce and navigation of his Majesty's sub- jects in that part of the world have increased in a corresponding proportion. Spain has refused to listen to repeated offers of mediation on the part of Great Britain, although uniformly accompanied by conditions eminently favourable to her interest. In looking at the present position of Mexico and Columbia and comparing it with that of Spain, every impartial judgment must be convinced of the utter hopelessness of the success of any attempt to bring those provinces again under subjection to the Mother Country ; nor can it be denied that a much longer continuance of so large a portion of the Globe without any recognized existence, or any definite connection with the Governments of Europe, whose subjects are in daily intercourse with those Countries, must be productive of the greatest embarassments to such * This sentence is put in inverted commas (as above) in the official copy made at the Embassy of Canning's despatch, showing it to be a quotation of the words used in liis despatcli of January, 1824, to A'Court. i824] OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT 277 Governments. . . . The condition to which Mexico and Columbia have nov;^ advanced has been for some time past, the condition of Buenos Ayres, accordingly eventual instructions have been already sent to that Country to the same effect with those now in the course of transmission to Mexico and Columbia. . . . In Peru a struggle is still maintained on behalf of the Mother Country. With regard to Peru therefore, a just consideration for the rights of Spain . . . forbids any interference. . . . With respect to Chili, we have not sufficient in- formation. . . . With Mexico and Columbia as well with Buenos Ayres . . . His Majesty has been pleased to decide that measures should be taken forthwith for negotiating commercial treaties. The effect . . , will be a diplomatick recognition of the de facto Govern- ments of those three countries. . . . His Majesty has forbidden the introduction into these treaties of any stipulations which should be adverse to the commerce of other nations. Should Spain hereafter be willing to avail herself of His Majesty's good offices for . . . friendly intercourse with countries which she can no longer hope to reduce under her controul, His Majesty will willingly lend his best assistance. . . . You will read this despatch to His Netherlands Majesty's Minister— 1 have . . . read it to M. Falck. The like communication is made in the like confidence to H.M.'s Allies, as well as to the Court of Spain. George Canning. CHAPTER X CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION AND AFFAIRS IN RUSSIA The year 1825 was uneventful as far as home politics went. After ten 3'ears of peace the country was be- coming more prosperous, though money panics and failures of banks, followed by riots in Lancashire, took place before the middle of the following year. Roman Catholic debates occupied the House of Com- mons, and the Catholic Association was suppressed. Burdett's Catholic Relief Bill was carried in the Com- mons, and rejected in the Lords, where the Duke of York spoke against it. The independence of the South American State of Colombia was definitely recognized by Great Britain. At the end of the year, while difficulties between Russia and the Porte were becoming acute, and war between the two countries appeared imminent, the greatest autocrat of the world, Alexander, Emperor of Russia, died suddenly at Taganrog, on the shores of the sea of Azov. His next brother, Constantine, had abdicated, and, after suppressing a military revolt, the younger brother, Nicholas, succeeded to the throne. Canning had hopes of settling the difficulties of Greece under the new Emperor, and sent the Duke of Wel- lington, as the greatest living Englishman, to St. Petersburg to bear the King's condolence and congratu- lations to Nicholas on his accession. Colonel Hon. F. Cathcmi. * to Bagot. tr, . . , Foreign' Office, {Prtvaic.) j,y.^i^^^,^ j^j^^^.j, ^^ ^825. My dear Sir Charles, An immense bustle has been created (since I wrote last) by the result of the debate on the Catholic * Third son of the first Earl Cathcart, he had been an Attach^ to Bagot, and was Minister ad interim at St. Petersburg in 1826. 278 1825] CATHOLIC DEBATE 279 question,* ... It is the tone and character (so very different from what often occurs from the mere heat of themoment)ofthe speeches of Peel in reply to Plunkett's and Mr. C.'s on the Master of the Rolls, that seem to render it pretty evident that the scheme of a divided Cabinet can no longer stand. For although they profess to be perfectly agreed on all but one question, yet as that one question happens to be confessedly of vital and paramount importance, it is not easy to see how either party can consent to remaining any longer in its present state of armed neutrality. Accordingly the Anti-Catholics and Ultras of all sorts are running about proclaiming their triumph as certain and immediate ; that Lord Bathurst is to be Premier, to be backed by the Seymours and God knows who, besides; and in short that the dreadful liberal taint is soon to be totally removed from the Cabinet. Of course I need say nothing about the absurdity of all this, and I only give it you as part of the lies of the day, amongst which must be reckoned the report of Mr. Canning having actually sent in his resignation. He is, I am happy to sa}^, quite well and not worse for his exertion on that night or the very great excitement he underwent ; of the degree of which, his speech, even as reported, will give you an idea. He is able to dine out, and appears to be in his wonted force and spirits. ... It is thought that Huskisson would be Chancellor of the Exchequer, which of course would relieve Mr. Canning from a great load of business, or at least enable him to superintend more easily and effectually the whole concern, particularly the Foreign relations Voila mon btilletin. It may perhaps serve to He was Minister Plenipotentiary to the German Confederation, 1824-1826. * Burdett brouglit forward the Catholic Question on March i. Canning, who had the gout, supported the motion, though he was too ill to stay for the division, in whicli Burdett had a majority of thirteen. 28o CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION [CH. X. light your candle, but that is the utmost extent of its value. . . . Further than this deponent knoweth not. Yours ever, F. C. Camimg to Bagot. [Dictated.] {Private and Gloucester Lodge, confident iat.) April 29, 1825. I have received today by the French post a letter conveying to me a very important piece of information (if true) with an intimation that if I will promise never to give up his name my informer will avow himself to me. This letter concludes thus, * Si a cette condition votts voulez savoir qui je suis, faites inserer dans le feuille de Tournay (Belgiqiie) Vavis suivant. * M. C**** invite M**^ a sc faire connoitrc, et lui promet de garder le secret le plus enticr de son nom et de sa personne! Now what I have to request of you, is that you will have the goodness to have this insertion made with as little delay as possible in i\iQ feuille de Tournay. My gout prevents me signing even with my own hand. P.S. — I hope you know that the same inability prevented my answering your letter from Ramsgate. Binning to Bagot. London, May 27, 1825. . . . Bedlam has broken loose in this place. The dog star rages ; not in the physical world — for my bones ache with cold — but the House of Commons canicvde — the stars of dinners, parties, row, riot and confusion. It is quite intolerable, and if it was hot weather into the bargain, it would kill me outright 1825] EFFECT IN IRELAND 281 . . . What think you of the fate of the Catholick Bill ? * It amounts to a complete defeat, and is worse than anyone anticipated, because no one could foresee that Liverpool would select that occasion for making his first violent speech against the measure. The speech has had more effect than any I remember any man to have made, and back'd by the Duke of York's declara- tion and b}' the majority of 48 peers has fill'd the Catholicks with despair. It is difficult to calculate the consequences of all this in Ireland. Ev^eryone has advised them to be quiet, and to persevere by legitimate means. Will the}^ follow this advice? I hope so, but they are so imprudent and irritable that one trembles. ... I certainly do not anticipate any arm'd rising, but sure I am that if John Bull (or those that lead him by the nose) persevere in their course of ignorant Bigotry, a system of organiza- tion will be continued in Ireland that will enable the population there to play old gooseberry the moment John Bull's back is at the wall. The most consoling- circumstance is the great change in the Protestant mind of that country. The mass of intelligent Protes- tants there, from being enemies have become friends to the question, and this will tell greatly — not only by contributing to the peace of Ireland, but by forcing a similar feeling down the throats of people here. Doubtless the question has gained on the whole, and very much too — on the educated part of the British public. . . . Certain it is that Liverpool was himself scarcely aware of the vehemence of his tone and manner until the sense of it was forced upon him by the remarks that reach'd his ears on the ensuing days ; and he says that it was quite unintentional. Brougham abused him last night, and Canning de- fended him very judiciously, regretting the speech, * Sir F. Buidctt's Catholic Relief Bill, carried in the Commons by t\vent3'-one, was rejected in the Lords by forty-eight. 282 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION [CH. X. but exculpating him from the charges of Brougham that his policy was adulatory and time-serving. , . . It was a difficult debate and might have been a danger- ous one. I never witnessed an occasion when that feeling prevailed so generally in the House and oppressed every speaker in the debate more or less. Brougham and Canning less than the rest . . . the Opposition evidently do not mean to drive at the Catholick members of the Cabinet with a view to blow them up, and their policy is wise . . . the result would be a No Popery Government — a No Popery cry and a dissolution ... a Catholick Government is for the present at least totally out of the question. Read Canning's speech attentively, and mark the passage where he says, He is at liberty to bring the question before the Cabinet, but reserves to himself the dis- cretion of the when and the how. This is very important, and it is the first time that he has said it. Qy.: Has he within these few days only established his right to say so ? If this be so {nescio) it is very important and is a clear step towards a denouement — distant perhaps, but yet it is a step. Tonight Littleton is to withdraw his Elective Franchise Bill, *and there will be more talk — Grosvenor's horse Wings won at Epsom, but wings have not won much at Westminster. I am afraid the Irish will play * Before Burdett's Catholic Relief Bill was read a second time, notice was given of an Elective Franchise Bill (for Catholics in Ireland) by Mr. Littleton, Member for Staffordshire, afterwards Lord Hatherton. This Bill was expected to help some of the waverers to support the Catholic Relief Bill, and Littleton had intended to bring forward a motion on the subject on the first day after the House met after the Easter holiday in April. Canning, on hearing of his inten- tion, wrote to him as follows : ' Let me entreat you to reconsider this. You are doing what is most inconvenient and most unpopular, and are falling into the very error out of which Sir Francis Burdett suffered himself to be extricated. ' You will either have a very small attendance on Thursday, the 14th, or a very ill-natured one, or both.' Littleton's Bill was eventually read a second time by a substantial majority. 1825] NO POPERY 283 away those cards, and it will be a pity, for the}^ may prove useful accessories to the great measure. After what I have written it is scarcely necessary to say that the anticipations of those who imagined that Liver- pool's speech might tend to the breaking up of the Government and forming a No Popery administration under the auspices of the Duke of York will clearly be disappointed. ... I should augur from Canning's speech last night that such a measure {i.e., dissolution) is unlikely — at least that he does not appear likely to work for it. . . . Canning is quite well but tender footed. I do not think he will have much work this session ; at least so I judge from the tone of opposition last night. The Whigs certainly are behaving well, and wisely for their own ultimate interests. ... 1 know nothing of Granville* or Hotspur,t but I do hope the Viscount is not insane enough to dream of com- peting with the Duke in matter of expense — their parts are quite distinct. . . . Canning's only chance of over- coming his tendency to repeated attacks of gout is to live systematically — Will he do this ? you can answer the question as well as I can. He should seek quiet during the summer and be as regular as clock work and as persevering as a Scot. ... I am sorry to hear from my wife that she picked up a bad account of the Duke of WY^llington. It was from Strangford however ; but this it was, that he cannot sleep when he lies on the side on which the ear is,+ for that it afiects his spine. You have the means of getting at the truth of this. Lord Sheffield is to be married to Lady Harriet Lascelles. He is very poor, and it is said they are to live at Harwood. Wh}^ was Holroyd lorded at all, above all why an Earl ? Lord Clifton is to be married * Viscount Granville, then Ambassador at Paris. t Hugh, tliird Duke of Northumberland, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland in 1829. X The Duke became quite deaf of one ear, owing to an operation for deafness that he hurried on in order to go to St. Petersburg. 284 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION [CH. X. to Miss Parnell, and Alex. Stewart (Londonderry's cousin) to Lady Caroline Pratt. Now what care you for all this, but yet one likes to hear in foreign parts who folks are given to in marriage in one's fatherland. Ever affly yours, Binning. I cannot read all this over — will you? Mr. Ch ristopher Hughes * to Dagot. STOCKHOLi\f, May 30, 1825. My dear and gallant Sir Charles, You write like an angel ! ay, and like an angel of light ! . . . The fact is, like a practical Brother Jonathan, I have been down in the courtyard up to m}^ shoulders in straw, dust, and deals, superintending with my own eye, the unpacking of many pieces of my own furniture that the brutes here had not taste to buy, and I had not the heart to sell, I mean to sacrifice ! . . . Your letter comes like manna and nourishes my resolution to send many things that I had balanced about leaving and letting go to the devil. . , . You have cut me out work for a morning, but all your questions shall be answered. Your first is about Queen Christine.f Lady B. was * An American diplomatist. In 1814 lie was Secretary to the United States Legation in London, whence he proceeded as Charge d' Affaires to Stockholm till 1825, when he was sent as American representative to Brussels, returning to Stockholm shortly after, and remaining there till 1845. ^^ represented the United States at different times at several Kuropean Courts. He is described in the 'Encyclopedia of American Biography' (vol. vii., p. 165) as being remarkable for ' saying more wise things, strange things, droll things, than ever tongue uttered or mind conceived.' He was a friend of Canning's, who met him at Liverpool, and was one of the few diplomatists of either country who did all he could to bring about good feeling between the British and Americans during the difficult times which succeeded to the American War, in whicli category must also be included Mr. Rush — a policy encouraged by Canning. He was an intimate friend of ' Coke of Norfolk,' tlie first Lord Leicester, and was known as ' Uncle Sam.' t Undoubtedly a nickname for Desir^e, a daughter of M. Clary, a Marseilles silk merchant, and sister of Joseph Bonaparte's wife. She 1825J 'QUEEN CHRISTINE' 285 perfectly right not to countenance her by returning the visit ; you would have been equally so, if you had taken a crack at her yourself; i.e., if she had retained any of her fine fleshy temptations for which she was remarkable some years ago. I believe firmly the story about her and her most nefarious brother. I do not bind you to any very great reserve as to quoting my answer. I do believe it ; and I have the courage to say so, not, to be sure, to the editor of John Bull, for who wishes dajficher his faith in so damnable a history ? Yet such is my faith, and it is entertained generally in these parts. Lady B. was quite right, and she always is, where virtuous sentiment, and where practical judgement, are involved. . . . Middleton will remain at St. Petersburg ? What is he to do with his fortune and tastes at home ? and being from home, where else can he hope to be sent ? Nowhere, if I can obstruct him. Let him stay where no man of taste will envy him his enjoyments. I understand that Rufus King* is certainly to go to London ... he will do credit to us. ... I know how highly he is considered by both Mr. Canning and the Duke of Northumberland's mother ; and I rejoice that Mr. King did accept and ditto H. Clinton did not. Rush is a beggarly accountant, commonly called Secretary of the Treasury ! an old Field school ought was married to Bernadotte, Kin,<:f of Sweden, but was not crowned till 1829. She had lived chiefly in France as the Countess of Gothland, and was now forty-four. There is a memoir of her by her Chamber- lain, Baron Hochschild (' Desiree, Rcine de Suede et Norvege.' Paris, 1888), giving an interesting account of the early connexion between the Bonaparte brothers and the Clarys in 1794-95. Napoleon is said to have been engaged to her and thrown her over when he met Josephine, but another account (' Napoleon i" et son temps,' Roger Peyre) makes out Napoleon to have been the jilted lover. * Rufus King was appointed Minister to England by President Washington in 1797. He had been one of the first members of the United States Senate, and returned to that body in 1813, serving till 1825, when he was again appointed Minister to Great Britain, but, through failing health, was obliged to relinquish the post in a few months. 286 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION [CH. x. to have been his ultima tlmle of public trust, not as respects his principles — but his parts. Mrs. Patterson is in London (God bless her Madonna face !) — at least she wrote me so. . . . She took special trouble to assure me that Louisa was not to marry Henry Baring.* His former wife behaved so dis- creetly, that I wonder this Golden Calf should seek another Yankee Heifer ! Let him look out, not for squalls ; perhaps that was Hervey's fault. The Catons and the venerable conscript Father, Mr. Carroll, were all well at the last writing. Clay t is so gifted a being that he will get on well. Though I've heard that old HickoryJ speaks in un- measured terms about the course Clay took and the grounds on which he so publickly preferred John Quincy. I believe that both Gen. J. and Mrs. Clay are unsurpassed in genuine devotion to the true interests of their country and are equally sound patriots, but I swear by Clay, for I know him as a boy may know his companion, and I believe a more noble being does not live ; still he has a copious chapter of faults, but they are les plus beaux defauts de la nature humame^ and such as are almost always found allied with great parts and a generous nature. Bloomfield § is in the country ... he axes me to dine with him as often as Lord Norbury, only Bloomfield is in earnest, and Lord N. earnestly hopes you won't come. . . . How kind it was in you to write to me ... by the Lord and by Brinkman's and Strangford's probosces, I thank * Louisa, sister of Mrs. Patterson and widow of Sir Felton Hervey, who afterwards married the Duke of Leeds. Henry Baring's first wife was a Miss Bingham, of Philadelphia. t Henry Clay, United States Senator and Member of Congress ; Speaker at intervals, 1811-1825 ; Commissioner for United States for the Treaty of Ghent; Secretary of State, 1825-1829; defeated for Presidency in 1832 and 1844. X Andrew Jackson, twice President. § Lieutenant-Gcneral Benjamin Bloomfield, private secretary to George IV. when Regent ; Minister to Stockholm in 1824 ; made Lord Bloomfield in the Irish Peerage. 1825] A VISIT TO THE LAKES 287 you ; and by every noble nose of Strasburg I am thankful. , . . When you write again, and let it be soon, call me 'dear Hughes' or I'll think you are shy of Uncle Sam. It will be remembered that the first of Canning's letters published in these volumes, written five-and- thirty years earlier, was on the subject of a visit to the English lakes in the company of Mrs. Crewe. The two following letters are written from Storrs, a beautiful place on the banks of Windermere, then the residence of Colonel Bolton,* one of Canning's chief constituents in Liverpool. On this, the occasion of his last visit to Westmor- land, he was accompanied by Sir Walter Scott, with whom he had long been acquainted through their mutual friendship with George Ellis. Lockhart, who was of the party, describes their reception in his * Life of Scott.' Canning and his wife, with William Hervey, his private secretary, a son of Lord Bristol's, who was afterwards Secretary to the Embassy at Paris, accom- * John Bolton, a native of Ulverstone, born in 1756, became a rich merchant in Liverpool, and one of Canning's chief supporters there, having probably made his acquaintance when he visited the Lakes with Mrs. Crewe in earlier days. He had raised and commanded a regiment of Volunteers when an invasion by Bonaparte was threatened. His residence, Storrs Hall, is a beautiful place on the banks of Windermere, where his widow lived till 1848. It has of late years been turned into an hotel, though its general appearance and picturesque grounds remain much as they were when Canning, Scott, Wordsworth, Southcy, and Shelley, were numbered there as guests. The meeting above described is referred to by ' Christopher North,' who was also present. In after-years he wrote : ' Methought there passed along the lawn one now in his tomb. . . . The memory of that bright day returns, when Windermere glittered with all her sails in honour of the great Northern Minstrel and of Him the Eloquent, whose lips are now mute in dust.' In his later years, local history relates that, having been forced into a duel with an army officer, the gallant Colonel of Volunteers, generously intending to iire in the air, did not make sufficient allow- ance for his opponent's height, and killed him with a bullet in his forehead. He is buried against the tower of the old parish church of Windermere at Bowness, a church that can boast of some of the oldest stained glass in England. One of his brothers was drowned in Windermere. 288 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION [CH. x. panied by Charles Ellis and his second son, then Captain Ellis, of the 9th Lancers, the ' Gussy ' of a previous letter, arrived at Kendal on their way to Windermere. Here we may take the description of further proceedings from the report of the local paper of that date in preference to the words of Scott's biographer, although as specimens of the language of the reporter there is little to choose between them. 'At the King's Arms at Kendal the statesman was received by the mayor and a distinguished company, and entertained to a cold collation, at which, though there was punch and wine in abundance, Canning confined himself to soda water. He received an address, to which he answered in a most beautiful manner. . . . Mrs. Canning meanwhile drove on to Windermere. . . . The guests then proceeded in Colonel Bolton's carriage and four to Storrs, where they were joined by Scott, Wordsworth, and Southey.' On one day there was a grand procession of boats to escort them on the lake, with Canning, Scott, and Wordsworth in the place of honour on Colonel Bolton's barge, ' accompanied,' again to quote the local reporter, * by the roar of cannon, the sound of bells, and the harmonious strains of two bands of music, while the shores re-echoed with the noise of cannon or the swelling note of the sonorous trumpet.' The report continues : ' Mr, Canning and Sir Walter Scott were observed to sit opposite each other in the barge, both wearing white hats.' Canning during his visit is described to have been much on horseback, going at a hand-gallop, and visiting everything worthy of observation.* He had written to Mrs. Bolton on July 26, preparing her for the visit, saying that he was well again, and wanted nothing but 'quiet and good air, which 1 shall find on the banks of Windermere.' He proposed to * Sir Walter Scott, in his journal, records receiving the news of Canning's death, two years later, as follows : ' Tiie death of the Premier is announced — late George Canning. The witty, the accom- plished, tlie ambitious, who had toiled thirty years . . . now a heap of dust, and that is all. Me was an early and famihar friend of mine, through my intimacy with George Ellis. I saw with pain a great change in his health when I met him at Colonel Bolton's at Storrs. 1825] CANNING AT WINDERMERE 289 Stay all August. He wrote: 'I drink no wine at present, and am ordered Seltzer water.' He goes on to say that, as * Seltzer water may not be in demand, and consequently (as political economists would infer) not in constant supply in the north,' he might send a cargo of it from London, but ' I would not surprise them with a waggon load of stone bottles, lest they might think I intended to bottle off their Lake.'* Canning to Bagot Storrs, {Private and confidcniial.) Augiisf 27, 1825. The enclosed extract of a letter, though without a name, will indicate its writer to you. As my answer to this letter, if addressed to the writer, must go through your hands, and as the less he and I correspond at present the better, I think it most expedient to put you entirely in the confidence of the object of our correspondence, by sending to you this extract, and by employing your intervention to convey the substance of my answer to him yourself. It is this : ' Under the circumstances explained in his letter, I cannot insist upon his proceeding to Corfu. I hope that his departure from England will be sufficient for the purpose which I had in view.'t I have two or three private letters from you to acknowledge, and I take this opportunity of acknow- ledging them with thanks. I am getting well, or rather I am well ; and am I hope getting strong. A fortnight of comparative abstraction from hard work, with constant exercise and fine weather, has done much for me. I hope to get another fortnight of the same regimen, and then I hope I shall be stout enough * Stapleton's 'Canning Correspondence,' vol. i., p. 377. t The extract enclosed is from someone sent to Corfu by Canning complaining of the expense, and asking to be allowed to delay in some obscure place on the road to Greece, etc. — probably it refers to Lord Ponsonby, of whom later. VOL. IL 19 290 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION [CH x. to encounter all that may await me in Downing street. I have nothing publick to write to you about, though I wish to find something or other about which to enable you to make a confidence to the King. By the way, I have no very good opinion of F.,* and shall not be sorry if your speculations about him are realized. He appears frank, and is tricky : talks the new school of politicks in commercial matters, and acts, and I suspect advises his Government to act, as far as possible, upon the old. He thinks that he is tricking Huskisson and me just now. But it is only for the fine weather. We shall ' fetch him up with a circum- bendibus,' in autumn. I see that your Congress found its way into our newspapers. It was the most innocent of its kind. In answer to the foregoing, letter Bagot wrote to the Foreign Minister from Brussels on September 19 : Bagot to Canning. [Copy.-] A circumstance has arisen within the last few days, during which I have lived almost entirely at the Court, which shows me how prevoyant you were when in one of your private letters to me you said you wished to be able to find something of which I might make a confidential communication to the King of the Netherlands. When I was dining at the King's the other day M. de Cominck asked me what was the meaning of those reports respecting the proceedings of Com- modore Hamilton, and the conduct which we were said to be about to pursue in regard to the Greeks. . . . Yesterday . . . Robert Fagel took me aside and asked me whether I had received lately any communications * Falck, Netherlands Ambassador in London. 1825] DUTCH MINISTERS 291 from my Government in respect to Greek affairs, telling me frankly at the same time that he asked me the question at the request of the King . . . that the King was perfectly aware that I could not be as yet upon that sort of intimate footing with M. de Cominck . . . through Fagel I could say anything to the King, and I therefore bid him tell his Majesty from me that I gave no credit to the stories ... in the newspapers . . . that his Majesty might rest per- fectly assured that no great measure of public policy would be taken upon this ... by us without my receiving instructions to communicate it fully and immediately to his Majesty ... if by chance such a business were to occur I should not lose a moment in coming straight to his Majesty and making to him that full and unreserved confidence which I knew that it was your intention should subsist between the two Courts upon all matters of general policy. Fagel seemed exceedingly gratified ... it will be a tower of strength to me ... it shows you were quite right, and if you have any grist for the mill it would come very opportunely at this moment. Canning to Bagot. Storrs, {Private.) September 7, 1825. I enclose a letter from your friend and mine, Kit Hughes. As he will certainly show it to you, I may refer you to it for an account of myself, which, how- ever, I will repeat here in a little more detail. I am well, I hope, and am going back to Downing Street, where I shall soon have trial enough to ascer- tain whether that hope is well founded. But I have had rather too hard work even here (though you have seen no symptoms of it), and I see some specks in the horizon, which may swell and spread into much ink. 19 — 2 292 CATHOLIC EMANXIPATION [CH. x. I hope you have sent Liverpool home in good repair. P.S.— After all I forgot my detail. Here it is. We go to Wortley the end of this week — shall be at Welbeck the beginning of next week, and in Downing street Saturday evg. (the 17th). Lord Strangford to Bagot. Gould's Hotel, Jermyx Street, August 30, 1825. ... I hear that Canning is in high force at the Lakes. I should have liked to have seen him and Southey together. How times are changed! It is now Southey who is the Anti-Jacobin, and Canning who scoffs at Kings and Priests. His South American and Roman Catholic policy is more archi-liberal than anything that poor Southey ever said or sang. I suppose you have heard that Stratford Canning's marriage is again on, and that he is to have a Harem at Constantinople. To judge properly of }ny modera- tion in the way of questioning* a predecessor, you should witness Stratford's assaults on my time and patience, the most indefatigable enquirer into two- pences that I ever met. And if he bothers his wife as much as he does me. Doctors Commons must be the result before a twelvemonth. In short, two Cannings at a time are too much for a peaceable man. I am directed by Canning major to prepare not only my own Instructions, but those o^ Canning minor— a pretty job— for the purpose of executing which I am now plante in London. There are lots of magnificent * In the early part of this letter Lord Strangford asks Sir C. Bagot, whom he was about to succeed at St. Petersburg, a number of questions about the expenses of the post, etc. Stratford Canning, afterwards Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, was about to succeed Lord Strangford at Constantinople. 1825] FALCK CANTANKEROUS 293 Russians here, but I have not seen any of them. Lieven does not honour me with any degree of notice. There is another diplomatic wedding a-going. Do you know a certain Hamilton-Hamilton-Hamilton, the Sec. Emb. at Paris ? He is to marry a cousin of mine, the damsel whom Casamajor jilted by dying. We have no news here except the famous scena between old Hertford and Augustus Stanhope. The latter seems to have taken as his model that mad Bligh, who, you know, has kept the Darnleys in a funk for the last twenty years. Canning to Bagot. Seaford, {Private and confidential.) November 21, 1825. You will perceive that Falck is cantankerous. I told you (I think; some time ago that he is also trick}-. No man has a right to be both. In trickery nothing so much becomes a man as humility. Straitforward- ness is the only excuse for cantanker. We must try to get him right — which we can only do by doing without him. I have for some time thought seriously upon this matter. And there it is. The K. of the Netherlands expects unbounded confidence and copious communi- cation ; of that communication and confidence you, and not Falck, are the channel. Yet in every question of business the practice and aim of the Netherland Govt, is to transact through Falck. In effect he is much more Minister for Foreign Affairs than my Dutch namesake : and I suspect that he literally directs from London all that is to be said or written to England. The question of the Rhine and that of the Treaty of Commerce are thus suspended (as I mentioned in my last despatch) by Falck's contrivance. Upon the Rhine matter I do not wish you to press Mynheer Cominck, for I go with that discussion very unwillingly, and 294 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION [CH. x. only because the D, of W. pledged us to it at Venice. But upon the Treaty it is very important for us to be clearly and timely informed of the intentions of the Netherland Govt. And I would lay my life that the way in which that question is left, at Falck's suggestion, is this — that he is to evade signing, if he can, and if he cannot evade, is only to sign just in time to avoid the order in Council. This is not fair. The agreement of the Netherland Govt, to our system, un- coerced, would be of great utility, and would certainly have been very agreeable to us. The agreeableness has been suffered to go by : but it would still be useful. Falck's hope is that, when the time comes for enforc- ing the alteration of the order in Council, he may appeal to the friendship between the two Crowns, etc., but he is mistaken. That friendship would have been best evinced by the treaty. The order in Council would then have fallen upon France alone. As it is, the Netherland Govt, will have outstaid their market ; and I shall not be very much surprized if our treaty is with France, and if the Netherlands alone figure in the order in Council.* One great advantage of this result would be that it would teach the K. of the N.'s not to rely too implicitly on Mr. Falck's predictions and undertakings. In like manner upon this affair of the factories in India, I have a very strong suspicion that Falck advised his Govt, not to be in a luirry in sending out their orders of transfer. I have that impression upon my mind from a long while ago, though I cannot very confidently assign the grounds of it. By his own con- fession he has no instructions about the ;^ioo — yet the payment was stipulated to be made in the course of * This is the beginning of Canning's retaliation on Dutcli duties on British commerce, in the course of which he perpetrated the joke of his ' rhyming despatch.' France had agreed to a commercial treaty on duties on sea-borne commerce, but owing to Falck's action the Netherlands would not come in. 1825] THE DUTCH IN INDIA 295 1825 — and it is now the middle or nearer the end of November. Does this look like an intention of paying? But this by the way. The orders to give up the factories were sent, he says, dans le coiirant de lete^ and he suspects that they must have been impeded by the monsoons. Very probably; but if they had been sent early in the summer — that is, not later than June — the monsoons could not have impeded them. From what I know of the proper season for communication to India (not from wind and weather wisdom, but from recollections of those times when you used to find me 'engaged with the Chairs'),* it ceases from Juiie till towards the end of November — so that if Dutch summers count as ours do, from June 21 to Sept. 22, the sending a despatch to India ^dans le courant de I'ete' is just sending it in the wrong season. For these reasons it is that I particularly wished to know the date of the orders sent for the surrender of the factories ; and that I wish it more particularly now, when Falck evidently desires to conceal it. Falck is quite wrong in his whole conception of my Note. He forgets that the Treaty of 1824 was made by the King's Govt, coutre le gre of the E. I. Company; that the cession of Bencoolenf was extorted from the Company; that Singapore, which was the object acquired for them in return, was in their estimation no acquisition, being (as they contended) theirs before ; that they always represented the Dutch factories on the continent of India as nothing worth (in which, perhaps, they were not far from right), and as more trouble than profit ; and that they were therefore particularly glad to find a hitch in the making over of these troublesome nothings. It was therefore my business, in a note to be communicated to the E. I. Co., to exhibit a great show of zeal, and to swell the delay in deliver- * At the Board of Control for India. t Ceded to the Dutch in exchange for Malacca. 296 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION [CH. x. ing up these possessions into a matter of infinite im- portance. All this I could explain to Falck ; but for his sauciness I will not. You may, if necessary, explain it to M, Cominck,* but in revenge press him home for the date of his orders : and if referred to Falck, then you will find your opportunity for inti- mating that business and confidence may as well flow in the same channel. G. C. P.S. — We are here again with Charles for the remainder of this month. It does me a world of good to ride about the Downs — and we have still such weather, five da3''s out of the seven, as makes that possible and delightful. But my office follows me here, and I think 1 have worked harder in this little bow-room of Charles', with the sea murmuring (or as to today roaring) in my ears, than I have almost ever done, for the same space of time together, in Downing street. But then I avoid Conferences :t except, indeed, with L. [Liverpool], who is at Brighton, and has occasionally found his way over to Seaford. Mr. Christopher Hughes to Bagot. Baltimore, December i, 1825. You will not be sorry I flatter myself to receive news from your old friend and follower dated in Uncle Sam's Land, where you are loved and respected by all who know you. Suffice it, in one word, that all parties, men and women and children, revolutionary, or only dating from the last war (the bitter lees of which you contributed so powerfully to annihilate), all hands, young and old, axed after you and after Lady Bagot, in the kindest and most respectful terms. * Foreign Minister to tlie Netherlands, shortly afterwards taken very ill and succeeded by M. dc Verstolk. t A sly hit at Bagot, with whom ' conference' was a sore subject. i825] UNCLE SAM'S LAND 297 You know I'm the boy to answer, but let's begin at the beginning. * 'Twas in the good ship Rover' — no, Lewis, that I sailed from Havre on the 27th Sept. ; year of our Lord, idem with date of these presents ; in 30 days we landed at New York, all well, but no vegetables, or cows left ; first eaten, last died an un- natural death {maladie de mer). We had a hell inferosous of a passage ... 16 distinct accidents, and one of our hands was wounded in the nose, at the cow's funeral, (extract from Joe Miller's bulletin of a privateer's account of an action at sea). We were all devilish glad to get on terra firma ; aye, and such a terra, words can't exaggerate the truth. In 2 years and 6 months (for I called on U. Sam in 1823) la ville de Niett Yorrke est a peine reconnoissable, telles sont les ameliorations, tels sout les embellissments ! Never saw anything like it, nor did you, nor did the world. To be sure the merchants break now and then — so do they at L'pool ! let 'em break and be d d ; others set up and the country goes on ; besides what right have they to indulge in such blasted projects of rapid gain ! they are often no wiser than rabid animals. But I must adjourn for the present, to go across the street, to dig my knife into a saddle of famous Alleghany venison, served up in honour of my arrival (such things happen to me every day : the Lord be praised for all his mercies, and the sundry other good things of this life) at Robert Gilmour's, where are to be assembled all the rich lordlings of our city, willing to eat heartily, because I've come back, a devilish good reason, and serves for drinking too, ay, and such drinking! such old Madeira, as you European folks don't understand ; though we are democrats and rebels, we beat you there ! I'll bring you some when I return to Belgium ... it is 4 o'clock and the house adjourns to go to another place. 298 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION [CH. X. December 2. We had a famous good dinner . . . sundry good things went in, and not a few, I hope, came out of my mouth. I got gay and finished the evening at a great Bride's part}- given b}' a Gay street barrister, dull work — they don't know how to amuse themselves here. The Lord knows they know how to eat and drink, for the land abounds in good things ; as to canvas backs, why don't talk ! and for the women they really are beautiful, prettier than ever I am sure. In a meeting of 40, there were more real beauties than in one of three times the number in Europe, excepting England ; as to beautiful women England can stand against the world ! The founmre of England and the U. S. might be improved, but for beauty that would be superfluous — but need I dwell on such topics ? you know them and everything else better nor 1 ! All classes m'ont comhle ... so was it at N. York, at Philadelphia, at Washington — I like this, it proves good taste. . . . Who do 3'ou think was one of m}- first visitors, a}^, and as gay and as active and as clear and as articulate and as elastic as a boy of 21 ! Why that miracle of fine old gentlemen, old Mr. Carroll* ... he is amazing . . . one of his first questions was about you and Lady Bagot. . . . ' Well,' said he, ' Christopher ... I shall never forget the visit they paid me at 'Nopolis, when they were waiting for the frigate (he even remembered the name of the vessel — I have forgot it ; I think it was the Forth, or perhaps the Fifth — bad this). I think I may be so bold as to send my love to my Lady.' I promised him . . . not to omit one word ... he sent for my children and kissed them. I ordered the brats to look at him and remember him ; he is one of the demi- * Charles Carroll, the last survivor of the signers of the Declaration of Independence ; one of the Roman CathoHc leaders in the Colony and State of Mar\iand. His estate. Carrollton Manor, is still in the possession of the family. 1825] PROMINENT AMERICANS 299 god three remaining of the signers of Independence — as John Quincy's beautiful toast runs, ' The living records of the Revolution, like the Books of the Sybils, their value augments as their numbers diminish.' Now you'll admit this was classic I So much for old Car- rollton — God bless him I . . . Why did you not write to Cla}- ? He asked for you most warmly . . . when I told him that 3'ou had intended writing to him, but were prevented by an incursion of Prussian and British princes, his words were, ' It would have given me pleasure, for I look on Sir C. B. to be one of the most high-minded, gallant, and honourable gentlemen I have ever known. ..." Mr. Vaughan succeeds amazingly ... he keeps an elegant house, the house Sec. of State Monroe and S. Canning did live in. Little Anthony St. John and his Treaty writing-desk are all well. Mrs. Decatur (decantur) is really charming. . . . Here I am, overcome with visitors, Quaker cousins and Generals. General Scott and a Mrs. Placid cousin of mine ; a nice little demure thing whose flesh moveth my spirit. My little daughter looks amazed at her bonnet. ... I wish you would prevail on Chev. de Cominck to instruct Huggins to intimate delicately to the Government at Washington, that it would be agreeable to His Netherend Majesty that his (Huggins') work should be reciprocated (' as the}- say at Washing- ton,' as 3'ou once wrote to me) ; it w^ould do me much good, and drag me from the ante-chamber into the drawing-room, where I know you are alwa3's pleased to see me. The Scots axed me to their 'versary meal (oatmeal). I send you a report of the proceedings ; 3'Ou will see that I am not silent.* * ' Uncle Sam ' encloses a newspaper cutting describing the feast, being a celebration of St. Andrew's Day. There were ten what are described as regular toasts, all Scottish except ' Washington and the President." One was, ' The Scottish Character — patriotism, respect for 300 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION [CH. x. I hope you were all in favour of Mrs. Patterson's marriage.* I gave my consent, and this Nation talks of nothing else. She is where she ought to be, at the very top of the world. 1 love her, and never did know a more admirable woman. At Gilmour's dinner (which was really magnificent ; even in London a Nabob might have been satisfied with it) I was authorized by Mrs. Gilmour to give a toast, and I gave 'the Marchioness of Wellesley'; it was drunk with hearty good wishes for her happiness, and I say God bless her; I only hope you are all satisfied. . . . There was a confusion of the two Mrs. Pattersons in one of our papers, and the little diablesse la cousine de ma femme was mentioned as the Bride. The Lord be praised that his lordship was in other hands ! I never met with such a little incarnate as that Madame Jerome,t and as old Stone used to say, ' I have not seen a few.' Send the enclosed franco to Brussels; it is for the father of our children's gouver- nantc. * Qui gouverne les gouvernantes .?' Yrs. most faithfully, Christopher Hughes. Christopher Hughes wrote again to Bagot two months later from Baltimore complaining of his bad luck in rising no higher in his profession than a Charge d' Affaires, and giving an interesting descrip- tion of the rapid progress then going on in the United States. ' Your old friend Clay has sent you the most amiable messages ... he found it inevitable to take age, affection for parents, and love for the fair.' After tliese toasts otliers followed, including ' Mr. Huglies,' to which he replied at some length ; otherwise lie might not have enclosed the cutting. * To Lord Wellesley. "^ t Mr. Patterson's sister married Jerome Bonaparte, who fell in love with her during his stay in America in 1803, and married her. Napoleon refused to recognize tlie marriage. Napoleon III. after- wards recognized Jerome's grandson, Colonel Jerome Bonaparte. The other brother, Charles Bonaparte, was Attorney-General of the United States. i825] A DUEL 301 aim at that nondescript being John Randolph, and if Jack had had a jacket or coat on instead of a loose dressing flannel gown, Harry would undoubtedly have made daylight glimmer through his skeleton.' Randolph said, on examining the shot-hole : ' Mr. Clay, you owe me a new flannel gown.' * I am very glad,' quoth Henri, snr le champs [de bataillc), 'Sir, that I am no deeper in your debt.' With the letter Hughes encloses a newspaper cutting describing a duel between Henry Clay and a Mr. Randolph at Washington. To begin with, Mr. Randolph's pistol went off by mistake after the parties had taken their ground. He was given another pistol, when they both missed. At a second shot Mr. Randolph fired in the air, and Mr. Clay put a bullet through his oppo- nent's flannel dressing-gown, after which 'the parties simultaneously approached each other, both with ex- tended hands.' In this collection of letters there are so many refer- ences to duels in connexion with British politics that it may be of interest to note how things were done on the other side of the Atlantic. Bagot to Canning. TiU'. Hague, \Cop\.'] December 2, 1825. My dear Canning, I send you a Despatch acquainting you that my old St. Petersburgh colleague has been desired to hold ad interim, the Portfolio of the Foreign Affairs. I get my information from the Under Secretary, but it is not yet known to the other Foreign Ministers. I have not heard anything which has pleased me so well for some time. M. de Verstolk is a very honest man, tri^s instruit, and a gentleman. He is a man of property, and I believe would prefer his garden, his pictures and his fine library to Office, but in the present circumstances he cannot, I think, decline to do the business of Cominck's department ad interim ; and once embarked, he would find it difficult, in the probable 302 AFFAIRS IN RUSSIA [CH. x. event of Cominck's death, to refuse to fill the post per- manently. He was I think Governor of N. Holland during the time of the French. He had certainly some extensive Government in those times which he admin- istered to the satisfaction of every body. I know not how he stands with Falck — Cominck continues quite as bad as ever. Since I last wrote you I have ascer- tained that though he was treated in the first instance as if his attack was apoplectic, it was not so, and that the bleeding which he underwent was everything the most improper for what proves to be his real malady — Dropsy upon the chest. I am told that the oppres- sion which he feels is so great that he can hardly utter, and that he is unable to lie down in bed. Bagot to Canning. The Hague, [Co/'V.] {Private and secret.) December 22, 1825. My dear Canning, If I had not already put the Government to the expense of two extra-conveyances of letters to you within these last four days, I should be greatly tempted to despatch another vessel to England with this letter for the chance of being the first to communicate to you a very important piece of intelligence which has reached me only within this hour, and upon which 1 think that you may entirely rely. I determine how- ever, par economie, to keep my letter to go by to- morrow's mail. I have good reason to believe that it is quite certain that the Grand Duke Constantine renounces the Crown of Russia.* I am informed that his determination to do so was made known by him some years ago to the Emperor * The Emperor Alexander died on December i. Constantine renounced his succession, and his younger brother Nicholas became Emperor, though the fact did not transpire for some time. i825l NICHOLAS AND CONSTANTINE 303 Alexander, who, by a will deposited at Petersburgh, left the empire to the Grand Duke Nicholas. It appears that, upon the arrival at St. Petersburgh of the intelligence of the death of the late Emperor, a Council was assembled at which this will was opened and the contents of it immediately communicated to the Grand Duke Nicholas. The Grand Duke is said to have declared without hesitation that, as circumstances might since the date of that will have made some change in his brother's views, he would not accept the Crown until it should again be formally renounced in his favour by his brother, to whom he desired immediately to take, and to whom he did take, the oaths of Allegiance. I cannot form any guess whether these facts were or were not known to Lord Strangford when he des- patched his messenger to you on the 9th instant. It is very probable that they may not have been — but you may I think rely upon the accuracy of what I tell you, as I have it from a source which, I believe, admits of no doubt. A courier arrived here early this morning from St. Petersburgh, which place he left on the 9th, with despatches for Count Gourieff, the Russian Charge if affaires. He was also the bearer of a despatch from M. de Heckeren, the Netherland Charge d'affaires in Russia, to M. de Verstolk, giving all the details which you certainly will have learnt of the Emperor's illness. The accounts which we received of the Emperor Alexander having designated Constantine as his successor in his last moments is contradicted by what I write in this letter. It is to be presumed that no such designation really took place. We were also deceived here in supposing that Nesselrode was at Taganrog at the time of the Emperor's death. You however must have known that he was then at Peters- burgh. 304 AFFAIRS IN RUSSIA [cH. x. Did you see the article published a few days ago in the foreign papers, professing to give an extract of the Berlin Almanack respecting the Grand Duke Nicholas ? It is very remarkable. Yours, my dear C, &c., &c., Charles Bagot. Bagot to Canning. [Copy.] The Hague, {Secret and confideniial.) December 22, 1825. I derive the information which I give you in my other private letter of this date from M. de Verstolk. About three hours after the arrival of the Russian courier this morning, M. de Verstolk called upon me by order, as I suspect, though he did not tell me so, of the King, and acquainted me, in the strictest confi- dence, with the facts which I have reported to you. I am unable to tell you from what source he had derived them — certainly he had learnt them by the courier who arrived this morning — but as certainly he had not learnt them from M. de Heckeren, whose despatch he showed me, and who does not question the Grand Duke Constantine's acceptance of the Crown. My supposition is that the intelligence had been received by the Prince of Orange and by him communicated to the King. Be that however as it may, M. de Verstolk is satisfied of its authenticity. He enjoined me not to communicate it to any person of the Embassy, much less to an}^ of my colleagues — but he authorised me to communicate it to you, requesting however that his name might not be men- tioned with it. You will think that what I said to you in one of my last letters was written with some knowledge of what I now tell you. I assure you that it was not — and 1 do not know" how 1825] LORD PONSONBY 305 that idea originally came into my head, but I have long had a sort of second sight of what would happen. Do you gain by the change ? — Nous verrons. Canning to Bagot. Foreign Office, (Private.) December 2, 1825. Pray forward the inclosed letter to its destination. I inclose a copy of it for your information. You will see that I refer Ld. Ponsonby* to you for instructions, which I could not give. Among other things, it is very difficult for me to say, ' Be as little in England as possible before your departure.' But 1 wish it said — or at least I v/ish the thing so to be. There are pottrqiiots for it, qui se n'expUquent pas. I should wish him to make his preparations — or rather to have them made for him — from the other side of the water : and only to come here to kiss the King's hand, and to embark with as little delay as may be. Towards making such preparations, I suppose he would like to know how he may come at the means. Planta will write to you next week on that subject. * The second Lord Ponsonby was the grandson of the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. He had held an appointment in the Ionian Islands, and was now fifty-six, and had married in 1803 Lady Elizabeth Villiers. He was a very good-looking man, and George IV. imagined that Lady Conyngham took too much interest in him ; hence the pourqiiois qui sc n'expliqiie pas for his not being in England. The King was ill at the time, and sent for his Foreign Minister to discuss affairs of State in his sick-room. Canning suggested the appointment of Lord Ponsonby as an envoy to South America. The King agreed, and thought he was admirably fitted for the post. He was sent to Buenos Ayres at the end of February. It is recorded that His Majesty felt much better after the interview with his Minister. Lord Ponsonby was later Ambassador at Constantinople and Vienna, and became a diplomatist of some distinction. If his good looks on this occasion were the cause of his banishment to Buenos AjTes, they had done him a good turn in his younger days ; for in 1791 he had been caught by a French mob and hanged a la lanterne, but was cut down in time by the women as being tin irop joli garfon pottr ctrc pcndu. VOL. n. 20 3o6 AFFAIRS IN RUSSIA [CH. x. I hope to send him^ off before the meeting of Parliament. » N.B.— Not Planta, but Ld. P. With this letter are enclosed two copies of letters from Canning to Lord Ponsonby. In the first he asks for an answer to a circular on pecuniary matters and speculation in South America, which the Foreign Minister is in the habit of sending to all political servants in the new States, and tells Lord Ponsonb}- that he is to refer to Sir Charles Bagot for all informa- tion and advice upon matters of detail * upon which I could not conveniently communicate with 3-ou, and am not yet prepared to put you in communication with any other person in this office.' The second letter embodies the Foreign Secretary's orders with regard to speculation or commercial interests in South America which are forbidden to His Majesty's envojs. Canning to Bagot. Foreign Office, (Private.) December 23, 1S25. I enclose to you the official notification of Lord Ponsonby's appointment, which j'ou will be so good as to forw^ard to that Minister with as little dela\- as possible. He will be gazetted to-morrow. . . . Ld. Ponsonby must, of course, come to England to kiss hands and take leave. . . . Falck has just left me, having had an engagement with Huskisson in my presence, which has ended, as your letter received this morning had enabled me to anticipate, in no treaty, and will lead to the further con- sequence, which perhaps Falck's correspondents do not anticipate, of an augmentation of duty upon low Dutch bottoms to the amount of 20 per cent. The French per contra promise to treat in the m.ost re- ciprocal manner imaginable. q q P.S. — I suppose this is the only letter written to-da}- by any Minister in Europe that does not sa}' a word i8i6-25] BRAZIL 307 about the Emperor of Russia.* It is a portentous event, and too big for a P.S. During Canning's first tenure of the Foreign Office, it will be remembered that on Junot 's entrance into Lisbon the Royal Family had fled to Brazil, then part of the kingdom of Portugal ; and that soon after correspondence with the Foreign Office drew attention to the difficulties between Lord Strangford, Minister to the new Court of Brazil, and the naval commander on the South American Station. In 1816 the Prince Regent, whom Canning had gone to receive as Ambassador at Lisbon when he was expected home from Brazil, succeeded to the crown of Portugal as John VI. He still continued to live at Rio as ruler of Portuga and Brazil, and the government of Por- tugal was entrusted to a Council of Regency at Lisbon, Lord Beresford remaining the real ruler of Portugal. In 1820 a revolution turned out the Council, and Beresford sailed for England. The revolution spread to Brazil, and was supported by Johns eldest son, Don Pedro, with the result that the King resigned the government to his son, and left for Portugal in July, 1S21. Brazil was then formally separated from Portugal Don Pedro was ordered home, but refused to go, and was supported by his subjects. In 1822 he was proclaimed Emperor of Brazil, and adopted a liberal Constitution, the making of which is described b\- Lord Ponsonby. In 1S25 Canning, through Sir Charles Stuart, who signed the treat}" at Rio, recognized the independence of Brazil, and obtained, in spite of Don Pedro's opposi- * The difference of 13 days between Russian and English dates makes it difl&cult to follow events as written in English letters from St. Petersburg. The Etaperor had died on December i (N.S.), and the news apparently had just arrived. Sir Daniel Bayley (Consul-General) wrote to Bagot from St Petersburg on January 22 (X.S.), as he c^en did, some of what he called his '' Old Bailey intelligence,' saying : ' The Emperor died broken-hearted under the conviction that his life was in danger even,- moment, and that his death woold be the signal for the explosion of these cursed Republican plots . . . how well he was informed events and confessions have fully proved ..." 308 AFFAIRS IN RUSSIA [CH. x. tion, a promise that the slave-trade should be abolished by the country that had been one of the worst offenders in that traffic, a promise that was definitely carried out by a treaty signed a week after its originator was no more. Lord Ponsonby duly started on his voyage to South America in February, and how he liked it may be gathered from the following letter written to Bagot soon after his arrival : . . . Poor Fanny* has lost her case containing all her fine gowns, satins, laces, silks, etc., etc. And what is much worse than all her misfortunes, / have lost in the said d d case my black neck- cloths ! Alas the day ! so pray buy me five pounds worth. . . . No eye ever saw so odious a country as this Buenos Ayres is. I will not trust myself to speak of it. I do not recollect having ever before disliked any place much, but I really sigh when I think I may spend my days here. I have Italy always before my eyes to increase my disgust at this land of mud and putrid carcasses — no horses, no roads, no houses ... no books, no theatre that can be endured. . . . Nothing good but beef. ... It is April here, and I have seen ice. . . . Rio 1 was delighted with. Remember me to Tierney and Douglas. Yours ever and ever, P. Later in the year he writes again, describing the Emperor of Brazil and the Constitution he had given to his new empire, now recognized by Great Britain as an independent State : * His wife, daughter of the fourth Lord Jersey, whose younger sister was married to Charles Bagot's brother Richard, afterwards Bisliop of Oxford. i826] MAKING A CONSTITUTION 309 Lord Ponsonby to Bagot. Buenos Ayres, October 17, 1826. I cannot help indulging myself by communicating to you the intelligence I received by this day's Packet. The most gratifying intelligence I have ever received in my life ; that of Mr. Canning's approbation of my conduct. I am extremely proud as every man must be of being approved of by a person of his singular acquire- ments and unequalled abilities, but I am also delighted to have been able to show the zeal with which I am actuated to serve him who has been so kind to me and for whom I took such a very strong fancy personally. I wish I could flatter myself that I shall execute my duties here decently. I have a hard task to perform, for I have to meddle with the affairs of a State brought to the very brink of perdition by foolish counsels, and with men who gave those counsels and who unfortunately for themselves and their country have some considerable share of talents and information, enough to make them very conceited and headstrong. . . . They are men who have studied Benjamin Constant and older French trash than he writes, about liberty and government and rights and wrongs and what not. Two of them are eloquent speakers in their assembly, Priests full of worldly and what is worse spiritual pride, one of them honest as far as his vanity will allow him to be, and the other a rogue when his vanity does not make him honest. Our President put me in mind of Sancho Panza in person and dignity of deportment, but then he is not half so wise as our old friend Sancho, not but what he has some sound views and useful qualities. 310 AFFAIRS IN RUSSIA [CH. x. . . . He and I have had a bout which threw him into a fit of rage which nearly produced a much worse fit — an apoplectick — and laid him up to the serious alarm of his family for a day or two, but worked itself off in execrations against me till he was restored to his health and senses . . . and begged me to forget it all, to which I was graciously pleased to consent. M}^ Brazilian Emperor I see has made a great splash and figure in Europe with his Constitution. He hates liberty nevertheless as much as Sir Toby Belch did water, but he is vain of his political science, of which he knows as much as his bosom friend his pimp, but that friend who is his private secretary can read and write with ease, and the before mentioned Ben. Constant was at hand (I mean his book, not the great philosopher in his proper person). And so one morning they sat them down after breakfast, and at dinner time (they dine early, too, at Rio) out came the Constitution, now the palladium of Lusitania, the despair of Spain and envy of the Turk, and the care and nursling of great Statesmen, Governments, and Kings. I believe after all that this Constitution of such facile parturition is very much better than the elaborate production of herds of French philosophers, including amongst them its own original generator, in con- sequence of certain alterations introduced into it by the Emperor and the Pimp. ... I know an author . . . who . . . swears that Rome was founded by the gipsys. You must know that this Emperor was educated by and with negro boys, and has lived ever since he came to man's estate with s, pimps and horse dealers ; his learning, morals, and manners correspond exactly with the sources from whence they were drawn, and nature it is supposed endowed him with both ferocity and cowardice — yet he has done considerable good to his country by the energy and i826] DON TEDRO 31 I passion with which he has carried into effect several salutary regulations. . . . He can do all minor things well, and also see what is right clearly enough when he chuses, but I nevertheless suspect that he will go near to lose his Crown before he dies. . . . What have I been writing to you for, about the Emperor — what's to be done ? I must go to bed and cannot mend my misdeeds, so pray pardon them and me. CHAPTER XI THE RHYMING DESPATCH The autocrat of all the Russias being no more, a sealed paper, which was only to be opened after his death, announced to the Russian Senate that his younger brother Nicholas was to succeed to the throne, instead of the expected successor, Constan- tine. The people at St. Petersburg had been praying for their Emperor's recovery for nine days after he was dead. Nicholas at St. Petersburg had taken the oath of allegiance to Constantine who was at Warsaw, but the brothers amicably settled the question of the succession. The people and troops did not understand why they should have been asked to swear allegiance first to Constantine, and then to Nicholas. Some of the troops revolted, assisted and encouraged by the development of a revolutionary conspiracy under Prince Troubetsky. This plot had for its object the forming of Russia into a federal republic. The fate of its leaders is referred to in a letter which follows. By the beginning of 1826 order was restored, and Nicholas became undisputed Emperor of Russia.* The Duke of Wellington arrived in St. Petersburg- early in March, 1826. Lord Strangford had been ap- pointed Ambassador to Russia in the place of Bagot, and had arrived there in the previous June. He found that the Russians had no intention of sending a Minister * Sir Daniel Bayley wrote to Bagot on January 18 : ' On the day of the commotion ... it is pretty well ascertained tliat about 800 in all were killed, wounded, and missing ... 80 perlaaps were loyal soldiers, 300 ret)el soldiers with arms, the rest a riotous mob — under liquor . . . everything we hear of the Emperor Nicholas redounds to liis honour . . . Strangford told me he never saw anyone equal to him. . . .' 312 1825-26] A COSSACK 'KISS' 313 to the Porte, and that Bagot had been deceived on the subject when he attended the Conference, for which Canning had repudiated his action. In December, undeterred by the fate of his predecessor in placing too much confidence in Nesselrode's intentions, he proceeded to agree with that Minister in projects for bringing pressure on Turkey for the pacification of Greece in conjunction with the Powers of the Holy Alliance : or he, at all events, got the credit for so doing. Bagot's snub for associating himself with the Powers in the matter by attending the preliminary Conference was a joke compared to the castigation that Strang- ford received at the hands of the inflexible Foreign Secretary. Canning addressed a memorandum in his own hand to Lord Clanwilliam, Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office, to say he would not recall Lord Strangford, and had no personal prejudice against him, but he was to act according to his instructions, ' or if ... he has none (mine will be the fault of the omission), he will condescend not to act at all. ... I will not be replunged into what is vulgarly called the Holy Alliance.' He wrote to Strangford himself what he described as a 'padlock' letter, saying 'the instructions I have now to give you are ... to be quiet.'* The Ambassador was told to inform Nesselrode of Canning's entire disavowal of the views he (Strang- ford) had expressed. He performed the disagreeable duty with a good grace, and subsequently attempted to defend^himself with Canning, but to no avail. He had recently lost his wife, owing to the severity of the Russian winter, and returned home in June, when Canning received him with marked coldness. Bagot wrote to him after the result of his indiscreet con- ference with Nesselrode : ' I cannot find a syllable to say against the manner in which you have received the thundering castigation with which you have been belaboured by Busbyt before the whole diplomatic sixth form.' In letters that follow it will be seen that the astute diplomatist, whose dealings with * ' Lives of the Lords Strangford,' pp. 148 ct scq. t The celebrated Head-Master of Westminster School, whose portrait is in the Hall at Clu-ist Church, who did not ' spare the rod.' 314 THE RHYMING DESPATCH [CH. xi. the Porte had lately called forth Canning's admiration, but who had fallen into a Russian trap, unburdens his soul about his chief Christopher Hughes, his former colleague at Stockholm, wrote : ' I knew what awaited you ... I knew it in 1823 ... I learnt that you had foundered, not on a pier (you deserve your peerage), but on a shelving shore . . . you are on the shelf. . . . You allowed yourself to be betrayed by a Cossack kiss.'* A form of endearment that had no attraction for Canning. The fate of the successive Ambassadors who at- tempted to consider a few preliminaries with Russia on their own account, and Mr. Hughes' comments on the part Lord Strangford had played, may call to mind the words of a distinguished modern statesman in connexion with the same country, in which there was some reference to a 'long spoon.' In home affairs the speech and action of the Duke of York in opposing Catholic relief had made a great sensation. Against the advice of the Duke of Welling- ton, Lord Liverpool delayed matters till June, when Parliament was dissolved. In the meantime an Act was passed allowing the importation of a certain amount of foreign corn in accordance with a sliding scale of prices, causing friction between agricultural and town interests. The general election was chiefly fought on corn and Catholics, but the Opposition gained no ground. Parliament met, the principal questions were postponed till after Christmas, and it adjourned on December 13. Shortly before the adjournment the Regent and Cortes of Portugal applied a second time for British aid against Don Miguel and the reactionaries who had asked for help from Spain. The demand from Portugal reached Canning on December 3, on the 8th he received confirmation of the Spanish intentions, and on the 12th he announced, in a celebrated speech in the House, that ' at the hour in which I have the honour of addressing you, the troops are on their march for embarkation. . . . We go to plant the standard of England on the heights of Lisbon. Where that standard is planted foreign dominion shall not come !' * ' Lives of the Lords Strangford.' 1825-26] A GREAT SPEECH 31 D The troops proceeded to the Tagus, but were not required to act. This speech was in reply to the King's message to the effect that the Princess Regent of Portugal claimed British aid against an hostile aggression from Spain. Near the end of the same speech, in reviewing the situation regarding Spain, France, and the Holy Alliance, he described how his policy had been that, 'if France had Spain, it should not be Spain zuif/i the Indies. I called the New World into existence to redress the balance of the Old ' — a phrase that electri- fied the House of Commons, and has gone down to history ; though, as a matter of fact, the idea was no sudden unpronipfu in a burst of eloquence, but simply a summary of his long-standing recognition of the value of the 'New World' in furthering his policy, several times expressed in his previous letters, and originally embodied in a despatch to Sir W. A'Court nearly three years before. In it the words distinguishing the ' New World ' from ' the Old,' more picturesque than the usual language of an official despatch, were used by Canning, and later on quoted in an official letter to Basrot.* •^&' Bagot to Canning. The Hague, {Copy.'] {Private.) January 3, 1826. My dear Canning, Russian affairs are no longer mine, but, as God knows, they are at this moment of no slight interest, and as, from Imperial connection, we are here in the way of learning a good deal about them, it may be useful that I should let you know what we hear and think of them in their present unsettled state. We, and I suppose you, have no later accounts from Warsaw than those of the 19th, at which time, notwithstanding that the courier despatched from St. Petersburgh on the 9th to tell the Grand Duke * See letter on page 276. 3l6 THE RHYMING DESPATCH [CH. xi. Constantine that Nicholas and the troops, etc., etc., had taken the oaths to him as Emperor, must have arrived there on the 13th or 14th. He had not stirred. . . . Nobody can know positively what is settled. M. de Verstolk tells me that his accounts from St. Petersburgh speak of Nicholas's succession as somewhat more doubtful than it was at first thought to be, in consequence of what has taken place; but I, who know nothing about it, am convinced that it is he who is to reign. Gonstantine is furious that Alexander's will was not immediately and implicitly obeyed, and I do suppose that the consequence must be that he must now make some act of abdication, which is a less quiet and agreeable mode of getting out of the scrape than that which he intended to contrive. It is a remarkable fact that the Statiit de Famille, or whatever else you may call the instrument by which the Emperor Paul regulated the succession to the Russian Throne, was violated in the very person of Alexander. Upon Paul's death the troops and functionaries took their oaths to the Emperor Alexander, and to zvhom ever he should appoint as his successor. The same oath has been taken to the Emperor Con- stantine. Constantine had appointed M. de Zajaczeck (the Governor of Poland) and the Cte. de Mohrenheim to receive the deputation of the Senate sent to him from St. Petersburgh. I enclose you the copy of a letter from St. Peters- burgh of the 5th of December which M. de Verstolk showed to me. It contains some interesting par- ticulars of the late Emperor's death, and is, I believe, written by M. de Heckeren. The accounts of the Empress Elizabeth are very bad, and it is not probable that she should last long. The Prince of Orange's journey has been delayed. . . . i826] THE LAST JOKE 317 In my life I never saw any man more deeply and sincerely affected than he is. He is completely bottle- verse, and when he came up to me at the Court on New Year's day, reminded, as I suppose, of St. Peters- burgh times and scenes by my presence, he burst into tears before the whole Court, and showed the most uncontrollable grief. . . . At present I will only add * multos et feliccs. . . .' Yours, my dear Canning, Charles Bagot. The allusion in Canning's letter of December 23, 1825, to the interview between M. Falck, Minister for the Netherlands in London, and Huskisson, President of the Board of Trade, and its unsatisfactory issue, is the first intimation of the circumstances which brought about the occasion of Canning's celebrated rhyming despatch. Various versions of this, the last of Canning's jokes, have been published — nearly all of them incorrect. By some the matter has been taken in all good faith as tending to show an incredible levity in the pro- ceedings of the Foreign Secretary, and an utter absence of diplomatic or even ordinar}'- business methods. Others have attributed a greater success for the mysterious despatch than that to which it was entitled, from a supposed extreme naivete on the part of its recipient. Mr. Marriott, in his able summary of the life of Canning,* gives the popular view of the matter as follows, writing, it must be remembered, before the original letters had seen the light : ' Diplomacy is a game, but it has to be played with an attempt at seriousness. Canning, however, was from first to last incorrigible. His despatch to Sir Charles Bagot, our Ambassador at The Hague, has often been quoted as an instance in point. The crisis was an acute one, and the despatch was in cypher. With infinite pains the attaches unravelled it thus.' He then quotes the version of the rhyme given by Lytton Bulwer,t who * ' George Canning and his Times,' by J. A. R. Marriott (1903), p. 5. t ' Historical Characters : Lytton Bulwer,' vol. ii., p. 421. 3^^ THE RHYMING DESPATCH [CH. xi. in his essay remarks on the subject, with regard to Canning: 'Though always ready for business, he would not scruple to introduce a piece of drollery into the most serious affairs.' Every line of Bulwer's version of the rhyme is wrong, but that version has been generally repro- duced by successive writers.* Canning's career was now being hurried to its close by the incessant labour and worries of office, but the irrepressible tendency to a joke, alluded to in the first pages of these volumes, remained to the end. It is, however, somewhat hard on a great statesman's memory that what was nothing more than an amusing and harmless trick, played upon an intimate personal friend, and in no sort of way interfering with the correct conduct of diplomatic business, should be seriously brought against him as a sign of levity or unstatesmanlike habits. The real facts of the matter— and they have formed the subject of frequent inquiry and correspondence — have been recently fully set forth in an able paper read before the Royal Historical Society by Sir Harry Poland.! This paper, which was largely compiled from the letters here published, is by the kind permis- sion of Sir Harry practically reproduced in the follow- ing pages. Negotiations had been going on between the British and other Governments with regard to duties to be levied on ships and goods. Canning and Huskisson, with the Prince de Polignac, representing the French Government, were able to arrange matters on an equit- able footing of reciprocity, and on January 26 a Con- vention was signed fixing the duties on fair terms. The Ministers, however, were unable to come to any agreement with the Netherlands Government, repre- sented in London by Falck. This may be seen from Canning's letter of December 23, written a month before the agreement with France was signed. Thereby the Ambassador in Holland is distinctly told * Bell's ' Life of Canning'; ' English Worthies,' edited by Andrew Lang {'George Canning,' by Frank Hill); 'George Canning,' by Alison Phillips; Temperley's 'Canning,' 1905, pp. 192, 193. t Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, vol. xx. (new series), p. 49. i826] 'TARIFF REFORM' 3 19 that the consequence of Falck's attitude will be a levy- ing of a 20 per cent, duty against Dutch shipping. The decision to put an extra duty on Dutch gooas was come to immediately after writing the letter, in which Bagot was told of Canning's intention. As early as January 6 Lord Howard de Walden writes to him from the Foreign Office, by desire of Canning: 'What a rogue Falck is! He appears never to communicate our Notes to his Court. He will find himself thrown over some fine day. He has behaved most scurvily about our Treaty. Those Dutch think that we are only bullying, and Falck flatters himself that having been trop fin for Wynne, that he can succeed equally well agamst Mr. C. and Mr. Huskisson. I envy you the communication of the Order in Council to Mynheer Verstolk,* and the Humpty Dumpty Colonial.! We shall never do any good with Falck. He is a pettifogging dog.' Immediately after the Convention with France had been signed, Canning notified the fact to Bagot officially as follows : Canning to Bagot. Foreign Office, {Official Copy.] January 27, 1826. Sir, I have great satisfaction in acquainting your Excellency that I, conjointly with Mr. Huskisson (as H.M. plenipotentiaries), yesterday signed with the Prince de Polignac (as plenipotentiary of his Most Christian Majesty) a convention of commerce and navigation by which all discriminating duties affecting ships or goods in the intercourse between France and England are done away, and a foundation is laid for opening hereafter the colonies of each country to the shipping and trade of the other. Your Excellency may communicate this intelligence to the Netherlands Government. * Acting Foreign Minister for the Netherlands Government, t Dutch Colonial Secretary, M. Elout. 320 THE RHYMING DESPATCH [CH. xi. We hope to exchange the ratifications of the conven- tion before the opening of the session. George Canning. A few days later the British Government, acting under statutes then existing, issued two Orders in Council imposing an additional duty of 20 per cent, upon Dutch vessels and merchandise. Canning then sent this formal official despatch to Sir Charles Bagot : Foreign Office, [Official. Copy.'] January 31, 1826. Sir, I enclose to your Excellency, for your informa- tion, copies of two Orders in Council, which were passed yesterday at Windsor, imposing an additional duty of 20 per cent, upon Netherlands vessels and merchandise. M. de Verstolk will hear this from your Excellency without surprise, the Netherlands Government having been so frequently warned by your Excellency, and M. Falck by myself, that his Majesty's Government would be obliged to have recourse to this measure on the failure of the negotiation to place the commerce and navigation of Great Britain and the Netherlands on a fair and equitable footing of reciprocity. It is almost unnecessary to add that this measure being purely of a commercial nature and grounded on considerations of interest and policy, which either Government is at perfect liberty to adopt or to reject without offence to the other, the exercise of the power confided to his Majesty by Parliament is not intended, and we trust will not be understood by the Nether- lands Government, as implying the smallest diminution of political friendship and goodwill. George Canning. 1 826] THE DESPATCH 321 Having duly despatched this official information, Canning bethought him that he would play off a joke upon Bagot by sending him on the same day what would appear to the recipient to be an important and confidential cypher despatch. The original cypher ' despatch,' now in the posses- sion of the editor, with its decypher on the same paper, is as follows : ^ Canning to Bagot. {Decypher. Separate, secret, Foreign Office, ^ and confidential.) /anuary 2,^, 1826. Sir, In matters of commerce the fault of the Dutch Is offering too little and asking too much. The French are with equal advantage content, So we clap on Dutch bottoms just 20 per cent. (Chorus) — 20 per cent, 20 [per] cent. (Chorus of English Custom House officers and French Douanicrs) : (English)— We clap on Dutch bottoms just 20 per cent. (French) — Votts jrapperez Falck avec 20 pet cent. I have no other commands from His Majesty to convey to your Excellency to-da3^ I am, with great truth and respect, Sir, Your Excellency's most obedient humble servant George Canning. His Excellexcy the Rt. Honble. Sir Charles B.^got, K.B. On the receipt of this 'secret and separate ' addi- tional despatch from the Foreign Office, Bagot at once endeavoured to decypher it, but found that he had not got the particular code in which it was written— a fact no doubt known to Canning, and likely to give additional zest to the joke from his point of view. VOL. II. 21 322 THE RHYMING DESPATCH [CH. XI. The Ambassador, in his difficulty, immediately sent the following official letter to his tormentor : Bagot to Canning. \Copy!\ The Hague, (Second. Secret.) February 3, 1826. Sir, I sincerely hope that the circumstance will not be productive of any public inconvenience, but I am concerned to state that I do not possess any cypher by which I am enabled to decypher your despatch of the 31st of last month, which I received this morning. The only cypher belonging to this Embassy is letter S. I take the liberty of suggesting that it might be con- venient at the present moment that I should be furnished with the cypher given to his Majesty's Ambassador at St. Petersburg, or at least with that of which his Majesty's Minister at Berlin may be in possession. I have the honour to be, with the highest respect, Sir, Your most obedient humble servant, Charles Bagot. To which the Secretary of State, keeping up the joke, replied : Canning to Bagot. {Third. Secret and Foreign Office, separate.) February 6, 1826. Sir, In consequence of your despatch marked Secret of the 3rd instant, I send your Excellency the cyphers and the decyphers T and U, both of which are in the possession of his Majesty's Ambassador at St. Peters- burg and his Majesty's Minister at Berlin. I regret the circumstance of your Excellency's not i826] THE MISSING CYPHER 323 having been furnished with the proper cyphers, as I was anxious that your Excellency should receive with as little delay as possible the impression which has been made upon His Majesty's Government by the very opposite feelings and conduct which have been demonstrated by the Governments of the Netherlands and France in the late commercial negotiations with Great Britain. I am, etc., George Canning. The required cyphers were sent the next day with the following official despatch : Canning to Bagof. Foreign Office, [Copy!] (Secret.) February 7, 1826. Sir, For the greater security of your Excellency's correspondence with H.M.'s several missions abroad, and with this department upon occasions when it may not be necessary to send a special messenger, I furnish your Excellency herewith with the cyphers and de- cypher T and U. These cyphers, together with that marked S, are in the possession of H.M. missions at Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Petersburg, and Constantinople. Those marked S and T are in the possession of H.M.'s missions at Frankfort, Dresden, Copenhagen, and Stockholm. I have to signify to your Excellency the King's commands that you strictly attend to the instructions and precautions as to the use of these cyphers pointed out in the accompanying secret paper. I am, etc., George Canning. What happened next at the Embassy may best be described in the words of a private letter from Bagot 21 — 2 324 THE RHYMING DESPATCH [CH. xi. to Canning. This final letter shows how little ground there is for attributing to the Secretary of State such childish action as having substituted some amusing verses, sent in a puzzling form, for an official despatch. It shows moreover, what is essential for the complete success of a practical joke, that each party to the transaction knew his man. This was not the first occasion on which Canning had sent a cypher letter which was in reality a communication on entirely private matters. The cypher letter from the Foreign Office to St. Petersburg written in August, 1824, and previously quoted, will be remembered. It was merely a request for some special tea for the Foreign Minister's breakfast ; but on that occasion there was no pretence that the cypher was an important secret document. It was possibly sent in all serious- ness to avoid difficulties with the Customs, as it is marked ' By post,' which was by no means a private channel of communication in Russia. Bagot to Canning. The Hague, \Cofy^ {Private.) February 13, 1826. My dear Canning, You have fretted me to fiddlestrings, and I have a great mind not to give you the satisfaction of ever knowing how completely your mystification of me has succeeded. It was more than you had a right to expect when you drew from me that solemn and official lamen- tation which I sent you of my inability to decypher His Majesty's commands ; but, as the Devil would have it, your success did not end here. The post which brought me the decyphers arrived at eleven o'clock at night, when I had only time before I sent off the other mes- senger to read your grave regret at what had occurred and to acknowledge the receipt of the mail. The next morning Tierney* and I were up by cock-crow to make out la mandite depeche, and it was not till after * George Tierney, Second Secretary at The Hague. Douglas was Secretary of the Embassy. i826] SUCCESS 325 an hour of most indescribable anxiety that we were put 'out of our fear' by finding what it really was, and that 'you Pyramus ' were not Pyramus, but only * Bottom the weaver.' I could have slain you ! but I got some fun myself, for I afterwards put the fair de-cypher into Douglas's hands, who read it twice without moving a muscle, or to this hour discovering that it was not prose, and returned it to me, declaring that it was ' oddly worded ; but he had always had a feeling that the despatch must relate to discriminating duties.' C Bagot. The Right Hon. the Foreign Secretary. Mr. Temperley, the last writer on Canning, states in his excellent memoir that 'the actual form and existence of this famous and unhappily unique despatch were questioned a few years ago. Fortunately, the true and proper version has been discovered at the Foreign Office, a copy of which has been placed at the Record Office, Holland,'* This, however, is a mistake. Greville gives an account of it as follows : ' April 13, 1830: Haddington told the story of Canning's sending to Bagot a despatch in cypher containing these lines ;' and the lines are then given, but not correctly,! * ' Life of Canning' (Temperley, 1905), pp. 192, 193, 264. t ' The Greville Memoirs : George IV. and William IV.,' p. 326 (1874). CHAPTER XII RUSSIA AND THE HAGUE Early in 1826 Lord Strangford, Ambassador to Russia, wrote to Bagot an amusing letter — and his letters are nearly always amusing, if indiscreet — on the subject of the various Foreign Ministers then at St. Petersburg. In it he alludes to his trouble with Canning, previously referred to. The Duke of Wel- lington was to go to Russia to carry the King's con- gratulations to the new Emperor, and hopes were entertained by Canning that his mission might tend to smooth the difficulties in the near East, Strangford to Bagot. St, Petersburg, January 19, 1826. ... I have had a jobation ! but such a jobation ! No, nothing ever equalled it since the celebrated despatch to the Hon, David Erskine — my comfort is that people don't turn fools all at once — and that Mr, C, will find it hard to make folks believe that I am quite such a noodle as he makes me out to be. It seems that I preferred plain sailing to the chance of being blown up in the vapour boat (for in sooth it does not merit the honour of steam) which the great Perkins of Downing S^ is constructing on the high pressure principle. , , , La Ferronays [French Ambas- sador] has presented his credentials , . . they were sent to him in duplicate from Paris — one for Con,, the other for Nic. He denies this, and says it was the 326 i826] A JOBATION 327 excellent intelligence which he sent that enabled his Court to decide at once who was to be the Impcrator. . . . I dare say that he had a third letter in his pocket for Michel [the third brother of the late Emperor]. Old Bailey will tell you all about the trials and the expected executions. . . . Old Romanzoff is dead. He is to be interred under a pile of his conversational states — do you remember his dinners ? . . . God bless your Ex'^. Lyttclton to Bagot. Wimbledon Park, January 31, 1826. ... Is not the prejudice of the Russians in general, and of course the wish of the great unem- ployed army, in favour of a war with Turkey and an alliance with, or an appropriation of, Greece ? and does not Constantine incline that way, or is he not supposed to do so, whilst his brother proposed to adopt the whole policy, including specifically, I suppose, peace with the Turk, of the deceased Emperor ? I cannot help suspecting all this, because I cannot otherwise account at all for there being a single voice raised for Constantine. When I was in Russia,* not a creature ever said God bless him ! but, as far as the police and dread of Siberia would allow, gave you to understand that they would gladly say the contrary. Old Woronzow * After Mr. W. H. Lyttelton married Lady Sarah Spencer they travelled on their honeymoon through Sweden, and crossed the Baltic into Russia, where they remained some time, and whence, in 1813, Lady Sarah wrote many interesting letters, which are preserved in a privately printed volume. Mr. Lyttelton set out to visit the ruins of Moscow, but was forced to return owing to the impassable state of the roads. On their journey through Russia they heard a rumour of the destruction of Napoleon's army in Germany, which they did not for a moment believe, until they came in sight of St. Petersburg, and saw the whole city illuminated to celebrate the battle of Leipzig, fought on October 18. 328 RUSSIA AND THE HAGUE [CH. xii. some years ago said plainly to an acquaintance of mine that as for Constantine they never would allow him to be Emperor. As for what our Government knows or intends, you probably can tell by this time ; but there are indications at the Admiralty of increasing our force in the Mediterranean, and I suppose the D. of Wel- lington is not going to Petersburg only to make his bow. It is odd (is it not ?), but true I think I know it is, that it was some considerable time after the news of Alexander's death before our Government knew whether N. or C. was to be his Successor, and, argal, they certainly did not know before. Why that secret of the exclusion of Constantine was so strictly kept I don't exactly see ; and wonder much more that it was not smoked, either by your nose, or Laferrange's, or somebody's in the Corps D., and every court in Europe acquainted with it. . . . By the bye, apropos of dignities, some time ago I heard that my Lord Bloomfield would not be 'azy unless they turned his Irish into an English peerage — supertipped him, I should say, with a British peerage into the bargain. Super' or excessively tipped I think he is already, but no more of that. I suppose Lord Liverpool has held out, if indeed Nobs Junior* has not been stiff too, and saved him the ungrateful task. This Nobs Junior has been ill of late— if I am rightly informed. So has, or rather so is, with spasms in his stomach which are grown seriously alarming at times, that wise and dis- creet Prince, Nobs's next Heir.t I heard two anecdotes of him not long since. I will tell you but one. Peel was dining in his company when the Cambridge University Election was talked of, and P. had the spirit to say that he thought Palmerston ought to be returned, notwithstanding his supporting the Catholics, for that the U. knew that he would support them when they elected him before, and had repeatedly elected * George IV. + Tlic Duke of York. i826] A SYBARITICAL STREET 329 him with that knowledge, and that he had done nothing to forfeit their good opinion in any other respect. The Duke said with infinite grace and unction, *No! no! I would have a damned good Protestant T I never heard of C. Greville taking to his bed, but vii his form and complexion ; I think it is great scaring of the public his sitting conspicuous and most ghastly and ghost-like in the bow-window at White's, where I saw and started at him yesterday. Only full-blown men like Fenton (whose hotel is finished and reaches the skies) should sit thus conspicuous in the eye of a nervous and sybaritical street. I have written a long letter, have I not ? Good-bye ! By the rood, I too am tired. Lord Strangford to Bagot. St. Petersburgh, {Secret issimc.) February 4 (N.S.), 1826. My dear Bagot, You and I have so long been in relations of unbounded confidence as to these confounded Turco- Grecian botherations, that I find it difficult to with- hold from you a sketch of my present position with respect to them and to our classical and choleric Chief ever ready in giving tongue ; I must (' can't help it, 'pon my soul ') abuse a friend of yours, and, what is worse, bore yourself most confoundedly. Happy man that you are ! to be out of all this mess ! to swig your cura^oa in peace, and to be able to open your dispatches without the fear of their actually exploding in your face. I predicted that my />rq;W would displease. It was bald and unmeaning enough, but it was only meant as a stop-gap, and as a gainer of time till I could hear from home on a state of things for which I was not at all prepared on my arrival here, and of which they professed themselves in Downing Street to have been, 330 RUSSIA AND THE HAGUE [cH. Xil. at the moment of my departure, in what they call (Heaven knows why) ' a state of salutary ignorance.' After my confabulations with Nesselrode, con- cerning the aforesaid project, he (Nessel^'^), under the influence of, certainly not a spirit of mischief, but of sheer unaccountable stupidity, scribbles a private note (from his bed) to Lieven, stating (at least so Canning says) that / had said to him, that if the Turks did not accept the proposals which were to be made to them, the 4 Powers (including of course England) would then recognize the right of Russia to make war upon the Porte. And / was supposed to have said all this ! /, the Turk, par excellence. On Lieven (with goosiness equal to Nesselrode) communicating this to Canning, the latter, in a towering and (if he could believe Nesselrode's story) most justifiable rage, fires away his Dispatch to me, No. lo, of which I send a copy. It did not however slay me outright, so I replied by my No. 4, of which also vide copy. Before this, my reply to Canning's first volley, could have reached England, he received m}- No. 5 of last year (of which I sent you the Draft at the time) — that No. 5 contained the true version of what did really pass between Ness^e and me. On receiving it, he writes his No. 13, which I also forward to you, in order that whenever you are disposed to put yourself in a mighty pucker about nothing, you may have a classical /t>rm?i/« for so doing. This No. 13 has been converted into a sort of circular and sent round to Constantinople, Paris, Vienna, and, for ought I know, to Brussels. I have this day replied to it by my No. 16, which, I think, makes out a tolerably good case for me. All this is sad, sickening and sorrowful. These people, I mean your old Russian acquaintances, knew well my position with respect to Canning before I i826] . A GRIEVANCE 331 arrived here ; they thought, and not without reason that I was selected for this place, because I was a person whom Canning was determined io punish, and who, consequently, do what he might, was sure to be discovered. It was only a false point of honour that made me come out here at all after the unhandsome treatment which I received from Canning in conse- quence of my unlucky no-popery vote. That adventure took place on the 17th of May (you will find a gentle hint on the subject in my No. 16),* and immediately afterwards C. cut me dead, and scarcely permitted me to see him until the very day of my departure. He then gave me, in a hasty interview of 3 minutes, this very brief and compre- hensive instruction : ' Go, do the best you can, and be guided by events.' This was, literally, the whole of the verbal directions which I received from my Chief, and it was not till I was actually on board of the frigate and waiting at Sheerness that any written instructions were sent to me. I do not think that Villele or Damas would have thus coolly whistled ofif a French Ambassador to St. Petersburgh. Am I not a merciful man to have refrained from the temptation of being immeasurably funny on that splendid hystcrox-protaton by which Canning describes me to have *■ cut from under S. C.'s feet the ground on which he was to stand'? Really, after this, no man is safe, and one may be hanged for burning down a house before it is built, or for robbing a stage-coach yet to be set up, and travelling on a road yet to be made. The plain English of all this is, that Canning (whose greatest fault is a too frequent adoration of Nemesis) is determined that nothing I do shall be right, and it is * Strangford wrote to Bagot on April 19, with regard to his 'No. 16': 'I sent it to Grenville, and Dionysius the Tyrant, or the Schoolmaster [Canning], is, not without reason, mightily angry.' 332 RUSSIA AND THE HAGUE [CH. xii. not suitable to my ideas of my public situation to be subjected to this system of perennial worrying. What- ever my political sins at home may have been, it ought not to be forgotten that I have served my country with tolerable success for four- and -twenty years abroad. It is hard to be treated, after such a period of service, as if I were a troublesome child, with a thump on the back, and a peevish ' Be quiet !' In this state of things, the public service here must suffer. How can Canning expect me to do any good, when he takes such pains to run me down ? and when he proclaims me, to half the Courts in Europe, to be such an ignorant, incapable, blundering busy-body, as not to be even entitled to that delicacy which, in official intercourse, commonly tempers the language of disapprobation with at least the semblance of courtesy ? I have written to Planta to beg him to put an end, once for all, to the annoyance of my situation here, by assuring Mr. Canning that I wish him to cut the matter short, by at once recalling me, which would, I think, be a much more manly and dignified proceeding, than a perseverance in the * pins and needles ' system of sarcasm and insult ; and though it will almost be ruin to me, after the enormous expense at which I have been (and of which you can form some idea, and can judge of the difference between a Russian outfit and the money allowed for it), I shall hail my removal from this place as the happiest moment of my life. I will find bread for my family by writing pamphlets, a la Pradt, or by any other means — but the bread which I eat shall not be washed down with the waters of bitterness. Enough and more than enough of all this, I send you a few dispatches which contain some of our gossip here — arrests go on most vigorously — but the Government seem to be as far from the real source i826] THE DUKE'S MISSION 333 of the evil as they were on the very first day. Multi- tudes of your acquaintances have been seized, and the system of denunciation is carried so far, and extends to so many people whom it is impossible to suspect, that I cannot help thinking that it is a part of the plan of the true conspirators.* They seem in a great fright here about Germoloff. Nothing has yet come from him ; no account has been received of his having taken the oath, either to Con. or Nic. . . . Ever yours most sincerely, Strangford. On February 22 Sir Daniel Bayley, who had been many years at St. Petersburg as Consul, and is mentioned by Lady Sarah Lyttelton as being a very sensible man and of much use to them during their visit to Russia previously alluded to, wrote to Bagot to tell him that the body of the late Emperor was shortly to arrive at Czarkoe Selo, and that then the date of the Coronation was to be settled, and that * the mission of the Duke of Wellington has been hailed by all descrip- tions of persons here with much exultation, and every preparation made to receive him in a manner suitable to his dignity and that of the only Russian Field- Marshal now alive. . . . The Emperor Nicholas is indefatigable ... in short he is, and bids fair to continue, very popular.' Bayley also alludes to the investigation of the plot against the Emperor after the death of Alexander, and the question of the punishment of the offenders, some particulars of whom are given on a subsequent page. The Duke of Wellington arrived at St, Petersburg on March 2, accompanied by Lord FitzRoy Somerset, who writes to Sir Charles Bagot as follows : . . . The Duke has been received by the Emperor and the whole Imperial family with the most marked distinction, and he has been assured by the former * Alluding to the conspiracy described at the beginning of the chapter. 334 RUSSIA AND THE HAGUE [CH. xii. that the King could not have selected anybody for this Mission of congratulation who would have been so agreeable to him. We are lodged in the Hotel des Appanages, which was in your time, I believe, in the possession of Gourieff. ... I was very kindly re- ceived as well by the Emperor as by the other members of the family, and I was much gratified to hear several of them express the high opinion they entertain of you and Mary, . . . Mary too wrote a letter, 1 understand, on the occasion of the Emperor's death which has had the happiest effect. It was spoken of as a * charmante lettrc^ and gave the Impera- trice the opportunity of making the prettiest speech in the world about you both. . . . The Emperor goes in a day or two to Czarkoe Selo for the purpose of meeting the remains of his brother. . . . The Emperor lives in the Hermitage. . . . The Prince of Orange occupies the Empress Catharine's apartments. We were yesterday for a few minutes in the Malmaison Gallery — what a curious picture is the Paul Potter !* We also saw the Peacock, and heard the cock crow, lucky dogs that we were. . . . We were all very much struck with the town, particularly the Duke, who had not perhaps heard it spoken of as much as I had. . . . Nesselrode and his wife . . . enquired most kindly after you, and I find that these ladies are so vicious in their taste as to fancy you ' tm tres bel homme ' — Ah Dieu, quel mauvais gout ! . . . Strang- ford, by the bye, is very clever and entertaining. Yours most affectionately, FiTzRoY Somerset. * This picture is an illustration of one of ^sop's fables — a land- scape in which is seen an inversion of the sport of hunting, where the animals are hunting the men. It once belonged to the Empress Josephine, and was bought from the Malmaison Collection in 1815 by the Emperor of Russia. i826j THE DUKE'S ARRIVAL 335 Lord Strangford to Bagot. St. Petersburg, Wednesday, (Private.) March 7, 1826. . . . The Duke arrived here on Thursday, sain et sauf. He is treated like a Divinity, but is, I believe, sufficiently mortal to be considerably bored by parades and pipeclay, of which he has, Heaven knows, enough and more than enough . . . hitherto the D. seems to get on well. He was lost in astonishment on finding that my thesis, which Mr. Canning termed ' monstrous and incredible ' was after all the true one ; and the young Emperor Nick does not care one straw for the ' virtuous and suffering Greeks.' He has told both the Duke and La Ferron. that he should consider any armed intervention, or indeed any intervention at all, having them for its object, as little better than an invitation to his own subjects to rebel, and an assurance that they might do so with impunity! Metternich himself never held such ultra Imperial language as is now the tone here. Is not this marvellous in your eyes ? I think that the D. will find it a hard matter to get this Court to throw France and Austria so completely overboard as Canning wants. Not that the Pogonati love either the one or the other, but then 'dacency, your honour, dacency.' La Ferron. and Leb. are both beginning to smell a rat — particularly Leb. Who comes here for the Crownification ? is it the Devonshire Duke, or does my nephew Clanricarde mean to get up the farce of * the Son in Law '? I should (cent, per cent.) rather have the former, than be obliged to enact bear leader to the second. My only fear is that if it should be the first, Russky 336 RUSSIA AND THE HAGUE [CH. XII. will rashly take up the belief that all English Dukes are deaf.* Have you heard the pleasant and delectable history of our Cypher ? When Stratford Canning, that great god of war, arrived at Warsaw he sent his carriage to a coach- maker's. It remained there forty eight hours. In the seat of the aforesaid carriage (which seat was secured by a patent lock) he wisely left a box, also secured, as they call it, by a most approved and unpickable lock. When Stratford arrived here, he found the lock of the seat had been opened, but had been put to rights again, but the lock of the box had been fairly (or unfairly) forced, and left in that state. The inconceivable part of the story is, that either Stratford did not report the circumstance to his great namesake, or that the latter took no notice of it.f It now happens that Clanwilliam has got positive evidence that the Russians have our cypher, and that every word which I have written in it, since I have been here, has been read by them ! Of course Clanwilliam (who richly deserves im- mortal credit) sent off his intelligence, cito cittissime * The Duke of Wellington had just become deaf of one ear when he went to St. Petersburg for the Emperor's funeial. The Duke of Devonshire, who was also deaf, was sent to Russia for the Corona- tion, which took place at Moscow on September i. Lord Strangford, who went home on leave during the Coronation, wrote to Bagot on May 20 that ' he had been lauded to the skies for having made so " judicious" a proposal,' and that ' two ambassadors (in Mr. Hume's eyes at least) would have been too much of a good thing [meaning himself and Stratford Canning, sent temporarily to Russia] . . . the Duke of Deaf-in-iiis-ear (as they pronounce his name here) is not yet arrived — but the Duke of Ragusa is, and is surrounded by a gaudy train of hussars — all togged and braided . . . ill-natured people pretend that this gay assemblage is . . . Franconi's troop who were burnt out of their circus about a month ago.' t Stratford Canning describes tliis event at the time, in a letter to his mother, as being onlv a rumour that had got about. He admits, however, that the Russians had provided him with a courier, who was extremely attentive on the journey (Lane Poole's ' Life of Lord Strat- ford de Redcliffe '). 1 ;4i i826] GREEK NEGOTIATIONS 337 to me and to Downing St. . . . There is nothing going on but blows out for the D. of W., it being the only species of amusement permitted by law, until after the f'uneral. The consumption of pallid asparagus and fetid oysters is something beyond belief . . . give me a dish of London news ; nobody writes to me from there, except Canning — and I wish he would let it alone. Strangford to Bagot. St. Petersburg, {Confidential.) March {undated), 1826. My dear Bagot, I do not like to let the Duke's messenger go without some token to you of my being still in existence. I have, outre cela, but little to tell you. The D. of W.'s niarche satisfies him, and that is the essential point. But he is preparing a bed of thorns for the unlucky wight who is to take up the business after his departure. You remember the allegation put forward last year by the Russians, that I was instructed by this Court to demand from the Porte the restoration of the civil as well as of the military status quo in the Principalities. You may also remember that Canning, aided by two lengthy and learned essays, drawn up respectively by Stratford and by me, steadily maintained the negative of this assertion, and based all his instructions to me upon that negative, authorising, and indeed enjoining, me to make my stand upon that ground, and in short to maintain, totis viribus, that Turko had done all that I was desired to ask, as the price of a Minister being sent, and that the question about the civil status quo (which will only be restored by the actual presence of a Russian Agent in the Principalities) was nothing but fudge, flam, and farce. The Duke has suffered himself to be beaten from off this ground, and he now VOL. II. 22 338 RUSSIA AND THE HAGUE [CH. xii. acknowledges all that Canning and I deny. He has been abundant in admissions — a commodity which, in my humble opinion, ought to be very sparingly meted out to these people, and he allows that the Minister ought not to be sent till by some new concession eclatante the Porte satisfies the amour propre of Russky. This concession eclatante is to consist, among other things, in the release of the Servian Hostages — the civil status quo — in all its points and particles, without an Agent being previously sent into the Principalities, and a kind of apology for past mis- behaviour on the part of the Turks. Now I know enough of my cur-tailed friends to be quite certain that they will not agree to any one of these proposals. However, the D. thinks otherwise. He imagines that their consent to all of them is to be purchased by the declaration which he is going to authorise Stratford to make to them, that the Greek question is at rest, that the Emperor does not mean to meddle with it, that it is contrary to his principles to abet subjects who are in rebellion against their Sovereign, and that so long as Turko confines his hostilities to the practice of civilized warfare, he, the Emperor, will not interfere ; but that if the Porte does not do all that Russia now requires on her own account, why then, &c., &c. It seems that we, exclusively we, are to undertake the settlement of these new Russian demands — in short, that there is to be a second part of my negotiation at Constanti- nople, only the time is to be limited, and France, Austria, and Prussia not to stir in it. The D. must know his own ground and his own instructions. But to me it does seem marvellous that Canning, the first object of whose ambition is to have the glory of settling the Greek Question and of re- storing liberty to Greece, like another Titus Flaminius {vide Plutarch) should consent to our suffering fellow- i826] A MERE SPECTATOR 339 Christians being Hung overboard in this Jonah-like manner. Nor can I think that he will be mightily pleased when he finds that the D. has abandoned the ground which he (Canning) defended so vigorously all last year, and to the perpetual and uncompromising occupation of which he stands pledged, as well by his official answers to Lieven as by his instructions to me and to Henry Wellesley.* In all that is going on I am a mere spectator, and as I have orders to leave the questions of the Levant to the D.'s exclusive management, I do not obtrude my services or my opinions. So I am out of the mess at least for the present. But in what a mess shall I not find myself after the D. is gone, when I shall have to combat all his admissions ! not only because conscience and my perfect knowledge and recollection of every stage of the negotiation at Constantinople will force me to do so, but because I am so ordered by Canning's instructions, than which nothing can be more precise. To you, my dear Bagot, I may venture to say, in the fullness of our ancient confidence, that I cannot but regret that there should have been so much writing in all this. A certain personage is not aware (nor is he a man to whom one could hazard such a hint) of the excessive danger here of pen and ink. There will (mark me) be one day or other such a resurrection of scraps and memoranda, which are now thought of no consequence, as will give England and her Cabinet and her Parliament their hands full of work. These people have the custom to prendre acte de tout, and no one who has not the knack of saying * For the difficulties which met the Duke in canning out Canning's original policy on the Greek question as between Russia and Turkey see Walpole's ' History,' vol. ii., p. 409. Lord Strangford does not seem to remember that the Duke had to deal with a new Emperor, who ' didn't care a straw for the suffering Greeks,' as he himself had said in his last letter. 22 — 2 340 RUSSIA AND THE HAGUE [CH. xii. no to them has any chance of safety from their traps and toils. The D. came here under the persuasion which prevailed in England, that the Greek question was the jnagnuui opus, and all his instructions turned upon it. On finding that the said question was de- ferred sine die (or at least that its final determination was to be put off until the Westmeath case and Howard and Gibbs's bankruptcy should be disposed of) his instructions became useless to him, and he accordingly put to sea without chart or compass, determined to display his flag at all events, and to make for some port or other. My opinion of the perils of his navigation I have already told you, and I can only hope — but most assuredly I do not believe — that I am mistaken. Basta ! — I shall look out soon for some intelligence from you, and for your commenting on the 'pretty little quarrel,' as Sir Lucius calls it, which I reported to you in my last three letters. I fancy that both the combatants are now disposed to take breath. But as one of them must always have somebody or other to fight with, and as Stuart and 1 have had our turns, I should not be surprised if the next antagonist were to be one far more sturdy and mighty than either of us. I could, however, advise him to let that game alone. Good-night. I am just come off an enormous Cor- poration dinner given to our brave sons of hemp and tallow, to whom I promised to show how the Duke behaves at table. I believe he was as sick of the concern as I was. Ever yours most cordially, Strangford. Canning to Bagot. Foreign Op'fice, (Privalc.) March 27, 1826. I am not half satisfied with the way in which I must have appeared to treat you : and I more than half i826] WHAT ABOUT VERSTOLK? 34I suspect that we are getting into a wrong, or what is called a false, position with the Court lii on voiis etes. But it is not my fault. Our only tie to your swag- bellied Hollanders is confidence — a confidence which they exact without returning. But that I should not mind if I saw anything like a reciprocal disposition, for as to confidence they may have nothing to confide. But so far from the present channel of communication between the two Governments on this side of the water being, like poor old Fagel, English in inclina- tion, it is exactly the contrary, and unless your new Foreign Minister, now that he is really a Minister, takes a tone of his own, and compels Falck to adopt it, we shall get farther from each other every day. It is one provoking consequence of this altered state of things that it alters your position. It seems quite foolish to go on pouring into dull ears communi- cations which have no value except they are heard with interest and sympathy. And such gratuitous confidences have their inconvenience, for they excite jealousy, though they do not secure attachment. How are you with Verstolk?* And what is he? Is he siii juris, or is he locum tenens for Falck ? Is he a Minister or a Commis ?t Has he influence with the King? Has he any Politicks? Is he a Dutch East Indiaman, or wots he of Europe, or of the New World ? Cares he a fig for England ? Does he treat you civilly, kindly, coldly, or how ? Does he seem to miss familiarity of intercourse between the Govern- ments ? Does he tell you that the King misses it, or cares about it ? And will one or both, or neither of them, have sense about matters of commerce ? Answer me these questions, and by and b3^e (when the Session wanes) I will see if I can find an opening for some renewal of apparent cordiality through you. * New Foreign Minister for the Netherlands, t A commercial traveller. 342 RUSSIA AND THE HAGUE [cH. xii. But it will not hold unless the Minister be a Minister, and Falck only what he is assumed to be. Bagot to Cmining. [Co/>v.] {Private and The Hague, 'confidential.) April 4, 1826. My dear Canning, The evil of which you complain in your letter of the 27th of last month unquestionably exists. That it exists here to the extent which you seem to imagine, or that the manners and language of Falck are always to be taken as the exact measure of political feeling on that side of the water, may perhaps admit of some doubt. Certain, however, it is that we are gradually sliding into a wrong state. The nature of our inter- course is not what it was, or what it ought to be, and will not better itself. The present state of Europe, and the shape and consistency which this Government has long since taken, have in a great degree done away with the immediate necessity of that daily and very familiar intercourse which subsisted between us during the earlier days of the Kingdom, and for some years after the general peace. But it still appears to me that with a view to the preservation of that full intelligence and close connection which, though of no real import- ance to us at present, except perhaps for commercial purposes, are, whenever Europe shall go to logger- heads, of the most vital consequence : we ought, even though we get no thanks for our pains, and only seem to minister to the idle curiosity of the King, to keep this Government in the habit of letting us talk con- stantly, familiarly, and confidentially to them upon most subjects. I entertain very little doubt that if you should think fit to put the means into my hands! could very i826] THE NETHERLANDS 343 soon place our general intercourse upon a better foot- ing than it has perhaps ever been, I say a better because it is certain that in the latter years of Ld. Clancarty's reign much mischief was done by the obtrusion of familiar intercourse and advice without management, and without proper deference to the King's temper, dignity, and established position ; and if I do not much deceive myself, the pains which I have taken to avoid splitting upon this very rock would now give me an advantage with the King, which my predecessor in his latter years had nearly forfeited. I mean of course in my direct communica- tions with the King himself, and you may depend upon it that it is only in direct communications with him that in this country anything is to be done. He is all and everything, and believe me there is not a single individual in the world who has any constant and certain influence with him. His ministers are all cominis, and the moment they pretend to be other than comniis they cease to be ministers. The King is, if you please, a huckstering butter and cheese King, but he is nearly the ablest, and quite the most active, man in his country. The two great objects of his life, and which he has accomplished with complete success, are to usurp quietly as much power as he possibly can for the Crown, and to fill his pockets as full as they will hold. I do not suppose that naturally he has any love for us. He has no love for anybody, and he hates the King of England as he hates poison, et pour cause : but he knows just as well as you do that whenever he is in a difficulty he must turn to us in preference to any other power, and so far we may always count upon a sort of predilection in our favour. He is the most accessible of Sovereigns, and if he is as obstinate as a pig, he has nevertheless a most excellent understanding with great general information, and he is the best and most patient listener I know. 344 RUSSIA AND THE HAGUE [CH. Xll. It is difficult to ascertain exactly how one stands personally with a man of this sort, but I am inclined to hope that, upon the whole, I stand pretty fairly with him. I certainly stand much fairer than, if he had a mind to resent the slights shown by the King to his own Ambassador in London, I could have any right to expect ; and let me just say one word to you upon this subject, because I think that it is really a very important one as regards the matter in hand. Can it be possible that the King of the Netherlands, with all the anxiety that he must feel, and which he ought to feel, to see this country placed in the eyes of Europe upon the footing to which he thinks it entitled, and upon which we ourselves have always told him, and have told our own Parliament too, that it should be placed — is it possible, I say, that he can be insensible to the pointed distinction which is made by the King, notre aiiguste maitrc, between Falck and all the other Ambassadors of all the other Powers at his Court ? I know very well that if this were put before the King, he would immediately say : ' When I am living in retirement in the country I have a right to choose my own private society; and, moreover, I am not bound to show civilities to Mr. Falck, who was put upon me contrary to my own inclinations, and when I had desired as a personal favour to myself that M. de Fagel might not be displaced,' &c., &c. Still, however, an Ambassador is always an Am- bassador, and no man takes a broader distinction between that character and the character of an ordinary minister than the King himself. Let the King be as cold and as puff as he pleases so long as no political inconvenience is the consequence; but in the present case I am perfectly satisfied that political inconvenience is the consequence. I am as sure as I am of my own existence that nineteen parts out of twenty of Falck's hwneures and carrieres and gouts are i826] ALL ABOUT VERSTOLK 345 to be ascribed entirely to his own personal mortifica- tion at the exclusions which he undergoes, to say nothing of what his Master must feel upon the occa- sion ; and that an invitation to the Cottage, or any other mark of gracious attention shown to him by the King, would act upon him as a charm, and as Eau mcdicinale and opium, and balm of Gilead. Falck was a revolutionist ; so was Van Maanen, the Minister of Justice ; so was Elout, the Minister of the Colonies. These are the three ablest men in the King's service. If their natural predilections were not absolutely French, they had certainly great English jealousies, perhaps antipathies. Time, and office, and the King's adroitness have reduced to nothing the violences and prejudices of the two latter, and I would stake my life that two dinners at Windsor would work precisely the same effect upon Falck so far as he concerns us, and, through him, would have an immediate and most beneficial operation upon his Royal Master. I perfectly well know how difficult it is for anybody to deal in the proper quarter with a matter of this kind, but surely, surely it may be with some consideration. So much for the King and Falck ; and now a word or two in answer to your questions about Verstolk. That he is not sui juris you will have fully collected by what I have already said about all the King's Ministers. He is a commis ; but he is the Kin^-'s commis, and not Falck's. Considering the nature of the wood of which the King is determined that his ministers shall always be made, I believe Verstolk to be the very best man that he could have selected. Certainly he could not have selected one who was personally so agreeable to myself. I have known him several years, and I have the highest opinion of him as an honest and amiable little man. During the occupation of Holland by the French he was employed 346 RUSSIA AND THE HAGUE [CH. xil. as a Prefet in some province (I forget which), where he had all manner of hostility and difficulty to contend with, and where, by sheer dint of fairness, integrity, and perseverance, he made himself in a very short time the most popular, as well as the most useful, man amongst all the employees of the French Govt. When I first knew him he was the King's Minister at St. Petersburgh, where he was universally re- spected and esteemed. Whether 'he has any politics of his own ' is more than I can quite tell you ; but if he has, he will not be allowed to use them unless they coincide exactly with the King's. As to the haute politique of Europe in general, I should say that further than as it effects the immediate interests of his own country, he cares but little. All that I can tell you for a certainty is, that he hates France and Prince Metternich, and that he is in right doctrines upon the subject of the new world. So indeed is the King. His admiration of England is great ; but in his heart he is an honest, patriotic, prejudiced Dutchman — not a Dutch East Indiaman, but a Dutchman in the respect- able sense of the word. He is perfectly convinced, and it must be allowed not without some reason, that the old flap-hatted fellows in black cloaks and ruffs who hang in the Town halls of half the cities in Holland were among the bravest and wisest men in history. He is persuaded that John Cats is superior to John Milton, and Minderhout Hobbema to Claude Lorraine. He is by nature, or long office habits, rather overcautious and bontonne ; but nothing can be more prevenant, civil, and kind than his manner towards me, whom he has always seemed disposed to meet as an old friend and acquaintance, and I must say that, whenever we have had any grist in our mill to grind, we have ground it most harmoniously. Whether he is disposed to hear reason about matters of commerce is again more than 1 can tell you, as those matters i826] AFFAIRS AT THE HAGUE 347 have been dealt with exclusively in London. I have had no occasion of sounding either him or his pre- decessor about them ; but I should suspect that upon those particular subjects, both he and the King were very likely to take their opinions entirely from Falck, or at least with no more modification than might be necessary to reconcile Falck's purely Dutch ideas and purposes with the interests of the Belgian part of the kingdom. I do not myself know what you are at present doing in London, or whether you are doing anything about our commercial relations with this country, and in order to enable me to find out what may be the feeling here upon such matters, perhaps it might be useful that I should be put a little more an coiirant upon the subject. To sum up. If I understand my position rightly, I am here, with the character which I hold, for the purpose of making our estimate of the rank which this country is intended to occupy in Europe, to prevent as much as possible any foreign influence or ascendency but our own, and to place myself as nearly and as frequently alongside of the King as I can, in order that we may have, when we want it, and he may have, if he pleases, a direct channel of the most confidential intercourse. If this view of my position is the correct one, I think it follows that I should be furnished as often as you think that you can safely furnish me, with reasons for asking to see the King and matter wherewith to dis- course to him. It is not at all necessary that he should know anything that is going on, but it does appear to me to be a great object that I should occasionally be able to whisper soft nothings in his ear, and also that he should feel that his own Ambassador in London is treated by the higher powers as courteously as I must say that he is always ready to treat me. 348 RUSSIA AND THE HAGUE [CH. xii. I have written you a longer letter than you probably bargained for, but I believe that I have answered all your questions as far as I could answer them, and I hope that I have succeeded in giving you something of the carte dii pays oiije suis. At this time the unlucky Ambassador in Russia again confides his woes with regard to the Foreign Minister to his fellow-diplomatist in the Netherlands, and explains that he is prudent sometimes, though the reader may wonder when, Strangford to Bagot. St. Petersburg, Afril 27, 1826. Stratford's offer of mediation between Turk and Greek {i.e., exclusive English mediation) has been rejected. His despatches breathe a most angry tone against the Porte . . . war is a parti pris . . . what alarm it must occasion in England ! Can Canning attempt to allay that alarm by stating publicly the secret verbal assurances given by the Emperor to the Duke that it shall not be a war of conquest, and that after the Turks have complied with the demands of their people, the Russian troops shall be withdrawn from the Principalities ? If he publishes these assurances they will come to the knowledge of Turko and take away from him all terrors and tremblings for the fate of Constantinople. Will Canning keep the assurances secret and in the mean time suffer all England to groan and sweat under the apprehension of this gigantic Russia intending to gobble up Turkey — of the ' balance of power' being destroyed — of a general European kick-up and God knows what? . . . My position is in the mean time a most curious one. 1 am excluded from all knowledge of what is going on i825] BELGIAN FORTRESSES 349 ... in consequence of the Duke's or Mr. Canning's desire to that effect distinctly expressed to Nesselrode. , . . Whenever any communication is made ... it is always coupled with the condition that no mention of it is to be made to me. Now really this is what no man . . . can submit to. . . . My part is taken. . . . I have no right to complain that Mr. C. does not think me a fit depository for his confidence. ... I do and will say that as an Ambassador my position is one in which I ought not to be placed. . . . My only object, wish, prayer, is to get home . . . this war is not my war. . . . Whenever we meet I will show you an ' Heroic epistle from the old Foreign Office to the new,' which is sufficiently visible — it is not a thing to trust out of my own desk. I am prudent — sometimes. Bagot to Canning. The Hague, (Copy.) JiiiJC 13, 1826. I took it into my head the other day that it was possible that you might be finding great fault with me for never having written a word to the office upon the subject of all these rogueries which have been detected in carrying on the works of the Belgian fortresses.* When first I became acquainted with this matter, which I did many weeks ago, I took for granted that the Duke of Wellington was duly informed of every thing that had taken place by the monthly reports ... I considered the affair as belonging to him rather than to me, just as I have always considered the whole question of the delivery of the fortress of Luxemburg to be the business of our Minister at the Diet of Francfort rather than mine. About ten days ago however I had some misgivings upon this point, and I wrote privately to FitzRoy * A previous letter mentions the Duke a? engaged inspecting these fortresses in 1822. 350 RUSSIA AND THE HAGUE [CH. xii. Somerset to request that he would ascertain for me whether the Duke had been as fully informed of all this matter as I had supposed him to be. From the answer which I received from him the day before yesterday, I suspect that the Duke had not got his information in the way that I had imagined and in the way in which he ought to have had it, and I now feel rather in a scrape for not having written upon the subject. It appears however from FitzRoy Somerset's letter that about three weeks ago the Duke had learnt somehow or other that things were going on wrong, and that he had immediately sent Colonel Jones into Flanders, where I suppose him now to be, to investi- gate the whole affair; and it further appears that since Colonel Jones's departure Falck has had some conversation with the Duke upon the subject. By this time therefore the business, which is a most atrocious one, and which has vexed the King beyond measure, is known generally to the Government, and the reports which Colonel Jones will furnish will be the most exact which can be obtained. Nevertheless I have certainly fallen into a mistake in supposing that the matter had been communicated to the English Government in the way in which I think it ought to have been, and I owe to you as well as to myself this explanation of my silence upon it. Charles Ellis {created Lord Seaford) to Bagot. June 13, 1826. My dear Charles, . . . You are quite right, it did fall upon me unsought and also unexpected. But the best way of explaining to you how it happened will be to send you a copy of the letter by which I learnt it, as a testimony of Canning's friendship, and as a proof to the world how near he considers me as standing towards him. . . . You may congratulate us on our session being at i826] LORD SEAFORD 35 1 an end. ... It was not without its difficulties . . . but those difficulties afforded a signal proof of the wonder- lul talents of our Chief in the management of that assembly; and perhaps no session ever contributed more to the establishment of his reputation and of his influence among its members. . . . Ever most affecti^' yours, C. E. Canning to Ellis. [Enclosure. Copy.'] Foreign Office, May 27, 1826. My dear Charles, You may easily conceive what difficulty I have felt in keeping from you for more than six weeks a secret in which we are both ultimately concerned. I should nevertheless have kept it from you for another fortnight if I had not had reason to apprehend that it might in the meantime transpire. I have taken a great liberty with your name. The King expressed himself most kindly and graciously disposed to do something that should mark his Majest3^'s favourable opinion of my services. Clanricarde's British peerage has no doubt that effect in a very great degree. But that was already settled, not only b3^ the King's spontaneous declaration of his readiness to grant it; but (as you know) by Liverpool's kind determination to recommend it. I want nothing for myself; and the circumstances of my family would not justify me in accepting a peerage in the way in which alone I have ever thought of accepting one for them — not in my own person.* * In the House of Lords, Lord Grey, greatest of the Whigs, joined the Tories in denouncing the coahtion of the two parties when Canning became Prime Minister, and vigorously attacked the character of the new Leader. It has been said that, in order that he might have the opportunity of replying to him, Canning contemplated his own elevation to the peerage (S. Walpole, vol. ii., p. 454) ; but the above letter, written a year before, does not tend to bear out the truth of the story. 352 RUSSIA AND THE HAGUE [CH. xii. What then remained by which I could take fair advantage of the King's gracious disposition, but to afford to his Majesty the opportunity of manifesting it in the instance of a person who after my own family is the nearest to me in the world? How thoroughly his Majesty deigned to enter into my feelings and with what promptness and cordiality he did so onyour own account I leave to Mrs. Canning, who will deliver this letter to you, to explain. Ever affect'y yours, Geo. Canning. Canning to Bagot. Foreign' Office, (Private and confidential.) July 2, 1826. I believe I owe you a letter or two: but questions of privilege have precedency of everything ; and there- fore I proceed at once to my point. An Act of Parlia- ment is violated in the person of your principal attache, if he be, as I presume he is, the gentleman returned from Plympton. A place created since Queen Anne's time is incom- patible with a seat in the House of Commons : unless there be a special Act enabling the holder thereof to sit. Paid attaches are an innovation since the reign, indeed since the death of Queen Anne. There is not any Act of Parliament to the effect above mentioned in respect to them. Ergo, &c. Let me know if the fact be as I suppose. If it be, I must send you a new paid attache. Pray keep my enquiry to yourself. Canning to Bagot. Foreign Office, July 6, 1826. I have received information from a quarter on which I can rely that there sits in Brussels a Com- i826] TOO MANY WHIGS 353 mittee for bringing about Insurrections in South America, whereof the following worthies are members : First a Signor Riva-Agmiro (or some such name), Ex-Govr. or Pres. or Vice Pres. of Chile (or Peru ?) — a fierce enemy of Bolivar — who (I believe) got him banished to Europe , . . and lastly the Spanish Charge d' Affaires Sig^" Navia. Possibly you may find some way of verifying the information which has been given to me — either through the channels of the Neth. Govt, or through some scoundrel whom you may hire for the purpose yourself Canning to Bagot Fairlight* {Private.) July 12, 1826. I by no means object to your putting in a good word for Tierney :t but for the present it cannot avail. I am already considerably overwhigged, in all ranks of the profession : and every promotion is watched with no small jealousy. T. is very young in the line, young I believe in years, compared with many who are in it : and even inter zv/iiggis, if it were their turn (or near it), Abercrombie, though not, I suppose in years of age — in years of service, is two, if not three before him. Further, I do not think it a good thing to promote at the place of service, rather the contrary. By doing so, one set of young men would learn, but another set would be hopeless of opportunity : — and each in- dividual would compare himself, and measure his own merits and pretensions, only with his habitual companions — that is with three, instead of thirty, competitors. * The seat of Mr. Under-Secretary Planta, on a site near Hastings (Canning's note on the letter). t Second Secretary to the Embassy, son of the Right Hon. E. Tierney, a Whig, who nominally led the Opposition after Ponsonby's death in 1816 till 1821. He died in 1830. He had fought a duel with Pitt. VOL. II. 2^ 354 RUSSIA AND THE HAGUE [CH. xtl. The successor whom I intend to give you for Edge- cumbe is Hall, the Dean of Durham's (heretofore Ch. Ch's.) son. He is not much senior to Tierney in this line — but in business generally, very much : — having been several years a clerk in the India Board (where I placed him), and having, through his own folly, or that of his father or mother — or both — or all three — given up that clerkship there of about /"300 a year and rising by sure progression, to embark in a new course. I advised, remonstrated, and refused all assistance — in vain. At last I relented so far as to send him attache to Brook Taylor — and now having repeatedly refused his father a Secretaryship of Legation, I relent again so far as to convert his barren attacheship into a paid one. Here is his father's letter, who is enchanted (you see) at his son's being sent to you. I presume Tierney will not see this letter. I will therefore add — quite, quite between ourselves — that the sending him was thought the strongest thing of the sort that has been done ; and that it has been remarked to others and to me also, very lately, and very plausibly (I will not say justly), as the thing of the sort that seems to have been least acknowledged. You receive by this occasion all that I have to tell you about Portugal. Verily the Constitution is not of our advising. It was not suggested by Stuart* either with or (as sometimes happens) without instructions. But there it is, and we must make the best of it — Italy, Alliance, and all of us. * Sir Charles Stuart. The King of Portugal had died in March. Don Pedro, Emperor of Brazil, was his legal successor. He granted a new Constitution to Portugal and appointed a Regency there. On the subject of Canning's remark on the Constitution, compare Tempcrley's 'Canning,' p. 201. Stuart signed the Treaty in August, 1825, recognizing the independence of Brazil. The two countries now became reunited again, in a sense. i826] RUSSIAN EXECUTIONS 355 Enclosure. Extract of a letter from the Dean of Durham* to Mr. Canning. Albemarle Street. ... I accept with gratitude your kind offer of send- ing my son as a paid attache to Sir Charles Bagot's Embassy. You have relieved my mind. ... I am aware that it will be a great advantage to him being with Sir Charles Bagot, whom I have long known and value highly. On July 26 Sir E. Disbrowe wrote to Bagot from St. Petersburg, enclosing him a printed list of the conspirators against Nicholas who had been implicated in a plot to proclaim Admiral Mordivinow First Consul or Dictator in 1825, and who were to be submitted for judgment.! He sa3^s : ' 1 hope you will not find many friends among them. . . . Numbers . . . [referring to the numbers opposite names in the list] were hung yester- day^ morning on the glacis of the Citadel [opposite each name in the printed list of those already hanged there is a sketch in ink of a gallows] ; others were sent to the mines or made common soldiers of. . . . A Te Deiim was sung on the Place d'lsaac for the conclusion of this affair, the Place was sprinkled with Holy Water, and its sins being thus washed away, it is at liberty to begin again. . . . The Emperor has behaved admirably throughout. . . . The gentle Devon sets out for Moscow on Monday, the Emperor goes to-morrow.' In the middle of September of this year the Cannings paid a visit of a few weeks to the Embassy at Paris. Lord Granville, who had been for a short time previously at The Hague as Ambassador, had held a similar position in Paris since the autumn of 1824. * Dr. Hall, previously Dean :of Christ Church, Canning's only supporter for the Oxford University election in 1817. t The list contains about a hundred names, beginning with the Colonel of the regiment of Praobrajensky Guards. There is with the letter a copy of a letter from Lord Clanwilliam to Canning of January 18, about the conspiracy. 23—2 356 RUSSIA AND THE HAGUE [CH. Xll. Lady Granville describes the Cannings' visit and the life at the Embassy, and wrote on their leaving : 'The sejour of the Cannings here has been most prosperous in every way. The King's* asking him to dinner en famille was as flattering as anything of that kind can be. People of all sorts have been civil and empresse beyond measure, and no bitterness on any side has been strong beyond suppression. He is in spirits that I had never seen, she in unequal health but most kind and friendly.' And later she writes : *. . . We parted with the Cannings with the great est regret; nothing can be more amiable and kind than the}^ have been. 1 have already told you of his unique reception here. . . .'t In a few weeks' time Mr. Canning was destined to make a speech which can have been by no means pleasing to the French nation, when he explained his policy that, if France had Spain, it should be Spain alone, and not Spain with the Indies. Lady Granville wrote on December 19: 'Mr. Canning's speech, stronger in the newspaper than in his mouth, has made a prodigious uproar here.' Bagot to Canning. Brussels, October 18, 1826. My dear Canning, I was vexed at not having time yesterday be- tween my audience of the King and my despatching the messenger to write a few lines to you to tell you in stronger and less diplomatic phrase than I have done, the effect of my communication both to the King and to Verstolk of your last despatch to me upon Greek matters. I now regret it the less as I have this morning had a conversation with Falck, which proves to me that in talking to him upon the business the King had expressed himself in a manner even beyond what he did or perhaps could do, in talking to me. I met Falck accidentally in the street, and I soon found that * Charles X. t ' Letters of Harriet, Lady Granville,' vol. 1., pp. 396, 400. i826] THE NETHERLANDS 357 he was not only aware of my having had an audience of the kind the day before, but also of the nature of the communication which I had made to him. Finding this, I talked freely to him of your despatch, and I had an opportunity of saying some things to him which perhaps might have looked a little too protecting if I had said them to the King or even to Verstolk. He told me, and I am sure in the very language that the King must have held to him, that he considered my audience of yesterday as forming a new epoch in the history of the Country ; that it had taken it out of the rank of the Bavarias and the Wurtemburgs and the Saxonys, and placed it in that rank of European nations in which, his own national pride and prejudices apart, he really thought that it ought now to be placed, but in which nothing could so speedily or so effectually place it as the demarche which you were disposed to make in respect to it. One paragraph of a despatch from you has done all this, and you may be satisfied that H.I.M. voiis saura gre for it as long as he lives. . . . I shall send you by the mail which carries this the note to the Austrian Minister upon the navigation of the Rhine, which he could not give me in time to copy for the last post. He is by no means content with it, and says, what is true enough, that all that it offers is offered as a concession and not at all as the fulfilment of a Treaty to which this country was bound ; that it still evades altogether the question of the ^embouchure jusqu'a la mer\- and that it has all the air of being, and in fact is, an arrangement between the Puissances riveraincs, to the exclusion of Austria and England and other Powers, instead of treating the question as European and universal. All this is perhaps so, but still it appeared to me better to hail the disposition which Verstolk's note manifests, than drily to acknowledge, as I believe Count Mier has done, the receipt of it. Falck sets out for London on Sunday next. CHAPTER XIII LORD LIVERPOOL'S SUCCESSOR On January 5, 1827, the Duke of York, heir to the throne, died. The probabiHty of his early succession had given him considerable influence in politics, and he had favoured the extreme Tory party. The Duke of Clarence now became heir-presumptive. Canning, who had been suffering from repeated attacks of gout, attended the Duke of York's funeral at Windsor, where he sustained a severe chill, and became too ill to attend the meeting of Parliament on February 8. The Duke of Clarence applied for an increase of income in his new position, to correspond with that which his brother had received. It was granted by Parliament, but not without difficulties and considerable unpopu- larity ensuing. Lord Liverpool, who had been for twenty years continuously in office, was now very ill, but able to attend Parliament and speak in the House of Lords on the Duke of Clarence's grant, on February 17. The next day he was seized with a fit of apoplexy, and never completely recovered, though he lingered on for two years, and it became a question who would succeed him in the Premiership. The Duke of York's death had been a serious blow to the extreme Tories and unbending Protestants. The Cabinet was divided. Peel, Bathurst, Canning, and Wellington, were all mentioned in turn as Lord Liverpool's successor, and every day brought forth new rumours, intrigues, and gossip, of which some of the letters that follow give a good example. Finally, on April 10, Canning was commanded to form a Government. The Catholic question was a great 358 i827] SITUATION IN 1827 359 difficulty, but Canning, owing to the adjournment of the House for Easter, had three weeks in which to form his administration. The Duke of Welhngton, Peel, and Lord Eldon refused to join him, and retired. The co-operation of the Whigs finally enabled him to form a Government, and Parliament met on May i, with Canning as Prime Minister. He only survived a few months to hold a position which might have been his years before, but for circumstances described earlier in these volumes. The worries and anxieties of the early part of this year, acting on a constitution already enfeebled by illness and arduous work, rapidly told their tale — a tale in connexion with the lives of great statesmen in the House of Commons that was not new then, and has almost become common since. As was written of him a few days after his death by his old friend, Lord Dudley, Foreign Minister in the new Government : * What really killed him was fatigue. He died of over- work just as much as any poor horse that drops down dead in the road.'* The death of the Duke of York had left the command of the army vacant. The King had thoughts of himself assuming that position, but the Ministry would not hear of it, and the Duke of Wellington was appointed. On the other hand, Canning created an innovation satisfactory to the royal family by reviving the office of Lord High Admiral, and giving it to the King's next brother, the Duke of Clarence. The Corn Bill was the only important measure that passed the House of Commons during the summer, but on that Canning was defeated, partly, no doubt, owing to some misunderstanding in the House of Lords. In his state of health the blow to him was very severe, and undoubtedly hastened his end. In foreign affairs he lived to be able to crown his labours in the direction of the pacification and freedom of Greece by the arrangement between England, France, and Russia, known as the Treaty of London. * ' Letters to Ivy,' p. 325. S6o LORD LIVERPOOL'S SUCCESSOR [CH. xiil. Lyttclton to Bagot. Althorp, January 14, 1827. What shall I say to you, my dear Charles — or rather, what shall I tell you ? Truly, though a good number of people have held their Christmas here with th' Earl Spencer, yet I mightily question whether 1 have of facts or gossip wherewithal to fill a sheet for you agreeably. . . . The talk here has been chiefly, as you may suppose, about the D. of York and the King, and who was to succeed the Duke, and how soon there may be a succession to his Majesty, and what virtues (several of very recent growth, or dis- covery at least) grace the now Heir Presumptive. Of all this you know more (ten to one) than I can tell you. The extreme popularity of the Duke has come out with a vengeance, and I doubt whether any company of half a dozen people could be mustered by any fair ballot in which there would not be at least one person ready to run you through the body, if you did not acknowledge that his late R.H. had every virtue under Heaven. Had he come to the Throne, it is worth considering what pow^er such popularity would have brought with it, and how it would have told upon one question by which the minds of millions of his subjects would have been perpetually agitated and exasperated. There are constitutional men too (but I am not one of the number) who dread a standing army beyond a sergeant's guard at each palace, and who apprehended that Fredi<^ I^t would have dragooned Bull himself, and not Pat only, out of his rights. You, I take it, had a liking for this Duke, and, for aught I know, I have now rather trodden upon your toe, negatively — i.e. by not saying something strong in his praise de mon propre chef, such as it is. I am convinced that he had some peculiarly fine points in his character, which can alone account for the extraordinary attachment of so l827] CANNING'S ASCENDANCY 361 many persons of all parties and ranks to him. His services too as Commander in Chief are not matter of ordinary praise ; and whatever is said, even by the most adulatory courtiers, can hardly be censured for exaggeration. I hear that at the Funeral there will be 2,500 men under arms at St. James's, and as an escort; and an odd report has been put about, that it is feared the Body may be seized. Probably there is no ground for this fear ; but if there is, the measure taken would not (I think) obviate the indignity or qualify it, but heighten it by a scuffle, and perhaps have other serious consequences. The Duke's debts not provided for are however estimated at ^100,000. Whether anything is to be proposed to Parlt. about making provision for clearing that, I do not know. The Duke of Wellington has begun wisely, justly, and popularly (as I have just heard) by confirming all his predecessor's staff in their places. They say the King is very ill ; but no particulars have reached me. There are reports — or I should rather call them whispers — of certain great changes in the Administra- tion. I will say little more about them except that, if they are such as have been sketched to me, they will prove how great a practical ascendancy Canning has suddenly gained by his vigourous conduct towards France and Spain, or how the ascendancy of a certain Lady in a certain quarter has increased — or both. The Catholic Question will however, in the event supposed, be carried, and if anything else is given up or compromised, for my part I shall not care, for I think that one object is tantamount to ever}- sacrifice. But whether any part of the rumours I speak of be true, whether the main fact be so, and yet more, whether the details are, is what I cannot vouch for. Quote me not . . . and believe me, Your faithful friend and correspondent, Cruikshanks. 3^2 LORD LIVERPOOL'S SUCCESSOR [CH xiii. Lyttelton to Bagot. Althorp, January 22, 1827. . . . Sir ! you are very discursive (for the sake, doubtless, of well venting and easing off your spleen) — very discursive you are in your remarks upon the harangue of John Squintz Adams* to the Congress. Truly I concur in your censures upon the said harangue, so far as I, who read but little thereof (deeming it lengthy), can judge. And I also have very similar feelings to your own about J. S. A. himself, who, of all the men whom it was ever my lot to accost, and to waste civilities upon, was the most doggedly and systematically repulsive. With a vinegar aspect, cotton in his leathern ears, and hatred to England in his heart, he sat in the frivolous assemblies of Peters- burg like a bull-dog among spaniels ; and very man^'^ were the times that I drew monosyllables and grim smiles from him, and tried in vain to mitigate his venom. So I came away, satisfied with having put him in the wrong — the second best result. When he came afterwards to London I made some fresh attempts to thaw and sweeten the caitiffs temper, but fruitlessly. He passed for, and I believe was, a scholar, a Greek one — scarce, I should think, on his side of the Atlantic. An elegant scholar I think it impossible he could have been, but faith ! he gave me so exceeding sparing a share of his conversation that I am but an ill-qualified judge, if it were merely from that circumstance. But enough of this unpleasing citizen. ... It is said that the Catholic question is to be brought on as early as the 15th. I doubt the policy of this ; but whether that question come on or no, Binning will of course attend for the Corn on the 1 2th. Great things are expected from Canning on that * President U.S., 1825-1829. i827] CORN LAWS 3^3 day, when I hope he may win (enlighten I fear no human power can) bigotted Squires, and that some- thing reasonable and decisive may be done about the Corn laws. For my part (you know I am a bit of a landholder now, and all I have to look to must come from dirty acres), I think the present laws on that subject just as injurious to the landed men as they are certainly odious to the public, and 1 should willingly consent to a greater change, and much less of what is called protection than is now thought of. . . . The interest of France is surely for peace. What a new feature in that country is the successful remonstrance of the commercial men against a war ! I suppose Louis XIV. would have only shaken his wig at them, and they would have run off to their counters. What I told you in my last as being whispered about, I have heard nothing more about — probably you have. The result must, however, be uncertain from various causes. Be as it may, Master Canning acts much more like Cock of the walk* than any Minister has done for a long time. It does me some good to see a chance of a manly, united Ministry, and Canning, notwithstanding i,oooold scoi'is against him, has gained, and will gain, even with such old anti- Canningians as you know me for, if he goes on and prospers. This I believe I say without any bias from the chance of proper Whigs coming in. Bagot to Canning. [Copy.] {Private and Brussels, confidential.) February 16, 1827. My dear Canning, As I hold it to be good diplomacy not to grin, if one does not mean to bite, and always to avoid, when it is possible, noticing affronts, which, if noticed at all, * Sec Creevey, vol. ii., p. no. 364 LORD LIVERPOOL'S SUCCESSOR [CH. xiii. must be noticed very seriously, I have hitherto care- fully avoided writing a word to you upon a question which I thought might, after all, never assume any very inconvenient shape, or which might perhaps by time or accident settle itself. I begin, however, to think that the continued, avowed and successful attempts of the P. of Orange* to exclude from the society of this Country, and by so doing to cast a most injurious reflection upon all the members of all the foreign missions accredited to this Court with the offensive exception of that of the Emperor of Russia, make it very probable that the time is fast approaching, if it be not already arrived, when it will be impossible for me, in the position and with the rank which I hold here, to shut my eyes any longer to what amounts to a direct affront to our respective Sovereigns, and refrain from making to you some official representation upon the subject. At all events, the time is certainly come when it is fit that I should tell you /nW/t'/v how this disagreeable business stands, in order that, if you have any direc- tions to give me as to the course which I should pursue, you may have an opportunity of doing so ; or, if you do not answer my letter, may leave me to under- stand, as I shall do, that the question is one of those in which my Government would not wish to interfere, so long as they can avoid it ; and that you leave it to my discretion to take care that in my person no disrespect shall be shown to the King. You may have heard, though you have never heard from me, that for some years past the P. of Orange has given it publickly to be understood in Brussels and the Hague that no member of the Corps Diplomatique, excepting always the Comte de Gourieff and the de- * Eldest son of William I., King of the Netherlands, whom he succeeded in 1840 ; married to Anna Paulovna. i827] A DIPLOMATIC QUARREL 3^5 pendencies of the Russian Mission, are ever to be invited into any private Belgian or Dutch society at the same time with himself. The origin of this very strange and, to say the least of it, very childish regulation, is differently accounted for. Some people say that it arose from some slight which the P. supposes to have been offered to him by Lord Clancarty. Others that it arose from a reprimand given to him years ago by the King at the desire of the Emperor of Austria, in consequence of the Comte de Mier having reported to his Court some conversa- tion held by the P. in private society at the time when he was supposed to be connected with a Party in France. Others, from a remonstrance made to him at the same time and upon the same subject by M. de la Tour du Pin, then the French Minister in the Nether- lands ; and others, that it is entirely the work of the Princess of Orange, and an exaggerated imitation of the silly doctrine which used to be held by the late Emperor of Russia about the Foreign Ministers in Petersburgh. Whatever may have been the true cause, the ex- clusion, such as I have described it, has existed to a certain degree for 4 or 5 years, but it was not till this winter, and particularly till lately, that any occasions appear to have arisen in which it was not possible somehow or other to avoid seeing the affront which was decidedly intended. A short time ago, however, an occasion of this kind did arise, and the consequence has been that the whole question has been brought into general and public discussion, and, if I am not greatly deceived, the affair must lead sooner or later to some disagreeable issue. The Duke d'Aremberg, one of the first subjects in Europe, and certainly the first in the Nd^, opened the other day, for the first time since the death of the old blind Duke his father, the Hotel d'Aremberg by giving 366 LORD LIVERPOOL'S SUCCESSOR [CH. xiii. a great ball. When he invited the P. of Orange to this Fete, the P. so far forgot what was due to a man of the D. d'Aremberg's rank as to desire him — de sa propre bouche — not to invite any person of the Corps Diplomatique. To this extraordinary request the D., who was a good deal disconcerted, made answer that he would certainly take care that H.R.H. should not be gene in his house, but that he thought it right to state to H.R.H. that, after the K. and the Royal Family, there was no person here to whom attentions were more due on his part than to the English Ambassador, not less on account of the civilities which he had always received from him and the other Foreign Ministers, than on account of his being himself one of the first subjects of the K. of Hanover; and that he should think it his duty therefore to call immediately upon me to request that I would name some other day upon which I would accept another ball. I believe that the P. felt that he had gone too far, as he replied that he thought the D. quite right, and begged that he would let him know what day I fixed, as he would make a point of being present ! The D. accordingly came to me the next morning — a day was fixed, and the Foreign Ministers were invited. Most of them, however, resolved not to accept the invitation, and it was not till after I had taken upon myself to explain to them the situation in which I knew the D. to have been placed, and had contrived to represent his visit to me as intended for me in my capacity of Chef du Corps, that I succeeded in inducing them to attend. They did attend, and the P. never made his appearance. The example of the D. d'Aremberg was all that was wanted. It is true that we had been long excluded from every society of which the P. made part, but it had been generally done with some excuses, under some pretext of small parties — petitcs reunions pour la Princesse, &c., &c. ; but our public exclusion at the 1827] PRINCE OF ORANGE 3^7 express desire of the P. from a Fete of 400 people, given by the D. d'Aremberg, settled the matter at once, and it is now a received rule of the society of the two Capitals that no diplomatic person who does not belong to the mission of the Emperor of Russia can be invited to meet the P. of Orange. You are to observe (and pray mark the inconsistency of the whole measure) that the P. accepts invitations to our houses. That once a year he invites the Foreign Ministers to a ball at his own, and that he consents to meet them at the P. Frederick's, from whence he, ot course, could not presume to exclude them. The P. of Orange has a perfect right to decline making us, if he pleases, any part of his own society. He is neither bound to invite us to his house, nor to accept invitations to ours, but can he possibly have the right (I say nothing of the indecency and folly of such a pretension) — but can he have the right so to exclude from general society the Ministers of all ranks of all the Powers, with one exception in Europe ; to mark them in the eyes of the whole nation as persons whom he cannot be exposed to meet ; to put the K. of England's Ambassadors upon the same footing with the Charge d Affaires of Baden and of Nassau ; to say that the Minister of the Emperor of Russia may be admitted into society whilst the Minister of the K. of Prussia, the brother of the Queen and the father of the Princess Frederick, is to be excluded ? Would it ever enter the head of a Prince of Wales in England, or of a Dauphin in France, to take such a sweeping excep- tion against the Foreign Ministers in London or Paris as should include the Ambassadors of the great Powers ? Or if it did enter into their heads, would it be considered by those Ambassadors or by their Courts as an indifferent matter? As Head of the Corps Diplomatique here, I have something to con- sider as regards the Foreign Ministers as a body. 368 LORD LIVERPOOL'S SUCCESSOR [CH. xiii. But there are much higher considerations for me — I am to take care, and I will take care, that the King's dignity, as it is reflected in my official station, shall be made liable to no disrespect whatever; and in my conscience I believe that the time is come when I must take some measures for this end, for it is surely not maintainable that in the position in which I, as well as others, am placed as regards the first society of the Country by this ordonnance of the P. of Orange, a disrespect, and a disrespect of a very inconvenient character, is not offered to the dignity which I repre- sent. What I can do is another question, and one which perhaps depends more upon fit occasions which may accidentally present themselves than upon any instructions which would be framed to meet such a point. A squabble and quarrel of this kind appears always to lose much of its importance when it is reduced to written statement ; but I do in sober sad- ness assure you that I live in daily fear that this business may lead to some very unpleasant conse- quences — that in a public point of view it is by no means unimportant — and that I think it not impossible that such a state of things may some day arise as may make it matter for your consideration whether a minister of the highest rank can properly remain here. I have no doubt that the King is fully aware of, and sorely grieved at, all that is going on, for his conduct to all the Foreign Ministers, and especially to myself, is uniformly marked with the utmost civility and attention ; but the footing upon which he is with his son is such as will make him avoid any explanation with him as long as he possibly can, and I therefore cannot hope that the matter will be settled by any interference of the King's. I cannot tell you in what manner or in what sense my Colleagues have written to their Courts upon this subject ; that they have written there can be no doubt. i827] DIPLOMATIC AMENITIES 369 and I know that C^ Schladen has within a short time written confidentially to C' Bernstorff to tell him, as I have told you, the state in which things now stand. I could make this letter still longer, but you must have had already more than enough of it, and I there- fore conclude, sincerely praying that I may never have occasion to write you officially upon the same subject. Charles Bagot. There is a good deal of further correspondence on the subject of the marked discourtesy of the Prince of Orange at the Court of the Netherlands towards the representatives of foreign Powers, with the exception of Russia. The King of the Netherlands appears to have had little or no control over his son. The matter was brought to a crisis by the representatives of the various Powers agreeing to absent themselves from a function at which they were to meet the Prince. In May Bagot wrote to Lord Dudley, then Foreign Minister, enclosing letters on the subject, and inform- ing him of the Prince's amende. The matter seems to have been eventually amicably settled, judging by a letter from Lord Dudley on August 2, in which he describes having discussed the subject at dinner with M. Falck, the Netherlands Ambassador in London, as will be seen on a later page. The subject had been referred to St. Petersburg, and on June 14 Sir Edward Disbrowe* despatched a cypher letter from the Embassy there to The Hague which is as follows : * Thanks for your letter respecting the Prince of Orange. From what I know of H.R.H., he was the last Prince in Europe who 1 should have thought would have done anything disagreeable to the Corps Diplomatique, or, indeed, to anybody willingly. Of course, however, no Ambassador can submit to be given to understand that on account of his office he is not a gentleman. Here they are very angry about it from personal regard to the Prince of Orange, but I * Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. Petersburg during the absence of the Ambassador. He was in St. Petersburg from 1825 to 1828, remaining there after Lord Strangford went out as Ambassador. He attended the Coronation in Moscow. VOL. 11. 24 370 LORD LIVERPOOL'S SUCCESSOR [CH. xiii. am sure we may trust to the Emperor's good sense and known justice. * I rejoice our Government has approved you. * P.S. — I shall be writing again directly.' This airy treatment of the subject provoked Bagot to reply from The Hague, also in cypher : June 30, 1827. ' I have received your letter, and it has affronted me prodigiously. I have no doubt of the Emperor's good sense and known justice, but what the devil have I to do with either of them ! If it were possible that the Emperor could have been so childish as to act towards me as the Prince of Orange did, I should have served him exactly in the same way. * You may depend upon it that 1 have cured both the Prince of Orange and his Lady of ever playing the same tricks again, and have shown them that the King of England's Ambassador is not to be insulted with impunity.' Bagot to Binning Brussels, February 26, 1827. ... 1 did you a damnable injustice — and your letter has made me so thoroughly ashamed of myself, that I promise faithfully never again to let my soul get /?^ against you. Since I heard of Lord Liverpool's seizure, which was not till Friday last (for I had not chosen to believe a rumour of it which had reached us through the French papers), my brain has had no rest ; but since I got your letter I begin to think that it is a very good brain, for I had already settled down in the persuasion that one of the two arrangements which you state as the most probable was likely to take place. I know that there must be many who speculate upon and perhaps wish a Whig infusion into the Ministry which is about to be made, but this necessarily imphes an i827] THREE GREAT OBJECTS 37 ^ entire rcjonte of the materials of the present adminis- tration, and therefore it must not be. Men are rarely believed when they say they wish what is contrary to their own personal interest, but verily and truly I wish what is quite contrary to mine. My interests would be in any arrangement which kept Canning at the F. Office — not from any diplomatic views of my own, because, thanks to him, the measure of my diplomatic ambition is filled, but because I should like to end as I began my life, in constant and intimate official relation with him — but inalgre all this, I wish to see him nominally as well as really the Prime Minister of the country. I wish to see him shouted to the helm, and so triumph before the whole world, over the in- sidious hostility with which both at home and abroad he has been beset so long. 1 wish it also for another and most important consideration — viz., his health — and with his health the continuance of his services to the country. It is impossible to disguise from oneself that were he Hercules and 25 y^s old instead of being of the age that he is, and assailed as he is with gout, the work that he must do and the work that he will do are more than he could stand. I know that he will cling to the F. Office, but (if a choice is given him upon the subject) let him consider that as Prime Minister (I mean as i^t L^ of the Treasury) he can guide and control the great measures of Foreign Policy just as Mr. Pitt did ; that after all he has effected what were probably the great objects of his foreign administration — viz., the independence of South America — the libera- tion of England from holy Alliance and Mettermchism, and the foundations of the independence of Greece. As Prime Minister his labours would be nearly reduced to his exertions in Parliament, and he could give himself for months together relaxation (at least, relaxation for him) which would add ten years to his life and his public utility. After the objects of his 24—2 372 LORD LIVERPOOL'S SUCCESSOR [CH. xiil. foreign policy which I have mentioned before, I should think that the next public wish of his heart w^ be the settlement of Ireland and the Catholic question. His chance of effecting this, or, rather, his power of effect- ing it, are certainly greater as i^t Lord and Prime Minister, than as Sec^ of State for F. Affairs. I fully agree with you that much must depend in all this upon the result of the debate and division on Thursday upon the Cath. question, but I also agree with you that if that question turns either way very decidedly it will rather simplify than perplex the means of arrangement. There is one thing more which I want to say, and it is this — I cannot help thinking that Lord Liverpool will not survive this attack long ; another seizure (and when they are so violent they are generally followed up pretty quickly) will kill him. For God's sake let it be managed that C. has the Cinque Ports. If anything should make it necessary for him to retire from public life to-morrow, he would retire after more than 30 years splendid service without a retreat of any kind from the nation. This is not as it sh<^ be. As to the' D. of Wellington, I think that there will be no jockeying on his part. He must see that he is now in the situation which is of all others the most fitting for himself, and indeed for the country ; for however unpopular he may be in the army (and he is unpopular), take my word for it that he will administer the military departments of the country splendidly and very honorably. On the part of the Chancellor there will be attempts at jockey- ship, mais il touche a sa fin, and perhaps he has not the influence that he once had. What you tell me of Peel's dispositions is very satisfactory. There, I have nearly filled up my paper with politics, and have left but little room for anything else. I go on much as usual. Compared to the Hague my life here is odious, and I am worn out with the balls, soirees, gossip, and jealousies of this place. Lent, i827l LORD LIVERPOOL 373 thank God, comes to our relief on Wednesday, and after Easter little is ever done here. . . . I hear that India has been offered to Henry Wellesley. There c^ not be a fitter man, but I sh^ doubt whether he will take it. If he refuses I trust that they will not give it either to the D. of Buckingham or Sir C. Stuart. Less fit men in their different ways could not be found. I did not know that C. Ellis had been in Paris till I saw in the French papers that he was gone to England with Granville. Continue I beseech you your charity, and pray, pray keep me a little informed till matters have finally shaped themselves. God bless you, old boy. Tell my Lady I am at her orders for gloves, lace, or any small smugglings. ¥•"5 most affect'y, C. B. P.S. — I am told, and upon authority which didn't appear to me to be very bad, that the King has declared himself decidedly against the Catholics, and now says that there shall be no emancipation in his reign. Have 3^ou heard this ? Colonel the Hon. F. Cathcart to Ba^ot. Foreign Office, March 6, 1827. Lord Liverpool goes on improving as to the animal or rather vegetable part of existence; that is to say, he is stronger and walks better, does not drag the footorlegof the affected side after him . . . his speech continues nearly inarticulate . . . there seems no reason to change the original opinion as to the utter impossibility of his ever sufficiently recovering to resume his place in the Government. ... I have not heard an3^one whose opinion is worth a farthing doubt that it will end in Mr. Canning's becoming the Premier, combining of course the two offices of ist Lord and of 374 LORD LIVERPOOL'S SUCCESSOR [CH. x ii. Chancellor of the Exchequer, and that even the Ultras have sense enough not to attempt to deny that it would be the best arrangement . . . in other words that there is no other individual so fit to fill that place ... a proud admission this, coming from such a quarter ! I need not say how entirely I concur in your way of thinking on this subject, and I should have some scruple in venturing to speak of my opinion as to Mr. C.'s transcendant abilities and qualifications as a statesman if I did not feel sure that you will recollect that how- ever it may have been strengthened and confirmed by the splendid proofs which recent events have called forth, that opinion was formed long ago upon public grounds alone without any possibility of bias from personal feelings. ... I need not say how gladly after this I should accept the offer of the Under Secretary- ship if it were to be made to me, as it would of course bring me into intimate and confidential relations with Mr. C. at once. . . . Mr. C. has determined to recall me from Frankfort and to appoint Milbanke as Charge d Affaires. . . . Lord and Lady Granville have arrived and live at Devonshire house. People still say that he is to be the new Secretary of State, but I don't believe a word of it. Robinson is much more likely. Huskis- son has been very ill indeed. . . . Mr. Canning is quite well and not a bit the worse for his speech on the Corn resolutions. He was in the House last night on the Catholick question and will be there again to- night and is expected to speak. . . . Lord Morpeth did very well in his first attempt and exceeded every expectation. You will have heard of Tom Raikes calling out Brougham in consequence of what he said at the Trial of the Age, but there will be no fight, neither being pugnacious animals, and they have had themselves bound over to keep the peace. There is to be great opposition in the H. of Lords to the Corn resolutions; i827] CATHOLIC DEFEAT 375 the whole bench of Dukes and most of the great land- lords are vehemently against what is proposed, though none of them seem to have anything rational to substitute. Ever most truly yours, F. C. Binning to Bagot. London, March 9, 1827. You will see that I reckon'd without my host and that we were beaten by 4.* This is an evil of great magnitude in various respects, but, being mere accident, is no business to our oppo- nents. I have no doubt however that the Ultrageous understrappers and some of their overstrappers too will make a most mischievous use of it, and use every effort to turn it against the ascendancy of the one man they dread and hate, and who has been for so many years the object of their secret dislike and candid detraction. . . . Lauderdale threw away the scabbard as towards Canning in the Lords last night, vide his speech. He may chance to get it tonight in return. Of all the speculations the most marvellous is that of a junction between Grey and Lauderdale and the Ultra Tories, on the ground of opposition to all Liberal principles in trade and government — save I suppose * Two nights' debate on Burdett's motion on the Catholic Question. Copley, Master of the Rolls, delivered a vigorous and successful speech on the second night against Burdett's motion. He was thought to be quoting a letter to Canning from one Philpotts, a clergyman, in his attack on the former. Canning replied by a merciless attack on Copley, whicli raised a barrier between them, and was said to have cost the Catliolic party some votes. The Protestant party had a majority of four. Sir Spencer Walpole (vol. ii., p. 440) quotes from Lord Colchester's Diary to the effect that Canning's exertions in this debate brought back a return of his illness, and that he could not attend the House again till March 26. From the succeeding letters from Lord Binning this would appear to be somewhat of an exaggeration, though from his letter of April 23 it is evident that Canning had kept away from the House, and was expected back about the 26th. 376 LORD LIVERPOOL'S SUCCESSOR [CH. xiii. only the Catholic question. That Lauderdale is work- ing at this I am half persuaded . . . that there has been a flirtation seems likely. They have a common object of hatred and suspicion, and that is a great tie between men. . . . Canning is quite well. Lord Liverpool really getting on, as it would seem. I wish you had heard the thrashing Copley got. It did me good to hear it. All the Catholic world are above manner delighted with it, and with the high tone taken by Canning, which did all that a tone could do to counteract the impression that might otherwise have been made that he was not displeased at the shabby negotiations I told you of in my last letter, viz. that we ought to work to be beat on the question, for the facilitating of arrangements. P.S. — Liverpool is able to speak sometimes now. Bagot to Binning. {Quite private and very Brussels, confidential) Monday, March 12, 1827. . . . Last night I received your letter written on Friday announcing the division on the Catholic question — you are a good boy and a kind one for having written me these two letters, but I have had no peace since I received them. I think the business even more formidable than you seem to do, and though the division, as it regards the question itself and its ultimate success, may not be very serious, the debate unquestionably is so. It appears to me that the tone of the ministerial speeches on each side of the question is such as was never held before, and I own that I am utterly at a loss to see how the scheme of a Cabinet divided upon that question can any longer stand — I do not say that such a Cabinet cannot stand, but I do not see how. It may be very rash of me to form judgment from Brussels i827] COPLEY'S SPEECH 377 with nothing to help me but English newspapers, but to me it is as clear as day that the whole affair is a plot against C, and that the K. is at the bottom of it — Voila Ic mot lance ! The voice of Copley * is the voice of the Chancellor, and the voice of the Chancellor is the voice of the King — but suppose for a moment that this is not so, and that the speech of the Master of the Rolls is only the speech of the Chancellor in the House of Commons. What say you to Lord Lauderdale's speech, which, at your desire, I have read most atten- tively ? I say that it is the worst sign for C. that I have yet seen. I can never for an instant believe that that sagacious, clear-sighted and most wil}^ Scotchman ever ventured to make that speech either without already knowing that the house was tumbling down, or without having been ordered by Nobbs to make it for the purpose of knocking it down. I hope I am wrong, but when I couple all these speeches with what I told you of the K.'s late declaration I cannot help feeling that the Government is broken up. What is to prevent the anti-Catholics — Wellington, Bathurst, Seymour, Chancellor and tutti quanti — telling the King that the}^ can now make him an anti-Cath. Adminis- tration, and making it? ' Oh ! but it can't last.' So it has been said of a hundred administrations — Lord North's, Perceval's, etc., etc., but such an administration once made and a new Parliament assembled with a cry of No Popery would last the whole reign, you may take my word for it. Indeed, indeed I am ver}^ unhappy, and cannot but tremble for our hopes as regards C. The next ten days as you say, and probably the whole time between this and till after the Easter holidays, wull teem with intrigues, and it is certainly * The speech of Sir John Copley, Master of the Rolls (afterwards Lord Lyndhurst), against Burdett's motion and Canning (see Walpole, vol. ii., p. 439). Copley was soon after made Lord Chancellor by the King. 378 LORD LIVERPOOL'S SUCCESSOR [ch. xm. in vain for you to bother yourself with writing me the rumours on the speculations of the day ; but I do beseech you, as soon as anything takes any shape, to let me have one line from you. The only comfort I have is hearing that Canning has weathered, in his physique, all that he has had to go through. I was frightened upon that score, but other letters as well as yours tell me that he is both well and in spirits. I do not like your account of Huskisson at all, and O ! how shamefully they have treated him in his absence. Yes, I know Celles a little, and think of him just as you do. I have reason to believe that his negotiation is going on very well at Rome. I wish people could once see how handily we mix up stern Calvinists and bigotted Catholics in this certainly happy country. I could not help the other day paying the King a compliment upon this subject at a private audience which I had of him. God bless you. Binning. Where and how is Charles Ellis ? I hear Granville wants a new wig sadly. Binning to Bagot. March 23, 1827. Indeed, indeed M. L Ambassadenr, ilest bien necessaire de calmer I' inquietude de voire excellence^ and to assure you very positively that you have built a most huge and unsightly edifice of apprehension on a most rotten and unsound foundation. hnpriynis^ the Catholic debate proves none of the things your brilliant fancy hath drawn from it. I doubt whether the speech of the Magister Rotulorum* was the speech of the Chancellor. It certainly was not that of the King. He found it necessary to make a speech for Cambridge, and like all insincere men who put themselves in a false position, wishing to show his zeal, and at the same time to leave himself * Copley. A'. M.Iniici. Hngra-vcd by //'. li'alkcr. THOMAS HAMILTON, NINTH EARL OF HADDINGTON (lord BINNING) To face page 378, Vol. II. 1 827] A 'TERTIUM QUID' 379 a very wide door through which to retreat at a future and convenient opportunity, he blundered the matter — went too far further than he meant, and got a sad licking for his pains. I know he has since plainly disavowed having had any communication with Can- ccllarius. I believe the speech of . . . Lauderdale to have proceeded only and exclusively from his own speculations. He may be wily, but you have not forgot that he is in judgment as unsound as he is in bodily constitution rotten . . . read his speech. . . . Not as any evidence of his being set on by N.O.B.B.S. That great person is quiescent I do believe, seeking the continuance of his own Peace and Ease, and desirous of avoiding turmoil. Therefore will he, when the time shall come, offer the terms of the Government to the only man w^hose hands are fit to hold them on our side. Voyons whether the offer be de bonne foi, or whether it be clogged with provisions, intended to lead to negotiations and final rupture. . , . Whether they will be able to wait till Easter I know not, but I begin to doubt it. Impatience manifests itself in the ranks of Opposition in both Houses, and I dare say Canning's return to his place in the House next week will be the signal for a volley of questions. ... It seems that a favourite plan for a few days past has been, Mr. C. and Mr. P. must both waive the Pre- miership in deference to each other, and a tertium quid, a man of straw, must be placed at the head, and Bathurst must be the man ; and I dare say they would like to give the Colonies to Colchester to help him, or be dry nurse to him, or Vice Roy over him. But I tell ye, mon, this winna do. Bathurst would not be a man of straw, but he would be an insufficient Minister; he has neither the qualifications nor the disqualifications to make an old Portland. . , . If it be possible to form and begin work with a Protestant government . . . but I take it it is not to 38o LORD LIVERPOOL'S SUCCESSOR [cH. xill. be done. Peel is the man, the only man worth talking about, and he is not the man to undertake it. . . . I did not think it any breach of confidence to communicate your alarms to Seaford, who said, * Tell him that is the consequence of being a diplomat ; there is no fear of all he apprehends, and pray add that it is PH, three O's at least, two L's and I.S.H. in him to worry himself with these fancies.' Having now written enough, I hope to calm the apprehensions of my brother Abraham in the country, and to set at rest in some degree his Excellency's noble mind, I hasten to subscribe myself, etc., B. P.S.— I do believe your King William* to be a wise and good Prince. He must have a sovereign contempt for our folly about the Romans. He has conquered the Pope, and 1 verily believe we might have la santita de nostra Sigjtore Papa Leone XII. at the heretick feet of him who is by the grace of God George 4th. Bagot to Binning. Brussels, March 27, 1827. My dear Binny, . . . Your letter of the 23rd has had the effect de calmer r inquietude de mon Excellence. It has done more: it has, coupled with other letters which I received by the same mail, put me in woundy high spirits, and I now feel almost certain that things will come right. It is possible to be sure that there may be an attempt to saddle C. with conditions, with an intention of thus bringing on, and eventually forcing * King William L, who liad previously been Stadtholder of Holland, ruled over the two countries which had been united as the Kingdom of the Netherlands since the Treaty of Vienna. Tlie Dutch were Calvinists, the Belgians Roman Catholics. The Belgians revolted in 1830. i827] ANXIETY 381 him out upon negotiation ; but I do not think this likely, because I think that most certainly the enemy must have already tried whether they could not make a Government without him, and as certainly must have found that it was not feasible. Would it be more feasible after they had got rid of him by negotiation ? I think just the reverse. Argal I am disposed to imagine that they will make a complete surrender, and this opinion is strongly confirmed to me by all that 1 have heard from different quarters within the last week. . . . But oh ! it makes one very anxious, and I really do think that it is not seemly that matters should remain much longer in their present state. I agree with you entirely about the tcrtiiim quid ; there is no such quld^ and if there was it would not do. It was no breach of confidence whatever in you to show my letter to C. Ellis. I should have written him precisely the same if I had had one of his to hook it upon, and so pray tell him. . . . When does Lord Hertford* set out? Does he go by sea, or Paris, or Brussels ? He has done unwisely in taking Kangaroo Cooke with him. The Kang will be quizzed to extinction in Russia, especially if he affects the grand military line, in which messieurs les Russes are not easily to be humbugged. . . . Fare you well, Boy, for I can write no more. Yrs. most affectionately, C. B. * Francis, third Marquis of Hertford, K.G. (1777-1842), for a few years M.P. He had had considerable influence with the Regent, and was sent in this year as Envoy Extraordinary to Nicholas I., bearing the Order of the Garter to him, and receiving from the Emperor the Order of St. Anne. He is probably best known as the original of the Marquis of Steyne in 'Vanity Fair' or of Lord Monmouth in ' Coningsby.' 382 LORD LIVERPOOL'S SUCCESSOR [CH. xiii. Lord Howard de Walden to Sir C. Bagot. Foreign' Office, {Most private^ April lo, 1827. My dear Sir Charles, I will not let this post go without letting you know most confidentially that I have but very little doubts as to Mr. C.'s supremacy. There are all sorts of difficulties to overcome and of which I see no satisfactory solution. But we must direct our thoughts a tavenir^ and see how the machine works when put in motion — and when once in motion he may strengthen it by degrees and at favourable moments. It is much easier to mend than to make. I fear we shall lose P., but not old Baggs — the old rogue will stay to keep Mr. C. in order. There never was anything like the bitterness and personality of the Ultras against Mr, C, but I thank God there is not a man of ability among them (Peel agreeing with them only on the Ck. Qn.). Conceive the D. of Newcastle being deputed by the high church and state — ultrageous boodling Tories to speak the sense of the nation to H. My. and to insist on the Roman Catholick exclusion system being extended to the supporters of the Ck. Qn., and such support and principles to be considered as a disqualification for the office of Premier! That rogue Bucks too joined with them, professing at the very same moment and subsequently his desire to support Mr. C. if he would make a stand and form a new Govt. He has cut Wynne, because he did not insist upon India for him (Bucks). He is a creditable acquisition to the Newcastle lot, Lowthers, Ch. Stuarts, Strangford, Somersets, Westmorland, Baggs, Lord Londonderry, &c., &c. I am very glad they have had an opportunity of coming forward — they are all people who cannot go into open opposition, but against whom it was im- possible to be sufficiently on one's guard. i827] FOOLISH LORDS 383 H. My. is in very good humour, and Mr. C. in high favour. I have scribbled you more than 1 thought I had time for accumulating. Yours most sincerely, Howard de Walden. Binning to Bagot. LOXDOX, Tuesday {undated). ... I know you like to hear what is thought in this town at present. There has been enormous caballing, and everything, you may rely upon it, has been done to do mischief and to create difficulties, not by the heads, but subs, and persons out of office. Nothing can as yet be settled. My belief doubtless is that all ivill end right. Such seems to be the ex- pectation of the many. But I am afraid to allow myself to be too sanguine when one considers what pains have been taken to do and to support mischief. The devil intervenes between the cup and the lip, and that fiend interferes by suggesting the expedient of insidious negociation. I trust he will make all such suggestions in vain now; but if he succeeds, you know well how much negociations operate on men of a warm and generous spirit. But I do believe all must end right at last. The King comes on Thursday. The House of Com. is done — is, I hear, to adjourn from Friday till Thursday the 12th. The interval to be occupied in doing the needful. . . . The Duke of Newcastle and other foolish Lords had contemplated an assurance to Nobbs that they would not support C. ; but this was stopped. The delay may have done some good, but it has probably done more evil. CHAPTER XIV CANNING PRIME MINISTER Bagot to Binning. Brussels, Monday, April i6, 1827. My dear Binny, On Saturday last at 3 o'clock the Minister of Foreign Affairs called upon me and told me that he had just rec^ by an estafette from Ostend a letter from Falck acquainting him that Canning had been called upon to make a Gov^ and giving him the names of the 7 Ministers who had resigned. The intelligence admitted of no doubt, but, as you may conceive, it puzzled me to death. I said nothing to nobody. Yesterday at 4 o'clock arrived the mail of Friday, and with it your letter and the confirmation of everything. Ho^' ird's letter had prepared me for good, and he had pointed at the probability of Peel's resignation — but the complete split of the Gov' took me by surprise. That many, that most of the resignations were given with a factious design to embarrass the King, and with the hope of disabling C. from making a Gov', there can be no doitbt^ and a precious harvest of disappointments have these gentlemen reaped. What has been the consequence ? That Canning has rode in in triumph — that nothing since Mr. Pitt in 1783 has equalled that triumph — that he gets the Gov' freely, absolutely, and independently, and that theyy and not he, have broke up the old Administration. Oh ! it is glorious beyond 384 1827] THE HORSE GUARDS 3^5 hope and beyond expression ! He will have difficulties at first, perhaps great ones; but the Country is with him, and if he is driven to dissolve the Parliament, which I do not think in the least likely, he is sure not to make his appeal in vain. Surely it is the greatest personal triumph that man ever gained. Peel's resigna- tion I fully understand, and it certainly rests on separate grounds from that of others. Lord Melville's I do not understand at all. The D. of W.'s may be, and I really think must be (I speak of his resignation of the Horse Guards), attributable to the honorable motive which you suggest, for 1 can not think him capable of so very factious a proceeding both towards the King personally and the country in general, as he would be fairly chargeable with were he to have resigned the army merely to assist confusion. For the rest, they are gone, and are not worth talking about. If another Comi" in Chief is to be found, I think it ought to be the D. of Cambridge rather than any other man and rather than commission. There are some very great advantages in having a Royal Duke in that office. Would L"^ Anglesey do for Ordnance, or w"^' his wheel back about Catholics be a disqualifier ? I know not what to think about recruiting from the ranks of Opposition. The country w'^ like it better if those gentlemen remained where they are, but for majorities it may be necessary to have an infusion. One thing seems certain, viz. that it is by no means necessary that the Cabinet should be as large as it has been the fashion to make it of late years. What will be chiefly wanted is speakers in the H. of Lords — for the Com- mons Canning is himself all sufficient — but I suppose that Robinson must be peered. Is Lord Wellesley used up, or could he still be turned to account at home ? Lord Carlisle is a card. Of Lord Bristol I know nothing. I feel obliged to Lord Cholmondely for giving you a Garter to go to market with — but I VOL. II. 25 386 CANNING PRIME MINISTER [CH. xiv. lose myself in speculations, and my head has so swum with joy and intoxication since I heard of C.'s triumph that I can think soberly of nothing. How popular it will make the King ! It is a shame to write one un- necessary line to Canning at this moment, but for the soul of me I could not help sending him two words of congratulation. Again and again I say that there never was such a personal triumph gained by any man. You have been a good fellow for writing to me, and I am thoroughly sensible of it. I shall not have time to write to C. Ellis, but give him a felicitating squeeze of the hand for me. As soon as you know anything certain as to fillings up let me know. I do not ask for a letter — but merely names. God bless you. ¥"■5 most affectionately, C. B. Mr. G. Ticrncy to Bagot Savile Row, April i6, 1827. . . . You may conceive my surprise when on landing at Margate at 11 o'clock on Saturday night I called for a newspaper in a feeble steamboat voice, and found nothing but a long list of resignations all equally unintelligible. This is the second day I have passed in London, and I am just as much in the dark as ever as to the motives of the greater part of the gentlemen. The natural way of accounting for it all was the Catholic question, and so I tried to understand it as I journeyed to Town in the dilly, but I had not been arrived half an hour when that notion was knocked on the head, and I was told Copley was Chancellor. The King has had an interview with the two Archbishops, and has assured them that he will defend the Church as long as he lives against the Catholics, and that they need have no uneasiness upon that head, whereat the reverend men were much comforted. I believe you i827] WHIG OPINION 387 may depend upon this being fact, and that very shortly the King's expressions upon the subject will be made publick. In the meanwhile the delight of the majority of our Liberanx knows no bounds. Joseph Hume swears that he will never give no trouble, not no more, and that Mr. Canning is the finest fellow in the world. There are others who do not see the thing in quite so brilliant a light, and have yet to learn how matters are better than they were in Lord Liverpool's time, but they are looked upon as sour, crabbed old men, or enthusiastic boys that are foolish enough to expect that statesmen should be models of honor and purity. One thing, however, is certain, let people make what comments upon it they will, it is all over with the Papishes ; and the Catholic question must now be considered as belonging to the same category with Troy, and other things of which mankind are agreed to speak in the past tense. They tell me, but I have no means of knowing the fact, that the D. of Wellington's resignation was received very coldly, and that the K. is most indignant with him, and with every one except Peel, who indeed is spoken of in the highest terms by all parties : he is going forthwith into Italy, and probably is not in his heart sorry to have an opportunity of passing some time in quietness. . . . Nothing will satisfy public gossip but the appointment of Brougham as Attorney- general : St. James's street rings with it, with the addition of Scarlett, Master of the Rolls. . . . Lord Bexley has shown himself wise in his generation ; he said he woold keep office if he coold, so after he had resigned he came back and scratched at the door, and whined so much that they let him in, consoling them- selves with the reflection that they would kick him downstairs again whenever they pleased.* His friends give out that the King begged him to stay from a wish * See letter of April 22 following (p. 392). 25 — 2 388 CANNING PRIME MINISTER [CH. xiv. to have a man of a serious turn of mind among so many lewd fellows. Howard tells me that Mr. Canning is amazingly well, and seems himself in the very highest spirits, as are all Mr. C.'s friends. And now I think you must be pretty well tired of all this confused, disjointed stuff, but this is the way in which people talk at this moment in London, and I thought if you had a spare 5 minutes you would not be sorry to hear a little of it from all sides. . . . Hon. George Villiers* to Sir Charles Bagot. Board of Customs, April 17, 1827. . . . This day last week it became manifest . . . that a smash was inevitable, although till that time very little had passed between the King and his Ministers, and nothing between the Ministers them- selves, except between Lord Bathurst, the Duke of W. and Mr. Peel. The King sent on that day or Monday to Mr. C. to form an administration, upon Lord Liver- pool's principles. Mr. C. accordingly wrote a circular to all the Ministers inviting them to retain their places. Mr. Peel had in the most friendly manner 3 weeks before intimated to Mr. C. that in the event of his (Mr. C.'s) becoming first Minister, much as he admired and approved Mr. C.'s policy, yet his Protestant principles would make it imperative upon him not to retain office under a Catholic chief; his resignation therefore caused no surprise in Mr. C.'s mind. I have been shown, of course in strict confidence, Mr. C.'s letter to the Duke, but I must observe that for a previous month they had been on bad terms together, and at a Cabinet 10 days before had not spoken to each * Afterwards fourth Earl of Clarendon (1800-1870); Attache at St. Petersburg, 1820; subsequently Commissioner of Customs, and employed in Ireland ; Minister at Madrid ; succeeded as Earl of Clarendon, and was Foreign Secretary in 1838. i827] THE DUKE AND CANNING 389 Other. The Duke had not been sparing of abuse of Mr. C, and it was pretty generally understood that he would have no objection to serve with Mr. C. virtually supreme, but that there must be a nominal head as in the case of the D. of Portland and Mr. Fox. Mr. C.'s letter tells the Duke that he has been desired by H.M. to form an administration, and that he (Mr. C.) invites him to retain his places — that it was usual in similar cases that the individual desired to form the Govern- ment should be at the head of it, and that in the present instance H.M. had not deemed it advisable to depart from the established course, etc., etc., but not desiring the D.'s assistance or asking to see him as he did Lord Bathurst. At this letter the D. took prodigious offence, and he immediately wrote a very strong letter to the King acknowledging with gratitude the many years and proof of confidence he had enjoyed, but recalling in vivid terms to his recollection that it was owing solely to his (the D.'s) intercession and prayer that Mr. C. was taken into office at all, and that during the subsequent 2 years he had been the only person to stand between Mr. C. and H.M.'s continued taunts and displeasure ;* that he now found himself entirely dis- placed in H.M.'s esteem by Mr. C. and that he resigned his military appointments as well as his place in the Cabinet, because having now lost H.M.'s confidence he felt that every act of his in v/hatever department would not fail to be misrepresented and misconstrued. The K.'s answer was : 'The King; has received the D. of W.'s communica- tion. The K. assures the D. of W. that he feels the same regret in accepting his resignation which the D. of W. professes to experience in offering it.' * The Kin^q had resisted Canning's inclusion in the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary with the Leadership of the House of Commons in 1822, and it required all the inlluence of the Duke of Wellington and Lord Liverpool to induce him to give way (sec Walpole's ' History,' vol. ii., pp. 55, 56). 390 CANNING PRIME MINISTER [CH. xiv. This was as dry as it was unexpected, and the D. is more mortified and cut up than I should have thought possible with him. Lord B. and Ld. West^ resigned then as a matter of course, their assent to Mr, C.'s principles having for a long time past been more compulsory than anything else, a long train of etc.'s exeunt, also, of course, mttlfa gcrnentes. With regard to the new appointments the lies far outnumber the sands of the sea. . . . It is understood that the Whigs will not come in unless the Catholic question is made Cabinet — this the K. won't hear of, and has told the A. Bishops to tell them so. A message was sent by Mr. C. to Ld. Lans- downe, I understand, to ask for support ; the answer was favourable, but in general terms. The K. is exceedingly angry with the seceders, which keeps him most manfully up to the mark for Mr, C. The latter is, however, far from being on velvet at this moment, and unless he gets more assured support than he has at present from some party, his game in Parliament is not one to back at much odds. The press in a body absolutely support him in a manner and with a talent that can only have been called forth by most vigorous measures. I have not the least doubt that it will do exceedingly well, and that Mr. C. will be eventually quite trium- phant. Warrender they say is to share the office of Privy Seal with Dudley. Warrender to be the Privy. The appointment of Copley has mortally offended the Whigs, as they consider it a proof that Mr. C. does not intend to be staunch for the Catholics, but I believe the appointment to be purely Royal. . . . Ever with great truth, my dear Sir C, Most sincerely yours, G. V. i827] VARIOUS OFFICES 391 C. Tieniey to Bagot Savile Row, A^ril 20, 1827. ... A few days more, and probably a very few, will bring all the new arrangements into some definite shape. Mr. Plunkett is Master of the Rolls, with a Peerage. The Home Secretary and the Attorney General, &c., are still to be found. There has been a great demand for a good Protestant to fill the former post, but nobody has yet been inclined to contrast themselves so strongly with what all the world has admired as manly and candid in Mr. Peel. I wish it may end in the appointment of a Catholic, if the King will bear it. Sir George Clerk (I do not know how he spells himself) succeeds Sir H. Hardinge at the Ordnance, and is himself replaced at the Admiralty by young Denison, the Speaker's brother-in-law. They tell me Sir H. Vivian will have Lord Fitz Roy's place. Croker is triumphant at the Admiralty, and con- siders himself there for two reigns at least ; the Duke of Clarence's appointment was entirely his (Croker's) doing and a cotip de maitre. Hamilton, Lord Melville's late Secretary, remains in the same capacity with the D., who only begged he would put himself forthwite into decent mourning, he being in a blue coat. Don't you think Lord Londonderry's telling the King that he could not serve under Mr. Canning on account of Mr. C.'s connexion with the late Oueen well imagined ? A letter of April 22 to Sir Charles Bagot from his brother Richard, a Canon of Windsor, says : Tell me, Sir Diplomat, whether you know the secret so extraordinary kept here. That the D. of Wellington 392 CANNING PRIME MINISTER [CH. xiv. within 48 hours after Canning's speech on the Portugal business was in the K. of France's room ? What a man that is, Sir! He writes again from Blithfield the following week : Nay, Sir Frip, little Van did not come ' whining or whimpering, so they let him in again.' I'll tell you how this was, and will pledge myself for the truth of it. Van's return was perhaps the most masterly (and difficult) stroke of Canning. Let me inform you, Sir, that that the midwife, th' accursed midwife, had helped himself to this, and the K. agreed. Canning smelt the rat, saw the scrape ; he went and implored Van to recant, who did so upon hearing the reason. Canning went to the K., told him Van wished to recall his resignation like a good boy, and that it would strengthen him (Canning) very much to be able to show that he was the first to urge H.M. to restore any who cried peccavi to their situations. This is true, depend upon it, and think of the impudence and disgrace of the vagabond Knighton* having the Duchy of Lancaster ! F. Cathcart to Bagot. 84, Jermyn Street, April 24, 1827. . . . An active negotiation has been going on with the Whigs with various prospects of success ; at one time, last Friday, broken off apparently sans retoiir, and then renewed again the next day with improved hopes. The main difficulty as I conceive has been, not actually in regard to the Catholic question, but to the King's determination to have an Anti-Cath. Home Secy, and at least a neutralised Irish Government. * Sir William Kni/^'hton, the King's physician and confidential adviser (see Crcevcy Papers, vol. ii., p. 104). i827] OLD TORIES 393 How far or in what way this difficult}'' has been vanquished I do not yet know, but i think that the thing has been settled and that the Whigs will come in. At all events what most nearly concerns us is settled. Lord Dudley is to be Foreign Secretary provisoirement and till the end of the session, when Mr. Canning is to resume the Foreign Department and to hold the seals of it as Prime Minister, reliquishing the Treasury, to whom I have not yet heard, though 1 should think in all probability to Lord Lansdowne. There ! is not that a bit of news worth having ? And I can vouch for it, having heard it last night from old Planta at Mr. Canning's dinner given to the Corps Dip. in celebration of the King's Birthday, to which I was invited together with Lord Granville, Brook Taylor and Lord Dudley, all the rest being the Corps Dip. and one or two people, Mich. Woronzow, Humboldt, and (those) immediately belonging to them. Dudley was presented to the Ambassadors as their future Minister, and they were also informed that it was to be only for a time ; but I do not think that it was known that the mighty Chief himself was to come back to his peculiar people, at least it was not known in the Office or in the Town, for I was at a ball in the evening where 1 was assailed by many curious enquirers. . . . It does seem perfectly astonishing that the old Tories of the thicke,' as the Times calls them, should have acted so entirely without concert amongst them- selves upon such an occasion. Their best thick and thin friends, Beauforts, Newcastles, Lowthers, &c., blame them openly and loudly for it. As for Lord Melville, nobody thanks him (except indeed the Navy) for resigning, nor can anyone find out a rational motive for his doing so ; and in regard to the D. of Wellington there is but one feeling of regret that 394 CANNING PRIME MINISTER [CH. xiv. he should have been so far carried away by temper as to throw up the command of the army, which was not and never should be considered to be a political office, and which he might so well and so becomingly have held totally independent of the Cabinet, which it was perhaps natural enough that he should abandon under the feelings of the moment. Of course you know that the King has determined to keep the command in his own hands, with the assistance of Sir H. Taylor, who will be a sort of Major General or Chef d'Etat Major like Diebtrich in Russia, and the other Horse Guards authorities. By this means the door is lifted open to the great Captain to return when the sulk is a little over ; and it seems to be generally hoped, and indeed expected, that he will do so. In that case the FitzRoy Somersets will come right again, as he will be of course Military Secretary. In the meantime I am very sorry for them. I know how hard it is to be obliged to turn out of a comfortable house and to trust to chance and politicks for another. . . . Nothing could be kinder than Mr. Canning's manner to me yesterday, both before and after dinner. ... As to his own appear- ance, not having seen him near since his illness, it struck me that he is a good deal altered and that he looks pale and much pulled down ; but he seemed to be well and in spirits, and to get through the fatigue of a dinner of 36 people without being apparently much fagged or in any way the worse for it. Foreign Office, Six o'clock. I have not been able to learn that anything is yet positively settled with the Whigs. On the contrary, I hear that it is all abroad again, but that was from people who would wish it were so. They say that the 3 conditions sine qua non insisted upon by Lord i827] LORD LANSDOWNE 395 Landsdowne are — i. The Catholic Question may be brought on by any member of the Cabinet whenever he may think fit. 2. The Government of Ireland to be purely Catholick. 3. He (Lord Lansdowne) to be Leader in the House of Lords. Against all of which conditions has been written * inadmissable ' — that is the latest on dit 1 can hear. Ever most truly yours, F. Cathcart. P.S. — They intend to leave me and my salary as we are for the present, and to let it go on till July without saying anything about it till then, unless any- thing should turn up in the meantime. Ce qui ni arrange a merveille — but I shan't cry roast beef. Bagot to Binning. Brussels, Thursday, April 26, 1827. ... I have no recollection of what I did build, but I can hardly have built more than a conviction that the new Government would complete itself and stand ; and that conviction, in spite of all the ups and downs, delays, negotiations, and pourparlers, I still confidently hold. Your two letters just received diminish nothing of this faith. I cannot form any reasonable guess whether Lord Lansdowne will accept or not. By his coming a second time to the scratch, my inclination is to think that he will. Sure I am that he will do wrong for himself, wrong for his party, and wrong for the ultimate success of measures which he desires to see carried, if he does not. Are you sure that you are rightly informed as to the adverseness of old Tierney.* * Old Tierney was not adverse, but gave his support to Canning, though a strong Whig. 396 CANNING PRIME MINISTER [CH. xiv. Grey I know is furious, and nobody seems to be able to find out why, nor indeed does it matter. O yes, I have no doubt that the H. Guard's arrangements are meant to give locus penitentice to Nunky, and I think that that penitentia must come. Friend and foe, stayer, seceder, tig and whory all blame, and so loudly, his petulant resignation of the army, that when he has had his sulk out, he must I think see the immense mistake that he has made and return to his duty. I am told that the snip, snap, snorum letters in the Times are not given correctly, but I take it that all passed so or so abouts. My letters of today (as Cyril* would have said) tell me positively that Dudley has the Foreign Seals. What then becomes of Granville ? Does he return to Paris ? But, Binney, why is it that in all this affair, I have not yet been told of the niche reserved for yourself? That there is one, and such a one as you like, I take for granted ; but the sooner I know which it be the better shall I be pleased. However, I do not wish to ask impertinent questions, and in the fulness of time you will tell me. . . . You and Howard have been rare good boys in writing to me, and I feel sincerely obliged to you both. Why should you not make the Duke of Argyll Master of the Horse ? Mr. A. G. Staple ton to Bagot. Foreign Office, April 27, 1827. Mr. Canning is gone out riding. After incessant labour he has at last satisfactorily settled the Cabinet, as you will see by the enclosed list. Whether Lord Anglesey is to be in the Cabinet is * Cyril J:ickson, formerly Dean of Clirist Churgh, 1 827] A LOST GARTER 397 doubtful. It just depends on his vote on Corn, on which I entertain some doubts. Mr. Canning desires me to say that the Insignia of the Garter belonging to the late Lord Hastings has not been returned. . . . The vacant Garter can not be disposed of till it is returned . . . etc. Mr. Canning is very well. Bagot to Stapleton.^'' Brussels, [Copy.] April 30, 1827. . . . Pray tell Canning that I am very much obliged to him for his information respecting Lord Hastings' Garter, and that the anecdote is remarkable ; but how the devil it concerns me I am totally at a loss to con- ceive, unless indeed it is meant as a delicate apology for not giving me the Garter in question the moment it became vacant ; viewed in this light, I consider it as a pretty attention on the part of the Prime Minister, and he may reckon on my support. Seriously, do you suppose Lord Hastings to be in this country ? Stapleton to Bagot. Foreign Office, [Copy.] May 6. . . . Mr. C. desires me to say in answer to your letter of the 30th that he does believe that Lord Hastings is in your country. . . . G. Tierncy to Bagot. Savile Row, May 8, 1827. My dear Sir Charles, . . . Last night was a proud one for the new Government, and should be marked with a white * This letter and the next are quoted from Stapleton's 'Corre- spondence of Canning,' pp. 310, 311. Stapleton, in a note on the letters, seems to have been iinder the impression that there was possibly some ' chaff ' intended in the matter. 398 CANNING PRIME MINISTER [CH. xiv. Stone. The enemy were afraid to come up to the scratch, and fairly ran away. My father says that it was by far the most satisfactory thing he has seen yet, and Mr. Canning was in consequence in the highest spirits. People are getting vastly impatient of the delay in taking office, and want an explanation which they will never have. . . . Lord Althorp and Lord Milton have worked miracles by their two speeches, and it was just what was wanted. I am afraid that there is now but very little chance of the D. of Wellington coming back to the H. Guards, the K. is so bitterly off'ended with him ; in the mean while his Grace looks remarkably well, and is in great spirits. I din'd in company with him and Lord Mary- borough yesterday. ... I hope you see how Lord Londonderry is about to correct all the abuses of the F. O. They tell me he is raving mad. The P. of Orange business is certainly a very serious one, but I am delighted that you have taken the step, for I am sure it was a necessary one. Captain Geo. Seymour carries out Lord Hertford to Petersburgh. They talk of Lord Hertford going by land to Dantzic and embarking there, which seems hardly worth a man's while. . . . Lord Dudley to Bagot. Foreign Office, May II, 1827. . . . The kind and early congratulations of an old friend have given me great pleasure. . . . Yet I hardly know whether I ought to allow myself to be congratulated on accepting an office the duties of which 1 shall not be able to execute to my own satisfaction or to that of the publick. The circumstances that induced me to take it are probably known to you, and must serve as my excuse for what might otherwise seem so rash a step. 1827] LORD GREY'S SPEECH 399 I shall be here only to the end of the session, and my predecessor will I hope be also my successor. . . . The Foreign Minister then refers to the question of the quarrel between the Prince of Orange and the Corps Diplomatique at Brussels : It is impossible to think with common patience of a misunderstanding betwixt two great countries arising from the ill-temper or ill-taste of a young prince. And yet you could not without discredit avoid noticing his conduct any longer — you did so in the most judicious manner, seizing the right moment, and adopting the least offensive form . . . the answer you received from Court is in fact an ample testimony to the propriety of the step you took. The King is evidently with you, and one may even hope that the Heir Apparent will at last perceive the monstrous error of which he has been guilty by thus quite gratuitously indisposing towards himself personally every power in Europe save one. Pray for my good deliverance, and believe me, etc., Dudley. Hon. F. Cathcart to Bapot. 84, Jermyn Street, {Private.) May 15, 1827. It was supposed that everything would be dejfi- nitely settled with Lord Lansdowne last night. I have not, however, been yet able to ascertain how it is settled, or that it actually is decided. Perhaps I may hear before I seal up my letter. You will have seen with regret the very violent, and I should think altogether uncalled for, speech of Lord Grey the other day. Nothing can be more bitter or personally hostile than he is towards Mr. Canning, though he fairly con- fesses that he stands alone in that respect, and is at variance with the rest of his political friends ; and he 400 CANNING PRIME MINISTER [CH. xiv. does not threaten any practical opposition. Lord Lansdowne was expected to answer that speech, and was prepared to do so last night, but was induced to postpone what he intended to have said in consequence of Lord Grey's absence ; but if Lord G. is well enough to be in his place tomorrow he will then answer him, and it is supposed that the whole mystery will be cleared up. On Sunday it was said (by those who wished it) that Lord Lansdowne had broken short off and backed out. Yesterday on the contrary it was said by some that he was in the Cabinet without any particular Office, and by others quite as confidently that he was to be first Lord and Premier. From all I can pick up and observe, I am much inclined to think that, in some shape or other, this last report will prove to be true ; and it seems to be the easiest, if not the only, way of finally consolidating the Government in a way to make it perfectly unassailable to the Ultrageous Tories, by opening the door for the D. of Wellington's return to the head of the army without rendering necessary any concessions on either side which would be unbecoming to both. The Duke of W.'s department since the strike seems to be approved and appreciated by all parties. He and Mr. C. met for the first time in public at the dinner of the Royal Academy. Of course there were plenty of observers, but nothing appeared but what was per- fectly natural and unconstrained in the manner of both parties. Much was said about a letter of lo pages from Mr. C. to the Duke, but I do not know either the object or the effect of that letter, though I cannot doubt the fact of its existence. The Duke's manner and speech altogether, in seconding the motion of thanks to the Indian Army last night, are highl}^ commended. In short, I do hope that it will all come right in regard to him, and then we really shall have a Govt, and be in a position such as has not been seen de nos jours. i827] AUSTRIAN OPPOSITION 40I Was anything ever half so mad and absurd as Lord Londonderry ? He appealed to the Bench of Bishops last night to know when * this disgusting state of con- cubinage was to give way to the open and avowed bonds of wedlock between the great Marquis (Lans- downe) and his friends and the Government,' with a world more insane ribaldry de cette force. It is a fact that Mr. Canning has in his pocket some application of this very madman for a pension, or extraordinaries, or something of that sort, upon which Lord Liverpool had docketed, in his own hand, ' this is really too bad.' Esterhazy* has been taking a very active and hostile part in these affairs, I suppose upon some secret and contingent instructions sent to him by Metternich when they first heard of Lord Liverpool's attack at Vienna ; for I hardly think he would have the pluck, even if he were blockhead enough to act in that way of himself. It seems he even ventured to go to the King to remonstrate upon Mr. Canning's appointment, but H.M. received him with the greatest dignity and cold- ness, and extinguished his harangue in the very birth, and not only would not listen to him, but immediately shewed him up to Mr. Canning, who thereupon has sent a bit of his mind to Sir H. Wellesley, such as you can conceive. Of course all this is entirely entre noits, and though I cannot name my authority I can depend upon its accuracy as to the main points. I think it will end by his Highness being entirely thrown over and retiring to Paris to take the place of Apponi, who cannot stay there much longer. By the bye, though it is doubly absurd to couple such little things to what I have just been talking about, I was amused to observe that since the decision of my Frankfort affair, Esterhazy has absolutely cut me, and I was not invited to their ball the other day, at which all London was present ; * Austrian Ambassador in London. VOL. II. 26 402 CANNING PRIME MINISTER [CH. XIV. though I happened to meet him and her at dinners and in opera boxes rather awkwardly several times just before, and the very day of the ball, which, considering our former intimate acquaintance, proved that it was neither accidental nor unintentional. Lieven, or Madame rather, on the contrary, has taken and shewn as strong an interest in favour of Mr. Canning, and it was observed that during the discussions among the Whigs previously to their declared adhesion to his Government her carriage was to be seen for hours at the door of the houses where those meetings were going on.* The Tories make a great cry about this, but nodody minds them. . . . P.S. — You know of course that the real ailments of the Regent of Portugal proceed from the unlucky cir- cumstance of Dr. Abrantes having got on board. There was a very edifying bulletin the other day about his R. Highness' sacrolumbar region and a slight attack of horrissilacoes, whatever those may be. I hear positively that Binning is to be called to the Peers. Lyttelton to Bagot May 22, 1827. . . . Now we have Lansdowne and his body guard actually in the Cabinet it is true, but whether they will keep their ground there, or whether Canning himself will be able to maintain his, is doubtful enough. I was yesterday in the House of Lords, when Lord Harrow^by, President of H.M.'s Council, made the * Princess Lieven was the daughter of the Russian General Benckendorf. She resided chiefly in London from 1812 to 1834, and, with Lady Jersey and Lady Cowper, had been a patroness of Almack's, and one of the leaders of fashion. She wrote in this year : * It is the duty of every good Russian to support Canning. He is a man of extraordinary talent, and he is honest. He is not a Jacobin ' (' Letters of Princess Lieven '). It may be remembered some few years before she had written of Canning as a 'Jacobin Minister.' Sir Spencer Walpole quotes the above (' Political Essays,' 1908, p. 152) to show ' how little value can be attached to Madame de Lieven's judgment of men' (sec note on p. 156). i827] COUNTING HEADS 403 most violent speech that could be conceived against the declaration of H.M.'s sentiments, acknowledged to have been by H.M.'s authority delivered to the clergy by the Bishop of London. I entirely approved of Lord H.'s view of the subject, but if he was President of my Council I should look a little blue at him this morning- I think; Lansdowne spoke more cautiously, but neither could his speech have been nuts to the King. Lord Spencer, you will observe, interposed — but alas ! (in his own opinion — age is slow) two minutes too late. That confounded old shepherd, Harewood, had carried his point ; Grey did mischief again and was in a cursed mood. As far as appearances go — sound of cheering and so forth — the Opposition is at least as strong in the House of Lords as the Ministry is, and a little while ago there seemed just reason to fear that the Lords would have played Hogo — but what with Londonderry's nonsense, Ellenborough's unpopularity, and time spent in talking instead of dividing, those fears are considerably abated. Possibly Canning may have information as to the actual numbers to be fairly reckoned on either side; . . . Duncannon was never so much to seek in his life. ... If the Ministry stand ... I don't see what is to throw them out, except a certain Personage, whose malevolence to several of his servants, and whose tete exaltce upon a particular question, keep one in perpetual hot water, and must make his service extremely painful as well as precarious. Lord Lansdowne has not yet seen the King. To-morrow is to be the day. . . . You are right in what you say about the extreme violence of party feeling at present. Certainly 1 never remember its raging so much. Nobody escapes exe- cration ; the unpaid supporters of the Government were described the other day in my hearing as the basest set of all. But the greatest rancour is in Canning's old col- 26 — 2 404 CANNING PRIME MINISTER [CH. xiv. leagues against him, and I assure you it often disgusts me. As to my entering again into political life under my present circumstances, it is as you suppose, pour ainsi dire impossible. But if it were otherwise, though I would support Canning against the seceders with all possible vigour, I would have nothing to say to Office,* and am more than half sorry that any of the Whigs have accepted it, though I do not doubt their perfect honour, especially Lansdowne, than whom a more unvenal and I think unambitious soul never existed in the breast of a public man. This opinion about what would have been the preferable course of the Whigs is not, as you may have collected from the quarters, a very singular one. . . . Canning to Bagot. Downing Street, June 4, 1827. ca hint {Received Jii 71 c 6, 7^ a.m., by (Private and confidential.) messenger, LiitJcwood.) My dear Charles, Would it at all suit your plans to go to India as Great Mogul — as I was on the point of doing (and * A little more than a year after this letter was written Mr. Lyttelton succeeded his half-brother as third Lord Lyttelton, and took no further part in political life. After his death, in 1837, Lady Lyttelton, who was a daughter of the second Earl Spencer, was appointed a Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Victoria, and subsequently, during several years, acted as governess to the Queen's children. Her letters, covering a period of over seventy years, have been privately printed, and are of the greatest charm and interest. Her husband, though opposed as a Whig to Canning, had supported his action in taking the Danish fleet in 1807. In connection with the disputed question of how much Canning knew witli regard to the agreement between Napoleon and Alexander at Tilsit, when he determined on the Copenhagen expedition (referred to in vol. i., p. 233), there is an interesting remark in one of her letters at the time. Lady Sarah Spencer, as she then was, writing to her father from Spencer House on January 2, 1808, says : ' Lord Glaston- bury [son of Right Hon. J. Grenville] is in town grumbling as usual, but he quite approves of the Copenhagen business, and says Lord G. L. Gower had got possession (for ^^20,000) of the original treaty of Tilsit, and that one of the secret articles stipulated that the Danish fleet should be employed against us, which induced Ministers to adopt such vigorous measures.' Lord Granville Leveson Gower was on the spot, and Lady Sarah's i827] AN OFFER OF INDIA 405 perhaps should have done more wisely if I had done) about this time five years ago ? Answer Yes or No — by return of the messenger. I shall not mention your name to ' the Chairs ' (with whom you may remember finding me ' engaged ') till I receive your answer : if I can help it. But if I am obliged to do so at all, certainly not in a way to commit you or myself. Ever sincerely & affect^^ yours, Geo. Canning. Sir Charles Bagot's elder brother took this most inopportune moment to record his vote by proxy against Canning's Corn Bill in the House of Lords. The matter was of vital importance to the Prime Minister and his Government, compelling Canning to withdraw his offer on the following day. Bagot, how- ever, had declined owing to his health, being unable to go to a hot climate on account of an affection of the liver of which he afterwards died in Canada. Lord Bagot subsequently explained his vote to Canning's satisfaction, as will be seen from a later letter. Canning to Bagot. Downing Street, {Private.) June 5, 1827. Since I wrote to you yesterday your brother, Lord Bagot, has declared against the Government. Lord Bathurst has entered his (Ld. B.'s) Proxy,* for a vote which may be vital. I thought his long abstinence a pledge of his neu- trality at least. But I am disappointed. Of course you will feel what must be my feelings, both of duty and regret. I hope ^'■ou may have declined. God bless you. story is consistent with Canning's statement in tlic House of Commons on the subject. * Voting by proxy was abolished in the House of Lords in 1868. In the reign of Charles II. tlie Duke of Buckingham used to bring down 20 proxies in his pocket, when it was ordered that no pi. ;r should bring more than two. Tlic privilege was little used after 1830. 4o6 CANNING PRIME MINISTER [CH. xiv. Canning's Corn Bill contemplated the importation of corn at a 20s. duty when the price stood at 60s. a quarter. The agricultural party considered that 60s. was not a remunerative price. The Bill passed the House of Commons and went up to the Lords. The Duke of Wellington, after consultation with Huskisson, moved an amendment raising the price to 66s., and his proposal was carried by four votes, greatly to Huskisson's surprise and Canning's disgust. Huskisson had written his views to the Duke care- lessly, and had led him to believe he advised the adoption of the amendment. The Ministry endeavoured to retrieve the disaster on the report stage, but were again defeated by eleven votes. The Bill was lost, and the Government placed in an awkward position through the amendment, which was the result of a misunderstanding between the Duke and Huskisson. Canning, much annoyed, made a strong speech in the House of Commons on June 22* — his last — in which he blamed the faction of his party, who had * made a subject involving the prosperity of the whole country a ground for exciting party feeling.' Parliament was prorogued on July 2. Towards the end of the month Canning was too ill to attend a Council at which Lord Lansdowne was appointed to the Home Office. Binning to Bagot. LONDOX, July 12, 1827. Dear Charles, This will be delivered at your Excellency's hotel by Mr. John Hope, eldest son of your old acquaintance and my now old uncle Alexander Hope. He is, I think, what his appearance shows for (and let that speak for him), a very fine youth. He has taken a first-class degree in classics at Oxford, so do * Sir Spencer Walpole (vol. ii., p. 45(S) describes Canning as losing his temper, and not submitting with dignity to the decision of the Peers; but the account of his speech in the next letter, from one who was present, does not quite bear out that view. i827] CANNING'S HEALTH 407 not quote much in his presence, for fear of showing how long it is since you have been off the irons. Lord Binning* returns many thanks in the name of Lord Melros. ... It has been done handsomely and properly, and it is something to have come out alone in the Gazette after all the clamour and crash that has been sputtered about on the occasion. You will hear ... as soon as George R. thinks it fit to come to Town, that Lord Lansdowne is to be Home Sec^ and Lord Carlisle Privy Seal. Portland's Dutch bulk remains unplaced in the Cabinet I learn, and Sturgeon Burgeon f falls soft, and gladly, from his present eminence into the rural lap of Woods and Forests . . . the more of Canning's friends there are the better. . . . Let us not forget that the Whigs have given Canning a very handsome and flattering support, while so many Tories, foolishly and strangely miscalculating, have chosen to fly in his face with slander, vile calumny, and vituperation. May they have to repent it, and eat the bread of political bitterness and disappointment. I am sorry, very sorry, that Bagot sent his proxy to Bathurst. I trust it was but a squire's vote upon corn ; but then it had better have been sent to another squire Lord than to an ex-Minister. With regard to Canning's own self, I trust he is not really unwell, but his colour is very bad, and when I saw him last — ten days ago — he seemed very languid. He certainly is irritable, and that is a great evil. He cannot be blamed, for it is the effect of his serious illness upon his nerves, which must have been cruelly played upon by the grievous provocation he has received. But though no subject for blame, it is a matter for much regret, as in these times one word out of joint plays the devil. What he said about the * Recently raised to the peerage as Lord Melros. t Sturgess Bourne. 408 CANNING PRIME MINISTER [cH. xiv. Lords was said quietly in manner and coolly. Perhaps it had better not have been said, but they made a row about it that it did not deserve. Their object is to play upon his susceptibility, and his determination ought to be never to get angry, let the provocation be what it may. If he recruits during the summer and autumn, and meets with no check, he will be stronger, and less liable to these strong impulses of excited feeling. You do not overestimate the importance of taking every possible means to pacify the madmen in the Lords, or rather to diminish the apparent number of their adherents. I say apparent, because I am con- vinc'd that save upon corn they would not have been so powerful a body of opposition. But they are powerful enough to be excessively formidable if they can be organized. Much will depend on the aspect of the Commons when Parliament meets. ... I have every hope that the Commons will go right enough, and that will tell upon the noble natures above stairs. As to your uncle the Duke, he is the spoilt child of his immense reputation and the fine ladies of this pandemonium. It would be a long chapter to enter upon, but I'd give the world for a talk with you on this subject. He has not been left to himself, and has been made more than he thinks to move according to the goodwill and pleasure of others. It is a great evil that he should not be at the head of the army; and perhaps were he not so surrounded, connected, and apparently pledged to others, he might be brought into that place, the only worthy object of ambition for him. But he cannot come there as a man of honour without making up his mind to support the Govern- ment, and can he leave those who rode out of Office upon his shoulders to pine upon the cross benches while he enjoys the power and eminence of the com- i827] 'CyESAR AUT NULLUS' 409 mand of the army? Nous verrons. He and Canning have had a hard tussle. Canning has got the better, and depend upon it there is not much love lost between them. But this to yourself, for Heaven's sake ; there could not be more mischievous language for an3^one nearly connected with Canning to hold. But to you I say what I really think. I believe the Duke was sensible that he could not himself be Prime Minister and Commander in Chief, and that he would willingly have been either the one or the other, having in the place he did not occupy a person that would have acted according to his impulse. To this the other would not submit. He was entitled to say ant Cccsar ant niillus. He played his game accordingly, and is Caesar. People may beat about the bush and repine till they are weary, but this is the plain truth. The attempts that have been made to bring them together have been premature. Time will soften down sharp feelings, and may minister to the occasion for a more reasonable and a more successful attempt. The Duke in his present position is a terrible make-weight against the Government, and he is also in a false position for his own real glory. If Canning and he both find out the truth as it concerns the interest of each, they may come together again in defiance of all difficulties. There seems to be no present intention on the part of Canning to resume the seals of the F. Department. Dudley continues for the present— how this will finally end I know not. . . . Huskisson is quite beat ... as soon as he has recovered strength enough he is going abroad. . . . Have you heard of the strange dis- appearance of Jack Manners, follow'd by that of his Duchess ? He came home one night, battered, bruis'd, and maimed, and next day was off. She followed, and they have never been heard of since. ... I have made various and sundry attempts to find your Lady 410 CANNING PRIME MINISTER [cH. xiv. at home . . . your daughter is beautiful, really and truly beautiful, and looks very amiable. As to visiting you this year at Bruxelles, it is out of the question, but Henry Pierrepont, or Pierpont (I cannot spell with this pen), and I have pledged ourselves to each other to visit you at the Hague next year, so look out for us in the tulip-time. Do you wax fat like Jeshurum ?— tell me that honestly now, and so good-night. Yours very affectionately. Binning. P.S.— Direct to me as usual Binney. I cannot read all this over. Rt. Hon. W. Hiiskisson, M.P., to Bagot Somerset Place, July 1 8, 1827. Although the use of pen, ink, and paper is the one thing of all others which I am more specially called upon to renounce for the present, I do not like to turn my back on all these implements of trade and not set off for my tour without telling you. ... I trust that while I am picking up health . . . some of our late friends will be shaking off at home the spleen and anger which I am sure have been and are likely to be at least as hurtful to themselves as to those against whom they have been so unsparingly directed. All this I regret extremely both on public and private grounds. It may lead to great mischief in the country, and it tends to break up all the comforts and best habits of private life. I trust the aristocracy will not shut their eyes to the former risk, or rather that they (the old Tories at least) will look at their own situation through some other optics than those of Lord Grey. These are not times for them to set themselves against the Throne, public opinion, and the House of i827] PRINCE LIEVEN COMPLAINS 4^1 Commons. ... If Canning can but keep his health we shall be able to weather all our difficulties. He is ailing too often to satisfy me, but all his medical advisers say that his constitution is unbroken, and that he has stamina for several years to come. . . . Lord Dudley to Bagot. Foreign Office, luly 24, 1827. The affair between the Diplomatick body and the Prince of Orange seemed ... to me to be satisfactorily and finally settled, so that when I had thanked you for the firmness and good sense you had shewn in the course of it I imagined my attention would never be drawn to it again. An unexpected attempt, however, has just been made by the Russian Ambassador here to revive the subject ... he read to me a dispatch . . . from Count Nesselrode. ... I cut the matter short . . . with him, Prince Lieven, 1 really declined entering into the discussion of such a question. He persisted for some time in endeavouring to make it a Russian case by reminding me that it was to the house of Prince Gourieff that you refused to come. ... I told him that you had not intended any disrespect to the Ambassador himself, still less to the august person he represented . . . but as it regarded the Prince of Orange I would not say one word except to the Ambassador of the King his father [Falck]. Canning to Bagot. Chiswick, fuly 27, 1827. [Private and confidential.) It would be impossible for anything to arrive more exactly in the nick of time than did your letter inclosing that which I return to you. 412 CANNING PRIME MINISTER [cH. xiv. I had been putting off and off the nomination of a Dean of Canterbury, with a longing desire to be enabled to name your brother Dick — which the King also wished ; but which I would not do, and which the King agreed with me in thinking that I was quite right not to do while there was any doubt of Lord B.'s disposition to support the Govt, and while his vote on the D. of W.'s amendment remained unexplained.* Another week, and I must have looked for a Dean in quite another direction. I need not tell you with how much pleasure I find myself in a condition (after showing your letter, &c., abt. him to the King) to write to Lord B. the letter of which I send you a copy. Enclosure. Chiswick, ICopy.'] {Private.) July 26, 1827. Dear Lord Bagot, A letter which I received from Charles, a few days ago, has enabled me to do, what I had been long wishing to do, had not the impediment, which that letter of Charles's has removed, stood in my way — to recommend to the King to appoint Richd. Bagot to the vacant Deanery of Canterbury. I have now the pleasure of announcing to you that His Majesty has been graciously pleased to determine upon that appointment. May I trouble you to announce it to your brother? * This letter is with reference to the appointment of the Rev. and Hon. Richard Bagot, D.D., afterwards Bishop of Oxford, to the Deanery of Canterliury, Lord Bagot having explained his vote on the Corn Laws to the satisfaction of the Prime Minister in a letter to Sir Charles, which the latter sent on to Canning. The above letter weis one of the last he ever wrote. On the 30th he wrote to the King that he was ' ill all over.' On August i his friends were told that his life was in danger, which was announced to the public on the 5th, three days before his death. 1 827] THE LAST LETTER 413 of whom I do not know whether he is at Windsor or in Staffordshire. I have the honour to be, &c. Geo. Canning. P.S. — Your brother will, of course, give up his Canonry of Windsor. I have no doubt that he would have understood this without any specified notice. But I have found it useful to be quite explicit upon such matters at the outset. On July 31 Sir Edward Disbrowe, Minister at St. Petersburg, wrote to Bagot, referring to their inter- change of cypher letters on the Prince of Orange in June. I am glad you received my explanatory letter at last and that it proved satisfactory. ... I received a long despatch regarding corn. . . . Canning seems to think me heir not only to the business left by Strangford but also to the rowings he used to deal out so very liberally to that noble peer. Then follows a good deal connected with the impor- tation of Russian corn, on which Disbrowe seems to have incurred Canning's disapproval, but to have written back to him with spirit. He goes on to say : Notwithstanding all which I think that the Law which the D. of Wellington unimproved would have done admirably well and that we should not have been overwhelmed with foreign corn. . . . Lord Hertford left this place in high dudgeon, the Court behaved very handsomely to him, but I think he has cause to be displeased with the conduct of those individuals to whom we had been civil in England, Benckendorf, etc. The zeal of the new broom has abated, and his l.M. is no longer quite so eager about finding out and remedying abuses — he still gives great attention to business. Nesselrode is quite as much a scribe as 414 CANNING PRIME MINISTER [CH. XIV. ever. I do not think the Greek Treaty has provided for everything. . . . Lord Dudley to Bagot Pakk Lane, August 2, 1827. My dear Bagot, Falck dined here yesterday, and, as he is a right- headed discreet person, I just mentioned the subject to him, but ' non-ojficiellement^ as I told him, ' et trcs non-officicllement' As I expected, he knew all that had passed, and saw it in its true point of view. He thinks it is all over, and that when the P. comes back at the beginning of winter he will behave more reason- ably. This, of course, entirely to yourself, as it is not to be suspected that a single word has passed betwixt F. and myself* I am very glad you are satisfied with the way in which I dealt with Lieven. Yours ever sincerely, Dudley. P.S. — We are going on pretty well, except indeed — and a formidable exception it is — what depends on C.'s health. About that I am far from easy — but of that ^negry quidetn.'\ Bagot to Lord Metros] {Binning). Brussels, August 7, 1827. My dear Binny, It has really not been idleness . . . which has made me ' fub you off,' and ' fub you off' (as Falstaff did Quickly) so long without answering your long and * On the subject of the Prince of Orange's behaviour to Foreign Ministers at the Court of the Netherlands. t ' Not a syllable': a quotation from Plautus, adapting tlie Greek phrase Ovdk ypv—noi a grunt. X Lord Binning was raised to the peerage as Lord Melros on July 24. i827] A VOTE EXPLAINED 415 mighty interesting letter by young Hope. By the bye, that young Hope is a very superior fellow. He is prodigiously instniit, without any pedantry or cox- combry, remarkably well bred, and very good looking. 11 ira loin, ce jeune monsieur, if he is not spoilt. Now for other matters. I had a letter from Huskisson written the day before he left London. He gave me a much better account of himself than I expected, talked solely as if he felt himself jaded and worn, and seemed to reckon quite confidently upon the effect of quiet and slow travelling. I wish I felt the same security about C, but I do not, and I can not. I have no worse accounts of him — au contraire, people say he is better — but when I hear folks describe his colour and broken appearance, when I see that he is no sooner out of one sort of an attack than he has another, and when I know not only the business that he will do, but also that which he mtist do, I own (but it is only to myself) that I have sad misgivings, and good God ! if anything does happen to him what a kettle of fish for all mankind ! He has done by my brother Dick, and in so doing by me, the kindest thing that ever Minister did by man, and that at a time and under circumstances when certainly we had but little pretension to look for it. Having had strong suspicions in my own mind that Bagot's corn vote was not in fact that declaration of general hostility to the Govt, which the Govt, had a very fair right to consider it, I set myself indirectly and very gingerly to work to find out how things really stood. To make my story short, about a fortnight ago I received a letter from B. himself saying that he heard that I voted him a roaring oppositionist in consequence of his corn vote ; that I was very wrong— that he meant no such thing ; that when Bathurst upon going out returned him his proxy, he had sent it back to him feeling that he could do no less ; that he never supposed him to be going 4X6 CANNING PRIME MINISTER [CH. xiv. into dingdong opposition to tlie ministers, and a fortiori not upon his own corn bill; that he certainly hated Whigs as he hated rattlesnakes ; but that with Canning to control he hoped that he should always be able to do what he certainly wished to do, support his Govt, &c., &c. Upon the receipt of this letter, I sent it off instantly to C, thinking that certainty even upon a single vote in the Lords was important to him. What was the result ? In two posts I had a letter from him saying that he had shown my and B.'s letter to the K., and that it had enabled him to do what he had been long wishing to do, but what under B.'s unexplained vote he would not and could not do— viz., give Dick the Deanery of Canterbury. Je vous dcmande whether there was ever anything more prompt, kind, or noble than this ? Dick and B. are, and I am sure I am, in the 17th heaven. Canning himself cannot know how great a benefit he has conferred, and I cannot tell you what joy it is to me to see B. running straight. I do not know how the Govt, is getting on with the Lords- something must be done; but the recess is more in their favour than in that of their opponents, and I trust that it is being well employed. I saw Sir H. Dalrymple for an hour or two in his way thro' here to Spa, and had a good deal of palaver with him. I thought him looking wretchedly ill, but he writes me word that the waters have done him good already. My wife is come back from London. She tells me that you called upon her \ a dozen times, and that she always missed you by some fault of her own, whereat she is vexed, as she wanted to jaw with you. . . . CHAPTER XV THE END Canning's last speech in the House of Commons, already alluded to, was made on June 22. One who heard it was Benjamin D'Israeli, who in after-years said : ' I can recall the lightning flash of that eye and the tumult of that ethereal brow. Still lingers in my ear the melody of that voice,'* In July his labours in the cause of the freedom of Greece bore fruit in the signing of the Treaty of London, and the preliminaries were settled of an agreement which ended in the abandonment of the slave-trade in Brazil. On the 30th he had his last audience of the King at Windsor, having a few days previously retired to Chiswick, at the invitation of the Duke of Devonshire. There, after a week of great suffering, he ended his career in the same room in which, twenty years before, Fox had died. Planta to Bagot. 6 o'clock p.m., Tuesday evening, August 7, 1827, {Private.) {Received 9 p.m., August 9.) Oh, my dear Sir Charles, what a dreadful calamity is this illness of poor Mr. Canning ! And we hardly dare have any hope at this moment. The latter part of last night it was supposed that all 7fmst be over, but still through the whole of this morning Mr. C. has sustained himself; the constitution has a little rallied, and now he is not worse than in the morning. Howard * Tempcrley's ' Life of Canning,' p. 236. VOL. II. 417 27 / 4l8 THE END [CH. XV. wrote to you yesterday, I know not whether he sends to you to-day, but I cannot resist letting you know all I do at this moment. I hope Lady Bagot has arrived back safe to you. Ever yours affectly., J. Planta. Howard de IValdcn to Bagot. August 8, ^ p. 8. {Received 9 p.m., August 9.) My dear Sir Charles, Mr. Canning still lives but it is all I can say. He has rallied a little, and is somewhat easier, which is the only comfort I have in my power to send you. Yours, &c., H. Howard dc Walden to Bagot. August 8, 1827, II p.m. {Received by estafcitc from Calais, {Most private.) August 9, i p.m.) I cannot bear the thoughts of letting you hear through any publick channel of the loss we are all sustaining at this moment — both ourselves and the world. By the time you get this all will be over. Mr. C. will have ceased to breathe. You as one of the best and most affectionately devoted of his friends will feel too well what we suffer. The attack has been most frightfully rapid ; on Thursday night the inflammation commenced in his side, affecting I believe both the lungs and the liver. The remedies to be used were too severe for a constitution so worn down by worry and anxiety — this I collect from an expression of one of the ph3''sicians. ' His enemies have succeeded in killing him at last' I have no time for more, as I must write to my poor father, who I expect to be on the road home in consequence of my first letter to Ld. i827] A STUNNING BLOW 4^9 Granville. It goes to my heart to be the channel of ( such misery and affliction, but I am sure you will thank me rather than entertain any other feeling. Planta to Bagot {Private.) August lo, 1827. My dear Bagot, What can 1 say except that our grief is almost beyond utterance, and that we are struck down to the dust by this dreadful and most unexpected blow! There was no chance for Mr. Canning's life. The disease was so acute, so dreadfully violent, that in less than one short week it overran his constitution (already impaired by all the difficulties and illnesses it had gone through), and with (I grieve to say) the most severe suffering terminated his existence. We cannot recover the stunning of this Blow. Poor Mrs. Canning is this day a little recovered, but her state has been most dreadful. You and Lady Bagot will, I know, feel for us all. Ever yrs. afftly., J. Planta. Howard de Walden to Bagot. 7 o'clock p.m., August 9. {Received August 11, 5 a.m., by special messenger from Calais.) I find, notwithstanding my wish, that Dudley never sent to you yesterday, and I have only today just time to send you the newspapers, which give you but too accurate and detailed an account in very many particulars of our beloved friend's death and sufferings. The only thing which I can now correct is that of having expressed a77y wish of any kind — or having been immediately sensible of his danger. Poor Mrs. C. was in a dreadful state all yesterday, but to-daj she is rather better, and Anne 27 — 2 420 THE END [CH. xv. Chiswick from St. James' Sq. comes to-night. Our anxiety is now centred in doing or trying to do any- thing in our power to testify respect and affection to a friend so beloved and whose loss we never shall cease 1 to feel till the last day of our lives. Howard de Walden to Bagot Foreign Office, {Most private.) August 17, 1827. You will have seen that there was no time for you to have come over for the melancholy duties of yesterday ; a sad, dreadful duty it was to go through. If anything is consoling it must be the universal sympathy which was shown by all classes. The King has behaved admirably. When Ld. Lansdowne went down to him as Home Secy, to announce Mr. C.'s death, he thanked him for his attention, said that at such a moment he could not enter into any questions of affairs, but that he had sent for Ld. Goderich and Sturgess Bourne, who were the individuals of the Cabinet most identified (Gch. publickly and St. B. privately) with Mr. C. All the members of the Govt, have behaved well ; there has not been a feeling of jealousy of any kind, and nothing but an anxiety to perpetuate Mr. C.'s principles and his name and influence in the Cabinet. The Presidency of the Council was pressed upon and accepted by the D. of Portland as the representative of Mr, C. Derby was urged to stay, and has con- sented; the Col. Office has been offered to Huskisson; the Che. of Exc. (if he accepts the Col.) will be offered to H. ; and Chas. Grant will have the Presdcy. of the Bd. of Tde., Huskn. the lead of course of the H. of C. My own conviction is that the Govt, will be very strong ; the country has shown so much feeling at the loss of Mr. C that the principles of the Govt, will 1827] ULTRA TORIES 42 1 be considered as almost sacred. The strength of the Ultras is pretty evident from no one newspaper having at this moment ventured to suggest the formula of an Ultra Govt. They have only the Clergy and their own bigoted selves. There will no longer exist that feeling of envious jealousy wKich made both the D. of W. and Ld. Grey the bitter enemies of Mr. C. and his Govt. ; there will then exist no longer that personal party feeling among the D.'s and Ld. G.'s friends to influence their votes. I think Dudley is disposed to act with energy. I wish when you write to him you would give him encouragement. He only wants con- fidence, and with that you will see that he will do very well. He is thoroughly English — highminded and takes great and masterlike views of subjects and measures — and has a feeling of pride in trying to maintain the situation which this office held when he inherited it from Mr. C. My father is gone down to Seaford to-day to prepare for my brother's election. Lord Granville wrote to Bagot from Paris on October 15 : Upon the painful subject to which you allude when you speak of what has happened within the last few months — on the private loss we have both sustained — our feelings are I know very much the same. The important complicated political events of the present day bring to my mind at every moment the irreparable public loss which the country has sustained. Metros to Bapot London, Thursday night, August 18, 1827. I found your letter here on my arrival on Tuesday night. It came fresh from 3'-our kind and good heart. It spoke its genuine feelings, and was 422 THE END [cH. XV. address'd to one who entered into them and shared them largely. It is indeed a hard and cruel blow, and levels one with the earth. As a private man, to lose a friend so lov'd and admir'd and honour'd is calamity enough ; but in this case, mix'd up with one's private feelings of affection and attachment, there were others scarcely less sacred — and the combination makes the bereave- ment cruel indeed. It seems to be a horrid dream rather than to be a reality — but, alas, it is but too real, and we shall long, long feel it to be so. I saw him laid in his grave to-day at the feet of his early friend and great master. A very few inches of brickwork divide the coffins. The spot is fortunate. He was the only fit and becoming representative of Pitt's talents and principles. I thought so in 1809, and should think so in 1899 were it possible for me to live as long. It is no small triumph to us, Charles, to find that hundreds of thousands have come round to our opinion, in spite of calumny, in spite of the malice generated by political hostility, and in spite (most powerful of all) of the natural hatred borne by Blockheads to transcendant Talent. But he is laid low, and it remains now for his friends only to endure the torture that the unappeas- able hostility of his enemies will inflict upon them by their attacks on his character and memory. He must endure, but we may repay, and we owe a large debt. There can be little doubt that this ungenerous warfare has contributed to place him where he now is. Disease had rendered him pain- fully susceptible, and then calumnies and falsehoods bore harder upon him in consequence of ph3'sical derangement. But enough of this. The King has behaved like a thoroughbred gentleman. I St. When Lord Lansdowne went to him to announce i827] THE KING'S ATTITUDE 423 the calamity, after thanking him, he said that he could say nothing to him then on public matters, as he had sent for Goderich and Sturges Bourne as being the two friends that his late Minister would naturally have wished him to consult. 2nd. He pressed high office (the choice of the Chan- cellorship of the Exchequer or the Colonial Office) on Bourne as his. Canning's, oldest friend in the Cabinet. 3rd. He wrote with his own hand an order to the Treasury to give the Commissionership of the Customs to Stapleton 'from respect for the memory of Canning.' 4th. He has declared his purpose of offering the vacant Bishoprick to Pett, because he was his friend and had been his tutor. Is not this an answer to his enemies ? Who can now dispute that he had the favour of his sovereign ? and which of his friends is there who can feel anything short of the warmest gratitude to the King for this beautiful behaviour? What a satisfaction it must be to you that you had got all right about Bagot in good time, and that one of his last acts had been the pro- motion of your brother Dick ! I enter enough into your feelings to rejoice heartily at it. Now enter a little into mine, for after all the beastly lies and atrocious language about his purpose to make peers, here sit I, who am the only one he has made, excepting always the Law peerages, which were of course matters of arrangement and not personal. Seaford is wonderfully well — but he will feel this blow to the last hour of his life. I feel myself doubly attached to him and Howard from this common calamity. I dined with him yesterday, and it will please you to know that I never heard one man speak with more warmth of affection of another than he did of you. My chief consolation is in his unvarying friends, and I hope that to the last hour of my exist- ence I shall continue united as I have been with the 424 THE END [CH. XV. friends of Canning. Political allegiance I now bear none, and never shall bear to any man. That is at an end, but I have some political feelings and principles left, and they will prompt me to support his friends and colleagues, and to fight in the last ditch against his enemies. I give you no account of the sad ceremony of today. The papers will do that, especially I suppose the Courier. The people behaved well, and the streets were crowded. There were seven hundred in the Abbey, besides those who formed the procession from Downing St. A strict line was drawn : colleagues, relations, physicians, secretaries, and some four or five intimate friends (nay, but three or four, Morley, Seaford, and myself, I think were also invited) were summoned to Downing St. Everything was done on the principle of a private funeral, and there was no musick in the church. God bless you, my dear Charles ; we have had hitherto more than one bond of union, more than one recollection that serves to unite us. We now have another; it is a sad one, but I think it will be lasting. Yrs. most aff'ectionately, Binning. P.S. — I trust that Mrs. C. is better. The day must have gone hard upon her. She had got into that state of quiet grief that usually attends persons so afflicted — had talked of her future plans, and was collected. Lady Clanricarde is well. His poor boy Carlo attended to-day. Lyttdton to Bagot. Hagley, September 3, 1827. . . . The loss of Canning at such a time as this, I certainly agree with you, and I believe with the very i827] LYTTELTON'S TESTIMONY 425 great majority of all men of any judgement and fairness, is a very serious one. You must know far better than I can how great and valuable was the influence of his name on the Continent. I take it to have been very great indeed. In a letter I saw the other day from a Whig (not Althorp) who was never partial to him, it was said that the writer believed him to have had greater weight abroad than any of our statesmen since Lord Chatham. I think so too. That is a loss irreparable for a good while at least. Your private loss I assure you I very sincerely sympa- thize in. His generous behaviour in his last days (I know the circumstances confidentially from Dick) to your family greatly enhances my opinion of him, and proves to me that these are finer points about him than I had imagined, or than most men possess. It has been a great pleasure to me to hear of them. Lord Scaford {Charles Ellis) to Bagot Dieppe, October 3, 1827. Your letter found me at Paris ... I have de- layed acknowledging it. . . . The first fearful alarm reached me at Paris, and though I set out within a very few hours after the receipt of Howard's letter, and reached London on the evening of the second day, I arrived only in time to learn that there was no hope, and in the course of the night to learn that the dreadful catastrophe had actually taken place. The blow was tremendously sudden ! But yet I know not what preparation would have essentially mitigated it. And it was perhaps a mercy to be spared the cruelly painful suspense of those five terrible days ! As to all interest in Politics for the future, it is with me as with you, and I can feel none — none at least except an anxiety that those who created the difficulties and the worries, which wore him out, might not have 426 THE END [CH. XV. the triumph of gratifying their spite, or succeeding in their speculations. This triumph they were very near obtaining previous to Huskisson's return. But his good judgement, firmness, and conciHation not only prevented the breaking up of the Government, but brought about such explanations between the K., Ld. Lansdowne, and Goderich and himself as ought to be the foundation of mutual confidence, and to afford a much better prospect of their acting cordially together than if no disagreement had taken place. If Huskisson's health does not fail, the Govt, zvill he sufficiently strong, and he will keep them all well together. He is the keystone of the whole. He is the person in whom the K., Goderich and Ld, Lansdowne and the Whigs all place confidence, and he may hold them all together. He is also the person whom C.'s friends consider as his representative, and he has explicitly declared to the K. that neither he nor any of C.'s friends would serve with or support a Govt, which should seek for an accession of strength from amongst C.'s enemies. The K. therefore knows that he has no alternative between his present Govt, and one entirely Ultra. That a mixture of any of the Ultra Tories with C.'s Friends is out of the question. I quite agree wn'th you as to Dudley. I found Howard very well pleased with him. I understand the Foreign Ministers in London to be equally so. . . . Before I quit the sub- ject of politics I must not omit to bear testimony to the King's consideration for any person connected with C, and the respect which he has studiously taken every opportunity of shewing to his memory. Nothing could be more kind than his letter to Mrs. C. offering her a peerage. In offering the Presidentship of the Council to the Duke of Portland he pressed him to accept it in order to give to the Govt, the character, as much as possible, of being still Canning's Govt, On the same principle it was that he first sent for Sturges i827] THE KIlSrG'S SYMPATHY 4^7 Bourne, together with Goderich, and afterwards con- sented to his being Chancellor of the Exchequer instead of Herries (for refusing which, by the bye, Sturges was quite inexcusable) ; and when Huskisson declared that he could never serve with any of the Ultra Tories on account of their conduct towards C, he professed entirely to sympathize in the same feeling with respect to them. But now enough of politics. I knew of your offer of India at the time. But of your refusal and the grounds generally — by what process precisely you came to your conclusion, he did not explain to me. It is not the conclusion which I should have expected. But I have no doubt you judged wisely. ... I shall return again to Paris . . . unless Huskisson should on any occasion think my personal attendance of conse- quence . . . otherwise there are no doors I feel a greater dislike to enter than those of Parliament. My dear Charles, most affectly. yours, Seaford. Bagot to Mclros. The Hague, Christmas Day, 1827. My dear Binning, . . . For the last ten days I have been flustered and perplexed by this sad and incomprehensible maggot about resigning that Robinson had got into his head. I now know that he remains— but that does not put us in statu quo. Such a manifestation of white feather and weakness a month before the meeting of Parlia- ment and at a most critical moment of public difficulties is not remedied by a bit of ginger, and the administra- tion is all the weaker for Goderich ever having uttered the word resign. I am doubly sorry for it on Goderich's own account, for I like him, and am vexed that he should have done such an injury to his public reputa- 42^ THE END [cH. XV. tion as to show want of pluck — pour toucher le mot. I suppose that ^''ou will be at the meeting — you will have stormy work — but I think that if the first two or three battles are won the Government is safe enough. At this moment that I write we have not heard any- thing official or positive from Constantinople later than the 25th ; but / think that things will do in that quarter, and if so, the best staff in the hands of Opposition is broken. How stand matters in jvoz^r House? I suppose that is what nobody can yet say with any certainty ; en attendant, I see that a batch of peers is to be made, but I hardly know who they are to be — I wish some- body would tell me whether Lord Hertford and the D. of Northld. are with or against the Govt. Recollect that if there is the spark of a gentleman left in you you are pledged body and soul to come and pay me a visit here in the spring. The whole country expects you. I have told every burgomaster that you are coming, and I will certainly not let you off. Easter par example — why not come at Easter? Instead of gostering for the holidays to Caen Wood to play at genteel with those cocktailed Mansfields, why not step me into a steamer at the Tower and dine with me the next day at the Hague, and see what you never seed before ? Do be sensible for once in your life. When you write to me (and I will trouble you to do so immediately) answer me these questions. How is Huskisson ? How is your father? Where is Charles Ellis ? Tell me too whatever you know about Mrs. Canning — How she is — and where she is — and where she means to fix herself ? I hear that the Duchess of Portland is in a very bad way. Do you know whether anything is decided yet about poor C.'s monument ? I am very anxious that whatever is done on that subject should be done in the best possible taste — something i827] HUSKISSON'S POSITION 429 exquisitely choice and et? aeL Is this likely to happen, I or have we to have a lumbering block of white marble carved into clumsy riddles by some Westmacott, and then thrust into a dark corner to be forgotten ? Look to it, my dear Binny. By my troth, I have filled three sheets of paper, which is more than I thought I could when I started. Go thou and do likewise. Ever thine, Binny, most affectionately, C B. Bagot to Metros. The Hague, January 28, 1828. . . . And now to the other roVot of your letter, which was, I assure you, much more valuable to me than you seem to apprehend, for, with the exception of George Villiers, who is what old Brantome calls * un homme de par le monde,' and who has most good naturedly kept me informed of all he knew, nobody has written to me upon the subject of all the changes that have been taking place, Planta was perhaps not oil fait oi things. Howard may have felt that he hardly knew what to write to me, and I promise you that the Duke has not given any of his own family the means of telling any thing. If I had set myself the task of describing my own feelings and stating my own opinions upon all that has passed, I declare to you, Binny, that I could not have done it more faithfully than I find it done to my hand in your letter. I adhere to every syllable of what you say, and in some con- firmation that our opinions of feelings are right. I cannot help telling you that by the same post which brought me your letter I received one from another and a very fair and impartial quarter which reasoned the whole of Huskisson's course almost word for word as you have done, and came at last to the same con- clusion that, in the very difficult situation in which he 430 THE END [CH. XV. was placed, and which made it morally impossible for him to take any course which should exempt him from clamour and very angry criticism on some side or other, he came, all things balanced and considered, to the best and safest determination as regarded, what I take for granted was his first object, the probability of carrying into effect the principles of Canning's govern- ment. It can hardly be supposed that if the D. of Wellington had unwisely resolved to make a purely ultra administration it would by any possibility have stood six months against the reconsolidated Whig opposition strengthened by Canning's friends in Par- liament, and all the approvers of his policy out of doors. The result then would have been the forcible unconditional irruption of the Whigs and Canningites together into the Govt. Now if this is true, and it is at least highly probable, the question which Huskisson had to resolve with himself was this. Is it best for the establishment of purely Canning principles that I should wait for this opportunity and then see them carried into effect, as they certainly would be — but as a part of Whig rather than Canning policy, and con- founded and mixt up with other principles which a Whig would be bound to carry into effect, but to which Canning, had he lived, never would and never could have assented — or should I, when the choice is given me, propagate these principles from a Tory (rather than a Whig, but not an Ultra Tory) Cabinet in which they will evidently emanate from myself, from which they will be received with less suspicion by the country, and in which I can separate and dis- tinguish them from all the other Whig doctrines to which neither I nor Canning could ever give willingly our consent ? Yes, it may be and most certainly will be said. All that is very true in cold prudential reason- ing; but the Whigs came to Canning's assistance when everybody else basely deserted him — they came i828] WHAT HE WOULD HAVE WISHED 431 fairly and loyally — they made no extravagant or embarrassing demands — and they worked cordially and sincerely with him against the wishes and opinions of many and not inconsiderable members of their own party; whilst on the other hand Canning's own col- leagues not only left him, but heaped, or at least suffered to be heaped, every calumny upon him that could be devised, and at last hunted him to his grave. Granted — every word of it and more if required — but this would be deciding the question by feeling rather than by reason ; and I think that if the voice of poor Canning could be heard from the tomb it would say, Never mind the injuries that I have suffered — give the best effect you can to my doctrines ; I wished and endeavoured to establish them by a Cabinet composed of those with whom I had always acted: they deserted and ill treated me and I was driven to seek assistance in another camp, but, if there is an absolutely free choice, I should certainly prefer that my policy should be grafted upon what remains of Pitt's school, than that it should be appropriated by and absorbed in the general and sweeping doctrines of the school of the Whigs. It was, I am sure, in the nature of poor Canning's large soul to have answered thus if he could have been consulted ; and if Huskisson has what he considers a full assurance of the sincerity of those who have invited him to act with them, and has also, as I think he has, that fair share in the Government which secures to him his one proportion of influence, he can- not be reasonably blamed for the line which he has taken. Blamed he will be, and by many sides, but hardly I think by those who have fairly weighed the unprecedented difficulty of his situation, and all the conflicting considerations which he had to reconcile to the best of his ability. I hear that Mrs. Canning has written a reproachful letter to him. Every allowance in the world is, God knows, due to her feelings, and in 432 THE END [cH. XV. such a case one had rather see her feehngs than her reason govern. She never ought to forgive the Ultras, and she is bound in gratitude to the Whigs. Personally the case is pretty much the same with all Canning's private friends ; but politically we are not Whigs — we never were : neither was he. I am sorry, very sorry, for the Whigs who are gone out, for certainly no men in the world ever behaved more loyally than they did. I think the composition of the Government faulty, and greatly so, in many respects ; but I suppose that one must allow that the Duke was forced to run up a Government of any sort in a moment, as the Parliament was at his heels, and that changes and weedings will in time take place. The appointment of Lord Aberdeen was at least a washy measure — while that of Lord Ellenbro' was mischievous and disgusting in the highest degree. The only possible effect of putting such a man as that into any Government must be to provoke indignation and invite ridicule. I do not believe that the man has a friend in the whole world, much less weight or following — and the mere circum- stance of his being an aboyeur in the opposition is no sort of proof that he will be a useful speaker from a Treasury bench. I shall be curious to see how he gets out of the Navarino affair, against which he had pre- pared so furious an attack. I do not much suspect that the Opposition will be very formidable — at least in this session. It is much more likely to be composed of Lord Eldon and Lord Westmorland, who are I understand outrageous, than of the Whigs. If Lamb and Scarlett remain it will give great strength and a very good complexion to the administration. How is Dudley? Is he gay and contented in all this turmoil, or does it worry and harrass him ? I am exceedingly glad indeed that he retains his post at the F. O. ; the papers had once a rumour that Sir Charles Stuart ! was to be Secretary for F. Affairs. Figure my dismay i828] MR. HUSKISSON 433 — but I would not have stood it for 24 hours. I do not understand theGrenvilles. What was their reason for going out ? But I have filled three sheets of paper with my lucubrations, and that is too much, for after all, my dear Binning, with what diminished interest do we now deal with politics ! Let me know in your next where C. Ellis is — 1 do not know whether he is in London or Paris. I hear a report that the Lievens are going away. Is this so ? I hope Bootle's peerage was a compliment to Canning.* God bless you. Pray — pray write again. Hon. George Villi ers] to Bagot. Customs, February 19, 1828. I think you'll be satisfied with last night's debate, cher Chevalier. There was much of Huskisson's con- duct which doubtless required explanation, and his statement last night has in my opinion done the needful. The Whigs and high Tories, who both hate him from the lowest pits of their diaphragms, swear his speech was a miserable failure and quite full of lies, but if I mistake not the unprejudiced part of the community will consider him fully borne out in his Liverpool speech, and the tone he last night adopted concerning his future conduct was manly and uncompromising. How his speech will be viewed by his colleagues I have as yet had no opportunity of learning, but yester- day morning he had not the smallest resigning notion, and he and the Duke of W. are upon the best possible terms together. Do. Dudley. Herries's refutation of every attack and even insinua- tion was, I assure you, quite triumphant. He has been * ICdward Bootlc Wilhraham, created Lord Skelsmersdale. t Afterwards fourth Klarl of Clarendon, K.G., and Foreign Minister. VOL. H. 28 434 THE END [CH. xv. the victim of much unjust calumny. He has relied upon his own integrit}^ and not refuted the attacks ; and having few friends, he has usually been without advocate in society. Calumny has therefore had its full swing, and he came to the post last night under great disadvantage. The very favorable impression then which he made in all parts of the house is an additional proof of the goodness of his case. He had been bitterly hurt by Goderich's speech, who had wanted to throw upon him and his difference with Huskisson the whole odium of breaking up the Government ; entirely omitting all the real causes of disunion and dissolution which existed in the Govern- ment. To be sure Herries did repay him with interest last night and removed any doubt that might have existed upon said Goderich's fitness for his office. People seem getting satisfied I think, and with a little good management and good conduct I've no reason against its all lasting. There is still much angry painful feeling on the part of Mr. C.'s friends against those that have joined the Government, and some disagreeable scenes take place both in public and private. George Bentinck, who is ultra violent, had a great scene two days ago with Lord Seaford, at dinner at Warrender's. Lady Canning is very archarnee indeed, and foments all these feelings sadly. Do not mention it from me if you don't know it already, but Stapleton (Mr. C.'s P. Secretary) is arranging all Mr. C.'s papers both of his former and late adminis- tration, and will add some Memoirs, under the super- intendance of Lady C. and Huskisson. I mention this particularly as it occurs to me that, with your official relations with Mr. C. when he was formerly at the F.O., you might perhaps like to furnish Stapleton with any facts not likely to be in the archives of the Office, or to ask him any questions as to the matter he is about to give to the world. If this should be the case, pray i828] LADY CANNING 435 make any use .you please of me, as I am in the daily habit of seeing him. Howard de Waldcn to Bagot. Foreign Office, February 23, 1828. ... I quite agree with you about Ellenbro',* and as for Herries,t he is done for ; and I have reason to believe 'that the Fieh -Marshal at the head of the Treasury already repe/ts having had anything to say to either of these gentle nen. Peel has behaved very handsomely, and I feel con- ( fidence in his real disposition to act cordially with Huskisson. If they act together, the D. cannot do anything by himself. 1 The most painful circumstance attending the present state of things is Lady Canning ! Active, bitter and personal hostility against Huskisson, coupled with the resentment which she feels and expresses towards him and all friends of Pvlr. Canning who have joined the Government. She has got hold of Clanricarde, and Lord George Bentinck (who always was in heart a Whig, and whose principles and whose extreme ex- citability on all questions in which he takes an interest made him an easy disciple to be worked upon), to commit all sorts of follies and violence in breach of private confidence and of these feelings of honour which ought to exist as to what passes in private society. In explanation of the above letters, it may be stated that Mr. Huskisson had accepted the office of Colonial Secretary under Lord Goderich, who had succeeded Canning as Prime Minister. In January, 1828, Huskisson, who had pressed the * Edward Law, second Lord Ellenborough, who had been Privy Seal, was promoted to President of the Board of Control, t Right Hon. J. Herries, Master of the Mint, etc. 28—2 43^ THE END [CH. XV. appointment of Lord Althorp to a Finance Committee in the place of Herries, Chancellor of the Exchequer, threatened to resign. Herries did the same. Goderich, overcome by the difficulty, solved it by resigning himself. The Duke of Wellington then took command as First Lord of the Treasury. Later in the year Huskisson resigned, and was followed by all the * Canningites ' in the Government. Rt. Hon. W. Huskisson, M.P., to Bagot. Downing Street, February 19, 1828. . . . Our friend Binning has communicated to me your letter to him, from the contents of which I have derived real satisfaction. You have taken a just measure of the great difficulties and conflicting feel- ings of private and public duties under which I have laboured almost without a friend at hand to advise with, during the late storm. Better judgment than mine might have been excused for erring under such circumstances, but I hope it will appear, when the passions and disappointments of the moment shall be allayed, that I have done nothing which can justly deprive me of the esteem of my private friends or lower my character as a public man. My only wonder is that I should be alive. I must have more stamina than the physicians were willing to give me credit for or they certainly would not have endured till now, under the incessant worry and fatigue of watching and missing the ricketty Goderich bantling, during four months, and the rude trials with which I have been rewarded since its demise. I trust that I shall now be allowed to look a little after the business of my own department . . . and that personal squabbles will be at an end. The Duke must contrive to muzzle one or two of i828] CONTINENTAL OPINION 437 his own friends (particularly Ellenborough), and then we may hope to go on smoothly. I have told him that this is necessary, and I think he will do it. . . . Lady Canning — for the King had at once conferred upon her a peerage — undoubtedly felt strongly the fact of an old friend and constant supporter associating himself in office with those who had been among her husband's bitterest opponents. On some of the proposed rearrangements in the Ministry, she expressed herself with little restraint. After this lapse of time all will agree with the opinion expressed in a preceding letter, that ' in such a case one would rather have seen her feelings than her reason govern.' The news of the Prime Minister's death had pro- duced an immense sensation, not only in his own country, but throughout Europe, where his name stood for freedom and all that was liberal in the true sense of the word. In France a medal was struck in his memory with the inscription, ^A George Canning toute la nation franfaise.^ Even Metternich was not wanting in praise of the man who had thwarted his dearest schemes. As will have been seen, a lifelong opponent in the Whig party had written after his death, ' You must know how great was the influence of his name on the Continent — I take it to have been very great indeed.' Not on the Continent alone, but in newly inde- pendent States across the Atlantic, was it possibly so great as to put in the shade the feelings of his fellow- countrymen at their loss. In spite of the Allied Powers, his determination to consider the interests of his own country first, or, as he put it, 'for Europe to read England,' had achieved a result in accordance with his eafly ambition. It might be difficult to find another statesman of whom it could be said that the general principles of his political views, written, as we have seen, at the age of twenty-two, should be such as he could con- scientiously have rewritten five-and-thirty years later as Prime Minister. 438 THE END [CH. XV. If George Canning had his faults, they were very human ; if by speech or impulsive action he made enemies, he had the compensation of a blameless private life and the entire devotion of his personal friends. In early days, after the death of his great master. Canning had declared that his political allegiance had been buried in the grave of Pitt. An echo of those words can be heard in two or three of the last letters passing between his intimate friends, for they clearly indicate that political life was, for those friends, robbed of much of its interest now that their Chief was no longer at the helm. Vale! HeU ! QUAM MINUS EST RELIQUIS VERSARI QUAM TUI MEMIXISSE. INDEX Abbot, Charles, afterwards Earl of Colchester, Speaker, i. 400 n. ; resignafion, ii. i, 45, 50 Abbott, Sir Charles, afterwards Baron Tenterden, Chief Justice, ii. 53 Aberdeen, fourth Earl of. Foreign Secretary, ii. 161 n. A' Court, Sir W., afterwards Baron Heytesbury, Ambassador at Lis- bon, ii. 146. 201 ; despatches on South American question, ii. 237, 238, 241, 276 Adair, Sir Robert, i. 142, 143 Adams, John Quincey, Secretary of State, and afterwards Presi- dent of United States of America, ii. 126; American boundaries, ii. 162, 164, 271, 362 Addington, Henry, afterwards first Viscount Sidmouth, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime Minister, i. 126, 139, 175, 180, 188, 190-195, 204, 217 n. ; resignation, i. 211, 217; Home Secretary, ii. 37t 38, 49; 'hop bolster,' ii. 66 n. ; resignation, ii. 121 ; and Canning, ii. 155 Addington, Hiley N., ii. 216 Additional Forces Act, i. 230 Adlerberg, Count, Swedish Minister in London, Due de Berri's cor- respondence, i. 244, 255 Adolphus, Gustavus. See Sweden, King of Agnew, Sir Andrew, i. 64 Ainslie, Sir Robert, i. no Alexander I. See Russia, Emperor of Algiers, the Dey of, i. 299 Alliance, the Holy. See Holy Alliance Alopeus, David, Russian Envoy to Sweden, i. 285 n. , 302 n. Althorp, Viscount, ii. 398, 436 Alvanley, Baron. See Arden, R. P., and William America : Spanish South American Colonies, i. 264, ii. 126, 162, 163, 206, 207, 216-219, 222, 274; North- West Coast settlements, ii. 126, 160, 161 n. , 162, 232 n. ; Treaty of Ghent ends the war with Great Britain, ii. 3, 162 ; Bagot's letters from Washington on re- sult of the war and the future of the States, 15, 16, 20-24 ; the Monroe Doctrine, ii. 206, 207, 216-219; negotiations with Great Britain on slave trade and other questions, ii. 271, 272 ; Hughes on, ii. 296-301 Amherst, first Earl, i, 122, ii. 11, 15 Amiens, Treaty of, i. 189 n. Anderson, John, the letter for Prince Czartoryski, ii. 108-110 Andover, Viscountess, i. 4, 60, 185, igo ; death of, i. 130 Anduaga, chevalier, ii. 162 Angerstein, John Julius, death, ii. 159 Anglesea, first Marquess of, ii. 30; and the King, ii. 100, 102 ; and Bagot, ii. 385, 396 Angouleme, Due d', i. 247 ; entry into Madrid, ii. 184, 201 Annual Register, i. 247 n., 287 n., 323 n- Anti-Jacobin, i. 3, 12, 20, 51 n., 54, 70; the ' Poissardes,' i. 117 n. ; Canning's lines, i. 129; history of the, i. 135-152, 289 n. ; ' Loves of the Triangles,' i. 171 439 440 INDEX Antraigues, Comte d', i. 302 Apodaca, Admiral Don Juan de, Spanish Ambassador in England, i. 264, 266, 314 n., 318, 350 Arbuthnot, Right Hon. Charles, i. 5, 6; and Main-a-Duc, i. 8, 9 ; a practical joke, i. 72 ; on Turkey, i. 299; and Bagot, i. 352 ; Secretary to the Treasury, i. 362 Arden, Richard Pepper, afterwards first Baron Alvanley, Chief Jus- tice, i. 128, 344 Arden, William, second Baron Alvanley, ii. 13, 19 Aremberg, Due d', ii. 365 Argus, The, i. ^^ Argyll, Duke of, ii. 170, 396 Armfelt, Baron de, i. 302 Artois, Comte d', i. 247 Aspern, Battle of, i. 311 n. Asturias, the Spanish province's demands, i. 269 n. Auckland, first Lord, i. 65 Aust, Thomas, Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, i. 50 Austerlitz, Battle of, i. 229 Austria: war with France, i. 145, 169 n., 311 n. ; Treaty of Vienna, i. 322 ; the Holy Alliance, ii. 117, 119, 120; Czernovitz meeting, ii. 229 ; proposed Spanish Con- ference, ii. 241 ; opposition to Canning, ii. 401 Avarey, Comte d', i. 247, 251 Bagot, Right Hon. Sir Charles, i. 3 ; correspondence and friend- ship with Canning, i. 4, 5 ; Min- ister at Washington, i. 55; and Lord G. Leveson, i. 130 n. ; his career, i. 234-237 ; special mission to Vienna, i. 236 n. , 237 n. ; Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, i. 238-244 ; Wellesley Pole on the appointment, i. 23S ; Canning on Louis XVIH.'s ar- rival, i. 249-252 ; Sir John Moore, i. 254 ; Rev. W. Leigh's illness and death, i. 256, 257, 259, 260, 262, 263; Sir J. Dyer, i. 261; Souza's cavalry letter, i. 261 ; General Miranda, i. 265; Asturian demands, i. 269 ; Mr. Pierrepont and the Swedish Mission, i. 270 ; Convention of Cintra, i. 274 ; Lord Castlereagh, i. 275 ; de- spatches, i. 276 ; Portuguese pro- clamation, i. 277 ; mission to the Baltic, i. 279-281 ; Swedish Con- vention, i. 282-289 ; Sir Arthur Wellesley, i. 290, 319 ; army com- missariat, i. 291-294, 298 ; and Sir Walter Scott, i. 294 ; Merry's despatches, i. 296, 298, 301 ; Tur- key, i. 299 ; Snrveillante stopped, i. 300 ; King of Sweden's resi- dence in England, i. 304, 305 ; Colonel Bayley, i. 306 n. ; Lord Wellesley, i. 308, 351, 356-363; Lord Castlereagh 's removal, i. 309 n. ; Heligoland affairs, i. 310, 311 ; sinecure salaries, i. 312 ; Mediterranean convoy, i. 312 ; Peter Finnerty, i. 315 n. ; Villiers' resignation, i. 317; and the Dean of Christ Church, i. 319, 320 ; Henry Wellesley and Lisbon, i. 320; Canning's duel, i. 322- 347 ; household appointments, i. 365-369 ; the King's illness and Regency restrictions, i. 371-380 ; at Tixall, i. 382 n. ; rumours about Canning, i. 399 ; and Lyttelton, ii. 2 ; Duke of Wel- lington, ii. 2 ; Privy Councillor and Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States, ii. 3 ; con- gratulations on the appointment, ii. 3-10; and Lord Binning, ii. 10-12 ; on Castlereagh and Can- ning, ii. 17-20 ; Washington after the war, and the future oi the States, ii. 20-24 - ^^^ Bush Wash- ington, ii. 25 ; American society, ii. 25, 26 ; the Oxford election, ii. 26-28 ; and Planta, ii. 28 ; Duke of Wellington's arrival, ii. 29 ; dinner to Canning, ii. 33 ; dangers of writing home, ii. 34, 35 ; riots in England, ii. 37 ; Americans in England, ii. 39 ; Mr. Monroe, ii. 40; Canning and Peel, ii. 44-47; and Sneyd, ii. 47-49 ; a new Speaker, ii. 50 ; Canning's defence, ii. 50-57 ; Re- gency days, ii. 58-60 ; Paris after the war, ii. 61 ; attempt on Duke of Wellington's life in Paris, ii. 66-75 ; on American affairs, ii. 70-79; Canning's private con- cerns, ii. 81-84 ; on Lord Bin- ning's election, ii. 85-87 ; and the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, ii. 89, go ; returns home, ii. 91-93 ; Ambassador at St. Petersburg ii. 94 ; and his successor, ii. 95, 96; the Queen's trial, ii. 96-101, INDEX 441 105-107 ; the Troppau Congress, ii. 102, 103 ; Czartoryski's letter, ii. 108- 1 10; writes from St. Peters- burg, ii. 111-113, 115 ; news from Lyttelton, ii. 113-115; John Bull, ii. 115 ; Sir Robert Gordon, ii. 120 ; the Grenvilles, ii. 122 ; Russia and Turkey, ii. 123 ; Canning and India, ii. 124, 125 ; boundaries on north-west coast of America, ii. 126, 161-166 ; on affairs in England, ii. 126-130 ; Lord Londonderry's death, ii. 131-133 ; Canning Foreign Secre- tary, ii. 133-139; Russia and Spain, ii. 141-148, 172, 177-igo, 238-240 ; ' Every nation for itself, ' ii. 153 ; on Lord Binning's ap- pointment, ii. 157 ; ' Canning marching nobly,' ii. 159 ; Can- ning's speech, ii. 167-169, 174- 176 ; and Lord Strangford, ii. 190; Lord Maryborough's ap- pointment, ii. 192-194; a Black Republic, ii. 195 ; Russia and Turkey, ii. 196-200, 243 ; Lord Granville's appointment, ii. 201 ; interview with Alexander I., ii. 202-204 '• the Monroe Doctrine, ii. 207-210 ; Russian diplomacy, ii. 211-221, 259; the Embassy at The Hague, ii. 223-227; secrecy at Czernovitz, ii. 227, 228 ; Tur- key and Greece, ii. 229, 230; Sir Alexander Malet, ii. 231-233 ; publication of a Secret Memor- andum, ii. 234, 235, 245 ; attends Conference at St. Petersburg without orders, ii. 242, 259-270; Portugal, ii. 246-249, 25G-258 ; Ambassador to the Netherlands, ii. 270 ; and Stratford Canning, ii. 271 ; death of his eldest daughter, ii. 272 ; independence of Spanish American Colonies recognized, ii. 275-277; Roman Catholic debate, ii. 278-284 ; Queen Christine, ii. 284 ; and the King of the Netherlands, ii. 290, 291 ; Falck cantankerous, ii. 293- 296 ; Hughes on America, ii. 296- 300 ; on M. de Verstolk, ii. 301, 302 ; on Nicholas and Constan- tine, ii. 302-304 ; affairs in Russia, ii. 304, 315-317; Lord Ponsonby, "• 305-311 ; the rhyming despatch, ii. 317-325 ; Russia and The Hague, ii. 326-357 ; Canning's ascendancy, ii. 361 ; Corn Laws, ii. 363 ; and the Prince of Orange, a diplomatic quarrel, ii. 363-370, 411; on Lord Liverpool's suc- cessor, ii. 370-375, 380, 382, 383 ; Roman Catholic question, ii. 375- 380 ; Canning forms a Govern- ment, ii. 384-416; a lost Garter, 'i- 397 '• offer and withdrawal of India, ii. 404, 405 ; Lord Bagot's vote against Canning, ii. 405, 412, 414-416; Canning's illness and death, ii. 417-427 ; on Lord Goderich, ii. 427 ; on Huskisson's position, ii. 428, 429, 433, 436; Canning's wishes, ii. 430-432 Bagot, Emily, afterwards Countess of Winchilsea, i. 313 n., 338 n. Bagot, second Baron, i. 55; his vote against the Government, ii. 405, 412, 415, 416 Bagot, the Hon. the Rev. Richard, afterwards Bishop of Oxford, i. 4, 55, 235 ; at Tixall. i. 382 n., 405 ; the Duke of Wellington and the King of France, ii. 391, 392; Dean of Canterbury, ii. 412 n. , 416 Bagot, Sir William, ii. 234 Bankes, John, i. 400 Baring, Alexander, afterwards Lord Ashburton, ii. 61 Baring, Henry, ii. 286 Barker, Mr. , i. 28 Barrow, Sir John, Secretary to the Admiralty, i. 260, ii. 157 Bathurst, Mr. Bragge, i. 2:7, ii. 155 Bathurst, third Earl, i. 324, ii. 132 ; Lord Bagot's proxy, ii. 405 Batson, S. , ii. 48 Battier, Lieutenant, duel with third Lord Londonderry, i. 10 n. Bay ley, Colonel, i. 299, 306 n. Bayley, Sir Daniel, Consul at St. Petersburg, ii. 307 n., 312, 333 Beaufort, Duke of, i. 341 Beauharnais, Josephine, marriage to Napoleon Bonaparte, i. 135 Behring's Strait, ii. 161 n., 266 Belgium and Holland, ii. 223 n. ; fortresses, ii. 349 Belgrave, Viscount, i. 190 Bell, Robert, Life of Canning, i. 221 n. Bencoolen ceded to the Dutch, ii. 295 Benigsen, General, Treaty of Tilsit, i. 232 442 ind£x Bennet, Hon. H. Grey, ii. 128 Bentinck, Lord William, Governor- General of Madras, i. 353, ii. 135 Benton, Colonel, American boun- daries, ii. 160, 161 n. Beresford, Lord John, afterwards Archbishop of Armagh, i. 21, 22 Beresford, General, afterwards Lord, at Lisbon, i. 293, 307 Bernsdorff, Count, ii. 174 Berri, Due de, nephew of Louis XVIIL, i. 247, ii. 12 Berriedale, Lord, afterwards twelfth Earl of Caithness, i. 21 Bexley, first Baron, ii. 387 Bidwell, Thomas, Chief Clerk at the Foreign Office, i. 312 Binning, Lord, afterwards Lord Melros and ninth Earl of Had- dington, i. 376, 396; and Charles y Bagot, ii. 10, 15-20, 45, 157, 370- 373, 384-386, 395, 414-416, 427- 433 ; Roman Catholic Bill, ii. 280-284, 375' 377-3S1; 'foolish lords,' ii. 382; on Canning's health, ii, 406-410 ; on Canning's death, ii. 421-424 Bloomfield, Lieutenant -General, afterwards Lord, private secretary to George IV. when Regent, ii. 286, 328 Blucher, General, i. 275, ii. 3 Bolton, Colonel John, and Sir John Gladstone, i. 393, 394; Canning's visit to, ii. 287 Bonaparte. See Napoleon Bonaparte, Jerome, ii. 300 n. Bonaparte, Joseph, ii. 284 n. Borghese, Pauline, Napoleon's sis- ter, ii. 41 n., 62 ; and the Duke of Wellington, ii. 63, 64 Borgo, Pozzo di, Russian Ambas- sador at Paris, ii. 183, 240, 257 Boringdon, Viscount (and first Earl of Morley). i. 13 ; parody on a fall out hunting, i. 14-16; practical *" joke on, i. 70-116; and Lady Malmesbury, i. 122, 297; and Canning, i. 395, ii. 129, 130, 155 Bourne, Sturgess, ii. 407; Canning's death, ii. 420, 423, 427 Boyer, General Jean, President of Hayti, ii. 195, 196 Brazil Revolution, ii. 307-311 ; slave trade abandoned, ii. 417 Breeches, Ode to a Pair of, i. 20 Bridgman, Orlando, ii. 89 Brinkman, M. de, Swedish Minister in London, i. 283-285, 301 Bristol, fourth Earl, i. 202 Brougham, Henry, afterwards first Lord Brougham and Vaux, i. 386 ; reduction of salary speech, ii. 14, 19 ; and Lambton, ii. 53 ; attacks on the Lowthers, ii. 69 ; style of speaking, ii, 95, 158; 'Three Gentlemen of Verona,' ii. 117; attack on Canning, ii. 166, 167 ; Count Palmella, ii. 188; attack on the Spanish policy, ii. 205 ; and Lord Liverpool, ii. 281 ; and Tom Raikes, ii. 374 Brummel, Beau, ii. ig Buckhounds, the mastership of the, ii. 193 Buckingham, second Marquess and first Duke of, Governor-General of Bengal, ii. 52,113, 121, 136 n., 168 Buckingham, Duke of, Memoirs of the Regency, i. 399 n. Buckinghamshire, fourth Earl of, President of the Board of Con- trol, death, ii. 13, 15 Bullion Committee, i. 371 n. Bulwer, Sir Henry, Historical Char- acters, i. 221 n. ; Essay on Can- ning, I. 229 n. Burdett, Sir Francis : his defence of J. G. Jones, i. 350 ; Canning and Prince Regent, ii. 44 ; Canning's challenge, ii. 80; and James Perry, ii. 92 ; Roman Catholic Relief Bill, ii. 279, 281, 375 n. Burrard, Sir Harry, Swedish ex- pedition, i. 254 n., 272; Con- vention of Cintra, i. 286 Busby, Dr., Headmaster of West- minster School, ii. 313 Byron, Lord, Beppo, ii. 79, 141, 188 ; favours Greek emancipation, ii. 230 ; death, ii. 243 Calhoun, John C, Vice-President of the United States, ii. 164 Cambridge, first Duke of, ii. 385 Camden, Earl, President of the Council, i. 325 ; Canning's duel, i. 339 n., 340, 348; and Canning, i. 363 Camellord, second Baron, killed in a duel, ii. 15 n. Campbell, Alexander, Pleasures of Hope, i. 129 Canada, north-west coast boundary question, ii. 126, 160, 161 n., 162, 232 n. INDEX 443 Canning, Charles, afterwards Earl, Governor-General of India, i. 209 n. Canning, George, the elder, i. 16; death, i. 17, 20 Canning, Mrs., wife of the above, her life, i. 17 Canning, George (1770- 1827), after- wards Right Hon. : his power of writing, i. i ; his early life, i. 2, 16-19 ; his correspondents, i. 3-5 ; his poems, i. 3, 20-24, 69, 71, 116, 129, 133, 144, 162, 165, 186, 195, 408-423 ; his contemporaries, i. 4- 15, 22 ; The Microcosm, i. 11, 152 ; his children, i. 209 n., ii. 83, 398. 1783-1787 : Eton College, i. 18, 19. 1787-1791 : Christ Church, Ox- ford, i. 18, 19; takes his B.A. degree and reads for the law, i. 25 ; letters to Sneyd, i. 25-29; on the alarming state of the country, '• 29-39 ; and the Dean of Christ Church, i. 39 n. ; possible war with France, i. 39-41 ; violent debate in the House of Commons, i. 41. 1793 : Returned to Parlia- ment for Newtown under Pitt s auspices, i. 42-4S ; an epigram, i. 48 ; and Charles Arbuthnot, i. 49. 1794 : His maiden speech, i. 43. 1795 : Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, i. 50, 53 ; visit to Lady Sutherland, i. 50 ; bread riots in London, i. 51, 52 ; visit to Charles Ellis, i. 52 ; James Gillray, i. 54, 59, 60, 138, 307. 1796 : Elected for Wendover, i. 57 ; his new house, i. 59 ; ' Lady Agnew ' story, i. 64 ; Muscb Catcatonenses, practical joke on Dr. Legge and Lord Boringdon, i. 2, 70-116 ; and France, i. 117; Gillray's carica- tureof, i. 119. 1797, 1798 : Letters to Sneyd, i. 64, 140-142 ; parody on Sir F. Eden's State of the Poor, i. 65-6S ; starts the Anti-Jacobin, a satirical publication, i. 20, 70, 135-152 ; Battle of the Nile, i. 141 ; and Sir Robert Adair, i. 142 ; his speech on peace with France, i. 120. 1799: Goes to the Board of Control for India, i. 121 ; and Lady Malmesbury, i. 121, 123, 125, 130 ; views on the European situation, i. 146-152. 1800 : Be- comes joint Paymaster-General of the Forces and Privy Coun- cillor, i. 121, 167 ; marries Miss Joan Scott, i. 124, 125 n., 127, 130, 154, 158, 162, 165, 166, 168 ; on Bonaparte and peace, i. 160, 161, 169; Prospectus of the Royal Institution, i. 162-164 '• Poetry of the 'Anti-Jacobin,' i. 170, 171; and James Gillray, i. 170, 172-174, 177 ; Sylvester Daggerwood, i. 175 ; and Sneyd, i. 178. 1801 : Resig- nation with Pitt, i. 126, 128 n., 180 ; buys South Hill, Bracknell, i. 182 n. ; and Lady Malmesbury, i. 127, 128 ; and Sneyd, i. 183- 192 ; some stanzas, i. 186. 1802 : Returned for Tralee, i. 57 ; the slave trade, i. 188, 191 ; and Sneyd, i. 188-192 ; The Pilot that weathered the Storm, i. 191, 192, 194 ; and Addington, the Prime Minister, i. 193 ; dinner to Pitt, i. 193-196; and Wilbraham, i. 197. 1803 : Illness and death of Mrs. Charles Ellis, i. 199-203 ; his letter to Pitt, i. 203, 204; vote of censure on the Government, i. 204 ; and Lady Malmesbury, i. 131, 132; verses on Jenkinson, i- 133 ; visit to Sneyd and schedule of family and servants, i, 205- 209. 1804, 1805 : Treasurer of the Navy under Pitt's second administration, i. 211 ; Quiz against Sneyd, i. 211-215; slight accident, i. 212 : and Frere, i. 213 ; Lord Hawkesburj-, i. 217, 218, 219 ; offer to resign not ac- cepted, i. 217. 1806 : Death of Pitt, i. 229 ; Ulm and Trafalgar, i. 229, 415-419 ; Additional Forces Act, i. 230, 231 ; becomes Foreign Minister, returned for New- town, i. 231 ; Lord Melville's impeachment, i. 220 ; lines on Whitbread's oration, i. 221; his decisive action against Napoleon's designs, i. 232; capture of Copen- hagen and Danish fleet by the British, i. 233, 234, 253 n. 1807 : Offers Charles Bagot Under- Secretaryship for Foreign Affairs, i. 234-244 ; Morning Chronicle on his French conversation, i. 242 n.; and Count Adlerberg, i. 245-247 ; on Louis XVIII. s arrival in Eng- land, i. 247-253 ; return of English fleet, i. 253 n. ; returned for Hastings, i. 392. 1808: Sir John Moore's expedition to Sweden, i. 254-256 ; offer of a loan to Spain, 444 INDEX i. 257, 258-261 ; and Sir J. Dyer, i. 261 ; and M. Souza, i. 261, 262 ; Rev. W. Leigh's death, i. 262, 263 ; his policy on Spanish American colonies foreshadowed, i. 265-268; the Asturian demands, i. 269 ; and Manvers Pierrepont, i. 270-272 ; the Convention of Cintra, i. 273-278 ; visits Charles Ellis, i. 27S ; on General Upton's appointment, i. 279 ; Napoleon and Emperor of Russia's letter to the King of England on peace, i. 280. 1809 : Charges of mercen- ary motives, i. 282 ; Sweden's Convention with Great Britain, i. 282 ; the traditional snuff-box, i. 283-285 ; the Convention inquiry, i. 286, 288 n. ; the new Com- mander-in-Chief, i. 289-291 ; and Reginald Macdonald, i. 294 n. ; letter of resignation to the Duke of Portland, i. 295, 298, 303, 323- 332. 339. 344 ; report in The Weekly Register, i. 296 n. ; and W. H. Lyttelton, i. 297 ; and Antony Merry, i. 297 ; and the King of Sweden, i. 301 n., 304, 305 ; and Lord Castlereagh, i. 303, 309 n., 314 n., 317 ; duel with Lord Castlereagh, 323-339, 344- 348 ; contributor to The Quarterly Review, i. 303 n., 304 n. ; and Right Hon. J. C. Villiers, i. 306 ; and Lord Welleslej', i. 308, 336-343, 349 ; and Perceval on Lord Castlereagh's resignation, i. 309, 310, 344 ; the affairs of Heligoland, i. 310 n. : on augmented salaries, i. 312 ; Mediterranean convoy, i. 313 ; on foreign affairs, i. 313- 319 ; portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence, i. 314 n. , 396 ; on Peter Finnerty, war-correspondent, i. 315 n. buys Gloucester Lodge, i. 316 n. ; Battle of Talavera, i. 317 n. ; the Walcheren Expedi- tion, i, 322 ; resignation, i. 323, 324, 348, 349. 1810: The Wal- cheren Expedition inquiry, i. 349, 350; and Lord Wellesley. i. 351, 354-363 ; supports the Govern- ment, i. 350 ; and the Prince of Orange, i. 352, 353 ; decHnes the Foreign Office, i. 354-363 ; the Regency debate, i. 364. 1811 : The Household question, i. 365- 369 ; and Thomas Coke, i. 369, 370 ; his bullion speeches, i. 371 ; on the current rumours, i. 373- 384. 1812 : Perceval's assassina- tion, i. 385 ; refusal of office in the new Government, i. 385, 386, 387 - 391 ; carries a motion in favour of Roman Catholic claims, i. 386 ; visits Sir John Gladstone, i. 387; returned for Liverpool, i. 387, 392-396 ; writes William Pitt's inscription, i. 391 n. ; Cyril Redding's opinion of, i. 395 ; his own party in the House of Com- mons, i. 396, 397, 399 n. 1813 : Letters to Bagot on current topics, i. 398-402 ; visits Liverpool, i. 401-407. 1814, 1815 : Mission to Portugal, ii. i ; Treaty of Ghent, escape of Napoleon, ii. 3 ; Bagot's mission to America, ii. 4-7. 1816 : President of Board of Control of India, ii. 13, 15, 17-20, 32 ; Lord Londonderry's pigtail, ii. 17 n. ; anniversary of Waterloo, ii. 29, 32 ; takes his seat in the Cabinet, ii. 31 : dinner to, ii. 33, 34 ; and Lord Sidmouth, ii. 38. 1817 : Opposition attack on his Lisbon mission, ii. 44, 53, 54 ; the vacancy at Oxford, ii. 45-52, 54 ; on the session, ii. 55-57. 1818 : Anony- mous pamphlet, ii. 78-81 ; letters to Bagot on current topics, ii. 81- 85 ; his health, ii. 86, 95. 1819- 1821 : Resignation on Queen Caroline's return, ii. 96, 104 ; goes abroad, ii. 100-103 ) on the Trop- pau Congress, ii. 103, 117-119,120; the Bill against the Queen dropped, ii. 104 ; and Prince Czartoryski's letter, ii. 108-110. 1822 : History of the Holy Alli- ance, i. 117, 118; his Bill to admit Roman Catholic peers to the House of Lords rejected, ii. 121, 127, 168; becomes Foreign Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons, ii. 121, 130, 137, 140 ; his appointments, ii. 122 ; and India, ii. 124, 125 ; Whig opinions of, ii. 135 ; Con- gress at Verona, ii. 138-145 ; his policy, ii. 150-156 n., 172 ; farewell to Liverpool, ii. 155. 1823: Altering the Treasury Bench, ii. 155 ; increasing popularity, ii. I57. 159 ; American boundaries, ii. 161 n. ; a ' scene ' in the House, ii. 166-169; and Lord Nugent, ii 168 n. ; speech on question be INDEX 445 tween France and Spain, and its effect, ii. 173 0.-176 ; failure of a vote of censure, ii. 177, 179 n. ; on Dr. Legge's first sermon, ii. 178 n. ; his views on the Spanish Colonies question, ii. 178-184 ; Russian intentions, ii. 184-186 ; and Count Palmella, ii. 187-190 ; and Lord Strangford, ii. 191, 200; Russia and Hayti, ii. 195 ; Russia and Turkey, ii. 196-199 ; interview between Emperor of Russia and Turkey, ii. 202-204. 1824: Vin- dicates the Government's policy, ii. 205 ; the Monroe Doctrine, ii. 206-210; Russia's promised mis- sion to the Porte, ii. 210-222, 242, 259 ; The Hague, ii. 223 ; his in- dustry, ii. 227 ; secrecy at Czer- novitz, ii. 227-229 ; Sir Alexan- der Malet, ii. 231 ; North- West American boundaries, ii. 232 ; ' read England for Europe,' ii. 233 n. ; publication of a Secret Memorandum, ii. 234, 235, 245 ; on Mexico, ii. 237 ; Spain's answer, ii. 239, 241 ; proposed Spanish Conference, ii.24i;Bagot attends Conference at St. Peters- burg without orders, ii. 242, 259- 270 ; Portugal asks for help, ii. 247 ; Prince Polignac intervenes, ii. 248-256 ; visits Eton Montem, ii. 257 n. ; France puzzled, ii. 257 ; Russian diplomacy, ii. 259-261 ; Bagot appointed Ambassador to the Netherlands, ii. 270 ; inde- pendence of Spanish American States recognized, ii. 274-277. 1825, 1826 : Roman Catholic Relief Bill, ii. 278-284 ; his health, ii. 279, 289, 291 ; visit to John Bolton at Windermere, ii, 287 ; Sir Walter Scott's opinion of, ii. 288 n. ; Dutch Ministers, ii. 291 ; Falck cantankerous, ii. 293 ; the Dutch in India, ii. 294 ; M. de Verstolk, ii. 301 ; Nicholas or ConstantineasEmperorof Russia, ii. 302-305, 312-317, 327, 328, 333 ; and Lord Ponsonby, ii. 305, 306 ; independence of Brazil, ii. 307 ; and Lord Strangford 's indiscre- tion, ii, 313, 314, 329-333 ; a great speech, ' calling the new world to redress the old,' ii. 314, 315 ; his rhyming despatch, ii. 317-325 ; tariff reform, ii. 319; Greek ne- gotiations, ii. 337-340, 348. 349 ; and M. de Verstolk, ii. 341, 345 ; the Netherlands, ii. 342-348, 356 ; Charles Ellis's peerage, ii. 351 ; Tierney's promotion and his successor, ii. 333,355 ; visits Paris Embassy, ii. 355, 356. 1827 : Resume of the situation, ii. 358, 359 ; his ascendancy, ii. 361 ; Corn Laws, ii. 363 ; discourtesy of the Prince of Orange, ii. 363- 370, 399 ; and Sir John Copley, ii- 375-378 ; Lord Liverpool's successor, ii. 382 ; becomes Prime Minister, ii. 3S4 ; and Duke of Wellington, ii. 388, 389, 398, 406, 40S ; formation of the new Government, ii. 384-398, 403 ; and Lord Grey's speech, ii. 399 ; Austrian opposition to, ii. 401 ; Lord Bagot's proxy vote against the Corn Bill, ii. 404-406, 412, 415, 416 ; his last speech, ii. 406, 417 ; his illness, ii. 407, 411, 414, 415, 417, 418 ; his last letter, ii. 412 ; his death and burial, ii. 419, 422-424 ; the King's sympathy, ii. 420, 423, 427 ; Lyttelton on, ii. 425 ; Charles Ellis on, ii. 425- 427 ; the new Ministry, ii. 429- 437 ; Continental opinion on his death, ii. 437 Canning and his Times, by J. A. R. Marriott, ii. 317 n. Cannitig, Life and T ivies of, by A. G. Stapleton. See Stapleton Canning, Life of, by Richard Bell, i. 221 n. Canning, Life of, by F. Hill, i. 233 Canning, Life of, by H. W. V. Tem- perley. See Temperley Canning, Some Letters of George, by Rev. J. Raven, i. 18 n. Canning, Mrs., afterwards Lady (Miss Joan Scott), wife of George Canning : courtship and mar- riage, i. 125 n., 127, 130, 154, 158, 162, 165, 166, 168 ; her writings, ii. 272, 273 ; visits Windermere, ii. 288 ; on the death of her hus- band, ii. 434 ; her hostility to Huskisson, ii. 435, 437 Canning, Paul, i. 16 Canning, Stratford, of Garvagh, Ireland, i. 16-18 Canning, Right Hon. Stratford, afterwards Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, i. 17; Ambassador at Washington, ii. 94-96 ; on the 446 INDEX North-West of America settle- ments question, ii. 125, 126, 160- 166 ; his mission to St. Peters- burg on Greek affairs, ii. 211 n., 267, 269 ; conference with Richard Rush, ii. 220 ; American nego- tiations, ii. 271, 272; Ambas- sador at Constantinople, ii. 292 ; the lost cypher, ii. 336 ; Turk and Greek, ii. 348 Canynge's Family, Memorials of the, by George Pryce, i. 16 n. Carlisle, sixth Earl of, Privy Seal, ii. 407 Caroline, Princess of Wales, after- wards Queen : Canning's poem, i. 164, 165 ; godmother to George Charles Canning, i. 209 n. ; visits Canning at South Hill i. 211, ii. 104 ; her return to England and trial, ii. 96-116 Carrington, first Baron, ii. 62 Carroll, Charles, last survivor of the signers of the Declaration of American Independence, ii. 66, 298 Castlereagh, Viscount, afterwards second Marquess of Londonderry : Additional Forces Act, i. 230 ; War and Colonial Secretary, i. 231 ; and Sir John Moore, J- 255, 304 n. ; and General Mi- randa, ii. 265 ; Convention of Cintra, i. 272, 275 n. ; Lord Clan- carty's appointment, i. 303 n. ; navy abuses, i. 306 ; and Can- ning, i. 309, 314 n., 316, 317 n., 320, 358, 368 ; and Peter Fin- nerty, i. 315 n., 316 n. ; the Wal- cheren expedition, i. 322 ; duel with Canning, i. 323-349 ; and Prince Regent, i. 374, ii. 30 ; offers to resign, i. 386, 390 ; the Treaty of Peace, ii. 2 ; and Charles Bagot, ii. 34, 68 ; accident, ii. 59 ; repres- sion '^- riots, ii. 79 ; attack of gout, ii. 88; and Richard Rush, ii. 94 n. the Holy Alliance, ii. 117, 119, 143, 144, 149, 150; death, ii. 121, 130-134, 138 ; and Grey Bennet, ii. 128 Castlereagh, Letters of Lord, i. 275 n. Cathcart, first Earl, i. 124 ; cap- ture of Copenhagen, i. 233, 234 Cathcart, Hon. F., Minister Pleni- potentiary to the German Federa- tion, ii. 202, 227 ; Minister at St. Petersburg, ii. 278 ; Lord Liverpool's illness, ii. 373 ; and Canning, ii. 374 ; on the new Government, ii. 393-395 ; Lord Grey's speech, ii. 399, 400 Catholic. See Roman Catholic Cavendish, Lady Harriet, mar- riage, i. 130 n. Champagny, M. de, Conference between the two Emperors, i. 280 n. Charles, Archduke, i. 63 ; defeat of, i. 211 n. Charles X., ii. 356 Charles XHL See Sweden, King of Charlotte, Princess, ii. 14 n., 34 Chateaubriand, M. de, French Foreign Minister : the Holy Alliance, ii. 144 ; and the Mon- roe Doctrine, ii. 207, 209 ; pro- posed Spanish Conference, ii. 241 ; France puzzled, ii. 257 Chatham, second Earl, i. 230 ; the Walcheren Expedition, i. 315, 316, 319, 322, 349 China, Account of the Embassy to, by the Earl of Macartney, i. 69 Christ Church, Dean of. See Jack- son Christine, Queen, ii. 284, 285 Cinque Ports volunteers raised, i. 132 Cintra, Convention of, i. 272, 274 n. Clancarty, second Earl : Ambas- sador to the Netherlands, ii. 74 ; resignation, ii. 201, 223-226 ; Canning's opinion of, ii. 343 ; and Prince of Orange, ii. 365 Clanricarde, first Marquess of, ii. 435 Clanwilliam, Earl of, Under-Secre- tary for Foreign Affairs : resigna- tion, ii. 148 n. ; Minister at Berlin, u. 148, 153 ; and Canning, ii. 313 ; the lost cypher, ii. 336 ; Russian conspiracy, ii. 355 n. Clarence, the Duke of: the slave trade, i. 150 ; heir-presumptive, ii. 358 ; Lord High Admiral, ii. 359 Clarendon, second Earl, executor to Queen Caroline, ii. 104 n. Clarke, Mrs., and the Duke of York, i. 306 Clary, Desiree. See Christine, Queen Clay, Henry, Commissioner for America in the Treaty of Ghent, ii. 164 ; his history, ii. 286 ; and Charles Bagot, ii. 299, 300 INDEX 447 Clerk, Sir George, ii. 391 Clifton, Lord, afterwards fifth Earl of Darnley, marriage, ii. 283 Cobbett, William ; The True Briton, i. 144 ; The Weekly Register, i. 219 n. 296 Coke, Thomas, first Earl of Leicester, i. 369 n., 370, ii. 125 Colchester, Baron. See Abbot, Charles Collier, Mr., and the House of Commons, ii. 94 Colthurst, Sir H., i. 396 Columbia, South American State, independence of, ii. 276, 278 Columbia River, ii. 126 n., 161 n. Cominck, M. de, Foreign Minister to the Netherlands, ii. 290, , 291, 293-296 ; his illness, ii. 301, 302 Constantine, Grand - Duke, re- nounces crown of Russia, ii. 278, 302, 312, 316, 327 Conyngham, Lord Francis, after- wards second Marquess, Under- Secretary for Foreign Affairs, ii. 148 ; marriage, ii. 236 Cooke, Major-General, C. B. , A. D . C . to Duke of York, ii. 58 Coote, Sir Charles, ii. 53 Copenhagen, capitulation of, i. 233, 234 Copleston, Edward, afterwards Bishop of Llandaff, the bullion question, ii. 92 Copley, Sir John, afterwards Lord Lyndhurst, Master of the Rolls, speech on the Roman Catholic question, ii. 375 n.-378, 390 Corn Laws, ii. 359, 363, 374, 406 Cornwall, Sir George Amyand, i. 122 n. Costello, Mary Ann, wife of George Canning the elder, i. 16, 17 Cotton, Admiral Sir Charles, Con- vention of Cintra, i. 273 Cowley, Lord. See Wellesley, Sir Henry Crawford, Colonel, i. 63 Crawford, Lord, Lives of the Lind- says, ii. 122 n. Creevey Papers : Dr. Legge, i. 106 n, ; the King and the new Govern- ment, i. 136 ; Lady Sarah Fane, i. 130 n. ; 'Canning and Co.,' i. 192 n. ; Pitt's speech, i. 204 ; and Samuel Whitbread, i. 220 n. ; Sir John Gladstone, i. 386 n. ; and Canning, i. 395, ii. 363 ; W. H. Lyttelton, ii. 2 ; ' Binning the Canningite,' ii. 10 n. ; Madlle. St. Laurent, ii. 65 n. ; and Prince Frederick, ii. 70 n. ; Robert Waithman, ii. 91 n. ; Lord Hol- land and The Times, ii. 115 n. ; India Board question, ii. 124; Conference at Verona, ii. 143 n, ; Lord Clanwilliam's appointment, ii. 153 n. ; 'scene' in the House of Commons, ii. 166. Crewe, Mrs. : her beauty, i. 7 n., 8; and Canning, i. 7 n., 19, 69, 141, 207 ; lines by Canning to, i. 408-410 Croker, Right Hon. J. W., and Canning, ii. 125 n., 270; at the Admiralty, ii. 391 Cuba, ii. 163, 164 Cullum, Sir John, History of Haw- sted in Suffolk, i. 66 Cumberland, Duke of, ii. 170 Cunningham, Captain, i. 125 Curll, Edmund, bookseller, i. 72 Czartoryski, Prince Adam, a letter incident, ii. 108-110 Czernovitz, secrecy at, ii. 227-229 Daggerwood, Sylvester, comedian, i- 175 Dalrymple. Sir Hew, and Sir John Moore, i. 254 ; the Convention of Cintra, i. 272, 276, 286 ; his health, ii. 416 Daly, James, M.P. for Gal way, ii. 89 D'Arblay, Mme., her diary, i. 8 n. Davis, Dr., i. 199 Dawkins, John, gentleman com- moner of Christ Church, i. 21 ; recitation on the installation of the Duke of Portland as Chan- cellor of Oxford University, i. 22, 44 Decatur, Stephen, duel with the commander of the Chesapeake, ii. 66 n. Decazes, Due de, President of the Council in France, ii. 88 Delacroix, M., French Minister, and Lord Malmesbury, i. 118 Denman, Thomas, afterwards first Baron and Lord Chief Justice, the Queen's advocate at her trial, ii. 92, 107 n. Denmark : Treaty of Tilsit, i. 232 ; capture of Copenhagen, i. 233 448 INDEX Denmark, King of. See Frede- rick VI. Denon, Baron, Director-General of Museums in France, ii. 60 Dent, John, and Canning, i. 400 n. De Quincey, Thomas, and the Earl of Errol, i. 12 DeSaumarez, Lord. SeeSaumarez, Admiral Devonshire, Duke of, ii. 170; his deafness, ii. 336 n. Dignum, Charles, well-known tenor, i- 195 Disbrowe, Sir E., Minister Pleni- potentiary to St. Petersburg : Russian conspiracy, ii. 355 ; and the Prince of Orange, ii. 369, 413 Disraeli, Benjamin, on Canning's last speech, ii. 417 Dorman, Mr., History of the British Empire, i. 232 n., 322 n. Dorset, Duke of. See Sackville, Lord Douglas, Admiral, landing of Louis XVIIL, i. 247 Douglas, Sylvester, Privy Coun- cillor, i. 174 Douglas, William, and Canning, i. 22 Doune, Lord, afterwards tenth Earl of Moray, i. 158 Drury Lane Theatre, fire at, i. 288 Dumouriez, General, i. 264 n., 265, 321 Dundas, Henry, afterwards Vis- count Melville, i. 151 ; Privy Seal of Scotland, i. 167 ; impeachment and acquittal, i. 220, 221, 229; and General Miranda, i. 264 ; The Jackdaw and the Peacocks^ i. 422, 423 ; First Lord of the Admiralty, ii. 13 ; and Canning, ii. 32 ; and the King, ii. 113 ; and Lyttelton, ii. 135 ; resig- nation, ii. 393 Dundas, Right Hon. Robert, i. 325 Dundee insurrections, i. 33, 35, 40 Dyer, Sir J., and Canning, i. 261 East India Company and the Dutch, ii. 295 Eden, Sir Frederick, State of the Poor, Canning's parody on, i. 65-67 Edgecumbe, Lady Carohne, mar- riage, i. 294 n. Edgeworth, Maria, Pretty Bob, i. 227 Edinburgh Review on Canning, i. 70 ; Napoleon's designs on Portugal, i. 232 n. ; on General Miranda and Spanish South America, i. 264 n. Edwards, Bryan, the slave trade, i. 150 Ehrenstein, Baron de, Foreign Minister in Sweden, and Can- ning, i. 246 ; his present for sign- ing the treaty, i. 282, 283; and Gustavus Adolphus, i. 301 Eldon, first Earl of. Lord Chan- cellor, i. 128, ii. 88, 171 ; resig- nation, ii. 359 ; after Canning's death, ii. 432 Elizabeth, Princess, her marriage, ii. 69 Ellenborough, second Lord, Pre- sident of Board of Control, ii. 435, 437 Elliot, Admiral Hon. George, C.B., i. 132 Ellis, Charles, afterwards Lord Seaford, and Sneyd, i. 5, 141 ; and Canning, i. 13, 61, 375, ii. 288 ; marriage, i. 14 ; Canning's second at his duel, i. 16, 324; returned for Seaford, i. 57 ; Miism Cateatonenses, i. 70-116; death of his wife, i. 130 n.-i32, 145, 198- 203 ; tours abroad, i. 131, 141 ; the slave trade, i. 150, 188 ; goes to Jamaica, i. 209; his establish- ment at Claremont, i. 210; at Bath, i. 228; bad accident, i. 277; and the Dean of Christ Church, i. 319 ; at Tixall, i. 382 n. ; at CoUares, ii. 6 ; letter to Bagot on his appointment, ii. 7 ; on Canning's defence, ii. 52-55 ; his daughter's death, ii. loi n. ; on the Queen's trial, ii. 106, 107 Ellis, Mrs. Charles, serious illness and death, i. 130, 132, 145, 198- 203 Ellis, George, and Sneyd, i. 5, 6, 60-62, 145 ; his early life and ' writings, i. 13-15 ; and Canning, i. 64, 65, 181 ; MuscB Cateatonenses, i. 70-116; accompanies Lord Mal- mesburj? to France, i. 117; The Anti-Jacobin, i. 135; the slave trade, i. 150 ; his life at Sunning Hill, i. 198 ; his marriage, i. 184 ; his letters and literary work, i. 222-226 ; The Quarterly Review, i- 303 INDEX 449 Elout, M., Dutch Colonial Secre- tary, ii. 319, 345 England : alarming state of, i. 30- 34 ; Canning on the constitution of, i. 37 ; riots, i. 51, ii. 37, 38 ; war with France, i. 40 n., 204 ; Napoleon's mode of attack on, i. 13G ; war with Spain, i. 211, 264, 265 ; capture of Copenhagen, i- 233, 234 ; the two Emperors' proposal for a general peace, i. 280 ; Swedish ports closed to, i. 302 n. ; the Walcheren Expe- dition, i. 322, 349 ; Treaty of Ghent, ii. 3 ; Battle of Waterloo, ii. 3, 4 ; the Queen's return and trial, ii. 96-116; the Holy Alli- ance, ii. 117, 124, 173 n., 315; Congress of Verona, ii. 119, 120, 138, 150 ; American boundaries, ii. 161 n., 162; and the Spanish Colonies, ii. 172, 173, 274, 278 ; foreign complications, ii. 205-241 ; Portugal asks for help, ii. 247- 258, 314 ; Russian diplomacy, ii. 259 - 270 ; Roman Catholic emancipation, ii. 278-284, 314, 375-380 ; commerce Convention with France, ii. 318-321 Errol, Countess, and Canning, i. 12 Errol, fifteenth Earl of, death, i. 12 Erskine, first Baron, i. 119 Esterhazy, Prince, Austrian Minis- ter in London, ii. 176, 180, 401 Eton College, Canning at, i. 18, 19; Montem, ii. 257 n. Exmouth, Viscount, ii. 34, 36 Fagel, Robert, Netherlands Am- bassador in London : his recall, ii. 223-226 ; and Bagot, ii. 290, 344 Falck, M., Netherlands Ambas- sador in London, and Canning, ii. 290, 293-296, 306, 341, 342, 356, 357 ; and Huskisson, ii. 317-320; and the King, ii. 343- 345 ; Belgian fortresses, ii. 350 ; and Lord Dudley, ii. 414 Fane, Lady Sarah, i. 130 n. Farquhar, Sir Robert, physician, i. 200 Ferdinand VIL, King of Spain: Congress of Verona, ii. 143-147 ; the Spanish Colonies, ii. 181 ; liberation of, ii. 201 ; Paris Con- ference, ii. 222; The Hague Em- bassy, ii. 223-226 Ferronays, Comtede la, French Am- bassador, ii. 326, 335 VOL. IL Festing, Miss, Frere and his Friends, i. 168 n., 194 n., 204 n., 209 n., 273 n. Finlayson, Mr., Hudson's Bay Company, ii, 161 n. Finnerty, Peter, i. 315 n., 316 n. Fitzgerald, Lord Edward, i. 34 FitzHarris, Viscount, afterwards Earl of Malmesbury, Under-Secre- tary at the Foreign Office, i. 238 Fitzpatrick, Colonel Richard, epi- gram on Canning, i. 1,2, 48 Fitzroy, Lord John, Talavera, i. 317. 318 Folkestone, Viscount, afterwards third Earl of Radnor, i. 306 ; and Canning, ii. 166 Forces Act, Additional, i. 230 Foreign complications, ii. 205-241 Foster, Right Hon. Sir Augustus, afterwards Minister at Copen- hagen and Turin, mission to Sweden, i. 281, 304 Fox, Right Hon. Charles James, i. 18 ; and Canning, i. 50 n., 218 ; Gillray's caricature of, i. 119; ' All the Talents ' Ministry, i. 229 ; Foreign Secretary, i. 230 ; death, i. 231 ; and General Mi- randa, i. 264 n. France: Canning on, i. 36, ii. 173 n., 437 ; war with England, i. 40 n., 204 ; Bonaparte and the Repub- lic, i. 135 ; defeated, i. 145 ; and Austria, i. 169 n. ; entry into Berlin, i. 231 ; Louis XVHL's arrival in England, i. 247-253 ; Convention of Cintra, i. 272 ; war with Austria, i. 311 ; and Russia, i. 348 ; Napoleon's escape from Elba, ii. 3 ; Waterloo, ii. 3, 4 ; Paris after the war, ii. 61 ; the Holy Alliance, ii. 1 17-120, 144 ; Congress of Verona, ii. 140- 145 ; the march to Madrid, ii. 144 ; and Spain, ii. 145, 152, 156 n., 157, 182, 183; the Spanish Colonies, 198, 237, 239, 274 ; pro- posed Spanish Conference, ii. 240, 241 ; and Portugal, ii. 248-258 ; Commerce Convention with Eng- land, ii. 318-321 Frederick VI., King of Denmark, i. 302 Frere, John Hookham, and Sneyd, i. 5 ; his career, i. 11, 12 ; lines' on Canning, i. 17 ; at Eton, i. 18; Christ Church, Oxford, i. ig ; Dundee riots, i. 35 ; at the Foreign 29 450 INDEX Office, i. 57 ; and Canning, i. 6i, 64, 179, 180, 203, 207-218; Mjiscb Cateatonenses, i. 70-116; and Lady Malmesbury, i. 123, 129 ; The Anti-Jacobin, i. 135-138, 143, 171 n.; Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office, i. 149 ; Prospectus for the Royal Institution, i. 162-164 ; Can- ning's marriage, i. 168 ; Envoy Extraordinary to Lisbon, i. 169; and Gillray, i. 173, 174 I dinner to Pitt, i. 194, 195 ; returns from Madrid, i. 211; quizzing Sneyd, i. 212-214; at Bath, i. 228; on the new Ministry, i. 229, 230 ; and Sweden, i, 246, 247, 286; and Romana, i. 273 ; Ambassador to Ferdinand VII., i. 314 n., 319; Monks and the Giant, i. 57 n., 79 n. Frere and his Friends, by Fasting, i. 168 n., 169 n., 273, ii. 120 Gambler, Sir James, and the Prince Regent, i. 289 Garay, Martin di, Spanish Minister at Seville, i. 313 Gascoyne, General, i. 386 Gay, John, i. 72 Gentleman's Magazine, i. 21 n., 62 n., 72, 108, III George III. : mob attack, i. 51, 52 ; Pitt's resignation, i. 1270., 128 n.; and Bonaparte, i. 161 ; attempted assassination of, i. 167 ; letter from Louis XVIII., i. 247, 248; and Canning, i. 275 n., 276, 286. 347 ; and Lord Wellesley, i. 308 ; Canning and Castlereagh, i. 323- 332 ; illness and appointment of Regent, i. 350, 364 n.-368, 373 ; the Mint, ii. 193 n. George IV. See Wales, Prince of Ghent, Treaty of. ii. 3. 162 Gifford, John, Life of Pitt, i. 289 n. Gifford, William, first editor of the Quarterly Review, and the Anti- Jacobin, i. 135, 289, 303 n., 392 Gillray, James, caricaturist : col- lection of his prints, i. 4., 5 ; his support of Pitt and Canning, i. 6/; his career, i. 54, 55 ; caricatirf-e of Pitt. i. 56 n. ; and Canning, i. 54. 59. 60, 138, 170 n., 172 n., 174, 177-180, 307; The Glorious Reception of the Ambassador of Peace, i. 118; Promised Horrors of the French Invasion, i, 119; A Dash up St. James's Street, i. 125 n. ; and the Anti-Jacobin, i. 135; and Sneyd, i. 138-140, 177 ; The Apotheosis of Hoche, i. 142 ; and Nicholls, i. 142-144; Three Jolly Postboys, i. 183 n. ; A Cockney and his Wife going to Wycombe, i. 226; death, i. 226, 227 ; caricature on return of fleet from Denmark, i. 253 n. Gillray, Life and Works of, Thomas Knight, i. 54 Gladstone, Sir John, and Canmng, i, 386, 392, 393, 403, ii. 130 Gloucester Lodge, Old Brompton, bought by Canning, i. 316 Goderich, Viscount. See Robinson. Right Hon. F. Gordon, Captain, ii. 161 n. Gordon, Colonel Sir Robert, Con- gress at Verona, ii. 119, 120, 123, 142 Gordon, Colonel Sir William, Secre- tary to the Commander-in-Chief, i. 279, 280 Gourieff, Comtede, Russian Charge d'affaires, ii. 303 ; the diplomatic quarrel, i. 364, 411 Gower, Lord, afterwards first Duke of Sutherland, i. 50 Grant, Right Hon. C, President of the Board of Control, ii. 168; Canning's death, ii. 420 Grant, Sir WiUiam, Master of the Rolls, i. 128 Granville, Letters of Harriet, Countess, i. 382 n., 391 n., ii. 205 n. Granville, Earl. See Leveson Gower Greece and Turkey, ii. 119, 165, 196, 197, 210-214 ; the meeting at Czernovitz, ii. 227, 229 n. ; re- cruiting at Constantinople, ii. 229 ; Lord Byron and the insurgents, ii. 230 ; possible evacuation by Turkey, ii. 244 ; Conference at St, Petersburg, ii. 260 n., 265, 337 - 340 ; Freedom of, ii. 359. 417 Grenville, Baron, Foreign Secre- tary, i. 53, 117; slave trade, i. 151; Bonaparte's letter to George III., i. 161; Prime Minister, i. 229 ; fall of the Government, i. 231, 346; his influence overthe Regent, i. 365 n., 373 ; refusal to join the Govern- ment, i. 385 ; Camelford House, ii. 15 n. ; and Lord Liverpool, ii. 120-122, 433 ; his illness, ii. 135, 171 INDEX 451 Grenville, Lord George, i. 363 Grenville, Right Hon. Thomas, ii. 136 n. Greville, Charles, i. 7, 155 Grevillc Memoirs, The, ii. 325 n. Grey, second Earl, K.G. , and Can- ning, i. 346, ii. 396 ; refusal to join the Go%'ernment, i. 385 ; the Queen's Bill, ii. 105 ; and Count Palmella, ii. 188 ; his speech, ii. 399, 400, 403, 410 Gurdon, B., and Canning, ii. 44 Gwyn, General, i. 292 Habeas Corpus Act, suspension of, ii. 47 Hague. The. See Netherlands Hall, Dr., Dean of Durham, for- merly Dean of Christ Church, »• 354. 355 Hamilton, Alexander, The Federalist, ii. 76 Hamilton, Lady Anne, The Secret History of the Court of England, ii. 80 Hamilton, Lord Archibald, and Lord Castlereagh, i. 303 n. Hamilton, Commodore, ii. 290 Hamilton, Thomas. See Binning, Lord Hammond, George, First British Minister to the United States, Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office, i. 51 n., 197, 275, 287; Heligoland, i. 310 n., 318; and Bagot, ii. 32 Harris, Lady Catherine, i. 121 Harrowby, first Earl, President of the Council, i. 344 ; Roman Catholic Bill, ii. 168 ; violent speech, ii. 402, 403 Hastings, first Marquess, Governor- General of Bengal, ii. 125, 397 Hawkesbury, Baron. See Jenkin- son, Sir R. Banks Hayti and Russia, ii. 195 Hayward, Mr., on Canning in Edinburgh Revieii', i. 70 Heckeren, M. de. the Netherland Charge d'affaires in Russia, Em- peror of Russia's death, ii. 303, 304. 316 Heligoland, i. 310 n. Herries, Right Hon. J., Master of the Mint, ii. 435, 436 Hertford, second Marquess of, death, ii. 128, 170 Hertford, third Marquess of, K.G., Envoy Extraordinary to Nicho- las L, ii. 3S1 n., 39S, 413, ii. 428 Hervey, Colonel Felton, afterwards Sir Felton Hervey Bathurst, A.D.C. to Duke of Wellington at Waterloo, marriage, ii. 43, 52 Hervey, Lionel Charles, secretary to Embassy at Madrid, mission to Mexico, ii. 236 Hervey, Lord, afterwards first Marquess of Bristol, death of Mrs. Ellis, i. 200, 203, 209 Hervey, William, Canning's private secretary, ii. 287 Hill, F., Life of Canning, i. 233 Historical Characters, Sir Henry Bulwer, i. 221 n. Hobhouse, Sir John Cam, after- wards Lord Broughton, ii. 80 Hoche, General, Republican, i. 142 Holland (see also Netherlands) and Belgium, ii. 223 n. Holland, third Baron : Canning's duel, i. 336 n., 337 n. ; the Queen's trial, ii. 105 ; his speech, ii. 115 ; The Holy Alliance, ii. iig ; Minis- terial changes, ii. 121 Holroyd, Earl, ii. 283 Holy Alliance, The, ii. 1 17-124, 142, 150. 173 n.. 315 Home, eleventh Earl of, ii. 127 Hook, Theodore, John Bull, ii. 115 Hope, John, ii. 406, 415 Horton, Robert Wilmot, ii. 22 Hospodars, the, ii. 269 Howard, Lady, i. 66, 67 Howard, Mary, afterwards Hon Mrs. Greville Howard, i. 121 n, Howard, Richard, patron of the pocket borough, Castle Rising, i. 131 n., 159, 234, 310 Howard de Walden, Lord, Charles Ellis's eldest son, ii. 56 ; and Canning, ii. 236, 319, 382 ; on death of Canning, ii. 418-421 ; on the new Government, ii. 435 Howick, second Earl, K.G., Foreign Secretary, i. 231 Hughes, Christopher, American Diplomatist : Canning on, ii. igg n. ; his career, ii. 284 n. ; and Bagot, ii. 284-287, 296-301 ; ' a Cossack kiss,' ii 314 Hume, Joseph, and Canning, ii. 94; advocate of economical reform, ii. 123, 124, 129, 134 Humphries, Miss, printseller, and James Gillray, i. 55, 60, 173, 177 n. Hunter, Mr., Consul to the Province of Asturias, i. 257, 258, 260, 269 29 — 2 452 INDEX ^ Hurdt, Baron, i. 352, 353 Huskisson, Right Hon. William, i. 310, 321 ; Castlereagh and Canning quarrel, i. 325-332 ; and Bagot, i. 362 ; rumours as to office, i. 378; the firm, i. 397 n. ; Canning's visit to, i. 400 ; Lyttel- ton on, ii. 27, 92 ; President of the Board of Trade, ii. 122, 155, igi ; on Canning's eloquence, ii. 125 n. ; returned for Liver- pool, ii. 159 ; the slave trade, ii. 271 n. ; commercial interests, ii. 306 ; the rhyming despatch, ii, 317-320; Corn Laws, ii. 406; illness, ii. 409, 410, 415 ; the new Government on Canning's death, ii. 420 ; his position, ii. 426-435 ; Colonial Secretary, ii. 435 Hutchinson, Kit, i. 396 Ireland, Canning on, i. 148; effect of the Roman Catholic Bill on, ii. 281 Iturbide, Don Augustin, ii. 253, 255 Ivy, Letters to. See Ward, Hon. J. W. Jackson, General Andrew, after- wards President of the United States, ii. 88 n.. 160, 164, 286 Jackson, Dr. Cyril, Dean of Christ Church, i. 5, 19; and Canning, i. 39 n. ; and Bagot, i. 319, 320, ii. 396 Jackson, Dr. Robert, ii. 58 Jacobinism, ii. 18, 88, 146 Jenkinson, Robert Banks, after- wards Baron Hawkesbury, and second Earl of Liverpool, i. 5 ; a song, i. 22-24 ; alarming state of the country, i. 34, 133, 134 ; Gillray's caricature of, i. 119; Secretary of State, i. 127, 128 ; Foreign Secretary, i. 216 ; and Canning, i. 217-219, 252, 287, 344; and the new Government, i. 385, 387-389 ; Prime Minister, i. 396, ii. 38, 60 ; the Queen's trial, ii. 96, 100, 105, 106, 113 ; Minis- terial changes, ii. 120, 130, 193 ; his speech, ii. 158 ; Roman Catholic Bill, ii. 168, 281, 314; and Count Bernstorff, ii. 175 ; and at Bath, ii. 235 ; serious illness, ii. 358, 370, 373 Jersey, Lady, ii. 27 John Bull, edited by Theodore Hook, ii. 115. 285 John VI. See Portugal, King of Jones, Colonel, Report on Belgian Fortresses, ii. 350 Jones, John Gale, i. 350 Jourdain, Marshal, his defeat, i. 63 n., 145 Junot, Marshal, Convention of Cintra, i. 272-274 Keate, Dr., afterwards Headmaster of Eton College, i. 21 Keller man. General, Conven ion of Cintra, i. 272 Kemble, John, manager of Drur/ Lane, i. 61 Kent, Duke of, ii. 65 King, Rufus, American Minister to England, ii. 285 Kinnaird, eighth Baron, and the attempt on the Duke of Welling- ton's life, ii. 67, 68, 73, 87 Kinnaird, Hon. Douglas, his speeches, ii. 87 Kloest, Sir Jacobi, i. 259 Knife-Grinder, The, i. 137, 138, 143, 144 , , Knight, Charles, Half-hours with the Best Authors, i, 66 n. Knight, Thomas, Life and Works of Gillray, i. 54 Knighton, Sir William, the King's physician, ii. 392 Krudener, Madame de, ii. 117 Krusenstern, Admiral, ii. 157 Lagerbjelke, M. de, i. 301 Laibach, Congress at, ii. 118, 119 Lamb, J., the Portuguese question, ii. 273 Lamb, Hon. William, afterwards second Viscount Melbourne, ii. 91 Lambton, Ralph : his marriage, u. 27 ; the Lisbon Mission, ii. 53 Lane-Poole, Stanley, Life of Strat- ford Canning, i. 52 n., ii. 151 n. Lansdowne, Marquess of : carica- ture of, i. 118 ; the Regency Bill, i. 369 ; as to the Leadership in the House of Lords, ii. 395, 399, 400, 402, 403 ; Home Office, ii. 406 ; on Canning's death, ii. 422, 423 Lauderdale, eighth Earl of, ii. 170 ; and Canning, ii. 375, 377, 379 Lavalette, M., escape of, ii. 23 n. Lawley, Sir R., i. 197 Lawrence, Sir Thomas, P.R.A., portrait of Canning, i. 314 n., 395, 396 INDEX 453 Leach, Sir John, Vice-Chancellor, ii. 106 n. Lebzeltern, Count, Austrian Minis- ter at St. Petersburg, ii. 176, 335 Leckie, W. H., The Quarterly Review, i. 303 n. Legge, the Rev. and Hon. Edward, afterwards Bishop of Oxford, and Sneyd, i. 5 ; a victim of practical jokes, i. 13, 61, 70-116, ii. 178 n. ; and Canning, i. 53, 59, 158, 228, 380 ; Dean of Windsor and Wol- verhampton, i. 225 Leigh, Rev. William, of Ashbourne Hall, i. 20 ; and Canning's visit to, i. 64, 153, 156, 157, 179 ; marries Canning, i. 168, igo ; Oxford, i, 218 ; illness of, i. 256, 257, 260, 263 ; his death, i. 263 Leigh, Mrs., Canning's lines ad- dressed to, i. 410 Leslie, Mrs., and Lord Wellesley, i. 308 Leveson-Gower, Lord Granville, afterwards Earl Granville : the ' Poissarde ' scene, i. 118; the change in Government, i. 127 ; marriage, i. 130 n. ; and Canning, i. 130 n., 204, 295, 316, 350, 362, 375 ; and Canning's visit to, i. 382, 356 ; and Lord Boringdon, ii. 129 ; Ambassador to the Netherlands, ii. 201, 225 n. ; Am- bassador at Paris, ii. 270, 283 ; return to London, ii. 374, 396 ; Canning and the Tilsit Treaty, ii. 404 n. ; on Canning's death, ii. 421 Lewis, Frankland, Treasurer of the Navy, ii. 158 Lewis, ' Monk,' Alonzo the Brave, i. 71 Lieven, Prince, i. 300 ; the Holy Alliance, ii. 118 ; the Spanish Colonies, ii. 172, 174, 202 ; and Canning, ii. 208, 220-222, 229, 269, 330, 402 ; the diplomatic quarrel, ii. 411, 414 Lieven, Princess : England and Spain, ii. 156 n. ; and Canning, ii. 402 Lindsay, Sir Charles, his untimely end, i. 122 Lindsays, Lives of the, by Lord Craw- ford, i. 122 n. Litt, Mr., and Canning, i. 392 Littelton, Edward, afterwards Lord Hatherton, Chief Secretary for Ireland, ii. 272 ; Elective Fran- chise Bill, ii. 282 n. Lockhart, John G., Life of Sir Walter Scott, i. 349, ii. 287 Lodge, Dr., Modern Europe, ii. 117 n. Londonderry, second Marquess of. See Castlereagh, Lord Londonderry, third Marquess of. See Stewart, Lord London Observer, i. 255 n. Long, Right Hon. Charles, after- wards Lord Farnborough, i. 127 ; Paymaster-General, i. 392 Lonsdale, Lord, and the Speaker- ship, ii. 52 Loughborough, first Baron, Lord Chancellor, i. 119 Louis XIV., ii. 363 Louis XVIII., arrival in England, i. 247-252 ; death, ii. 270 Lowenjelm, Count, i. 302 Lowe, Sir Hudson, ii. 136 n. Lyttelton, Hon. W. H., afterwards third Lord Lyttelton, i. 297, 381 n. ; and Charles Bagot, ii. 2, 26-38, 91 ; a new Speaker, i. 50- 52, 91 ; the Queen's trial, i. 98- loi : the King's visit to Ireland, ii. 113-115 ; on Lord London- derry's death, ii. 133 ; Canning as Foreign Minister and the new Government, ii. 134 - 137 ; a 'scene' in the House, ii. 167, 169 ; marriage, ii. 327 ; on the Duke of York and Canning's ascendancy, ii. 360, 361 ; the Corn Laws, ii. 363 ; on the new Government, ii. 402-404; on death of Canning, ii. 424 Lyttelton, Lady Sarah : her letters, ii. 327 n. : and Sir Daniel Bayley, ii. 333 ; Lady-in- Waiting to Queen Victoria, ii. 404 n. Lytton, Bulwer, Historical Char- acters, ii. 317 n. Macartney, Earl of, his mission to China, i. 69 Macdonald, Reginald, twenty-fifth Captain of Clanranald, i. 294 Mackenzie, Mr., Treaty of Tilsit, i. 232 Mackenzie, Stewart, Privy Seal of Scotland, death, i. 167 Macreath, Robert, i. 234 n. Madison, James, President of the United States, ii. 4, 16 n., 76 454 INDEX Main-a-Duc, physician, i. 7, 8, 9 Malet, Sir Alexander, K.C.B., after- wards Secretary of Legation at Lisbon, etc., and Minister at Frankfort, ii. 231, 232 Malleson, Colonel, Life of Prince Metternich, ii. 144 n., 150 n. Malmesbury, Countess of, and Sneyd, i. 6 ; The Glorious Reception of the Ambassador of Peace, i. 118- 120 ; and Canning, i. 282 Malmesbury, Earl of, Plenipoten- tiary to France : the ' Poissardes ' incident, i. 117-120,179 ; Canning's letter to Pitt, i. 203 ; Canning's duel, i. 333 Manners, Thomas, first Lord, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, ii. 89 March, Lord, marriage, ii. 27 Marengo, Battle of, i. 167 n., 169 n. Marriott, J. A. R., George Canning and his Times, ii. 317 Maryborough , Lord . See Wellesley Pole Maurice, Sir Frederick, Sir James Moore's Diary, i. 304 Maxwell, Sir H., Life of Wellington, i. 255 n., 274 n., 290 n., 291 n. Mellish, Rev. E., marriage, i. 21, ii. 28 Melros, Lord. See Binning, Lord Melville, Viscount. See Dundas Merry, Antony, British Minister at Stockholm, i. 283, 296 Metternich, Prince, Austrian Chan- cellor : the Holy Alliance, ii. 117 ; Russia and Spain, ii. 119, 1 20 ; practical ruler of Continental Europe, ii. 143, 144, 149 ; and Canning, ii. 150, 151, 177, 181, 197, 230, 437 ; and Russia, ii. 185 ; Czernovitz meeting, ii. 229, 259 ; opposition to Canning, ii. 401 Metternich, Life of Prince, by Colonel Malleson, ii. 144 n., 150 n. Mexico, ii. 277 Microcosm, The, Canning and Frere, editors, i. 11 n., 72 n., 152 n., 421 Middleton, Mr. , American Minister at St. Petersburg, ii. 123; and Canning, ii. 215 n. , 2if memorandum, ii. 235 on, ii. 285 Miguel, Dom, ii. 187 Milbanke, Mr., ii. 374 Mildmay, Mr., and Canning, Mildmay, Sir Henry, ii. 19 n a secret Hughes 191 Milton, Viscount, afterwards fifth Earl Fitzwilliam, K.G., ii. 44, 398 Minciacky, M. de, Russian Envoy in Turkey, ii. 230, 243 ; Russian diplomacy, ii. 264, 265 Minto, fourth Baron, Envoy to the Court of Austria, i. 122, 193 Miranda, General Francisco, and the British Admiralty, i. 264- 268 Moffat, Mr., Queen Louisa of Prussia, i. 232 Monroe, James, President of the United States, ii. 126 n., 162 ; the Monroe Doctrine, ii, 206-210, 232 n. , 274 Montagu, Admiral Sir George, Commander-in-Chief at Ports- mouth, i. 260 Montagu, Lord, i. 348 n. Montem at Eton College, ii. 257 n. Moore, Sir John, Expedition to Sweden, i. 254, 285 n., 302, 304 ; I ordered to Spam, i. 272 ; Moore, James, Life of Sir John i Moore, i. 304 n. Moore, Thomas, i. 68 n., ii. 141 Mordivinow, Admiral, Russian conspiracy, ii. 355 Morley, first Earl. See Boringdon, Viscount Morley, John, Life of Gladstone, i. 387 Morning Chronicle : on Canning's French, i. 242 n. ; and Peter Finnerty, i. 315 ; the Queen's return, ii. 97; Sir Charles Stuart, ii. 158 Morning Herald, i. 392 Mornington, second Earl of, after- wards Marquess Wellesley and Governor-General of India, i. 65- 68 Mornington, third Earl of. See Wellesley Pole Morpeth, Lord, afterwards Earl of Carlisle : lines on Lord Boring- don's fall out hunting, i. 15, 16, 21 ; speech on the Austrian allies, i. 63 ; and Canning, i. 219 Moss, Rev. Charles, afterwards Bishop of Oxford, i. 5, 218 Mountaineers, The, ii. 91 Mulgrave, Earl of, i. 229, 260, 316 Munster, Count, i. 308 ?,Iurray, Sir George : capitulation of Copenhagen, i. 233 n. ; and Lord Kinnaird, ii. 66, 73 INDEX 455 Murray, John, publisher, and Frere, i. 13, ii. 57 n.; Quarterly Review, i. 303 n. ; Canning's article, i. 304 n. ; Roger's poem, ii. 92, 93 Miisa Cateatonenses, i. 2, 10 n., 62 n. ; its history, i. 70-116, ii. 151 n., 153 n., 17S n. Nagel, M., Foreign Minister for the Netherlands, ii. 223 Napier, Sir William : Canning and Castlereagh, i. 255 n. ; Peninsular War, i. 258 n., 274 n. ; and the Spanish provinces, i. 261 ; and Sidney Smith, i. 289 n. Naples. King of, flight of, i. 145 ; the Holy Alliance, ii. 119 Napoleon Bonaparte, marriage, i. 135 ; became First Consul, i. 145 ; his letter to George III., i. 161 ; victory at Marengo, i. 167 n., i6g ; Berlin Decrees, i. 231 ; mari- time league against England, i. 232 ; the Danish fleet, i. 234 ; and Louis XVIII., i. 248 ; interview with the Emperor of Russia, i. 280 ; Canning, i. 287 ; defeats Archduke Charles, i. 311 n. ; defeats the Austrians, i. 322 ; the Walcheren Expedition, i. 349 ; invades Russia, i. 392 n. ; the Peninsular War, i. 406 ; escape from Elba, ii. 3 ; Pauline Bor- ghese, ii. 41 ; and Duke of Wel- lington, ii. 67 ; his death, ii. 116 ; A Voice from St. Helena, ii. 136 ; and Desiree Clary, ii. 285 n. Napoleon, Life of, by J. Holland Rose, i. 232 n., 280 n. Navia, Sig"", Spanish d' Affaires, ii. 353 Navitchkin, M., ii. 116 Navy, the British : destruction of the Danish fleet, i. 129; Battle of the Nile, i. 140 ; Battle of Trafalgar, i. 224 n. ; return after the expedition to Copenhagen, i. 253 n. Nelson, Lord : Battle of the Nile, i. 120, 121, 140; destroys the Danish fleet, i. 129; Battle of Trafalgar, i. 224 n. ; his death, i. 228 n. Netherlands, King of the, ii. 290, 293, 294, 343-34S Netherlands, the : Falck and Can- ning, ii. 293-296 ; extra duty on Dutch goods, ii. 318-320 ; Bagot on, ii, 343-348 Charge Nesselrode, Count, Russian Am- bassador, and Bagot, ii. 172, 175, iSo, 185 n. ; Russia and Hayti, ii. 195 ; his memorandum for division of Greece, ii. 210, 213, 220 ; the Emperor of Russia's death, ii. 303; and Turkey, ii, 330 Neuville, Hyde de, French Ambas- sador at Lisbon, and Portugal, ii. 240, 252, 257 Newcastle, Duke of, and Canning, ii.383 Nicholas. See Russia, Emperor of Nicholas, Mr., British representa- tive in Heligoland, i. 310 n. Nicholls, Mr., Canning's skit on, i. 142-144; motion against Pitt, i. 190 Nootka Sound question, i. 265 Norburj', first Earl, ii. 286 North, Frank, afterwards third Earl of Guilford, his policy in Algiers, i. 299, 375 North, Lady Ann, married Lord Sheffield, i. 9 n. ; her letter to Sneyd, i. 10 North, Lord, afterwards second Earl of Guilford, Prime Minis- ter, i. 9 n., 234 Northumberland, third Duke of, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, ii. 283 Norwich, Earl of, i. 287 Nugent, Count, Lieutenant-General, afterwards Field Marshal, ii. 97 Nugent, Lord, ii. 148 n., 168 n. Ofalia, Count d', ii, 239 Ogden, an agitator, ii. 80 O'Meara, Barry, A Voice from St. Helena, ii. 136 Oporto, battle at, i. 323 Orange, Prince of, afterwards King of the Netherlands, i. 124, 352 ; diplomatic quarrel, ii. 364-370, 398, 411 Oxford, third Earl, i. 234 n. Paget, Right Hon. Sir Arthur, G.C.B., i. 132 ; Envoy to Bavaria, i. 146 ; Envoy to the Court of Austria, i. 193 Paget, Hon. Berkeley, i. 352 Pains and Penalties Bill, ii. 96, 97, 103 Pakenham, Sir Charles, and the Columbia River, ii. 161 n. Palmella, Count de, ii. 187 456 INDEX Palmerston, second Viscount, i. 55; and Sir Charles Bagoiu L 237 n. Parker, Sir Hyde, Nelson's dis- regard of his signal, i. 129 Parr\-, Captain, afterwards Sir E., the Arctic explorer, ii. 157 Partridge, John, practical joke o^" i. 72 Patten, Colonel Peter : vote of cen- sure, i. 204 ; and Canning, i. 231, 405 Patterson, Mr. and Mrs,, ii. 4S, 62, 236, 300 n, Pedro, Don, Emperor of Brazil, ii- 307. 310 ; death of King of Portagal, ii. 354 Peel, Sir Robert, Member for Ox- ford University, iL 2, 10 ; his speech on Roman Catholic ques- tion, iL 45, 50, Q2 ; Home Secre- tary, iL 121. 134, 140 n. ; resig- nation, iL 359 ; Sir Charles Bagot on, ii. 380; and Huskisson, iL 435 Pelly, J. H., Hadson's Bay Com- pany, North - West American boundary, ii. 232 n, PeniKsular War, Sir W. Napier, L 258, 274 n. Perceval, Right Hon. Spencer, Attorney and Solicitor General, i. 128 ; Chancellor of the Elx- chequer, i. 231, 257, 259; ad- ministration of the navy, i. 306 ; and Canning, L 309, 319, 34-t^ 348, 349, 357, 358. 360 n. ; Castie- reagh and Canning quarrel, i. 330 ; and Spain, i. 350 ; and the Prince Regent, L 350, 364 n., 367, 379, 380 ; and Lord Wellesley, L 339 a., 351 ; and Bagot, L 375; assassination of. L 385 Pirceval, Life of, by Sir Spencer Walpole, L 298, 309 n., 317 n,, 323 n., 339. 353 n., 362 n. Percival, Mr., i. 21, 257 n. > Percy, Major Hon. Henry, bearw of the Waterloo despatches, ii. 4 n. Perry, James, editor of the Morning Ckronide, ii. 92 Peru, ii. 277 Petersdroff, M., i. 279 Pett, Philip, i. 28 Petty, Lord Henry, aftenivards second Marquess of Lansdowne, ' :ion of Cintra, i. 288 I - - es, the, ii. 230 n. Philips, W. Alison, Modem Eurofe, ii. 259, 318 n. Pierrepont, Right Hon. Henn,- Manvers : refusal of Swedish Mission, i. 246, 270, 271 ; mar- riage, ii. 70 ; and Lord Binning, viL 410 PiM that weatherid the Storm, The, L 190, 191. 419-421 Pistmcci, Signor, Italian engraver, iL 60 Pitt, William, Prime Minister, L 38, 51 ; Gillray's caricature of. i. 56 n., 119; and Lord Auckland, i. 65 ; his desire for peace, L 117 ; resignation, L 126, 127 n., 128 n., 180 ; raises the Cinque Port VoIonteerSi L 132 ; zmd Canning. i. 148, 151, 1 68. 203 ; Warden of the Cinque Ports, L 159. 219 ; the slave trade, L 1S9 ; vote of thanks to, i. 191, 193 ; dinner to, L 194, 195 ; great speech on war with France. L 204 ; forms a new Ministry, i. 211 ; attack of gout, L 227 ; death of, i. 229 ; the nation's loss, L 230 ; and Genera! Miranda, L 264, ii, 275 ; Can- ning's inscription on the monu- ment of, L 391 n. ; Thi Pilot thjt vjidtherid the Storm, i. 419- 421 Pitt, Life of William, by John Gifford, L 289 n. Planta, Joseph, afterwards Privy Councillor : his career, ii. 28 n. ; Under-Secretary of State, iL 57, 59 ; and Sir Charles Baigot. iL 123 ; on death of Lord Londcn- derry, ii. 131 ; and Lord Francis Conyngham, iu 14S ; France and Spain, iL 156 ; Stratford Canning on, ii. 200 ; inter\dew with Prince de PoUgnac, iL 249 ; on death of Can nin g, ii. 417, 419 Plunket, William, afterwards Lord Plunket, Attorney-General for Ire- land : his career, iL 96 ; Master of the Rolls, iL 391 ' Poissardes,' the, i. 117 Poland, Sir Harry : Canning's rhj-ming despatch, iL 318 Polignac, Prince Jules de, French Ambassador in London, ii. 180 ; and Canning, ii. 208, 248-258, 318, 310 Politica, Chevalier Pierre de, En- voy of the Emperor of Russia, ii. 126 Pomfret, Henrietta, Countess of, ii. 58 INDEX 457 Ponsonby, second Baron, after- wards Viscount, ii. 289 n. ; his career, ii. 305 n., 308-310 Ponsonby, Right Hon. George, Leader of the Opposition, i. 2S6, 364 Pope, Alexander, i. 72 Popham, Admiral Sir Home : capi- tulation of Copenhagen, i. 233 n. ; Mimnda and the British Admiralty, i. 264 n. ; his trial, i. 265 ; and Peter Finnerty, i. 316 n. ; the Scheldt Expedition, i. 354 Porter, David, Commander of the Essex, ii. 163 Portland, third Duke of: installa- tion as Chancellor of the Uni- versity of Oxford, i. 21,411; Prime Minister, i. 231; the Convention of Cintra, i. 275 n. ; and Canning and Lord Castlereagh, i. 295, 310. 314 n-. 323. 326, 339 ; resignation, i. 320 n., 345 ; death, i. 339 ; and Pitt, i. 363 Portland, fourth Duke of. Lord Privy Seal, ii. 420, 426 Portugal : revolution, ii. 1S3, 189, 307 ; asks England for help, ii. 246-258, 314 Portugal, John VI., King of, asks England for help, ii. 246-258 ; flight of, ii. 307 ; death, ii. 354 n. Portugal, the Crown Prince of, and Napoleon, i. 232 Portugal, Prince Regent of, and Canning, ii. 44, 402 Potter, Paul, painter, ii. 334 Powlett, Colonel Norton, i. 257 Prevost, Mr., i. 245 Prussia: the Holy Alliance, ii. 117, 175 ; South American Conference, ii. 241 Pryce, George, Memorials of the Canynge Family, i. 16 n. Quarterly Review : George Hammond, i. 51 n. ; Canning's contributions to, i. 255 n., 259 n.. 274 n. ; William Gifford, editor, i. 303 n., 392 n. ; on the United States, ii. 23 ; on Lord Raglan, ii, 71 ; Croker's article, ii. 159 n. Raglan, Lord. See Somerset, Lord Fitzroy Raikes, Tom, and Brougham, ii. 374 Randolph, John, duel, ii. 301 Redding, Cyrus, Fifty Years' Recol- lections, i. 316 n., 395 Reeves, John, Chief Justice of Newfoundland, i. 34 Regency Bill, i. 369 n. Regency, Memoirs of the, by the Duke of Buckingham, i. 399 n. Regent, Prince. See Wales, Prince of Ribeaupierre, M. de, Russian Min- ister to the Porte, ii, 219 n., 243, 244, 262, 269 Richman, Rev. H., and Canning, i. 18, 19 Richmond, fourth Duke of, Gov- ernor-General of Canada, death, ii. 77 n. Riots, i. 33, 34; in London, i. 51, 52, 349; in Huddersfield, ii. 53 n. ; in Manchester, ii. 94 Ripon, first Earl of. See Robinson, Right Hon, F. Robertson, Rev., and Romana, i. 273 Robinson, Mr. Crabbe, his diarj-, i. 216 n., 273 n. Robinson, Right Hon. Frederick, afterwards Viscount Goderich and first Earl of Ripon, i. 265, 316, 317 n. ; Prime Minister, ii. 420, 423. 426, 427, 434 Rogers, Samuel : Table Talk, i. 68 n. , 229 n. ; Human Life, ii. 92 Romana, the Marquis, i. 273, 274 Roman Catholics : Officers' Dis- abilities Bill, i. 231 ; question, i. 385, 3SS, 391. ii- 2, 10. 54. 167, 168, 358, 361 ; Bill thrown out, ii. 281 n., 282 n., 314 Romanoff, Nicholas, Foreign Min- ister for Russia, i. 302 n. Romanzoff, M. de, i. 281 n. Romilly. Sir Samuel, ii. 91 n. Rose, Right Hon. George, Pre- sident of the Board of Trade, i. 127 ; his career, i. 315 n., 321 ; Treasurer of the Navy, i. 331, ii-35 Rose, Sir G. H. (son of the above). Minister at Berlin, ii. 140, 141 ; resignation, ii, 153 Rose, Dr. J. Holland : Life of Napoleon, i. 232 n. , 2S0 n. ; Can- ning's policy in Spain, i. 25S n. ; Canning and the Spanish Patriots, i. 269 n. Ross, Sir John, Life of Lord de Saumarez, i. 285 n. Ross, Lieutenant Tyrrell, private secretary to Canning, i. 296, 318, 333 458 INDEX Rush, Richard, American Minister in London, ii. 85 ; the execution of British subjects, ii. 88 n. ; Court of London, ii. 94 n., 215 n., 234 ; the Monroe Doctrine, ii. 206, 209, 215-220 ; the slave trade, ii. 271 n. ; and C. Hughes, ii. 285 Russell, Lord John, afterwards sixth Duke of Bedford, i. 9 n., ii. 99 Russia : and France, i. 145, 348 ; Treaty of Tilsit, i. 232, ii. 404 n. ; and England i. 234, 280, ii. 202- 204, 211, 218-220; Convention of Cintra, i. 273, 274 n. ; Napoleon's invasion, i. 392 ; alliance with Prussia, ii. 108 n. ; the Holy Al- liance, ii. 117; and Turkey, ii. 122, 197; and Spain, ii. 140-145, 152, 153. 156 n., 181, 202-204, 238- 241 ; Behring's Straits, ii. 161 n., 205 n. ; and Canning's speech, ii. 173 ; estimate of forces in, ii. 176 n. ; her intentions, ii. 184- 186 ; North - West American boundaries, ii. 232 n., 233 ; a premature publication, ii. 245, 266, 269 ; her diplomacy, ii. 259- 270 ; death of the Emperor, ii, 302-305; the Duke of Welling- ton's Mission to, ii. 326-340 ; and The Hague, ii. 341-350, 356, 357 ; executions, ii. 355 Russia, Emperor Alexander of, in- terview with Napoleon, i. 280; and Duke of Wellington, ii, 68 ; Sir Charles Bagot on, ii. 112, 211 n. ; Lord Holland on, ii. 115 ; the Holy Alliance, ii. 117, 120, 181, 185 ; Czernovitz meeting, ii. 229 ; his diplomacy, ii. 259-270 ; death, ii. 278, 302 n., 312 Russia, Emperor Nicholas of, his succession, ii. 278, 302, 312, 316; Duke of Wellington's Mission to, ii- 333-340 ; conspiracy against, ii- 355 ; and Prince of Orange, ii. 363, 367 Ryder, Mr., Treasurer of the Navy, i. 167 ; Home Secretary, i. 363 Sackville, Lord, afterwards Duke of Dorset, and Sneyd, i. 14, 154, 190, 210; and George Ellis, i. 224 ; action against, ii. 257 n. St. Helens, Baron, i. 353, ii. 266 St. John, John, author, i. 9 St. Laurent, Madlle., and the Duke of Kent, ii. 65 Sarmento, M. , ii. 189 Saumarez, Admiral Sir James, afterwards Lord de Saumarez, i. 255 n., 276 ; his career, i, 285 n. Saumarez, Life of Lord de, by Sir John Ross, i. 285 n. Sayer, James, caricaturist, i. 55, 144 Scarlett, Sir James, afterwards Lord Abinger, chief Baron of the Exchequer, ii. 92, 387 Scott, General, ii. 299 Scott, Miss Joan. See Canning, Mrs. Scott, General John, father of Miss Joan Scott, i. 158 Scott, Sir Walter, novelist, and Lady Malmesbury, i. 129; and Bagot, i. 294; on Canning, i. 348 n., ii. 288; The Heart of Midlothian, ii. 86; at Abbotsford, ii. 270 ; visits Westmorland with Canning, ii. 287 Seaford, Lord. See Ellis, Charles Semphill, Lord, i. 34 Sheffield, second Earl of, marriage, ii- 283 Shelley, Sir J., ii. 171 Sheridan, R. B., i. 18, 19, 172 n. Sidmouth, first Viscount. See Addington, Henry Sieyes, Abbe, i. 148 Skelmersdale, Baron. See Wilbra- hara, E. B. Slave trade, the, i. 150-152 ; aboli- tion of, in Spain, ii. 145 n. ; in America, ii. 166, 271 n. ; abandon- ment of, in Brazil, ii. 417 Smith, 'Bobus,' i. 21 ; The Micro- cosm, i. 152 n. : his speech, i. 397 n. ; ' penny wise and pound foolish,' ii. 134 Smith, Charles Culling, ii. 129 n. Smith, Sir C, ii. 112 Smith, Miss Emily, marriage, ii. 129 Smith, J., The Microcosm, i. 152 Smith, Admiral Sir Sidney, com- manding the South American station, i. 289 n. Smith, Rev. Sydney, ii. 92, 170 Sneyd, Rev. John : his associations with Canning, i. 3 ; his history and character, i. 3-6; a carica- turist, i. 10, 142 ; Canning's poems, i. 20, 21, 67, 69, 165, 221 ; and James Gillray. i. 55-57, 60, 138-140, INDEX 459 170-172, 176, 196, 225.227 ; and George Ellis, i. 60-63, 145, 181 ; Muses Cateatonenses, i. 70-1 16 ; and Lady Malmesbury, i. 118-132; The Anti -Jacolin, i. 136; and Frere, i. 143, 144, 212-214, 229; Canning's courtship and mar- riage, i. 153-170; death of Mrs. Charles Ellis, i. 199-203 ; Can- ning's impending visit to, i. 20C- 209 ; Pretty Boh, i. 226, 227 ; and Charles Bagot, ii. 47-49 Sneyd, Colonel Walter, i. 3 Soldiers' Friend, The, i. 144 n. Somerset, Lord Fitzroy, afterwards Lord Raglan, ii. 2, 3, 43 ; his career, ii. 70, 71 ; the attempt on the Duke of Wellington's life, ii. 71, 72 ; Duke of Wellington's Mis- sion to Russia, ii. 333, 334, 394 Southey, Robert, poet, i. 136, 137 South Hill, near Bracknell, pur- chased by Canning, i. 182 n. Souza, the Chevalier de, i. 261, 31S ; Canning's duel, i. 332-334 Spain: war with England, i. 211, 257, 258, 350 ; and General Miranda, i. 264, 268 ; Convention of Cintra, i. 272-275 ; the Holy Alliance, ii. 120 ; her South American Colonies, ii. 126, 172-204, 208, 229 n. 237-241, 274 ; and Russia and France, ii. 141-144, 156 ; Canning's speech on, ii. 173, Portugal and Spanish America, ii. 242-258 Spencer, second Earl, i. 195, 363 ; ii. 100, 403 Sprott, Claude, The Pilot that weathered the Storm, i. 191 Stanhope, Lady Hester, i. 132, 229, 230 Stanhope, Lord, L?/e o/P;7/, i. 161 n., 195, 229 n. Stapleton, A. G., Private Secretary to Canning : Life and Times of Cabining, i. 71, 233 n. ; Canning and Castlereagh, i, 255 n. ; Sir Arthur Wellesley, i. 290, 318 ; Canning and Sir J. Moore, i. 304 n ; the bullion question, i. 371 n. ; Canning's policy as Foreign Minister, ii. 138 n., 151 n. ; Charles Bagot's mistake, ii. 259 n, ; and Charles Bagot, ii. 39G ; on Canning's death, ii. 423, 435 Starhemberg, Prince, i. 245 Staunton, Sir George, Secretary to the Embassy to China, i. 69 Stewart, Alexander, marriage, ii. 284 Stewart, Lord (Sir Charles Stewart), afterwards third Marquis of Londonderry, British Minister at Vienna : i. 10 n. the Holy Alliance, ii. 118, 119 ; second Lord Londonderry's death, ii. 132, 138; his resignation, ii. 138, 139, 143, 148, 154 ; the Greek question, ii. 213 ; and Canning, ii. 391 ; and Tierney, ii. 398; and Cath- cart, ii. 401 Strachan, Sir Richard, the Wal- cheren Expedition, i. 322, 349 Strangford, sixth Viscount, Minister at Lisbon, i. 288, 289 n., 334, ii. 139; at Constantinople, ii. 142; and Nesselrode, ii. 177, 180, 185 n., 228, 229 ; and Bagot, ii. 190, 191, 292 n., 303, 326, 335- 340, 348 ; Russia and Turkey, ii. 196, 214, 219, 242, 243, 245, 259-277, 335-340, 348; and Can- ning, ii. 200 ; the Greek question, ii. 210, 229, 230, 242, 337-340; Ambassador to Russia, ii. 312, 313 ; a grievance, ii. 329-333 ; Duke of Wellington's arrival in Russia, ii. 335, 336 Stratford de Redcliffe, Life of Lord, by Lane-Poole, i. 17, 52 Stuart, Sir Charles, afterwards Lord Stuart de Rothsay, Ambassador to Paris, i. 257 ; Spanish trade, i. 258 ; the Asturian demands, i. 269 n. ; Convention of Cintra, i. 274 n., ii. 73, 93 ; recalled, ii. 158 n. ; a Black Repubhc, ii. 195 ; Independence of Brazil, ii. 307 Subserra, M. de, insurrection in Portugal, ii. 187, 1S9 n. Su7i, The, newspaper, and Lord Strangford, i. 289 n. Sutherland, Elizabeth, Countess of, i. 50 n., 130 Sutton, Mr. Manners, the new Speaker, ii. 51 n. Suvaroff, Count Alexander, a Rus- sian General, i. 145 Swann, Henry, i. 350 Sweden, Adolphus Gustavus, King of: quarrel with Sir J. Moore, i. 254 n. ; Treaty with Great Britain, i. 282 ; deposed, i. 301 n., 304 460 INDEX Sweden, Charles XIII., King of, assumes the throne, i. 301 n. ; Treaty with Russia, i. 302 n. Sweden, Bernadotte, King of, mar- riage, ii. 285 Swift, Jonathan, i. 72 Talavera, Battle of, i. 317 n., 323 Talbot, second Earl, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, i. 369, ii. 38, 41 ; and Charles Bagot, ii. 89 ; his recall, ii. 129 n., 171 Talbot, Rev. and Hon. George, Rector of Wittington, ii. 20 Talleyrand, M.: Napoleon's letter to George III., i. 161 ; and Can- ning, i. 169 n. ; Congress of Vienna, ii. 2 Tankerville, fifth Earl, and Sydney Smith, ii. 170 Tatitscheff, M. de, ii. 141, 196 Taylor, Brook, agent in Constanti- nople, i. 232 Taylor, Sir H., ii. 394 Temperley, H. W. V. : Life and Times of Canning, i. 2 n., 259 n., 282 ; Canning's speech, ii. 80 ; Lord Clanwilliam and Canning, ii. 148 n. ; the rhyming despatch, ii. 318, 325 Therry, Sir Roger, Camiing's Speeches, i. 323 n. Thompson, Dr.. mineralogist, i. 28 n. Thornton, Right Hon. Sir Edward, G.C.B. : his career, i. 254 n., 259 ; Envoy to the King of Sweden, i. 277, 286. 304 Tierney, George, second Secretary at The Hague, ii. 169 ; the rhyming despatch, ii. 324 ; and Canning, ii. 353 ; on the new- Government, ii. 3S6-388, 391, 395, 397. 398 Times, The, newspaper: dinner to Pitt, i. 195, 196; Baron d'Ehren- stein, i. 284 ; Hume and Canning, ii. 94 Titchfield, Marquess of, son of third Duke of Portland, i. 5 ; Arbuthnot and Main - a - Due, i. 8, 9 ; Pitt's resignation, i. 127 ; and Canning's courtship, i. 154, 158, 165, 166, 2C9 n., 344, 348, 349 Tixall Hall, i. 404 n. Toro, Marquess del, i. 268 Trafalgar, Battle of, i. 224 n. Troppau Congress, the, ii. 103, 118 True Briton, The, newspaper, i. 144 Trusler, Dr., Hogarth Moralised, i. 114 Turkey (see also Greece) : the Holy Alliance, ii. iig, 186; and Russia, ii. 196-199, 210, 215, 219; and Greece, ii. 227, 229, 230 ; evacuation of Greece, ii. 243, 244 ; Russian diplomacy, ii. 259-268 Turner, Sharon, i. 303 n. Ulm, capitulation of, i. 229 Uhn and Trafalgar, poem by George Canning, i. 415-419 Upton, General Sir Arthur, K.C.B. , the I3altic Mission, i. 279, 280 Vane, Sir H., i. 363 Vansittart, Right Hon. Nicholas, afterwards Viscount Bexley, Secretary to the Treasury, and General Miranda, i. 264-268 ; and Oxford, ii. 50 ; on economy, ii. 123 ; ' penny wise and pound foolish,' ii. 134 ; Chancellor of the Exchequer, ii. 155, 159 ; the new Government, ii. 387 Verona, Congress of, ii. 119, 120, 138 Verstolk, M. de. Acting Foreign Minister for the Netherlands Government : Charles Bagot on, ii. 301 ; death of the Russian Emperor, and his successor, i- 303> 304> 316 ; Commerce Con- vention, ii. 319; his position, ii- 341. 345 ; and Canning, ii. 356, 357 Villele, M. de, French Minister : the Spanish question, ii. 138, 143, 149, 152 ; France puzzled, ii. 257 Villiers, Right Hon. J. C, after- wards third Earl of Clarendon : Minister at Lisbon, i. 241 ; on clothing and equipment for the army, i. 290-294, 298, 319 ; and Canning, i. 3o6n. ; returns home, i. 317 n.. ii. 155 Villiers, Hon. George, afterwards fourth Earl of Clarendon, K.G. : Attache at St. Petersburg, ii. 156 ; his career, ii. 388 n. ; on the Duke of Wellington and Canning, ii. 388-390 ; and Charles Bagot, ii. 429, 433 Villiers, Viscount, afterwards fifth Earl of Jersey, marriage, i. 130 n. Vimiera, Battle of, i. 272 INDEX 461 ^ Vivian, Sir H., ii. 391 Volunteers, Cinque Port, raised by Pitt, i. 132 Wagram, Austrian defeat at, i. 311 n., 322 Waithman, Robert, an active Re- former, ii. gi Walcheren Expedition, the, i. 322, 349 Wales, Prince of, afterwards George IV. : becomes Regent, i- 35°- 364-389 ; Battle of Water- loo, ii. 4 n.; his daughter's mar- riage, ii. 14 n.; and Lord Castle- reagh, ii. 30 ; and Stratford Canning, ii. 94 n. ; succeeds as George IV., ii. 96; visits Ireland, ii. 112-115; the Holy Alliance, ii. 117; his speech, ii. 15S ; and Lord Maryborough, ii. 193 ; the Netherlands Embassy, ii. 224, 225 ; and Lord Ponsonby, ii. 305 n, ; his health, ii. 32S ; the Roman Catholics, ii. 373 ; and Copley's speech, ii. 377, 379 ; and Canning as Prime Minister, "• 389, 392, 394; on Canning's death, ii. 423 Wallace, Robert, and Canning, ii. 217 Wallace, Thomas, afterwards Lord Wallace, Vice-President of the Board of Trade, ii. 157 n. ; Master of the Mint, ii, 191, 193 Walpole, Horace, by Cunningham, i. 391 n. ; his letters, ii, 78 Walpole, Sir Spencer : Life of Perceval, i, 298 n., 309 n., 317 n., 323 n,, 339 n., 358 n., 362 n. ; History of England, ii, 259 n., 375 n. Waltersdorff, General, capitulation of Copenhagen, ii. 233 n. Ward, Dr, A. W., European Politics in the Nineteenth Century, ii. 117 n. Ward, Hon. John William, after- wards Lord Dudley and Ward : his career, i. 300 ; and Bagot, i, 307 ; and Canning, i. 323 n,, 336, ii, 122, 127 ; Letters to Ivy, i, 386 n., 391 n., 397 n., 399 n., ii, 12 n., 273 n. ; and Charles Bagot, ii, 86, 93 ; and Canning's joke, ii. 169. 170 ; on Canning's industry, ii. 227 n., 359; on Lady Canning's pamphlet, ii. 273 ; Foreign Secretary, ii. 393, 396, 398, 409, 426 ; Bagot and the Prince of Orange, ii. 398, 411 ; after Canning's death, ii. 414, 421,432 Ward, Michael, Secretary to the Embassy at Lisbon, ii. 246, 268 n., 270 Wardle, Colonel, and Mrs, Clarke, i. 306 Waring, Scot, and The Quarterly Review, i. 303 n. Warrender, Right Hon. Sir G., ii, 20, 390 Warren Hastings, i. 221 n, Washington, Hon. Bushrod, ii. 25 Washington, Life of George, by Mar- shall, ii. 25 n. Waterloo, Battle of, ii. 3, 4 ; anni- versary of. ii. 29 Weigall, Lady Rose, Memoir of Princess Charlotte, ii. 104 n. Wellesley, Lady Anne, ii. 129 n, Wellesley, Sir Arthur, afterwards the Dukeof Wellington : conversa- tions with, i, I n, ; Capitulation of Copenhagen, i. 233 ; and Charles Bagot, i, 237 n, ; and Sir J. Moore, i, 255 n.; defeats Junot, i, 272 ; and Romana, i. 274 n. ; returns to England as Irish Secretary, i, 278 ; Com- mander-in-Chief, i, 289, 290 : Canning's support of, i. 289, 304 n., 318 ; arrives at Lisbon, i, 291, 299; and Villiers, i, 293; victories at Oporto and Talavera, i, 323 ; created Viscount Welling- ton and Baron Douro, i, 338 n. ; Torres Vedras, i. 350 ; his influ- ence, i, 386 ; the Congress of Vienna, ii, 2 ; Battle of Waterloo, ii. 3, 4 ; Due de Berri on, ii, 12 n, ; arrival in London on anniversary of Waterloo, ii, 29 ; Pauline Borghese, ii, 41, 42, 64 ; ' a won- der-working fellow,' ii, 65, 66 ; attempt on his life, ii, 66-75 ; Queen Caroline, ii, 99, 102 ; the Holy Alliance, ii. 118, 120, 121 ; inspects fortresses in Flanders, ii, 132, 349, 350 ; Congress at Vienna, ii. 138-143 ; Congress at Verona, ii, 150 ; his deafness, ii. iS^, 336 ; the Spanish campaign, ii. 167 ; and Lord Strangford, ii. 190 n, ; Russian diplomacy, ii, 259 ; mission to St. Petersburg, ii. 278, 312, 328, 333, 336 n. ; the Greek negotiations, ii. 337-340 ; 462 INDEX Commander - in - Chief, ii. 359, 372 ; resignation of the Horse Guards, ii. 3S5, 3S7, 398 ; and the King of France, ii. 391, 392 ; his speech on the Indian Army, ii. 400 ; the Corn Bill, ii. 406, 413 ; 'Caesar aut nullus,' ii. 408-410; after Canning's death, ii. 430, 433 ; First Lord of the Treasury, ii. 436 Wellesley, Sir Henry, G.C.B., after- wards Lord Cowley : Secretary of the Treasury, i. 241 n. ; Astui^ian demands, i, 269 n. ; charges against, i, 306 ; Ambassador to Ferdinand VH., i. 314 ; and Can- ning, i. 319, 343 ; and Charles Bagot, i. 320, 321 ; Ambassador in Spain, i. 339 n. ; marriage, ii. 13 n. ; anniversary of Waterloo, ii. 30 ; British Minister at Vienna, ii. 139, 154 ; and Tatitscheff, ii. 141 ; his career, ii. 145 n.; Spanish affairs, ii. 145-148 ; Russia and Turkey, ii. 196 ; and Lord Strang- ford, ii. 200, 201, 229 ; offer of India, ii. 373 : and Canning, ii. 401 Wellesley, the Marquess, Ambas- sador to Spain, i. 30S, 309, 314, 317 n.; Foreign Minister, i. 324, 339 n. ; Canning and Lord Castle- reagh, i. 327, 328, 335, 336, 337 ; and Cannmg, i. 340-343. 349. 357" 360, 365, 390, 391 ; and Spain, i. 350 ; the new Government, i. 368-377 ; resignation, i, 385 ; Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, ii. 129 n. ; Canning's visit to, ii. 270 n.; his marriage, ii. 300 Wellesley Pole, Right Hon. William, afterwards first Baron Maryborough and third Earl of Mornington : Secretary to the Admiralty, i. 237 ; his career, i. 238 n. : and Canning, i. 278, 279, 335 ; Chief Secretary in Ire- land, i. 315 n., 398 ; and Charles Bagot, ii. 9, 12, 13, 29, ^3, 67-70, 87-89 ; Master of the Mint, ii. 31 n. ; Canning's speech, ii. 44 ; in the days of the Regency, ii. 58-60 ; Paris after the war, ii. 60- 62 ; on the Duke of Wellington, ii. 65, 66, 68 ; Brougham in West- morland, ii. 69 ; on the Queen's return, ii. 96-98 ; his work at the Mint, ii. 192 n., 193 n.; Master of the Buckhounds, ii. 193, 194 390 ; after Canning's Wellesley Pole, Hon. Mrs., after- wards Lady Maryborough : on Queen Caroline, ii. loi, 102 ; on her husband's appointment, ii. 192. 193 Wellington, the Duke of. See Wellesley, Sir Arthur Wellington, Life of, by Sir H. Max- well, i. 255 n., 274 n., 290 n., 291 n. , ii. 3 n. Wentworth, Baron, i. 381 Werther, Baron de, ii. 175, 179 West, Sir Benjamin, picture of the death of General Wolfe, i. 56 n. West Indies, and Russia, ii. 195, 196 Westmorland, tenth Earl of, i. 127; the slave trade, i. 150 ; resigna- tion, ii death, ii. 432 Wetterstedt, Baron, Secretary to the King of Sweden, i. 244, 283 Whitbread, Samuel, impeaches Lord Melville, i. 220 Wilberforce, William, i. 151, 188 ; Canning's duel, i. 334; the Re- gent's Government, i. 367 ; Queen Caroline, ii. 99 Wilbraham, Edward Bootle, after- wards Baron Skelmersdale, i. 5 ; Canning's letters to, i. 29-39, 4^- 48, 166, 197, 252, 344, ii. 130, 133, 433 ; The Pilot that weathered the Storm, i. 195 William I. See Netherlands, King of Willis, Dr., physician to George III., i. 9, 128 n. Willoughby de Broke, Lord, i. 11 Wilmot, Robert, afterwards Right Hon. Sir Robert Wilmot Horton, Canning's joke, ii. 169, 170 Wilson, General Sir Robert ; army equipment, i. 262; Lord Wellesley, i. 341 ; his career, ii. 23 n., 108 n. , 109 ; Lyttelton, ii. 91 Winchilsea, ninth Earl, marriage, i- 313 a- Windham, Lady, i. 66, 67 Windham, William : the slave trade, i. 151 ; his career, i. 192 n. ; Secretary for War, i. 230 Wolf, Death of the Great, by Gillray, i. 56 n. Wolfe, General, i. 56 n. Worcester, Marchioness of, ii. 59 n. Worcester, Marquess of, afterwards seventh Duke of Beaufort, second marriage, ii. 129 Wordsworth, William, ii. 288 INDEX 463 Wortley, Mr. Stuart, vote of cen- sure on the Government, ii. 179 Wright, Thomas, publisher of The Anti-Jacobin, i. 135, 171, 174 ; Life of Gillray, i. 177 n. ; and Frere, i. 179 Wynn, C. W. W., and Collier, ii. 94 ; Bubble and Squeak, ii. 135 n. ; on Sir Alexander Malet, ii. 231, 232 Wynn, Sir Watkin, ii. 135 n., 136 Yarmouth, Earl of, afterwards third Marquess of Hertford : Canning's duel, i. 16, 324; Marquis of Steyn in Vanity Fair, ii. 128 n. York, Duke of, Commander-in- Chief, i. 306 : and Roman Catho- lics, ii. 314 ; illness, ii. 328 ; death and funeral, ii. 358 ; his popu- larity, ii. 360 Yorke, Right Hon. Charles, First Lord of the Admiralty, i. 353 THE END BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PKINTEKS, GUILDFORD. ^^ THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara STACK COLLECTION THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW. 10ni-6,'62(C972464)476D UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACIUTY AA 000 241398 7