r UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES \j) 7 v/ ^C=> THE LIFE OF GRANVILLE GEORGE LEVESON GOWER SECOND EARL GRANVILLE K.G. Vol. I. 'ZO.il/' CeJ. '^ati.'n^.Sy. Q>Ouyy G>tr-ee^..mLanM^n^U~^fuftQ. 'C'lTi.iU-u - (A/aJJuLf ^k, . Q^ c THE LIFE OF GRANVILLE GEORGE LEVESON GOWER SECOND EARL GRANVILLE K.G. 1815-1891 BY LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICE WITH PORTRAITS IN TWO VOLUMES— VOL. L THIRD IMPRESSION SECOND EDITION LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON NEW YORK AND BOMBAY 1905 All rights reserved • ■ • • «• • • • • • » • • • • * • * • < • • • • • * * ' ^ "> M ^ ^ v j-/;;zc of all the sea ' ' The Dalbergs had been settled at Herrnsheim near Worms for many centuries. The legend runs that a relation of our Saviour who became a Roman soldier settled at Herrnsheim and was the ancestor of the Dalbergs. It is certain that the family was long looked upon as one of the most illustrious in Germany. After the coronation of the Roman Emperors it was always the custom when the honour of knighthood was about to be conferred upon any individual to ask if no Dalberg was present. If so he would be the first to receive the honoirr. "1st kein Dalberg da? " is a well-known expression in Germany.' (Tz?nes, June 20, 1902.) 1837-185 1] Entry on Political Life 33 and land forces of Naples. A brother of the Admiral played a distinguished part in the same service ; and a nephew became a cardinal of the Church. By the extinction of the elder or English branch of the house, the Admiral suc- ceeded in 1 79 1 to the title and the estates of Aldenham in Shropshire and thus became the head of the family. His son and heir, Sir Richard Acton, had married the sole heiress of the Dalbergs, Marie Pelline de Dalberg. Left a widow early in life, she was now about to become Lady Leveson en secondes noces. Lady Georgiana tells admiringly of the open mind and perfect frankness of her new sister-in-law, her rectitude and deep sense of religion, and other noble quali- ties which she feels will recommend Lady Leveson to her correspondent, the Duke of Devonshire, always the friendly confessor of all his nephews and nieces. ' Here are Leveson and Lady Acton just arrived in a petite voiture [she writes from the Embassy] as happy as children. She is learning to drive. They go out every day boating, and she learns to row. . . . She exerts herself in every way to gain the goodwill of the family.' ^ The marriage took place on March 25, 1840. The honey- moon was spent at Chiswick and at Aldenham, and soon afterwards the newly married couple, on official life intent, settled in a house in Bruton Street which had belonged to the Ambassador, one floor of which was then occupied by Charles Greville, whom his friends therefore called the ' Lodger,' though others preferred to call him the 'Cruncher' owing to the sardonic and cynical tone of his criticisms of life and affairs, which his friends attributed to the fear of constantly recurring attacks of gout. But the heart of the Cruncher was really a warm and kindly one ; and his liberal sympathies were strong ; nor did gout ever mar the cordiality of his relations with the occupants of the floor below, whose political guide he aspired to be. Lord Leveson's tenure of the post of Under-Secretary was, however, not to be prolonged, for in August 1841 the Melbourne Government came to the end of a troubled ' Life of Lady Georgiana Fullerton^ p. ii6. VOL. I. D 34 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. n. existence. The great wave of enthusiasm which had carried Lord Grey into power had for some time past been ebbing. Large sections of the newly enfranchised middle-class electorate were already showing Conservative instincts, when the grievances from which they themselves suffered had mostly been removed. The need of the hour was felt to be a successful financier rather than a constitutional reformer. But the Whigs had been unable to develop a great financier in their own ranks, and had as yet failed in attracting one from outside. When Lord Leveson succeeded Mr. Edward Howard in the vacancy at Morpeth, it was on the understanding that on the return of the latter from his command, he should himself retire, and in February 1840 the Hon. Edward Howard was accordingly again elected, Lord Leveson having accepted the Chiltern Hundreds and thereby vacated the seat. At the general election of 1841 Lord Leveson, without a seat for himself, was able to throw himself into the struggle on behalf of his friends with all the more alacrity, especially in his own county. On the South Staffordshire hustings he became the object of a violent attack by a Mr. Williams, who appears to have viewed the presence of a Whig in that county with an indignation equal to that of Dr. Johnson in the previous century. We all remember the famous con- versation on the origin of parties. * I drank chocolate, sir> this morning with Mr. Eld, and to my no small surprise found him to be a Staffordshire Whig,' said Boswell. ' Sir,' replied the Doctor, * there are rascals in all counties.' ' Eld said,' continued Boswell, 'that a Tory was a creature generated between a nonjuring parson and one's grand- mother.' ' And I have always said,' retorted Johnson, ' the first Whig was the devil.' ' He certainly was, sir,' replied the submissive Boswell. Such evidently was also the opinion of Mr. Williams, who considered that Lord Leveson had no better right to be in Staffordshire in 1841 than Mr. Eld in the previous century, and he accordingly proceeded to deal faithfully with Lord Leveson on the hustings. 1837-185 1] Entry on Political Life 35 ' We went to Lichfield on Sunday evening [Lord Leveson wrote to his father, giving an account of this episode], and we none of us knew whether there would be a contest for S. Staffordshire or not till we were upon the hustings. A Mr. Smith of London (rather a vague appellation) put out an address, but did not appear on the hustings. Mr. Williams, an iron master, in seconding Lord Ingestre, made an attack on me. Before we broke up, I appealed to the courtesy of the electors to hear a few words of personal explanation. Mr. Williams had made an attack on me, an attack of which I did not complain although it might have been more courteous to have delayed that attack until I had offered myself as a candidate. He said that he and the major' cy of freeholders had never heard of my name, that I had never spoken in Parliament, or worked in com- mittees. " Now, gentlemen," I said, " I am twenty-six years old, I have been out of Parliament for a year and a half, and as no one can be elected till they are twenty-one, I appeal to you all whether four years is sufficient for a young man to make himself a great parliamentary name. To such I have no pretensions, but as to my name being unknown in Staffordshire, I utterly deny it ; I am proud of my name, because it belongs to a family which has received more kind- ness from the inhabitants of Staffordshire than it can ever repay, but I have yet to learn that any member of that family has done anything to make them undeserving of that kindness and confidence. Mr. Williams says that I never spoke in the House of Commons. Now it happens that before I was twenty-two years old I did speak. I do not say that it was sensible ; I do not say that it was prudent ; I am not clear that it was not very impudent to have done so ; but I did speak, and I was listened to with indulgence by the House, and some months afterwards I was selected by the Government to move the first Address of the House of Commons to our present most gracious Queen. I spoke once again, and if I had spoken oftener at that age, and with my inexperience, I put it to those who now hear me, whether I should not have made myself liable to the imputation of wasting the time of the House of Commons. As to committees, I had always attended the committees belonging to the county and the borough which I then represented. I have also attended a committee on education; and more than that, day after day, although I was not connected with the parliamentary re- presentation of Staffordshire, I attended the Manchester Extension Bill, in which Staffordshire was deeply interested." I thanked them for the indulgence with which they had heard me, and apologised for the egotistical statement I had made, but I had been brought up from my childhood with such strong feelings about Staffordshire and its D 2 36 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. ii. inhabitants, that I could not allow anything to pass which might lower me in their good opinion." I was very much cheered, and Mr, Williams sent me an apology.' But the election was a disaster. ' We are routed horse and foot,' was Lord Leveson's summary. ' It is no reaction, but great political apathy, and the registration has been attended to by the Tories, and completely neglected by us.' ^ It was not till the month of September 1841 that he was himself able to find a seat. Sir George Anson, one of the Whig members for Lichfield, a safe seat, fortunately retired, and Lord Leveson was returned in his place without a contest. The rout of his political friends in England was chosen by the Ambassador as the right moment for his own retirement. He had once before resigned, when, on the fall of Lord Melbourne's first Ministry in 1834, he feared that in the new occupants of office he might lack the necessary support ; but his resignation practically took no effect, for on the return of Lord Melbourne to power in the following year he once more was appointed to the Paris Embassy. A slight touch of paralysis in 1 840 was, however, a warning that the end of his long diplomatic career was near, and the final defeat of Lord Melbourne was felt by him to be a suitable moment for uttering his Vos plaudite ac valete. A contemporary said of Lord Leveson at this time that he was ' an attentive and promising young nobleman, who, aided by the good fortune which had attended him from the beginning of his career, might become distinguished and even famous ; but as yet was rather known as a courtly politician well versed in the smaller diplomacies of politics, who had failed, and perhaps had hardly attempted, to impress the House of Commons with possessing the gifts of per- severance and application without which success is difficult.' ^ ' Lord Leveson to Lord Granville, July 6, 1841. ^ See some observations on his career in the South Australian Register ^ April 2, \'6^\. I have referred in the Preface to the valuable assistance which I have received from the obituary notices of Lord Granville in various newspapers, published in 1891. t837-t85t] Entry on Political Life 37 Mr. Williams's attack on the Staffordshire hustings indi- cates some failings of the kind. Nor in the period immedi- ately succeeding the fall of the Melbourne Administration did Lord Leveson do much to remove this impression. During the five years from 1841 to 1846 when the Whigs were in opposition, he was almost necessarily condemned to com- parative silence on the questions connected with his former office, for Lord Palmerston then sat in the House of Commons. He was also more and more feeling but an imperfect sympathy with the ideals of Lord Palmerston in foreign affairs, and transferring his intellectual allegiance to the school of which the leader in the House of Commons was his friend Charles Villiers, and with him he steadily voted for the repeal of the Corn Laws. The Whigs in the House were also greatly disheartened. ' London [Lord Leveson writes at this time to his father] has been very pleasant, but there appears to be a most complete apathy about politics. Nobody mentions them ; and Tories and Whigs live on the best terms possible. I always think the Whigs less bitter animals than their opponents. I don't think we have a chance for at least three or four years of getting in. I dined at Windsor Castle last night after the Cup race at Ascot. The Queen asked after you. She does not see much of her Whig friends, but is very civil when she does.' ^ A new field was, however, about to open itself \x\ 1846 the Ambassador died ; and Lord Leveson suddenly found himself translated to the Upper House. The repeal of the Corn Laws had only just been carried, and the political atmosphere was still hot not only with the contests of ancient foes, but with the recriminations of former friends ; nor had the Old Guard of the Tory party, brilliantly led by their whilom antagonist. Lord Stanley, entirely abandoned the hope that the final word in the controversy had not yet been spoken. The death of the Ambassador coincided with the fall of the Administration of Sir Robert Peel ; and as the controversy over the Corn Laws might be reopened at any moment, the addition of a new recruit, pledged in ' Lord Leveson to Lord Granville, June lo, 1842. 2J.9393 2^ Life of the Secovd Ear/ Granville [ch. ti. favour of Free Trade, to the none too numerous ranks of that section of opinion in the House of Lords, was a welcome event. ' Before I came of age [Lord Granville afterwards wrote] I became an absolute Free-trader; and at the same time, but with still less study and reflection, I convinced myself that the laws of England and of France on the subject of the disposal of property after death were both in the extreme.' ^ The early surroundings of Lord Granville's life had left him far more intellectually free to pick and choose his own opinions than were many of his school and college contem- poraries. It was one of the peculiarities of his position — to which he sometimes alluded in conversation — that his own early training had been in many respects different from that of the other members of the Upper House. As a boy he had lived abroad far more than most Englishmen of his class. His father, though closely allied with the greatest territorial connection in the country, had never himself resided on his English estates, which were regarded as a source of mining and manufacturing wealth rather than of agricultural enter- prise, and he had not brought up his children among those class prejudices which, unless met by some strong counter- acting circumstances, tend to produce the type which em- bodied itself in the Tory aristocracy of the commencement of the century : a type of which strength degenerating into obstinacy, and pride passing into selfishness, are the distin- guishing characteristics. This class, if able to claim the Duke of Wellington as the product of the system — not that any such claim can be substantiated — found its ordinary and natural expression in the narrow mediocrities of the Liver- pool Administration and their successors. In 1831 they had brought England to the verge of revolution by refusing the parliamentary vote to the middle classes of the country, and they had just risked causing a civil war by refusing cheap ' Lord Granville to Lord Ilartington, December 21, 1883. Lord Granville, the Ambassador, was one of the Peers who in 1815 entered a protest on the Journals of the House of Lords against the Corn Laws ' in words which might have been written by Cobden.'— J. S. Nicholson, History of the English Cotn Laws, p. 39. 1837-185 1] Entry on Political Life 39 food to the people. Only by the fortunate desertion of their leaders at the most critical moment of the struggle were they saved from incurring the consequences of their own unwisdom. From this class Lord Granville both by tempera- ment and as the son of one of the strongest supporters of Mr. Canning was severed, and the conclusions which his early environment had rendered possible, his acquired opinions afterwards confirmed. Lord Granville's first speech as a peer was made on the question of the abolition of the Corn Laws. At a time when many of the Whig leaders were still hesitating, he had declared himself, while still a member of the House of Commons, in favour of total abolition. He now at once stepped into the breach in the House of Lords to resist those who were scheming how to abolish the recent abolition ; and whenever in after years the attempt was made to impugn the great principles for which the battle had been successfully fought, Lord Granville was found holding the fort. ' I am a veiy old Free-trader now [he told the House of Lords in 1879]. More than forty years ago, in opposition to the opinions of my political friends, I voted for the total repeal of the Corn Laws, and I never after gave a vote contrary to those principles. My love has been of a constant character.' * On the formation of Lord John Russell's Government in 1846, Lord Granville not unnaturally hoped to receive political office. It was therefore with some disappointment that he only received from the Prime Minister the offer of a Court appointment in the shape of the Mastership of the Buckhounds, an office never regarded as one of political importance, although two of its occupants at a remote period of history — as a recent Master has pleaded in bar of a sentence of abolition — had succeeded in conferring distinction on the post by involving themselves in certain dark conspiracies and getting executed for high treason and other grave crimes and misdemeanours. Lord Granville used afterwards to say that apparently these important facts had not sufficiently impressed themselves on the mind ' Hansard, ccxlv. 1397. 40 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. ii. of his friend Lord Stanley of Alderley, for one day when he himself and Lord Bessborough — the latter of whom had also been Master — were discussing with Lord Stanley the dis- tribution of offices on the formation of Lord Palmerston's Cabinet in 1859, Lord Stanley observed to him with refer- ence to one of the suggested names, ' That fellow is the sort of d d fool who is about fit for the Buckhounds : ' an observation which he immediately afterwards seemed anxious to qualify, observing present company. There were not wanting those who advised Lord Granville to show resentment and decline Lord John Russell's offer. While still hesitating he sought the advice of Lord Lansdowne, and was told by him that ' he had never yet known it go against a man's political career to have something to give up.' ^ The wisdom of this advice was seen in about a year's time, when a Court appointment being wanted for another supporter of the Ministry in the House of Lords, Lord Granville expressed himself ready to facilitate the arrangement by relinquishing the Buckhounds, in order to become the parliamentary member of the Commission on Railways appointed under a recent Act out of which the jurisdiction of the Board of Trade has gradually been since developed. As such he became the mouthpiece of the Commission in the House of Lords ; and when in 1 848 the Board of Trade was regularly constituted, with Mr. Labouchere as President, he not unnaturally became the first Vice-President. The allegiance of Lord Granville to the Free-trade views of Mr. Villiers was expected by Lord John Russell to re- commend Lord Granville's appointment ; but it was not so at Manchester, and Mr, Bright raged and stormed against the nomination of the former Master as an insult to the commercial classes. The wits of the period represented the borough member asking the ex-Master of the Buckhounds : ' Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing ? ' It was also discovered that the appointment was only another instance of Whig nepotism, because Lord Granville was related to Lord John Russell through the latter's grand- ' Lord Ribblesdale, The Queeti's Hounds, ch. xiii. pp. 222, 223. T837-1851] Entry on Political Life 41 mother. ' Lord John's grandmother ' became consequently a favourite subject of wit and jest, as the Mother Eve of the whole Cabinet, and was the theme of more than one heated controversy in the House, Mr. Bernal Osborne distinguishing himself by accounting on physiological principles for the ricketiness of the legislative offspring of the Cabinet, on the ground that nearly all the members of the Cabinet were closely related to each other owing to their common relation- ship to this ancient and illustrious lady. Further promotion came in 1847, when Lord Macaulay lost his seat in Edinburgh, and in consequence resigned the post as Paymaster-General, which was then conferred on Lord Granville. This, however, only embittered the attacks already made ; and it was fortunate that an opportunity quickly arose which enabled Lord Granville to justify Lord John Russell's selection and even to convert the critics of the appoint- ment in the great commercial centres into ardent supporters. In 1850 the idea of holding in London an International Exhibition of the products of the trade and commerce of all the nations of the earth first took definite shape. To whom, under the superior command of the Prince Consort, should the general direction of the complicated undertaking be given ? Public opinion indicated that the person selected ought to possess an independent position placing him above even the suspicion of interested motives and petty intrigue : a character able to smooth over inevitable friction and jealousies by conciliatory manners : an acquaintance with the business world sufficient to keep him in touch with the classes without whose support the Exhibition would be a certain failure ; and a knowledge of foreign languages and ideas which would enable him to understand the wishes of those outside this country whose co-operation was necessary in order to insure success — certain as they were to be punctilious as to priority of place and the importance accorded to their various exhibits. At the same time a man was required well able to make the foreign exhibitors and their representa- tives understand English ideas and susceptibilities. In Lord Granville the exceptional combination of these various gifts 42 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. ii. and qualifications was quickly recognised both by the Prince Consort and also by ' the man with the umbrella on the top of the omnibus ' whose pronouncements Lord Palmerston considered at this period of history to be the surest index to public opinion. Mr. Bright again sneered at such a task being entrusted to an ' ex-Master of Buckhounds,' little fore- seeing the day when the ex-Master and himself would be members of the same Cabinet, and regarded as perhaps more closely connected in opinion than any other two members of the Government. But Mr. Bright was among the very first to acknowledge his error, and to confirm the unanimous verdict which by the autumn of 1851 had decided that the Great Exhibition was a success, and that a large part of that success was due to the tact of the ' ex-Master,' to whose activity testimony was borne by an anecdote, that on the day of the opening, when at the last moment the arrange- ments were found a little backward, he was seen, broom in hand, vigorously sweeping up the refuse scattered about the dais, half an hour before the time fixed for the arrival of the Royal and distinguished personages who were to perform the ceremony. At the end of the year M. Sallandrouze, the manufacturer of the celebrated Aubusson carpets, who had been one of the principal French Commissioners, conveyed on behalf of his colleagues and the City of Paris an invitation to the British Commissioners to visit the French capital in August, where a series of festivities was being organised in their honour. This invitation was conveyed to the Prince Consort through Lord Granville. The Prince — having refused all festivities connected with the Exhibition in England — felt himself obliged to decline the invitation, though accompanied with a personal invitation from the Prince President to be his guest at the Elysee. His place was accordingly taken by Lord Granville, and at a great official banquet at the Hotel de Ville he was able to ' charm his hosts by responding for the Com- missioners, whose health formed the toast of the day, in a French speech free and flowing and full of telling points.' ' ' Martin, Life of the Prince Consort, ii. 388. 1837-1851] Entry on Political Life 43 Lord Granville was now admitted to the Cabinet. The Exhibition had been a valuable asset for Lord John Russell's Government, as the tide of material prosperity which it heralded floated the Government safely over the political rocks on which more than once in the session of 1851 their ship had all but struck. But a succession of lucky escapes cannot go on for ever, and in the last days of the year grave events occurred which indirectly were to prove fatal to the Government before many months were over. ' I have a particular reason for wishing you not to come to the Cabinet on Monday,' Lord John Russell wrote to Lord Granville on December 20, ' I will tell you of it afterwards.' ^ Lord Palmerston had suddenly disappeared from the Foreign Office, owing to a renewal of the old difficulties as to the proper relations of that office with the Crown and the Prime Minister. Acting on his own responsibility he had expressed to the French Ambassador his entire approbation of the act of the President in regard to the coup d'etat of December 1851 ; and the Prime Minister had summarily dis- missed him. It was generally believed that Lord Clarendon, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, was most likely to be Lord Palmerston's successor ; but a chivalrous unwillingness existed in his mind to desert his post at a moment when Ireland was reeling under the effects of the famine, and his administration was still the object of misrepresentation and attack. To prevent acceptance on his part, there may have been another reason also.^ As already seen, Lord Palmerston was at one time convinced that an intrigue had been on foot, participated in by Lord Clarendon himself, to substitute the then Lord Privy Seal for himself at the Foreign Office. Lord Clarendon probably did not desire to give any opportunity to unscrupulous tongues to accuse him of profiting personally by the ejection of the Foreign Secretary from the office which he had been charged with coveting a few years before. Lord Clarendon having refused, Lord John Russell, with characteristic boldness, determined to offer the vacant post ' Lord John Russell to Lord Granville, December 20, 1851. - Gre\'\\\G, Journal of the Reipt of Queen Viciorja, 1837-1852, iii. 428. 44 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. ii. to Lord Granville though a comparatively new and untried man. Lord Granville had occasionally appeared as the mouth- piece of the Government in the House of Lords on foreign questions. • I well remember [says the Duke of Argyll] that some years before 185 1, Granville had to answer some questions in the Lords on behalf of the Government. This he did with a discretion and in a manner which attracted the long-experienced eye of Lord Aberdeen, who turned to me when Granville sat down, and said, " I think this is the best man they've got." ' ^ Thus it was that, before the last days of 1851 were over, Lord Granville found himself installed in the chair in Down- ing Street whence Lord Palmerston had defied his colleagues, had flouted his Sovereign, had dominated Europe, and had made himself the idol of the British middle classes and the object of the intense hatred of all those whom the First Napoleon had comprehensively described as les vieiix pantalons de la diplomatie. Lord Canning, the chosen friend of his Oxford days, was among the first to offer his con- gratulations. ' The fact [he said] that you come in the place of Palmerston and his bad odour, that you are in your own person a sort of peace offering and concession to those who disapprove of him, and at the same time the security which I suppose you may feel that he will not turn upon you as a political opponent, are so many elements of comfort. Even the stormy appearance of events abroad has its advantages, as there is little risk of your making a mistake to your own personal discredit, when the state of things is such as to compel more than the usual attention and responsibility of colleagues. A small unexpected difficulty in quiet times might be much more dangerous, as far as your own self is concerned. ... I suppose there must be a revolution in Bruton Street, a new cook, no more cheap candles, no hunting pony, perhaps an improvement in hacks, and a new lining to the chariot. I hope not the removal of the " Lodger," though if required you might do it civilly by sending him on a special mission to the Barbary pirates.' ^ ' Note by the Duke of Argyll among Lord Granville's papers. 2 Lord Canning to Lord Granville, December 26, 1 851. 1837- 1851] Entry on Political Life 45 To Lord Lansdowne, who was the Liberal leader in the House of Lords, Lord Granville conveyed his sense of astonishment at his own sudden translation in the following letter : — Lord Granville to Lord Lansdowne. December 23, 1851. ' Dear Lord Lansdowne, — I have not yet recovered from my surprise at my own audacity. I hope you will not let the Shelburnes laugh at me too much. I presume the points of attack will be my incompetency ; the neglect of strengthening that which is weakened by the loss of an able man ; the adoption of Lord Aberdeen's policy, now that the only man is gone who cared for the popular cause in Europe ; and that the whole is the result of a Court intrigue to dis- place one who was too powerful to be influenced, and to replace him by one under the influence of the Court. The two first objections are strong. I hope that we shall be able to show that the two last are not true. ' Believe me, my dear Lord Lansdowne, in every position, ' Very gratefully yours, Granville.' CHAPTER III THE FOREIGN OFFICE, DECEMBER 1851 TO FEBRUARY 1852 The good will of Lord Aberdeen was an important factor to whoever might be the occupant of the Foreign Office. 'Lord John [he wrote to a friend] seems to have been deter- mined to have his own coup d'etat^ as well as the President; but although it has taken the world by surprise, I have been neariy as well prepared for one as for the other. The last drop which caused the cup to overflow, I do not exactly know, although I may guess what it was. At all events, I think the nomination of Lord Granville excellent. If the direction of the foreign policy of the country is to be in the hands of any member of Lord John's Government, he is the man I should have chosen. He is sufficiently liberal; but at the same time he is conciliatory and safe. His appointment will give great satisfaction, and will go far to remove some very serious embarrassments. I am quite certain that in the country there is very little notion of the real state of our relations with the whole world. It was perfectly unparalleled, and pregnant with danger. I shall be curious to see what is to be the result at home. Both Radicals and Protectionists want a leader, and both will bid high for one. Who will obtain him ? ' ' It was even more important that Lord Palmerston wel- comed his successor with perfect cordiality and admirable good humour. ' Ah, how are you, Granville ? Well, you have got a very interesting office, but you will find it very laborious ; seven or eight hours' work every day will be necessary for the current business, besides the extraordinary and parliamentary ; and with less than that you will fall into arrears.' He then ' entered into a complete history of our diplomacy, gave him every sort of information and even advice ; spoke of the Court without bitterness ; and in strong ' December 26, 185 1, copy among Lord Granville's papers. The Foreign Office 47 terms of the Queen's sagacity,' and ended by desiring Lord Granville to apply to him whenever he pleased for any information or assistance which could be useful.' Lord Granville's first step was to appoint a new Under- Secretary. He made a noteworthy selection in the person of Mr. Henry Layard, who in 1848 had become famous by the publication of his discoveries in the neighbourhood of Mosul, at Koyunjik, the site of the ancient Nineveh, and possessed an unrivalled knowledge of the East.^ He was at the moment without a seat in the House of Commons, but was known to be ambitious of parliamentary honours. Lord Granville's earliest experience of his new duties was a peculiar one. The Queen, irritated by the constant dis- putes with Lord Palmerston and alarmed at the threatening appearance of the prospect in Europe consequent on the coup d'etat oi December 2, 185 1, took the unusual step of asking Lord Palmerston's successor to explain his general views in a memorandum. Her Majesty's letter ran as follows : — Windsor Castle, December 28, 185 1. ' The Queen thinks the moment of the change in the person of her Secretary for Foreign Affairs to afford a fit opportunity to have the principles upon which our foreign affairs have been conducted since the beginning of 1848 reconsidered by Lord John Russell and his Cabinet. ' The Queen was fully aware that the storm raging at that time on the Continent rendered it at that time impossible for any statesman to foresee with clearness and precision what development and direc- tion its elements would take, and she consequently quite agreed that the line of policy to be followed as the most conducive to the interests of England could then only be generally conceived and vaguely expressed. ' But although the Queen is still convinced that the general principles laid down by Lord John at that time for the conduct of our foreign policy were in themselves right, she has in the progress of the last three years become painfully convinced that the manner in which they have been practically applied has worked out very different results from those which the correctness of the principles themselves had led her to expect. For when the revolutionary movement on ' Greville, Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria, iii. 433. * Nineveh and its Remains, which was followed in 1853 by the Discoveries. 48 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. hi. the Continent had laid prostrate almost all its Governments, and England alone displayed that order, vigour, and prosperity which it owes to a stable, free, and good Government, the Queen, instead of earning the natural good results of such a glorious position, viz. con- sideration, good will, confidence, and influence abroad, obtained the very reverse, and had the grief to see her Government and herself treated on many occasions with neglect, aversion, distrust, and even contumely. ' Frequently, when our foreign policy was called in question, it has been said by Lord John and his colleagues that the principles on which it was conducted were the right ones, and having been approved of by them, received their support ; and that it was only the personal manner of Lord Palmerston in conducting the affairs which could be blamed in framing the causes which led to the disastrous effects the Queen complains of. ' The Queen is certainly not disposed to defend the personal manner in which Lord Palmerston has conducted foreign affairs, but she cannot admit that the errors he committed were merely faults inform and method. The Queen considers that she has also to com- plain of what appeared to her deviations from the principles laid down by the Cabinet for his conduct ; nay, she sees distinctly in their practical application a personal and arbitrary perversion of the very nature and essence of those principles. ' She has only to refer here to Italy, Spain, Greece, Holstein, France, &c., which afford ample illustrations of this charge. ' It was one thing for Lord Palmerston to have attempted such sub- stantial deviations. It will be another for the Cabinet to consider whether they had not the power to check him in these attempts. 'The Queen, however, considering times to have now changed, thinks that there is no reason why we should any longer confine our- selves to the mere assertion of abstract principles, such as non-inter- vention in the internal affairs of other countries, moral support to liberal institutions, protection to British subjects, &c. &c. ' The moving powers which were put in operation by the French Revolution of 1848, and the events consequent on it, are no longer so obscure ; they have assumed distinct and tangible forms in almost all the countries affected by them (in France, in Italy, in Germany, &c.), and upon the state of things now existing and the experience gained, the Queen would hope that our foreign policy may be more specifically defined, and that it may be considered how the general principles are to be practically adapted to our pecuHar relations with each continental State. ' The Queen wishes therefore that a regular programme embracing 1851-1852] The Foreign Office 49 these different relations should be submitted to her, and would suggest whether it would not be the best mode if Lord John were to ask Lord Granville to prepare such a paper and to lay it before her after having revised it. This would then serve as a safe guide for Lord Granville, and enable the Queen as well as the Cabinet to see that the policy as in future to be conducted will be in conformity with the principles laid down and approved.' The Prime Minister did not altogether enjoy the notion. ' I send you a letter from the Queen [he wrote to the new Foreign Secretary in his driest style] which imposes upon you the duty o preparing a programme. I have told H.M. that it is not the policy of this country to make engagements except in a view of the circum- stances of the moment, and thus any rule may be broken through — that the best rule after all is to do to others as we wish they should do unto us. Still you may write a sketch of what you conceive our foreign policy should be.' ^ Lord Granville accordingly replied that in obedience to her Majesty's commands he would endeavour to record, how- ever imperfectly, the views of the Government with respect to British foreign policy, to point out what he conceived to be the proper objects of that policy, the principles of action by which those objects were to be obtained, and the application of those principles to our relations with the principal countries of Europe.^ The memorandum which was in consequence drawn up began by stating that in the opinion of the Cabinet it was the duty and the interest of a country such as Great Britain having possessions scattered over the whole globe, and find- ing itself in an advanced state of civilisation, to encourage progress among all other nations. But for this purpose the foreign policy of Great Britain should be none the less marked by 'justice, moderation, and self-respect,' and avoid any undue attempt to enforce her own ideas by hostile threats. This passage was intended to strike a note distinctly opposed to the overbearing attitude too often assumed by Lord Palmerston. Considering the great ' December 29, 1851. See also Greville's Journal of the Reign of Qneen Victoria, 1837-1852, iii. 442. - Only a draft of this memorandum exists among Lord Granville's papers. VOL. I, E 50 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. m. national advantages of foreign commerce, and the powerful means of civilisation it affords, one of the first duties of a British Government, the memorandum proceeded, must always be to obtain for our foreign trade that security which is essential to commercial success ; but in aiming at this all considerations of a higher character were not to be roughly pushed aside for the mere sake of supporting British traders abroad in every case and in any undertaking upon which they might have entered at their own risk. An allusion to such cases as those of Don Pacifico was probably here intended, though, as the Prime Minister had made one of his greatest parliamentary efforts in his speech defending Lord Palmerston's championship of that curious client, the allusion had to be discreetly veiled. British subjects of all classes engaged in innocent pursuits abroad were entitled to the protection of their Government. Where they had been treated with injustice, they had a right to expect that redress should be demanded in strong but dignified language, followed if necessary by corresponding measures ; but where by their own wanton folly or misconduct they might have got into difficulties, they had no right to expect assistance ; and even where they unwittingly but imprudently subjected themselves to the penal laws of the country in which they found themselves, they could not claim more than those good offices the efficacy of which always depends upon the friendli- ness of our relations with the country in which the difficulty had arisen. The Memorandum further stated that the Cabinet adhered to non-intervention in the internal affairs of other countries as a principle tending to maintain the dignity of the Crown and the security of the country, and to strengthen the lasting influence of the nation upon the opinion of the world. But they did not attach to the expression ' non-intervention ' the meaning implied by some who used it, viz. ' that diplomacy is become obsolete, and that it is unnecessary for this country to know or to take part in what passes in other countries.' With regard to occurrences likely to have international conse- quences, no general rule, however, could be uniformly applied. 1851-1852J The Foreign Office 51 The Government must in each case exercise a wide discretion whether it should interfere at once, or remain aloof till arbitration or good offices were requested. The latter course might often be advisable, when, as was then the case, opinion abroad was in extremes, and the foreign policy of England had obtained, whether justly or unjustly, the repu- tation of interfering too much. It would also often be found advisable to combine with other Great Powers when no sacrifice of principle was required to settle disputes between other nations. With respect to the internal affairs of other countries, such as the establishment of liberal institutions and the reduction of tariffs, in which this country has an interest, H.M.'s representatives ought to be furnished with the views of H.M.'s Government on each subject, and the arguments best adapted to support those views ; but they should be instructed to press these views only when fitting oppor- tunities occurred, and only when their advice and assistance would be welcome or be effectual, because the intrusion of advice suspected to be not wholly disinterested never could have as much effect as an opinion given at the request of the person who is to be influenced. With the countries which have adopted institutions similar in liberality to our own, it ought to be the endeavour of H.M.'s Govern- ment to cultivate the most intimate relations. In this con- nection the duty of H.M.'s Government should be to keep them informed of everything which might expose them to danger, and to give them, when required, frank and judicious advice ; and also to exert its influence to dissuade other Powers from encroaching on their territory or attempting to subvert their institutions. But cases might occur in which the honour and good faith of this country would require that it should support such allies with more than merely friendly assurances. These principles, the Memorandum concluded by pointing- out, required a particular application in each case, for our relations with each of the different European nations and with the United States of America often depended on special E 2 52 Life of the Second Earl Granmlle [ch. hi. circumstances ; and it must be remembered by the Queen that one unforeseen event might, like a move on a chessboard, necessitate counter-arrangements totally different from those originally contemplated. In this paper, as the 'Lodger' to whom it was shown observed, there was absolutely nothing to which either Lord Aberdeen or even Lord Palmerston himself might not theoretically have subscribed with perfect ease ; but, as that great authority also observed, ' in diplomacy dest le ton qui fait la chanson^ and it was not so much Lord Palmerston's acts as his tone which had brought about the recent catastrophe.' ' I see every day,' Lord Granville told Lord Clarendon, ' the proofs in the Foreign Office of the extra- ordinary ability and the little follies of my great predecessor.'^ The succession to Lord Palmerston was such as might have daunted a bolder man, whether regarded from the point of view of the position at home or abroad. The most influential sections of public opinion in England, being with Lord Palmerston and against the Court — of which it shocked Lord John Russell's Whig conscience to think he was now charged with being the creature — were prepared to believe the worst of Lord Granville, merely because he replaced the popular favourite ; and as Lord Palmerston's long champion- ship of liberty against the Holy Alliance was the basis of his popularity, his comparatively unknown successor — illogical and unjust as the sentiment was — immediately became credited with entertaining exactly opposite sentiments, and with being prepared to act as the minion of the crowned heads of Europe. The fall of the late Foreign Secretary was in fact regarded by a public unacquainted with the peculiar cir- cumstances which had led to it, as a victory for the old diplomacy, and as the triumph of all the forces of absolutism. Lord Granville's liberal antecedents were unknown abroad, and at home they were ignored in the passion of the moment. The British Minister at Madrid, Lord Howden, actually tendered his resignation, oblivious of the sentiments which his • Greville, lotirnal of the Reign of Queen Victoria, 1837-1852, iii. 442, 443. * Lord Granville to Lord Clarendon, January 5, 1852. 1851-1852] The Foreign Office 53 new chief had expressed in the debates on the Quadruple Alliance, because his own services, he said, * could no longer be of any use, as the retirement of Lord Palmerston either actually is or most certainly will be believed to be a direct con- cession to the reactionary spirit which is riding rough-shod over the world, and which is nowhere more to be apprehended than in Spain,' ^ The situation was further complicated at the moment by the peculiarities of the British Ambassador in Paris. To Lord Normanby in his long and varied career posterity will not deny the possession of some considerable gifts and accomplishments. In the melancholy list of Irish Viceroys he stands recognised as one of the few who succeeded in favourably impressing the popular imagination. The dis- cernment which he exhibited in the choice of Thomas Drummond as his principal adviser would, even if it stood alone, entitle him to some share of the meed of fame. But the splendid and slightly vainglorious demeanour which had charmed the inhabitants of Dublin did not meet with the same measure of success on the banks of the Seine amid more fastidious surroundings, and unfortunately lent itself to ridicule in a country where ridicule is often fatal. Endless tales were invented. It was declared that long ago the Emperor of Russia had presented the British Ambassador with a sword, and that the British Ambassador had caused it to be reduced to the size of a dagger, and had worn it on his coat in Paris as a decoration at a State ball. ' There was our Ambassador,' a wit had written to England, ' covered with decorations given by himself to himself, and very noble and generous of him too.' ' II est bon enfant,' M, Guizot was said to have observed, ' mais il ne comprend pas notre langue,' '^ and this imperfect knowledge of the language of the country rendered it possible for unfriendly critics to invent good stories at his expense : to relate for example ' Lord Howden to Lord Granville, December 1S51. Life of Palmerston^ iv. 309. - Article in the Dictionary of National Biography, .\lv. p. 231. The authority for the story is not given. 54 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. m. that he had greatly offended a leading statesman by one badly expressed letter, and then had made matters worse by writing another, in v^hich, desiring to explain that he had made une meprise, he had said unwittingly that the former letter was un mepris, and that he hoped it would be accepted as such. Such stories were doubtless the gay inventions of ill-disposed persons. But it was beyond question that Lord Normanby wrote despatches of im- mense length, and that his private letters were, to say the least, as numerous as his despatches were long. The former in Lord Palmerston's opinion were full of irrelevant matter ; and if the latter seemed on a first examination to have the merit of being written in an admirable handwriting, they were subsequently discovered on a closer scrutiny to be almost illegible. But it was a far more serious matter that the Ambassador, forgetting that a diplomatist should have no party politics, was unable to conceal his hostility to the new French President, and that the maintenance of cordial rela- tions between the two countries, a task quite sufficiently difficult in itself after the events of December 185 1, was further imperilled by his indiscretions. ' I am somewhat puzzled about Normanby [Lord John Russell wrote to his new Foreign Secretary]. On the whole I am disposed to say to him that he has stayed at Paris too long, and that I wish he would place his resignation in my hands.' ' Lord Palmerston had shortly before told the Ambassador that one of his despatches, which consisted of a dissertation on Kossuth, 'might have made a good article in the Times,' and that another * was mostly about a broken looking-glass in a club house, and a piece of plaster brought down from the ceiling by musket shots during the recent street fighting;' but that, on the other hand, he seemed to be quite un- acquainted with important events which he ought to have reported." Lord Granville had to follow in a similar strain before a month was over. • Lord John Russell to Lord Granville, December 28, 1851. - Lord Palmerston to Lord Normanby, December 6, 1851. 1851-1852] The Foreign Office 55 hONDOt^, Jammry 6, 1852. 'My dear Normanby, — Your letters are charming, and most use- ful and instructive, but they are like letters which one might find in an old chest narrating events which appear to be perfectly incompa- tible with the age in which we live. Still I think our policy is to be well with the President, as long as he retains the immense power which he now wields, without committing ourselves to any approval of his late acts. I was amused with Sallandrouze, who has communi- cated a letter of mine returning thanks for the Exhibition present to the newspapers. He has omitted the words "i\.ssembly" and " People," which were in the original. ' I am now going to make a most pert request for one who writes such a hand as I do. Your handwriting is beautiful, but I, like Lord Palmerston, cannot read it. Perhaps you will sign the copies, and keep the originals. Do not tell Lady Normanby, or she will never again speak to me for my impertinence, but ask her to send me an answer about Mr. Yorke. ' Yours sincerely, Granville.' ^ Although Lord John was always loth to part with an old political ally, it soon became impossible to maintain Lord Normanby any longer at his post ; and one evening the readers of the G/ol^e, then the habitual recipient of Ministerial confidences, found a cotnmunique in its columns, the terms of which Lord Granville had himself carefully framed, that the Ambassador had resigned.^ The choice of his successor was unusually important. Lord Canning was the first person to whom Lord Granville made an offer. He had been Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs in the Ad- ministration of Peel and Aberdeen, to whom, as most nearly representing the traditions of his illustrious father, he had attached himself on entering political life. Lord Granville to Lord Canning. London, yawwary 20, 1852. ' My dear Canning, — Lord John has determined soon to accept on general grounds Lord Normanby's resignation. I hiow Lord John thinks you are by far the fittest person to be his successor, and ' Lord (iranville to Lord Normanby, January 6, 1S52. - Globe f January 28, 1S52. 56 Life of the Second Earl Gi^anville [ch. hi. I believe Lord John would at once agree to any appointment which I proposed, if he did not object to the fitness of the person. ' I, however, cannot propose you to him without having some notion of your being likely to accept ; which, with your infernal trick of ever saying " No," is never certain ! ' I presume you would not object to a diplomatic appointment as you probably would to a political one at this moment, and I do not think you would feel what many in your position would do with respect to acting with so untried a man as myself at the Foreign Office. You would be working with me and not under me. I need not say what a comfort it would be to me to have you at Paris, and how deeply important it is to the public safety that a good man should be there at this time. ' You will consider this note as strictly confidential between our- selves. ' Ever yours, Granville.' Lord Canning to Lord Granville. Windsor, ya?«^«r>' 21, 1852. ' My dear Granville, — I found your letter in Grosvenor Square this afternoon, as I passed through town from Welbeck ; but I had not time to carry you an answer to it in person, which perhaps would have been best. ' Many many thanks for it, although I am afraid the proposal is one to which I can reply without hesitation ; for I doubt whether any considerations or any combination of circumstances (I can imagine none) would induce me to take the post in question. ' I quite admit that, in a political and party point of view, there is some difference between an office held abroad and one at home ; but the fact is that, apart from any such consideration, the nature of the service would be most distasteful to me ; and I know nothing that would compensate this — not even the sense of a duty undertaken — for I do not concur with Lord John and you in your estimate of my fitness. ' However, 1 am not the less grateful for the proposal which it has moved you to make. ' Ever yours sincerely, Canning. ' I do not think there is much chance of your supposing that I am foolish enough to be influenced by the motive you allude to as regards yourself ; so I do not waste words disclaiming it.' The Embassy after Lord Canning's refusal having been offered to and refused by Lord Clanricarde, was accepted by Lord Cowley, then Minister to the Germanic Confederation 1851-1852] The Foreign Office 57 at Frankfurt. He continued to hold the post till 1867, and Lord Granville used to say that of the numerous diplomatic appointments which he had made during his successive tenures of the Foreign Office, there was none to which he felt he could look back with such unalloyed satisfaction as that which he made to Paris during his brief reign in Downing Street in 1852. If the difficulties caused by the idiosyncrasies of Lord Normanby were considerable, far more serious were the troubles which were arising from the inexperience of the representative of France in London, M. Walewski, who was regarded, especially in Whig circles, with dis- like and suspicion. Charles Greville, probably reflecting the current opinion, described him a few years after these events in exaggerated language as ' an adventurer, a needy speculator, without honour, conscience, or truth, and utterly unfit both as to character and capacity for high office of any kind.' ^ It was not necessary to accept all these statements as true in order to realise that M. Walewski was not only showing that his recent and sudden elevation to a prominent position in the diplomatic firmament had turned his head, but that he was by nature a marplot : a mis- fortune all the greater because his chief M. Turgot was equally unfit, by the confession of his own friends, for the direction of the Foreign Office, to which he had un- expectedly been called by the events of December 185 1. The political atmosphere was full of rumours, excursions and alarums. There had already been reports credited by re- sponsible persons, about the time of the coup d'etat^ when war in Germany between Austria and Prussia seemed more than probable and an opportunity for a coup de main seemed favourable, to the effect that the Prince President had sent for General Changarnier, and had asked him to form an army in the shortest possible time, as the proper moment had now arrived to strike a blow against Rhenish Prussia,^ The General had fortunately answered, ' No, an attack of that sort ' Gx^mWXq, Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria, 1852-1860, p. 7. ''■ Barun Slockmar lo Lord Granville, February 19, 1852. 58 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. hi. could not be made without the most serious preparations for it ; and a hasty and inconsiderate movement might bring in- calculable danger upon France,' advice which possibly may have been remembered by the General and Napoleon III. in 1870, when at an interval of nearly twenty years the irony of fortune again brought them together for a moment at Metz in the last days of the Empire, just in time for General Changarnier himself to be involved in the capitulation of the army of Marshal Bazaine.' At the moment the Prince President was believed to be aiming at an understanding with Austria, then at the very height of her unpopularity in England. Metternich had fallen, but only to be succeeded by Prince Felix Schwarzen- berg and Baron Bach. The Vienna Revolution, which in its origin had been a movement of the middle classes to obtain a moderate amount of constitutional freedom, had been crushed in blood and massacre. Simultaneously the sur- render of Gorgei's army at Vilagos had terminated the struggle in Hungary. By the bloody reprisals exercised against Count Louis Batthyany and the aristocratic leaders, many of the greatest families in England had lost personal friends, and a Whig could recognise the probable fate of his own political ancestors had the Revolution of 1688 been put down by the Stuarts. The reaction and the system of repres- sion which followed made the working classes of England boil over with enthusiasm for Kossuth and demonstrate against General Haynau when he visited London. By responsible statesmen it was also remembered that Austria, in violation of the Treaty of Vienna, had aided Russia in crushing Poland, and had herself suppressed the Free Republic of Krakau ; that Austria was now trying to push Prussia still further into the path of reaction ; that Austria was believed to have been uniformly hostile to Greek independence, and that it was an Austrian army which was encamped on the soil of Italy. Every class, every section of opinion in England, was thus united in a common hatred. But so far as it was possible to get any clue to the ideas of ' Comte d'Antioche, Vie du General Changarnier, p. 435. 1851-1852] The Foreign Office 59 M. Walewski, he appears to have desired at this juncture above all things to form an entente between France and Austria, based on a recognition by France of the Austrian position in Italy, and the support by France of Austrian pre- ponderance in Germany against Prussia. He thereby proposed to secure Austrian support to French demands on Belgium, Switzerland, and Sardinia, in regard to the extradition of the political refugees in those countries, demands which might lead up at the proper moment to the revival of old boundary questions, Prussia being, it was hoped, amenable to influence in the shape of support to her claims on Neufchatel. ' The general view [Baron Stockmar wrote to Lord Granville] which I take at present with regard to what England has to appre- hend of France, is comprised in the following unconnected sentences. 'France was peaceful from 18 15 to 1848, because she was during that time ta7it Men que /««/ constitutionally governed. There can be no doubt that the French themselves acquired a more peaceful dis- position than they had shown heretofore. It is feared that the more peaceable disposition will disappear with the extinction of con- stitutional government, and with the reintroduction of the Regime l77ipMaIe. Napoleon's system in foreign affairs was La France et la violence. This system the nephew believes himself to be predestined to revive. But even if this was not his creed, the force of circum- stances, which domineers him, would constrain him to do it. ' Of the hundred and one things out of which the old Imperial system was made up, the nephew will attempt to re-establish the one or the other, at one time or at another, just as opportunities offer and promise a hope of success. In these attempts he will as often desist as he encounters obstacles which threaten his own position ; but he will begin again as often as circumstances inspire him with fresh hope. ' With regard to the attempts on the present territorial status quo of Europe, the only check really operative on the President and the French will be the conviction in their minds that rEurope unie s^opposera d tout envah'ssement. France at this moment is over-rich in men ; and, horses excepted, they are well provided with all the material for war. The Bank possesses 500,000,000 francs in cash. To exchange these against a refu will not be difficult for the President.' ' * Baron Stockmar to Lord Granville, February 19, 1852. 6o Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. in. Count Bismarck, then Prussian Minister to the Diet at Frankfurt, informed the British Charge d'Affaires that great uneasiness, in which he himself participated, existed in Berlin at the rapprochement of Austria and France : in con- firmation of which he read to him a private letter stating that overtures had been made in Paris from Vienna to overthrow constitutional government in Sardinia and Belgium, and Radicalism in Switzerland : that this was an adventurous policy which would suit Prince Schwarzenberg ; and that Austria, not stopping there, would probably commit some act of aggression against Prussia, and that Prussia would be swamped before a Russian army could come to their assist- ance. The letter went on to say that such was likewise the opinion of Baron Meyendorf, the Russian Ambassador at Vienna. Count Bismarck moreover informed the British Charge d'Affaires that the pecuniary claims which it was said were now about to be brought forward by France against Belgium were made at the instigation of Austria in order to find a casus belli} Meanwhile the French Ambassador at St. James's had gone out of his way to tell Lord Cowley, who at the moment was still in England, that he would find his position as Ambassador at Paris very delicate, and that ' much would depend on what would be said at the meeting of Parliament by the members of the Government ; and that any expres- sion of disapproval of the President's conduct by Lord John Russell or by Lord Granville would have the most serious effect ; ' and he also complained bitterly of the language of the press, especially that of the Times, in regard to the Prince President.^ He admitted, however, that Austria had proposed to France a joint military occupation of Switzer- land, though France, he said, had declined it, contenting herself for the present with a note couched in very strong terms on the subject of the political refugees. He intro- duced the subject of the claims of the King of Prussia on ' Mr. Edwardes to Lord Granville, January 1852. These claims were in rejfard to certain payments for the expenses of the siege of Antwerp. ^ Lord Cowley to Lord Granville, January 30, 1852. i85 1-1852] The Foreign Office 61 Neufch&tel, apparently as an additional shaft in his arsenal and as affording a possible inducement to Prussia to act with Austria and France ; and a few days afterwards, with singular indiscretion, in an interview at Windsor, he inquired as to the rumours of military preparations in England, and asked if it were true that the Duke of Wellington had been conferred with on the subject.^ Meanwhile, to make the situation still more delicate, the press, led by the Times, broke out against the Prince President in a furious campaign. ' I entirely agree with you [Lord Granville wrote to Lord Clarendon] about the press here on the subject of France. It is the height of folly irritating a man who has not only the executive power, but holds by proxy the Constituent and Legislative votes of the whole country at his disposal. The body of the French people will not long bear with fortitude this sort of dictation from their neighbours (foutre-mer. Some think that the President is certain to be shot : others that he is killing himself.' '^ Lord Granville now advised the Prime Minister that a consultation should be held with Count Flahault, who he thought was more likely to know the mind of the Prince President than M. Walewski, and in any case was more likely to be able to influence him. Count Flahault was the son of a French nobleman of the constitutional party, who, like so many persons of moderate opinions, had fallen by the guillotine at Arras during the reign of terror inaugurated there by the ex-monk Jean-Jacques Lebon in 1793. His widow, the authoress of Adcle de Senanges, better known under the name of Madame de Souza, which she acquired by her second marriage, escaped from Paris through the aid of the American Minister Gouverneur Morris, and fled almost destitute to England, the ports of which were open to aliens. Her son was educated at an English school. Joining the French army at the age of sixteen, in the campaign which ended at Marengo, M. de Flahault rapidly distinguished himself, rose in the subsequent campaigns to the rank of general of division, and was appointed aide-de-camp to the ' Memoranda of conversations between Lord Granville and M. Walewski, January 1852. -' Lord Granville to Lord Clarendon, January 7, 1852. 62 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. m. Emperor, serving in that capacity through the campaigns of 1 812, 181 3, and 1 8 14. After the capture of Paris he retired from active service, and, unhke many of the other generals of the Empire, did not accept office or place under the Restoration. On the return from Elba, he at once rejoined the Emperor, and took a considerable part in the organisation of the army which fought at Waterloo. Remaining to the last on the field of battle, he left only when the rout was complete, and rode by the side of the Emperor to Charleroi. An offer he made to accompany the Emperor to St. Helena was declined on the ground that he was too young a man to have his career spoilt. Finding himself the object of the pronounced hostility of the Legitimist party, both on account of his liberal opinions and his attachment to the Empire, he took refuge in Switzerland and subsequently in England, where he had married Miss Mercer of Aldie, daughter and heiress of Lord Keith, the famous admiral, the rival of Nelson and the captor of the Cape from the Dutch. On the fall of Charles X. Count Flahault was at length able to return to France, and accepted service under the Monarchy of July. He became successively Ambassador at Berlin and Vienna, and was more than once spoken of as a possible Foreign Minister. After the fall of Louis Philippe he had again settled in England, but since the practical return of the Bonapartist party to power after the coup detat, of which he was probably cognisant, he had renewed relations with the Government of France. His daughter was married to the son and heir of Lord Lansdowne, then President of the Council, and personally and politically he was always a welcome guest in the houses of the chief supporters of the Ministry. His eventful and chequered career had made him essentially the most international man of the day, and he seemed marked out to be the natural mediator between the angry passions and suspicions of the two countries, in each of which he was equally at home.^ ' Le Giniral Comte de Flahault : tme Rectification (Paris : Dubuisson et Cie, 1881). This book was written in reply to some insinuations contained in the Life oj Marshal Davoust, who never forgave M. de Flahault for his interference with some proposals of his in 181 5 when Minister for War during the Waterloo campaign. 1851-1852] The Foreign Office 63 A rupture in 1852 was clearly within the limit of the possibilities of the immediate future. ' I should not like to begin with a European war/ ^ Lord Granville wrote to Lord Lansdowne, in invoking his aid to communicate with M. de Flahault ; and in a long letter to Lord John Russell written on the last day of the year he described the dangers of the situation as a whole. London, December 31, 1851. ' My dear Lord John, — The Corps Diplomatique were, as in duty bound, very civil yesterday. Austria, Prussia, and Bavaria tried to convey to me that they were not making use of formal phrases ; but I looked stupid, which I find to be one of the easiest tasks connected with the F.O. ' Van de Weyer spoke to me on an important subject. He read me a private letter from the King, in which H.M. expressed great alarm at the designs of the Government of France with respect to Belgium, and of their intention to renew the French claims for expenses at Antwerp. 'Van de Weyer said that a communication from the British Government made confidentially to the French Government would have the best effect, particularly if given in time ; that Lord Palmerston had in 1848 told the Provisional Government that, with regard to Belgium, H.M.'s Government were not only bound by treaty and political ties, but also by a special guarantee, and for these reasons would not bear with indifference an encroachment upon the independence of Belgium. ' I told M. Van de Weyer that my own opinion was in favour of Louis Napoleon intending to effect great changes in France, and that he would be averse to going to war, his own interest being obviously against such a course ; but I added confidentially that I had in a private letter heard from Normanby, that he thought he perceived vague notions of remaniement de territoire floating in the brain of the President. * This morning Van de Weyer came to me again, and read me a despatch from the Belgian Minister at Berlin, who had been con- fidentially informed by Baron Manteuffel that overtures had been made to the three Courts to join with France in insisting upon the payment of these claims ; that Prussia, whatever she might have done a short time ago, would not join now, but that one (whom he would not mention) of the other two Courts did not hold this view. ' He again alluded to Lord Palmerston's communication. I said ' Lord Granville to Lord Lansdowne, December 30, 1851. 64 Life of the Second Earl Granville |ch. in. i had looked last niglU over all the dcsi)atchcs of 1848, and had Coiind nothing so strong as he mentioned. He said he was sure of it, but does not know in what form the message was conveyed. (My private secretary tells me he thinks he remembers something of the sort in a private letter to Normanby.) I told him that I could not, of course, without consultation with my colleagues, commit the Government in any way ; but as an individual I was sure they would be anxious to give the strongest support to Belgium in case of any attempt upon her independence. He stated that the advice to his own Government had always been, if the Antwerp claims were pressed, to say, " We have nothing to do with them, they must be discussed in London ; " that he lately told Lord I'almerston so, who had said, " C'est tres bien, et s'ils viennent nous les rcmbourserons bien." He is to see me before his own departure for I'aris. ' You will have seen in the papers the phrase quoted from the Movitcur that "Strasbourg would remain in the same military division as long as the frontiers 2vcrc the same." All this makes the foreign policy of France a matter of anxiety to us. I do not think we could send a special message about Belgium without including Sardinia, where the same alarm exists. Switzerland and the Rhine are [)oinls not so vital, but which are still of great importance. ' We have now no good grounds for addressing the President as to the plans of foreign aggression. He has through Count Walewski already given assurances of peaceful intentions. These assurances he will again repeat, and they will not restrain him, if he thinks a decided move would be to his advantage. 'If I sent a private message through Normanby, I am afraid the channel would make it irritating. I should like to sound the Ministers of the three Courts, but in so delicate a matter I wish for your immediate advice. ' I will send a copy of this note to Bowood in case Flahault is still there, and that Lord Lansdowne can extract from him what are the real intentions of the President. ' Van de Weyer is going to \Vindsor. Perhaps you would like to send this note to H.M. ' Yours truly, 'Granvillk.' Lord John Russell to Lord Granville. December 31, 1 8 5 1 . 'My dkar Granville,— I think it will not do to write to Normanby, and it will be useless to speak to Walewski. * The best course, I think, will be to write to Bowood and ask 1851-1852] The Foreign Office 65 Flahault to come up. He has great influence, and I believe he really wishes for a good understanding between the two countries. ' The President's assurances are hardly to be trusted, but I think he has no interest in going to war. The Belgians must be defended by us and by Prussia. I do not remember the case of the remboursement. ' You may communicate with Brunnow very freely, less so with Austria. 'Belgium is threatened by France — Piedmont by Austria. Walewski here and the French Minister at Turin both say France will defend the independence of Piedmont. * I repeat you had better send for Flahault, and ask him to go to Paris. Tell him we have at heart the independence of Belgium and of Piedmont, and ask him to ascertain the President's sentiments with regard to those two countries. * It is probable the President wishes to have some cry for the next elections, and he will be glad to make it appear that he is increasing French territory, though without actually doing it. ' I have not sent your letter to the Queen, but you may send it with this. ' Yours truly, ' J. Russell.' Lord Lansdowne to Lord Granville. ^OVfOOT), January i, 1852. * My dear Granville, — I received your note inclosing a copy ot your letter to Lord John by the post this morning, since which the messenger has brought me your box. I think it very desirable that you should see Flahault and talk these matters over with him ; but as he was going naturally to London on Saturday, I have given him the shorter of your notes, and he desires me to say that he will call upon you in Bruton Street, at 3 o'clock or a little after on Saturday afternoon, unless he should hear from you that it will be more convenient to you to see him elsewhere. I am strongly inclined to think with you, that it is the President's wish to keep well with England, and also that it is his present expectation that he will be able to do so ; but at the same time anything which ultimately appears to be necessary to enable him to fulfil his destiny, i.e. his wish to remain ruler of France, will prove irresistible to him. It appears to me very important that in any communication, direct or indirect, that may be made to the French Government, founded on apprehensions respecting Belgium, Piedmont should be included ; otherwise they would be sure to infer that the former was the only object about which we really cared, and that they had carte blanche as to the latter. VOL I. F 66 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. hi. ' Flahault abounds in assurances of expressions of his own strong conviction, that nothing is intended with respect to any other Power, but what is essential to their own internal safety ; but this may admit of a large construction. ' Yours sincerely, ' Lansdowne.' On January 3 the interview took place of which the record will be found in the following memorandum. Memorandum of an Interview between M. de Flahault and Lord Granville. January 3, 1852. * I called on M. de Flahault this evening. I said that I wished to speak to him, because I believed he would be frank with me ; that he was anxious for a good understanding between the two countries of England and France ; and that, as he had no official position, I could broach subjects with him which I could not do through Normanby or Walewski. I said that I felt no alarm, but that there were vague rumours of odd phrases in the Moniteur about the frontiers, demands upon Belgium for Antwerp indemnity, &c., &c., which made me anxious to hear what he really thought and knew of the President's intentions. He spoke to me with a frankness which convinced me he was saying at least what he believed to be true. He does not think there is the least danger of the President going beyond his boundaries. He thinks this from what the President had said to him in moments of unreserved communication, from his confidence in the President's judgment as to what is advantageous to himself, and from the difficulties that would beset him if he attempted to make war. He thinks it unwise at this moment for the French to move about the French claims on Belgium ; but as for attacking Belgium, he holds it to be out of the question that a nephew of Napoleon, who had studied his uncle's history, should run his head against all the Great Powers, and break a guarantee to which France herself had subscribed. That with respect to the Rhine, the Presi- dent could not command the army, and that he would not entrust the command to any of the African generals, or even those who are now attached to his person. He gave me some curious proofs of how little anxious the French people, or even the army, were for war ; among them that, in 1840, when war was supposed to be imminent, and the number of volunteers for conscription was expected to be double, only one half of the usual number came forward. He added that Switzerland and Sardinia were in a different position ; that the French would not interfere with the internal government of these States, but he thought would insist that the refugees who were 1851-1852] The Foreign Office 6'j planning insurrection in their sanctuaries close to their own frontiers should be removed, and that he (Flahault) thought they had a right to prevent their house being set on fire. ' I begged him to remember and remind those over whom he had influence how excitable the people of this country were about Switzerland and still more about Sardinia. He said he knew it, and that he regretted that M. Turgot was still at the Foreign Office, he being a good man, but from inexperience wanting da7is les formes — that this place would soon be changed. He showed me the copies made by his daughter of his own private letters. They were very sensible, giving an exact account of what had passed here, and tendering most excellent advice to the President. ' I asked him what he thought of Austria and Sardinia. He ridiculed the notion of the former doing anything more than trying to alarm the Sardinians into certain concessions. That although Prince Schwarzenberg was obstinate and rash, he could not drag the bureaucracy with him, and that the French would never allow the Austrians to put their feet into Sardinia. As for a joint occupation, he believed that whatever party made the proposal first would be looked upon with great jealousy by the other. I thought this con- versation very reassuring. I do not believe he tried to deceive me, or that he deceived himself. ' He showed me, but this was in strict confidence, the very amiable letter he had written, dissuading the President from sending him or anyone else to announce the result of his election to her Majesty.' Lord Cowley's first letter from Paris had meanwhile indicated the danger arising from the language of the English newspapers. ' One remark fell from the President this morning [he wrote on February 20] which I will not mention in any public despatch, but which you ought to know. We were talking mutually of the desires of the two Governments to live at peace with each other. " There is nothing," he said, " which can prevent it, but the proceedings of your press. If a rupture was to arise on account of its violence, the ifault would be with half a dozen individuals." He probably had an eye to the future in saying this.' ^ Lord Granville had already conveyed his own anxieties to the Prime Minister on the subject. In order to deal with the Times — almost as formidable a task in 1853 as that of ' Lord Cowley to Lord Granville, February 20, 1852. K 2 68 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. m dealing with the French President — Lord Granville deter- mined to take advantage of his intimate personal relations with Mr. Henry Reeve, then so powerful in the councils of that paper, and to risk a private appeal through him to Printing House Square. The appeal was received in a friendly spirit, and Mr. Reeve's reply led to a further letter in which Lord Granville illustrated the difficulties of his own position by a little parable. Lord Granville to Mr. Henry Reeve. Bruton Street, January 19, 1852. ' Mv DEAR Reeve, — I will, as Lord Overstone does in examining a witness, suppose a case. ' I am the servant of an old bachelor. My master likes to have everything well conducted about his own house, and those of his neighbours, but he abhors expense or any disturbance of his ease and comfort. He desires me to take charge of his house, which like other houses in our square is surrounded by inflammable materials. ' A strong energetic schoolboy, vain, irritable, without principle and latterly much spoilt, walks about the square with a lighted candle, which has been given to him by those in authority over him, and which I have no right and am not strong enough to take away from him, until after he has made a bad use of it. A fellow-servant of mine, very influential with my mastti .n mild and dignified language, in every word of which I agree, complains every morning to the schoolboy, that he is an unmitigated little scamp, who deserves to be well whipped. I, who have no right to quarrel with my fellow-servant for holding language which I know to be true and which may moreover have a salutary effect on the teaboys of our own and our neighbour's establishments, cannot help fearing that the schoolboy, in his anger, may set fire to some of my neighbour's houses, and that I shall have, to the infinite annoyance of my master, to put it out. 'I have no doubt what the Times says is right, and that it is justified in saying it, but I cannot help rejoicing that you will do what you can to soften the tone of it. ' Ever yours, ' Granville.' 'Your parable [Mr. Reeve replied] is most ingenious, but illus- trates your position : not ours. You have to deal exclusively with a de facto Government, and to accept it as the representative of the French people. You have to consider its acts only as regards England 1851-1852] The Foreign Office 69 and English interests ; and so long as it maintained relations with us, you would not be justified in remonstrating, even if a real Reign of Terror after the old pattern were restored, and one hundred heads a day were falling. But this is not our case at all. So far as we write for France, we address ourselves to her people, who we believe not to have forgotten in a week of panic all the lessons of liberty it has been learning in sixty years of agitation. Our readers, however, are almost exclusively English, and having always tried to teach them that the extension of English institutions abroad was desirable for EngHsh interests, and that the thing most to be feared was military despotism, we cannot with French facility accept the situatmi and remain silent, when we see all that we have been advocating ever since the peace overthrown. ' We are both equally anxious to preserve the peace, but we can- not do so by your means. However, I will try and make ours as effective as I can, and endeavour to avoid what are called " irritating topics," though how a people that can tolerate Louis Napoleon can be "irritated " by anything we can write I cannot imagine.' ^ It was the wish of Lord Granville — following in this the example of Lord Palmerston — to establish confidential relations with the principal Ministers abroad by private letters, and not to depend too much on despatches alone. * If the freemasonry of Grillion's [he wrote to Sir Stratford Canning] was not sufficient, the connection between my father and your cousin, and the respect I have for one who has for so long a time held such a distinguished position as yourself, make me very happy in beginning a private correspondence with you. I am afraid our English political feelings are wide apart ; but although this may, together with the necessity of choosing a man who could repair im- mediately to his post, have influenced her Majesty's Government in not offering the Paris Embassy to you, I hope it will be no bar to your writing to me most openly upon all questions of foreign affairs, and any points which affect your personal comfort.' To these friendly overtures the great Ambassador replied from Constantinople. Constantinople, March 4, 1852. ' My dear Lord Granville, — The kind remembrances with which you have opened a private coiTespondence with me, must naturally influence the spirit of my reply. I trust, indeed, that a ' Mr. Reeve to Lord Gvanvillc, 1852 (undated). 70 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. hi. letter of mine, which crossed yours on the way, will have served to show already that I am not insensible to such recollections. I should perhaps have been better pleased if circumstances had allowed you to give me the option of going to Paris, though rather in a diplomatic than a personal point of view. ' Whatever may be the degree of difference between us on matters of home policy, I willingly accept your offer of confidence on foreign questions ; and depend upon it that while we stand in our present relations towards each other, I shall write to you respecting them as I wrote in days of yore to your father's friend. * I beg you will believe me very sincerely yours, 'Stratford Canning.' Before, however, Sir Stratford Canning's letter could reach London, whatever chance Lord Granville might have had of officially profiting by his experience, in regard to either the affairs of the East or the critical situation nearer home, was gone ; for his own connection with the Foreign Office had already been severed. On February 21 Lord Palmerston had his 'tit for tat with John Russell,' and defeated the Government in a division in the House of Commons on the Bill for reorganising the militia. ' We cannot go on any longer,' the Prime Minister wrote to the Foreign Secretary from the House of Commons the same night. Next day the Government resigned.^ A stormy incident enlivened the last days of Lord Gran- ville's tenure of the Foreign Office. Before Lord Palmers- ton left Downing Street, representations had already been made to the Government by the Ambassadors of Austria, France, Prussia, Russia, and the envoy of the Germanic Confederation, on the subject of the proceedings of the foreign refugees resident in England. The question was fortunately not complicated by the difficulties which arose at a later time, when the complaint was, not that a mere political conspiracy but that ordinary crimes were being organised on British soil. The proceedings which were now the subject of the notes of the Ambassadors were the meetings of revolutionary committees, the publication by them of a newspaper, and the attempt to maintain an ' Lord John Russell to Lord Granville, February 21, 1852. 1851-1852] The Foreign Office 7J organisation on British soil. In 1848 the British Govern- ment had itself obtained special powers by statute in Ireland, and under those powers had arrested and sent back various persons suspected of hostile intentions who had arrived from America. Taking advantage of this, Count Buol suggested that similar powers should be obtained in regard to the foreign refugees arriving in Great Britain from the Continent, and threatened that if this were not done, his Government might be obliged to take special measures in regard to persons arriving from England, by which ordinary travellers would be the first to suffer. On January 13, Lord Granville addressed a circular despatch to the British Ministers abroad on the whole question. He acknowledged the precedent quoted in regard to Ireland to be good as far as it went, but only in so far as it might justify the action of the continental Governments in taking precautionary measures within their own jurisdiction against foreign arrivals if they chose so to do ; but not as justifying the application of the Act of 1848 by her Majesty's Government to England. It was no doubt true that measures in the form of Alien Acts had been passed at different times by which the power of expelling foreigners in case of necessity had been conferred on the Executive ; but such powers, even when asked for by the Government of the day for the maintenance of internal tranquillity, had always been justly regarded by the British nation with feelings of most extreme jealousy. ' The general hospitality extended by our institutions to all who come to England [the despatch proceeded] has from time to time been the means of affording a secure asylum to political refugees of all parties, many of them illustrious in rank and position. Among them may be mentioned kings and princes of the two branches of the Bourbon family and the Prime Ministers of France and Austria. It is obvious that this hospitality could not be so freely given if it were not so widely ex- tended. If a discretionary power were vested in the Crown, apoeals would be constantly made by the dominant party in foreign countries for the expulsion of their political opponents, who might have taken refuge in Great Britain. Monarchical governments might object to republican refugees; and republican governments to royalist 72 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. hi. refugees ; and it would be difficult to defend such hospitality, which would then be founded upon favour and not upon equal laws. . . . It is the earnest wish of her Majesty's Government to promote, as flir as is in their power, the peace, order, and prosperity, of every country with which they are in friendly alliance, but they do not think that any ground exists which would justify them on the present occasion in applying to the Legislature for any extraordinary or future powers in reference to foreigners resident in England ; and they have no reason to doubt that this opinion is shared both by the Parliament and the public of the country.' ^ On February 4, Prince Schwarzenberg replied in a de- spatch to the Austrian Ambassador couched in a very hostile tone, and published in the newspapers of Vienna before it had reached the Foreign Office. It concluded by an- nouncing special measures with reference to arrivals from England. The controversy was not terminated when the change of Ministry took place.- Meanwhile on January 7, 1852, Count Buol, the Austrian Ambassador, had sent a note to the Foreign Office containing a remonstrance from the Duke of Modena, but addressed to the Austrian Govern- ment, in regard to the action of the political refugees in England. Lord Granville thereupon informed Count Buol that he could not receive an official communication from the Duke of Modena through a foreign diplomatist not ac- credited by the Duke himself to the Court of St. James's ; and that, while anxious to do whatever was most courteous by Count Buol and by the Government of Austria, he was nevertheless obliged, for reasons which the Ambassador would no doubt understand, to take no notice of the com- munication. In other words, the British Government declined to recognise the hegemony of Austria in Italy. Undeterred by this rebuff. Count Buol on the 21st returned to the charge. On the day before the fall of the Ministry, he communicated another note almost identical with that from the Duke of Modena and addressed to the Austrian Government by Cardinal Antonelli, on behalf of the Papal Government. A decided step now seemed necessary to Lord Granville, and ' State Papers, 1852, xlii. 421-423. - Ibid. xlii. 428, 1851-185 2] The Foreis^n Office 73 on the 23rd he addressed a communication to Count Buol which ended by informing him that, under the circumstances, he had no choice but to return both the Modenese and the Roman note to him at the Austrian Embassy.^ Count Buol did not conceal his wrath. The wildest stories were put about in Vienna and travelled thence to London. Lord Granville, it was declared, had thrown the Papal note back to the Ambassador ; Lord Granville had left the room throw- ing the note behind him, leaving the Ambassador to pick it up off the floor ; Lord Granville had left the room saying that as he was not intending to return there, the Ambassador could do what he liked with the note, because he certainly was not going to keep it himself; and so on and so on. Al- though Lord Malmesbury had succeeded Lord Granville as Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Queen desired to know what had really passed, and by her direction the Prince Consort wrote to Lord Granville. The Prince Consort to Lord Granville. Osborne, March 9, 1852. ' My dear Lord Granville, — Your return of the last notes to Count Buol causes a great deal of noise in the world. The Austrians call it an insult, and say that they had not delivered a note from the Pope to the Queen's Government, but one from Antonelli to the Austrian Government, asking for its good offices in the refugee question, that this had been a perfecdy regular proceeding, and if it had displeased the British Government they might have confidenti- ally obtained the withdrawal of the note. ' The present Government complain that so important a step as the sending back the notes should have been taken when virtually, though not formally, the late Cabinet was out of office. I cannot say that I much attended to the question at the time, when our hands and heads were quite full of the manifold matters connected with the change of Government and the formation of a new Ad- ministration and Court. ' Now it would be of importance to me, however, to know the motives which led you to take that particular line at that particular moment. You may rely upon my not repeating to anybody what • Lord Granville to Count Buol, February 23, 1852. State Papers for 1S52, xlii. 433. 74 Life of the Second Earl Gi^anville [ch. hi. you might not wish to be generally known ; but a correct apprecia- tion of the transaction is of the greatest importance in the considera- tion of our future steps in the quarrels with Austria, which are by no means at an end. ' Ever yours truly, ' Albert.' Lord Granville to the Prince Consort. London, March lo, 1852. tSiR, — I have the honour to acknowledge with great respect the receipt of your Royal Highness's letter of the 9th on my return to town this evening. 'The following are the motives which induced me during the interregnum to return to Count Buol his Modenese and Roman communications. 'Lord John on Friday the 20th announced his intended resigna- tion. Count Buol's letter inclosing the communication from the Papal Government was dated on Saturday the 21st, and received at the Foreign Office on the Monday following. It did not, therefore, arrive as other despatches did, accidentally during the interregnum. I did not think it right to return it to the office without any remark for the probable chance of its being altogether overlooked. If I had marked on it, as I did on some other despatches which arrived during the interregnum, that it should be reserved for Lord Malmesbury's consideration, I should have bequeathed to my successor an additional cause of quarrel, and I should have placed both him and myself in a false position ; for if he had remonstrated with Count Buol, as I think it would have been his duty to do. Count Buol would have answered his remonstrance by referring to the precedent of my receiving the Modenese communication. * It appears to me that, far from increasing the difficulties of the present Government, I relieved them from considerable embarrass- ment by the course which I adopted. ' With regard to the Austrians, I do not think that the return of the notes was an insult or anything but what was demanded by the circumstances of the case. On the reception of the Modenese communication in January it appeared to me an unusual step. I sent a query into the office to know whether it had been customary for the Austrian Minister officially to present such remonstrances from Powers by whom he was not accredited. I was informed that such was not the case. I wrote two drafts of answer to Count Buol, but being at that time in hopes that the tone of my communications with him would put the relations of the two countries on a more friendly footing, I decided upon taking the course recorded in my 1851-1852] The Foreign Office 75 last letter to Count Buol ; but when my hopes were proved to be groundless, and when Count Buol, encouraged probably by the little notice which I had taken of the Modenese letter, sent in a similar communication from the Papal Government, at a time when it could have no practical end or conciliatory purpose, I thought I was bound to take a stronger step than that which I had adopted in the former case. ' I should not be perfectly frank with your Royal Highness if I did not say that another consideration had had some weight with me. When H.M. Government presented to Parliament the refugee notes, and the circular despatch in reply, it was done because such a publication is usual in this country, and because as we thought that that reply was couched in courteous and moderate language, it would have a conciliatory effect both here and abroad. Prince Schwarzenberg's answer was not calculated to have that effect. I thought, however, that it was expedient not to prolong this re- criminatory correspondence, particularly as the Austrians, however illogical the reasons given might be, have an undoubted right to do that which they threatened. I therefore told Count Buol, when he read this despatch to me, that I refrained from discussing it, although it was tempting to do so (or words to that effect), and I resolved not to present it to Parliament until I was obliged to do so, by which time I hoped some antidote might be found to be presented at the same time. Lord John, however, had some doubts about the policy of leaving this despatch unanswered, and when Prince Schwarzenberg adopted with no very friendly feelings the course unusual at Vienna of publishing his rejoinder in the Austrian papers, I was not sorry to avail myself of an opportunity gratuitously offered by Count Buol to notice, without, however, giving a formal answer to Prince Schwarzenberg's despatch, the offensive tone of Prince Schwarzenberg's despatch, and to point out the different manner in which all the other Powers had met our reply. ' In the middle of the week, I stated to Count Buol in conversa- tion that I hoped that the change of Government would enable him to do that which I believed he desired, viz. to put the relations of the two countries on a more sound and friendly footing ; that it had been my wish to contribute to this work, but that I had certainly not been assisted by the Austrian Government; and I then ex- pressed my regret that my last act was necessarily one which was of a nature which might be disagreeable to him. I told him the contents of the letter which he would receive from me. He was much put out, but made no suggestion at the time. The next day he proposed to me that I should send the letter privately and not 76 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. hi. officially, but I wrote to him that it was too late, as it was sealed and sent, and besides that Lord John, who had approved of the letter, had already taken leave of the Queen. ' I may add that, upon your Royal Highness's suggestion some weeks ago, I saw Lord Burghersh on the subject of the secret agree- ment between the Russian and Prussian Governments, and I had some communication with him on our relations with Austria.^ He has since then entirely approved of my conduct with respect to the Roman and Modenese communications, and has this afternoon sent me a message to the effect that he is convinced by his letters from Vienna that it was a parti pris there not to make up with us as long as the Whig Ministry remained in power. ' I have the honour to be, with great respect, your Royal High- ness's obedient servant, ' Granville.' The Prince Consort to Lord Granville. Osborne, March 13, 1852. *My dear Lord Granville, — Many thanks for your letter. Your explanation of the circumstances under which the last note to Count Buol was written is quite satisfactory. The Austrians mean now to become friends all on a sudden, under the supposition that the Derby Government will aid them and Louis Napoleon a combattre ranarchie et a defendre Voi-dre. They have really little knowledge of England. ' Ever yours truly, 'Albert.' Whatever complaints Lord Derby may have made to the Prince Consort, Lord Malmesbury endorsed the action of his predecessor. He relates himself how, on his entry on his new duties, Count Buol was still ' raving against England and Lord Granville,' and at their first interview ' behaved in the most coarse and insolent manner,' when he, like Lord Granville, refused to receive the notes which were again presented. He at last was obliged to ask ' if the Ambassador was accustomed to speak to English Ministers in that style,' because he must tell him at once that he would not bear it, and should inform the Court of his violence. Count Buol then left the room.' ^ ' The Earl of Westmorland, Ambassador to the Court of Berlin, 1841-1S51, is here referred to under his earlier title. lie had just been appointed to Vienna. - Memoirs of an Ex- Minister, i. 321, cd. 1884. 1851-1852] The Foreign Office 77 Lord Granville to Lord Malmesbury. Walmer Castle, Deal, Septe^nbe)- 27, 1884. * Dear Malmesbury, — I look forward to reading your memoirs with great interest and pleasure. ' I see in the review which appeared in the Titties of yesterday that you refer to an incident which happened more than thirty-two years ago, and in which it seems we both had a share. ' I was not before aware that the Government of which you were a member had completely endorsed my action. ' Your short statement, however, hardly explains our justification. * Strong remonstrances had been addressed to Lord Palmerston by France, Austria, Germany, Prussia, Russia, and Naples on the subject of our treatment of refugees. 'It fell to me to reply by sending a circular of January 13, 1852, which has since been referred to as laying down correctly our rights and obligations with regard to refugees, and to the Governments whose subjects they are. ' On January 21, 1852, Count Buol addressed a further note to me, inclosing one from Cardinal Antonelli complaining of the conduct of the British Government. ' I was not guilty of any personal discourtesy to Count Buol, a diplomatist of high character. If you refer to the parliamentary papers, you will see that I did not throw the notes after him, but I returned them in a despatch giving at length the reasons for doing so. ' I need not say that it gave me great satisfaction to note the very friendly way in which you refer to our old intimacy. 'Yours sincerely, ' Granville.' Long" after these events the pen of a German writer — possibly one of those numerous refugees who, after finding a haven in this country, were able to return to their native land in calmer days — recorded that among Lord Granville's titles to the gratitude of continental Liberalism was first and foremost the firmness with which at this moment he had protected the right of asylum in England, then gravely threatened. • On almost the same day on which Lord Granville re- turned Count Buol's notes — the coincidence is interesting — ' Frankfurter ZeiiittJg, March 31, 1S91. 78 Life of the Second Eai'l Granville he received a request from Mr. Gladstone, in a letter which would appear to have been the first communication between them, to secure the safe passage into Naples through Malta of a packet containing copies of the famous pamphlet in which the author denounced the Government of the King : the ordinary means of communication being closed against it. Mr. Gladstone to Lord Granville. 6 Carlton Gardens, January 31, 1852. 'My dear Lord Granville, — Will you allow me to beg the favour that the accompanying packet containing copies of a recent publication of mine on Neapolitan Persecutions, and the cognate copies, may be forwarded to the Legation at Naples by the first box through Malta ? The channel of communication by the post, I need hardly observe, is closed against us. ' I remain most sincerely yours, ' W. E. Gladstone.' Lord Granville to Mr. Gladstone. London, W., February 29, 1852. ' My dear Mr. Gladstone, — I will take great care of your parcel. I am ashamed to say that although your pamphlet has the first place on my table, and I am dying to read it, I have not yet had time to do so. ' Yours truly, ' Granville.' Before he left the Foreign Office, Lord Granville received from the Queen the assurance of the confidence which she had learnt to feel in him, short as his tenure there had been. The Queen was glad to have to trust to a Minister who felt that it was impossible for diplomacy to act with more effect than when it does so in a quiet and unostentatious manner. The outgoing Prime Minister was equally emphatic in his praise. His words were few but weighty. ' I am very sorry,' Lord John Russell wrote, ' that the country will lose one of the best Foreign Secretaries it ever had. ... Tii Marcelhis eris' ^ ' Lord John Russell to Lord Granville, February 21, 1852. CHAPTER IV THE ABERDEEN GOVERNMENT 1852-1855 The Administration which Lord Derby formed in February 1852 out of the rump of the Tory party contained three men of first-rate abihty : the Prime Minister himself; the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr, Disraeli ; and the Chan- cellor, Lord St. Leonards. Taken as a whole it was among the weakest which has ever tried to govern the country. Of the Ministers, some were content to regard themselves as stop-gaps, and looked forward to a coalition between the followers of Lord John Russell and those of the late Sir Robert Peel as certain before long to put an end to their own career. Others hoped that a coalition between some of their own number and their former Peelite colleagues might yet take place. This was the wish of the little group of personal friends of whom Mr. Gladstone was the most eminent. Mr. Gladstone indeed persevered to the end of 1852 in the strange delusion that it was possible to drive the Conservative leader out of office and at the same time to secure the good- will of the Conservative party. * I never heard you called a Peelite [Lord Lincoln wrote to Lord Granville], but I have always perceived that if bygone nicknames are abandoned, there is no more difference of opinion between you and me than there must always be between any two men who think for themselves. Of course it has not escaped my observation that this coincidence of opinion between us is accompanied by a differ- ence between us both and the older men under whom you commenced public life. The fact is that among men of Liberal opinions the difference is not Whig and Peelite, but the men of forty years of age (more or less) and those of the former generation. Peelisjn — if I 8o Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. iv. must still use the word — is really the more advanced form of Liberal opinion, cleared of that demagogic Liberalism which characterised the Liberalism of twenty years ago, and on the other hand of that oligarchic tendency of the old Whigs, who, wishing to extend freedom, sought to do it by making use of the people, instead of identifying themselves and their own interests with the people.' ^ The time when a coalition is in the air is the opportunity of the parliamentary diplomatist. Mr. ElUce and Mr. Denison ^ were conspicuous types of this class among the Whigs in the House of Commons. The former, known to his friends as the Bear, not because of any rugged ferocity of disposition, but owing to his connection with the fur trade, was among those who had arrived at the conclusion that it would be impossible for Lord John again to be Prime Minister, at least immediately. Mr. Denison belonged to the section which, disliking many of the characteristics of the Peelite connection, was nevertheless willing to accept Peelite leader- ship, but was determined that Lord John Russell in any future arrangement should hold a position sufficiently strong to enable him to be an efficient trustee of Liberal principles. They both placed themselves in communication with Lord Granville, whose conciliatory disposition made him at this moment the natural recipient of the confidences of the various sections which had to be reconciled. Would either Lord John Russell serve with Lord Palmerston, or Lord Palmerston with Lord John Russell ? would Lord Aberdeen work with Lord John ? could anybody push Lord John into serving under Lord Aberdeen ? how were former holders of office in Whig Governments to be persuaded to pass a self-denying ordinance in favour of the Peelites ? how was some moderation in their demands to be suggested to the Peelites themselves, who were not guilty of under-estimat- ing their own former sacrifices or their present claim to abundant compensation ? Such were the questions of the hour. To find a way out of all these complications was a task precisely suited to the versatile talents of Lord Granville, ' Lord Lincoln to Lord Granville, April 1 8, 1853. - Afterwards Sp"' , and Viscount Ossington. 1852-1855! ^-^^ Aberdeen Government 81 of which an unHmited patience formed part. ' Lincohi could not bear Lord John : Graham was suspicious : Palmerston was contemptuous :' ^ thus afterwards wrote the Duke of Argyll. Lord John Russell, on the other hand, was determined not to give way either to the dislike of Lord Lincoln, or to the suspicions of Sir James Graham, or to the rivalry of Lord Palmerston, Lord Granville staunchly supported his former chief in refusing to yield at discretion either to the ever- mounting bill of the Peelite requisitions, or to the evident desire of an influential section of the Whigs, whose centre was Lady Palmerston's salon, to substitute Lord Palmerston with a policy of domestic indifferentism for the reforming activities of Lord John Russell. But he also saw that compromise and concession were necessary, and threw his influence — already great with Lord John Russell — in favour of the co-operation with the Peelites which was being urged on the late Liberal Premier by Lord Lansdowne and the Duke of Bedford. ' I had not much difficulty in showing to Lord John [Lord Gran- ville wrote in March to Mr. Denison] that you differed from the " rugged animal," or in explaining to him how you came to talk over these matters with Lord Lincoln. I told him what you said about the feeling that animated the Peelites, and that I had told you that I personally knew of no difficulties, excepting my suspicion of an irrational jealousy of Lord John on the part of that body ; that you had answered that you believed that there was some jealousy on their part ; that they supposed Lord John did not like a rival near the throne ; but that you were of opinion that although it was a matter of difficulty, this objection was not an insurmountable one, and that they might be induced to join, even without any concession on his part as to his position.' - As the recipient of many confidences Lord Granville was thus able to play an important if minor part in bringing about the co-operation between the Whigs and the Peelites, which was the final result of the negotiations in which the principal share had necessarily to be taken by older states- ' Duke of Argyll to Lord Granville, December g, 18S9. - Lord Granville lo Mr. Denison, March 18, 1852. VOL. L G 82 Lije of the Second Earl Granville [ch. iv. men, the recognised leaders of the two parties. No union, indeed, could have been possible had not Lord Aberdeen, with perfect self-abnegation, exerted himself to remove the jealousies, suspicions, and dislike of Lord John Russell enter- tained by his own friends, and at the same time to disarm Lord John Russell's distrust of them. Lord Aberdeen, with- out Lord Granville's charm of manner and social popularity, had a remarkable power of bringing men together, qualities which he had shown at an earlier date in bringing about the reconciliation of Peel and Wellington. In 1852 he had gained authority from age and experience. On the Whig side these qualifications were possessed by Lord Lansdowne, and at the decisive moment it was Lord Aberdeen and Lord Lansdowne to whom the Queen sent in order to advise her in the crisis out of which the Coalition Government at length struggled into existence in the last days of 1853. Lord John Russell was eventually persuaded, very largely by Lord Granville's influence, to make the necessary conces- sion of the Premiership to Lord Aberdeen. In the Ministry thus formed it was determined that Lord John Russell should become leader of the House of Commons without port- folio ; but in order to satisfy the scruples of Constitutional purists, who objected to a minister avoiding the ordeal of re- election by his constituents on acceptance of office under the Crown, he accepted the seals of the Secretaryship of State for Foreign Affairs, and after holding them a few weeks handed them over to Lord Clarendon. ' I think the machine will float,' Lord Granville wrote to Lord Stanley of Alderley, whom his familiar friends called ' Ben,' it was said with a reference to the late Mr. Benjamin Backbite rather than to that ' soldier bold ' Mr. Benjamin Battle.^ But Lord Granville noted that the mutual jealousy of the rank and file of both sections was still a source of danger, and that the final quarrels over the distribution of minor offices had only intensified it. Indeed, if the machine floated, it was amongst the shallows, and the public were unfortunately soon able to hear the groaning of the engine, the creaking of the planks, and the divergent ' Lord Granville to Lord Stanley of Alderley, December 29, 1852. 1852-1855] ^-^^ Aberdeen Government 83 shouts of the crew. There was one minister who was ahvays resigning, or about to resign ; there was another who soon actually resigned, though it repented him and he returned ; but these two ministers next to Lord Aberdeen were the leading men in the Ministry. Each of them had embittered partisans, and still more embittered enemies in Parliament and the press, whose utterances darkened the air with dis- cord and suspicion. The differences in the Cabinet did not correspond with the division between Liberalism and Peel- ism. Lord Aberdeen in after-years was fond of dwelling on this, and in all probability, had the Crimean War not broken out, the differences might have been surmounted. But the Eastern question brought a new and fatal factor into the political situation before the Ministry was many months old, and in October 1853 Lord Clarendon and Lord John Russell were already consulting Lord Granville on a proposal that he should go on a special mission to Paris to sound the political waters there, and strengthen the hands of the Ambassador ; but Lord Granville was of opinion that he and Lord Cowley might both be placed in a false position, and he declined the offer.' Lord Granville had accepted the Presidency of the Council — a post which at one time had been among the most important in the State, and had gradually become one of the class of political sinecures. Quite recently it had been partially rescued out of that category by departmental duties connected with education becoming attached to it, at the time vvdien, during the Presidency of Lord Lansdowne, amid the ill-will and alarm both of the Church and of Orthodox Dissent, the first steps towards organising a national system of education had been taken. Lord Granville desired to identify his name with a large measure of national education, and in 1853 his intention was to have proposed a plan as broad as the existing condition of public opinion would permit. But the shadow of the impending troubles in the East, and the increase of differences among his colleagues, soon compelled him to devote most of his time to the inner diplomacy of the ' Lord Aberdeen lo Lord Clarendon, October u, ii>5j. G 2 84 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. iv. Cabinet, on which the possibility of keeping the Government together almost entirely depended. These differences also had an effect on his own official position, and indirectly became the cause of the termination of his connection with the Education office. It is perhaps difficult in an age which has seen without alarm more than one minister at different times holding a seat in the Cabinet without office, to the general advantage of the business of Parliament, fully to appreciate the strength of the objections felt in some quarters to the same arrangement when it was adopted in 1853 by Lord John Russell. The leadership of the House of Commons, and the control and general direction of business there, are tasks sufficient at any time to occupy the undivided care and attention of a minister ; and the overt recognition of their importance by Lord John Russell was a more genuine tribute to the power and dignity of that great assembly, than any stiff adherence to a tradition of very doubtful correctness, that a Cabinet Minister must necessarily be weighted with the work of a department even if only a small one. ' I object,' said Mr. Disraeli, taking a higher view than did some of Lord John Russell's own colleagues, ' I object to shutting up great men in small rooms and binding to the triumphal chariot wheels of administrative ability all the fame and genius of the Whig party.' ^ In the eighteenth century Lord Hardwicke had held, and at this very moment Lord Lansdowne was actually holding, a seat in the Cabinet without office, and the Duke of Wellington had done so before him. These, however, it might be said, were peers ; though why a peer was to be excepted from the rule applied to a commoner, nobody had explained. Nevertheless, there was high authority to be cited in favour of the application of the rule to the leader of the House. Lord John Russell, however, by the offer he had made of accepting the Chiltern Hundreds and then seeking re- election, and by his actual acceptance of the Foreign Office, which vacated his seat in Parliament, had amply satisfied whatever reasonable scruples based on the prin- ' February l8, 1853. Hansard^ ccxxiv. 288, 289. 1 85 2- 1 855] ^-^^ Aberdeen Governuient 85 ciples of the Constitution could be said to exist on the subject.^ The real reason of the outcry was to be fc nd elsewhere than in any respect for constitutional precedent. The section of the House of Commons which desired a suspension of the reforming energies of the Liberal party, backed by the powerful voice of London society, objected to an arrange- ment which they saw not only secured to Lord John Russell that effective general control of business which every leader of the House must possess, but was also favourable to his determination not to lose sight of domestic reforms, even in the critical state of foreign affairs then existing. Well aware of the nature of the situation. Lord John Russell, when con- senting to serve under Lord Aberdeen and to lead the House of Commons, had stipulated that he should hold a position free from the cares incidental to constant attention to depart- mental details. He was able in addition to plead that con- siderations of health made the stipulation imperative. But the stipulation was not made by him in the sense which after- wards was sought to be attributed to it, as implying a claim on his part to any unusual exercise of interference with the work of the various departments of the Government, or any arrogation to himself of the privileges of the Prime Minister in that respect. He simply desired to have a firm hold on the business of the House of Commons. The First Lordship of the Treasury — in itself a sinecure office — was held, as in those days it always was held, by the Minister, Lord Aberdeen, whom the Queen had entrusted with the formation of the Government. Lord John Russell was accordingly himself obliged when he gave up the Foreign Office either to fall back on one of the posts of Cabinet rank which are free frofn heavy departmental duties, or to adopt the course which he actually did, viz. that of leading the House without office. But the clamour on the subject continued. He therefore took the opportunity in 1854 of the division of the work of the War Office and the Colonial Office to explain frankly ' See the whole subject discussed in Tcdd, Parliamentary Governmevt, ii. 459, 460. 86 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. iv. the difficulties of his position to Lord Granville, and asked him to accept the Chancellorship of the Duchy, so as to allow Lord John himself to become President of the Council, and thereby terminate the discussion about the propriety of his position. Lord Granville readily entered into the views of his chief, whose difficulties he felt and appreciated. ' I was quite sure [Lord John wrote to him] that you would your- self behave as you have. In fact, I ought to have insisted on the Presidency of the Council when the Government was formed ; and I should then not have forced you to go through a process which I own is disagreeable. However, you will have the office which Morpeth held in my Cabinet, and have the merit of being a martyr to my grasping spirit into the bargain.' ^ So Mr. Strutt — who really was the person who had a right to complain — was abruptly removed from the Chancellorship of the Duchy, and Lord Granville became Chancellor in his place. Lord John Russell then became President of the Council. But his proceedings, to a public which did not under- stand the true inwardness of what had happened, suggested a comparison with the ways of the hermit crab without a shell, which is said not to be over-scrupulous in dispossessing colleagues who have found the retreat which he covets ; while the manner in which Lord Granville accommodated himself to the exigencies, or the necessities, of his chief, increased the general confidence in him and gave an indication of the strength which knows when best to yield and when to wait. In the division of the War and Colonial Offices which now took place. Sir George Grey was appointed Colonial Secre- tary ; Lord Lincoln — now Duke of Newcastle — as the man in possession at the War Office, continuing there. The new arrangement did not prevent the disasters of the winter of 1854. ' Why [Mr. Gladstone asked Lord Granville long after these events] did not Lord John arrange in 1854, as Lord Aberdeen wished, to let you have the Colonial Office on quitting the Presidency ? Why did he become a party to the gross mistake of encouraging Newcastle ' Lord John Russell to Lord Granville, June 14, 1854. 1852-1855] ^^^^ Aberdeen Government Z*] to take the War Office ; and then in November try to put him out without any stateable case ? ' ' Lord John Russell's reply probably would have been that, out of four Secretaries of State, three under the arrange- ment suggested by Lord Aberdeen would have been in the House of Lords, an arrangement which would not have been Ion*? tolerated. The result would have been another redistribution of offices at a short interval of time, and a further irritation of the public mind over constant changes with no adequate result. Lord John Russell was now rightly insisting that the reform of the administrative departments could not stop at the separation of the Colonial Office and the War Office. There was still, inirabile dichi, a Secretary at War as well as the Secretary of State for War, Lord John urged that the two departments ought to be combined, and that Lord Palmerston should be the head of a reconstituted and supreme War Office. ' The war of departments [Lord Granville wrote to the Duke of Argyll] rages furiously. Graham complained frivolously of the con- tradictory orders which he received. He pitched indirectly into the Commissariat and the Secretary at War — the latter pitched into the Cabinet and the Commander-in-Chief, who, having no friends, was hard hit. Molesworth made some cutting remarks when it was proved by Sidney Herbert that all the omissions and commissions were owing to the Board of Works, who had not yet completed the War Office.' "- Eventually Lord John Russell, not being able to get his way about the consolidation of the different War Depart- ments into one, and having failed to carry the Prime Minister with him, threatened— and not for the first time — to resign, and so informed Lord Granville, inclosing a letter from Lord Minto, who gave expression to the public feeling that the war ' Mr. Gladstone to Lord Granville, November 2, iS8g. It appears that Mr. Gladstone was mistaken in one point. Lord Aberdeen wished Mr. S. Ilcrljert to go to the War Office, but the Duke was in possession and declined to move. - Lord Granville to the Duke of Argyll, November 17, 1S54. See also Memorandum by Lord John Russell in Life of Lord /ohn Russell, ii. 227. The details of the controversy will be found in ch. xxv. of that work. Mr. Sidney Herbert was Secretary at War. 88 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. iv. was not being conducted with adequate energy. Lord Granville agreed as to the serious character of the situation, but urged upon Lord John that a more vigorous assertion of their own views in the Cabinet would be more effectual than unfulfilled threats of resignation. In a letter to Lord John Russell occasioned by a dispute as to the dismissal from the Office of Woods and Forests of Mr. Kennedy, which had led to friction between Lord Aberdeen and Lord John Russell, he asked leave of the latter to pass from that subject to the wider one of his relations with the Prime Minister.' The treatment of Mr. Kennedy might be unjust ; ' but [he said] the question of Russell and Aberdeen is much more serious and has caused me intense anxiety. I wished to write and speak to you on the subject, but as you have never communicated with me on it, I was afraid of your thinking me officious or presump- tuous, if I was to begin without some such occasion as your sending me Lord Minto's letter gives me. On the formation of the Govern- ment you made great personal sacrifices, some of a very painful kind, for what you thought the public good. Since then you have had many annoyances to bear. I hope you will not allow these two years of self-sacrifice to be thrown away, as you certainly will do if you break up the present Administration, at a moment when no other Government appears possible, and when the Cabinet appear unani- mous in their desire to carry on the war with the utmost vigour. ' When I see the effective manner in which you have once or twice this winter forced the Government to greater exertion, I can- not hold you wholly irresponsible if it has been guilty of remissness on other occasions. ' I told Lord INIinto last summer that whenever you took upon yourself to exercise that authority which belonged to your character in the country, your great antecedents, and your position as leader of the House of Commons, I could perceive no disposition in a large majority of the Cabinet other than to be guided by your views. If you would take a little more trouble in insisting upon information, in forcing the Cabinet to decide, and afterwards ascertaining whether such decisions have been acted upon, you would have no difficulty in enforcing many things which you have recommended and which have not been done. 1 It is not clear that this letter was actually sent. The letter of Lord Minto referred to above is to be found at vol. ii. p. 228 of the Life of Lord John Russell. 1852-1855] '^^^ Aberdeen Government 89 ' No one can have filled such a space in the world as you have done, without having secret as well as public enemies. Nothing would give so much pleasure to these, and so much pain to those whose first wish it is to agree and vote with you, as for you to take a course the motives of which are liable to a most unjust miscon- struction, and which the public will know is disapproved by Lord Lansdowne, George Grey, and all your own political friends in the Cabinet. ' You will add one to the many kindnesses which I have received from you, by forgiving me for obtruding my opinion on you at this moment.' ^ For the moment Lord John Russell acted on the advice contained in Lord Granville's letter, and a few days after he was writing as follows in regard to the siege of Sebastopol : — Lord John Russell to Lord Granville. Dece)iii>e?- 24, 1854. ' Mv DEAR Granville, — I have endeavoured to obtain the materials for some judgment on the future conduct of the war. ' Without such materials it is impossible to judge correctly. ' So far as we can learn, it is intended to get all the guns in position, to batter the Russian forts and the town for forty-eight hours, and then to try an assault. ' This plan seems practicable. It may be interrupted, either by a strong sortie from the town, or by an attack like that of Inkermann. * Supposing this not to take place, we either succeed in the attack or we fail. ' If we succeed, we have only to destroy the place and come away to Constantinople. ' If we fail, we shall find it difficult to come away. To continue the siege seems hopeless in such a case. Ammunition will be wanting, and the work in the trenches will wear our army to shreds without the possibility of any reinforcements beyond the 5,000 men of the Mediterranean garrisons. ' One course remains, which I hope may be practicable, even if on farther inquiry it may be found unadvisable. It is to withdraw the heavy guns from the batteries and embark them ; to place the men in huts with the exception of strong pickets towards the town and Inkermann and Balaclava; to send all the sick and weakly to Constantinople and Malta ; and in this position to await the attacks of the enemy, and the approach of spring. ' Lord Granville to Lord John Russell, December 12, 1854. 90 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. iv ' Whether such a course would be advisable or not, must in a great degree depend on the decision of Austria. If she acts with us, we must combine our plans for the next campaign with her. If she now at half past the eleventh hour declines to do so, we must consider how we can best do without her. In that case it may be advisable to transfer our chief exertions to Asia, and endeavour by that road to work up to the Crimea. ' It appears that 185,000 men English and French have been ordered, first and last, to the Crimea. That they have not produced a greater impression, considering their proved superiority in quality to the Russian troops, must be attributed partly to the commanders of the expedition, but partly also to the plan pursued of moving by successive detachments, instead of one great effort. ' In this respect the French are more to blame than we are. But we must take our share of the responsibility, whatever it may be. ' I remain yours faithfully, 'J. Russell.' The break-up of the Government, which so far had only been v^ith difficulty avoided, at length came in January 1855. On the day of the reassembling of Parliament, Mr. Roebuck at once gave notice of a motion, which amounted to a vote of censure on the Duke of Newcastle and his administration of the War Office. Lord John Russell thereupon resigned, declining to make himself responsible in Parliament for the defence of arrangements which the whole of the previous year he had been occupied in attempting to alter, but had failed to alter owing to the indifference or hostility of some of his colleagues. Lord Granville appears to have been the first person informed of his decision. ' I think it right,' Lord John wrote to him,' as you are so good a friend, to inform you that I have sent my resignation to Lord Aberdeen, He will read my note to the Cabinet' ^ Meanwhile a sharp passage of arms was taking place between Lord Granville and the Duke of New- castle on a different subject. The old troubles had revived, and in an acute shape, about the action of the Times news- paper, and the relations, real or supposed, of some of the ministers with that powerful journal. The Duke of Newcastle accused Lord Granville of being unduly intimate with the ' Lord John Russell to Lord Granville, January 24, 1855. 1852-1855] ^-^^^ Aberdeen Government 91 editor, and Lord Granville replied as follows in a letter which he circulated among his colleagues : — Memorandum by Lord Granville. ' The Duke of Newcastle spoke in a very kind and friendly manner to me this evening on the subject of the Times. 'He told me that circumstances had come to his knowledge which threw grave suspicions on the motives and objects of the conductors of that paper, that it behoved men in my position to be careful in communicating with them, and that he mentioned this to me as there was a general opinion, probably exaggerated, that I was closely con- nected with that paper through my acquaintance with Mr. Delane and my intimacy with Charles Greville. 'I have been long aware of some such impressions, and I am truly grateful to the Duke for giving me an opportunity, without exposing myself to the penalties of the French proverb, of giving him an explanation on this matter, and of repeating that explanation to my colleagues on the eve of their ceasing to be so. ' Pubhc men have three ways of communicating with writers in the press; ist, showing them social civilities; 2nd, furnishing them with facts and arguments which need not be kept secret, and which may be useful in determining public opinion ; and 3rd, imparting to them official secrets which ought not to be divulged. ' I plead guilty to having adopted the first course. Mr. Delane and Mr. Reeve have frequently dined with me and have come to Lady Granville's parties. I have for some time found it entailed personal inconvenience from the impressions which it creates, but I am sure that on public grounds nothing can be so mischievous as to exclude from all community of interest with the higher classes, and all intercourse with public men, those who by their pen can exercise such enormous influence for good or for bad. ' The second mode requires tact, and has disadvantages as well as advantages, but it is perfectly legitimate. During the time of the Exhibition, I recommended the Executive Committee to show every civility and give all the information in their power to the whole press. Otherwise, I have not adopted this practice, partly from caution, perhaps a little from indolence. During the short time I was at the Foreign Office, I gave no effect to the direct and indirect overtures which were made to me from the Times. In the other offices which I have held no such temptation existed. ' The third course appears to me to be simply dishonourable, and I solemnly declare that I have never given directly or indirectly such information to any writer in the Times, 92 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. iv. ' With respect to Charles Greville, his position as to the Times has been much misrepresented. He has no sort of influence over the general conduct of the paper. He does not write in it, excepting such letters as are signed " Carolus," or " C. C. G.," which he openly avows, and I believe him to be too honourable knowingly and intentionally to afford improper information to the writers in that paper. As, however, I have long known his love of political gossip, and his habit of constantly receiving Delane and Reeve, who of course come to pick up what they can, I have for some years been more scrupulous in my conversation with Greville than with any equally intimate friend, and I can declare as positively as above that among all the articles in the Tivies proving official indiscretion during the Administration of Lord John and that of Lord Aberdeen, not a single one has been derived from information given by me to Charles Greville.' ^ Mr. Roebuck's motion was carried, and on January 29 Lord Aberdeen resigned. A period of unexampled con- fusion followed his retirement. Lord Derby declined to attempt to form an Administration, The Queen then sent for Lord Lansdowne ; and on his advice she sent for Lord John Russell. Lord John at once communicated with Lord Granville, who with Mr. Sidney Herbert supported him in a short-lived effort to form a Government. ' I think your feelings about John Russell,' the Duke of Devonshire wrote on February 2, ' very generous and creditable to you ; but it has always been my opinion that you conferred more than you received.'^ Lord John Russell soon had to announce the failure of his attempt, owing to the refusal of his principal colleagues in former Administrations to join in a purely Whig Administration, and to their disapproval of his recent resignation. Lord John Russell to Lord Granville. February 3, 1855. ' My dear Granville, — I have been so busy to-day that I had no time to go and see you. But I should like much that you should come and see me in the course of the evening. ' Jamiaiy 25, 1855. - The Duke of Devonshire to Lord Granville, Februarj' 2, 1855. See also Gxt\\\\Q,Jou7-}ial of the Jieign 0/ Queen Victoria, 1852- 60, i. I43. 1852-1855] ^'^^ Aberdeen Governvient 93 ' I was in hopes this morning to have restored to you your dignity as President of the Council. But the sky grows very cloudy in the afternoon, and it now appears that every Ministry is impossible. However, I should like to talk it over with you. ' Yours sincerely, 'J. Russell.' Referring to these events in after years, Mr. Gladstone wrote to Lord Granville at the time of the appearance in 1889 of the Life of Lord foJin Russell, by Mr. Spencer Walpole, that in his opinion — * in the first half of his Life, Lord John Russell's figure comes out very great, as well as very good. In the second half the difificulties he had to contend with were more formidable ; lying in many cases among his own people : he is good all through, but not I think so great as in the Melbourne period. His biography takes two volumes — Palmerston's occupies five. But Lord John's place in British history is five times as great. Though I was on the other side during his best period, 1 was much impressed by him, and I do not recollect ever to have spoken a disparaging or disrespectful word of him.' 1 But the political world at the time which this narrative has reached did not take a favourable view of Lord John Russell's most recent proceedings, and in any case it was quite obvious that not Lord John Russell but Lord Palmers- ton was the man whom public opinion indicated unmistakably to be the necessary Premier. Lord John Russell had himself declared Lord Palmerston to be the only man fit to conduct the war, and the Queen — though still retaining her old sus- picions — bowed to the general demand and charged him with the formation of a Ministry, This task he successfully per- formed. Lord Granville's close connection with Mr. Gladstone, which is one of the most marked features in his career, may be said to have begun at this time. ' There was an admirable fitness in your union [Lord Acton wrote ' Mr. Gladstone's correspondence with Lord Aberdeen al the time of the break-up of the Aberdeen Cabinet might necessitate some qualification of the above observations. For an exactly similar estimate of the relative claims of Lord Palmerston and Lord Russell on posterity see Saint-Rene Taillandier, Lc Roi Liotold et la Reine Victoria, ii. 366-367. 94 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. iv. many years after to Mr. Gladstone] and I had been able to watch how it became closer and easier in spite of so much to separate you in mental habits, in early affinities, and even in the form of fundamental convictions, since he came home from your budget, overwhelmed, thirty-eight years ago. I saw all the connections which had their root in social habit fade before the one which took its rise from public life, and proved more firm and more enduring than the rest.' ^ Of the new Ministry Mr. Gladstone was a member, Lord John Russell was not. The late leader of the House, how- ever, accepted a mission to Vienna as one of the plenipoten- tiaries to the Conference which had assembled there on the invitation of the Austrian Government, in order to attempt to devise conditions of peace. With Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Sidney Herbert and the Duke of Newcastle also had accepted office. Lord Clarendon remained Minister for Foreign Affairs. Lord Granville returned to the Presidency of the Council in the new Ministry. ' I rejoice to hear [Mr. Sidney Herbert wrote to him] that you are to be reinstated in the office of President of the Council, where you will be in a condition to render the same excellent service to the present Government as you did to the last.' "^ Lord Granville at once informed Lord Aberdeen. ' Lord Palmerston [he said] has offered the Presidency of the Council to me, which I have accepted ; but I cannot resist this opportunity of thanking you for all your kindness to me, and of expressing my appreciation of the advantage it has been to me to serve under one of the most just, liberal, and courageous men with whom it has ever been my good fortune to be associated.' "* ' Be assured [was the prompt reply] that I look back to all my personal relations with you as a source of the greatest pleasure, and that I shall never forget how much I owe to your conciliatory and obliging disposition.' "* ^ Life of Gladstone^ iii. 462. - Mr. S. Herbert to Lord Granville, February 5, 1855. ^ Lord Granville to Lord Aberdeen, February 7, 1855. * Lord Aberdeen to Lord Granville, February 8, 1855. 1852-1855] '^^^^ Aberdeen Government 95 A far more difficult question, however, remained than who Was to be the occupant of the ancient and honourable office of Lord President. Lord Aberdeen as Prime Minister had naturally acted as leader of the Coalition Government in the Lords ; and with him had acted Lord Lansdowne, who had led the Liberal peers after the retirement of Lord Melbourne. He had been sent for by the Queen simultaneously with Lord Aberdeen in 1852, and had accepted a seat in the Cabinet. Lord Palmerston now hoped to be able to induce him to return to his former position as leader in the Lords, and believed at first that he had succeeded. Lord Palmerston to Lord Granville. Piccadilly, February 6, 1855. * My dear Granville, — I am very glad to find that all is come right at last. Will you be President of the Council? Lord Lansdowne agrees to be the organ of the Government in the House of Lords, on condition that you will give him your assistance in regard to matters with which you are more familiar than he is. ' Yours sincerely, 'Palmerston.' Lord Granville to Lord Lansdowne. London, February 7, 1855. ' My dear Lord Lansdowne, — Lord Palmerston, in his note offering the Council Office to me, said that you had consented to become the organ of the Government in the House of Lords, on the condition that I should undertake to assist you. ' When you are in the Cabinet, it is of course impossible that you should not be the first person in the assembly in which you sit, but I never imagined that you would consider yourself bound to be in the House at five o'clock and sit on to the close of the debate excepting on very important occasions, nor that you should take any trouble in ascertaining from different departments what was to be said in answer to insignificant questions. But it is of the greatest importance for us all as well as for me, that you should not mark too clearly that you do not answer for the Government. For instance, if you announce the construction of the new Government, it will at once give a tone to the feeling in the House. ' For myself I feel how little useful I shall be in any capacity; but I could play my part with double the effect, and with double the ease myself, if you allow me to speak as your temporary locum tenens. 96 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. iv. ' I apprehend it will not be necessary to make any distinct state- ment to the House as to whether you lead it or not. The House will look for your guidance on all important occasions, and will think it perfectly natural that you should throw upon your younger colleagues all the routine work. ' Granville.' Lord Lansdowne to Lord Granville. Berkeley Square, Wednesday mornings February 8, 1855. ' My dear Granville, — Many thanks for your note last night, but I must tell you that it rather startled me, for I cannot accept the compliment you so kindly pay me, if you have understood that I had taken upon myself what is called the leadership of the House of Lords. ' This is not so, for when Palmerston pressed upon me yesterday to undertake it, with the office I formerly held, but which on every account it is much more desirable you should hold, I should if I had accepted one have accepted both, for I do not think the leader ought to be out of office ; and as I told him when after mature consideration I had determined some time ago to secure peace and comfort at my age by taking a step backwards, it would not do for me to take a step in advance now. ' Palmerston then said he hoped I should not object on some particular occasions to represent the Government, and this I could not refuse, reserving it to myself to judge of the necessity or expediency when the case arose, and this is the whole length and breadth of my undertaking, so long as I feel myself able to take any part, and it is most essential to me that it should be distinctly under- stood. ' Yours ever truly, ' Lansdowne.' The result of Lord Lansdovvne's refusal was the offer by Lord Palmerston of the lead in the House of Lords to Lord Granville. When after long hesitation the offer was accepted Lord Granville entered on a task which — with the brief ex- ception of the interval from 1 865 to 1 868, when Lord Russell on becoming Prime Minister necessarily became leader in the House of Lords — was discharged by him continuously till his death in 1891. Lord Granville ardently desired to have the co-operation of his cousin Lord Carlisle at this difficult moment. But Lord Carlisle was among those who actively dissented from the policy which had embarked the country in the war. Lord Granville himself — and Lord 1852-1855] ^-^^ Aberdeen Gove7niment 97 Carlisle was doubtless aware of it — had also had his doubts, and only yielded his own personal opinions to the experience of older colleagues. ' My own belief,' he afterwards wrote, ' is that the Crimean war was a great misfortune, and that either Palmerston or Aberdeen alone would have prevented it' ^ There is a glimpse of a dinner at Lord Granville's house in Bruton Street in the early part of 1854, where Lord Aberdeen and Mr. Bright were both present, and Mr. Bright left with a distinct opinion that the Prime Minister was ' not perfectly satisfied with the policy of the struggle into which the country was unhappily drifting.' ^ The same observation applied to his host. ' My reason tells me [Lord Carlisle wrote to Lord Granville] that as I had no share in the counsels which led to this war, it is perhaps better for my peace, with the increasing horror I have of it, not to have any say in those which are requisite for carrying it on.'^ But if Lord Granville committed himself to the war with doubts as to its expediency, he was fully convinced that the war when once begun had to be pushed on with vigour, even if Sir Stratford Canning's diplomacy had not been calculated to secure peace. The causes of the rupture of peace were he thought to be sought in considerations of a broad kind and in the general situation of Europe, rather than in the particular facts and circumstances of the diplomatic situation at the moment. He had no sympathy with a cynical class of criticism afterwards fashionable in regard to these events, which regarded the war as merely the result of un- conscious blundering and ignorant miscalculations. The final judgment on the affairs of a bygone period has to be founded on something besides the critical study of State Papers and the accurate comparison of the dates of the despatches of Ministers, which frequently afford but an imperfect and soulless record, and are not the true key of the ideas and passions from which spring the great events of history. No war was ever more popular. It was ' Lord Granville to the Duke of Argyll, February 19, 1SS7. 2 Mr. Bright to Lord Aberdeen, March 16, 1854. •' Lord Carlisle to Lord Granville, February 10, 1855. VOL. L H 98 Life of the Second Eaid Granville [ch. iv. indeed far more popular with the nation than with many of the members of the Government, and it was only reluctantly and after a struggle of nearly two years that the country con- sented to conclude peace at a time when their allies had already begun eagerly to desire it. Why was this so ? Is it to be lightly believed that the nation was either acting under some gigantic hallucination, or was actuated by nothing but want of political foresight as to the future of the Turkish Empire, or was simply animated by a senseless pugnacity and desire of aggrandisement, or was the victim of the angry vindictiveness of Sir Stratford Canning and of the wiles of the chief of the restored French Empire? Such views are those of critics writing long after the events to which they relate. The quarrel, it has often been said, about the Holy Places was an affair not sufficient by itself to have caused war, and diplo- macy was twice all but successful in the course of 1854 in finding a formula in regard to the claim made by Russia of a protectorate over the Christians in Turkey, sufficient to reconcile the views of the Czar with those of the Porte. But to acknowledge this is only to suggest the question : why then did war take place notwithstanding ; what were the causes which doomed diplomacy to fail ; what finally lit up the great European conflagration ? Was it simply an error made in backing the wrong instead of the right horse ? Even now on a dispassionate survey of these events is it clear that if the Porte were the wrong horse, Russia was the right one ? To neither of these two questions can an affirmative answer be given. In order to find a sufficient explanation of the great decision for which Lord Granville had his share of responsibility we must look further. In the arrogant attitude of Russia ever since 1815 towards Europe, to which she seemed hardly to belong, in the ever increasing insolence of that attitude since the accession of the Emperor Nicholas, in the existence of a threatening military autocracy rendered doubly odious by half-mystical claims, and in the translation of those claims into action against liberty not merely in Poland or Hungary but all over Europe, is to be found the explanation of the Crimean War. These things 1852-1855] "^^^ Aberdeen Government 99 had produced an atmosphere of alarm and hatred out of which the lightning was certain sooner or later to leap. No quarrel about the Holy Places, no dispute about the Christian subjects of the Porte, could possibly have dragged an unwill- ing Prime Minister to associate the history of his Government with a war against a country to which he was, to say the least, not personally hostile. It was the belief which animated the people that Western civilisation was threatened in its essential conceptions of individual and political liberty which forced him on, and sent the armies and fleets of Great Britain, France, and Sardinia, with no adequate cause of immediate quarrel, to the shores of the Black Sea and the Baltic. It is no exaggeration to say that if the Crimean War had never been fought, the two subsequent decades of the century would not have seen the formation of a United Italy and a United Germany and all the consequences. Within only a few months of the Treaty of 1856, Prince Gortchakoff issued a Circular Despatch as a protest against Lord Clarendon's vigorous denunciation of the misgovernment of the Kingdom of Naples.' What would have been the position of Europe if Prince Gortchakoff had represented the Government of a victorious or even an undefeated Russia ? The recollections of 1S30 and 1849 supply the answer. ' See Gxg\\\\q, Jounial of the Reign of Qtieen Victoria, ii. 59. H 2 CHAPTER V THE PALMERSTON GOVERNMENT 1855 ' You are an able negotiator,' Lord Palmerston wrote to Lord Granville in the midst of the multifarious troubles incidental to the formation of a new Government, some of which he said afforded ' examples of the saying that the Sovereign may make a peer, but cannot make a gentleman.' ^ But there were more serious difficulties than those arising from the unregenerate nature of man in regard to the distribution of titles and decorations. Hardly had the Government been formed before Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Sidney Herbert, and Sir James Graham resigned, owing to the decision taken by the new Premier to carry out the inquiry promised by the previous Government into the causes of the disasters of the war. To this inquiry the Peelite statesmen objected as in their opinion no longer necessary after the fall of Lord Aberdeen and the retirement of the Duke of Newcastle from the War Office. Lord John Russell, who was just about to start for Vienna, was then persuaded to become Colonial Secretary, but proceeded on his mission. The Emperor Napoleon had terrified his allies in the last days of 1854 by a proposal to go to the Crimea and himself take the command. It required all the skill and personal in- fluence of Lord Clarendon, who in 1855 visited the Emperor in his camp at Boulogne, to dissuade him from the venture. But the experiment of appointing to a foreign mission an ex-Prime Minister hitherto unversed in diplomacy proved as disturbing a factor in the political situation as the appearance of the F'rench Emperor might have been on the ' Lord Palmeibton to Lord Granville, February 3, March 28, 1855. The Pahnerston Government, 1855 loi field of battle in the East. By April Lord Clarendon was writing in despair to Lord Granville about ' the devilries at Vienna.' ' Drouyn de I'Huys and John Russell,' he la- mented, ' seem to be under the atmospheric influence of the place, which makes " Dips " forget their instructions.' ' A deadlock was the result. Grave divergences between the commanders on the field of action, and a want of united action between the two armies, were also reported to exist. In the House of Lords the Duke of Newcastle was threaten- ing vengeance in the character of the candid friend, and the attitude of Lord Granville's former Under-Secretary, Mr, Austen Henry Layard, as well as that of Mr. Roebuck, was a source of constant and still greater apprehension in the House of Commons. ' I entirely believe [Lord Granville wrote to Mr. Layard] what you tell me about your friendly feelings towards myself, and I can assure you that there has never been any change in mine towards you. I do not mean to say that I have never felt annoyance or irritation at the somewhat reckless and intemperate manner in which you have worked your views (in some of which I entirely agree) before Parlia- ment, on the platform, and through the press; but I have never ceased holding the same language to those who have twitted me with the result of my connection with you. " I appointed Mr. Layard Under-Secretary of State wholly on public grounds. During the weeks which he served under me, I found him more useful to me than some of those who had been at the work all their lives, and I liked him in every respect. He is the only man I know who had reason to complain on personal grounds on the formation of Lord Aberdeen's Government ; as questions soon arose about which Mr. Layard knew much, felt strongly, and on which he sincerely disapproved the policy of the (lovernment. To expect an able and energetic man to remain silent on such an occasion was absurd ; and it was equally ridiculous to expect that anyone perfecdy new to public life should weigh his words or measure his actions as carefully as those who have been at the trade in or out of office for a quarter of a century." ' - In May, before the plenipotentiaries actually separated and the Conference at Vienna came to a formal conclusion, 1 Lord Clarendon to Lord Granville, April 25, 1855. 2 Lord Granville to Mr. Layard, May 4, 1S55. I02 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. v. Count Buol, who was now Austrian Minister for Foreign Affairs, made a last attempt to bring the parties together. The principal point of difference lay in the arrangements to be made as to the Black Sea and the Dardanelles. A variety of proposals and counter-proposals had been put forward. The Austrian proposal was that the principle of counterpoise might be accepted by Russia ; viz. that the number of the ships which she might keep in the Black Sea having been first determined, any addition to it might be followed by the admission into those waters of an equal number of war vessels from the allied fleets. Lord John Russell was favourable to the acceptance of the proposal ; so was M. Drouyn de I'Huys. But Lord Palmerston was hostile. Public opinion also had been only partially satisfied by the fall of Lord Aberdeen and the disappearance of the Duke of Newcastle. It soon began to be whispered that the new Secretary of State for War, Lord Panmure, was not more efficient than his pre- decessor, and that the Cabinet as a whole did not realise the serious condition of affairs. Some of the ministers them- selves shared the doubts of the wisdom of the colleague whom Lord Clarendon dubbed ' Mars,' and Lord Granville described as a ' Scotch divinity,' more fit perhaps to direct a campaign in the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland than on the shores of the Black Sea.' Difficulties of another kind arose from the language of M. de Persigny, who had succeeded M. Walewski as French Ambassador in London. He claimed the privilege of ancient personal friendship in order to deal faithfully with the French Emperor, and also did not hesitate in conversation to blurt out whatever was passing through his mind about his Sovereign. Lord Granville had gone over to Paris in April in order to support the objections which Lord Clarendon had already urged to the Emperor's plan of going to the Crimea. Thither too had flown the French Ambassador ; and he characteristically took the earliest opportunity of describing an inspired article which had appeared in a leading French official newspaper as a ' panegyric on failure.' This remark he followed up in ' Lord Granville to Lord Clarendon, September 17, 1855. 1855] 1^^^^ Palmerston Government, 1855 103 conversation with Lord Granville by some pointed ridicule of the general position of his Sovereign. ' I have heard Legitimists rail against the present state of things [Lord Granville wrote to the Foreign Secretary], I have listened to twice as violent language from the Orleanists against the person of the Emperor and his Government ; but all this is milk and water to the opposition speech made to me by Persigny last night. He talked a good deal about Lord Palmerston, and when I told him that Lord Palmerston had been struck by his conversation, he seemed pleased, and determined to strike me too ; and he began with much cleverness and eagerness showing how every step in the campaign had been wrong, had been late, &c. ; excepting in a few instances in which his advice had been taken. He said the same faults would be continued, as they had their origin in the character of the maitre. " Some kings, such as Alexander &c., could plan and execute everything by themselves ; others could do so by their counsellors ; a third class could do neither " (Machiavelli). The Emperor belonged to the second class. He had no invention ; not much knowledge and no judgment. When a plan with all its bearing was laid before him he could judge right. But, whether from idleness or pride he hardly knew, the Emperor rarely consulted anybody. He decided upon sending his fleet to the Baltic last year without consulting his Ministry, and then confessed he did not know whether Kronstadt was on an island or on the mainland. He multiplied instances of this sort. . . . The Emperor in the Crimea would be fatal. He, Persigny, would pack up his goods if he went. . , . His talk was in parts very wild, in parts hitting the right nail on the head.' ^ The Emperor had greatly resented the opposition to his ambition of leading his own armies. ' A visit to London, a victory over the Russians in the Crimea, and a reception of the Queen of England in Paris before the end of the summer,' became his fixed ideas. ' I did not say, " Excusez du peu,"' was Lord Granville's comment^ To the Prince Consort he expressed his apprehensions more fully in the following memorandum : — Lord Granville to the Prince Consort. April 16, 1855. ' I take the liberty of writing a few lines, which I venture to hope your Royal Highness will allow me to consider as confidentially 1 Lord Granville to Lord Clarendon, April 12, 1855. ^ //,j(f^ I04 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. v. addressed to yourself. The present moment is an anxious and a critical one. We are about to break off negotiations for peace, on grounds which will be disapproved by a small but intelligent minority in England, and by overwhelming majorities in France and Austria. I believe, for reasons which it is not necessary to recapitulate, we are quite right to do so, but always with one proviso, that we see reasonable hope of prosecuting the war with success. Such an expectation must rest upon there being somewhere a plan of operations, and one which is likely to be executed with vigour and ensemble. I am not sure that the leading members of the Govern- ment, with the exception of Lord Clarendon, are sufficiently im- pressed with this view. I am sure none have at present a com- prehensive plan to submit to the conference over which your Royal Highness and the Emperor will preside at Windsor. The only recent instructions which I know of as being addressed to the English commanders, were issued after a loose conversation in the Cabinet, as to the importance of taking Kertch. I rather doubt these instructions having been communicated to the French Government. Lord Raglan answers them by saying that he cannot spare men from his small force, and that General Canrobert declines assisting him for this purpose. The latter had probably received no such instructions from home, and may possibly have received exactly contrary ones, as to the necessity of concentrating his army as much as possible. There seems to be much misunderstanding between the two commanders-in-chief in the Crimea, who neither of them appear to have any imagination or invention, or the power of forming for themselves plans, based on general instructions from home. The junior English officers revenge themselves for the past sneers of the French army on our want of organisation, by writing home hundreds of letters that the " French don't like fighting," that the " French had behaved well the previous night ; they had only run away once," &c. &c. The Russians, on the other hand, seem to gain confidence ; act with unity, and have found out who their good generals are. The remedy for this state of things is that the Empe7-or is to go out to the Crimea ! which, putting all political reasons aside, is stated by his most confidential military friend, Colonel Fleury, as a move likely to have a bad effect on the army ; while his most intimate and most honest civil friend, M. de Persigny, told me that his master, partly from unwillingness to consult others, partly from habits of procrastination, and partly from ignorance, is incapable of mastering the facts, and arranging the details necessary for the success of a great plan. If this view of the case is at all correct, one cannot be surprised that Lord Malmesbury should have told Lord Cowley that Lord Ellen- 1855] The P aimer stoii Government, 1855 105 borough had persuaded him personally, that as we seemed Ukely to go on in the same way, and with the same generals, great disasters were so sure to ensue, that it was far better to have peace at once on any terms. My own hopes rest entirely on what may be settled this week. It will be very unlike your Royal Highness if you have not very clear and decided views as to what should be done ; as to the nature of the instructions which should be sent hence ; what measures should be adopted for future uniformity of instructions from Paris and London, and what other steps must be adopted for the efficient execution of instructions in the Crimea. My own impression is that as it is impossible to put the two armies under one head, the sooner they could be completely separated the better. What I venture to ask your Royal Highness is, not to be satisfied with a general acquiescence in your views, but that your plan, or a better one if it can be proposed, be formally adopted and recognised. 'G.' The old suspicion of Lord Palmerston which the Queen and the Prince Consort still entertained was another cause of trouble, which the jaunty Premier acknowledged and felt. 'They are determined to behave well and with confidence to him [Lord Clarendon told Lord Granville], but the old mistrust haunts them, and they suspect him as likely to make a sudden splash before they know where they are, and on grounds which it is difficult for them or for you to oppose him. There is no doubt that success makes him dangerous in these respects. As Sidney Herbert said : " He always wishes to play double or quits." We must do our best to keep both sides quiet. I have done my best here ; but if a sore is established either here or in Piccadilly it will be a martyrdom to heal.' 1 A severe accident caused by a fall from a dogcart soon after his return to England incapacitated Lord Granville at this time for more than a month from leaving his house, or pushing his views with the vigour which he desired in the Cabinet. From a couch in Bruton Street he was, however, able to ply his accustomed metiei' of the honest broker of rival ambitions and discordant views, and to be the mediator between the different Ministers and between them and the Sovereign. In a letter to the Duke of Argyll he carefully ' Lord Clarendon to Lord Granville, April 25, 1855. See (j\e.\\!AQ, Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria, ii. ill. io6 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. v. summed up the situation, and expressed his agreement with the recommendations of Lord John Russell from Vienna as follows : — Lord Granville to the Duke of Argyll. London, May 3, 1855. ' My dear Argyll, — You peremptorily desired me to put my opinion in writing. I should have preferred waiting till I heard more of the opinions and arguments held by others, but being a bed- ridden wretch I do not venture to disobey you. ' A heavy responsibility has been thrown on those who have to decide the question raised by the Emperor Napoleon's proposition. Assuming that this new version of the Austrian proposal is concurred in by Austria and we agree to it, if it is rejected by the Czar we shall have the advantages which a character for moderation always gives. If, as is more probable, the terms are accepted by the Russian Government and peace is made, what will be the effect in this country ? A small and not insignificant party will rejoice ; a larger number will feel relief ; but the general feehng will be one of disap- pointment and mortification. The nation has been lashed by parlia- mentary speeches, by public meetings and by the press, into the most extravagant expectation as to what we were to attempt and what we were to achieve. A proportionate amount of gloom was subse- quently created by the failure of these hopes, by the exaggerated complaints of the conduct of the war, and by the systematic praise of our allies, and almost of our enemies, at our expense. As to the precise terms of the peace, excepting insomuch as they will appear in the Blue Books to be less than what H.M.'s Government thought necessary, I do not believe that they will create much more dissatis- faction than any other conditions which could have been proposed with any chance of success. Some will resent that Russia has not been completely humiliated ; all will regret that there has been a diminution rather than an increase of our military glory. They will be dissatisfied not at the terms of peace, but at our leaving off with- out the triumph which attended the conclusion of the last war. It is to be feared that this opinion will not be confined to our own country. Europe and America are well inclined to take our public speakers and public writers at their word, when they assert that in this war Englishmen have shown no military qualifications excepting great personal courage. These terms are not what we should wish, and it is probable that we shall lose some prestige by accepting them. On the other hand, are the terms in themselves so very bad ? Are they not better than what would have satisfied us before the war, or even 1855] The Palmcrston Government, 1855 107 before our troops left Varna ? I still hold that'we were right in June to order the expedition to the Crimea ; but can we pretend that we are now in a better position than we were before the landing to impose our own conditions ? We say with truth to Austria : " It is all very well for you who have been at peace to be satisfied with easy terms ; we who have made great sacrifices require greater results." But Russia can hold the same language. Both parties have been playing at war, the most gambling game in the world. Both have paid an enormous price for card money. Neither has many points to score. ' Russia is prepared to make large concessions, and yet because on one point she does not go to the extent which might be desired, we are to continue a war which every day weakens the Power whose strength we are fighting to maintain. If the chances of immediate success were in our favour the case would be quite different ; but can we honestly say as a matter of calculation, not of wishing, that we can reckon on success ? The siege of Sebastopol has hitherto been a failure. We have generals whom we do not trust, and whom we do not know how to replace. We have an Ambassador at Constantinople, an able man, a cat whom no one cares to bell, whom some think a principal cause of the war, others the cause of some of the calamities which have attended the conduct of the war, and whom we know to have thwarted or neglected many of the objects of his Government. The French generals seem worse than ours ; the troops before Sebastopol inferior to ours if not to the Russians. That portion of the army which is at Constantinople is already attacked by cholera. Are we ourselves safe from pestilence ? Can we insure the status quo on the eastern coast of the Black Sea ? It has been argued that it is better that Austria should not take the field. This may possibly be true as long as she holds a large number of troops in check, but what effect would the certainty of her not going to war have upon our chance in the Crimea ? ' A friend of the Duke of Wellington quoted here to-day the strong opinion which he had heard more than once expressed by the Duke, that Russia was weak abroad, but utterly unassailable at home. Not- withstanding the weight of this judgment, I believe that if France and England continue to act cordially together, they will succeed in the long run, by great sacrifices on their part, and by exhaustion on the part of Russia. But it is not possible to calculate on such a joint continuous effort. It is not certain even as regards this country. If we make peace, we may probably be hooted from our places ; but if we continue war, much of the weight will be thrown in the opposite scale. Grey, Herbert, Gladstone, Graham, Bright, and possibly io8 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. v. Ellenborough, aided by the pressure of the war budget, will soon make a peace party, strong enough to take away all appearance of unanimity in the country for a war in which the religious feelings and the material interests of the nation are not concerned. In France public opinion is unanimously in favour of peace. It cannot be excited in favour of any war, except a continental war on a nearer battle-field. The Emperor is the only man in his dominions to whom we can look. Putting aside the thoughts suggested by the crisis of last week, can we expect the Emperor to remain firm when he finds himself in financial and administrative difficulties, in conse- quence of our refusal to adopt the proposal which he has so strongly urged upon us ? In the meanwhile the deaths of brave men and distinguished officers, falling in affairs which have absolutely no results, press upon us the duty of considering whether it is absolutely necessary to continue this war. ' I was at first strongly against the Austrian proposals. The re- flections which I have put down and the modifications proposed by the French Government have made me change my mind. With sorrow and almost a feeling of shame, I give my vote for acceptance. I should hope that the explanations with Austria will be explicit ; that it will be in our power to show that the proposition is half French and has been strongly urged upon us by the French Govern- ment. I should also hope that in the treaty, the Sultan's power to call in the fleets of the Allies will be left as unfettered as possible. 'Yours, G.' It was not inconvenient that the Duke of Newcastle at this moment resolved to leave Parliament to its own devices^ and to go himself to the Crimea in order to see things with his own eyes. The Duke might have been pardoned for thinking himself a sacrifice for the sins of his colleagues and predecessors quite as much as for his own shortcomings ; and before starting he wrote a letter to Lord Granville, in which the bitterness of recent events was only too plainly apparent. He was sorry, he said, to see much going on sub rosd which he thought of a very unfriendly nature to the Peelite members of the former Government, and more especially perhaps to himself. There were intriguers who thought themselves very clever and cunning, but they had not yet learnt by experience that, though he was never in a hurry to strike an enemy, Nemo me impune lacessit was his motto. 1 85 5 J T^^^ Palmerston Government, 1855 ^^9 The blow would assuredly come, as others had before found, and though he would give ready support to the Government, he would not consider himself in any way called upon to spare those members of it who were ' ungenerous enough to try and exalt themselves at the expense of a friend.' He suspected a ' game to crush all Liberals who were not Whigs, and that a resuscitation of Whiggery pur et simple was desired ; ' a greater delusion than which never, he said, ' obfuscated the brain of a politician.' Personal jealousy was the motive of this miserable feeling, which was very sad to those who had shrunk from no obloquy ' to cement the elements of a Liberal party which could govern the country.' He had himself been willing to give up the name of Peelite ; and he could now only look forward to a Liberal Govern- ment very different from the present, ' which would not know the persons to whom he alluded.' ^ Having launched his thunderbolt, the Duke departed for the Crimea. Meanwhile a hostile motion of Lord Ellenborough in the House of Lords had to be met. Lord Granville to Lord Palmerston. London, May 7, 1855. ' My dear Lord Palmerston, — I hear that Lord Ellenborough is to give notice of a motion for this day week on the mismanage- ment of the war. He will divide the House, which at all events will secure a great debate. ' Evelyn Denison saw about two months ago a letter from Eyre, in which he said that he had pointed out to Burgoyne a very dangerous piece of ground, and had suggested that they should make a dash for it and connect it backwards with the English works. Burgoyne thought the idea worthy of consideration, but decided it was better to approach the ground in the usual way. A fortnight after the date of Eyre's letter, the Russians did exactly what he had suggested, seized the ground, the now famous Mamelon, and joined it backwards with their own works. Eyre may not be a great general, but there is a fair chance of his being so, which he will have no occasion of show- ing while he is under the command of England. I may be wrong in the particular cases, l^ut some of these changes ought to have been made before the matter is seriously discussed in Parliament. When ' Duke of Newcastle to Lord Granville, April i6, 1855. no Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. v. the question comes to be debated as Ellenborough, Grey, and Derby can debate it, in the discussion two or three dismissals or changes effected will be worth a dozen projected. I hear from different quarters that General Markham (the best of all), General Ashburnham, Colonel Lindsay, and Colonel Mansfield are good ofificers. Percy Herbert is well spoken of in the Crimea. He has studied his profession as a science. Jim Macdonald and General Evans sing his praises.' ' I know you do not mind being bored on these subjects, even if some of the suggestions are irrevelant or have been anticipated. 'Yours sincerely, G.' On May 14, Lord Ellenborough brought forward his motion in a speech which, after condemning the conduct of the war, proposed to tender to the Crown the support of the House if a more vigorous Cabinet than ' the family party ' which as he insinuated sat on the Government benches were formed to replace it. This speech, like all those which came from his lips, was one of great power and eloquence, marred, however, by the same faults of tact and temper which had already injured and were ultimately to terminate his career. Why was the country, he asked, to be anxious to have Lord Palmerston as Prime Minister ? ' I recollect [he proceeded] sitting by the side of the Duke of Wellington in the House of Lords during the unfortunate difficulty between him and Mr. Huskisson, which led to the resignation of a portion of the gentlemen forming the Government. The Duke of Wellington was suddenly called out of the House, and when he returned he said to me : " That was Palmerston, who wanted to see me, to tell me if Huskisson went, he must go too." The Duke con- 1 The Hon. Percy Egerton Herbert, second son of the second Earl of Powis, Quartermaster-General of the second or Sir De Lacy Evans's division of the army in the Crimea. After hard service in South Africa in the war with the Dutch Republics, he went through the whole of the Eastern campaign, specially dis- tinguishing himself at the battle of the Alma, where he was wounded, and at Inkermann. He was one of the few officers who retired from the Crimea with an enhanced reputation, which he still further increased by distinguished service in India. He was created Major-General in 1868 and K.C.B. in 1869. He repre- sented Ludlow from 1854 to i860, and the Southern Division of Shropshire from 1865 to his death in 1876. He was sworn a member of the Privy Council on becoming Treasurer of the Household in Lord Derby's last Administration. (See Kinglake, vi. 66 ; Sessional Papers, 1855, ix. pt. i, p. 43 ; Dictionary of National Biography, xxvi. 207.) 1855] ^'^^ Palmerston Government, 1855 n^ tinued : " I said nothing ; it was not for me to fire great guns at small birds." That was the opinion of the Duke of Wellington. The small bird might have grown to be an eagle. At all events he was the man of the situation, and he was carried into power by an impulse of individual admiration, so common in this country, and so soon followed by frigid indifference. . . . While the Parliament was tor- pid, however, the public were thinking. . . . Well, the people had come to the conclusion that it was time Parliament should state its opinion that the government must be conducted on the true prin- ciples of selecting men for employment in consideration of their means of serving the State.' The present Palmerston Government, he went on, were nothing after all but the old Whig party, a set of near relations and one in which a particular family connection was specially prominent and powerful, and that family con- nection was represented by the leader of the House. On the larger question involved in Lord Ellenborough's diatribe. Lord Granville had no difficulty in persuading the Peers that whatever their individual opinions might be as to the composition or the abilities of the Government, it was too soon to condemn them after only a few months' trial in office. In regard to the charge that the Government were a family party, he said he desired to meet it at once, as the same insinuation, though not so openly expressed, had been made on the platform. It had been said that ' we had gone back a hundred years in our history, and that the heads of the Gower, Howard, and Cavendish families sat in conclave and dictated to the Prime Minister the colleagues whom he should have.' Such was the cry ; and such sneers, Lord Granville replied, were an easy way to obtain a cheap popularity, which, however, ought not to tempt men of Lord Ellenborough's eminence. Further, the insinuation was untrue. ' My Lords [he said], I am a Gower, and I believe I am the only one of that family who holds any official appointment whatever. I am also a Cavendish, but I think that the noble Duke at the head of that family has not shown himself slow to encourage genius wherever he has found it. I find behind me the heir presumptive of that noble Duke, who did not shrink at the University from competition 112 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. v. with the ablest and best men of the day.' That noble Lord has not abstained in his private capacity from aiding the public in many ways ; but to this day he has never held one single office ; and as far as I remember, his only relation bearing the name of Cavendish is one who under the superintendence of my noble friend, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, is fattening under the enormous emolu- ments attached to a place in the Foreign Office. My Lords, I am sorry to say that I am also related to some of the Howards : not "to all the Howards," because the Howards since the time of Pope have so wonderfully multiplied and increased, that I believe Mr. Horace Mann could handicap them very fairly in a race with '■^ all the Smiths.'''' But I have yet to learn that the member of the Howard family who has been selected by the Queen at the instance of Lord Palmerston to represent her Majesty in Ireland, has either in that country or in any part of the kingdom been found inimical to the interests of the people.- My Lords, I had better make a clean breast of it at once ; and I am obliged to admit that some of those who went before me had such quivers full of daughters who did not die old maids, that I have relations upon this side of the House, relations upon the cross benches, relations upon the opposite side of the House, and I actually had the unparalleled misfortune to have no fewer than three cousins in the Protectionist Administration of my noble friend opposite.' ^ This good-humoured sally took the fancy of the audience, especially after the vitriolic onslaught of the mover, which had disgusted even his own friends. Lord Ellenborough's resolutions were easily defeated by a large majority, the sense of the House revoltinfj ai^ainst an attack on a Cabinet which it was evidently premature either to praise or to blame. ' Gratulur Ellenbro titulis accedere vestris [Lord Palmerston gaily wrote to Lord Granville next day]. Pretty well for a beginning. I only hope that our leaders in the Crimea may be as victorious as our leaders in the House of Lords. Pleasant dreams Ellenborough must have, and agreeable recollections on waking this morning.' ^ The Austrian proposals were ultimately rejected, and the Vienna Conference came to a formal termination on June 5. ' Mr. William Cavendish. He was Second Wrangler and Eighth Classic in 1829. On January 15, 1858, he succeeded his cousin, the sixth Duke of Devon shire, who died unmarried. lie already sat in the House of Lords as Lord Burlington. "^ Lord Carlisle. * Hansard., cxxxviii. 506. * Lord Palmerston to Lord Granville, May 15, 1855. 1855] T"^^^ Palmerston Government, 1855 1^3 Early in July, Lord John Russell returned. Although still as formerly an advocate of the vigorous prosecution of the war, he was more anxious than his leading colleagues to terminate it whenever it became possible to do so honourably ; and in the proposals of Count Buol at Vienna he had thought that he recognised the basis of a reasonable settlement : a view in which, it has been seen, Lord Granville concurred. How far Lord John Russell, having as a British plenipotentiary ex- pressed this view at Vienna, and having conveyed it to his colleagues, was subsequently justified in remaining a member of the Cabinet when it had overruled him, and in defending their decision as if it had been his own, will always remain a nice question of political dialectics, as it involves the question where individual responsibility ceases and the joint responsibility of a Cabinet can be substituted for it. But that in so doing on this occasion Lord John Russell had overstepped the limit of what was right and proper, was the view of the majority of the House of Commons in 1855, and his conduct was contrasted with that of M. Drouyn de I'Huys, who had at once resigned. Bowing before the storm, Lord John Russell retired. But, as frequently happens in such cases, a reaction began almost immediately. On the very day following his resignation Lord John had his opportunity, and he seized it. Mr. Roebuck had brought forward a motion to visit the members of the Aberdeen Cabinet with the reprobation of Parliament in consequence of the revelations contained in the report of the Parliamentary Committee which had just appeared. Lord John Russell at once declined to shelter himself behind his own resignation in the previous January, or to use it in order to protect himself from incurring a share in the obloquy attach- ing to the mismanagement of the war by the Aberdeen Cabinet. Public opinion had judged him severely for his sudden resignation in January, and it was for this former offence rather than for his performances at Vienna that he had had to pay the penalty. But public opinion now endorsed his action on Mr. Roebuck's motion as a partial if tardy concession to the sense of what was proper and fitting VOL. I. I 1 1 4 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. v, in public affairs, and his return to something Hke his old popularity dated from that moment. Lord Granville to Lord John Russell. July 20, 1855. ' My dear Lord John, — I cannot tell you how pleased I am with what has taken place this week. I ventured to mention the word " reaction " to you on Monday. My pet belief is that the further people go in a foolish direction, the more certain they are to come rapidly back to an opposite point. Your magnificent speech of last night seems to have completed what your calm and dignified statement in the midst of so much noise had begun on Monday. ' Yours sincerely, ' Granville.' Whatever might happen as to the supreme command, which the Emperor of the French had by this time been induced to forego, Lord Granville was above all things anxious that the winter of 1855-56 should at least not see anything approaching in character to the debacle of the winter of 1854-55 ■) that time should be taken by the forelock, and that adequate preparations should be made at home to meet the requisitions of the Commander-in-Chief The Commander-in-Chief was now General Simpson, Lord Raglan's former Chief of the Staff, who on Lord Raglan's death on June 28 had been appointed temporarily to suc- ceed him in the supreme command of the British army. There were those who judged him unequal to the task ; but he had the advantage of enjoying the protection of the Secretary of State for War. Lord Panmure did not lack determination. ' It is all very well running down Mars' ability [Lord Clarendon observed], but there is no other single member of the Cabinet who can defy the Prime Minister, all his colleagues, excepting perhaps Charles Wood, and the Court itself : you will see that he will retain Simpson in command in spite of us all. . . . Mars, who is a much more wily creature than he used to be when he was so easily caught by a brother god, will slip through all our nets.' 1855] The Pahnerston Government, 1855 115 To all criticisms of General Simpson he invariably replied, ' Aye, aye, all that's very well ; but you'll see.' ^ Lord Granville to General Harness LiTTLEHAMPTON, AugUSt 12, 1855. ' I quite agree with you as to the beau ideal of the relations between Government and the commander of the EngHsh army in the Crimea, viz. a first-rate general with despotic powers which he is willing to use, foreseeing all that he will want during the winter, sending home by the electric telegraph requisitions, immediately complied with ; but I cannot shut my eyes to what happened last year: 10,000 lost for want of communication; no requisitions sent home, which had not been anticipated, and the Government held responsible, and justly so to a certain extent. Everyone agrees that roads should now be made, the railway repaired, and certain sanitary arrangements carried out, not to mention field works, which may be required. I have heard neither officially nor from private correspon- dents, nor from the newspaper correspondence, that the army has not plenty to do. I have heard of no roads made, nor of the railway being repaired. I cannot doubt but what a large amount of labour is required. I agree with you that 2,000 sappers would be invalu- able, and far better than any number of navvies, but when you talk of sappers it is clear that they are not to be had. Drafting 2,000 artificers from the army may be a good plan, but you diminish to a certain degree the fighting power of the small army which you have in the field, and which you would like to increase if you had the means, which you have not. The militia plan is better if it could be done at once ; but it has this disadvantage, that you send out boys, whom Lord Raglan said died like flies, instead of sending the strongest, most skilled, and best seasoned men in England. I shall be very glad if Lord Panmure thinks fit to try both plans. I am sure we cannot easily have too much labour in the Crimea. I am sure he will wish the whole to be under the absolute command of the General. ' Ever yours, 'Granville.' The relative functions of the Secretary for War and the Commander-in-Chief as to the appointment of Generals in high command in time of war had, it appeared, never been very clearly defined ; but none the less it was certain. Lord Granville pointed out, that the Government as a whole were ' Lord Clarendon to Lord Granville, September 16, 17, 22, 1855. J 2 ii6 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. v. ultimately responsible to the Queen and to the country for the proper selection of those who occupied the principal military posts. On the other hand, it would add much to the already overwhelming work of the Secretary for War, if on every appointment he was to be advised and criticised by each of his fourteen colleagues. 'Some of them, like myself [he noted], have no professional knowledge, and a very slight acquaintance with the army, and are easily influenced by the military gossip of others. The responsibiUty, however, of all of us is so great in connection with this war, that we owe it to one another not to be altogether silent as to the principles on which we think these selections should be made, and poor Lord Raglan's death gives a favourable opportunity for these considerations. Lord Raglan's appointment was right at the time. The praises which have accompanied him to the grave are his due, but there must still be a doubt whether another with more energy, youth, and genius would not have done more. ' It appears from the conversation of last night that the Times was wrong in announcing certain appointments as already made ; and that the permanent or provisional character of General Simpson's command, and the nomination of General KnoUys to be Chief of the Staff, are still under consideration, A question arose between Lord Panmure and Sir George Grey as to whether General KnoUys was too old for the post, which it is proposed to give him. Whether sixty years is too old or not must much depend upon the individual, but as a general rule I believe that age within certain limits does not disqualify a man for employment to which he has been continuously accustomed, but does unfit him to bear a new strain of a novel character upon the faculties of mind or body. The marked supe- riority of some of our elder statesmen is shown every evening in debate. If these after their first two or three parliamentary sessions had retired to their country houses and contented themselves till this day with occasional appearances at the public dinners of a provincial town, would not some of their younger colleagues, with limited but more recent experience, have had a better chance of competing with them in the House ? This is still more the case where bodily vigour is concerned. Assheton Smith hunted his hounds at seventy as well as he had ever done. There does not exist the man who could hunt hounds well in an inclosed country, who had for forty years contented himself with walking them out to exercise The experience of the Crimea must give young men, such as Percy Herbert and others, a good chance of being a more effective soldier, 1855] 1^^^^ Palmerston Government, 1855 117 over men of equal abilities who have seen the last war, but who have passed forty years in the peaceable exercise of petty military duties. Where men have recently distinguished themselves in the late Indian wars, by all means send them to the seat of war, as it is proposed to do with General Markham ; but while rapid promotion gives spirit and encouragement to an army in the field, the appointment of officers from home, whose chief claim is seniority, must have a con- trary and discouraging effect. ' Speaking with great diffidence, I should recommend General Simpson to be continued in provisional command till we are better able to judge the stuff of which he is made, and I should give him assistance by promoting some of the best men now with his army, rather than send out General KnoUys, whom I have heard mentioned as an excellent soldier, but who is not a young man, and who I am told is not in very strong health. * Lord Panmure stated last night, none of the heads of the Com- missariat are remarkable for talent or energy ; that to find them it should be necessary to go low down. It is our duty to support Lord Panmure to the utmost in getting rid of merely respectable officers, and to do not that which is only good, but what is quite the best towards supplying the wants of the army for the future.' ' Whatever the merits or demerits of General Simpson may have been, the allied armies under his command and that of Marshal Pelissier took Sebastopol on September 8, 1855, and Lord Panmure now had the same answer ready which has been often given in regard to one of the most memor- able events of the Peninsular War. Military critics have proved over and over again that Castaflos had no right to win the battle of Baylen, ' for there disorder triumphed over valour and discipline, and inexperienced men defeated practised generals.'^ To this argument it does not require to be a Spaniard to reply that this may have been the case, but the indubitable fact none the less is that Castaflos won the battle which had so great an effect on the history of Europe, and that thirty thousand of the best troops of the French Empire surrendered to him. Lord Panmure was now similarly armed in argument against Lord Granville, Lord Clarendon, and the other critics of General Simpson, with ' ' Memorandum on the conduct of the war, 1855.' ' Napier, Peninsular War, vol. i. ch. vii. p. iir. Edition 1828. ii8 Life of the Second Earl Gra7iville [ch. v the argument which admitted of no contradiction, that, what- ever the failings of General Simpson might be, he had taken Sebastopol. Nor was he slow to use it. The irony of events further willed it that when General Simpson entered Sebastopol, he was accompanied by the Duke of Newcastle, who had just sent home an adverse memorandum on the whole conduct of the war, pronouncing the General incapable and the capture of the fortress next to impossible. The Queen in 1852 had confided to Lord Aberdeen that she thought Lord Granville 'a most agreeable companion.'^ He was minister in attendance in the autumn of 1855. The Court was at Balmoral, and it was there that the Queen received the anxiously expected news of the fall of the great Crimean stronghold. At half past ten two telegrams arrived, one for the Queen, and the other for Lord Granville. The first was from Lord Clarendon, with details of the destruction of the Russian ships as well as of the forts on the southern side of the harbour. Lord Granville said to the Queen : ' I have still better news.' Then he read the telegram from General Simpson : ' Sebastopol is in the hands of the Allies.' The scene which followed is described by Lord Granville in a letter to Lord Clarendon. * Phipps and I [he wrote] had had a long walk, and not much sport after some grouse yesterday. I was trying to keep myself awake by arguing with her Majesty that it was better to receive commonplace messages by the telegraph which I could read, than to receive important ones in cypher which her Majesty could not understand ; when the page came in with a message for each announcing the great news. You may imagine the sensation. The Queen rather upset and her first words rather curious. The Prince in the most extravagant spirits. Poor jaded Phipps and I had to rush up a precipitous hill after him, over some very rough ground, to light a bonfire, drink whisky, and say urray as like a Scotchman as we could.' ^ Just at this juncture the memorandum from the Duke of Newcastle mentioned above, dated August 30, arrived in ' The Queen to Lord Aberdeen, September 5, 1852. " Lord Granville to Lord Clarendon, September ii, 1855. Compare Leaves from a Journal, quoted by Martin, Life of the Prince Consort, iii. 359. 1855] '^^'^^ P aimer ston Government, 1855 119 England, and was circulated among his former colleagues, who read his criticism and prophecies with mingled feelings, and perhaps in the circumstances it may be suspected not entirely without some malicious satisfaction at the turn of events. It took the gloomiest view of the situation, reflected severely on the incapacity of the generals, both French and English, and on the want of organisation of the English army both in administrative and military departments ; and described General Simpson himself as ' mooning ' instead of * doing.' On this memorandum Lord Granville commented as follows : — Lord Gr.'\nville to Lord Clarendon. Balmoral, September 16, 1855. ' Mv dear Clarendon, — I have read the Duke of Newcastle's letter and Lord Panmure's observations on it. The letter does not, nor could it, show the Duke's good qualities, which I apprehend to be courage, perseverance, powers of labour, scrupulous habits of business, and much parliamentary practice and facility. It shows some of his principal defects. Parts of it are clumsy, parts of it tiresome, although upon a subject of the deepest interest to the reader. It was unnecessary in a report upon the state of the armies in the Crimea to drag in home politics, and the remarks, although partially true, show much soreness. The egotism is remarkable when he talks of "his titles, his fortune, and his position in the country." In a letter which he directs you to show to the Queen, he pays her Majesty a just and well-deserved compliment, in words which would lead a foolish reader to suppose that the writer never imagined the Queen would read it. ' It is some affectation to boast of not reading over his long letter. I will stake my " titles and fortune " that Newcastle has an exact copy of every word in it. But be that as it may, after writing such whole- sale accusations against everybody and everything, he was bound to see that his expressions conveyed his own meaning. * With respect to his opinions on men, I do not much trust his judgment. In this case it is clear from his account that La Marmora, who I believe is excellent, was attentive and civil to him ; and Italian compliments would have their effect upon the Duke. It is probable that Pelissier treated him as a Pe'quin, and did not offer him a good place in the carriage and four. It is possible that Lord Aberdeen's prediction was fulfilled, and that the British army did not receive the late Minister of War with acclamation. I20 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. v. ' Having, however, given all these reasons for receiving Newcastle's statements with some allowance, I acknowledge to have read them with sadness, coming as they do from a man of his calibre and truth. The result produced on my mind is that it is necessary as soon as possible to get rid of Simpson, and to separate our army as soon as possible from Pelissier and the French. You know how much the Prince objects to civilian opinions on military men, and that he dislikes sudden recalls. I think, however, that he is now of opinion that the time is come. I am sure Palmerston is of this opinion. It will be a pity if time is lost. The Emperor would be open to conviction about the advantage of separating the armies. I dare say you have already been at him about it. ' Yours, G.' Notwithstanding the success which had crowned Lord Palmerston's war policy, his relations with the Queen were still not those of entire confidence. ' I think they are unfair about Palmerston [Lord Clarendon wrote] though he has done nothing to justify this since he has been in ofifice, and I have given them abundant reasons to be satisfied that he is moderate and amenable. Like everybody else, he requires to be dealt with after his own fashion, and he won't bear to be hi'usque or put down by authority. They don't bear in mind the total change that has taken place in Palmerston's position. ' He has no colleagues to fear or to upset ; he has attained the object of his ambition ; he can't act upon his impulses at the Foreign Office ; he is more immediately responsible to Parliament than he ever was before, and he is proud of having, as he thinks, overcome the re- pugnance of the Court. The Queen, therefore, must not persist in thinking him the Palmerston of old. He has put off the old man and has become " a babe of grace." With his altered position he cannot wish to get into trouble, hit he requires to be delicately handled.' ' If there were Ministerial differences in London about retaining General Simpson in command, there were also Ministerial troubles in France, and these troubles were dangerous to the alliance. M. Walewski, now Minister for Foreign Affairs, was again as in 1852 a source of anxiety. In October Lord Granville was once more in Paris. ' Walewski [he wrote from Chantilly to Lord Clarendon] asked me to take a walk with him in the park. He said he was anxious to have ' Lord Clarendon to Lord Granville, September 16, 1855. 1 85 5 J ^-^^ P aimer ston Government, 1855 121 a little conversation with such an old friend on the present state of the Eastern question, and that as such a conversation would have nothing official in its character, he would tell me precisely and frankly his own opinions. He said that he believed that peace depended upon whether the Allies wished to have it or not. That I was aware that the Emperor was inflexible on many points, but that there were others on which he was easily influenced, and that there were many parts of the Eastern question in which he would implicitly follow the opinions of the English Government. This disposition proceeded partly from his confidence in the character of the leading men in our Govern- ment, but also from a belief in the sagacity with which matters of this kind were viewed in England. ' The Emperor, however, had one fixed idea, viz. Poland. He was only persuaded after much difficulty, half an hour before he made his last speech to the Corps Legislatif, to strike out a phrase about Poland. If peace was not made, and a new campaign begun, it would be impossible to prevent the Emperor from making the com- plete restoration of Poland a principal object of the war. As it was, the French Government would do as the British Government liked about it. He, Walewski, had proposed what seemed to be a plan, which the Russians might accept. Although a different name would be given to the provinces of Poland, and to those who governed it, very little real difference would take place, and it would only be a question of amour-propre for the Russians, while it would be very agreeable to France and the rest of Europe that the name of Poland should have been pronounced during the negotiations.' ' The French Foreign Minister next proceeded to discuss a number of details connected with the Black Sea, the naviga- tion of the Danube, the position of the Principalities, the Bessarabian frontier, and a war indemnity. He begged Lord Granville, to believe that he had no communications with Russia ; but still as an individual he had indirect means of letting them know that a first step from them would not be at once opposed ; and if he only knew that the English Government did not dissent from his views, in that case he thought it was ' ten to one ' that peace might be made this winter. He concluded by saying that the French Govern- ment would either make peace on the terms which he had mentioned, or would continue the war for greater objects, and ' Lord Granville to Lord Clarendon, October 7, 1855. 122 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. v. begged that Lord Granville would remember that peace was the one thing popular in France ; that the French had been much pleased by the taking of Sebastopol, but that they had not been made more warlike by it, and that the only thing that could touch their 'Chauvinism ' was the name of Poland. They would, however, stand by the Emperor, as had already been proved by the loans and other demonstrations of their confidence. He requested Lord Granville, in return for his confidence, to tell him what were the views of the English Government respecting all the points which he had recapitulated. • I thanked him [Lord Granville's letter to Lord Clarendon pro- ceeded] for having treated me so like an old friend, and said that, putting aside the question of indiscretion, and my not having any authority to state the opinions of the Government, I was unable to do so from the fact that I did not know what were the precise opinions of you, of Lord Palmerston, and of the Cabinet on these important and difficult questions ; that it was clearly desirable that there should be very open communications between the two Govern- ments ; and that although it was unwise to make arrangements which anticipated the course of events, and that it was better to a certain degree to make the most of events as they arose, yet it appeared to me desirable that the two Governments should come to an under standing as to the general terms on which they wished either to prolong the war or make peace ; and that I was sure that both you and Lord Palmerston would be ready to communicate with the French Government in the most frank and open manner at any moment, as they have always previously done. ' VValewski then pressed me for my own individual opinion. I told him that, although I had of course thought of these matters, I was not prepared to commit even myself to any decided views on that which required so much consideration. That I would, how- ever, tell him in the same confidential manner as he had used towards me, what had struck me during his remarks. With respect to Poland, without entering into other European considerations, it was introducing a new element into questions already sufficiently complicated. Although it appeared reasonable enough to say to Russia, " Do that which you bound yourself to do by the treaty ot 1815," the Russians had to answer, that whether they or the Poles had been in the right, a bloody war had taken place since 18 15 between the Poles and themselves, the result of which had been 1855] ^-^^ Palmerston Government, 1855 123 the conquest of Poland. The Allies would have to admit that it was to be a new settlement, and then I thought they would be hardly justified in proposing such an abortive arrangement as that now sketched out. ' With regard to the indemnity, I had never heard the proposition much discussed by statesmen in England. Of course we should be glad to get indemnification if it could be obtained, but that it was undesirable to propose it if it was unlikely to be obtained and if we should have to abandon it in the end. I was afraid that the details would be more difficult to deal with than he expected as to the government of the Principalities and the navigation of the Danube. That with respect to the third point my incHnation would be very much more in favour of neutralisation than of limitation. That it was impossible not to feel that in our parUamentary debates the limita- tion proposal had been much knocked about. I concluded by saying that it appeared to me, if Russia was to offer to make concessions, and agree to ceding sufficient of Bessarabia to secure the free navigation of the Danube, would consent to good arrangements for the Princi- palities, would engage to make the Black Sea perfectly neutral, and would agree to what we should think necessary with respect to Sebastopol, and to the appointment of consuls who would watch over the execution of our treaties, it would be difficult for the Allies not to take such proposals into consideration. I was sure that my colleagues would wish to discuss any such questions as might be thought necessary by the French Emperor and his advisers, but that they would never consent to give the slightest sanction to any direct or indirect overtures being made at present from us to Russia. That I believed the firmer the language we held, the more likely we were to induce Russia to take serious steps for obtaining peace. That we ought in no case to open conferences again till the concessions of the Russians were clearly defined by them. Walewski professed to agree in all this, and said that he should wish to have a note signed by Russia containing all the principal heads, and which should com- pletely and clearly define the mode of carrying out the third point. That when this was done he should prefer Paris as the seat of the conference ; he should not make any objection to London, but that he thought it would be necessary to take some small German town such as Mayence, as near the Rhine as possible. ' The impression left on my mind was that Walewski is dying for peace, that he has not the slightest influence over the Emperor, and that he would like to be able to say that he has not forgotten the country of his birth, and that it was not the fault of France that nothing was done for Poland.' 124 ^?/^ of the Second Earl Granville Notwithstanding all the assurances given by M. Walewski, it was not long before Lord Granville, who returned to England in November, was again hearing from Lord Cowley ' that Walewski had been playing tricks ; seeing a Russian, Prince Lobanoff, who has been secreted in Seebach's house ; and sending Seebach to St. Petersburg ; ' and at a Cabinet held on January ii, 1856, another letter was read from the Ambassador describing how he had 'warned the Emperor against the perfidy of Walewski and his advisers,' * I think,' Lord Granville observed on this, ' that Cowley may go too far in this. I prefer King Log, Walewski, to King Stork, Drouyn de I'Huys,' whose treachery to Great Britain in 1853 could, he said, be proved from the very correspondence which the Emperor had produced in an interview with Lord Cowley in order to convince him of his own straightforward- ness.^ ' Lord Granville to Lord Lansdowne, December 21, 1855, January 12, 1856. Baron Seebach was Saxon Minister in Paris. As to this episode see Martin, Life of the Prince Consort^ iii. 407. Ill: // // CHARLES JOHN, EARL CANNING, K.G. 1812—1862. From Drawing in Chalks by Geo. Richmond, R.A., in the National Portrait Gallery. CHAPTER VI THE PALMERSTON GOVERNxMENT 1856 Lord Granville would at this time have called Lord Canning, next to Lord Ailesbury, his most intimate personal and political ally ; and when he assumed the difficult task of leading the Liberal peers in the face of such opponents as Lord Derby, Lord Lyndhurst, and Lord Ellenborough, it was no small encouragement that the friend whom he had looked up to in Eton and Oxford days now sat by his side as a colleague. But a separation was impending. In 1855 Lord Dalhousie was terminating his long Governor-Generalship of India and was about to return to England. Lord Canning was appointed his successor. Rejoicing in his friend's promo- tion, Lord Granville none the less felt the coming severance of existing ties. The separation was made all the graver by the apprehension which existed in England, for which it was difficult at the moment to find an adequate or exact explanation — though only too soon to be justified by events — that the time of the new ruler of India would prove to be a period of no ordinary difficulty. ' I wish for a peaceful term of office [the new Governor-General said at a farewell banquet given by his friends] ; but I cannot forget that, in our Indian Empire, that greatest of all blessings depends upon a greater variety of chances and a more precarious tenure than in any other quarter of the globe. We must not forget that, in the sky of India, serene as it is, a small cloud may arise, at first no bigger than a man's hand, but which, growing larger and larger, may at last threaten to burst and overwhelm us with ruin. What has happened once may happen again The disturbing causes have diminished, certainly, but they are not dispelled. We have still discontented 126 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. vi. and heterogeneous peoples united under our sway; we have still neighbours before whom we cannot altogether lay aside our watch- fulness ; and we have a frontier configuration that renders it possible that in any quarter, at any moment, causes of collision may arise.' It was agreed between the two friends that they should try to maintain a continuous correspondence by means of a letter journal which each was religiously to keep up and post to the other. * Mind you take exercise, and do not work too hard,' was Lord Granville's parting injunction. Lord Canning in reply seems to have suggested some mild doubts whether the versatile habits and numerous occupations of Lord Granville would be quite able to bear the continued strain of the virtuous intentions which had animated the agreement.^ Lord Granville however confidently sent the Governor- General a pencil as a reminder that he had him- self agreed to the contract on the one part, and expected his friend to carry it out on the other. He was soon afterwards also able to inform him that the Oueen and Lord Palmerston had given him permission to keep the Governor-General informed of the discussions in the Cabinet.'^ Lord Granville to Lord Canning. Bruton Street, August 23, 1855. ' Mv DEAR Canning, — If the Governor-General is to write with a pencil, he must have a pencil wherewith to write. I have long reflected on what is the best sort ; and it appears to me that the kind used by the two greatest men of this country, myself and the late Duke of Wellington, must be the one best adapted for pencilling State papers. I send you one ; but I do not call it a souvenir, because I do not think we shall require any technical aids in order to remember one another. ' Yours, G.' On his way to India, Lord Canning saw M. de Morny at Paris, who said what struck him as ' rather remarkable both in substance and tone.' The Austrian Government was about to address an ultimatum to Russia, the terms of which were under discussion. The powerful French statesman how- ever ' declaimed energetically in favour of immediate peace ' Lord Canning to Lord Granville, May 25, 1856. ■■^ See below, p. 410. 1855] T^^^ Palmer ston Government, 1856 127 declaring that we had done quite as much injury to Russia's power and prestige as was necessary — that he feared England was bent upon a war oi amour propre^ And so on ; but he guarded himself by adding : — ' All France desires peace, but there is one thing the Emperor desires still more, and that is the English alliance. He will not only not allow the two Governments to quarrel, but he will not allow any coldness ; and so if you insist upon war, ivar, we shall go on fighting with you, but it will injure the Emperor with the country, soyez en sur.^ Nevertheless such utterances were disturbing. In Paris also Lord Canning saw Madame de Lieven, who, notwith- standing the war, had been allowed to return from Brussels to her old haunts in the French capital. She was doleful and meek — ' not reproaching us so much as deploring our acharne- ment' — despairing of peace, but very inquisitive about the principal members of the peace party in England, and wishing to know what these various shades of peacefulness were.' All through the winter of 1855-56 Lord Granville kept Lord Canning faithfully informed of the changeful ways of English politics and society and of the still more wayward ideas of the Emperor of the French and his advisers. Cabinet meetings were very frequent and a War Committee had been formed, of which Lord Granville was a member. Lord Granville to Lord Canning. London, November 27, 1855. 'My dear Canning, — I felt I had so much to say last night which I could not say. You know pretty well what it was : I cannot yet realise to myself the fact that you are gone for so long a time. ' I have seen no one of any importance to-day. The god of love has circulated the important and novel intelligence that Ben and Baines have the key.- ' Lord Canning to Lord Granville, December 2, 1855. See on these events Martin, Life of the Prince Consort, iii. 392, 393. Gxev'xWe, Journal of ike Reign of Queen Victoria, ii. 80. ^ Lord Stanley of Alderley, President of the Board of Trade, and Mr. Matthew Talbot Baines, who had succeeded Lord Harrowby as Chancellor of the Duchy, became members of the Cabinet in November 1855. 128 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. vi. ' You told me not to write long letters. I am vain enough to sup- pose that you were not so much afraid of being bored in reading, as of my getting tired of writing them. I know my infirmity as a correspon- dent, and I am afraid that it is ten to one, as the gallant Windham says, whether I keep up a regular correspondence even with you, but the length of the letter would make no difference in this respect. I have therefore determined to have a box in my dressing-room, with a letter begun. I shall try to keep a sort of journal in it, which I will forward to you every fortnight. This is an act of real moral courage, as it will be disgraceful if, as is probable, I do not keep my resolution for the first fortnight. I shall commence a course of studies on the subject of diaries. There is an article in Disraeli's Curiosities of Literature, and I remember Louisa Hardy advising me to read Foster's Essay on the subject.^ 'Yours, G.' London, November 28, 12 "p.m. ' The house beautiful, the china of the softest paste, the wine exquisite, the Lord President rather drunk, are the principal facts connected with Edward Mill's dinner. This morning Ben fetched me to go to the Cabinet. He tried to look as if he had never done anything else. Baines also appeared. Clarendon thinks he may possibly be useful. The Chancellor was very ill. He got a sort of sanction to setting the County Courts right. I got leave to propose a very hberal Education Bill in the House of Lords. Clarendon then read all the last French news, which you will have learnt from Cowley. The whole Cabinet took my line about the Commercial Treaty and thought it most objectionable.^ Clarendon defended it, but I think profited by the discussion, and the matter will probably never be carried very far. Walewski asks what we mean by the reservation as to the wording of the ultimatum. On this point there has been much discussion both this morning and after dinner. In looking at the wording we found the substance very objectionable as to the guarantees of the Principalities. ' December 9, 1855. — I forget how I was going to end my description of the Cabinet proceedings. We have had one since, when the des- patch to Vienna was finally settled. We have agreed with the French to reserve the guarantees for future discussion. We insist upon the arrangement about the number of " Guarda Rivas " being embodied ' Essay /., 'On a Man's Writing Memoirs of Himself;' Essay 11. , 'On Decision of Character.' {^Essays by John Foster.) '•' Lord Granville was one of the school of economists who considered that commercial treaties, even if they lowered tariffs in foreign countries, were in principle opposed to free trade, as implying the notion that a country ought not to lower its own tariff except in exchange for a similar concession. 1855] ^^^ Palmerston Government, 1856 129 in the General Treaty, and we are now waiting for an answer from Vienna. I thought Cupid low and a little cross. Although he said nothing, he marked his displeasure very clearly to Mars when the last god first denied that he had ever heard anything about a tele- graphic message being sent to Codrington about Kars, and then said he had forgotten all about it. We have been at Tavin, and had some good shooting. The house at Tavin is very bracing. The con- versation constantly falling upon you and Lady Canning, the regrets loud and universal. I begin to think the appointment detestable. ' I read the greater part of your Paris letter to the Cabinet, who were much interested. Baines is gradually coming away from the door, which he much affects. ' G.' London, December 9, 1855, ' I went to church this morning. Brookfield read and preached, both well. I saw the Duchess of Wellington in the afternoon. She had had a long conversation with Skirrett, who told her that the Queen had been very angry with the Emperor. I have begun a Life of Madame de Chevreuse in the Revue des Deux Mondes by Cousin. It seems very amusing. I recommend you to take this review in. There is a very clever letter of Montalembert on England. I have not yet got it ; but it is a defence of England against the belief now entertained on the Continent, that we have reached the summit of our prosperity, and are about to decay. It denounces Palmerston's foreign policy, but agrees with him in thinking that the foreign policy of the English is very much that of the Romans. He deplores administrative Reform as likely to lead to a powerful bureaucracy, which will be our chief danger. He is strongly in favour of entails, which he wishes to reintroduce into France. I have a great inclination to believe that there is too much liberty given to those who have property to bequeath in this country, while there is certainly too little liberty given to persons in the same posi- tion in France. ^December 11. — At the Cabinet to-day we heard that the Russians have proposed to the French Government through the Saxon Minister, to treat for peace, on a sort of limitation principle to be decided between Turkey and Russia. Cowley had received Claren- don's despatch respecting the ultimatum at Compiegne. Walewski thought our alterations inadmissible. The Emperor thought them, in a subsequent conversation with Cowley, des ainclioratio?is. Walewski has, however, since Compiegne, written, he says by the Emperor's order, imploring us to telegraph to Hamilton Seymour, that if Buol objects to our suggestions, he is to passer outre. This VOL. I. K 1 30 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. vi. we decline to do. We do not intend to give any answer about the Russian proposal until we hear what Austria says about the ultimatum. Mars then gave us his strategical views of the opera- tions in the Crimea, and the Chancellor was poked up about Law Reforms and the Cambridge Bill.^ Carlisle, the Charles Woods, B. B.,2 and Evelyn Denison dined with us, so did Richelieu (who fortunately goes away to-morrow) and the " Lodger." Carlisle very amiable and agreeable. He describes Ireland as most prosperous ; but intends to resign as soon as the first Bishop dies. Dicky Milnes came in elated after dining f?? famille with the Pams, the Shaftesburys, and Azeglio. His talk PoUsh and warlike. '■December 12. — A War Committee. Peel declares he will not let Monsell move all the estimates. If the god of war fails in persuad- ing him, the god of love is to try. If both fail, he will probably be offered the Vice-presidency of the Committee of Education ! Sir Richard Airey and General Jones met us, the latter looking ill and subdued, but very handsome and soldier-like. The former, clever and decided in his talk, is said to have made a great effect at Wind- sor. He is not unlike Pakington in looks, with a small head and narrow forehead. He did not give me the notion of a very able man, but I should think he was above the calibre of the men who are now at the Horse Guards. They describe the army as very young, in possession of every comfort which an army can require. They attribute the failure at the Redan entirely to the men. Jones says that if they had gone on in a straight line instead of diverging to the right and left, they would not have been exposed to the fire of bat- teries, which, as it was, enfiladed them. Hiibner told Cowley yester- day that if he was Buol he should certainly accept the English alterations in the Austrian ultimatum. He begged, however, not to be quoted. Persigny says that Walewski is an " animal." " Ce n'est pas par mechancete qu'il fait ce qu'il fait, c'est par pure betise. C'est une pauvre bete qui ne comprend rien. ' December 13, Hinchinbrooke. — At the Cabinet to-day we received the Austrian alterations of our amendment to their ultimatum. They were trifling, and we agreed to most of them ; but Pam carried, against the opinion of Clarendon and some of us, an amendment on a phrase which the Austrians propose, viz. that the Porte should grant institutions to the Principalities, " with the consent of the guaranteeing Powers." Pam's phrase is, " in concert with the con- tracting Powers." If Austria refuses, which I think probable, Pam ' The Bill for the partial abolition of University Tests. 2 B. B,, Mr. W. Bingham Baring, succeeded as second Lord Ashburton 1848, married first, 1823, Lady Harriet, daughter of sixth Earl of Sandwich; she died May 4, 1857 ; married secondly Miss Louisa Stewart Mackenzie. He died 1864. 1855] The P aimer ston Government , 1856 131 will, I feel sure, yield. It would be too ridiculous to refuse peace for such a phrase. We have no further news of the capture of Kars, although there was a rumour in the town that Williams had made his escape. Persigny has told Walewski that the whole English Cabinet believe that he is playing false. The latter is furious, and has demanded explanations from Cowley. We fcame here to-day. The Duchess of Manchester, the Jolliffes, Newport, Mrs. Hobhouse, H. Greville, and Tom Ashburnham are the guests ; the house pretty and comfortable, as you know. Poddy would not speak to me, but kissed me behind the door.^ According to the old French proverb, I was unlucky at play. I lost at billiards, at " the alliance game," and at chess. ^December 15, Woburn. — We shot a large wood yesterday, rather a pretty day's sport with woodcock. A very old man of the name of Tillard, a country neighbour, was one of the guns. He said he was at Oxford with me. Nothing remarkable in the evening. Sandwich thinks it was adroit, but very unprincipled, of Palmerston to offer the Colonial Office to Stanley. He doubts the latter being a good Colonial Secretary, and says that Lady Derby assured him that Stanley had refused before he saw his father. I went out hunting this morning. The Oakley met at Kimbolton. Such a desolate mansion never did I see. I rode on to this place in the after- noon. G. Byngs, Spencers, George Manners, Lady Hislop, Foleys, Otho FitzGerald very pleasing, Mrs. Dyce Sombre very odd. She pretends to have a siesta after dinner in her own room, but she told me it was all a pretence to avoid the extreme dullness of the early part of the evening. Major Rawlinson, Vernon Smiths, Mr. Lyons. The John Russells arrived, but could not dine, as they had left their clothes behind them. Lady Hislop thought that they would not appear in the evening. She was mistaken, for they both came down. I have had no talk however with him, and feel rather embarrassed, as I do not know what he knows about the negotiations. Somebody told a story of Hertford, when he returned to England after a long absence, during which time he had been neglected by his relations. Lord Robert Seymour spoke to him, and was asked in return, " Pray, would you have the goodness to tell me whether you are my father or my grandfather or my uncle ? " Good night. '■December 16. — A dullish day. Church, a pleasant walk with my wife and my dog to visit Forester, who is improving rapidly in condition, and a long talk with Lord John, chiefly upon education. 1 Lady Florence Montagu, then a child of seven years of age. Lord Granville's fondness for small children was a marked feature in his character, and made him very popular with them. K 2 132 Life of the Second Ea7'l Granville [ch. vi. His views quite different from those of last year, all for extending Privy Council grants and creating innumerable inspectors. He has con- sulted three great authorities, and those only : Lord Minto, Melgund, and his brother George Elliot. He quotes the latter disagreeing to this, and declining to acquiesce in that, exactly as I might quote himself. He was good-humoured and moderate about general politics. I could not make out what he knew, so I told him nothing. He thinks that Palmerston will be hard pressed by able speakers, but that he has the country and Parliament with him. He infers from the Mor?itng Post that Palmerston thinks the time is not yet come, but may come, for a war of nationalities. Johnny dreads such an event, but thinks the language ought to be clear on the subject either one way or the other. He is anti-Austrian to a certain degree, but now that I wish to inform you of what his views are, and to put them in writing, I find I do not know much about them. The President of the Board of Control talks a great deal about you, and always in a complimentary style. ' London, December 1 9. — We had a good day's shooting at Woburn on Monday. Neither Rapp ^ nor his master distinguished themselves. Last time I was at Woburn, I said to the Duke that his plantations were beautiful. " Unique," was his reply. I was determined to be even with him this time, and therefore said : — ' " I do not know, Duke, anything like these plantations.' ' " No more do I," said he. ' I came to town early yesterday morning to attend a War Com- mittee and a Cabinet, the first going over the estimates for fortifica- tions, the second not very interesting. The Austrians have agreed to our amendments and sent their ultimatum, accompanied with instructions, which Hamilton Seymour telegraphs are good and firm. Will the Russians accept or not ? If they refuse, we shall be a party upon velvet. I imagine we shall be immensely blown up about Kars, and I do not see how we are to defend ourselves, without showing up the Emperor, Pelissier, Simpson, and your much to be venerated cousin,^ who is said to have rejoiced at the fall of the town because the Turks were getting proud, and required a slap in the face. We had a War Committee again to-day. Admiral Dundas appeared, and gave us an account of the way in which Kronstadt must be attacked next year. He says there are no two opinions among the officers as to the way in which the attack is to be made. The success of the attempt is of course doubtful, but it will certainly be ' Rapp was the name ot a favourite dog which Lord Canning had left with Lord Granville, » Sit Stratford Canning. 185 si ^'^^ P aimer ston Government, 1856 133 made next year. The Spider ' says that if Napier had examined it at all, we should have been able to take it this year.' London, December 20, 1855. • We dined alone last night. Lady Granville has taken a passion for chess. A card table is laid out for whist. As yet the amateurs are not numerous. To-day I spent four hours at the War Office. We went over the barrack estimates. Cupid hopes and believes that the Russians will not accept our ultimatum. That they will refuse, seems to be the general opinion. I afterwards went with Lady Granville and the Miss Pitts to Albert Smith's entertainment. I was late. One translation into English of the bill of fare of a French cafe amused us. " Vol au vent a la financiere. A fly to the wind at the wife of a banker." Johnny Acton arrived from Aldenham this afternoon, grown fat, and much pleased at having to lionise a young Arco, who arrives to-morrow. ' December 21. — The weather is colder than I ever remember it, with a falling glass, and a bitter east wind. In the Cabinet an interesting letter was read from Miss Nightingale thanking the Queen for a handsome present, and discussing the causes and remedies for the drunkenness in the army. Pam thought it excellent. Clarendon said it was full of real stuff, but Mars said it only showed that she knew nothing of the British soldier. Murray has struck his flag in Persia, but not for political reasons : we do not know more. Clarendon read a long despatch from him of an earlier date, detail- ing the conditions on which Persia would make war upon Russia. " Officers, money, promises never to complain of the Persian Government, guarantee for all her present and past possessions." We unanimously rejected the proposal. '■ London, December 2^. — A happy Christmas to you both, and a great many of them. I sent you a short letter yesterday, but am rather nervous about some of my precious documents. One post day mentioned by you fell on a Sunday, before I had thought of the necessity of meeting that contingency overnight, and I believe that all your dates for the Marseilles boats have been a day too late. My news, however, will not spoil much by keeping. We had a family dinner yesterday. Poor Rivers complained of the intolerable bore of the picture galleries at Genoa ; one picture exactly like the other. We asked Tissy Pitt how he behaved. " Oh, very well ; he amused himself by measuring all the rooms." Judging from church and clubs, London was really empty to-day. I got a letter from Lord Lansdowne inviting us to Bowood, which unfortunately we cannot ^ The nickname by which Sir Charles Wood was known among his friends. 134 ^?/^ of the Second Earl Granville [ch. vi. manage. He says he has arrived slowly at the conclusion that Russia will reject our terms, and that Austria has not been in collusion with her. He knows of nothing in ancient or modern history finer than Macaulay's siege of Limerick. I have not got to it yet, but like what I have read (two chapters and a half) very much. I am getting nervous about the session. I have no doubt that a sharp attack will be made on the administration of the War Department. I doubt Panmure being able to meet it. I, as the only peer on the War Committee, ought to help him, and I do not feel that I am the least better able, in consequence of those committees, to do so. Derby will not wish to turn us out, but of course he will damage us as much as possible in order to prepare for a change after we have made peace. Grey announced to Francis Grey that he meant to fight with his gloves off. Newcastle I expect is bitterness itself, but he will try to support us. Somerset will not be able to resist criticising. EUenborough will be great on Kars. Our whole case rests upon throwing the blame on others — the Emperor, Pelissier, Simpson, and Stratford Canning, who received 150 despatches from Williams before he sent any answer. But then why do we keep him ? The great Norman ' tells me that he knows from the best authority, I presume the Duchess of Hamilton, that some of the entourage are trying to establish a sore in the Emperor's mind, and that the points that have been selected are the contempt with which the Emperor's remonstrances about Stratford have been treated, and the continued absence from the Tuileries of Howden, which the Princesse Bagration told Clarendon was caused by the influence of Madame Odier (Mathilde Laborde) over him.^ Persigny is gone suddenly to Paris. I do not know what will come of it. It is almost impossible that he and Walewski should go on together. ^December 27. — I saw Clarendon yesterday. There has been the devil to pay at the Tuileries. Of course Clarendon has said nothing to the Queen and to Pam about this. Cowley means to get an auto- graph letter out of her Majesty, to be taken to Paris by the Duke of Cambridge, who is to go with Airey and Lyons to the Council of War. Newcastle is much surprised at not having been asked to Windsor. I have had a civil letter from him, asking me to go to Clumber. Qa me parait tme ajffaire tin peu grave, and I have declined for the present. * Trentham, December 28, 1855. — I came here via Shelton to-day. The Duchess and the Argylls are just come back from a visit to Gladstone. More peaceable than ever but not sanguine about peace. ' Mr. Norman Macdonald. - Lord Howden was living in Paris. The Odiers belonged Lo ihe Orleanist connection. 1855] T^^^ Palmerston Government, 1856 135 He is devoted to Homer.* He is going to rehahiliter Helen, whom he has discovered to be a much injured woman. I go back to town early to-morrow. ' Lo7idoji, December 30. — I came back yesterday with a bad cold, and was kept awake by coughing ; my health probably not improved by a visit to the Olympic to see the new pantomime or rather burlesque in which Robson acts well.^ Baron Parke is to be made a peer, not Lord Ampthill as was first said, but Lord Wensleydale, or some name like that, which excites the " Lodger," who intends call- ing on the Baron and begging him to call himself Lord Parke. ' The subscription for Miss Nightingale flags. The " Lodger " will not subscribe to it on principle. My two railway journeys have got me on with Macaulay. I am in the fourth volume. It is certainly charming reading. I cannot help thinking that his way of cutting up his sentences with full stops is a little tiresome in two long volumes, I have also read Montalembert's two Essays on the prospects of England. The first excellent ; the second, which treats of our schools, our colleges, Anglicanism, Catholicism, &c., is bad. ^ Broadlands, December 31 (or rather at the moment that I am writing, January i, 1856). . . . We came down here this afternoon. Pam is in force. He thinks it even betting whether the Russians will accept or reject. He foresees one possible scrape. He does not know whether the Austrians have said anything to the Russian Government about our additions to their ultimatum. In either case he thinks it likely that the Russians will accept the Austrian ulti- matum, but will reject our addenda. He gave me Clarendon's report of Persigny's visit to the Emperor. Persigny is come back triumphant. He accused Walewski before the Emperor of having risked the English alliance by his gaiicheries, his mauvaisc foi, and the mauvaise redactio?i of his despatches. Walewski was feeble in his defence. The Emperor thanked Persigny for having saved the English alliance ; the latter shook hands with Walewski, but would not call on him, and considers himself independent of him for the future. He also warned the Emperor of his own danger, and told him that no prestige and no throne was strong enough to resist the dangers of the " Maison Fould et Morny." He expects a coup d'etat in the sense of moraUty. Persigny was authorised by Clarendon to tell the Emperor if necessary that Stratford would be recalled for the next fault. We had a bad dinner : food and company of the same quality. Pam retired as usual after dinner, to work as I supposed ; Lady Shaftesbury thinks rather to sleep. I suspect you never bought a present for Mrs. Anson. Have you embezzled my 5/. note I gave ' Mr. Gladstone published his Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age in 1858, * The Yellow Dwarf. 136 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. vi. you in Berkeley Square ? Fi done, Governor-General. I wish I was near enough to insult you viva voce, and at the same time wish you a happy New Year. '■January i, 1856. — I am come back from shooting, which turned out to be excellent, in a very pretty wood, knocked about in very pretty hills and valleys, called Nightingale Wood, after the bird, and not the neighbour, I presume. Lady Pam, par parenthese, thinks the Nightingale Fund great humbug. " The nurses are very good now ; perhaps they do drink a little, but so do the ladies' monthly nurses, and nothing can be better than them ; poor people, it must be so tiresome sitting up all night, and if they do drink a little too much they are turned away, and others got." It was hot walking, w^e went fast, still Pam trudged along with wonderful energy. It was a bad feeling, but I was almost grateful when I saw him begin to limp a little. If I write too long, or tell you things which do not interest you, or omit things which I could tell you and would interest you, you must let me know. ^ Broadlands, January 2, 1856. — I received this morning a letter written by you at Alexandria. As Lady Bessborough would say, it was much too interesting and amusing. What a voyage ! and what a reception in Egypt, and what a swell you must begin to think your- self, and are. Pam, talking of you, says, " Ah, ah, a clever, sensible man that. Ah, ah." We have already at the War Committee had some conversation about Malta, and Palmerston has promised to- day that we shall have more. I like the letters from head-quarters at Sebastopol. It is evident that Codrington and Windham are very active. The former's letters are decided, and will I think keep Mars in check. Alas ! for Pig's Marsh ! I was childish enough to be much disappointed when I gave it up, and if my grief was aggravated, like sea sickness, no one would show the slightest sympathy.^ Rapp has been behaving beautifully here. If you could have seen him to-day, put on the cold scent of a winged pheasant, retire for ten minutes, and then bring it with a countenance beaming with honest pride, you would indeed regret not having taken such another faithful retriever to share your anxieties and grandeur in the Far East. Nothing of interest here at Broadlands. When I told Lady Pam that Gladstone was determined to restore Helen of Troy's reputa- tion, she said, " Well, you know, people used to abuse Melbourne because he said Mary Magdalene was not near so bad as she was represented." ' London, January 3. — The Cabinet was chiefly occupied with the instructions to be given to those who attend the Council of War. A clever memorandum of the Prince Consort's was read, concluding ' See ch. xvii. p. 488. 1856] The P abstersion Government, 1856 137 towards an evacuation of the Crimea. We all thought that out of the question. We think 30,000 men must be left to take their share of the defence of our Unes, and the rest of the English army sent to Georgia. We propose sending a small force to Trebizond at once. We do not believe that Herat has been taken. Ben says it would be a fine beginning for you to annex Persia. Mars was very much at sea to-day : there was a strong feeling against him shown by his colleagues. '■January 4. — Clarendon, Lyons, and Hardinge attended the War Committee this morning besides the usual members. Lyons was interesting. He had seen the Emperor at Paris. The latter desired him to say that he proposed presiding at the Council which is to meet at Paris on Monday. He will lay before the members of the Committee every possible alternative, and endeavour to give no one any clue as to the judgment he forms. He will hear what everyone has to say, and he will then communicate to the Government of England as to the plan to be finally adopted. No one but those entrusted with the execution of this plan should be informed as to the nature of it. The secret must be kept if possible. Lyons then said that the Emperor had questioned him as to his views of the past and of the future. Lyons told him that he had implored the Generals to make a plan for the two alternatives of failure and success — that they never would make one. When he was asked by Pelissier what his plan would be, he said to embark an army the night of the success, land somewhere to the north of Sebastopol, and secure the whole thing. Pelissier invariably answered that he would not divide his army. The Emperor asked Lyons what were Pelissier's reasons. He said that they were his own inamovibilite and his jealousy of anyone else doing anything. The Emperor said, " II faudrait done lui envoyer sa demission tout de suite ? " Lyons de- clined answering this question. Lyons is for a part of our army going to Georgia, the remainder with a portion of the French army guarding our present position, whilst the rest of the French army should do what ought to have been done on the night of the taking of the south side. He says the only thing which the Allies cannot do is to re-embark their army. He says that if the Generals had given him 25,000 men after the capture of Kinburn, Nicholaieff must have fallen. It will be a very difficult nut to crack next year. The Transport Corps is a complete failure, the army cannot march a mile. He believes the French and Sardinians can. He cannot conceive why we do not get more information from the enemy's camp. We have never had any, while Canrobert was duped by what he got. He says that Kars would have been saved if Omar Pasha had been got off in time. Not one moment was lost by the fleet when the 138 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. vi. permission came from Paris allowing the Turks to embark. There is a good deal of Bourbon feeling in the fleet. Pelissier, Canrobert, Martimprez, and Niel were all for doing nothing on all occasions. Bosquet hated the siege, and professed to know nothing about it. Lyons believes he will be good commanding the army in motion. Cowley writes that he will probably succeed Pelissier. ' A new ingredient appeared in Bruton Street — Dr. Manning, a fine-looking, intellectual priest, with good manners and agreeable. I think I should have guessed that he was an Oxford man. He has a great admiration for Gladstone, and described him very much as you or I would. He was at school with Sidney Herbert, thinks him pleasing and quick. Newcastle he has a great respect for. He believes that one of the chief causes of the Church of England clergy having lost influence with the middle classes and lower classes, is their habit of writing their sermons. He says that it is not only less interesting to the hearer, but the preacher appears less in earnest, and is absolutely himself less careful in preparing his sermon than when he is to speak it. He says the artisans are a very sceptical and a very thinking race. ^January 5. — Lord Ailesbury is dead. Bruce was sent for, and galloped from Wilton [thirty miles] in two hours and ten minutes He was too late. I am sure he will be more shocked than people would expect. Lady A. is much upset, and has asked the Bruces to keep her company in Tottenham House.^ It is a break- up for her. We had another meeting at the War Office, at which the Duke of Cambridge, Sir R. Airey, and Sir Edmund Lyons attended. Nothing very interesting passed. I doubt whether our military plenipotentiaries will have much weight at Paris. They were told they were to consider themselves without instructions, but that they would do well to bear in mind that her Majesty's Government thought it would be disgraceful to abandon the Crimea, that it would be good to separate the armies, and that the importance of clearing Georgia was great. I urged a demonstration being immediately made at Trebizond, saying that it would be a great disgrace to the Allies if Erzeroum fell, as Kars had already done ; that Rawlinson is of opinion that a winter campaign is possible for the Russians, and that there is danger of the Russians succeeding in insurging the popula- tion. I was supported by Airey ; but overruled, not convinced, by the rest. '■January 6, 1856. — I called on your sister to-day. I wished her joy of her daughter's marriage. The wags say that Kars has surrendered ' The reference is to Maria, Marchioness of Ailesbury, who remained a well- known figure in London society for many years. 1856] The Paliiierston Government, 1856 139 and so has Mag-de-Burgh.^ Your sister seems favourable to the Government and very peaceable. She supports Stratford gallantly. Esterhazy has telegraphed that the terms are being seriously con- sidered by the Russians ; but Nesselrode has asked whether it is certain that no modifications will be allowed, and that the peace party is becoming stronger in St. Petersburgh. ' Windsor, January 8, 1856. — We had a pleasant dinner on Sunday. Fonblanque, Quin, and Ben, chaffing the Poodle, insisting on a dinner at the " Dog and Duck," and regretting that you were not present to partake.^ Fonblanque made himself very agreeable, and gave Lady Granville a lesson in chess in the most clever way. In the evening an eccentric dinner, but not unsuccessful, Lady Levi and I having invited chacun de son cote — the Bessboroughs, Ben, G. Lewis, and John Stanley. Pam wished to make Gregg of Manchester and Marshall of Leeds, peers, they being representatives of the manu- facturers of Lancashire and Yorkshire. I have advised Pam to make an offer of a peerage to Macaulay, who is about to leave the House of Commons — a good idea, eh ? I met General Jones to-day in the street. He agrees with me, and thinks it would be a good thing to send 8,000 or 10,000 men to Trebizond, so does Lord Smith, so does Clarendon. So does not the Prince. The Queen is most gracious, but complained to Marie of my eating too many sweets. We have no more news to-day. The Prince is eager about every- thing: war, diplomacy, and science. He had invited the Ash- burtons to come here this week, in order to pick B. B.'s brams as to his intentions : B. B. having announced moving for a Committee in the House of Lords on the subject of science applied to manufac- tures. The Queen says that B. B. is very civil to her, but never cuts a joke. The Princess Royal and I had only time to exchange a few ideas in gibberish, going to dinner. We then separated. The Comte de Flandres, good-looking and civil, is here. De Tabley and I condole with one another ; he tries to keep up his spirits by a flirtation with Baroness Smith. Our dinner-table for the Queen's Speech is to be in this shape : — 18 I 10 Bessborough approves, but thinks people will say, " What an odd fellow that Granville is ! " ' The allusion is to the marriage of Lady Margaret de Burgh to IMr. Wentworth Beaumont. - Mr. George Byng, popularly known as the ' Poodle.' 140 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. vi. '■January 10, 1856. — The Prince sent for me yesterday, and kept me in his room without a fire (we are not at Madras) for two hours and a half. He was very agreeable, as he always is when talking on serious matters. He had read parts of, and gave me, a French book by " Vera " on German philosophy. He and Van de Weyer say that it is the shortest and clearest exposition of the subject that has ever appeared. The Prince attributes to the want of philosophical training the principal deficiency in English statesmen. They never look at any subject as part of a whole. He instanced the administration of the army and navy. Nobody ever asked themselves the question, " Why we wanted an army ? " and then " What that army should be." He discussed the characters of several of our public men. He said that the only office which was creditable to England was the Foreign Office under Clarendon. That the system, of not only the War Office, but of the Admiralty, was infinitely inferior to the French, while the conduct of foreign affairs by Clarendon had been more free from mistakes than that of any country in Europe. He likes Clarendon much, and thinks him very conscientious, which he had not previously done. He thinks Newcastle will support the Government. It snowed, and we could not shoot. I sat at dinner between Lady Hastings and Mr. Walpole. The former clever, but oppressive ; the latter very pleasing and agreeable — took me for a great classical scholar. To-day we had a brilliant day's shooting. I believe 2,400 shots were fired at rabbits and pheasants. The shooting execrable. The Prince shot less well than usual. I missed literally hundreds, but got a great bag. The Spider's excitement round a rabbit was great. The latter could not turn half so fast. I was sent for just before dinner to sit in judgment on a draft despatch to Bloomfield, abusing Prussia violently, and ending by saying that her Majesty's Government no longer considered Prussia as a neutral country. The Queen and the Prince justly think this is tantamount to a declaration of war. Russia has sent her answer to Vienna. It will arrive there to-morrow. Nesselrode said to Esterhazy, " J'espere qu'on sera content de nous." Colloredo, who is here, feels certain of peace. We had theatricals in the evening. Moderate, but much enjoyed by the royal circle. *■ London, January 11. — We had another good day's shooting at Bagshot. Tumour declares that Yelverton shot away yesterday nine pounds of powder, and killed three head. The Speaker was out to-day, and shoots as the First Commoner ought to do. The Prince consulted me about a letter which he had received and answered from a gentleman who criticised his Royal Highness's English. He then told me to consult Charles Wood. He and I differed, and 1 85 6 J The Palmerston Govern7nent, 1856 141 referred the points in question to Pam and the Chancellor. They decided in my favour ; the fact being that the Prince's expression was slightly if anything wrong, the criticism on it perfectly wrong, and the Prince's rejoinder also wrong. Clarendon and G. Lewis could not attend the Cabinet because Mrs. Villiers is dying ; ' Mars is in bed with the gout ; Lord Lansdowne is not well ; Lord Smith is on pleasure intent. I had to read an interesting letter from Cowley. He has been denouncing to the Emperor the perfidy of his Ministers. Cowley may carry this too far. The Emperor gave him satisfactory assurances for the future, and read to him a private correspondence of himself and Drouyn, which proved the treachery of the minister and the straightforwardness of the Emperor.^ ^January 13.— Panmure was too ill yesterday to have a War Committee ; he has had gout in both arms and both legs. Ben sat between Tom Ashburnham and Maddock at the Travellers. They abused your predecessor: "the only policy which was his own was the Burmese War, a great mistake, he was disliked in India, and generally considered there to be a bad Governor-General." ' The answer is come from Russia. They accept the second and fourth points ; they do the same as regards the third point with slight modifications ; they suppress the fifth point, as also the last portion of the first point as to the cession of a portion of Bessarabia, substi- tuting for it an engagement to give up the Turkish territory and fortresses in Asia for the Russian forts in the hands of the Allies. Buol is firm, and has told Gortchakoff that this is not an answer, and if an affirmative one is not sent by the 17th he must leave Vienna. '■Janua?y 14. — The Bear thinks it looks more like peace than any- thing he has yet seen. Pam told Ben that he considered the Russian answer was very nearly an acceptance. The " Lodger " says we ought to be impeached if we do not accept the Russian proposi- tions. The next Cabinet is on Wednesday. Sweden has in the meanwhile sent to press for an offensive alliance. We do not yet know the terms, but it implies a subsidy. Clarendon is much afflicted by the death of his mother. Panmure is still in bed with gout. I saw him yesterday reading a book of Scotch divinity ; very pompous and oracular on literature and politics. " Macaulay's History is not a history ; it is merely pot-house gossip." " I am neither warlike nor peaceable, but I say that if we cannot have an honourable peace, we must have a bloody war." Henry Baring says that Cowley is said to have had a turkey at Christmas, but he cannot believe it. ' Lord Clarendon's mother, daughter of John Parker, first Baron Boringdon. * This is the letter mentioned at the end of the previous chapter, p. 124. 142 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. vi. '■January 15, 1856. — Seebach has informed the French Govern- ment that the Russians are ready to negotiate with the Allies, and come to an agreement on all the points about which they are anxious, on condition that Austria has nothing to say to it.^ It will be a curious position if we continue the war merely to please Austria. Sir John McNeill tells Argyll that he considers our Commissariat rotten from top to bottom, and that not one single recommendation of his has 3'et been acted upon. We had rather a pleasant dinner to-day. Dow. Rivers, the Charles Bruces, Rivers, and S. Pitt, Jem Howard, the " Lodger," Calcraft and Quin, the latter elated with a bridal dinner which he gave to the Peels, Abercorns, and Wellingtons yesterday. Quin and Calcraft ^ found out that they had known each other thirty-five years ago, at a time when the latter was smuggled into Rome by Princess Borghese without a passport in the disguise of her lady's maid. I went into the Photographic Exhibition, and saw there a dreadful coloured photograph of Lady Canning, dressed like Ophelia, with straws in her hair, and a white negligee. '■Jamtary 16. — An interesting Cabinet, at which Clarendon appeared much depressed. He wrote a despatch about a week ago to Sir Hamilton Seymour, repeating a conversation in which he had explained to Colloredo ^ why the British Government could not agree to the terms of an Austrian memorandum recapitulating what had been agreed to by the Allies. Hamilton Seymour telegraphed back that he hoped he need not communicate it to Buol. He was desired to do so. He telegraphed back to say that if he did communicate it, it would reconcile the Austrian Ministry to the Russian Mission. Palmerston and Clarendon telegraphed back that he must communi- cate it. This was perhaps unnecessary exactly three days before the Austrians will have to recall their minister from Russia for the non- acceptance of their ultimatum, as the despatch is only a record of a conversation, which Colloredo was bound to report to his Govern- ment. In the meanwhile Palmerston had telegraphed to Vienna to know whether the Austrians had communicated to the Russian Government our additional conditions. " No," was the answer. This certainly appears a mistake. Clarendon has advised Colloredo to telegraph to Vienna, that there is still time to repair the error, by owning that the Russians are right in objecting to a clause of which they do not know the meaning, and giving the explanation required. The Emperor of the French has written a letter to the Queen telling ' Seebach was Saxon Minister at Paris, '^ Mr. J. Calcraft, father of Mr. Henry Calcraft, afterwards Secretary to the Board of Trade. ^ The Austrian Ambassador in London, 1856] The Palmerston Government, 1856 143 her that she is the first and only person to whom he has confided his first impressions concerning the Seebach propositions. He describes his own position in France : " what the pubHc voice will say to him ; how it will recapitulate what he has done, and what Russia has con- ceded ; whether he is going to greatly embarrass the finances and resources of France for the sake of a few marshes on one side of the Danube ; he is powerful in France, when he is inculcating an opinion which he believes to be right ; he is impotent when he doubts the truth of the advice which he gives ; in the meantime, he holds but one language to all around him, that we must go on with the war." The Queen asked Clarendon and Palmerston to meet Prince Albert, who would come to London, to concert a reply. Clarendon answered that it would be difficult to get Palmerston in time, and that he thought the answer so important that the Cabinet ought to be consulted ; but that in the meantime she might write to the Emperor, saying that she was always mindful of his position, and of the importance of what he had written, but that it was impossible to give any opinion till the messenger had arrived from Vienna. This her Majesty did in a well-written letter. I see I have omitted to state that the Emperor proposed to agree to Seebach's proposals that plenipotentiaries should meet to discuss certain points for only twenty-four hours, the Emperor wishing Brussels to be named as the rendezvous instead of Paris, and the Allies insisting only upon the Isle of Aland remaining unfortified, and two fortresses on the Russian side of the Danube being given up to the Principalities. The Cabinet decided that we ought scrupulously to avoid doing anything which could possibly bear an appearance of bad faith to Austria, that we ought to wait before we decide any new step till the second answer has come from St. Peters- burg, and Austria has withdrawn her minister, in case of a second refusal, and that the Emperor cannot do better for the success of negotiations than to continue his warlike tone. Walewski will tell Cowley nothing, which does not much surprise me. The latter says that things are come to such a pass, that one of the two must soon go. Nesselrode's despatch in answer to the ultimatum is mild and conciliatory, but the Russians are frantic with the Austrians. Gort- chakoff said in his own drawing room that they were dHnf antes guettx. ^January 17. — Lady A. eschews the title of Dowager, and adopts the more sentimental distinctive appellation of " Maria." The Telegraph announced to us to-day that the Russians have agreed to negotiate on the basis proposed by Austria. Londoners of all classes certainly surprised and pleased ; the funds rose 2\ per cent. Pam apparently cheery ; Lady Pam low ; Mars says it has done him more 144 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. vi. good than ten doses of colchicum. I think it possible that he may now carry his threat of resignation into effect. Clarendon is dying to be forced into going as negotiator of the peace. Pam does not like his going. I mean to urge it in the Cabinet to-morrow. We do not like the notion of Brussels as the place of meeting. Mayence would be better. ' Lady Granville and I went to a splendid banquet at Apsley House to celebrate the marriage of Sir R. Peel. Luncheon in the great gallery, short, and handsomely done. Some speechifying. The Duke brief, Lord Tweeddale simple and easy, Captain W. Peel broke down Pam and I facetious on the bridesmaids, but not more than you would have approved. Ben dined with us alone. He says it is pleasant, whatever he does, to find a well-written phrase, either in the leading or money article of the Times of the next day, highly approving. He does not know what will happen when he and his Vice disagree. H. Bulwer came in the evening, Poodle and " Lodger." ' Trentham, Staffordshire, January 19, 1856. — The Duke ot Wellington told Lady Pam that he had chosen two old stagers, (Pam and me) to propose and answer for the bridesmaids, because we should know what to say. A young hand might make equivoques which would have been very disagreeable. I have proposed to Lichfield to second the Address. He will probably refuse. I shall then go to Norreys ; Gosford moves. St. Germains cannot dine with us on the 30th, but will vote with us on the 31st. "Has no Gladstonian crotchets, and means to support the Govern- ment as much as he can ; " Minto ditto. Elgin and Somerset decline dining. Aberdeen, Newcastle, Buccleuch, and Grey have not answered. At the Cabinet yesterday we discussed the terms we should propose for the eastern coasts of the Black Sea, and it was settled to ask that none of the destroyed forts should be rebuilt, nor any new ones constructed : free commercial intercourse Avith the whole coast, and to . try for some treaty of peace with the Circassians. The last point is absurd and cannot be maintained. With what organ of the Circassians could such a treaty be made ? Clarendon will negotiate the Treaty at Paris. I hear the Russian plenipotentiaries will be Orloff and Brunnow. We brought the " Lodger " here yesterday ; Chich and Lady Waldegrave, Cheneys, Sneyd, Sir Harry Smith and his Spanish lady,^ Lord Robert Clinton, and EUesmeres. . . . Let me graze your ear with an anecdote, as Lord Manvers says. Lady bought some emeralds at Castellani's, and ' Sir Harry and Lady Smith. The latter was a Spanish lady. (See the recently published Memoirs of Sir Harry Smith for an account of their marriage under romantic circumstances.) 1856] The Palmerston Gover7iinent, 1856 145 said, " Oh, je compte laisser mes hemerrhoides a Lady Westminster." " Somebody was so anxious to see her that he came all the way to Rome bas ventre^ She told some one else that " lo parlo cinque langue perfettamente e due passabelmente." . . . '■January 20. — Lichfield refuses, but is cordial in his expressions about Pam and his Government. Ben writes that people in London are much less sanguine about peace. I cannot believe in the con- tinuance of war, after so much is agreed to on all sides. Russia will yield if France is faithful to us, and we must yield if France throws us over. A good many anecdotes to-day from Sneyd and Cheney, but I forget them all, and suspect that none are new. A smart saying was quoted of Ellesmere. There is a large Perseus in bronze at the end of the garden, holding a Medusa's head turned towards Trentham. Ellesmere was asked why it had been placed there. " I suppose to turn the house to stone." You remember that the old house is of plaster. '■January 23, London. — We had a Cabinet to-day. The despatches from Ch. Murray have arrived, so voluminous that no one but Ham- mond has yet read them.^ Vernon Smith says that Murray's letters to the Shah are singularly offensive. His demands are quite absurd ; yet orders are to be sent to occupy the island whose name I forget in the Persian Sea.^ G. Lewis and I objected, but were overruled. ' Austria has positively declined to have anything to do with com- municating our extra conditions under the fifth point to Russia. The Emperor of the French says that he is in honour bound to the Austrians to sign the preliminaries of peace at once, but that he is willing to enter into an agreement with us that the non-fortification of the Aland Islands shall be a sine qua nan in the subsequent negotiation. Clarendon is to write that we must have an agreement with France as to the eastern coasts of the Black Sea being con- sidered, and the non-fortification of the Aland Islands being sine quibus non in negotiation, and that we are bound in fairness to inform Russia of this agreement, before we proceed to sign preliminaries. The Queen has approved of Clarendon and Paris. The Emperor and Walewski are much pleased with the selection of the place. I believe it will all come right at last. '■January 24, 1856. — The funds very buoyant. I have seen nobody but Lewis, who is indignant about the intended demonstration in Persia. He says it is Don Pacifico over again. He has promised me 40,000/. additional grant for educational purposes, so we may extend our capitation grants from the rural to the town districts. ' Sir Charles Murray was Minister to Persia. ^ The island of Karakh. VOL. I. I, 146 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. vi. No Peelite dines with me excepting officials, Shaftesbury and Ashburton. Graham has written a letter full of civilities to the Government. Gladstone is said to be quiescent. Lord John has written to Wood expressing his approbation of Clarendon going to Paris, and praising him to the skies. This has produced a reconciliation between the two. As Forester may break my neck to-morrow with Bessborough, whose hounds meet at Slough, I send the letter off this night. If anything turns up to-morrow morning, I will open it and let you know. ' Yours, G.' 'L.o^'DO^^^ January 26, 1856. ' At the Cabinet the news produced by Clarendon was satisfactory. France agrees to announcing to Russia the private conditions, and to a secret agreement that she will make Aland and the consideration of the eastern coast of the Black Sea sine quibus non. We agree to the Russian proposal as to the mode of commencing negotiations, viz. the signing a protocol at Vienna describing what has been agreed, and a meeting of plenipotentiaries at Paris within three weeks to sign preliminaries, arrange an armistice, and negotiate a general treaty. *At an Education Committee I got my two Education Bills and an extension of our capitation grants to all parts of the country approved. "^ In Belgravia it is asserted by the newspaper boys that the Emperor of Russia has abdicated, and Constantine been declared successor. ' London, January 30. — The box in which this letter has been kept has been out of my reach. This cause, and not idleness, has prevented my writing during the last few days. On Sunday, after taking Henry Lennox to hear Brookfield at John Street, the service of which chapel he thought dry and too Protestant, I walked with him a little way. It is evident that nothing can be more unsettled than the state of the Tory party. Henry says that the Carlton is becoming peaceable. Dizzy told Charles Greville that he never stood better with his party, that is to say the best part of them, than at present. He told him that Derby was a very clever man, but devoid of judgment, and under the influence of such as Malmesbury and others. Derby, in the presence of Norman, threw down the Press, and said he supposed that paper had done harm enough. All seems to confirm Strangford's (G. Smythe's) prediction to Bessborough that the Tory party would not exist in six months. I look upon this as anything but an advantage for us or for the country. In the afternoon we went to Frognal, Lady Granville and I. She thinks ' See ch. xv. p. 421. 1856] The Pabtierston Governmejit, 1856 147 Cardinal a dangerous beast. I came up on Monday for the Cabinet. Everything apparently smooth for pacific negotiations, but bad news from America. The Government has insisted upon the recall of Crampton.^ We, of course, must decline. I do not see how we shall avoid a diplomatic rupture, which will do harm to trade, and have a bad influence at the Congress of Paris. Yesterday we had an interesting council of war, in which George Grey and I came to the conclusion that our generals could not have had much influence at the council of war held at Paris. The plan agreed upon will keep us as a contingent of the French army in the Crimea. I greatly doubt our getting to Asia Minor during the whole summer, if peace is not made. We had a pleasant Sheriffs' dinner, but thinly attended in the evening. A very foolish bullying article in the largest type of the Mo7-ning Post has appeared this morning about American affairs. I am determined not to be a party to such a line in the House. ^January 31. — Palmerston told me this morning that Clarendon had complained of an article in the Morning Post. " He (P.) had been too busy lately to read the papers " ! ' ' On May 28, 1856, Mr. Crampton, the British Minister to the United States, had to retire. A controversy had arisen in regard to the Foreign Enlistment question. See Martin, Life of the Prince Consort, iii. 493. L2 CHAPTER VII LORD GRANVILLE'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH LORD CANNING 1856 Meanwhile Lord Canning was on his way to India. At Malta he received a warm letter from Lord Granville bidding him at least to be assured of this : that if troublous times, nay, even if disaster overtook him in India, there would always be staunch friends to stand by him at home, and an undiminished place in their affections awaiting him on his return. The letter came opportunely, for at Malta Lord Canning had just seen Sir Henry Pottinger, living in retire- ment and bearing, in addition to the load of bodily infirmities, the more painful burden of soreness and mortification at neglect of his services in India by the Government, and, as he considered, of unjust blame. Was such, perhaps. Lord Canning had asked himself, to be the termination of his own career ? ^ In Egypt a contrast awaited him. There he found Said Pasha in the full blaze of the ephemeral glory of a Government based on the results of oppression, taxation, and foreign loans. At Cairo the Pasha lodged him and his suite ' in a gorgeous palace close upon the Nile with a garden to the river : on the ground floor a large marble hall about the size and height of a tennis court, a dining room, ugly enough, and a charming marble horse- shoe shaped vestibule, looking upon the garden, with a fountain in the middle and a divan round the wall. Upstairs [Lord Canning wrote] there is in the centre a large saloon, which we amused our- ' December 15, 1855. Correspondence with Lord Canning 149 selves with measuring and examining whilst waiting for dinner the first day. It is 155 feet long by 60 wide, lighted by three chandeliers, each big enough for a minor theatre, and numberless branches and candelabra, to the extent in all of about 6 So candles, every one of which some ten or twelve zealous Nubians were proceeding to light when we first arrived. But we could not stand it, especially Lady Canning, and they were begged to confine themselves to a few upon the tables, for this is only the passage room out of which the living and bedrooms open. Of these, four are drawing rooms as large as any in Buckingham Palace, and the rest bedrooms and their accessories. All are furnished after the same fashion, that is, overloaded with large glasses and heavy gold frames, consoles, clocks, and bronzes, the taste abominable, but many of the things, especially the silks and the bronzes, really good ; all, too, swarming with candles to match the saloon, and which it is equally difficult to prevent the Nubians from lighting as soon as it begins to grow dusk.' ' At Aden a letter was delivered to him from the retiring Governor-General, composed under the influence of appre- hensions only too soon to be fulfilled. ' This will meet you at Aden,' Lord Dalhousie wrote. ' You must excuse me if I confess to feeling a small shock on writing those words, and if in addressing you within " the Indian limits " I feel as a Scot must do when he first sees his own wraith.' ' I do not wonder, on the contrary, I entirely understand it, in his case,' was Lord Canning's observation. ' Nevertheless I have not the most distant apprehension of finding myself the inheritor of the sentiment whenever my day shall come.' ^ And with a comparatively light heart he continued his journey, arriving at Calcutta in March, after calling at Bomba}'^ and Madras on the way. ' Two things [he wrote to Lord Granville soon after his arrival] are making me uncomfortable in the distance. One the state of Indian finances, not so much immediate as prospective. It appears to me more certain the more I see, that the revenue for years to come is pledged for particular works and items of expenditure, either absolutely or by implication, and that the very best we can hope for is ability to perform these promises, without any chance of margin for new works of improvement. I am very anxious to hear Dalhousie upon this chapter (for nothing sure can be learnt here of the conditions or ' December i6, 1855. - January 20, 1856. 150 Life of the SecoJtd Earl Granville [ch. vii. doings of the Supreme Government), and I shall be agreeably disap- pointed if he can put things in a brighter light. The other is, that I do not see my way to getting exercise pleasantly. I have ceased to believe in the practice of morning rides before the sun is up — I am sure that it will exhaust and prostrate one for the rest of one's long day. And the only alternative is to ride from half past six to half past seven p.m. ; but it is difficult enough to be sufficiently cool for dressing, and, after dressing, for dinner, without taking exercise just before those ceremonies. I don't see my way out of the dilemma, and I am afraid it will puzzle even Meryon.' ^ The arrogance of some of the military officers who came out from England was another weak point which he could not fail to notice. They laughed at the Company's army in public and spoke of the natives as ' niggers.' One in particular he described : a man in high command : ' injudicious in his dealings with the Indian military authorities — abusing the troops almost virulently at every turn — telling the mem- bers of Council and military secretaries of Government that he never sees an Indian sentry without turning away from disgust at his un- soldier-like appearance, and favouring the Queen's troops to the disadvantage of the sepoys.' ^ Here were future causes of trouble enough. But there were others. Many aspects of the education forced upon the native students were repugnant to him, and he considered unwise. 'The course [he wrote] in which education is running in each Government is by no means the same. In Bombay it is mainly sup- ported and in some part conducted by the natives, aided by the Government with money, superintendence, and assistance ; they have even gone the length of introducing female education in schools for their own children. In Madras the share taken by the Government is about the same, but the natives have only established two schools, and the labouring oar is in the hands of the missionaries, whose energy, in spite of much flagrantly bad judgment, has done wonders. It was strange enough at Bombay to hear Parsees and Hindoos (of convert- ing whom there was no question) pass a good examination in Butler's Analogy — though, strictly speaking, there need be no inconsistency in their doing so ; but it was revolting when (as we saw yesterday) a Free Kirk missionary, with a sanctimonious vocabulary, called up a ' February 23, 1856. '■' June 3, 1856. 1856] Correspondence with Lord Canning 151 high-caste Hindoo youth, and asked him to name some of his fellow- pupils who " had followed Jesus," then bid him say whether he had ever heard of anyone being unhappy who had "embraced the sweet Gospel," and put to the class generally questions upon the truths and " loveliness " of the Bible which they could only answer (in his sense) by asserting that which according to their professions was false, directly or impliedly ; for they are not taught to answer such ques- tions by stating what the belief of Christians is, but as from them- selves and of their own convictions. This took place in a school of about 500 in all — amongst whom there were perhaps 20 (including native teachers) who had been converted. There is no disguise (as you may suppose) of the desire and intention to convert as many as possible ; but paving the way to it by such thumping lies cannot give a thinking native youth — and there are plenty of them — much respect for our practice. It is strange, however, how indifferent most of the natives — even the older ones — appear to be to the inroads upon their faith ; every now and then a batch of conversions, or the ceremony of the baptisms, will throw the community into a little ferment, and reduce the numbers of the scholars for a time, but it is soon forgot- ten : and I believe that heads of families, and men of wealth and good position, are generally persuaded that their grandsons, if not their sons, will renounce their religion for Christianity, and are not at all distressed at the thoughts of it. But at present, for some time to come, it is probably a vague lazy infidelity that will most gain ground, and form a transition state.' ' The load of work was also immense, and there was too much centralisation, even if for the moment it had to be endured. ' I don't dispute Macaulay's dictum about Governors-General [he wrote]. The fault of doing too much is one very easy to fall into ; and all great administrators, from Queen Elizabeth to Napoleon, have succeeded quite as much by their wise choice of instruments, as by the work of their own brains. But that doesn't make it the less necessary that a new Governor-General should be little better than a galley slave. Quite apart from writing, composing, commenting, and minuting, excess of which is the vice of Indian government, there are such innumerable matters crowding up each day for his decision (be it ever so curtly given), and matters upon which, as long as there is a Governor-General, nobody but him ought to decide, that the shortest perusal of the his- tory of each case leaves little leisure for going deeply into any. And as many great questions come up which cannot be understood at ' February 20, 1856. 152 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. vii. first without deep research, the pile of business soon mounts up. The secretaries (five : PoUtical or Foreign, Home and Education, Financial, Military, Public Works) are excellent, really first-rate men ; and if they were not so, and were not as willing as they are good, the work would be impracticable. Edmonstone (Foreign) is the ablest ; then Beadon (Home), a relation of Mrs. Sid. H, ; then Colonel Baker (Public Works) ; the other two, Lushington (Finance) and Colonel Birch (Military), are safe and clear, rather than clever ; but I should be sorry to change a man of them. They get very good work, too, out of their offices, and the lucid, faithful, and judicious way in which a heavy case is precis'd is admirable. But many, very many, matters do not admit of being so dealt with, and until I have got pretty well acquainted with the history of each department, in other words, with the history of India in its details, for the last few years, I do not foresee much diminution of labour. But it is, of course, enormously interesting, and becoming more so, and much more agreeable, as the current of events becomes clearer to one's apprehension. Dalhousie, though he did more than was necessary in some matters, made business shorter and smoother by one very judicious change. The ordinary course, for matters not dealt with by the Governor-General singly, is that the papers upon any case are circu- lated amongst the Governor-General and five members of Council, ac- cording to their precedence. Each writes his opinion : the opinions may differ, and the secretary may therefore not be able to deduce clear instructions from them ; in former times the papers were in that case re-circulated, and as a natural result counter-minutes, repliques, and rejoinders were bandied backwards and forwards, to the waste of everybody's time, the loss of temper, and the stoppage of business. ' Dalhousie established a rule that there never should be more than one minute or opinion recorded by each member, or that, at all events, before recording a second the case should, upon the appear- ance of a difference of opinion, be discussed verbally at the weekly council, where, in practice, an agreement is infallibly come to. It was an excellent change, as the old records show. Friday is the Council day, but I occasionally send for a member of Council if I wish to see him on other days, and the secretaries I always require two or three times in the course of the week. At the Council on Friday each secretary in succession comes in, bringing with him the papers upon which any difference of opinion has been noted, or in dealing with which the instructions do not seem to him sufficiently clear or full. The Governor-General and the five members of Council sitting at a round table, and talking over each matter very pleasantly, but with a deference to the Governor-General and an unpleasant 1856] Correspondence with Lord Canning 153 expectation that he should give his opinion first upon some abstruse point of which he knows nothing, which I could sometimes dispense with.' 1 What would be his own relations with the Government and the Board of Control Lord Canning did not feel sure. ' The more I read, hear, and think of what I have myself seen,' he wrote, ' the more apprehension do I feel of the dull dragging weight of official slowness at Home ; ' though he liked his immediate chief, Mr. Vernon Smith, whom it was the fashion to underrate, but feared that he might be tempted into throwing his influence into the scale of an aggressive policy in Afghanistan.^ There was trouble brewing in Persia, and the great object. Lord Canning thought, should be to circumscribe the area of disturbance, and if Persia had to be attacked, to attack it from the sea coast, and not to send a force across the mountains. ' I should like Vernon Smith all the better [he wrote] if I felt sure that he would support the Governor-General's views as though they were his own, but I am not inspired with any confidence that this will be done. I beg and implore you to save the Government from folly — worse than folly — and India from its consequences. I have written to Vernon Smith fully (twice in December and once in January), and this mail takes home an officially recorded opinion on the subject. I know that there is a fear at the India House that the Government are going to do as Hobhouse boasted he had done, and dictate from London what the Government of India shall do in Afghanistan.^ I cannot believe it ; but it forces me into this exhortation. I had a letter from Argyll two mails ago, in which he declared himself a heretic as regards any fears for India on the side of Central Asia. I am not that. This question, like many others, seems to divide opinions into two extremes, in neither of which lies the truth : one that every change of rulers or parties in Central Asia, and especially at Herat, is of vast and immediate importance to us, and that if against our influence, or in favour of that of Persia or Russia, it must be redressed at any cost ; the other, that we may sit quiet behind our frontier, and care for nothing that happens beyond it. I think that both are mistaken. So far as open aggres- sion is concerned, I believe that many generations will pass away ' April 2, 1856. - January 20, 1856. ' In 1838, at the time of the first Afghan War, Sir John Cam Hobhouse, afterwards Lord Broughton, was President of the Board of Control. 1 54 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. vn. before a Russian army can be a source of reasonable alarm to India. I do not think that any man can foretell the time when a force large enough and well enough appointed to be formidable to us will be able to cross from the Russian frontier to that of India in a state of efficiency and organisation ; and a small force need not concern us. But that Russia is advancing towards us — that she has now (within the last four years) planted her foot on ground which is of very little value to her except as bringing her influence nearer to our border — that when next we are at war with her she will use that influence — though not her arms — to harass and annoy us — and that she may suc- ceed in this to a degree which will prove embarrassing not only upon our frontier, but within our settled territories — all this is either matter of fact already, or surely to be expected. Bokhara is openly friendly to Russia. Khiva is threatened by the Russians and bulUed by Bokhara. Khokand has been encroached upon by the establishment of a Russian post on the Jaxartes, and there are signs of the encroach- ment being pushed farther.' I have no doubt that if Russia has an opportunity of playing the same game in Afghanistan, it will be followed up there also ; and it will be a grievous mistake to sit still and leave the field open to her, however true it may be that an army sent from Russia cannot hurt us. The question is how to fend off her influence for mischief whether at Herat or elsewhere. I believe that to do so by force of arms is not only impossible, but that the attempt would produce an efl"ect exactly contrary to that which we desire. ' We can, no doubt, march to Herat, turn out the Russians, and put in a chief of our own choosing. But where is the man? I know none whose possession could be expected to be stable — none who has a strong party at his back ; and to set up a weak ruler would be to play the game of Persia — or Russia — and to invite a renewal of the intrigues and villanies which have always been the first devices of the Persians in Central Asia, and which would be at work from the moment our troops had turned their faces homewards. Are we to march back again as soon as the Persian party (and there is a strong one amongst the western Afghans) carry the day ? Is the same process to be repeated as often as Persian interests prevail ? If not, is it reasonable, or consistent, to adopt it now ? I believe that if we are to stick to the doctrine that Herat is to be independent, no other course will be open to us ; but I would abjure that doctrine, and leave Herat as open to the Ameer of Cabul as to any other ' The allusion is to the capture in 1853 by the Russians of Ak-Mesjid, or the White Mosque, on the Jaxartes. (On these events see Sir Henry Rawlinson's England and Russia in the East, ch. iii. p. 171). 1856] Correspondence with Lord Canning 155 Afghan. Our admission in Shiel's agreement with the Persian Government that it ought not to be so, was a very great mistake ; as also, in my opinion, has been the desire hitherto entertained to see the Afghan power weak and disunited. From the day that the Afghans lost Peshawur and the plains on the Indus, and were shut up behind their own mountains, it was our true interest that they should be strong. Their strength can do us no mischief — not more, certainly, than is already done by the Border tribes whom the Cabul Government is too feeble to control. Their union under one head, whether as a confederation or in any other fashion, would make them more accessible to friendly influence than they are now ; and aid or favours conferred at Cabul would reach to Herat. I hope, therefore, that we are not going to listen to any pretensions from Persia — or Russia — that Herat must be independent of Cabul and Candahar ; and that if, for the sake of securing peace, we consent to the setting up of some dummy as ruler of Herat for the present, there will be nothing to bar the possibility of a union of Herat with one, or all, of the Afghan principalities whenever the chapter of accidents in Central Asia may bring it about. ' But greatly as I desire to see Herat in the same hands or under the same influence with Cabul and Candahar, I would not even for that object consent to send an army across Afghanistan to recover it from Persia. I believe it to be impossible for an English army to show itself in that country without at once alienating the common herd of the people, who do not care a straw for Herat, but who have a lively recollection of 1838 and all that followed — and provoking insult and collision. This, even if we could steer clear of a quarrel with the chiefs, would retard the consummation of that which is most essential — a friendly leaning towards us on the part of the nation at large, and along our whole frontier, in place of the inveterate distrust and hatred with which they now regard us. If this last object can be achieved— and I think the foundations are laid — it will be of much less importance who rules in Herat. If it cannot, I do not think that the setting up of a new chief there, whether he be independent or not, will avail us much. We want friendship from this side of Afghanistan first ; if afterwards we can spread it over the breadth of the country to Herat, so much the better. We shall then reap some advantage from keeping the Persians out of it ; whereas to do this at the cost of exciting anew the suspicion and animosity of the people by whom the intervening four or five hundred miles of country is occupied will be a very doubtful gain. I believe that a good under- standing with the Afghans will be a better bulwark against any mischief that Russia can attempt against us for many many years to 156 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. vii. come than even a garrison of our own in Herat ; and I am sure that that good understanding would be indefinitely postponed — perhaps made unattainable — by the presence of a large British force on the farther side of Afghanistan, and the measures which we should in such case have recourse to for keeping open our communications, collecting our supplies, and making the provisions which are indis- pensable to an army at that distance from its resources. Moreover, from Persia on this side we can extort nothing but Herat itself. She has not a vulnerable point of any importance within two months' march of her frontier, which again is nearly two months' march from our own. The whole machine of the army — which must be so large as to cripple the means of keeping up that now in the Persian Gulf — would be set to work for the recovery of Herat alone. Whereas by making the Persian Gulf our base, we can press upon her more and more severely until we have obtained satisfaction in full. We can, I fully believe, make Persia disgorge Herat by carrying on the war from the south ; but I see no reason why a march upon Herat should obtain for us anything but the surrender of that place, leaving all our other claims unsatisfied. Therefore, on every account pray let us keep to one field of operations.' ^ A month after he is found again writing anxiously on the theme. ' I don't believe that one Indian official in a hundred who talks of a campaign in Afghanistan has really given thought to the nature of the people of that country, and to the means and mode of dealing by which we can best enlist them on our side. I am sure that here, in Calcutta, this was as little thought of as if the Ojibbeways, instead of the Afghans, were in question. Help them liberally whenever they stand in need of help for honest purposes — punish their maraud- ing tribes on the frontier sharply, and above all quickly — encourage no family feuds, and eschew the divide et impera doctrine — do your kindnesses with as little show of interference as possible — and, especially, be always better than your word with them. I believe that if anything will make Afghanistan into an element of defence to us, it will be some such treatment as this. It will command their respect and self-interest, and will make them true (as true as they can be) to us, and leave them, as is their nature, treacherous to all the rest of the world. As to marching armies across to Herat, unless we are to do so every time there is a faction fight there, or unless we are to keep a force there — which would be an intelligible though a mistaken policy — I believe that we might as well pour ' February 25, 1857. 1856] Correspondence with Lord Canning 157 water upon the sand for any good effect that it would have in securing our influence in Afghanistan. The bad effects are much less doubtful. ' I agree in what you hint to be your opinion as to dealing with Eastern nations. I go farther, perhaps. A little brag is not amiss with Westerns, when skilfully thrown in ; but with these fellows, who live upon big words and extravagant exaggerations, the smaller our talk the better — provided we never bate a grain from it. This and plain speaking without fearing to offend has been the rule of the Peshawur Conference.^ I wish it had been followed with Persia. Such a demand as that for the dismissal of the Seide Azim, with- drawn upon resistance, will make the old Ameer think that after all the Shah is cleverer than himself, and knows better how to deal with the Feringhees.' ^ These letters, written on his way out and immediately- after his arrival in India, found Lord Granville in the midst of stormy waters, for, notwithstanding the Crimean War, the first year of his leadership in the House of Lords was not uneventful in regard to domestic questions. In the Life Peerage controversy and the Bill relating to Matrimonial Causes he was at once called upon to deal with two subjects of extreme delicacy. One of these raised an issue of great constitutional importance affecting the rights and privileges of the House of Lords itself, and the relations of that House with the Crown and with the other House of Parliament, while the other touched on many of the most cherished prejudices of both the religious and the political world. At the close of the year 1855, in order to strengthen the House of Lords as the Highest Court of Appellate Jurisdic- tion, an eminent lawyer, Sir James Parke, who some years before had been appointed to a Judgeship, on the recom- mendation among others of Lord Lyndhurst, was created a peer with the title of Lord VVensleydale. The patent of creation, however, conferred on him a peerage for life only. The question thereupon was at once raised whether, even assuming the Crown to have had the right to confer ' After the Conference at Peshawur a treaty of friendship was signed between Dost Mohammed and the Government of India on March 30, 1858. 2 March 25, 1857. 158 L,if^ of the Second Earl Granville [ch. vn. a life peerage — itself a disputed point — such a peerage carried with it the right to sit and vote in the House ot Lords : in other words, whether a writ of summons to sit and vote in the Upper House could issue to a life peer. It had long been the object of the more far-seeing members of the Liberal party to find some method, short of the wholesale creation of hereditary peers contemplated at the time of the Reform Bill, to weaken the solid Tory phalanx which dominated the House of Lords, and at the same time to strengthen the highest Appellate Court. But ranged against the proposed change there were found not only the regular opponents of every change, but also a respectable body of independent opinion composed of those who dreaded the revival of a disused prerogative of the Crown, and discerned in this attempt to strengthen the Upper House the possible commencement of a gradual diminution of the comparative importance of the Lower House of Parliament. Lord Derby quickly recognised his opportunity. The Government had got themselves into a false position. He however told the Oueen and the Prince Consort that * a way out of the fix ought to be found other than a retreat on the part of the Crown, and that this should be based on a thorough discussion in the House of Lords on the real objects of the Government, and the real wants of the House.' ^ In other words, he consented to discuss the statutory creation of life peers on condition that the present proposal was dropped, and in conversation with the Prince Consort he urged the necessity of limiting the numbers and defining the classes from whom the selection might be made. He expressed a special dread of literary and scientific life peers, though, as he does not appear to have suggested that hereditary peers should be prohibited from gaining distinc- tion by translations from the Greek and Latin poets, it must be assumed that the difficulties which he anticipated were of the character attributed to the Prime Minister in a modern play, when he suggests that his private secretary ' Prince Albert to Lord Granville, February 24, 1856. 1856J Correspondence with Lord Canning 159 should attempt to discover some person the appearance of whose name in a Birthday Honours List would at least not excite general disapprobation. The Prince Consort also was believed to be in favour of the introduction of ' literary and scientific peers,' and as the Prince Consort was at this moment unpopular, it was easy to raise up odium against the proposal.^ ' Jealousy, not confidence ' — so argued the veteran Lord Lyndhurst — was the maxim on which the British Constitu- tion was based : the danger of any undue exercise of its pre- rogatives by the Crown might at present be remote, but how long the present state of things would continue, no one could venture to foretell. A plausible case against the Wensleydale peerage could in fact be made on old Whig principles, and when Lord Granville quoted the legal adage, Nidluin tenipus occm'rit rcgi^ in defence of the revival of the prerogative of the Crown, and gave as an illustration in support of his case that the royal veto on parliamentary bills had not been exer- cised for a hundred and fifty years, yet that nobody would say that the prerogative of the veto did not exist, he was on dangerous ground.^ It was true that the Crown had offered a life peerage to an eminent judge, Dr. Lushington, in 1851, but Dr. Lushington had declined it, nor could the Whig leaders deny the force of the statement that, so far as prece- dents were concerned, there were none beyond some dating from remote times when the Constitution in its modern development did not exist ; and others a little more recent, but made in favour of ladies of dubious reputation in the days of the later Stuarts and the early Georges. But these ladies, it had to be admitted, had never claimed to sit in Parliament, even in their most adventurous moods. The matter seemed to many of the Liberal peers themselves to ' ' A noble friend has informed me that there was another reason which influenced many in voting in favour of Lord Lyndhurst's resolution and against the creation of life peers — the idea that the late Prince Consort entertained the plan of swamping the House of Peers with men having some smattering of science and literature.' (Speech of Lord Granville, Hansard, cxcv. 1663.) "^ Lord Granville, February 7, 1856, on the motion to appoint a Committee of Privileges, ZTawjan/, cxl. 280. See too Hansard, cxcv. 1663 (April 27, 1869). i6o Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. vii. be a question for legislation rather than the exercise of the prerogative. Lord Grey drew up a series of resolutions which he communicated to Lord Granville in order to extri- cate the Government. He proposed to ask the House to admit Lord Wensleydale, but to prevent the patent in his case being drawn into a precedent, and suggested that there- upon communications should take place between the two Houses for a legislative settlement of the whole question. Lord Granville, however, declined to profit by the proposed compromise, and the matter had to be fought out. Lord Glenelg then moved for a reference of the question to the judges. This Lord Granville supported, but the proposal was defeated. Lord Lyndhurst next moved that neither the letters patent, nor the letters and the writ of summons issued in pursuance of it, could entitle the grantee to sit and vote in Parliament, and Lord Grey moved his resolutions by way of amendment. Their defeat practically ended the struggle, and Lord Lyndhurst's motion was at once adopted as a substantive motion. An hereditary peerage was shortly after conferred on Lord Wensleydale. There remained the question of some permanent means of strengthening the House of Lords as an appellate tribunal ; but the measure which the Government introduced^ founded on the report of a Select Committee, though it got success- fully through the Lords, perished in the House of Commons, which by this time had been thrown into a state of unreason- able apprehension about the risk to them of proposals to strengthen the Upper House. Thus it was not until a later date, when the united authority of Lord Cairns and Lord Selborne prevailed, that any permanent improvement of the House of Lords as the supreme Appellate tribunal was found possible. Lord Granville never ceased to regret the decision of the House of Lords, as he told the House in 1869, when he supported a Bill brought in by Lord Russell to create a certain number of life peerages every year : a proposal which, though carried successfully through the committee stage, and supported by Lord Salisbury, as well as by the Liberal leaders, was thrown out on the third reading by one of those ugly 1856] Correspondence with Lord Canning 161 rushes of the rank and file of the Tory peers which in the Upper House occasionally prove stronger than even a com- bination of the experienced leaders on the two front benches.^ Lord Granville to Lord Canning. Ja?iuary 31, 1856. 'The Queen opened Parliament in State. I carried the sword with dignity and aplomb. This evening the debates went off well in both Houses. Dizzy very mild. Roebuck a failure, Derby chaffing, but good in essentials, and rather patriotic. Clarendon good in substance, less so in delivery. I bad for three minutes, and good for two. There is the devil to pay in our House about Baron Parke's life peerage. Found Dr. Sandwith of Kars and La Marmora in Bruton Street. Both very pleasant and instructive, particularly the latter. He says that we must take care not to copy Continental armies too much. We ought to be content to organise our transports in the different countries to which we go, or else we shall have a transport corps which will be too much to be conveyed across the sea. Pie thinks our present system of Secretary of War and Com- mander-in-Chief impracticable. So do I : f/wz^i-? Newcastle walked home with me. He is evidently sore, and hates Mars. '•February i. — The questions of peace and war are almost for- gotten in our House, such is the excitement about the Life Peerages. Lord Lansdowne, Lord John, and Macaulay are the only great living authorities on our side that I know of. The latter has, however, given me a perfect letter from Lord Eldon, in which he recites all the difficulties of selecting Law Lords on account of their want of fortune. Lord Lyndhurst, supported by Derby, by St. Leonards, and Jock Campbell, is going to move that the question of the patent, which they hold to be illegal, unconstitutional, and impolitic, should be referred to a Committee of Privilege. I doubt this being perfectly satisfactory with respect to a question which involves the Queen's prerogative at least as much as the privileges of the House of Lords. I am getting extremely hot and interested in the question, and have convinced myself, which is always satisfactory, of our being entirely in the right. ^ Febrtcary 2. — I had some talk with Lord John about the Life Peerages. He is stout about it. At the Cabinet we again discussed the Life Peerages, and we are to have a Cabinet on Tuesday to consider the terms of Lord Lyndhurst's notice of motion which will be ' * There is not one of us who does not deeply regret the vote come to by the House in 1856, when the case of the Wensleydale Peerage was before it.' (Speech of Lord Granville, Hansard, cxcv. 1662.) VOL. L M 1 62 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. vii. given on Monday evening. We then discussed a plan of campaign, and it was settled after much debate to urge upon the Emperor the necessity of letting us send 40,000 men to Georgia. The Barony of Belper has been offered to Strutt, and similar offers are to be made to Lord Kenmare and Gibby Heathcote. Macaulay is postponed for the future, as it would seem illogical at the present moment to make him an hereditary peer. I went to dine at Frank Waldegrave's, and found that I had mistaken the day. She was gone out to dinner. ' February 9. — I have been unwell with gout all this week, and got into almost a foolish state of excitement about the Peerages for Life question. I worked hard at it, was very nervous, but made, I am told, the best speech I ever made. People have been very civil ; the most satisfactory part of it was that Redesdale began to listen to my legal case with a broad grin, which, however, ended in a very sulky look, as I demolished Lord Lyndhurst's law. This I was able to do by extracting from Jock in sham controversies the whole of their case, and getting the answers from Willes, who is a charming fellow, and I am told the best lawyer on the Bench. Palmerston made a very good speech yesterday about America, firm but very conciliatory. I forgot to tell you what you will see by the papers, that we had a horrid beating in the Lords about the Peerage case. We mean to fight it out. We have got Grey keen on our side. Newcastle is for the thing, but thought the Gover?iment had ?iot set about it in the right way, and would not vote. The Duke of Wellington and Clanricarde voted against us. I cannot say how much I miss you in and out of the House. Ben begins to hold his own in the Cabinet, and cracks his jokes. I carried my Education Bill in the Cabinet ; Labouchere, Charles Wood, and Harrowby objecting to-day, ' Vernon Smith, who, like Wood, talks of "my army," will probably a la Pacifico send you orders to take Karak ; Ellenborough laments over your having such a scrape to begin with as Oude, ^February 10, 1856. — I am vexed at having missed so many days in the last letter which was sent off, particularly as I was in such a hurry yesterday to save the post that I could not recapitulate any- thing that had passed. This Life Peerage question will make rather a curious bit of constitutional history. We have settled partly by Grey's advice to go into the Committee of Privileges, and there point out the objections to every course which is proposed. It is a difificult question to handle, and the Chancellor is not equal to fighting all the other Law Lords. Our object ought to be to carry our point if possible, without its being taken up in a democratic sense by the House of Commons and the country. Lord Aberdeen voted with us the other day, I hear that the Opposition mean to fight it till the 1856] Correspondence with Lord Canning 163 last. On other subjects I hear that they mean to concentrate all their energies on the Karscase.^ I dined at Frank Waldegrave's last night ; a long dinner. Elgin most affectionate towards the Govern- ment and me, bored me after dinner with all the power that com- mand of language, ability, and information can wield. I chaperoned Tissy Pitt to Lady Pam's. Her drum appeared to differ in no respect from those which you were wont to frequent. I was much com- plimented about my oration. This morning I went to hear Brook- field, who, as Ben says with some truth, quoted Milton and Shakespeare and described the devil as a perfect gentleman. In the evening in Bruton Street, Shelburne read to us a charming letter from an old lady, describing the character of her late page, whom she called Willy, because Alexander was rather long for a page. I forgot to tell you that young Seward raves about Forester. Humpy told me yesterday that he was in despair, that I had declined buying a 500 guinea hack. " I owe you much, my Lord, and this is the only way we have to show our gratitude, by submitting what we have, which is really good." ' Wroiham, February 12, 1856. — After acting as godfather, I trained up to town for the Committee of Privileges, where we had an amusing but irregular conversation, which lasted about two hours. Leave was given to Lord Lyndhurst to appoint a learned assistant to search precedents for him. It is known that there are none which he has not yet produced. They are to be printed and circulated, and we meet again on Monday next. '■ LondoTi^ February 13, 1856. — I came up for a Cabinet to-day, where a very satisfactory memorandum drawn up by order of the Emperor was read. It meets our views. Pam and the Emperor give in to some wild views of aggrandisement on the part of Piedmont, which will never be realised. The Emperor proposes that the Duke of Modena should be sent to govern the Principalities, that the Duchess of Parma should take Modena, and that Parma should be given to the Sardinians. Sardinia, on the other hand, wishes for a slice of the Legations. Letters from Paris describe the whole of the population as violently anti-English. The Major believes that if there is any hitch in the negotiations. Englishmen will get insulted in the streets. Brunnow, who has stolen a march, and arrived first at Paris, was cheered all the way to his house. Cowley is here. I had a man dinner to-day, principally foolish peers, moderately dull. Lady Granville had a large party afterwards, which lasted until • A full reply will be found in the Life of Viscoujit Stratford de RedcUffe, by Mr. Stanley Lane Poole, to the charges that were made against him in regard to the surrender of Kars (vol. ii. ch. xxxi.). M 2 164 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. vii. two o'clock. Lushington, who dined with me, told us some curious stories respecting his practice. When the Duke of Kingston died, the real property went to Lord Manvers, and the personal property, amounting to 400,000/., was claimed by some one whose name I did not catch. The Crown objected that the claimant's grandfather's marriage certificate was dated one year after the birth of his son. The claimant gave up everything as lost. Lushington told him not to despair, that this birth was previous to the Marriage Act, and a private marriage, or a public acknowledgment of the husband and wife, would do. But how can such a thing be proved ? Try to find out the name of the clergyman of the place where your grandfather resided, ascertain whether he has any representatives. The name was discovered, and a grandniece found. She was asked whether she had any papers of her great-uncle. " Yes," said she, " there are some in the garret, but they are gradually diminishing, as we use them to light the fires." The remaining papers were examined, and a note was found from the grandfather to the clergy- man, bearing a date previous to the public marriage, asking him to dine with himself and his wife. Upon this the Crown consented to a compromise, and gave up nine-tenths of the property. ' The Peelites are violent against us on Life Peerages, and even Lord Aberdeen is going to vote against us on the next occasion. '■February 14. — I breakfasted at Macaulay's this morning — Lady and Miss Trevelyan, Milmans, Lord John, Stanhope, and David Dundas. Macaulay in great force, and apparent health. He talked of Cobbett abusing the Quakers, as if he was entirely guiltless of such an act.^ He quoted him at the end of the financial difficulties of 1825, asking " whether after all these events the Quakers and Unitarians will now venture to deny that there is a God." He told a story of Johnson which is not in Boswell. Mrs. Thrale said that Goldsmith would be his best biographer. Johnson answered, " Yes, perhaps in a literary point of view, but I have personally two objec- tions. He is perfectly unscrupulous about truth, and he is peculiarly malignant against me." He quoted a Tory member praising the Habeas Corpus Act at the moment the Government was proposing to suspend it : the Whigs cheered ; the orator, nothing daunted, con- tinued : " Yes, sir, I am alluding to this inestimable measure, the suspension of which enables the Government to suppress insurrec- tions and revolutions." He talked of Pitt bursting into laughter when he read a private letter from Lord Wellesley in which he described the nations of India passing before him. " Only ' The allusion is to the controversy as to William Penn's conduct in the reign of James II. See Macaulay, History of England [ed. 1872), i. 506 ; ii. 223. 1 85 6 J Correspondence with Lord Canning 165 fancy," said Pitt, " the little man with the nations passing before him." I here adroitly grazed their ears with the anecdote about Ellenborough and the pencil. Macaulay then maintained that no good Governor-General, with common sense and judgment of men, ought to be overworked. It was a mistake for him to attempt to do that which others if well selected would do better for him — avis aux ledeurs. Stanhope quoted George the Third telling Lord Lansdowne that he had never known a Scotchman abuse a Scotchman without cause, or an Irishman praise an Irishman without a cause. Lord John quoted the Duke of Clarence saying it was quite a mistake to suppose that the King liked the Scotch. He hated them more than he hated the English and the Irish. I walked home with Lord John. He was half querulous and half friendly. I moved the first reading of my Education Bill. It is the first Bill I have ever had for which I am the responsible person.' Aberdeen, G. Byngs, Elgin, F. Levesons, Greys, and Sidney Herberts dined with us ; pleasant enough. I got beat at chess by Mrs. Sidney Herbert, The Ailes- burys are still at Savernake. You will be sorry to hear that I had a row with the swell hack cabman, who gave a shilling back to Henry Byng on his promise of never calling him again. He complained of my shilling being too little. I took it back and gave him sixpence ; mean, eh? '■February 15. — Nothing particular to tell you. In our House we had a quantity of little questions, and I had to speak on all, and made a resolution to avoid doing so another time ; both for myself and the House and my colleagues a greater division of labour would be better. In the House of Commons, I hear, there was a spirited debate. Roebuck spoke and made a motion on the American question. Pam followed him, hit very hard and said that Roebuck held a brief for the enemy. The House cheered, and the man deserved the reproof, but the phrase is an awkward one in our present relations with the States. " Lucky " Villiers is Bishop of Carlisle. I certainly did not expect it twenty-one years ago. Dicky Milnes told me to-night that his father has refused the peerage. ''February 16. — I went with Marie to see a marble bust by Noble of dear Granville Fullerton.^ Wonderfully good considering that the sculptor had never seen him alive. I afterwards attended a tiresome meeting at Willis's Rooms to raise a subscription for a memorial to Joe Hume. I said a few words, and complimented a workman who had spoken. I was afterwards informed that he was the leader of the ' The Bill creating the office of Vice-President of the Committee of Ccuncil on Education. See ch. .w. pp. 420 421. - The son of Mr. and Lady Georgiana FuUerlon. 1 66 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. vh. Chartists. We had a Cabinet in the afternoon. We discussed the way of meeting a motion of Layard's, in which he conveys censure on the Government for certain miHtary appointments. The second report of McNeill by inference accuses Cardigan, Lucan, Airey, and Gordon of neglect. Luckily, it turns out that this report was received after the rewards and appointments had been given to them. It was agreed to follow the precedent set after the Cintra Convention, when a military tribunal was established to examine into the conduct of the officers. We then discussed the Life Peerage question, and agreed not to vote for some resolutions proposed by Grey, which would confirm the Baron in his seat, would throw much dirt upon the Government for the course which they have taken, and would enable the Crown to make life peers subject to an Address from either House on each creation. He meant to get a friend to propose calling in the judges as to the legality of what has been done, and when once the legality is established go into a committee to consider the best mode of creating them for the future. I dined at a Whig dinner at Lord R. Grosvenor's. Johnny sat next to me, and was very pleasant. He said that the landlord at Southamp- ton told the Attorney-General that his hotel was a respectable house. " Of course it is, or I should not come here." " But you have a lady with you." " Yes, but she is my wife." " That is what I say to my wife, sir; but she asks how it is that your wife is sometimes tall, sometimes short, sometimes fat, and sometimes thin." ^February i8. — I called yesterday on Lyndhurst in consequence of hearing that the Whips are using conciliatory language. Old birds are not to be caught with chaff, and I got nothing out of him. We parted agreeing that we were not to mention that we had met. I had another long talk with Willes, who, however, has nearly exhausted what he has to say on the subject of Life Peerages. I hear your sister is very violent on this subject against the Government. ' To-day we had the Committee of Privileges again. Old Lyndhurst was rather out of sorts, and we had the best of it, but all to no purpose, as they have the majority when we vote, which will be on Friday. Glenelg asked Lyndhurst whether he did not mean to call in the judges. The four Law Lords jumped up one after another to object, and we do not mean to propose it, as Aberdeen, Grey, and Fitzwilliam are against it ; the former is, in fact, very hostile to the Government on this question. I met the capitalists pouring out from the Treasury with long faces ; they are much disappointed at George Lewis only wishing to borrow 5,000,000/. ^February 21. — I have omitted writing for two days, partly from being tired and behind my work, partly from having found no fire in 1856] Correspondence with Lord Canning 167 my dressing room, and the weather is intensely cold with east wind, after a perfect spring which made the shrubs in the squares bud. We had nothing of importance on Tuesday in the House. At the Cabinet in the morning a letter from Clarendon was read giving a most favourable account of the Emperor, with whom he had conversed for two hours. The French Emperor said that he had been too hasty in agreeing to the original terms, which were found to be deficient when examined by real men of business in England. He complained of the levity of the French, and of the want of statesmen in that country. Yesterday a despatch came from Clarendon giving an equally favourable account of Brunnow's talk with him. Brunnow only wished that some arrangement should be made by which we should not supply the Circassians with arms and ammunition. He did not require that there should be any forts on the eastern side of the Black Sea, and he at once conceded the non- fortification of the Aland Isles. He said that the faster the treaty could be concluded, the less humiliating it would be to Russia. I believe there are some letters come to-day in which it is said that Brunnow has been desired to change his tone, since it has been known in Russia how pacific France is. To-day, conversation in the House of Lords on the distinction of functions of the Commander-in-Chief and the War Minister, in which Mars spoke like Apollo, and was complimented by Derby and Grey. Bessborough is miserable at our having divisions in which we are beaten in the House of Lords. I believe it will often be our fate. ^February 22. — Only one word to tell you the result of our debate on Life Peerages. We were beat first on the reference to the judges proposed by Glenelg in a good speech of the old school, and secondly on the question itself whether the patent conferred a right to sit. I spoke on the first question, and was satisfied with what I had said, which Lord Aberdeen pretended had changed his vote. Argyll spoke remarkably well on the main question. The majority was between thirty and forty against us. Buccleuch came all the way from Edinburgh to vote against us ; he goes back to-morrow. ^February 23. — This morning I called on Derby, to see whether any compromise would be possible. I do not think he is ill inclined, but he is afraid of his lawyers. The Cabinet acquiesced in what I proposed, viz. to try to get Derby to agree to a Bill limiting the prerogative to the creation of six peers for life, of whom three only could be created in one year : Lord Wensleydale not to attempt to take his seat until Parliament had considered this proposal. I saw the Prince Consort in the afternoon, who agrees on behalf of the Queen, and promised to talk the matter over with Derby. 1 68 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. vii. ^February 24. — I had a letter from the Prince this morning giving a satisfactory account of what had passed with Derby, whom I visited. We agreed that I was to open the question, and that he would follow, making suggestions, and asking others to do the same. At church there was an amazing number of fashionables. You will see in the papers an account of Sadleir, late the Lord of the Treasury, his suicide and his enormous forgeries. His brother was chairman of a joint-stock Tipperary bank, which has now stopped payment. Bess- borough had 3,000/. in it, and all his tenants were depositors. . . . ' February 25, — By a most provoking forgetfulness on my part, I have forgotten to send this letter off to-day. It has been a busy day. A Cabinet has been summoned for to-morrow. I addressed the House in a conciliatory tone about Life Peerages, which Johnny Russell thought full of dignity. Derby, I believe, almost uninten- tionally ran false. He has given notice of a Committee to inquire into the Appellate Jurisdiction of the House. If we can get the Com- mittee properly named, we may yet be saved. I went after dinner to pay the Flahaults a visit. He has hurt his arm falling down the Admiralty stairs. ''February 26. — Nothing very interesting in the Cabinet. There has been a great opposition to a Board of Trade Bill abolishing tolls and local town dues. Bob Lowe, who is disliked by many in the House, made a rattling speech, in which he went deeply into the abstract question of property. He showed a great want of knowledge of the House, and either disgusted many, or at all events gave them a pretence for voting as they wished, viz. against the Bill. Baines made a good speech. It was settled to-day to refer one part of the Bill to a Select Committee. To-night, when Palmerston announced this intention, Dizzy made a slashing speech against the Government for their failures in both Houses, and Labouchere answered with great spirit and amidst general applause. ' A very serious telegram has arrived from Clarendon. The Russians declare they will not give up Kars unless we give up the proposed line in Bessarabia. After much discussion, both parties agreed that no agreement is possible. Orloff has demanded an audience of the Emperor, who is very shaky upon this point. ' February 27. — To-day a levee, during which some little accidents occurred, such as a civil but retiring soldier bounding off Norman's stomach into the Queen's arms. We had a pleasant Cabinet dinner at Labouchere's : food exquisite. We discussed foreign affairs. I backed up Pam as to remaining firm at all events till we know that France and Austria are sure to abandon us. Clarendon is very cautious both in his despatches and private letters, and evidently 1856] Correspondence with Lord Canning 169 intends not to stretch his instructions upon any point without positive instructions from home, based upon no advice given by him. He gives us the facts, and leaves to us the task of drawing the inferences. I think him right, particularly in Cupid's hands. I hope to tell you the perfect truth about myself, bad and good. I therefore must say that I find I have gained ground in the House of Lords this year, and I am treated in the Cabinet as the next leader much more than I was. ^February 28. — The Emperor has refused to receive Orloff ; and Walewski, examined by Clarendon, was very grand to Brunnow. The latter humble and apologetic, but saying that he must get fresh instructions. I bless my stars that I am not a plenipotentiary. Another conversation in the House to-night upon the Appellate Jurisdiction. After some discussion, Ben, Bessborough, and I got a tolerably good committee. If Lord Aberdeen runs straight, we shall have a majority in it. St. Leonards is furious with his party, who called " Question " the other night when he wanted to speak. This was not made better by Colville, who wrote an official complaint to Derby, stating that it was impossible to whip if St. Leonards went away after he had made his own speech and did not stay to vote. In Madame de Lieven's last letter to Charles Greville, she remarks that the four head plenipotentiaries are Counts, the four subs Barons. Observation puerile, inais qui niontre que je rCai rien a vous dire. The " Lodger " went to Paris ; lodges at the Embassy, which makes Lord Lansdowne snort a good deal. I have a good deal of gout flying about me, and do not feel the thing. * March 6. — This last observation was so true, that I had a severe attack the next day, and sent an excuse at the last moment to the Duke of Cambridge, who had invited me to dine and meet her Majesty. Her Majesty, however, would not sit down, as they were thirteen. Princess Mary was sent for, who ol)ligingly read my part at a short notice. 'The next morning, after receiving a visit from some of my friends, I was suddenly seized by my old enemies, and I have been laid up by jaundice ever since, losing Wensleydale Committees, Cabinets, and, what I regret the most, opportunities of writing and sending letters to you. I am getting about again, and hope to be allowed to go out to-morrow. Where would my liver have been if I had been in your shoes ? ' From what I hear the negotiations have gone on pretty smoothly as regards everything but the fifth point, about which the English stand virtually alone. The Russians give up Aland, but nothing else, not even Kars, without a corresponding concession on our part. 170 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. vii. The Emperor has evidently been less firm with Orloff than he promised, and a little put out with Clarendon and Palmerston. I think Clarendon is a little sore both with Pam and with everybody at Paris. I suspect he has been a little too prominent in the dis- cussions, I mean that he has done all the arguing part with Brun- now, the others remaining silent spectators, while Orloff had the advantage of coming in fresh at the last moment. He says that people in Paris accuse him of being unreasonable and impracticable. They say he is not such a diable dechainc himself, but that he is the slave of the English press, and the representative of Pam's anti- Russian feeling. Pam, after a row in the Cabinet last Saturday, in which he seemed to remain firm, wrote a despatch instructing Clarendon to insist on everything being agreed to which was promised in answer to the Viennese ultimatum, but enabling Clarendon to make any concessions afterwards about the Bess- arabian frontier which may appear necessary to get equivalent con- cessions over and above the surrender of Kars. I have no doubt of peace being the result, but, as I believe I have already said to you, I bless my stars that I am not a plenipo. Charles Greville writes amusing letters from Paris, very like himself. He says that as he has no society in London but the ground floor of Bruton Street with Panizzi, the Poodle, and Norman for a bonne-bouche, he is surprised to find himself at two balls, two parties, and a play, not to mention great dinners, in five nights. I should think he must have been in the way of Cowley and Clarendon, lodging as he does at the Embassy. Johnny Russell made a violent attack yesterday upon George Grey and the Government, and, followed only by Gladstone and Graham, walked out against the whole Liberal party on Church Rates. 'March 7. — Lady Sydney dropped in yesterday evening, and brought with her some Bombay papers, giving an account of your successes. I was particularly struck with the praises of you as an examiner, and I own I could not conceive your being able to question without preparation well-educated youths upon Newton's Principia and Butler's Analogy. To-day came your charming letter with a description of the feat, which still appears to me to be marvellous. I, who have never read Butler, was comforted the other day by reading in Rogers's Table Talk., by Dyce, a bad book, that Rogers quoted Fox as thinking Butler a bad teacher of reason- ing—that anything could be proved by analogy. I do wish you and the Viscountess joy of your having made so good an impression at starting. I attach great importance to it, I pity you for your inferiority to the other Viscount when you are reviewing your armies. 1856] Correspondence with Lord Canning 171 I will get him to write a few hints to you on the subject, but nature has denied to you that chin and that air.^ ' Johnny made a great speech on Education last night, but I doubt his having advanced the subject much. I missed yesterday a most amusing scene at the Wensleydale Peerage Committee. The Solicitor- General ^ was examined as to the defects of the Appellate Jurisdiction. He with his most mincing manner, and most perfect aplomb, supposed the case of two learned Lords, one of whom gave judgments without hearing the arguments, ran about the House, conversed with lay Lords, and wrote notes and letters ; the other who made declama- tory speeches, thumped the table, asked whether anyone would venture to say that that was law which had been just laid down by the Lord Chancellor, and who in short entirely forgot the dignity of a judge of the highest Court of Appeal. Brougham and St. Leonards were furious — tried to bully him, but were completely foiled. Derby and Lyndhurst laughing fit to kill themselves. I got out to-day, and being desired to choose a sheltered spot, clambered up Primrose Hill. The east wind has made another and I hope a wiser man of me. I am jealous of Sydney, who, I hear, fired by my example, is writing a diary to you. Pray read mine first, or he will take all the wind out of my sails, and tell me honestly what principally bores you, and what you chiefly miss in these scrawls.' Teddesley, March 18, 1856. ' Another long week passed without writing. How disgraceful, and no very good excuse, and the stimulus all the time of the thought of the Viscount writing daily chronicles of all that is going on in Paris, Conference, accouchements, &c. &c. The latter is an event in some degree useful to the Emperor, giving on the one hand a greater appearance of stabiUty to his Government; on the other, discouraging Opposition parties from letting him reign quietly during his life. It is a great blow to Plonplon. The Emperor and Empress are to stand sponsors for all the children born on the 16th. One of the disadvantages of not writing every day, for one whose memory cannot carry Butler's Analogy in his head for twenty years, is that it is impossible to know where one left off. Did I tell you that a speech of George Grey's, and a great majority in con- sequence on the Police Bill, has set the Government upon their legs, the said legs being, like mine, of rather a gouty character ? Pam has done very well, I hear, during this session, and he is proportionately sanguine for the future. He and Hayter are against dissolution ; the Speaker, the Bear, and others recommend it. Lowe at present ' The allusion is to Viscount Sydney. ■' Sir Richard Bethell. 172 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. vii. a failure, but his intellect must triumph in the long run. In our House, Ben Stanley is improving, and made an excellent debating speech on Limited Liability the other night. Luckily we believe Derby is with us on that question, or else it is rather serious having the three best political economists in the House against us, viz. Overstone, Grey, and the Kite. I believe we are right, and, whether right or wrong, it is a very clear question to argue. Harrowby is very unpopular in the House on the opposite side, but speaks to the purpose. In the Cabinet he is tiresome, moves Ben's bile much, but is favourably looked upon by the god of love. The god of war is not yet found out as to want of capacity by the public, but his telegraphic communication to Simpson, desiring him on his assuming the chief command to take care of his nephew, has awakened the old suspicion of his being a great jobber. Clarendon seems to have done very well, and is certainly much raised in public opinion. We mean to talk as big as we can about the Peace, with speeches, firing of guns, letting off of fireworks, &c. &:c.' London, March 20, 1856. ' Had a slight spasm in bed ; sent for Meryon. It was well before he came. He desired me not to go to Windsor for the confirmation of the Princess Royal. I went, and am none the worse ; my com- plexion beautiful. It was an interesting sight. As Pam observed, " Ah, ah ! a touching ceremony ; ah, ah ! ' The King of the Belgians the same as I remember him when I was a boy, and he used to live for weeks at the Embassy, using my father's horses, and boring my mother to death. The Princess Royal went through her part well. The Princess Alice cried violently. The Archbishop read what seemed a dull address ; luckily it was inaudible. The Bishop of Oxford rolled out a short prayer with conscious superiority. Pam reminded Lord Aberdeen of their being confirmed at Cambridge, as if it was yesterday. I must go to bed, so excuse haste and bad pens, as the sheep said to the farmer when he jumped out of the fold.' London, March 22, Good Friday. 'After church I rode to Richmond. Lady John on her chaise longue. He in good spirits, thinks that Pam will be tolerably well received. He is pleased with his Education speech. He cannot conceive any arrangement for the Principalities which will be perfectly satisfactory. " You must either throw over the Turks, or offend the inhabitants of the Principalities." Did I tell you Merewether's ^ answer when he was asked whether the failure of his bankers, Paul, ' The celebrated Queen's Counsel. 1856] Correspondence with Lord Canning 173 Strachan & Co., had not knocked him down. " No, I only lost my balance." Go on sending me messages for Ellenborough. He likes them.' London, March 23. ' I had a pleasant dinner yesterday at Stafford House. Dufferin said that at the St. Patrick's dinner he paid a great compliment, which they evidently supposed was meant for Eglinton, and he was violently cheered. When he had finished it, and applied it to Carlisle, there was a dead silence. This must be accidental, as the latter's popularity is said by everyone to be great. Sandwith evidently detests our Ambassador, and believes him to be a very harmful public servant. He had never seen a man so floored as he was by the appointment of Malmesbury. He had already announced all that he meant to do in the Foreign Office.^ Palmerston says that he unavoidably kept Stratford waiting. The latter went away, and two days later told his chief that he was nearly voting against him in the House. The other repHed, "I am uncommonly glad you did not, as I am already torn to pieces by candidates for your place." We had a Cabinet to-day on the Peace. The Treaty will be a very good one, and its conclusion reflects great credit on Clarendon. He has been desired to delay signing till we have the whole thing before us, and we have a Cabinet for that purpose on Monday. I shall go to Aldenham the night of that day.' Aldenham, March 25, 1856. ' I came here yesterday after a Cabinet, at which some of the articles of the proposed Peace were examined by the select few v, ho were weak enough to remain in London for the purpose. Clarendon complained to the Emperor of Walewski (we think foolishly now that it is all over). The Emperor opened his eyes, and said that his minister had given him to understand that he had presided at the Conferences in a manner unsurpassed in the annals of diplomacy. Clarendon says that is true, but in the contrary sense to that in which Walewski said it. Clarendon does not blame the Russians : " they are right to get all they can. The Emperor is enchanted with his son, dying for peace, does not care sixpence for the terms, and is only anxious to do that which may be agreeable to the Emperor Alexander." We meet again on Saturday. Peace will be signed before Parliament meets. Johnny is a charming host.^ It is rather a curious feeling coming ' In March 1851, when it was supposed that a Conservative Government would be formed, Sir Stratford Canning had the offer from Lord Derby of the Foreign Office; but when in 1S52 a Conservative Government was actually formed, he was passed over in favour of Lord Malmesbury. ^ Sir John Acton. 174 i-^/^ of the Second Earl Granville [ch. vii. as a guest to one who has always been one to me, and to a place where for years I was master, and where many little objects of interest have ceased. What I have felt seriously is the loss of that darling boy Granville Fullerton. I have not been here since he died, and this place has reminded me more of him during different periods of his life than anything has yet done. His loss to me will be irreparable. What it is to his poor parents is too melancholy to think of. I think they are more absorbed by their sorrow than they were even at first. It is a pleasure to see Lady Granville's happiness here ; I think her zest about it is not in the least diminished by her having given it up. Johnny is very affectionate to her, and nice to me. ' All your friends are more or less ill. Ben alone flourishes, and takes a decided tone in the Cabinet, shows great jealousy of Russia^ and has certainly gained self-confidence : whether it is owing to his being President, and the popular member of the Board of Trade, I do not know. Why would Argyll if he gave sovereigns to Rowland Hill's children be like the setting sun ? Do you give it up ? — it has nothing to do with his hair — " it is because he tips the little hills with gold." ' London, April 7. ' This long interval is owing to ill health, which you might suspect from a sentence in the opposite page. Marie took me vi et armis up to town, which I left the next morning to go to Bristol, where I made a long discursive speech on Education. I dined and slept at Blaize Castle, a good house in a perfectly beautiful place, belong- ing to a Mr. Harford. He has the most satisfactory collection of first-rate pictures I have yet seen in England. The next day I came to London. Gladstone came in the evening, was very civil, and made himself very agreeable. Before he went away my pains came back, and I have had jaundice ever since. My new doctor (Williams) says that I shall be convalescent in a week, and that with great care I shall get on till the end of the session, when Carlsbad will cure me : this is not very encouraging. During my illness many events have happened. In politics we have had peace. The terms are not known, and I think will be thought better than were expected. The Conference is still sitting discussing Italy, a general declaration as to the rights of neutrals, and against privateer- ing, &c. &c. A Marquisate was offered to Clarendon, a Viscountcy to Cowley. They both refused, the latter on the ground of poverty. Clarendon is said to have gained golden opinions at Paris. Here his reputation is much raised by the negotiation. John Russell is evidently sore at the contrast. Many think that the Government 1856] Correspondence with Lord Canning 175 will now fall to pieces. Pam is of a contrary opinion, and so is Johnny. The prevalent rumour is that Argyll, George Lewis, another commoner, and Harrowby are to make way for others ; that I am to give up the Council and the Lords to J. Russell, and that I am to be offered Paris to let me down easy. The Bear told me yesterday that what the Protectionists wanted was Palmerston leading the Commons, and Derby the Lords ; that what the Whigs wanted was Palmerston in the Commons, and Johnny in the Lords. All agreed that the Opposition in the Commons is disorganised. Walpole, Pakington, and Dizzy have all and severally had passages in debate. Malmesbury refused to take Mrs. Dizzy into dinner at Lady Jersey's because the Dizzys cut him and his wife. ' Peace has been wonderfully well received in the country. Great commercial prosperity is expected. Overstone thinks that we shall see a time of frightful speculation. In public affairs, it is evident that economy will be the great move. Gladstone is on bitter terms with Palmerston. Dizzy, the Bear, and Somerset, are all throwing out lights in that direction. There are suspicions that Wilson is the real Chancellor of the Exchequer. Bob Lowe says that the present Government has a great advantage in the House of Commons over the Government of Lord Aberdeen. The latter had an able leader, but one who was careless, indifferent, and often absent in body as well as in mind, and the Home Secretary cared and knew nothing about his business.' The present Government has a leader who on the whole is the most popular man in the House, unwearying in his attention to the business of the House, and who never misses a division ; while the second most important person, the Home Secretary, is perfect in his own business. ^ He says the same thing of the Commons as Dicky Milnes says of the Lords, that the generality of Cabinet Ministers do not take a sufficient part in the debates. I believe that Lidia is Hkely to be made a cheval de bataille, and your finances, the Torture question, and the double Government, are likely to excite much talk. I am glad of it for your sake. Vernon Smith seems to do his work well, but I hear that his unpopularity in the Commons is great. I am glad for you that the storm which is brewing is likely to burst soon, and it will perhaps have a tendency to put your predecessor on our side.' London, April 8, 1856. ' I have taken my first constitutional ride to-day, and am certainly much better. Ben says that the House of Lords is going to the dogs, that Lord Lansdowne and I do not come down, that Clarendon ' Lord John Russell and Lord Palmerston are referred to. ''■ Lord Palmerston and Sir George Grey are referred to. 176 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. vii. is away, that Panmure comes and goes away immediately, that Argyll irritates Derby and his bench, and that Harrowby makes a mess. Bessborough says Ben insulted Overstone without cause the other evening. In the meantime the Post and Globe announce my appoint- ment to Paris, and hope that my health will not prevent so desirable an arrangement. ' Did I tell you that the poor " Lodger " has been worried by a big dog, and is happily none the worse? He was sitting with Lady Melbourne. He was petting the late Lord's dog, a black Newfound- land, and taking, as he avers, no liberties either with him or his mistress, when suddenly the beast flew at him, tore his great-coat, which fortunately he had not taken off, into little bits, and bit him on the haunch and on the elbow. He was not thrown, and Lady Melbourne at last succeeded in getting Nigger out of the room. It appears that this is not the first exploit of this sable hero. * I have been reading to Marie, the Due de Broglie's speech on his reception at the Academy. It is clever, as only a French speech is when spoken by a gentleman and a master of that extraordinary language for conveying shades of opinion. It is as full of allusion to the present state of things as you might expect, but all carefully covered up. He describes the First Emperor's merits; his inde- fatigable labour, his habit of sharing the dangers of his army, that army which he himself had trained, his unmerciful treatment of adventurers, of traitors, faiseurs d'affaires, &c. &c. He takes advantage of his predecessor M. de St. Aulaire's History of the Fronde to explain how Mazarin, being a foreigner, in power, unscrupulous as to means, and intent only upon benefiting himself, destroyed the ablest men in the country, ruined the finances of the country, and enriched himself.' London, April 11, 1856. ' I do not know, supposing there was a vacancy, whom we could get to strengthen us in the House of Lords, excepting Dalhousie. Newcastle and Grey would be of course great catches in debate, but Bessborough thinks they would neither of them bring a vote. Graham in a very able speech full of clap-traps made mincemeat of Johnny and his Education resolutions. Argyll and Freddy, who heard the beginning of Johnny's reply, tell me it was painful to observe the indifference of the House in listening to him. ^ April 2^. — We get beat in both Houses every night. We have carried our point in Committee, so far as to get Wensleydale seated as a life peer. The Crown is to have the power of making four Law Lords peers for life. There is a great difficulty about a successor to poor Cowper as Lord Lieutenant of Kent. Sydney will, I think, get 1856] Correspondence with Lord Canning 177 it. Conyngham, with a whole set of relations in both Houses backing him up, insists upon having it, and particularly objects to Sydney. The whole Liberal party say that it is monstrous to make a Tory with no estate, and a villa near London, the head of the magistracy. I am for the Viscount. Bessborough for Lord Camden as a middle course. . . .' London, April 26. * ... I am writing in the Cabinet, where we have been hours over a most important despatch from Clarendon to Marcy on the Enlistment question. It was originally ill drawn by Hammond, it has been entirely rewritten by Pam, and I think will be an able document. ^ April 27, 1856. — I have been much annoyed by finding that my letter of the last fortnight will not go for two weeks. We could not get through the despatch to Marcy yesterday. Palmerston proposed that we should meet at his house to-day at twelve o'clock. The Cabinet looked surprised, and Baines at last suggested that he should like to go to church. This rather astonished Cupid, who was as usual amiable, and professed that he had no objection to his colleagues going to church. I dined at Derby's ; a dull Whig dinner. He and Jem were rather fun, chaffing each other. ' When I got back I found a pleasant set in Bruton Street — Lord Wensleydale, Laboucheres, Ch. Howard, and some of the regular habitues. This morning aiter church to Pam's, where we remained four hours and a half, doctoring the despatch to Marcy on the Enlistment question. I stood up for a conciliatory end and a Special Envoy. It was unanimously agreed that something conciliatory should be put in, and it is now an excellent despatch. The majority of the Cabinet were with me about an envoy, but Palmerston strongly and Clarendon weakly objected. They were supported by the Chancellor and Ben. I believe an impression was made. I dined this evening at Bath's. Nothing could be better, more pretty and pleasanter.' London, April 28. ' I have had rather a busy day. I have finished a report on the Appellate Jurisdiction. I made a commonplace little speech at Willis's Rooms in favour of a memorial to those who fell in the East. I was obliged to go away immediately, but I hear Elgin was eloquent, and Newcastle. We had a Council. The Queen in great spirits, and polite ; a dull House of Lords. Ellcnborough talked much about you. He says you must ride early in the mornings and live four days in the week at Barrackpore or you will be done up in a short time. Pray follow this advice. VOL. I, N 1 78 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. vii. ' I hear that Palmerston's meeting this morning was satisfactory ; everybody unanimous ; the reverse is reported to have been the case at Derby's. Whiteside has made a very long, able, but not effective speech about Kars, very violent against Stratford Canning. Lyndhurst, who had given notice of a motion about the state of Italy, has post- poned it at Clarendon's request. Clarendon was loudly cheered when he laid the Treaty on the table of the House. He stands very high now.' London, April 29. ' Peace was proclaimed this morning by the Heralds. It was slightly cheered at St. James's, and hissed at Temple Bar. We had another little Cabinet at Palmerston's this morning to give the last touch to the American note. My plan of a mission was knocked on the head ; but Clarendon is to tell Dallas that nothing will induce her Majesty's Government to recall Crampton on the grounds stated by the American Government ; but that as soon as the question is finally settled, he has been made so uncomfortable of late, and his wish is so strong to return to Europe, that he will be transferred to another post. We had a meeting at the Privy Council — G. Grey, Baines, Graham, Walpole, Pemberton Leigh, and Dr. Lushington — to consider the Oxford Statutes, which have been confirmed for certain Colleges by the Commission. There is a strong petition from the Dissenters against a provision which they deem to be contrary to the Act, as to their admission into Colleges. Harrowby is said to have got into a mess in this matter. I saw EUenborough in the House. He says what I trust is not true, that Lady Canning has been thrown out of her carriage. He desired me to tell you that he had particularly warned you against letting her go without guards, and he trusts that you will for the future follow his advice. He has heard that your Commander-in-Chief^ meddles with the duties of your Military Secretary, who knows much better than he does all about the Native army. He bade me tell you that the Duke of Wellington wrote to (I think) Lord Combermere to say that the Commander-in-Chief was only in Council to support the Governor. If he does not do so, he advises you to pack him off to some other quarters. His Commanders-in-Chief were sensible men, who always thought as he did on everything. ' The Evelyn Denisons and Glenelg came in the evening. The latter is to second the Address, which Ellesmere is to move in the Lords on the Peace. Longman gave a cheque for 20,000/. to Macaulay the other day for his last two volumes.' ' General Anson. 1856] Correspondence with Lord Canning 179 London, April 30. ' I called on Palmerston this morning, and asked him to give a step to John Le Fevre in the Bath, and make Deportment ' a Grand Cross of the same. I suppose you will have something in that line soon. I believe Fortescue and Pam are to have the two Garters. The Spider is to have the Grand Cross of the Bath. I presided at a Reformatory School dinner this afternoon, and went to a concert in the evening at Court. Are there many opportunities when a Governor-General can speak in India ? If so, seize them for practice sake. Derby won the two thousand guineas and a 300/. plate yesterday, which consoles him for the beating which his party got in the House of Commons about adjourning the debate on Kars, Graham and Sidney Herbert went away; Gladstone and his tail voted with the Opposition ; the Government have a majority of seventy. Gladstone's unpopularity is something beyond belief. Everybody at the concert was talking about Lady Canning's accident, but Lady Sydney reassured us. Have I told you that there is the devil to pay about the Lord-Lieutenancy of Kent? Conyngham and Sydney are ready to tear out one another's eyes.' London, May i. ' It will make your mouth water to hear of our May day so cold that we cannot keep ourselves warm. We had a meeting at the Palace to-day about the site at Kensington Gore for the National Gallery. The three Chancellors of the Exchequer were of course the principal actors. I am afraid I thought Dizzy shone. Dear George Cornewall Lewis was so slow and ponderous, and Gladstone more than usually crotchety and refining. The Prince much afraid of the last. I paid the Duchess of Beaufort a visit. She had been to her first ball, which had entirely knocked her up. I also saw Lord Lansdowne laid up with lumbago, but very chatty and pleasant. We had a family dinner. Rivers and Freddys. Lady Mary Wood — very pleasant and pleasing, if those two words mean, as I believe, two different things — came in the evening. I followed her to Madame de Flahault's. Coventry House too gay and pretty. The society the refined essence of cream, with a beautiful buffet laid out. Some of the women could hardly get into the doorways. A popular preacher at Paris pointed out the other day, with respect to the present fashions, that the way into Paradise was very narrow.' London, May 2. 'A majority of 127 for Government last night on Kars. Graham spoke, some thought a handsome speech, others an unhandsome ^ The allusion is probably to Lord Sydney. N 2 i8o Life of the Second Earl Granville one. He and the Peelites voted, Sidney Herbert says, against their consciences, with Ministers. I found Pam radiant this morning notwithstanding gout. He is said to have spoken well last night. Derby cross in the House to-night. We had a little conversational skirmish, in which I had the last word. I sent Bessborough afterwards to consult him as to the length of the holidays. He said we might adjourn for six months for all he cared. The "Lodger" came back from Newmarket minus his cash to-day. Baudin, who is sent to Russia, Sneyd, Bob Grosvenor, who had just been speaking for bandsmen who are conscientious Sabbatarians, Calcraft, and Dow. Morley, dropped in and were pleasant. Morleyiana. The Bishop of Exeter, finding her with sore eyes, told her it was a judgment for the mischief they had done. I was amused at an account of my mother, who does not care a rap about politics, and Lady Carlisle, who thinks of nothing else. Lady Carlisle loquitur : " Dear sister, are you sure that you are quite satisfied with all the conditions ? " Lady Granville, who had just mastered the fact that Peace was made : "Yes, dear sister, but I have not read them." Good night. I am getting better.' London, May 3. ' Russia is to be offered to Wodehouse. It is doubtful whether he will accept. He has announced to Clarendon that the Foreign Office is his object in life.' I should think a mission abroad would further his chance, if he does not stay away too long. You would both be glad to hear how acquaintances talk about and regret you. You require no assurances about your friends. It appears to be a long time since you went. It must appear longer to you. You must stick to your ship now, excepting in one case. If you find your health suffers, do not throw away the greatest blessing in life. 'Yours, G.' 3 Lord Wodehouse, who afterwards, as Earl of Kimberley, became Foreign Secretary in Lord Rosebery's Administration in 1894. He was now made Minister at St. Petersburg, becoming Ambassador subsequently. For some little time after the Crimean War there was only a Russian Minister in London and a British Minister in St. Petersburg. CHAPTER VIII ST. PETERSBURG AND MOSCOW 1856 The Crimean War was at an end, but the hostile feeling between Great Britain and Russia was not terminated by the Peace. The Emperor of Russia was about to be crowned ; and the occasion, it was apprehended, would be used by him for advertising the friendship which he was now encouraging with his recent French adversary. The choice of the repre- sentatives of the Queen at the coronation was therefore one of unusual importance. In addition to their Ambassadors the Great Powers were each of them sending a special mission to attend the ceremony. Lord Wodehouse had been ap- pointed Minister, and it was decided by Lord Palmerston and Lord Clarendon to invite Lord Granville to accept the headship of the Special Mission with the rank of Ambassador. The coronation at Moscow was to be the scene of festivities of an extraordinary character in honour of the new reign ; and in Lord Granville, a member of the Cabinet and a former Secretary of Foreign Affairs, the Government considered they would find a fitting representative under circumstances not unlikely to make great demands on the possession by the re- presentative of Great Britain of tact mingled with firmness, especially as M. de Morny had been appointed to represent France. Lord Granville to Lord Canning. Aldenham, May 13, 1856. ' Clarendon asked me to speak with him after the last Cabinet, and after many excuses for proposing such a thing, asked me whether I would go to the coronation of the Emperor of Russia as Ambassador Extraordinary. I saw no possible want of dignity, but objected to 1 82 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. viii. the expense, and suggested that such a man as Ailesbury would do better. He said that Orloff had spoken to him seriously at Paris of the hostility felt in Russia ; that he, Clarendon, was not popular there ; that Palmerston was detested ; that everything for the future would depend upon the footing on which the relations were first put by the persons now going out ; that I was the person ; and then Clarendon told me all that Orloff had said of me, but I own the compliments sounded more like inventions of the moment than what the Scythian was likely to have said. With regard to expense he said he should be prepared to ask Parliament for 10,000/., and that the compliment would consist in the person sent being a member of the Cabinet able to express the opinion of his colleagues, and not in the extravagance of his expenditure. I promised to reflect, and let him know in a few days. I consulted Marie, who pronounced some sage aphorisms, but danced a hornpipe, and lamented that it would be necessary to buy twenty gowns and have her diamonds reset. I spoke to the Duke of Devonshire. He was delighted, very keen, recommended it, promised loans of plate and gifts of cash. We, Marie and I, worked ourselves up, made out lists of attaches, &c., and I called on Claren- don in the evening. He said that in his opinion there ought to be an extraordinary Embassy, that I was the best man for the purpose, that he would write to Palmerston at once to consult. I am inclined to like the thought of going. I shall never see Russia if I do not do so. It will be good fun making the preparations ; the actual time there will be tiresome, and the recollections for the rest of one's life probably amusing. I do not think it can have much influence good or bad on one's political position.' After a feu^ more preliminary discussions. Lord Granville received his appointment and started for St. Petersburg. During his Embassy, Lord Granville kept a journal in the shape of letters regularly addressed to the Duke of Devon- shire, who had himself in 1826 been sent on a similar mission to St. Petersburg at the time of the coronation of the Emperor Nicholas.' Of these letters, copies, with some occasional omissions and additions, were sent to Lord Canning, and in the following extracts from them will be found an interesting description of the ceremonies when " all Russia went to see His anointed come to His Holy Place ; " which, if the reader be so minded, he can compare with the impressions ' William Cavendish, sixth Duke of Devonshire. 1856] SL Petersburg and Moscow 183 of Dr. Creighton, Bishop of London, of another and more recent event of the same kind in 1896.^ Lord Granville to Lord Canning. London, May 25. ' When Clarendon wrote to the Queen, she answered evidently not liking an extraordinary mission at all, but very civil about me, and anxious about my health. The first arrangements have kept us very busy. I have got a frightfully large suite, with some women — an innovation, praised and blamed. It would be better if two were not ugly. I believe we shall be — the Staffords, the Robert Peels, the Lichfields, the George Byngs, and the Freddys ; Johnny a private secretary. Lord Seymour, Lord Cavendish, Villiers Lister, Burghersh, Dalkeith, Gerald Ponsonby, and Sandwith as doctor. . . .' Aschaffenburg, y?r criticised, but I thought very pretty. Everything well arranged. The only drawback a bad floor with sticky wax. The supper well managed. Madame de 1856] SL Petersburg and Moscow 215 Seebach did the honours, as Princesse de Ligne had done for the Austrian Embassy. ' September 29. — Maude and I breakfasted at the Russian restaurants at a repast given by the Simon Woronzows, Troubetzkoi, and Paskie- witch to the Bruces and us. It was excellent in its way. ' In the evening we went to the fireworks, another national fete, which was to be the bouquet of the whole thing. I believe it would have been beautiful, but unfortunately there was a fog, which abso- lutely prevented anything being seen. We were all very sorry ; not so the Turk, who was in the same compartment of the gallery with three Grand Dukes, the Nuncio and myself. He never ceased screaming : " Ah, quel dommage, c'est superbe, c'est magnifique, mais nous ne voyons rien. Ah, si on pouvait voir quelque chose ce serait superbe. Mais nous entendons beaucoup, nous entendons beaucoup." Then in a whisper to me, " Sebastopol, my Lord, Sebas- topol," and then again at the top of his voice, "Ah, si nous pouvions voir quelque chose, mais quel dommage, on ne voit absolument rien. Ah, c'est si bien imagine, ah, quel dommage," and so on for the half- hour during which it lasted. ' The Grand Dukes never spoke after Constantine had at the first moment prophesied what would happen. The Emperor must have been much annoyed, but carried off very well the disappoint- ment. ' We took leave of the Empress. She has not much charm, and her small talk is very monotonous. I believe she has much character and is sensible and well-informed. She looks unhappy. Her crown fell from her head on the day of the coronation. " Preuve," she said, at the moment to Madame de Ribeaupierre, " que je ne la porterai pas longtemps." ' September 30. — I took leave of the Emperor to-day. His manner was charming, and nothing could be more complimentary than he was to Lady G., myself, and to the whole Embassy. His conversation on political matters was exactly the same as on the last occasion when I was alone with him. He must be a great actor if he is not an honest, well-intentioned man. I do not believe him to be equal to the great position which he now occupies. As yet he does not seem to have the talent of choosing the best men to carry out his benevolent designs. He has an immense respect for the memory of his father ; still wears the aiguillettes of an aide-de-camp to show that he considers himself as continuing to act that part. He has received the education of a soldier, and is said to be quite ignorant of all that relates to the development of wealth in a country. He is anxious to impress upon the public that he has the decision of 2i6 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. viii. character which marked his father, and which is replaced in him by a moderation and candour of which he is a little ashamed. ' There are great natural resources in Russia, but the machine is so complicated, and has been directed by so iron a hand, that it is doubtful what will now happen, particularly if the Emperor should prove not to have the strength and the perseverance to grapple with the universal corruption which is the bane of every branch of the administration. ' I have not given my views of the present state of Russia, but I do not think as highly of it as the generality of my diplomatic colleagues appear to do. One of the things against which I had to struggle was an attempt to make everything a personal question, to distin- guish as between me and Wodehouse, between us and our Govern- ment, between the Government and the Queen, between Clarendon and Palmerston. I had a very sharp conversation with Gortchakoft about Wodehouse. Morny I have already described. We were excellent friends, and he behaved in a friendly, comine ilfaut manner to me all through the period of my mission. We liked Baudin, who was very civil to us, and is in fact a friend of the English alliance, which Morny is not. Baudin, as a good secretary of Embassy, was persuading me that I was wrong in thinking that Morny attached too much weight to the Russian alliance. I said, " But things do slip out, and your big General Leboeuf said to my wife yesterday, ' Moi je suis du parti Baudin, je suis tout pour I'alliance Anglaise.' " ' I am very glad to have seen it at all, and in so pleasant a way. I am glad to come away without the complete fiasco which I expected. My position as a complimentary Ambassador, and at the same time as a member of a Government which was doing and saying very irritating things to the Court to which I was accredited, was anomalous. Great efforts were made to separate me from Wodehouse, me from my Government, the Queen from the Govern- ment, Clarendon from Palmerston. All this of course I had to resist. I remained on excellent terms with Wodehouse. ' Palmerston and Clarendon have in my opinion been too scolding lately. They are at everybody. They have tried by bullying to get out of difficulties caused by carelessness in the negotiations. They have almost broken up the French alliance, which now only depends on what is its best security, upon the importance to his own interests which Louis Napoleon may attach to it. It is said that a really old Roman letter was sent to Walewski in the Roman hand itself. It is said that the latter has had an estate in Poland made over to him ; but whatever the motives, it weakens us in the eyes of Europe, when our principal co-belligerent says that in a quarrel 1856] S^. Petersburg and Moscow 217 in which we impute bad faith to Russia we are in the wrong, and the Russian Government in the right. I think also that we have got into a scrape by our interference at . Naples, and we seem now to be yielding to the wise reluctance of the French to take strong measures. Clarendon has behaved to me in a very friendly straightforward manner. I am anxious to have a little talk with him on all these matters. My impression of Russia is that it has immense resources if they were properly developed, but that this will not be the case ; that it is an immensely complicated machine, of which the governing wheels are not to be trusted and which having been kept at high pressure by a very energetic engineer, will certainly give somewhere or other in the hands of a very feeble one. If the present Emperor had ability, knowledge, energy, and the power of selecting good men, Russia would soon be again a very formidable Power. He is the contrary of all this, and I imagine that no real improvements will take place, but that there will be a general loosening of the reins of government, accompanied by a great increase in the universal corruption which pervades everything. I do not think my opinion is shared by my colleagues of the Corps Diplomatique, and it is quite possible that the false estimate of the power of Russia may give her as much weight in continental matters as her real strength. Their military exhaustion was complete in the last war. Their physical exhaustion less than was believed here. The English clergyman at Petersburg gave me a curious account of the suffering and discontent of the poorer classes in that town during the war. It is impossible to tell what is the real state of the finances in a country where there is nothing like publicity, but the Financial Minister is supposed to be very ignorant, as are also those around him. The liking, indeed the preference, shown by the population for paper money over gold and silver is a great facility for a needy Finance Minister, but may be productive of much evil- My conclusion is that Russia is not strong for aggression, that it is not necessary to make concessions to her which are in the least degree hurtful to ourselves, but that it is also desirable to be on friendly terms with her, as it is with all nations when there are not special reasons for the reverse.' CHAPTER IX THE CHINA WAR 1856-1857 On his return to London from St. Petersburg, Lord Granville resumed his regular correspondence with Lord Canning. London, November 24, 1856. ' We stayed two days at Herrnsheim on our return, and three days at Paris. I saw Madame de Lieven, as fresh as a four-year-old. She pumped me with the force ot a steam engine. I told her what I thought was good for her. I saw the Walewskis : very much annoyed at the run made at them in England. The strongest passion in Cowley's breast is hatred of Walewski. Persigny also detests him. The latter came over to turn him out. He very nearly succeeded, but I believe, thanks to articles dictated in Piccadilly to the Times and to the Morning Post, Walewski is firmer in his seat than ever. The detestation felt for us by all classes of politicians in France is beyond description. Luckily the Emperor is still convinced of the importance to himself of the English alliance. Palmerston has had a great success in Manchester and London. He is the master of the situation. I am not sure that Parliament will be quite so enthusiastic about the way we have been at every- body during the recess. Lord John is taking a cure de neige at Florence, as his skin is said to be thin at this moment. I am afraid that his health will suffer. Jem Wortley has accepted the Solicitor- Generalship.^ The offer has displeased the legal profession at Brooks's, and the acceptance irritated Gladstone and Sidney Herbert.' London, December 2, 1856. ' Another beginning of Diary. I was asked to Windsor on Saturday. No other guest but Clarendon. The Queen looking active, very low indeed about her brother. She is anxious about the poor old Duchess of Kent, whom Brown, the Windsor doctor, thinks much ' The Right Hon. James Stuart Wortley, M.P. 1856-1857] ^^^ China War 219 shaken. The Princess Royal charming, and rather subdued in manner. Prince Albert thoughtful and very agreeable. He told me that Panmure had killed Lord Hardinge. Mars had invited the latter to break Lucan. Lord Hardinge refused, thinking Pan- mure in the wrong. He said that Panmure had provoked this ob- servation of Lucan's by abuse of him while he was on his trial at Panmure's instigation, and that it was impossible to break Lucan for an observation made in self-defence. Mars had sworn at Hardinge, and threatened to turn the whole press loose upon him. The Prince described Hardinge's presence of mind during his last attack as very remarkable. He joked and tried to reassure the Queen till she was taken away, and was then carried off by the Prince and General Wetherall.' ' I had a long talk with Stockmar, who is a confirmed hypo- chondriac, but very agreeable. I told him that I thought there was a great reaction against Nicholas in Russia. He told me a story which confirmed this opinion! A Protestant clergyman had preached a sermon, in which he accused his audience of wrong behaviour in having treated their Emperor as a demigod during his life, which he did not deserve, and of having abused him more than he deserved since his death. He was questioned by the Director of Police, and finally by the present Emperor, concerning the sermon. He said it was true, that he had not chosen his text, that it had been chosen for him : " Where the carcase is, there the eagles gather together." He had preached according to his text, and in the manner he thought most truthful and best adapted to do good to his congregation. The Emperor praised him for the way in which he had followed the dictates of his conscience, and said that he would always find a supporter in him. Stockmar thinks that we are the only nation which is sound in Europe. He can- not praise us equally in foreign matters, in which as a nation we are vain, prejudiced^ arrogant, awkward, and ignorant. All the accounts he had heard of Russia talHed with mine. He thinks Louis Napoleon's throne a very unstable one. Prussia and Austria he believes to be in much danger. 'To-day I saw poor EUesmere, who looks very ill, and who is, I am afraid, dying.^ If he had had a little more devil in him, he would have been a very remarkable man. I dined with the Chancellor at a recon- ciliation dinner between Lords Campbell and Wensleydale. Lord ' Lord Hardinge had a sudden seizure while at Windsor, and died shortly after. 2 Second son of George Granville, Marquis of Stafford, and better known as Lord Francis Leveson-Gower ; was Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant in 1828 ; raised to the peerage in 1846. 220 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. ix. Lyndhurst was asked, and said he would come. " A couple of d d fools, eh?" He unfortunately found he was engaged to Baron Alderson. Wensleydale said to Jock upon shaking hands with him, "All is forgotten." Jock replied, " There is nothing to forget." Wensleydale swung round on his heel, saying, " I have plenty to forget." They were (injudiciously) placed next to one another at dinner, and never spoke till souffle time, when they relaxed and began to converse.^ ^December 3. — Another of Lord Melbourne's: "The Queen hates Church faces. Lady has a d d Church face." Met Henry Liddell in the street ; he told me that he had been dangerously ill. He recommended Arthur Stanley for the Professorship of Ecclesias- tical History vacant by Hussey's death. A Cabinet dinner. Con- versation about a Bill giving Prince Albert rank above the Prince of Wales. Clarendon and I think it rash, but it has been approved by the leaders of all parties, and is to be proposed soon after the meeting. Much conversation about Persia.''^ Clarendon uneasy. The attacks in the press evidently alarm him. Lady G. had a brilliant drum in the next room. ^December 5. — Among the persons sneered at on Wednesday evening for mismanagement about Herat was the Governor-General. Vernon Smith muttered, but was cowed by Clarendon, who was in a thundering bad humour I boiled, but knowing nothing on earth of the case thought it prudent to hold my tongue. Yesterday and to- day I have looked at the papers, and as soon as the Cabinet were all assembled this afternoon, I said I wished to make a few remarks upon the conversation which had taken place on Wednesday night ; that I had since had an opportunity of looking at the papers, which appeared to me conclusive, although there was probably still more to be said on your side of which I was not aware ; that the three points on which some censure had been intimated were : " your having been slow in sending arms to Dost Mohammed ; your having stinted the expeditionary force ; and your having stopped the sending of officers to Herat." That with regard to the last, I found the order was not absolute but discretionary ; that it left upon you the onus of deciding whether it was desirable to send them or not. I then repeated from memory but with perfect accuracy the reasons stated by you in writing for not sending them. 'The second point was with regard to the number of the expedition. ' Lord Campbell had been prominent in the attacks on Lord Wensleydale' right to take his seat in the House of Lords with a life peerage. 2 On October 25, 1856, the Persians seized Herat, to which the claims 01 Dost Mohammed were recognised by Great Britain. A rupture took place, and eventually war broke out. General Outram defeated the Persians at Kooshaband Mohammerah in February and March 1857. 1856-1857] '^^^ China War 221 You received orders to send a force to take possession of Karack and Bushire : no more. It was true that Somerset had recommended a larger number, but Somerset was not supposed to be a Duke of WelUngton. All Indian authorities in this country thought 5,000 quite sufficient for the above-mentioned purpose. That the great difficulty in these enterprises was the Commissariat, which was pro- portionately increased by additional numbers ; that it was clear that you, like Dalhousie and others who knew the country well, thought India too much denuded of troops ; that you were determined not to add to this evil, and that you were a very unlikely person to have neglected the warning afforded by Newcastle, and send away all your available men, keeping no reserve. With regard to delay in sending arms to Dost Mohammed, I found that the order was signed in London on July 10, and executed in Calcutta by you on August 18 ; that this order was a change of policy, a change deprecated by the Cabinet itself earlier in the year, which it was impossible for you to make until the order was sent out ; that if there was any blame, that blame must attach to the Home Government. I was pleased with my own statement, which was easy and colloquial, and still more so with the way it was received. Lord Smith regained courage, spoke well, and stated how admirably you had done. Pam chimed in, and Clarendon behaved well, saying he had not meant to throw any blame upon you, and that he was bound to say that with respect to stopping the officers from going to Herat, Outram thought you were quite right. Everyone else seemed to be of the same opinion. All is well that ends well. We had yesterday one of the pleasantest dinners I ever remember, only Pahlen, Bruce, Sneyd, and ourselves. ' December 7. — Had a dinner which turned out pleasant : we thought it congruous to invite Lady Stuart and the Vernon Smiths together. The former very well, and in great spirits. Sir David Dundas,^ whom G. Lewis calls the fafifaron de la veriu, agreeable ; ditto Sneyd. Poor Shelburne has sprained his ankle at tennis. He is working hard, and praised by Clarendon and Hammond. Ch. Villiers is going as Minister to the United States. '■ Decejnber 8. — Staffords dined, Sneyd and Norman, Qum and Pahlen in the evening, very pleasant. A story by Quin of D'Orsay. " It is a d d shame, Saunders and Ottley. Lady Blessington, the lady who lives at Kensington Gore, is a first-class subscriber, and you send her nothing but dam old books. I will not stand it. It is a d d shame. D n." A respectable individual presents himself from behind the desk, remonstrates at the use of such ' Sir David Dundas, Solicitor-General in Lord John Russell's Administration, but better known for his literary tastes and social popularity. 222 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. ix. personal language, and intimates that the money will be returned, and the engagement broken off. " My dear friend, I do not mean to make it a personal question : if you are Saunders, d n Ottley ; if you are Ottley, d n Saunders." ' London, December 24, 1856. ' I wish you and the Viscountess a great many happy returns of the year. We left Wilton on the 13th, after what was certainly a pleasant party. ' I had no political talk with Herbert. There were a few allusions of rather an angry character against Pam's bishops, but he does not mind, and they are generally popular. Lord Campbell congratulated Shaftesbury on the class from which they were appointed. He received the congratulations with triumph and boasted that all the Dissenters would soon join the Church of England. " Yes," said Jock, " and all the Church of England men leave it." There is no doubt that the last appointment, Bickersteth, was a mistake. Church appointments ought to give no party a triumph. At the same time I believe that a bishopric has anything rather than a tendency to lower the previous creed of the person who occupies it. Talking of appointments, I have been made Chancellor of the University of London, after a great fight on my part, and some delay. John Lefevre was the guilty party. He persuaded George Grey that I should be the best. It was offered to Lord John, to Brougham, and to the Duke of Somerset. There are to be some new men on the Council, among others Lord Stanley (not Ben). ' London as usual is very pleasant, but we tore ourselves away to pay the Fullertons a visit in their new cottage at Slindon. Nothing can be prettier. The spot is charming, and they have furnished an old cottage with all their pretty things. It makes Golder's Green, my farm, sing very small. A propos of the latter, Bruce asked Charles Greville what he thought of it. "Well," said Charles, " there it is." I am passionately fond of it. I hope the plaything will last, as it is very healthy riding down to it. Rivers is the only friend who shares my feelings, but when they have eaten the butter and drunk some of the curious old sherry which is going there, it will become more popular. There is unfortunately not much cha- racter about it. It is a modern whitewashed small unpretending house, close to the roadside. The view from some of my fields is lovely. Tom Mason has often killed his six brace of birds on it on September i. ' The Russian question will soon be settled, and I believe without a Conference. We shall give them a large tract of land not giving them more access to the Pruth, and none to the Danube ; they 1856-1857] '^^^ China War 223 giving up both Bolgrads, the Serpent's Island, and the Delta to the Turks instead of Moldavia.^ ' Washington has been offered to Charles Villiers, who will not have it. Napier is to have it. I am rather for the offer being made to Elgin. There should be no delay in sending out some one, as it would lose all its grace if the Americans have time to complain of one not being sent. Our policy and circumstances have placed him on a pedestal. I am wading through four hundred pages of Persian Blue Book which begins too late, and as far as I can see has no Board of Control papers. I hope it will be patched up. Outram was strong against some of our conditions, and said that no Oriental potentate would submit to them. It is unlucky for the peacemakers that the terms objected to by Outram are just those which have been accepted by the Persian Ambassador at Constantinople. ' The Neufchatel question is exciting much interest in Europe, less here. I have no idea of King Cliquot being such a fool as to invade Switzerland.^ If he does, his army will get a Hcking. The Swiss are better prepared than they ever were, and I am told that they have at this moment some very able men at the head of their Govern- ment. It was lucky that I refused when in the Foreign Office to sign the protocol about Neufchatel, which Malmesbury agreed to sign, and which to a certain degree pledges us.^ If we had acted cordially with the French, we might have arranged this quarrel.^ Cowley and Walewski are now on the most mellifluous terms, which is lucky, as Persigny has lost all his influence with the Emperor. ^ Frognal^ December 26. — We came here yesterday, and I wish you and Lady Canning a great many happy Christmases. It seems to us a long dreary four years to wait. I suppose you are so busy that you have hardly time to think of it. My removal from office has been the great canard of the month of December. Some send me to Paris, some to Ireland. I have been pestered for aide-de-camp-ships. Clarendon told me yesterday that he had a note from Delane, com- plaining of his not being informed of the secession of Charles Wood, * The reference is to Article XX. of the Treaty of Paris, relating to the new frontier of Russia in Bessarabia. The points in question were finally settled by a protocol signed at Paris on January 6, 1857, and a treaty signed on June 19 of the same year. - • Cliquot ' was a nickname by which the King of Prussia was known. 3 In 1852. • In 1856 the Prussian party in Neufchatel, headed by Count de Pourtales, rebelled against the Republic, but the insurrection was put down, and the leaders imprisoned with a view of bringing them to trial. War was thereupon threatened by the King of Prussia, who under the Treaty of Vienna was Prince of Neufchatel, and possessed certain privileges which the protocol signed in 1852 by England, France, and Austria had recognised. 2 24 ^^/^ ^f ^^^ Second Earl Granville [ch. ix. Panmure, and me from the Cabinet. My health is as good as restored. I believe Pam wishes to make no change. Some wish to have Johnny in the House of Lords. If this is done, I should at once consent. I should decline continuing to lead, with him in office in the House of Lords. If he took my place, ought I to take Paris, if it was offered to me ? Your advice would probably arrive in time for practical purposes. I suspect, however, that Pam thinks Johnny is safer out of his Government than in it. ' All Frognal ' (Pahlen, Quin, Lady Adelaide Cadogan, Lady Augusta ditto, Charles Greville), that is to say those who have not written, send you both their very best love and wishes. ' Yours, G.' The Gv.o\\l, Jamiary 22, 1857. ' My dear Canning, — There is no possible plan but the journal plan. I cannot remember where I last left off, or whether I told you that we went to Trentham on the 30th, where we found nobody but the Duke, the Duchess, the Staffords, Lady Blantyre, and Pahlen. Poor Sneyd too ill with chest to be able to come. It was pleasant, as Trentham always is. The Duchess gets more simple and more agreeable every year. They are both in great sorrow about poor EUesmere, who, I should think, will not live many months. He had rallied but got worse again. I found things going on pretty well at Shelton.- I am very much pleased with my commercial manager, Wragge. . . . ' After Trentham we went to Windsor, where the Queen and Prince Albert were very gracious to my wife and self. The latter consulted me much about the Prince of Wales. I should have liked to discuss the matter with you, before giving any opinion. I strongly recommended his being mixed up with others of his own age away from home. The visits of Eton boys to the Castle for a couple of hours can be of no use. I questioned the Prince closely about Gibbs. He thinks very highly of Gibbs. He sent for him, and made him give me his views on the education of the Prince. This Gibbs did in a very clear and sensible way. He talked of the advantages and disadvantages of being Prince of Wales in a very uncourtierlike manner. I believe that a journey will be organised for him, and several boys of his own age invited to accompany him. It is intended to send him for a short time to Oxford and Cambridge, and then on a voyage to all the principal British possessions. You will possibly have to receive him ; hardly so.'^ ' Lord Sydney's place in Kent. ^ A mineral property in Staffordshire belonging to Lord Granville. " Owing to the expiry of the Governor-General's term of office. 1856-1857] ^-^^ China War 225 ' The Queen is much excited about a Bill to give the Prince prece- dence over the Prince of Wales. I asked Stockmar to use his influence to stop it. He agrees with me, but says he has been fight- ing it for sixteen years. ^January 26. — After Windsor we went to Bowood. You will find poor Flahault an altered man on your return. He is much broken, and threatened with a stroke. Shelburne has got a stiff leg from a strain at tennis, still devoted to the Foreign Office and its work. All England and Europe are ringing with indignation at a speech of Sir R. Peel's, which you should read as a marvellous specimen of every- thing that ought not to have been said. It is said that he thinks he has made a hit. I hear he has never been near the Admiralty since his return.' I believe Palmerston has sent him a reprimand, but no dismissal, which people in general think ought to have been done. It is painful for me. I am glad you committed yourself to an approval of his appointment. After Bowood, we went to Savernake. Kerry- Gores, Pahlen, Ben, Clanricarde, Chreptovitch, and Johnny Bushe. I never saw anyone so surprised as Chrep,- who has been accustomed to calm English society, when he found himself in the middle of the two Irishmen Ben and Bruce's talk. We were at the Grove last week. We met the Apponyis, whom we like, she very grande dame ; the Chreps, she very tiresome ; Chelsea, Ch. Villiers always pleasant, Villiers Lister, and Gerald Ponsonby. Clarendon is less pleasant in his own house than elsewhere, he whips himself up so violently. We have received the intelligence of Persia yielding.^ It does not seem quite certain, but one cannot help believing such good news. The war was a great scrape. I hear Gladstone and Graham are very great about Muley Hakim. I have great doubts whether it is the best policy to treat Orientals in a way inconsistent with all the principles of justice, but I ought not to say so to you, as all your impulses would be in favour of my heresy. I hope we shall get well out of the Chinese scrape. William Cowper is my vice-president. * I am childishly fond of my farm. It will be impossible to attend to the House of Lords in the hay-making season. What a pleasure it will be to show it to you. It is frightful' From the contemplation of the beauties of the ' farm,' Lord Granville was abruptly called away early in 1857 by a great parliamentary crisis. The seizure of the lorcha Arrow and the conduct of Dr. Bowring, her Majesty's Consul, in ' Sir Robert Peel was then Secretary to the Admiralty. - Count Chreptovitch, Russian Ambassador. ^ I'eace was signed with I'ersia in April 1S57. VOL. I. O 2 26 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. ix. demanding redress from the Chinese authorities, led to pro- tracted debates in both Houses of Parliament. A coalition between the followers of Lord Derby, the Peelites, and the more advanced section of Liberal opinion, defeated the Government on the third of March. A dissolution imme- diately followed, and the country confirmed the tenure of office of Lord Palmerston and his colleagues by sending a large majority to support him at Westminster against what was regarded as a faction. Lord Granville to Lord Canning. London, March lo, 1857. •My dear Canning,— Many thanks for your letter. Mrs. Anson is come, and a pretty account she gives of you, working all day and night, taking no exercise, and never going away. She says that all the old Lidians say that no constitution can stand it. Now this is really foolish. What good will it do if you come back with broken health, having succumbed in the attempt to do that which no one can do ? You should let some one else do a portion of your work ; anything better than get regularly jaded. I asked how you were liked. She says very much, that you are thought more inclined to pick other people's brains than to announce your own opinions. That you were rather long in forming a decision : inflexible when once your mind was made up. This appears to me to be high praise. ' Clanricardc is more or less active as an Indian reformer. It annoys the Opposition, but he is supported by Grey and Albemarle. I expected a long debate on the double Government, and prepared a long speech to glorify the present (iovernor-General, but the debate came to a close, Argyll having made an excellent speech in reply. Ellenborough says, " Vernon Smith is a fool, a d d fool; why don't they make the Duke of Argyll President of the Board of Control ? He is a clever little fellow." He said Vernon complained to me that his borough wanted something even less aristocratic than himself "Yes," Ben interposed, "they want a shoemaker." ^ He seems to do his work well in the House, but is of no use as a general debater. He never opens his mouth. ' You will be excited by the news of the crisis. You will probably think the Opposition right in their estimate of the Doctor's proceedings at Canton, but you will also judge that they have acted ' Mr. Vernon Smith represented Northampton. 1856-1857] ^''^^ China War 227 most foolishly, and have contrived to help Palmerston over a very difificult session. Tht;re were awkward questions coming, particularly as before an expiring House of Commons. He is a little gouty, and his gout tells upon his speaking. It did so particularly in the China debate. I luckily got provoked by the gross exaggeration of the opposite side, and am supposed to have spoken better than I usually do in answer to EUenborough. I had nearly forgotten to tell you that I am to have the Garter. Pam offered it in a very polite way, saying that I must not refuse it, as it was the Queen's spontaneous suggestion. People seem not to disapprove. ' The whole country in England and Scotland is Palmerstonian. The Government are going too fiercely against many people who for conscience sake voted against them. ' I am trying to get Johnny Acton in for some place in Ireland. I am glad to find that, although he is only a moderate Whig, he is also a very moderate Catholic. ' Elgin, like the stormy petrel, has appeared for the first time in London, and is wonderfully courteous to me. People think Glad- stone mad, which is of course false, but he certainly is in an extra- ordinary state of excitement. His speech on the China debate was one of the finest ever heard in the House of Commons. ' If feasible, turn the opium monopoly into a tax, and do some- thing to meet the complaints of the missionaries as to the condition of the natives in Bengal.' Paris, April %^ 1S57. ' I have missed a great many days and weeks, which ought to have afforded ample materials for a letter. The last part of the parlia- mentary session was busy for me, and I think I have quite regained the ground which I believe I had lost. I had to answer a speech of Derby's, which was his manifesto to the electors. I was aggressive, pleased my friends, and much displeased Malmesbury and his late colleagues. They would hardly speak to me, when I met them at Lady Jersey's. Palmerston has had a great triumph. The elections have turned, as you will see in the papers, entirely on him personally, and we have gained nearly forty, mdependent of Govern- ment Liberals, who have turned out Bright and Milner Gibson, and so on. The danger consists in the probable formation of a numerous and respectable Liberal party opposed to the present Government. The game is not an easy one for anybody as regards Reform. If Johnny produces a Bill, he will be smashed, as it is almost impossible to concoct one which will please everybody. The House of Commons is sure to be apathetic about Reform.' The country does ' The new Parliament nicl on April 30, 1S57. Q2 228 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. ix. not care a great deal about it, but would be very angry if it was thought that the Government was anti-reforming. I believe Palmerston is reasonable on this point, and is likely to show more tact than Johnny. If so, the game seems as safe as his age will allow it to be. ' The Peelites are smashed as a party, which is good. Glad- stone is in a state of unnatural excitement, and instead of calming himself by rest, he has been making violent speeches in every public-house in Flintshire. Graham has made the most Radical speech which has yet been made. Sidney Herbert will be on the Liberal side, somewhere between Lord John and Palmerston. He talks of going abroad. Newcastle has declared himself a Liberal. It is said that much rising talent has been shown at the elections. Lords Cavendish and Althorp both very good,' ditto Robert Grosvenor's son. Lord Lincoln not bad. Poor Freddy is dreadfully disappointed by his failure in the Potteries. He was outjockeyed by Ricardo. I got here on Sunday evening, dined at the Laferronays, where I met Frederick Lagrange, who is busy in buying perc/ierons (French posthorses) for the farm at Golder's Green, and the Cure de la Madeleine, who would hold his own with Samuel of Oxford. I called after dinner on the Cowleys, where I found the Sydneys, and I had the pleasure of announcing to Lady Cowley that the Queen had signed the warrant for her husband's earldom.- I then went to Mrs. F. Baring, where I met Merimee, Hertford, and Cavaignac. I unluckily did not make out the last. The conversation was not political, but chiefly on books. Merimee said that to get the most famous bookbinder, Barbazan, to bind a book in a simple way for fifty francs a volume, it was necessary to call on him, to refer to one's ancient friendship, offer to be godfather to the next child, &c. Hertford expressed great pleasure at the way the elections were going in England.^ I do not know whether he was laughing at me. On Monday I paid some visits. Poor Madame de Lieven makes a great blank, both as regards herself and her salon, which is unreplaceable and unreplaced. Madame Walewska is looking well, and was glad when I gave her messages from Pam and Clarendon for her husband. Walewski defends himself, and declares that he and the Emperor are the greatest friends in France to the English alliance. He says that it was impossible to have gone ' The allusion is to the present Duke of Devonshire and to the present Lord Spencer. - Lord Cowley had declined a step in the peerage in the previous year ; he was created Earl Cowley and Viscount Dangan on April 4, 1857. ^ Lord Hertford lived in Paris ; he was the owner of Bagatelle on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne. 1856-1857] ^-^^ China War 229 on with the war in Russia, and maintained the English alliance. The only difficulty he now foresees is the question of uniting or not the Principalities. In the original draft of what should be settled at the Conference, AValewski, merely in order to obtain an opinion, pro- posed the union. Clarendon concurred ; afterwards it was settled at the Conference that the opinions of the Divans summoned for the purpose should be taken, and France, having the belief that the union was not disagreeable to England, pronounced herself openly in favour of it. Walewski now understood that England, convinced by Austria, as Turkey already had been, was strongly against the union. He hoped that the position of affairs would be calmly considered by Clarendon. If the Divans pronounce in favour of the present state of things, France would immediately acquiesce. If they give a doubtful answer, she will acquiesce ; but if they are strongly in favour of union, France, Russia, Prussia, and Sardinia will be strongly in favour of that which is the declared wish of the Principalities them- selves, whilst England, Turkey, and Austria would be the other way, and great difficulties would arise. ^ He believes that the Swiss aftair will be settled, and sees no other difficulties at present. ' The Orleanists are in a very bitter and dissatisfied state. They see no possible change at present. They are all excepting Thiers frantic against England. The Fusion has been knocked on the head by the Orleanist Princes asking the Duke of Bordeaux what he means to do as to the colour of his flag (white or tricolor) and as to the grant of a constitution. Henry \. refuses to pledge himself till the occasion presents itself, and the Fusion appears impossible, much to the satisfaction of Thiers, who has always prophesied that it was impossible for an exclusive aristocracy, who have learned nothing and who are incorrigible, to coalesce with a bourgeoisie which is democratic.^ ' We dined with the Emperor yesterday evening. I sat next to the Empress, who is easy to get on with. She inquired of me what sort of person the Empress of Russia was. I said that I believed that she was clever and well-informed, but that I had never heard her ask anything but whether one had danced much at the last ball. " Mais voyez-vous," said Eugenie, " it is not easy always to find questions to ask." I had a long talk with the Emperor in the evening. He was civil and pleasant, looked very low, and is evidently much pre- occupied by the action of the secret societies and the plots for ' Under the Treaty of Paris there were to be two Ilospod.ars elected by the Divans, one for Wallachia, the other for Moldavia, under the suzerainty of Turkey. This prophecy fulfilled itself in the famous letter of February 1873, by which the Comte de Chambord finally destroyed the last hopes of the Fusionists by refusing to compromise the question of the flag. 230 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. ix. assassination. He has a vague wish to resettle Europe, and thinks it might be done by a cordial understanding between Russia, England, and France. He talked of the want of civil courage in France, and the ease with which the cause of his Government was given up as lost by some of his best friends, when he was slightly unpopular during the last autumn. He was evidently, although he denies it, rather taken in by Dizzy. I recommended him to ask " Tamarang," who is coming here, what he thought of Dizzy, and by his answers to judge of what might be expected in the way of harmony and consistency from a Tory Government.^ He declares that his wish is to see Lord Palmerston's Government consolidated. He talked of the difficulty of his conduct with respect to financial measures. There was much immediate danger in adopting our system of allowing people to do as they liked ; and on the other hand great difficulty in teaching them what they ought to do. The even- ing ended by a lecture on table turning, &c., in which the Emperor and Empress believe. A certain Mr. Hume produces hands, raises heavy tables four feet from the ground with a finger, knocks on the Emperor's hand from a distance. The Emperor is rather pleased at the table coming more to him than to others ; but seeing Lady G. and me look incredulous, he broke off saying, " They think us mad, and Lord Granville will report that the alliance is on a most unstable footing." 'A'^ours, G.' By his .speech in introducing the Life Peerages Bill, and his conduct of the measure, Lord Granville had greatly increased his reputation. An almost equally difficult question arose in <-he new Parliament to test yet further the ability of the new Liberal leader. The condition of the law of England in regard to marriage and divorce had long been the opprobrium and scandal of the age. But arra}-ed against any reform was a phalanx of popular prejudice, with powerful representatives in the Plouse of Commons, who had lay and clerical allies so strongly entrenched in the House of Lords that all hopes of any alteration seemed well nigh desperate. Wit and humour have before now triumphed where reason has failed to persuade. At the Warwick Assizes in 1845 Mr. Justice Maule in a leading case, in passing sentence on a prisoner convicted of bigamy, used all the resources of a mordant ' The allusion is to Lord Malmesbury, who was known by the above nick- name. 1856-185 7] '^'^^ China War 231 irony to illustrate the absurdity and injustice of the exsiting system of law, and undoubtedly drove home thereby the arguments which on their merits had failed to secure attention. From that moment the movement in favour of change steadily gained strength. In 1856 the Government had taken up the question, but a difference between the two Houses prevented the Bill passing, and when it was reintroduced in 1857 it became the object on the part of Mr. Gladstone of an opposition so pertinacious, that his conduct was afterwards made the basis of a charge, that he was the real inventor and original patentee of the art of parliamentary obstruction. In the House of Lords the Chancellor had to contend with a band of ex-Chancellors who sat on the benches opposite, and with the Bench of Bishops. The struggle might have proved unequal, but the Government was fortunate in one respect. The greatest of all the ex-Chancellors, Lord Lyndhurst, had recognised the necessity of change, and at more than one critical moment came to the rescue of the hard-pressed Liberal leader and Lord Cranworth. Largel}^ owing to his assistance, the Bill passed, and when, after a fierce and prolonged struggle in the Lower House, it was returned in August with amendments to the House of Lords, it was believed to be substantially safe. In the condition of parties as they then existed the Government at that late period of the session possessed as a rule the command of the House, for the accession of many peers from the Tory party at the time of the repeal of the Corn Laws had materially weakened the Opposition. There was therefore a practical certainty that if a fair discussion of the amendments after proper notice could be secured, the Bill would become law. But on the 20th, the very night the amended Bill was returned to the House, Lord Redesdale, aware of the situation, gave notice that he would next day move that the amendments should betaken into consideration that day six months ; and accordingly on the 21st, seizing his opportunity in an almost empty House, in which at the moment there happened to be a small Conservative majority 232 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. ix. present, he rose to make the motion, of which practically the House had received nothing but the barest and most tech- nical notice. The situation was one which placed the leader of the Liberal party in a situation where the command of his own temper was far more important than the command of the Whig legionaries. Lord Redesdale was Chairman of the Committees of the House, one of the recognised oracles on public business, and bound by virtue of his office to resist everything which might be described as contra bonos mores et decorum. But there he was setting an example which might have scandalised the smallest clerk in the humblest solicitor's office in a country town in his own county of Worcester, Nevertheless for the leader of the House to suggest to Lord Redesdale an intimation that such was the case, was evidently a very delicate matter ; yet it had to be done, and done without provoking a struggle, for the only chance of saving the Bill was to appeal to the dangerous nature of the pre- cedent which Lord Redesdale was proposing to set. The character of the House, Lord Granville urged, was at stake ; it had always been observed ' as almost a religious principle ' not to take petty advantages that might be gained by a surprise, but to adopt fair and straightforward steps to bring any matter before the House. He put it to Lord Redesdale whether, in his office as Chairman of Committees, he would have approved in another peer the course he himself was now pursuing. * It is perfectly monstrous [he ended by declaring] that we should be asked to reject the Commons' amendments before they have even been printed and subjected to our examination, and I cannot think that my noble friend, to whom in his ofificial position we look up for guidance on questions affecting the regularity of our proceedings, will persist in his intention. I hope that this House will not subject itself in the eyes of the country to the imputation of seeking by a mere trick to get rid of an important measure.' The appeal struck a responsive chord, and if from no other motive but very shame, Lord Redesdale was at length obliged to withdraw. Lord Granville got the adjournment of the House carried, and on the following Monday, the 24th, 1 856- 1 85 7] 1^^^^ China War 233 Lord Redesdale's amendment was discussed and defeated, but only by two votes. The Commons' amendments were then agreed to. Thus was the Bill rescued and this great reform by a narrow majority placed on the Statute Book.^ The Republican form of government in France is said to have been saved by similar good luck when in 1874, after inter- minable debates and endless obstruction, an amendment was carried by one vote, that the words ' Republique Francaise ' should be inserted in a clause of the Constitution then under discussion. The venerable deputy, M. Wallon, who was better known at the time as a Professor of History at the Sorbonne than as a politician, moved the insertion and obtained im- mortality, living ever after as ' Le Pere de la R(^publique.' It was related at the time that the President, Marshal MacMahon, who desired anything except the success of the amendment, in a burst of passion ordered his aide-de-camp to find the deputy — ce viandit nuinero im — whose vote had settled the question, and bring him before him. The aide-de-camp sought to explain to the irate Marshal that, as all votes were equal, it was not possible to identify anybody in particular as representing the fatal number. Whether Lord Redesdale made an analogous search for the two peers who in the British Parliament on that late night in August saved the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Bill from destruction, is not known ; but could they be identified they would be as worthy of a niche in the Temple of Fame as the solitary deputy who was the object of the abortive inquisition made at a later period of history by the Marshal and his clerical allies in France. Such encounters as this with Lord Redesdale were, how- ever, exceptional. The principal parliamentary antagonist whom Lord Granville had to face at this time and for the ten succeeding years was Lord Derby, one of the acknow- ledged masters of English eloquence and the despot of the House of Lords, who held proxies just as he owned race- horses ; and owing as some thought to the latter class of associations, was never over much troubled in his conduct of public business with any inconvenient regard either for the ' Hansardy third series, cxlvii. 1965, igCSi. 2 34 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. ix. feelings of his antagonists or for the unwritten understandings of public life : especially when he saw an opportunity of dishing his quondam Whig friends and allies. A witty antagonist once said that he had ' Newmarketised ' the House, and the phrase lived. ' I remember asking M. Guizot [Lord Granville said during one of these debates] who was his most formidable opponent in the old Chamber of Deputies. He said : " M. Thiers ; but if you had put the question in a different form, I should have named another person. If you had asked me : ' who is the most difificult member to answer ? ' I should have named a very eminent orator and a great poet, who speaks for an hour or more amid tremendous cheers, and at the end of that time I do not know what facts I have to deal with, and what arguments I have to refute." ' ^ The eloquence of Lord Derby, for the same reasons as that of M. de Lamartine, was often difficult to answer. But it frequently happened that even if the ' Rupert of debate ' might at first have seemed to be sweeping everything before him in a torrent of discursive eloquence, in which the iniquities of Lord Clarendon's foreign policy, the wickedness of the plans of Lord John Russell to destroy the Constitution to secularise education and plunder the Church, and the dangers of the law reforms of the Chancellor, were all mixed up together in a lava flood of consuming wrath, it was none the less his ill fortune to discover, like his famous military prototype, that v^hile still fancying the victory his own on the wide field over which his triumphant eloquence ranged, he had had his retreat cut off and his argumentative stores captured by a deft stroke in an unexpected quarter from the smooth antagonist who sat smiling opposite. With Lord Derby sat Lord Ellenborough, whose comparatively rare appearances in debate had nevertheless earned for him a reputation as an orator superior even to Lord Derby, for he had inherited much of the peculiar eloquence of his cele- brated father, the Lord Chief Justice, that eloquence which Bentham described as ' commanding, fierce, and atrocious,' and stigmatised as an ' abomination.' - Facing Lord Derby ' Hansard, ccxxxviii. 1721. "CM. Atkinson, yi^r^/z/y Bentham, p. 157. 1856 1857] '^^^^ China War 235 and Lord Ellenborough there sat on the Liberal benches with Lord Granville many statesmen of experience and distinction ; but none, with the exception of the Duke of Argyll, who even aspired to the claim of being an orator, or, till the appearance there of Lord Russell in 1861, a great debater with an established reputation. The debating power of the Liberal party was elsewhere — on the benches of the House of Commons, But an additional and more dis- turbing element than even the superiority as orators of Lord Derby and Lord Ellenborough, was the presence in the House of Lords of an unusual number of ex-ministers of great ability, outside the ranks of the recognised Opposi- tion, who never hesitated to use their independent privileges with freedom, in order to deal faithfully — though, as they wished it to be understood, regretfully and only at the call of public duty — with the ministers of the day, of whom they had all, or nearly all, at one time or another, been the colleagues. Lord Grey, then in the zenith of his remark- able powers, which have left so insufficient a mark on the page of English history, was commencing the persistent but barren course of criticism in which, as Lord Granville once playfully observed, he displayed ' his infinite power and fertility in raising objections to any course which was not precisely that which he had shaped himself'^ Lord Brougham still prowled over the field of political battle, ready at any moment to deliver a damaging flank attack ; while his old rival, Lord Lyndhurst, whose formidable powers of opposition had largely contributed to the destruction of the Governments of Lord Melbourne and Lord John Russell, was still in his place on the red benches, and ready at times to join in attack with energies which neither time seemed to impair, nor age to diminish ; though it must be admitted that he seemed far less anxious to do so since Lord Granville sat as leader opposite. It was the delight of the Roman populace to watch the struggles in the arena of combatants whose arms and weapons of offence and defence were of the most dissimilar kind ' Hansardy third series, cxcii. 2023. 236 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. ix. A contest between Lord Granville and Lord Derby may well recall the encounter of the retiarius and the inirmillo, when the former armed with a net sought to baffle the formidable onset of the latter armed with a sword. Lord Granville would have been the last person to claim the reputation of a slashing orator. Not his were the stately exordium, the fierce attack, the passionate invective, and the moving peroration of his great rival, which, if they thrilled with slightly wasted power through the compara- tively chill atmosphere of the House of Lords, neverthe- less often constituted an appeal, even when only read next day, almost as formidable as if they had been addressed direct to the electors of the country, at a time when nobody had yet thought of comparing a debate in the House of Lords to 'addressing dead men by torchlight.'' Never in the whole of his long career did Lord Granville in these respects rashly court a comparison with his great antagonist. But his powers of exposition and statement were consider- able, and he had the art of reproducing correctly and forcibly any information that was given him. Above all he possessed tact, good humour, and courtesy, which are the arms most necessary in the leader of a minority. In him these were inborn gifts, which practice only rendered more perfect, and it was with them that he faced Lord Derby and Lord Ellenborough, neither despondent nor irritable, never failing in good humour or serenity, and master ' of all the courtesies of combat and subtleties of defence.' 'You could not fail to notice,' said a frequent observer, ' how pleasantly he saluted his antagonist before engaging him, how happily he quoted him against himself — in the case of Lord Derby it was fortunately easy to do so — ' how smilingly he came up to the encounter, how unruffled was his air throughout, and how easy the anecdote or illustration with which he made his final thrust and took his leave of the discussion.' ^ ' A phrase said to have been used by Mr. Lowe after he had addressed the House of Lords for the first time as Viscount Sherbrooke. * Scotsman f April i, 189 1. 1856-1857] ^'^^ China War 237 Lord Granville was of a sanguine nature — the expression occurs again and again in his letters ; and he never gave up a battle for lost until the last shot was fired, and it was absolutely certain that no help even from the most unexpected quarter was going to arrive. It frequently would happen that the antagonist who imagined that he had altogether got the best of it, and that the Liberal leader had really nothing left to say for himself, would at the last moment find him- self punctured with a light thrust which had unexpectedly got in between the joints of his armour, just when he was thinking the struggle over and the battle won. You might then see Lord Granville quietly sit down without adding another word which might diminish the effect of the epigram, or mar the polish of some gentle but none the less telling gibe, which occasionally made persons of a coarse and vulgar nature feel that ' after all they ought to be ashamed of them- selves, and regret that they had spoken.' ^ ' Did you hear Pussy scratch?' Sir Charles Wood was said to have once observed at the bar of the House after one of these en- counters. The phrase became proverbial. If the best had to be made of an almost impossible situation — and such situations were very frequent in the House of Lords — Lord Granville knew exactly how to do it, for in debate he never lacked self-possession. The Marchioness of Salisbury was once said to have observed that she believed the Whig pulse beat at least ten seconds slower to the minute than the Tory pulse. A slow pulse is generally associated with a consider- able degree of sang-froid and coolness in action, and there could certainly have been no doubt of Lord Granville's ortho- doxy in the Whig faith, if the pulse was to be the index. ' I first began to attend your Lordship professionally in August 1844,' Dr. Meryon wrote in 1878; 'your healthy pulse was then forty-eight, and I have never known it otherwise."^ It is not unlikely that if the certificate of Lord Derby's medical adviser could also be produced, it would still ' From a sketch written in 1S91, the authorship of which I have not been able to identify. — E. F. - Dr. Meryon to Lord Granville, May 20, 1S78. 238 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. ix. further illustrate the dictum just quoted, and afford some clue to the results of the encounters between the two leaders in the Lords, and explain why opponents ranking among the oratorical and intellectual leaders of the day had to acknowledge that, although Lord Granville made no pretence to eloquence, and although his elocution, compared especially with that of such giants of speech as Lord Derby, might be deemed imperfect, they frequently somehow came off second best in encounters with the adversary whom at first sight they had been disposed to underrate, and had occasion to realise that though his words were ' softer than honey,' yet were they ' drawn swords,' and that when he chose he could be a dispenser of the precious balms which are said to break the head. ' You should look out in debate,' Lord Wodehouse used to say, ' for Granville's " last words" ' for if Lord Granville was a master of the retort courteous, he could also on occasion put salt into his honey. The famous lines in which Lucretius describes the sting hidden beneath the flowers of life — ' Medio de fonte leporum Surgit amari aliquid quod in ipsis floribus angat ' — might often on such occasions have suggested themselves to the well-read mind of Lord Derby as no inapt description of the peculiar acid which frequently was to be detected in what might be called the dedication of his opponent's speeches. The same quality was also sometimes to be found in the last words of his letters, coming with a sense of shock. An Ambassador once wrote home explaining very fully that the circumstances called for his own immediate resignation, and that he accordingly tendered it. A reply arrived in due course. But not a word at first could the Ambassador find in Lord Granville's letter about the resigna- tion. Just as he was going to put the letter by, thinking it might have been an answer to an earlier communication, he observed a postscript. It ran as follows : ' One passage in your letter made my hair stand on end ! Why do you amuse yourself by letting off fireworks at your friends?' No more was heard after this of the resignation. 1856-1857] The China War 239 It used to be said that the speeches of the Duke of Argyll and Mr. Gladstone made the audience think first of the argu- ment, and afterwards of the form and style ; but that those of Lord Granville suggested praise of the style and of the manner first, and of the argument afterwards ; and that he was a connoisseur in politics and an epicure in speech.^ Nevertheless it would be a mistake to underrate the power of argument in Lord Granville's speeches. The firm grasp especially which he possessed of sound economic doctrine, and of the principles on which the Free Trade policy of the country had been developed, not only enabled him at this time to be an effective interpreter of the ideas of Mr. Cobden to the Upper House, but also powerfully contributed to fit him to hold his own in debates where the mere superiority in eloquence of his antagonists was in consequence found to be counterbalanced by gifts which in this respect rose above theirs.^ A narrow parochialism of view existed in regard to commercial questions on the Tory benches of the House of Lords. No statesman indeed probably ever occupied the post of Prime Minister who regarded such questions from so profoundly prejudiced a point of view as Lord Derby himself, who was also deficient in the personal knowledge of the Continent and of the statesmen of Europe in which Lord Granville excelled. To Lord Derby a debate on foreign affairs had no real interest or attraction except as affording an opportunity for party advantage. Lord Gran- ville was then on a battle-field of his own choosing, and had a superiority which was felt by his audience, although Lord Hardwicke, who was a naval peer and addicted to the use of rugged language, declared him ' to be half a Frenchman, amiable, polite, and soft,' and his accomplish- ments to be such as a true Englishman might well be ashamed to possess, and still more to exhibit in public.-' Lord Granville, it was observed, ' had the quality of miti- gating the asperity of party warfare,' a quality, in the words of ' Pall Mall Gaul/e, ]\xnii. (), iSSo. - Glasgoto Herald, April i, 1891. " Lord Granville lo Lord Canning, May 25, 1856. 240 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. ix. Sir Roundell Palmer, ' admirable and excellent at all times ; ' ^ yet he never shrank from expressing his opinions, or from doing so with an effect which everybody felt ; for if urbanity and a sunshiny humour were his rule, there were occasions when he was quite able to take off the gloves and hit out straight from the shoulder, and to show that he possessed when necessary ' in a singular degree the gift of putting forward his own views without compromise, if never with any offence to those opposed to him.' ^ That the glove of velvet encased a fist of steel soon began to be recognised ; a fact of which even some of his own friends had now and then been reminded, as, although a master of the arts of persuasion. Lord Granville knew also how to crack the party whip over the heads of his followers, and to crack it at times rather sharply. The Marquis of Ailesbury in every Liberal Ministry held one of the great Household appointments. A man of great personal charm, but of easy-going and unpunctual habits, he disliked even the scant claims made on his time by attendance in the House of Lords, and was frequently found to be at Savernake when expected to be at Westminster. Lord Granville, however, absolutely declined to stand such conduct even from so close a friend, and one morning the Marquis of Ailesbury found on his table a letter from his leader to the following effect : — ' Bessborough told me that you intended leaving London for a fortnight. I therefore asked him to remind you of what I had told you at the formation of the Government, viz. that I had accepted the lead on the express condition that members of the Household should constantly attend the House of Lords, unless when in attendance on the Queen, in the same way as the members of the Government. * I am very sorry to hear from him that you were annoyed by the message, and expressed a readiness to attend, but not to give that constant attendance which is expected from an official peer. I believe my proposal to be of great importance, not only to the Government, but to the character of the House of Lords. The same rule was pretty well observed under Derby and Malmesbury; and I must endeavour to maintain it. You will see that I am at once check- ' Hansard^ ccclii. 468. - Ibid, ccclii. 465. 1856-1857] ^'^'^ China War 241 mated if the first man in the Household, and my most intimate friend, in theory and in practice disregards it.' ^ What the House of Lords dreaded most of all was, Lord Granville thought, being bored. He was fond of telling how a French nobleman was said to have been questioned every year by the Grand Monarque as to the health of his Countess, and the number of his sons and daughters. His customary answer was : ' Your Majesty, the Countess is, alas ! no more. I have five children.' But one year, when the accustomed query from the royal lips once more came round at the annual reception, he murmured with a bow : ' Your Majesty, the Countess is in excellent health. We have seven children.' ' What ! ' said the indignant King ; ' I think that you said only five last time, and that the Countess was dead.' ' True, your Majesty,' was the unabashed reply ; ' but knowing your Majesty hated being bored, I dreaded a repetition of the same story which I had so frequently told your Majesty.' The delighted King raised the witty noble two steps in the peerage of France. The moral which adorned this tale was that the House of Lords in some ways resembled the Grand Monarque ; that in addressing that fastidious assembly it was necessary to understand their little idiosyncrasies, and to remember that they preferred new illustrations of an old story to a constant repetition of the old story itself. But in regard to public audiences Lord Granville's opinion was different. He thought that they preferred an old and familiar joke to a new one. ' Have you not often seen,' he said, ' at a dull opera, the prima donna come forward and sing the " Last Rose of Summer" or some old familiar song? The whole house wakes up, beats time, nods to friends in the boxes, and enjoys it more than any new music' Lord Plunket, the orator, had told him that he laid it down as an axiom always to make a pause before bringing out any phrase which he had particularly prepared, to give his hearers the idea that it was impromptu. He once told this anecdote to Mr. Disraeli. The reply was : ' Don't we always do \tV A good instance of this kind of oratorical effect was ' February i6, 1856. VOL. I. R 242 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. ix. the repetition on one occasion by him amid great applause of an old quip at the dinner of the Royal College of Phy- sicians, when he inquired of his learned audience if in their long experience they really could say they had known a case of cause following effect. There were of course cries of dissent amid laughter. Then after a proper pause, ' Not even,' said Lord Granville, ' when the doctor follows his patient to the grave ? ' ^ He, however, knew that the gift of telling anecdotes was one requiring to be most carefully adjusted to the audience. It was difficult, for example, in his opinion to tell what effect a joke or indeed ' any statement might have had upon twenty undemonstrative peers ; ' ^ and whether in the House of Lords or elsewhere the gift required to be carefully fitted to the surrounding circumstances, and above all never to be overdone or unduly drawn upon. He possibly re- membered that Lord Chesterfield is said to have left ' the club ' when he became aware in his later years that George Selwyn had spoken of him as ' Joe Miller ' in the society that assembled there. A large number of Egyptian officials, of every European nationality, who had come to London in connection with the negotiations relating to the finances of the State, were enter- tained at a dinner in Carlton House Terrace. When they had left. Lord Granville observed to his Under-Secretary : ' This has been a grand occasion for firing off the old anecdotes. You see, not one of them fortunately could possibly have heard them before, and I think I told them rather better than usual.' But such opportunities, it had to be remembered, were rare, and it was owing to the consciousness of danger under less exceptional circumstances that, in jotting down the anecdotes relating to the Duke of Wellington already quoted, and a few others to be found in the earlier part of this volume, Lord Granville prefaced them with this warning to all and several who might be tempted to follow his example : — ' Recollections by Sir Algernon West, i. 236, ii. 163. * Lord Granville to Mr. Gladstone, May 6, 1854. 1856-1857] "^^^ China War 243 ' Prosper Merimee said that the only thing in history which interested him were its anecdotes — an opinion which would be fatal to the success of many of our best historians. But as I have none of the qualifications of these writers, and have accumulated a large number of stories during a long life, some portion of which has been passed in the society of remarkable men of my own and foreign countries, it may amuse my children if I put into writing a few anecdotes as they occur to me. I, however, warn them that I am placing in their hands that which if aptly applied may enliven a book, a letter, a discourse, or a conversation, but which may also become a fearful instrument of torture to mankind.' R 2 CHAPTER X THE INDIAN MUTINY APRIL 9, 1857, TO MARCH 1858 The last of the letters from Lord Granville to Lord Canning in the previous chapter left him exclusively occupied with the ill-will of Russia, the chances of trouble in Italy, the vacillating policy of the Emperor of the French, and the rivalries of Lord John Russell and Lord Palmerston. The letters of Lord Canning, if indicating more than one source of possible peril in regard to Indian affairs, have shown the Governor-General more apprehensive of serious trouble from an unwise frontier policy and the troubles with Persia than from any other quarter. But in January 1857 signs of a mutinous spirit among the Native soldiers of the Indian Army began to manifest themselves. Desertion on a large scale set in at the same time. In March several regiments had to be disbanded. In April a sepoy and a Native lieutenant were executed as an example ; and by these capital sentences, and some milder punishments in other cases, it was hoped that the movement had been terminated. But these hopes were doomed to disappointment, and on the movement at Barrackpore there rapidly followed the grim series of events known under the comprehensive title of ' the Indian Mutiny : ' events fraught with terrible and glorious memories of danger and endurance. Of these events some record will be found in the following pages, in which Lord Canning is his own biographer, while Lord Granville chronicles the contemporary events of English public life in their bear- ing on the position of his absent friend, thus suddenly placed on the pinnacle of danger in the hour of national peril, and 1857-1858] The Indian Mtitmy 245 exposed to the full blast of an irresponsible and ignorant criticism. Some letters also will be found by another pen, written at moments when the exhaustion of work and anxiety had caused the Governor-General's pen to drop from his hand : letters which will not detract from the reputation already enshrined in the pages which commemorate the Two Noble Lives of Lady VVaterford and Lady Canning. Lord Canning to Lord Granville. Calcutta, April c^^ 1S57. ' My dear Granville, — I have made a small vow never to miss a post, even if it be only a blank cover. I wonder how this will answer. The Diary system is more than I can manage, especially when the evenings find one so dead beat as is now coming to be the case. In another month we shall be at our hottest, or nearly. * I have had a very mauvais quart d'heure since my last letter — and a very long one — in the matter of the Mutiny ; but it is all well over, so far as danger goes ; although troubles enough will spring out of it. It has been a much more anxious matter than Persia, ten times over ; for a false step might have set the Bengal Army in a blaze. As it is, I am rather pleased with the way in which it has been dealt with. Do not whisper it, but, to say the truth, I have been glad to have the Commander-in-Chief up in the far North-West. He has plenty of pluck and plenty of coolness ; but I doubt his judgment as to when and what to yield. He would have given way on a matter respecting using the cartridges at Uinballa, which would have stultified everything which was done here at Barrackpore and in Bengal, and would have made it infinitely difficult to take up sound ground afterwards. The question, too, is not one of army discipline alone. It would easily have been swelled into one affecting the faith of the great mass of the community, and unless the true ground of insisting that no injury was being done to that faith, and that there- fore the army without exception jJiust obey, and that immediately, had been held, we should have had not the sepoys alone, but all India jumping to the conclusion that we had been trying to ensnare them into a loss of caste, and had been foiled in the attempt. ' They are curious creatures these sepoys — just like children. Ombrageux is the word for them, I think. Shadows and their own fancies seem to frighten them much more tnan realities. ' Lieutenant-Colonel of the 34th (Wheeler). His whole mind is given to religious teaching, in pursuing which ne professes (quite truly, no doubt) to keep clear of the cantonments and regimental 246 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. x. bazaars, but to follow his object zealously in all other places and amongst all classes, not excluding sepoys. Rumours to this effect reached me a week ago, and an inquiry was addressed to himself directly upon it. His answer was a curious one, half honest and earnest, and half finessing and quibbling; whatever may be its bearing in other respects,' April 21, 1857. ' My dear K.G., — One line just to keep my vow. ' I wish you joy with all my heart. It sounds very flat to say, " I thought so," but I really did. ' Mrs. A. exaggerates about work. And now that Persia is over, I am inspirited with the certainty of getting away after the heats — it is too late to escape from them. ' The mutinies may still go on giving trouble, but all the heavy work — disbanding and hanging — is over, or very nearly so, I hope. ' It has been a really anxious time — such as I hope not to come upon again — and it has about doubled my work lately. * I almost repent what (I believe) I wrote to you last about the Commander-in-Chief.' May 4, 1857. ' It will be very little better than an envelope this time. ' I do not consider you justified in giving up the Diary system. Whilst Parliament sits you might keep a box in the robing room, with a sheet always ready to be gone on with when R. or A. gets up (unless it is about India). As it is, I have had another blank mail. 'I wonder whether it is from being out of political talk for so long ; but it seems as if there had never been bitterness equal to what I have seen in late speeches — to say nothing of Tamarang's letter. I did not think Pam discreet at the Mansion House. ' 1 am very sorry for Gladstone. I suppose the China speech was a very violent exhibition from all that has been written to us about it ; but it would not have had that appearance to me reading it. ' I thought your speech very good indeed. I should not like to have had to make it. The subject would not have been simpatico. I think we (England) were wrong about the lorcha, and right about the entrance to Canton, but that Bowring's presumption in swelling the small case into the great one on his own hook was indefensible. I quite think that there was nothing to be done but to uphold him — or rather the war — and that makes the awkwardness of the question. ' The mutinies are smouldering, but going out, I think and pray. It is the worst kind of anxiety I have had to do with.' 1 85 7-1 858] The Indian Mutiny 247 Calcutta, May ig, 1857. 'My dear Granville, — Rather more than a year ago you answered a remark of mine — which had been provoked by the sight of poor Sir H. Pottinger at Malta — by saying that perhaps great disasters would take place in India in my time. Things look as if you might prove a true prophet. The most formidable of all disasters is loom- ing close ahead — the defection of the Native army. ' I told you, I think, in my last letter that the mutinies were disposed of ; and so far as the demeanour of the regiments here- abouts, where disaffection was supposed to be most rife, is concerned, this is still true. The bad spirits are cowed and submissive, and since March 31 — the day of the example of the 19th Regiment — have shown no disposition to give trouble. But if such scenes as during the last ten days have been enacted up in the North-West Provinces are repeated, I cannot say where mutiny will stop, or where it will not burst out. The events, though not yet fully known, are horrible. At Meerut, the headquarters of a division, 40 miles from Delhi and goo from Calcutta, a station strong in Europeans (having the Carbineers, 60th Rifles, and a large artillery force), a Native cavalry regiment which had got into disgrace about the cartridges led the way by rescuing some men of the corps from gaol' The Native infantry regiments (two in number) joined. Officers were shot down, civilians, women and children, murdered, and the great body of the mutineers escaped to Delhi, where the three Native regiments of the garrison (there are no Europeans there) joined them, and together seized the town, repeating the atrocities of Meerut. They still hold it, and have pretended to elect a son of the old pensioned King as their ruler. It was certainly a desperate coup^ if premeditated ; but they have put themselves into a trap from which there ought to be no escape for them. The European regiments are coming down from the hills — the irregulars are closing round upon them — the cavalry of the Native chiefs (Scindia and Bhurtpore) are guarding the roads, and if all is quickly done the example will be a terrible one. But time is everything. These outbursts are catching. If Delhi and its ruffians are not sharply disposed of, I shall be very anxious for other parts of the country. The real dangers are not in the North-West Provinces, with European troops more or less within reach, but elsewhere and wider. Look at a map. At Calcutta I have at this moment two European regiments (but only by dint of having taken one away from Pegu six weeks ago for the first operations against the mutineers). After that the nearest European corps is at Patna, more than thirty marches from Calcutta, and at least five ' May II, 12, 1857. 248 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. x. days from Benares, the headquarters of Hindoo bigotry, and yet garrisoned by natives alone, although a wealthy and very populous city. Right and left of the line along which I am taking you, we have no English troops nearer than Bombay on the west and Hong Kong on the east. At Allahabad (just above Benares), the fortress and arsenal of those parts, we have not a single European soldier, although it contains State prisoners and a treasury, I have just sent 100 bold invalids there, being the only white men within reach. At Cawnpore, a great military cantonment, we have three companies of a Queen's regiment, of which the headquarters are at Lucknow. Then come Delhi and Meerut. At the former, the chief seat of Mussulman influence, and containing an important arsenal, we have no Europeans. At Meerut we have them, and why they have failed to keep down the rising of last week remains to be seen, but this does not diminish their value in my eyes. Further, north-westwards, in the Punjab, it is different. That is the province in which our chief European force has been concentrated, and for a time, in the south of the province, very widely. But we have younger provinces now, and although they do not require such close watching as the Punjab did, they drain our army more or less, and we have been blind and stupid to go on annexing Pegu, Nagpore, and Oude with- out adding a single English soldier to our strength. Indeed, we are weaker by two regiments than we were before the Russian War. Well along the line, right and left of it, which I have described, although there are no European regiments, there is no lack of Native ones, who have it all their own way. If this disaffection should spread and burst out into such violence as has been exhibited at Meerut and Delhi, you may imagine the plunder, slaughter, con- sternation, and ruin which would ensue. The flame would spread without a check straight on end for 700 or 800 miles, over the richest tracts in India. And, literally, I could not under many weeks collect a force at any one spot on that line which should be strong enough to give any confidence to Europeans — to say nothing of reparation of losses, which would be impossible. Whether the infection of mutiny will spread or not, no mortal man can say. None are more surprised at what has happened at Meerut than those who know the sepoys best ; and I have lost entirely all confidence in the commanding officers of regiments, who with scarcely an exception swear to the fideUty of their men, and when a scoundrel is caught in the act have nothing to say but " Who'd have thought it ? " Any- how it would be criminal to leave a single measure untried by which our present weakness can be strengthened during the next few weeks, and to this I have been bending all my energies. First and foremost 1857-1858] The Indian Mutiny 249 I have sent an officer to Ceylon, where I hope and believe he will meet Elgin and Ashburnham, to persuade Elgin to give me the China regiments for a time. It cannot matter whether Yeh is cornered now or six months hence. Canton will keep — India will not. I have written strongly to Elgin, privately and formally. He ought not to refuse. I have also entreated Sir H. Ward to send me at least half of his Queen's regiment from Ceylon. ' The regiments for Persia are all on their way from Bushire, and will be pushed on here, by steam, without a moment's halt. Another regiment has been taken from Madras, and another from Pegu, which must, as soon as I have a steamer to send, yield up a third. In short, if the China regiments can be caught, the force will be an imposing one, and equal to anything that can be required of it ; but no human exertion can remove the delays and consequent dangers of the intervening stretch of country between Calcutta and the weak places further north which I have mentioned. European troops cannot be moved over the ground otherwise than slowly, although all the post- horse and bullock-cart establishments have been retained for Government use, and detachments of the 84th are now moving up like gentlemen in the postchaises of the country. 'I have no time for more. The time is critical, and no man can see his way clear to the end of these troubles, but I feel in good heart ; and it is a real pleasure to work with such noble-hearted fellows as Henry Lawrence, Colvin, and John Lawrence. I bless the day when I put the first into Oude, not two months ago, and against many hints and carpings. Colvin is the only one of the three I don't know personally. He was in bad odour as Lord Auckland's right-hand man in the Afghan War ; but he has amply redeemed his errors, if they were his. Cool, firm, without any brag, and with excellent judgment.' Lord Granville to Lord Canning. London, y?/«(? 10, 1857 ' My dear Canning, — I have only time to give a sign of life. You will see by to-day's Times that Ellenborough made a little on slaught upon you yesterday. He had given me notice of his question, but none of his attack upon you. I was very angry, and had not time to arrange my thoughts, but I spat it out, and was never better received by the House. It would have flattered you to see the excitement on our side of the House. Old Aberdeen grunted, and Lord Lansdowne, who spoke, was in a frenzy. Ellenborough looked ashamed ; was very angry, but disclaimed, I believe with truth, having ' Sir Henry Ward was Governor of Ceylon. 250 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. x. intended an attack upon you. You may as well let me know how the case stands.' ' Vernon Smith has been repeating news to the Cabinet from all quarters, all tending to glorify you for your late conduct. The political calm here continues. Palmerston is as nearly a dictator in the House of Commons. He is beginning to fade a little in looks. ' Poor Lady Jocelyn looks ill and coughs. Lady Pam is showing symptoms of age. Morpeth thought all the Cabinet did, excepting Argyll and me. ' I asked Derby yesterday to pair with me for the Cup Day. He assented, but said it was foolish of me to pair with one of my best supporters. Lord Lyndhurst has been speaking better and stronger than ever. Odd as it may be, I never knew the House of Lords better attended, or more alive to business.' Lord Canning to Lord Granville. Calcutta, y«/GE,/une 12, 1859. ' My dear Granville, — I thought I had made an answer to your propositions which you could submit to the Queen. 'I have no difficulty in repeating that, while I feel deeply her Majesty's great personal kindness towards myself, I cannot accept your proposal. What has passed between you and Palmerston, however, appears to me to free the position from some difficulties. ' It is clear that if I were to form a Ministry, I should have the assistance of Lord Palmerston. ' On the other hand, if he is to form a Ministry, I should expect him to propose to me any office I might choose (omitting of course his own), with the option of going to the House of Lords, or remaining in the House of Commons under him. ' That proposition on the grounds of fairness and equality I am prepared to accept. ' I hope I have made myself clear. With Palmerston I could only have to consider who is to have the first and who the second office in the State. With you I could only occupy the third, and should not feel that I had sufficient security either on foreign afiairs or on Reform. ' I am afraid her Majesty must encounter the difficulty of making a choice ; but I do not think either Lord Palmerston or I should be inclined to do otherwise than submit with respect and loyal duty to her Majesty's decision. ' I am glad that you feel I mean no personal unkindness to you. My resolution, however, as to your proposal is final. ' I remain ever yours very truly, ' J. Russell.' The attitude of Lord Granville on the extension of the franchise will be more fully explained in a subsequent chap- ter.* But why did Lord John Russell, who in 1852 had spoken of Lord Granville as one of ' the best Foreign Secre- taries the country ever had,' consider in 1859 that with him ' there would be no sufficient security on foreign affairs ' ? It was because Italian affairs were the pressing question of the hour, and they were regarded from a different point of view by Lord John Russell and by Lord Granville. It has already been seen that, very shortly after the Congress of Paris, Lord Clarendon had written a despatch severely condemning the misgovernment of King Francis of Naples, and couched ' See below, p. 501. VOL. I. Z 338 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xii. in terms which almost amounted to a threat of intervention. Lord John Russell, though not in office at the time, had en- thusiastically approved the despatch. Lord Granville took a different view of it. He objected to taking an attitude towards a small State which would not be taken towards a powerful country, and to risk an intervention which might cause a European war.^ There were two objects at which British policy was aiming : the maintenance of peace, and the better government of Italy. Lord John Russell and Lord Palmerston thought most of the second, Lord Granville thought most of the first of these objects. Lord John Russell, as the sequel will show, was prepared to risk war to secure Italian liberty. Lord Granville was not prepared to do so. There was therefore a real and substantial ground of difference between Lord John Russell and Lord Granville. With Lord John Russell's letter of June 12 the negotia- tions came to an end, as Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell each insisted on retaining the lead of the House of Commons if either of them served under a third person. Neither would, in fact, consent to be the third person in the political trinity, though each was ready to consent to be the second.^ The following letter shows definitely the position taken up by the two ex- Prime Ministers : — Lord Granville to Lord John Russell. 16 Bruton Street, y««^ 12, 1859. ' My dear Lord John, — I am glad that I wrote to you yesterday evening, as your answer gave me information which I had not gathered from your conversation in the morning. I came away from Chesham Place with the impression that union between you and Palmerston, with or without me, was impossible. Your letter afforded a good opportunity for arrangement. As soon as I found ' Grev\\\&, loitrfial of the Reign of Quee7t Victoria, 1852-1860, ii. 219. Lord Granville to Lord Canning, February 9, 1859. '■' ' Writers of authority and repute have thrown on Lord John the responsibility of Lord Granville's failure ; yet it is certain that he had only expressed what Lord Palmerston had assumed.' — W^alpole, History of Twenty-five Years, i. 195. See also the observations in Greville, Journal of the Keign of Queen Victoria^ 1852-1860, ii. 255. 1859] Attempt to Form an Administration 339 by it that I was an obstacle instead of a facility towards the formation of a strong Government, I went to the Queen to ask her to excuse me from the task which she had so unexpectedly and so graciously imposed upon me. In answer to a question, I stated to her Majesty that it was disagreeable to me to advise as to which of you and Palmerston she should send for, but that I was ready to do so if it was her wish. The Queen did not press me. ' It is a great relief to have finished this business. I have asked Palmerston to do whatever will strengthen the Government and assist him the most as regards myself. ' Yours sincerely, G.' The arrangement which Sir George Lewis would have pre- ferred was that Lord Palmerston should as Prime Minister go to the House of Lords, that Lord John Russell should lead the House of Commons, and that Lord Clarendon should be Foreign Secretary.^ Under such a distribution of offices, Lord Granville, who desired a post of greater departmental activity than the Presidency of the Council, would have found a congenial post at the Colonial Office, which Mr. Gladstone had wished him to occupy in 1855, and was occupied by him in 1868 and 1886. He would have had to abandon the lead in the House of Lords for the time, but he actually did so, as will be seen in 1865, in favour of Lord Russell. The arrangement actually made was probably the worst that could have been chosen. It diverted the active mind of Lord John Russell from the direction of home policy, in which it was needed, to the direction of foreign affairs, where it frequently became a source of danger. It drove Lord Clarendon from the Foreign Office and by the sense of grievance thus created strained the relations between him and Lord John Russell ; and by leaving the Premiership and the lead of the House of Commons to Lord Palmerston, it condemned the period on which this narrative is now entering to be one of comparative sterility in domestic reform. In a final and identical letter addressed to Lord Palmers- ton and Lord John Russell, Lord Granville recorded what ' Sir G. Cornewall Lewis to Sir E. Head, August i, 1859 Letters of Sir George Cornewall Lewis, p. 372. z a 340 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xil had passed during his negotiations with them. It ran as follows : — i6 Bruton Street, yi^;>2^ 26, 1859. ' My dear Lords Palmerston and John Russell, — I propose putting down on paper what passed between us while I attempted the construction of a Government, in order that you may both suggest anything which may appear to either of you as necessary or expedient to add or omit in any explanations to Parliament. 'On Saturday the 12th, I informed Lord Palmerston of what had passed between the Queen and myself, and asked him whether he would continue to lead the party in the House of Commons in an Administration formed by me. Lord Palmerston answered that he had thought it likely that the Queen would send either for him or for Lord John Russell, but that it was undoubtedly open to her Majesty to make any other arrangement ; that he had joined in the vote adverse to the late Government for no selfish object, and having been then instrumental in destroying Lord Derby's Adminis- tration, he felt himself bound to co-operate in forming a strong and comprehensive Government. He had no objection to serve under me, and knew no one whom he should prefer. ' I then saw Lord John Russell and told him what had passed between the Queen and me, and between Lord Palmerston and me. Lord John in a very friendly manner stated that he had no objection to serve under me, but that if he was not Prime Minister he could not hope to give full effect to his political views unless he held the same post as he had done under Lord Melbourne, viz. the leader- ship of the House of Commons, and that he doubted whether he should have any confidence in any other occupier of the Foreign Office excepting Lord Palmerston. I saw Lord Palmerston again, and he told me that if he had been sent for by the Queen he should not have thought it right to alter his position by going to the House of Lords ; that if Lord John had been sent for he should not have required Lord John to do so as a condition of his serving under him, and that serving under a third person he could not consent to abandon the position which he then held. I communicated again with Lord John, who informed me that my last conversation with Lord Palmerston freed the position from some difficulties ; that if he had to form a Ministry it was clear that he should have the assistance of Lord Palmerston ; and that, on the other hand, if Lord Palmerston was to form a Ministry he should expect Lord Palmerston to propose to him any office not held by Lord Palmerston which he might choose ; that with Lord Palmerston he would only have to consider who was to have the first and who the second office in the 1859] Attejnpl to Form an Administration 341 State, that with me he should only occupy the third, and should not feel that he had thus sufficient security either on foreign affairs on on Reform.' On the 14th an account of the earlier stages of these events appeared in the Times purporting to contain almost 'the ipsissima verba' of the communications which had passed between the Queen and Lord Granville, The question at once suggested itself as to how was a newspaper able to know what had been said by the Queen. The Queen herself was greatly annoyed. She was believed to have said to Lord Clarendon, ' Whom am I to trust ? These are my very words.* ^ This point was angrily pressed during the next few days by a political generation less accustomed than the present to communications with the press ; and on the i6th the public mind was prepared for an awkward moment, when the House of Lords resumed its sittings, and Lord Derby it was known was to make a parting Ministerial statement. ' Before I sit down [the retiring Premier said] perhaps my noble friend opposite [Earl Granville], who I presume is about to become again the leader of this House, in which he has gained so much esteem and goodwill from both sides of it, will forgive me if I take the opportunity of referring to a circumstance which I think ought not altogether to be passed over in silence. My Lords, if there are any communications which ought to be invested with a character of most strict and inviolate secrecy, they are personal communications between the Sovereign of these realms and her advisers, and if it be possible to draw a distinction between different communications of that kind, none I think ought to be invested with that character in a more peculiar degree than communications between the Sovereign and the person who may be sent for to consult on the formation of a new Administration. Entertaining these opinions, which I am sure are shared by all your Lordships, I confess that it was with great surprise and regret on Monday morning last that I saw in the Times newspaper what purported to be a detailed account of the whole conversation which took place between the noble Lord opposite and her Majesty. Undoubtedly newspapers can draw their own conclusions and give accounts of who have gone into the palace, and whether this or that statesman has been commr.nicated with. But I must say this is the first time I have seen a statement, given ' GxQy'iWQ, Journal of the Reigti of Queen Victoria, 1852-1860,11.257. 342 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch, xii. apparently on authority, of observations made by her Majesty, of replies by the Minister consulted, and statements by her Majesty of the motives by which she was actuated in an attempt to form a new Government. I give to my noble friend opposite the entire credit of being absolutely free from the slightest charge of having sanctioned this publication. I am quite sure that the honourable character of my noble friend, and his sense of the duties which we owe the Sovereign, would have prevented his giving in the slightest degree his sanction to such a violation of official decorum and constitutional practice. But this is not a case of a document being surreptitiously obtained and transferred to a newspaper, nor is this paragraph a fabrication resting on the imagination of the writer, and falsely assuming state- ments of what actually did take place. Only one or two persons could have been present at that conversation — her Majesty, probably the Prince Consort, and my noble friend. It is therefore perfectly obvious that my noble friend's confidence has been grossly abused by some person or other. No doubt there was some one with whom it was his duty to communicate on receiving that communication from her Majesty, but clearly that person was not the editor of a news- paper. I am ready to receive an assurance from my noble friend that he gave no sanction to the publication, and that his confidence has been improperly abused by some one divulging information which ought to be kept strictly secret. I do not intend to take any further step in the matter. I prefer calling my noble friend's attention to it while I still sit on this side of the House, lest it should be thought I took an early opportunity of making a factious attack on the new Administration. I think my noble friend must have been as pain- fully struck with the fact as myself, and will consider he owes thanks to me for having noticed it and asked him to give an explanation.' Lord Granville at once rose and replied. I feel [he said] that it is more proper I should postpone until another opportunity any remarks on public affairs, although I believe I shall do nothing improper if I at once tender our thanks to the noble Earl and those who formed the late Government for the assur- ance that, placed in very different circumstances, the new Govern- ment will receive no unnecessary opposition from them. The question of the noble Lord, however, referred to a matter upon which I trust your Lordships will allow me to give an answer. On the occasion of my last interview with her Majesty — on Sunday last — I asked her Majesty's permission to state to my friends that which had taken place at the previous interview to which I had the honour of being admitted ; and, having obtained that permission, I in the 1859] Attempt to Form an Adm,inistration 343 course of the same evening made a statement generally to several of my friends^some political, some private — as to what has passed upon that occasion, but I never meant in respect to any one circum- stance to give her Majesty's language. I did, however, lay very great stress on the grounds upon which her Majesty sent for me, because I thought they would be calculated to show the constitu- tional motives by which she was actuated in taking that step. I read, I confess, with great regret the article which appeared in the Times on Monday, and to which the noble Earl has referred. It is quite clear that that article was founded on one or more of the state- ments which I had made myself on the previous evening. So far as that portion of it which relates to the conversation which I had the honour of holding with her Majesty is concerned, I may say, putting aside for the moment any appearance of disrespect which the publica- tion in such a manner of that conversation may seem to imply, that what actually took place only serves to show how faithfully the Sovereign of this country adheres to those constitutional maxims the observance of which has been one of the greatest characteristics of her Majesty's reigri. On the other hand, I am perfectly ready to admit to the noble Earl and to the House, that I very deeply regret that I did not use that complete reserve which would have entirely precluded the possibility of publicity being given to a conversation the purport of which could have been properly stated by me only in my place in Parliament and at the proper time. While I have no hesitation in saying that I am not guilty of that breach of confidence from which indeed the noble Earl has been kind enough to exculpate me, yet I at the same time feel that the observance of a greater degree of discretion on my part would have prevented the occurrence of that to which he has adverted.' • On July I the new Ministers appeared in their places, and the statements customary on such occasions were made. ' I received the great and unexpected honour [Lord Granville told the House of Lords] of being commanded by her Majesty to attempt to form an Administration. There is no one in the House more sensible of the insufficiency of my own abilities for that task, but I was determined that, once having undertaken it, no diffidence of mine should prevent me persevering with it, as long as I thought any public utility could arise from my efforts. But as soon as I found a better and a stronger arrangement might be made, I at once requested her Majesty to absolve me from the office. That the resignation of it relieved me from a sense of great personal responsi- ' Times, June 17, 1859. 344 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xii. bility your Lordships will readily believe, and I gave it up with feel- ings of loyal gratitude to my Sovereign and deep respect for those public men with whom I had occasion to communicate. Since that time Lord Palmerston has formed an Administration. I have heard two noble earls describe in this House the labour and anxiety of forming an Administration, and certainly the personal relief which I myself had experienced in giving up the task was increased by closely watching the anxiety which Lord Palmerston experienced during the performance of his task, and especially from not being able to include in his Administration several of those old friends for whose character and abilities he felt such deep respect, and on whose long tried services he set such high value. He has himself assured me, however, that that feeling was much diminished by universally finding that those with whom he had communicated had expressed the most unselfish desire to postpone their own personal' objects to the advantage of the public service.' ^ The House received Lord Granville's statement in a friendly spirit ; but to pour his tale into the sympathetic ear of Lord Canning was a more congenial task than explaining, either in public or in private, why old friends or new aspirants had to be left out of the Ministerial combination. . ' I ought to have written day by day [he confessed] to tell you of the division, the resignation of Derby, the sending for me, my fruitless attempt to form a Government, the enormous weight off my stomach when I failed, the success of Palmerston in doing the same thing, the immense unpopularity of the present Government in the clubs and in Parliament, the fury of Ben and some others, my annoyance at finding myself between Elgin and Newcastle instead of between Lord Lansdowne, Ben, and Clarendon, The Tories expect us to fall out, and if not, to be speedily beaten by them and Bright. I believe, however, that many of the Conservatives will support Palmerston. Gladstone will be hard pressed at Oxford. If he could find a place elsewhere, I should be delighted for him and for us that he should be ejected from the University. Curious, Shaftesbury writing to support him.' ^ In the new Administration Lord Granville once more became Lord President of the Council. The Secretaryship of State for India was held by Sir Charles Wood. ' I believe you like the Spider '—Lord Granville wrote to Lord Canning. » Times, July 2, 1859. * Lord Granville to Lord Canning, 1859. 1859J Attempt to Form an Administration 345 ' I do not think you will mind his pert letters. Clarendon mimics him at the Cabinet, pulling out his pencil, writing a few words or figures on a bit of paper, and throwing it over with a " There, you d d fool ! " sort of look. He showed great cleverness in securing his place. Pam was not anxious to have him, and Johnny deter- mined that he should not be in the Cabinet, but the Spider stuck so close to his corner that there was no brushing him off. G. Lewis and I think he is too much an old Company man, but I am not sure that you do not approve. Clarendon is annoyed at losing the Foreign Office, but very friendly, and much pleased at Charles Villiers' accession to office. The latter has combed a little, grown fat, and a shade pompous on the strength of it. . . . ' Ben is frantic, makes the most praiseworthy attempts to be magnanimous, but /a lui sort par tons les pores} Mars also is angry,'-* and talks of sitting on the cross benches on account of the Puseyite principles of Gladstone and Sidney Herbert. Vernon Smith makes a beautiful Lord Lyveden, and is enchanted with his new dignity, sits close behind us, and cheers, a House of Commons habit which will soon wear out. Ben Hall accepted the peerage, but declined parting with his grievance.^ Elgin is discontented with the Post Office, very amiable in the House of Lords, but huffy at not being asked to take more part, and always afraid of taking anything which is not to be the means of a splash. I doubt his ever being of much use in Parliament. He is as yet very silent in the Cabinet, but I say this unberufen. Argyll has regularly taken the Indian Depart- ment in the Lords, which he does well, but is apt to start too many theories, not required for the occasion. * Last year I fell off in my speaking, this year I think I improved a little. I wish I had a more working place, but the leadership is pleasant enough. Sidney Herbert and Somerset are good in their places. . . . Sidney Herbert's is, as you say, a really good appoint- ment.'* . . . Newcastle is keen against Lord John (whom I forgot to tell you the Queen has lodged at Abergeldy for safe keeping).^ Somer- set appears to do his work well.^ Graham went out of town at the formation of the Government, commissioning Sidney Herbert to say that he would not take office. He is very friendly. Lord Aberdeen does not like our foreign policy, and he is grown more grumpy than formerly. I have for some time thought that those of us who ' Lord Stanley of Alderley had not been included in the Ministerial arrange- ments. * Lord Panmure. ' Sir Benjamin Hall had also been left out. He was created Lord Llanover. * Mr. Sidney Herbert was Secretary of State for War. * The Duke of Newcastle was Secretary of State for the Colonies. * The Duke of Somerset was First Lord of the Admiralty. 346 Life of the Second Earl Granville behaved very well to him have had some reason to complain of him. Grey is furious ; he argued with Argyll. Argyll rejoined, " But there must be a Government." " Yes, that's the devil of it." Poor Cranworth was much annoyed, but behaves like an angel. Jock Campbell is first-rate in court, and useful in the Cabinet ; enchanted, but as meek as possible. His extraordinary strength cannot last long.^ He is in his eightieth year. When he goes it will be a great loss, particularly as I am afraid it will be impossible to prevent that clever but coxcombical Bethell from succeeding him.' ^ The offer which he had received of the post of Prime Minister made Lord Granville the most influential member of the Cabinet in regard to foreign affairs next to ' the two old ringleaders ' themselves, for it was by this term that Lord Clarendon described the two chiefs under both of whom he had himself formerly served. From the safe security of his pleasant home in Hertfordshire Lord Clarendon watched their performances with undiminished interest, biding his own time, and meanwhile uttering his own suave mart magno. Lord Palmerston and Lord Russell were now about to enter upon the troubled field of Italian affairs, where the Emperor of the French, having won a great victory at Magenta and driven the Austrian army out of Milan, ' was beginning to learn the unpleasant lesson that no war that is successful and does not drag on too much can remain unpopular in France ; and all the inferences to be drawn thence.'^ With Lord Russell and Lord Palmerston at length united over the Italian question there went Mr. Gladstone, who had accepted the Exchequer. ' He, Johnny, and Pam,' Lord Granville told Lord Canning, ' are a formidable phalanx when they are united in opposition to the whole Cabinet in foreign matters,' * and, as will be seen in the next chapter, they frequently were so, and to the Queen as well. Lady William Russell had confided to Lord Granville that she was glad that the two great masters Gian Bellini and Palma Vecchio had ' agreed to paint together ; ' but ' the results she expected to be some bold designs and fine chiaro oscuro.' ' Lord Cranworth had been Chancellor in Lord Palmerston's Administration, but was now passed over in favour of Lord Campbell, who was eighty years of age. "^ Lord Granville to Lord Canning, June 27, August 10, 23, 1859. ^ Lord Granville to Lord Canning, November 21, 1859. ^ Lord Granville to Lord Canning, August 23, 1859. CHAPTER XIII ITALY I 859-1 860 The crisis in the Italian War had come almost simultaneously with the change of Government in England. The battle of Solferino was fought on June 24, Victory lay with the French and Sardinian armies, but at the cost of enormous losses. The previous efforts of the campaign had already severely taxed the resources of the allied armies. The Quadrilateral still remained intact ; and the menacing spectre of a Prussian intervention was in the background, threatening to become distinct if Austria were pressed too hard. The popularity of war in France, as Lord Granville had pointed out to Lord Canning, might lead to any diplomatic excess as long as that popularity continued ; but the Emperor Napoleon knew that it might at any moment collapse, and he determined that the time to negotiate had now arrived. He began by endeavouring to induce Great Britain to suggest terms of peace through Count Apponyi, the Austrian Ambassador in London, who was to convey them to Vienna stamped, it was hoped, with the seal of British approval. ' My dear Rodolphe [Lord Granville wrote to the Austrian Ambassador very soon after the formation of the Ministry], I write to you not as a minister, but as an old and intimate friend. It is of importance to Austria and to this country to be on good terms. There are questions respecting Italy on which the opinions of the two countries may disagree. This is no reason why there should not be a good and friendly understanding. I do not know if Lord Augustus Loftus has much influence at Vienna. Lord John has constant communication with the French Embassy : I suspect that 348 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xm. Brunnow sees a good deal of him — I am afraid you do not. Lord John is shy and reserved, and will never communicate with anyone, English or foreign, who does not in some degree force himself upon him. I think you ought to do so. You will understand my feeling in writing this note, and the confidence I feel in your considering it strictly private. I should not have written it to anyone I knew less well. . . . The influence you will exercise [he added in some words which were eventually struck out of the letter] will depend on your- self. Lord John is a very clever man, but is easily swayed by those whom he constantly sees.' ' Meanwhile the French Ambassador in London, Count Persigny, who had a policy of his own favourable to Italian ambitions but not precisely on all fours with that of M. Walewski, was engaged, as Lord Granville had anticipated, in attempting to induce the British Government to give active moral support to what he described to be the French conditions of peace. These, he stated, were the cession of Lombardy and Venetia by Austria, and the incorporation of the former with the Duchies of Parma and Modena and the Emilia with the Kingdom of Sardinia. Lord Palmerston, Lord John Russell, and Mr. Gladstone were disposed to agree. Lord Granville and the rest of the Cabinet were averse to committing themselves. In this view the Queen concurred, and the proposals were merely transmitted to Vienna without any expression of opinion. But while hurried messages were passing between the European Chancelleries, and the British Cabinet — though but a few weeks old — was engaged in discussions which already threatened a crisis, an armi- stice had already been signed, owing to one of the abrupt determinations characteristic of the wayward and uncertain temperament of the French Emperor. An interview wath the Austrian Emperor followed and Preliminaries of peace were signed at Villafranca. But it was quickly seen that they did not settle the Italian question, though for the moment they stopped hostilities ; nor were they consistent with Count Persigny's terms, although it would appear that the Emperor Francis Joseph had been somehow led to ' Lord Granville to Count Apponyi, July 1859. i8s9-i86o] Italy 349 believe that not only Great Britain, but also Prussia and Russia, would lend them their moral support.' The Preliminaries were found to include the formation of an Italian Confederation of which the Pope was to be the head. The rulers of the little duchies of Central Italy were to be reinstated — all except Parma, which somehow had been forgotten ; at least, it was not mentioned. The cession of Lombardy by Austria and its incorporation with Sardinia were to be the only tangible results of the labours of Cavour and the victories of the French armies. Venetia, it was suggested, might enter the proposed Confederation while remaining Austrian, and therefore have the privilege of becoming a sort of Italian Schleswig-Holstein. Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell saw their opportunity, and were not slow to seize it. Unfortunately at this moment the old suspicions were revived that Lord Palmerston was keeping back material information from the Queen, though Lord John Russell as Minister for Foreign Affairs — such is the irony of events — was now the technical offender. The immediate bone of contention was a despatch addressed to the Prussian Government, which, couched in vague language, seemed to point to intervention by Great Britain. The Prince Consort to Lord Granville. Osborne, y^^/K 12, 1859. ' My dear Lord Granville, — The gravity of the moment will explain to you the anxiety of the Queen about the deliberations of the Cabinet, and the value to her not to be left entirely ignorant as to their feelings. Has the Queen's letter to Lord John, in answer to his proposal to lend " the moral support of England to the Emperor Napoleon at Verona," been read to the Cabinet ? Lord John pro- mised it should be, but we do not know whether it was. The decision of the Cabinet could not but be highly gratifying to the Queen ; but the further opinion of the Cabinet announced to the Queen by Lord John, " that it would be quite consistent with neutrality to employ the influence of the British Government to prevent the further effusion of blood, and to promote a peace which would be for the interests of all the belligerents," is so vague that it ' Martin, Life of the Prince Consort, iv. 460. 350 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xiii. may cover almost anything. Who is to be the judge of those interests — Persigny, Azeglio, Palmerston, and John Russell ? Is Austria to be admitted as the exponent of her own interests? Is Prussia to be allowed to state those of Germany, without being told that her notions about the Mincio line are mere exaggerations of military prejudices ? The Queen is just writing again to Lord John to draw his attention to these points. The draft to Berlin went on the 7th. The Queen asked for a copy, never having seen it again since it came under review at the Cabinet. It is left as it was, with merely here and there an alteration of the expressions to soften them, and one or two unimportant passages left out ! As the Queen had said, she would not object to the draft, as a mere expression of the opinion of the present Government, if unanimously approved of by the Cabinet. Lord John says now, that he thought himself justified to send it off after the Cabinet had seen it. To this the Queen has of course no answer ; but the responsibility of the Cabinet becomes all the greater to exercise an efficacious control. ' Ever yours truly, * Albert.' Lord Granville to the Prince Consort. London, y«^/(/ 13, 1859. 'Sir, — I feel deeply grateful for the confidence the Queen and your Royal Highness show me. It, however, places me in this dilemma. Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell are the ministers to whom it is natural that the Queen should look for information respecting discussions in the Cabinet respecting foreign affairs. They would resent such information being afforded through any other channel. They would consider it as a want of confidence on the part of her Majesty, and an improper interference on the part of a colleague. 'On the other hand, the importance of the crisis, the peculiar views and position of Lords Palmerston and John Russell, the extremely difficult duty now imposed upon her Majesty of watching the foreign policy of her Ministry, on which the most important results to England and to Europe may depend, make me more than usually anxious to obey her Majesty's commands, but it is desirable that no one should know that I make any written communications to your Royal Highness on this subject. ' Some of the questions put by your Royal Highness are a little out of date in consequence of the extraordinary news received yesterday. ' Lord John Russell read to the Cabinet the Queen's letter in 1859-1860] Italy 351 answer to the proposal sent from Richmond on Sunday, and it produced a great and useful effect. Lord John himself modified his proposal in consequence either of her Majesty's letter, or of the information received from Count Apponyi that the proposals trans- mitted to Count Rechberg by the English Government were totally unacceptable.' ' Three or four of the Cabinet held with Lord John that neutrality need not necessarily be accompanied by impartiality ; and that while we remain materially neutral, we may give our best wishes and the expression of those good wishes in favour of either party. The rest of the Cabinet are strongly of opinion, as far as I can gather (many of them being silent), that we ought to abstain from any demonstra- tion on one side or the other, and that we ought to bide our time till we can really be of use ; but that when we are invited, or feel com- pelled by circumstances to come forward, we are then at liberty to propose what may appear to be the best settlement of affairs which could possibly be agreed to, without considering whether such settle- ment is more favourable or not to one party. ' Lord John made a proposal to the Cabinet that he should write to the Austrian and French Governments to urge peace, to propose that the Emperors should settle the basis of peace, and that if they failed to agree, England would with or without Prussia and Russia propose terms to both belligerents. This was rejected by the Cabinet, and it is the third proposal of Lord John's in about as many Cabinets which has been so dealt with by his colleagues. It is difficult with- out a quarrel to insure that these decisions of the Cabinet are faith- fully carried out. This does not arise from any wish of Lord John's to frustrate either the Queen's or the Cabinet's wishes. Lord Palmerston is generally very communicative to the Cabinet, and it is only on some point on which he lays great stress, and is determined to carry, that he acts without them. Lord John does so from a loose way of doing business, and from a dislike of submitting himself to any criticism. The Prussian despatch was sent in a form which was certainly not in accordance with the wishes of the Cabinet. ' Peace has now been concluded, a peace which falsifies the Emperor's promises, destroys the treaties of 1815, and makes no better or more stable arrangement of the affairs of Italy. Lord Palmerston is deeply mortified and annoyed, and his confidence in the Emperor is shaken.^ I have hardly seen Lord John, and no Cabinet has been held, as we expected, to-day. It appears to me to ' Martin, Life of the Prince Consort, iv. 456. The despatch to Berlin is here allurlfH to. * Ashley, Life of Palmerston, ii. 368 ; Martin, Life of the Prince Consort, iv. 462. 352 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xiii. be lucky that England has been left out of this arrangement. I hope we shall not be forced into playing the part which Prussia did in the Congress of Paris. I trust that we shall not propose plans which it is impossible for us to enforce, and that we shall accept the facts as they are presented to us, at the same time not accepting responsibility which does not attach to us. ' It is very desirable as regards Lords Palmerston and John Russell that the Queen should show as much kindness as possible to the latter, and appear to communicate frankly with the former. * G.' Two days after the signature of the Preliminaries the Prime Minister wrote privately to Count Persigny, who was a ready listener, pointing out that a treaty based on them would be doomed to failure.' The same view was urged with unanswerable force by Lord John Russell in official despatches addressed to the British representatives abroad.^ Nor did it take long to convince the Emperor of the French that a large portion of the Preliminaries could not be carried out. The inhabitants of the Duchies showed the most extreme unwillingness to receive back their exiled sovereigns. The revolutionary movement was in possession of Tuscany, the Emilia, the Romagna, and the Marches ; and rather than be a consenting party to the Preliminaries, Count Cavour had indignantly resigned. Beset by these difficulties, the Emperor hoped to find a way out of his troubles in the Conference which was to assemble at Zurich in order to confirm the Preliminaries by a formal treaty. He hoped to get the support of Great Britain to new proposals, and to induce all the Great Powers to enter the Conference, which in that case would have assumed the character of a European Congress.^ According to the Emperor's ideas, these new proposals could advantageously come from Great Britain, but he considered himself debarred from making them by the pledges which he had given to the Emperor of Austria at Villafranca. The Cabinet, however, after much discussion declined to entertain these ideas, yet no clear agreement ' Ashley, Life of Palmerston, v. 161-165. " Walpole, Life of Lord fohn Russell, ii. 310, 321, 322 ; Hansard, civ 543> 546. * Martin, Lije of the Prince Consort, iv. 463, 474. i8s9-i86o] Italy 353 was come to whether the refusal was intended to be tanta- mount to declining to give advice even on the general situa- tion till after peace had been concluded, and what degree of responsibility was to be taken if advice were offered and then refused by either France or Austria. Serious dissensions consequently broke out when Parliament was about to rise, as the Foreign Secretary had written a despatch which proposed to ask for information as to the intentions of the Emperor of the French before his invitation to a Conference could be entertained. The Queen objected to this inquiry as being a veiled form of intervention ; ^ and the despatch, which was dated July 25, was suspended after much recrimination till after the Conference of Zurich. Parliament was prorogued on August 1 3. But in the last days of that month, after several communications between Lord Palmerston and the French Ambassador, who was trying to force the hand of the Emperor and M. Walewski, just as Lord Palmerston was trying to force the hand of the Cabinet, the ' two old gentlemen,' as Mr. Sidney Herbert termed the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary, again ' concocted a despatch ' saying that the Duchies ought to be annexed to Piedmont, and the Duke of Parma com- pensated with the Legations.^ This proposal, Mr. Sidney Herbert told Lord Granville, reminded him too much of the proposals which were being simultaneously put about — it was believed with the knowledge of the French Emperor — to recast the map of Europe. The Queen considered that this proposal also was contrary to the pledge which she understood had been given that no separate proposal should be made till after the Conference at Zurich. If the Con- ference ended in nothing, if the ddcheancc of the Archdukes were accepted as a necessity, and if a proposal were then made by France for the rearrangement of the map of Italy, then ' if France were honest in her professions ' Great Britain might agree to discuss them.^ Beyond this the Queen would not go. ' Martin, Life of the Prince Consort, iv. 474, 482-484. - Mr. Sidney Herbert to Lord Granville, August 25, 1859. ' General Grey to Lord Granville, September 7, 1859. VOL. L A A 354 Zz/l' of the Second Earl Grmiville [ch. xiii. The Prince Consort reported his anxieties to Lord Granville in the following letters. The Prince Consort to Lord Granville. Osborne, August 25, 1859. * My dear Lord Granville, — You will be sorry to hear that we have had disputes about drafts daily for the last two weeks. On the Queen's refusing to sanction, they were withdrawn, but others worse in tendency submitted. It has arrived at that point that Lord John himself asks for what the Queen has all along stood out, vi^. the necessity of a meeting of the Cabinet. One of the drafts offers to France a repartition of Northern Italy, giving all the Duchies to Sardinia, and making Duke Robert (late of Parma) "hereditary Viceroy of all the Pope's Dominions " minus the city of Rome, and making Austria remit a sufficient amount of the Lombardy debt to enable the King to build the fortresses necessary to keep Verona and Mantua in check ! The despatch of July 25, which was not to be communicated till after the peace was signed at Zurich, is now to be given to the French Government ! ' Ever yours truly, A.' Thus it happened that the Cabinet had not been in office two months before a serious crisis was in sight. ' Pam has been to the War Office [Mr. Sidney Herbert told Lord Granville] with rather a long face on the Queen objecting to all Johnny's despatches. The Queen further forbade giving any advice or opinion at Paris on the Italian question as intervefition. Pam, who in this is entirely with Lord John, wrote to remonstrate, and to point out that she permitted the other Government to intervene up and down. He seemed a good deal annoyed, and said he doubted whether he ought to call a Cabinet or not. As he goes to Osborne to-day, I recommended waiting till the result of the personal interview was ascertained ; and that he should not put what he calls the " constitutional " argument to the Queen, which, after all, is a threat and means : " You must yield, or I resign." I expressed a wish that he would not lacker le gros mot ; or he would in the long run, to say nothing of the short one, get the worst of it. In the present evenly balanced state of parties and strong anti-French feeling, the Court could ride its race its own way. I shall be a little anxious to hear how the Osborne visit goes off, and I am a little nervous as to Pam's way of describing our relative positions. " If we differ your opinion must yield to mine," is not an agreeable statement to hear, nor a prudent one to make to a person who has i859-i86o] Italy 355 a good deal of indirect power, and the spirit to use it if poiissee a bout: 1 Mr. Sidney Herbert was of opinion that in this controversy the Queen was fighting the battle of the Cabinet as well as her own, as their decision had been, in his opinion at least, that while diplomatically resisting the intervention of the Powers in Italy, this country was not, at least at this stage of affairs, to intervene actively by entering the Conference, or by putting forward any positive proposal ; but he thought the Queen too unyielding in her objection to even a request for information as to French intentions before consenting to enter a Conference, as a form of intervention.^ The Foreign Secretary now suddenly proposed that Lord Granville should go to Paris in order to watch events, probably suspecting that Lord Cowley was not altogether as devoted to the cause of a united Italy as he thought to be desirable in the British Ambassador at such a moment. Lord Granville to Lord Canning. August 23, 1859. ' My dear Canning, — I am for the first time in the disgraceful Ijut proud position of owing you two letters. The questions in your letter of July 1 1 prick my conscience, as I ought to have anticipated them all. However late, I will answer some of them now. Tiie Cabinet goes on harmoniously. Johnny and Pam like twins, too much united on foreign affairs, for with Gladstone as their ally they are inclined to meddle too much in Italian affairs. The rest of the Cabinet, however, saved them from several great mistakes, particu- larly rushing blindfold into a Conference. Johnny is impatient of criticism, but is pleased and absorbed by the duties of his office. His misfortune is that he is always dying to connect his name with something. I was much alarmed last Wednesday. Sidney Herbert told me that Palmerston had told him approvingly the night before that Johnny wished me to go and stay at Paris, in order to see how things were going on, and to take advantage of any movement. I should not like any mission which was not clear and defined, and understood both at home and abroad. In this case I could do no good, and could have no success. I do not believe the Emperor & ' Mr. Sidney Ilerberl to Lord Granville, August 25, 1859. - Mr. Sidney Herbert to Lord Granville, August 2S>, 1S59. A A 2 356 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xiii. would have any confidence in me, and I am sure that all Cowley's fat, or rather lean, would very justly be in the fire. As we had a Cabinet in the afternoon, I expected to hear something of it from Johnny, but he said nothing, and I slipped away that evening into Yorkshire. I do not like refusing that which persons competent to judge think good for the public service, but no one is bound to place himself in a false position. ' Yours, G.' Meanwhile the Prime Minister had been to Osborne. Lord Granville to the Duke of Argyll, A7igust z\, 1859. ' My dear Argyll, — You missed a Cabinet which was amusing and might have been of deep interest. As it is possible that no one has written to you, I will try to give you the pith of it. I got a letter from Sidney Herbert on Wednesday, describing a visit from Pam much perturbed by the Queen objecting to all John Russell's drafts, and by her considering all advice as intervention, and determined to press the constitutional argument on his visit that evening to Osborne. Sidney Herbert gave him good advice, but evidently thought the Queen unreasonable. I heard nothing more till the receipt of the telegram summoning me to a Cabinet on Monday. I went imme- diately to town, and saw Pam. He told me that there had been breezy weather at Osborne, that the Queen considered all advice as intervention, and had objected to the communication of the despatch of July 25 (asking for information before we went into Conference), although he and Lord John thought the proper moment had arrived for communicating it. He read me a well-written memorandum of his own to the Queen on the abstract question of giving advice. He had been to Osborne, had been met by the Spider, who told him that the Queen was much agitated, and did not feel equal to discuss the matter with him. He had had a long conversation with the Prince, and he gave me his Royal Highness's arguments briefly, and his own at considerable length. The Queen wished for a Cabinet where this matter might be settled, and where our Italian policy might be settled previous to the recess. Lord John also wished it. I said what 1 thought judicious to heal the breach between him and the Queen. He said that they had never been on better terms. I gave him my opinion of our Italian policy, in which he concurred. ' I then saw Herbert, who told me that since he had seen Wood, to whom all the papers had been shown, the whole aspect of things was different. It was clear that the Queen, instead of opposing her Cabinet, had come to their rescue — that Lord John had submitted to her a draft of a despatch to Cowley, parcelling out Italy, giving the 1 859-1860] Italy 357 Duchies to Piedmont, releasing Piedmont from a sufficient portion of her debt to enable her to build fortresses against Austria, and allotting the Papal States excepting the city of Rome to Robert Duke of Parma ; that the Queen had objected, but that Johnny kept reproducing his draft with different words, and had also proposed to communicate the despatch of July 25, although that despatch finished by a sentence written in Lord John's hand, saying that it was not to be communicated till after the Peace of Zurich, which sentence was described, in a private letter of Lord John's of the same date, as an addition of the Cabinet which he entirely approved. Sidney Herbert told me that Lord John was in a state of great irritation, that he said we might as well live under a despotism, and that he threatened resignation. ' Gladstone told me that he had heard the whole story from Pam, and that he thought the Queen had been somewhat unreasonable. ' We met on Monday — Johnny very nervous. He made a confused statement. He read the Queen's minutes fast and low — would not (contrary to her request) produce his own drafts. Sidney Herbert, Newcastle, Wood, and I, who knew what was in them, questioned him closely about them, and he, I am sorry to say, equivocated immensely. He then read us a new draft, which he said blended all the other drafts and the despatch of July 25. It began by a virulent attack upon Austria, abuse of the Confederation in a manner offensive to France, and an insistence on the Duchies being joined to Piedmont, ending with a tremendous tirade : '' It has been said that it is not for England to give advice," then proving that she ought to give advice ; " who will now venture to assert that England " &c. Pam spoke for Johnny, and bitterly as regarded the Court. The rest of the Cabinet condemned the new draft, assented to the assertion that the Queen had not acted unconstitutionally, and had only declined to sanction without their concurrence that which she considered they had pre- viously decided. It was, however, agreed that with respect to the despatch of July 25 the Queen had mistaken the intention of the Cabinet, who only wished to prevent us giving an affirmative answer to going into Conference until after the Peace of Zurich, and that the despatch might now be given. ' Gladstone backed up the majority of the Cabinet after he knew the facts, and told us that he was much surprised at the want of memory shown by Pam in his statement to him, and that he thought the Queen had been wantonly put to much unnecessary annoyance. 'It has ended very well. Johnny has had a lesson that the Cabinet will support the Queen in preventing him and Pam acting 1 58 Life of the Seco7id Earl Granville [ch. xiii. on important occasions without the advice of their colleagues. A schism very dangerous to the Court and to the Government has been postponed. ' I forgot to say that Pam asked for fuller powers to act during the recess, which was met by a general assurance of readiness to come up by night trains. Johnny is gone to Abergeldie — G. Grey to Balmoral : the latter is sure to do all he can to soothe both parties. ' Yours, G.' At the end of the session Lord Granville went to Alden- ham. Thence he wrote to Lord Canning. Lord Granville to Lord Canning. Aldenham, Septe7nber a^, 1859. ' My dear Canning, — I came down here immediately after writ- ing my last letter to you, and have consequently nothing to tell you. Johnny Acton, who is extremely agreeable, left us two or three days ago to go to Germany, with the intention of coming back to study in the middle of October. His library is becoming immense. He has remodelled the old library. He has entirely filled the hall ; he has furnished his own room with l)ooks, and he has bagged a bedroom for the same purpose. I can hardly open a book without finding notes or marks of his. His new position as M.P. has done him much good. It has taken away from him the suspicion that people undervalued him, and he appears to appreciate some of the fine ladies being coquettish with him. Lowe (the fat keeper) gave me a day's shooting on his own preserve, I know no one more agreeable. I asked him whether Acton did not manage to kill the deer. " Well, my lord, I don't think he ever takes aim : " adding with much feeling, «' I am sorry to say." ' Yours, ' Granville.' If Lord Granville was delighted with Aldenham, he was able to tell Lord Canning that the Foreign Secretary was delighted with Abergeldie. He himself expected to be at Balmoral in the second week of September. Lord John Russell had not abandoned his plans of intervention in Italy, and there was soon to be stormy weather again in con- sequence. The Queen was definitely declining to discuss the question of intervention any further, and Sir Charles Wood, who had gone to Osborne as Minister in attendance just before the Queen left, had returned with a message for 1 859-1860] Italy 359 Lord Palmerston that she would not allow the subject to be broached again. But meanwhile M, Walewski was pointing out to Lord Cowley that if Great Britain refused to enter the Conference in order to help France to clear up the European situation, and contented herself with suggesting terms incon- sistent with the Preliminaries, as Lord Palmerston had done in a letter to Count Persigny, yet declining to take any respon- sibility for them as Minister, the responsibility for the renewal of war would rest with Great Britain, in the event of a refusal on the part of Austria to consent to any alteration in the Preliminaries. France might in that case either retire from the struggle, in which case ' Sardinia ' would probably be beaten, or might be a party to the annexation of the Duchies by ' Sardinia ' and other territorial changes, subject to com- pensations to be obtained elsewhere in her own interest. There was indeed, he suggested, one other alternative : that Great Britain should join France and Sardinia in the event of a renewal of hostilities, and compel Austria to accept terms. This suggestion fell upon friendly ears.^ Lord Clarendon wrote to Lord Granville that a closer acquaintance with the Italian imbroglio — not to mention other subjects — had, he fancied, ' considerably abated the ve7ii^ vidi, vici sort of feeling with which Johnny had taken possession of that bed of roses, the Foreign Office ; ' and although the position of England was thought, as he himself considered, most erroneously ' by the son of Venus ' — for so he termed the Prime Minister — to be ' imposing,' that he doubted nevertheless if it were wise ' to assume the title of the conqueror of Talleyrand and Metternich.' ^ But however just Lord Clarendon's opinion might be as to the propriety under the circumstances of remorseful feelings on the part of the two veterans, no doubts or scruples troubled their hearts, and they treated with unconcern the constant appre- hensions of their colleagues as well as of the Queen and the Prince Consort, that a widening of the area of disturbance in Italy and a further alteration of boundaries might bring ' Martin, Life of the Prince Consort, iv. 487-490. - Lord Clarendon to Lord Granville, September 27 October 6, 1859, 360 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xm. Germany into the field, and thereby justify the attack on the Rhine frontier which the Oueen believed was the ulti- mate object of the French Emperor. This danger Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell either considered ex- aggerated, or were prepared to face. The French army, they believed, was in no condition to face a German war, and they desired to secure for ever the good-will of the people of Italy. Already in proportion as the secrets of diplomacy leaked out, Great Britain was rapidly substituting herself for France in the affections of the inhabitants of the Italian Peninsula. Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell were now more than ever hand and glove together. ' Nothing [Lord Granville wrote] can be more intimate than the alliance between Palmerston and John Russell on foreign affairs ; generally backed by Gladstone, and opposed by all the rest of the Cabinet.' ' It is a good illustration of the value of human pro- phecy, that whereas we all feared danger from the disunion of the two great statesmen, our chief difficulty now is their intimate alliance. ... I hope it will all go on well on Deeside.' ' The Oueen had now reached Balmoral. The Foreign Secretary was close by at Abergeldie. Thence, supported by Lord Palmerston from Broadlands, he carried on a sharp paper warfare with the Oueen and his colleagues. The Prince Consort told Lord Clarendon that the Royal sejour in the North had been embittered by this ' most painful paper war- fare with the two men.' The Foreign Office despatches, in the opinion of Lord Clarendon, ' contained nothing but the revolutionary doctrines of Ivan Ivanovitch ' — his favourite nickname (one of many) for the Foreign Secretary — and they scandalised the staid diplomatists of the Continent, unpre- pared as they were for the sudden revival of methods by which Lord Carteret was said to have recommended Henry Fox in the previous century ' to knock the heads of the Kings of Europe together, and jumble something out of it which might be of service to this country.' - ' Lord Granville to Lord Canning, December 16, 1859. ^ Lord Clarendon to Lord Granville, November 23, December 2, 1859. Lecky, History of England, i. 378 1859-1860] Italy 361 ' Matters do not mend [General Grey wrote to Lord Granville in September]. The feeling of annoyance and dissatisfaction here is great, and it is very difficult to lessen it. The Prince went yesterday to Abergeldie and had a long conversation with Lord John, following up a letter written to him by the Queen, which I have not seen. I think it very important that, whatever passes between the Queen and Palmerston and the minister resident here, the opinion of the Queen should be conveyed directly to Lord John, and that he should have no ground for suspecting that other advice was given or taken with- out reference to him. The Prince tells me that he readily agreed to write in the sense the Queen wished, which I think I mentioned to you in my last letter. He and Lady John dined here yesterday, and the Queen was very gracious and in good spirits. But this morning the Prince came to me, and said things were worse than ever ; not with Lord John, but with Palmerston. He brought me a letter from Palmerston to Lord John — which Lord John had sent to the Queen — giving a full account of a conversation between himself and Persigny, in opposition to all he had heard of Walewski's opinion. After referring to our "protest," and asserting, as he had done before, that the Emperor stipulated verbally at Villafranca that force should not be used, he stated that " so far we were agreed. What then was to be done ? " Persigny's scheme was a close union between France and England to compel Austria to yield to the annexation to Sardinia, and it went beyond anything ; as it proposed to suggest not the secularisation of the Papal Government, but the depriving the Pope of all temporal government ; ' giving part of his dominions to Sardinia, part to Naples, placing Rome itself on the foothig of Frank- furt : the two Powers Sardinia and Naples securing an income to the Pope who is to be reduced to the exercise of purely spiritual authority. Well, Palmerston, of course, had no objection to make, and after premising that the conversation was only between two friends, expressed his entire concurrence, and undertook to report the conversation to Lord John ; and to him he says, " What shall I say to Persigny ? " ' 2 Lord Granville was about to proceed to Balmoral in September. The Queen knew the great influence which he possessed with the Foreign Minister; and as Minister in ' A curious chapter of history might be written on the proposals made at various limes by the ministers of Roman CathoUc States to secularise or entirely disestablish the temporal Government of the Pope. As to Thugut's plans see Life of Lord I\[ii!to, iii. 97. * General Grey to Lord Granville, September 6, 1859. 362 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xm. attendance he was likely to be able to play the part of mediator with effect between Balmoral and Abergeldie. But a deep private anxiety came at this time to prevent the journe}'. Lord Granville to Lord Canning. 16 Bruton Street, London, VV., September 10, 1859. ' My dear Canning, — I am here instead of Balmoral, in con- sequence of poor Marie being far from well. I cannot help being anxious. She shows angelic patience and gentleness. ' Charles Wood and I dined together last night. He is going to have a fight with the Council, in which he is right, but will have some trouble. He is going to put the office on a more regular footing, and give more initiative to the Secretary of State. He will have the support of the Staff. He proposes to have a Committee of Cabinet on the organisation of the Indian army. He puffs you immensely, and says that the work you do is done in first-rate style. He suspects that you are so determined to do all the work yourself, that you are sometimes obliged to postpone things. I think this is possible. ' Yours, G.' Lady Granville was able to go to Germany, but her illness took a rapid turn for the worse. In October, Lord Granville was at Herrnsheim. Thence in November he succeeded in bringing Lady Granville back to England after an arduous and painful journey. At one moment it seemed that Lady Granville's case was desperate. Lord Granville to Lord Canning. Herrnsheim, October 26, 1859. ' My dear true Friend, — I wish myself to be the writer of that which will deeply afflict you both. I have no hope of your ever seeing my poor darling Marie again. She liked you both so much, and always encouraged my attachment to you, as she did everything which she thought for my good. ' She received the last sacraments on the day before yesterday with a serenity which was sublime. Her countenance so beautiful, noble, and pure, that she seemed of another world. She said six weeks ago on our way to Carlsbad, that her life had been too happy to give it up without a pang, but she now only cares for those who she thinks will feel her loss. ' She was much too good for me to keep. My life has been too 1 859-1860] Italy 36 happy and too easy with her, to dream of such agony. You will pity your poor friend, and so will your dear wife. ' Since the last religious ceremony she became so much better that the doctor authorised moderate hopes, but last night was agitated although followed by a good morning ; but I know it is all in vain. ' Your affectionate G.' Herrnsheim, November 3, 1859, ' My dear Canning, — One line to tell you that all our grief has been turned into intense joy. How you will both rejoice. Poor darling Marie, after having received extreme unction, and had the prayers for the dying twice read over her, bearing her trial with a firmness and a gentleness which it is impossible to imagine, made a rally, and now, with the reservation of certain contingencies, the doctor thinks her out of danger. ' I have received a charming letter from you, which I will answer, but am not sure whether a day's delay from here would not make this letter lose the post. ' Yours affectionately, G.' Lord Granville to the Duke of Argyll. Herrnsheim, Nove7nher 15, 1859. ' My dear Argyll, — A thousand thanks for your interesting budget of news. ' Although Lady Granville is wonderfully well considering what she has gone through, yet there are too many ups and downs not to feel much anxiety. We had some hopes of starting to-day, but the doctor, Hochberger, did not think it prudent at the last moment. He has been remarkably skilful, patient, and attentive. ' I wrote to Palmerston, suggesting that it would be better for me to resign under the present circumstances, but he wrote a very kind letter (in an altered handwriting, by the bye) in which he would not hear of it. Although very sorry to separate myself even temporarily from all of you, I should like to do it, but the doctor and all the family are convinced that it would have a bad effect upon her. ' I am glad that you are swimming more or less through your difficulties. There is a great uneasiness amongst moderate French- men at the probability of the bad feeling between England and France leading to war. ' The Emperor's difficulties about Italy, and the growing discontent of the clergy, upon whom he has leant so much, may drive him to a desperate move. Our line should be firmness, but giving no reason- able occasion of offence, and we ought to conciliate a little more the feeling of the rest of Europe. Their reason is against France, but 364 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xm. their feelings violent against us, which Hammond once told me was always the wholesome sign. ' Yours, G.' Lord Canning to Lord Granville. Agra, December 6, 1859. ' My dear Granville, — I hardly dare to write. The last accounts are so bad that I do it in fear that the terrible blow must have fallen long before this can reach you. Yet I cannot bear to be silent. I never so thoroughly hated my absence from England. The thought of your wretchedness makes me so wish to feel near to you. I pray with all my heart that you may be spared it ; but Sydney's letters, and one from Lady Shelburne a day earlier, are so alarming that I dread the worst, and the latest account is the least good. 'Your own three letters reached me together at Cawnpore a month ago. The last had made me almost easy, till this mail came in. God bless her — my own dearest friend. You have at least the comfort to know that there are few indeed who so deserve it. ' I wish that your oldest friend did not feel so helpless and useless to you. ' C Lord Granville to Lord Canning. Bruton Street, Dece77iher 17, 1859. ' My dear Canning, — I am really not fit to be your correspondent, and the news I may give you of my poor Marie is not trustworthy, as I cannot help being too much up and too much down, according as she is a little better or a little worse, and this varies so much from day to day, and from hour to hour, that it is impossible to imagine that she is the same person. The notion of possibly losing her for ever is more than I can bear. ' Your vigorous measures on finance, and for the pacification of Oude, are approved by all with whom I have come into contact. I see the Times tries to make out inconsistency, which appears to me to be absurd. I have not heard lately anything oiyour health. ' Yours affectionately, G.' Lord Canning to Lord Granville. Camp, Dklhi, /af??/ary i, i860. ' My dear Granville, — What a joy it is to wish you and your dear wife a happy New Year with a whole heart. Your last letter (from Herrnsheim) almost frightened me with the sudden joyful news ; but other letters confirmed it, and although I have not heard of your leaving Herrnsheim, I think of you in Bruton Street, once more 1859-1860] Italy 365 happy. Give her my very best love. How I should like to drop in this evening. ' Wilson is with me in camp. He will be very useful, and I like him better than I did in London, though there I always thought him unduly abused. He is enchanted with everything he has seen up country, especially with the busy thriving appearance of the people of the soil, though this one spot, Delhi, is an exception. He is less doctrinaire than when he delivered himself of his Shefifield speeches.' ' Lady Canning has come out as an orator. I send you her speech to the 35th Regiment, delivered with complete success from horseback in front of nearly 4,000 troops. She is rather proud of it, ' Ever, my dear G., 'Yours affectionately, C Lady Canning to Lord Granville. Governor-General's Camp, February i, i860. ' My dear Lord Granville, — We are anxiously looking for your next letter, and in about three days it ought to arrive. ' The last account was anything but a happy one, and I fear you were still nearly as full of fears as hope. We had been so delighted with the sudden and wonderful change for the better. The first news of this, happily for us, came with the very bad account and gave us good hope. But we have thought of you so very much, and grieved over your torturing ups and downs, and the different opinions the doctors so torment you with. ' I wrote to Lady Granville by the last mail, and will write again soon, for it may amuse her a little to hear of us, and I am always thinking about her. How very touching her patience and gentleness is in all her suffering. It must break one's heart to see her so sub- dued, and so different from her joyous busy way of old times. * I am always thinking now that in next year we hope to be with you all again, and it is so very pleasant to think it so near. This tour is evidently a very useful and successful affair, and it is well worth its cost. Mr. Wilson even is loud in this sense ; but the cost is nothing so very great. * The durbars have been very successful. You may be incredulous, but the native chiefs are all charmed with the Governor-General's very pleasant, gracious reception. I heard so much about this over and over again that I was very anxious to know what they liad seen before, and in what consisted the difference, and I now believe they used to be received with a sort of cold haughty manner which must have ' Mr. James Wilson was appointed Finance Minister in India in 1859, 66 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xm. been very wonderful, and a very odd interpretation of dignity. Lord Hastings in his journal seems always to have prided himself on the impression he made by his enchanting manners. I shall have to write a memoir for Canning in the same style — he is not likely to do it for himself. ' I suppose the speeches he has made to the principal people are always sent home ; they have been a great delight to the receivers of them, and I believe there is some novelty in them, for durbars have been often only most empty shows ; but there are often cruel heart- burnings after difficult questions of precedence — one poor man said he had not eaten since he knew another Rajah was decidedly allowed to walk before him. ' These weary ceremonies are all but over ; still the largest of all is impending at Lahore, where they say five hundred Sirdars claim to be received. ' Ever yours sincerely, 'C. Canning.' While Lord Granville was in Germany, events had been marching apace in Italy, and peace had at length been signed at Ziirich on November 20. Soon after the return of Lord Granville from Herrnsheim, the Cabinet agreed that as the Treaty of Zurich had evidently not settled the Italian question, but had only still further unsettled it, Lord John Russell might now propose that France and Austria should agree not to intervene for the future by force of arms in Italy ; that the Emperor of the French should concert with the Pope for the eventual evacuation of Rome by the French garrison ; and that Sardinia should not move any forces across the frontiers of the smaller States, until a vote had been taken as to their future destiny in conventions summoned for that purpose, when peace had been definitely signed. The Emperor of the French meanwhile continued to urge the necessity of a Congress to confirm the peace, and if necessary to deal with the Italian situation as a whole. Tuscany had formally tendered her annexation to Sardinia on September 3 : the Romagna on the 24th. A large part of the Treaty stipulations evidently would be a dead letter unless Austria intervened. After another severe struggle in the Cabinet, Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell consented unwillingly to enter the proposed Congress. They had hitherto opposed this course, but 1 859-1860] Italy 367 probably now foresaw that the Congress would never meet. Austrian intervention by force of arms to resist any further extension of the Northern Italian Kingdom — by whatsoever name it was in future to be known— was threatened ; and Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell were prepared to join France in resisting it by force of arms.^ Not so, however, their colleagues, who were again supported by the Queen. The Prince Conso.rt to Lord Granville. Windsor Castle, Decembey 4, 1859. ' My dear Lord Granville, — Your excellent account of Lady Granville's health has given us the greatest pleasure. ' In politics the moment is a most important one, and the responsi- bility of the Cabinet will be great. ' Lord John has in a correspondence with the Queen avowed that he contemplates the possibility of a joint war with France against Austria. The Queen has declared her determination not to partici- pate in the Italian quarrel under any pretence, and to preserve to her people the blessing of peace and neutrality. Lord John now gives a more detailed explanation as to the contingencies under which he thinks war our duty: (i) "If Austria should try to regain her supremacy in Italy by arms " (!) ; (2) against France and Sardinia (!) " if they should coax Venetia into insurrection and then make war on Austria.'' ' If war is to be renewed at all in any way. Lord John's notion is that " Great Britain cannot a second time be neutral without really abandoning her position " ( !) ' Ever yours truly, ' Albert.' Osborne, 5. 12. 1S59. ' The Queen has been again much troubled by a letter from the Prime Minister to Count Persigny urging the Emperor's consent to the annexation of the Duchies to Sardinia, which we know to be the casus belli for Austria. This after the despatch to Lord Cowley, which was the result of long consultations with him and of debate in the Cabinet and correspondence with the Sovereign, is almost inex- plicable, but places us on the brink of a catastrophe. Lord John has been asked to read a letter to the Cabinet, showing the road to which Lord John's and Lord Palmerston's steps are systematically leading, viz. war. This war (a child may see) must lead lo our ' Parliamentary Papers, Ixvii. 1 48-1 51 ; Walpole, History of Twenty -five Years, i. 266 ; Life of Lord Palmersion, v. 165 ; Martin, Life of the Prince Consort, iv. 507. 368 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xiii. being the allies of France in her attack on the Rhine, should Germany not abandon Austria a second time, and this is giving the Emperor the whole game into his hands, and placing us, when he shall have become master of Europe, at his mercy. ' Ever yours truly, A.' The crisis was again serious. * Nothing [Lord Granville wrote to Lord Palmerston in the open- ing days of i860] would give me greater pleasure than to help you to smooth matters on Tuesday ; but, in order to accomplish this, I trust that the proposition to pledge ourselves to give material aid in certain cases will be made in a manner such as to leave it open for discus- sion on its merits, and subject to modification. I left the last Cabinet before it was quite over, and have had no communication with anyone since ; but I believe that while many of the Cabinet entertain insuperable objections to our engaging ourselves to give material assistance, all or nearly all are ready to agree to great moral support to France and to strong moral pressure upon Austria in order to prevent armed interference in Italy ; in short, that independent and unfettered policy by which Lord John has hitherto succeeded in preventing Italy from being bullied either by France or Austria.' ^ For the moment the policy advocated by the Queen again prevailed ; but the break-up of the Government was perhaps permanently averted only by the almost melodramatic change which at this juncture took place in Paris, where the struggle between the reactionary and the Liberal party in the Emperor's councils had reached the breaking point. On December 22, 1859, appeared the famous pamphlet, Le Pape et le Congtrs, and on January 4, i860, M. Thouvenel replaced M. Walewski at the Foreign Office. For the moment the rupture between the Emperor and the re- actionary party was complete. Cavour again became Prime Minister in Sardinia, and on January 17, i860, Lord John Russell launched the famous despatch on the affairs of Italy, which Cavour was said to have declared to be worth a dozen victories in the field. By the terms of that despatch, the most famous of the series, one of which Count Brunnow described as ' not diplomacy but blackguardism,' France and Austria were both invited not to intervene by force in the affairs of ' Lord Granville to Lord Palmerston, January 7, i860. 1859-1860] Italy 369 Italy. The Emperor of the French, it was suggested, should come to an understanding with the Pope for the early evacua- tion of the States of the Church ; the people of the States of Central Italy should once more express by the vote of the Assemblies which they had elected whether they desired union with Piedmont ; and Europe should recognise as binding and final whatever might be the result of the vote thus taken. The assent of France was now a foregone conclusion, and Austria shrank back alarmed from the risk of a further conflict, in which she might have found Great Britain in alliance with France, although Lord John Russell's despatch had not been allowed by the Cabinet to contain any positive promise of material assistance. Lord Granville to Lord Canning. Brighton, /anuary 17, i860. ' My dear Canning, — I cannot say how much touched I was by your truly affectionate letter. I do not remember whether my last letter was a cheerful or a gloomy one. ... I find the constant railing up and down fatiguing. ' We had two exciting Cabinets. Johnny, backed by Pam, by Gladstone, and partially by Milner Gibson, Somerset, and Argyll, proposed to pledge ourselves to France that we would give material assistance to France if Austria used force in Italy. Cardwell and Elgin, as usual, gave no opinion. The rest of us objected strongly. The Cabinet adjourned for a week. Pam circulated a violent memo- randum, well reasoned in parts, asserdng implicit confidence in the Emperor, and ending by recommending Johnny's proposal as the only honourable course for this country. He also wrote to several of us, telling us that Johnny would resign, and that he entirely agreed with Johnny. We, without concert, wrote the same sort of firm answers. ' I went down to the second Cabinet, armed with a beautiful speech and the resolution of a Cato. Johnny read an irrelevant letter from Augustus Loftus, and said : " I think, therefore, without departing from anything which I said the other day, that our best course will now be to ask the Emperors of the French and of Austria whether they would not both agree to abstain from armed interference in Italy." The relief on some of the countenances, particulady that of Jock Campbell, was amusing. ' You seem to be carrying everything before you both in India and at home. < Yours, G. ' VOL. I. B h 370 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xm. While the last stages of the great drama in Central Italy were thus being played, Lord Granville saw the shadow of death, which he had so long felt hovering near, at last enter his home. Early in March, Lady Granville's illness again became serious. ' My dear Canning [he wrote], I can only write one word to say how deeply I feel the kindness of the two dear letters which I have just received from you and Lady Canning : you will hear from others how little hope I have left.' ^ A few days more and all was over. Mr. Henry Reeve two years before had noticed Lady Granville in the Sistine Chapel, kneeling at one of the great ceremonies of the Church, and he saw on her face ' the expression of the devout piety which seemed to him the presentiment of an early passage from earth to heaven.' ' With that expression,' he now wrote, ' I see her yet, I shall always see her.' ^ Such was the brief but touching private tribute of a great English journalist, who was also a personal friend. For a larger circle M. Jean Lemoine recorded in the pages of Le Journal des Debats the picture of one who was as much admired in foreign as in English society, ' a lady still young, who to all the gifts of Providence united the treasures of the most amiable qualities and the most solid virtues.' ' Lady Granville,' he wrote, 'is dead, after a long malady, in England, surrounded by her family. Theirs doubtless is the principal loss, but they do not stand alone. On the Continent Lady Granville leaves a numerous domestic circle, of which she was the soul and centre ; and she leaves everywhere, but especially in France, where she was born, many friends who comprehend our feelings, who share our regrets, and of whose grief we are satisfied in being the interpreters.' ^ Lord Granville to Lord Canning. March 23, i860. * My dear Canning, — You will have heard by the last post that it is all over. I can hardly now realise the truth. You knew her and appreciated her, but the last six months have thrown new lights upon her character and conduct, and I doubt whether a purer, ' Lord Granville to Lord Canning, March 15, i860. 2 Mr. Henry Reeve to Lord Granville, April 15, i860. ^ Le Journal des Debats , March i860. 1 859-1860] Italy 371 brighter, truer creature ever left this world. Her courage, patience, and cheerfulness during this trying time have astonished even those who have seen most of death. You should have seen the adoration of all who came near her. I know how little I deserved the happiness which for nearly twenty years she gave me, but this does not soften the blow. No friends will feel it more than you and your dear wife. According to a wish expressed at Herrnsheim, I will send a pencil case to Lady Canning. It was always on her table. I had looked forward so much to our meeting, and now I almost dread it. ' Yours, G.' Reeling under his great loss and distracted by the bicker- ings of his colleagues. Lord Granville for a moment contem- plated retirement. ' I thought,' he told Lord Canning, ' of giving up my office, but it hardly required the advice of my family, and the recollection of what were her wishes, to make me feel it would be neither right nor wise.' ^ Lord John Russell told him that in work he would find the best antidote to grief, and Lord and Lady Canning's letters which came with words of consolation and encouragement bore the same advice. Lord John Russell to Lord Granville. Pembroke Lodge, April 10, i860. ' My dear Granville, — I have not written to you since your great affliction, for I was not sure where you might be found. But I now hear that you have returned to London, and are proposing to encounter manfully the duties of life. You are right to do so, though I know by experience how hard it is to sit and feel a mourner among those who have no pain to distract their minds from the immediate object before them. ' God disposes all for the best, and our characters are thus moulded to a form better fitted for another life. I trust your sorrows may be lightened by reflecting on the excellence and the reward of her whom you have lost. - ' I remain, my dear Granville, yours very faithfully, 'J. Russell.' Lord Canning to Lord Granville. Simla, April i8, i860. ' Mv dear Granville, — Before I got your last sad letter of the loth, I knew by the telegraph that all was over, and that your dear suffering wife was released. ' Lord Granville lo Lord Canning, April 15, 1S60. B B 2 372 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xm. ' God bless and support you, my own dearest friend. I long for the time when we shall be together again ; and if you are looking forward to it as I am, perhaps it may be serving as a small bright spot ahead in the gloom. ' I hope you will make exertion to return soon to your work. I am sure it is what she would have wished, and certainly it is your duty. ' Some day, when you are not indisposed to it, write and tell me what your plans are, so far as you have any. I try to make them for you, but I don't succeed. Where shall you be when Parliament is over, and through the autumn ? I should like to know that you had some fixed prospect. ' Good-bye, my dear Granville, and believe in the love of your affectionate friend, ' C Lady Canning to Lord Granville. Simla, April 19, i860. ' My dear Lord Granville, — I must write you one Httle word, though I can only say what you know, that we have felt for you and thought of you, and how very great our sorrow is. I cannot bear to think that we shall never see that dear kind face or hear that happy voice again, and I had so often thought of her welcome as one of the happiest, pleasantest things to look forward to. 'I am not sure that your pain has been greater in seeing her suffer so hopelessly, than now to believe her at rest ; but how changed you must be now such a heavy cloud has passed over you. ' There are no words to comfort such grief as this, and only a long long time can blunt its sharp edge, and then you will feel the pleasure to think of the very happy life she passed with you, and in her devoted affection. 'The very day (April 3) when I heard how hopeless it was, I received the most dear kind little letter from herself, in her old hand and style, and for a moment thought the bad report could not be true, but it was of a date a month before. I shall keep it as a great prize, and as a farewell of one of the most real and affectionate friends I have ever had. ' I have just had a great disappointment in hearing that Canning must return in a fortnight to Calcutta, as Sir J. Outram is too ill to continue to be President. Canning has only had one week here ! he felt the heat in camp last week dreadfully, for by day the tents were not bearable ; it left him dreadful brow ague hke tic, and every day for a week he has had a few hours in agony. He is well now, and recover- ing from the deafening and uncomfortable sensations left by taking so much quinine. He has some heavy work, but this perfect 1859--1S60] Italy Z']Z climate would have lightened his work. It is a hard case, such a? none of his predecessors have had. He will not let me join him till the time originally intended in the rains, about July. 'Good-bye, my dear Lord Granville, and think of Canning and me as your most really aftectionate friends. ' C. Canning.' The effort was made, and the manful resolution recom- mended by his friends w^as taken. ' I am glad [Mr. Charles Greville wrote] you have made it, and have returned to what you may well call your desolate home — desolate it is indeed, for it has lost its animating spirit, and there is no con- solation for the sad thought that we shall never hear again the voice which filled it with cheerfulness and joy. After yourself, nobody has, I think, so much reason as I have to deplore this irreparable loss. I have lived more than ten years under your roof, during which time she was more than a sister to me ; her kindness was un- ceasing and never varied, and to her I owe all I have enjoyed of comfort and happiness for all those past years, so that I must be the most insensible and ungrateful of creatures if I did not feel it with all the bitterness of grief and as the most grievous of bereavements. In this instance, at least, society will not be unjust, and will render its due homage to her transcendent merits ; but while regretting what it has itself lost, it can be but imperfectly aware of the virtues and endearing qualities which those who were nearest to her could alone fully comprehend and estimate. God bless you, and give you courage and resignation to bear the weight of the blow that has fallen upon you.' ' Lady Granville was buried at Aldenham. ' After that sad, sad day [Lord Granville wrote to Lord Canning], I went to Paris, Versailles, and Munich, to see some of the relations whom Marie loved the most. I wished particularly to see the young girl who, by her betrothal to Johnny, gave so much happiness to Marie's last days, notwithstanding the feeling which possessed my poor wife that she would not live to see the marriage.^ Her pure and noble character threw off everything that was base and con- taminating. She told me some little time before her end that for three years she had been endeavouring to prepare herself for sudden death. Nobody has ever been more free from ostentation, and it is only since her death that I really know what she was in life.' ' ' Mr. C. Greville to Lord Granville, undated. - Sir John Acton was about to marry a Bavarian lady, the daughter of Count Arco-Valley. ^ Lord Granville to Lord Canning, April 15, i860. CHAPTER XIV THE DEATH OF LORD AND LADY CANNING 1 860- 1 862 The remainder of the session of i860, if undisturbed by differences in the Cabinet on questions of foreign pohcy, saw a crisis in the relations of the two Houses of Parliament which placed Lord Granville as leader of the Liberal party in the Upper House in a position even more difficult than that which he had experienced during the debates on the Wensleydale Peerage. Among the financial proposals which Mr. Gladstone placed before the House of Commons in the Budget was the repeal of the paper duty, and a Bill with that object was carried through the House of Commons after a protracted struggle. That it would be thrown out by the House of Lords soon became matter of common knowledge. Of such a rejection the disorganisation of the Budget was the least serious result, for the far graver question of the right of the House of Lords to throw out a Money Bill was thereby raised. The situation was further complicated by the fact that Lord Palmerston was known to be indifferent to the proposals of Mr. Gladstone on the subject, and, contrary again to the wishes of Mr. Gladstone, had decided to propose a large scheme of fortifications, necessitating heavy taxation. On this subject the opinions of the Chancellor of the Ex- chequer and of Lord Palmerston were in violent antagonism — an antagonism which, by its disturbing effect on the Cabinet^ largely neutralised the good effect of their recent success in obtaining the signature on January 4, i860, of the commercial treaty with France generally associated with the name of Mr. Cobden. Lord Granville, notwithstanding his indifference Death of Lord and Lady Canning 375 to commercial treaties in principle, had to be the official defender of it in the House of Lords.^ The speech in which Lord Granville introduced the measure for the repeal of the paper duty into the House of Lords greatly enhanced his reputation, but the result of the debate was a foregone conclusion, and the Bill was rejected.^ The Budget for the year had in consequence to be remodelled. For the moment the House of Commons and the Government were satisfied with recording an assertion of the rights of the Lower House in matters of taxation, and the real struggle was adjourned till next year. Meanwhile financial questions were giving equal trouble in India, where Mr. Wilson had entered on the task of restoring order into the chaos occasioned by the Mutiny, but was meeting with unexpected difficulties from the opposition of another great authority on taxation, Sir Charles Trevelyan, the Governor of Madras. Lord Canning to Lord Granville. Dehree, May 17, i860. 'My dear Granville, — Just before leaving Simla I got your letter written from Dover. The few lines, sad as they were, were very welcome. I hope that before long — as soon as you can do so without new pain — you will tell me something of your plans. 'I long to hear that you are at your duty again, and I wish I knew what your thoughts are for the time when Parliament and business will be over. Do try not to think of our meeting again with pain. It cannot be the joyous one it would have been ; still I look forward to it perhaps more eagerly than ever ; and every day is bringing it sensibly nearer. ' You will probably have seen Wood before this reaches you, and he will have told you that my expected three months in the hills have been cut down to less than three weeks. Outram's illness, com- pelling him to go to sea, and his refusal to leave his post as long as I was absent, left me no alternative, and the proceedings of Tre- velyan have made my presence in Calcutta very necessary. I was not well at Simla — having stayed too long in camp in the plains — or rather having had too great a pressure of work during the last ten days in camp. The heat alone I should not have minded ; but ' See ch. vi. p. 128, note 2. ■■* Hansard, third series, clviii. 1439. 2i^^ Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xiv. sitting at papers all day in a tent with the thermometer at 98° was rather severe. I rushed up to Simla, but got rather worse than better ; and strange to say, now that I am rushing down again, and have been ten or eleven days in the plains at their hottest, I am become quite well again. The doctor is diminishing my quinine daily, and I have never been better. ' I am afraid Trevelyan's coup will rather take with some of you in England — barring the insubordination of it, which nothing would excuse were he ten times in the right. His promises of reduction in Madras have been lavishly made for ten months past, and have in no case been executed. I am anxious, of course, about the new taxes, but very confident of carrying them through safely, if not smoothly— that is, on this side of India. I hope the same of Bombay. As to Madras, I do not see how you can expect me to be responsible for anything so long as Trevelyan remains there to sound an opposition to the Government all over India. What he has done in taxes to-day he may do in Army matters to-morrow. The mischief reaches (by means of this unwarrantable publication of his minutes) all over India. ' Before this reaches you. Wood will, I hope, have determined what to do. I have told him what in my opinion ought to be done. 'Wilson has done his work excellently, in substaftce. But he is too fond of parading House of Commons and Treasury precedents ; and this gives his speeches (of which he is too fond) an appearance of English doctrinaire-ism which injures the measures he advocates. It disposes our own English officers against them quite as much as it fails to convince the natives. I have no doubt of being able to keep him out of this when I get down to Calcutta. He is a little vain of the splash he has made, but not offensively so. He is really a good and honest fellow. ' Good-bye, my dearest friend. I long to see your handwriting again. ' Your affectionate C. 'You will be amused at Lady Canning. I left her at Simla organising an expedition against Thibet. She has two A.D.C.s, a doctor, a maid, and the civil officer of Simla (Giffard's brother. Lord William Hay), as her staff, and they start in a few days northwards over the mountains. She will probably be about five weeks on the march, and will not return to the plains until the rains have set in. 'C On March 26, 1859, Sir Charles Trevelyan had stated his opinion in writing adversely to the plan of finance proposed by Mr. James Wilson; and having obtained the assent of his own Council, he then published the minute on his own 1 860-1862] Death of Lord and Lady Canning 2>77 responsibility, without communicating either with the Legis- lative Council of India or the Home Government. This conduct on his part was considered to be subversive of all authority, and at once received the attention of the Cabinet. ' We had a Cabinet yesterday on Trevelyan,' Lord Granville wrote to Lord Canning ; ' Sir Henry Ward will succeed him.'^ The question of the appointment of Lord Canning's own successor was also engaging attention, for the term of office usually held by a Governor-General was drawing to a close. ' It is my wish [Lord Canning wrote in February] to carry through the Bill for reforming the Executive Council this summer, so that I may put it in operation in the autumn ; and that you will relieve me in March, or soon after. If you cannot carry the Bill through until 1 86 1, I should desire to remain in India long enough to give effect to it ; that would be, probably, for five or six months beyond the passing of the Bill. I do not know that I can say anything to make my views and wishes clearer. I will only add that they will be cheerfully surrendered, if you or Lord Palmerston think it necessary that this should be done.' '^ These considerations became the subject of discussion between him and Lord Granville. The names of Lord Elgin and Sir John Lawrence were uppermost at home as possible successors. Lord Canning to Lord Granvh^le. Calcutta, May 29, i860. ' My dear Granville, — Since I wrote on the way to Calcutta, I have received your letter written after your return to London. Many, many thanks for it, my dearest friend. It tells me so much which it is a real pleasure to read from your hand, and which you alone can tell me. Deep as is your affliction, it is impossible, even for those who love you best, to think of her passage through those last trials without something of a happier feeling than one of mere comfort. I am so glad that you have not persevered in thinking of giving up ' Lord Granville to Lord Canning, May 27, i860. Sir Henry Ward, after a long parliamentary career, was made High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands, and held that post from 1849 to 1855. He wa^ Governor of Ceylon from 1855 to i860, when he was appointed Governor of Madras ; but he died of cholera almost immediately on landing, on August 2, i860. - Lord Canning to Lord Granville, February 16, i860. 378 Life of the Second Earl Gi'anville [ch. xiv. your office, but I am rather haunted by what you before said of your dread of our meeting. ' I send (in case Wood should not show it you) a letter which I have written to him regarding my leaving India. The only contin- gency which would make me remain willingly (I do not mean cheer- fully) beyond my time is stated there. I did not dream that it could arise until a week ago. It is the postponement of the measure for changing the Executive Government of India from councillors to secretaries. This will have so important a bearing upon the position of the Governor-General by increasing his avowed and legal respon- sibility and authority, and concentrating these upon himself, that I could not patiently see it introduced immediately after I had left the country ; which would be the case if the Bill were not brought in until next session, and if I were to return in March of next year, as I have looked forward to do. ' Such a sequence as this change coming immediately after I had laid down the Government, would be much more unbearable than the condemnation of any act or policy of which the Government at home might disapprove, however strongly. Against such snubs I can defend myself ; or if I can't, it is my own fault ; but against a seeming slight such as this I should be powerless. Nor would any explanation, written or spoken by the Home Government, clear me of it. The plain fact would stand out, not only in the newspapers of the day, but in history, that my departure from India had been chosen as the occasion for the change. It would not be known that the change was mainly in accordance with views and recommenda- tions of my own, because these have been given to the Home Government (so far as the Executive Council is concerned) in private letters to Wood and Stanley. But it would appear in the narratives of the last three years that much of my work had been done away from my Council ; and this would rather provoke the inference that there might have been reason for postponing the change till I was gone. I know that nothing of this is meant. And yet I do not feel that I am over-sensitive upon it. What do you think ? My true wish is exactly as I have summed it up to Wood. Pray do all that can be done to get the Bill passed this session. ' Who is to be my successor if I return whilst the Government is in ? If Elgin, he will sail with the wind, and a great deal of good is to be done in India by keeping on that tack, so long as the passions of men are not up. If John Lawrence, he will go far towards up- setting in a year or two all that I hope to have accomplished in my last three years, both in Oude and in the Punjab. He will not do it by direct means — I can make that very difficult to any man — but by 1860-1862] Death of Lord and Lady Canning 379 giving a cold shoulder to all measures for increasing the consequence of, and placing trust in, the native chiefs and gentry generally (for even he has his particular favourites amongst them), and by his name, the very announcement of which as Governor-General would make more than half of the Civil ofificers in the Punjab — and even in Oude — pause in their new zeal. A shrug or a sneer from the in- coming Governor-General pointed at some unhappy sirdar or talookdar who had blundered in his duties, would be a signal for consigning the whole class once more to snubs and obstructions, although the system might remain undisturbed on paper, so far as the Home Government knew anything about it. ' Sidney Herbert would be the best of all the men I know, but he thought me a fool for my pains in going, and he would not be likely to take a different view of himself in like circumstances. New- castle, if he were not so ludicrously unlucky (I don't mean to be unfeeling), would have merits. A duke would be popular, for a time, with the Calcutta-ites. The work is not, generally, trying to the temper, though very much so to one's patience and endurance. He would be sure to treat the natives like gentlemen. They worship a red beard. Would Argyll come? I suppose not. The domus et placens (very placens) uxor would be too strong a discouragement. ' I am not one bit the worse for the hot journey down country — infinitely better than I was at Simla. There for a fortnight I was taking sixty grains of quinine a day. Here, and while on the road, the doctor has gradually reduced it to four grains. ' Ever, my dear Granville, ' Your affectionate friend, C Calcutta, ^Zij«^ 3, i860. ' My dear Granville, — By the last mail from London (May 3) I see that Wood has heard of Trevelyan's minute, and the minutes of the Members of his Council, having been published — but not how they were published. He therefore does not know the worst. The suspense of not knowing what will be done with Trevelyan is getting to be embarrassing — rather more so than I expected ; but there is nothing for it but to wait patiently till I hear. ' I see that Wood means to separate the reform of the Legislative Council from that of my Executive Council, and to make two Bills of these measures ; also that the first of the two is at an end for this session. I don't mind this much if only he will carry through the second. Upon this matter I remain of the same mind as when I last wrote to you. ' Lord Clyde sails tomorrow. He has been much irritated for the last week by the attacks made upon him in the newspapers for 380 Life of the Second Ea7'l Granville [ch. xiv. having (as is assumed) said in some minute or letter that there is no officer of the local army fit to command an English regiment. He never said it. The nearest approach to it is his having written, in answer to a call for his opinion as to how the generalships of divisions had best be apportioned between local and line officers, to the effect that a certain proportion more favourable than heretofore to the latter ought to be adopted, because of the importance of having English regiments inspected by generals who were used to them. This has been perverted into the above charge, and has been so worked up by the press that it has visibly affected the feelings of the local army's officers towards him at parting ; and he has done his best to aggravate this by holding forth to every first comer upon it. He is not made to bear pen and ink excitement. But he is a brave and noble old man nevertheless, and I grieve at the loss of him. ' Ever affectionately yours, C ' Wood,' Lord Canning wrote at this time, ' has worked the India Bills through the Commons like a brick. It is a great thing to get them through, especially the Council Bill — consenstc omniiun! But if the India Bills were safe, the struggle over the Paper Duty Bill had to begin again. ' Lord Palmerston wanted to give up the Paper Bill, but the Cabinet would not allow him.' ' The Cabinet,' Lord Granville told Lord Canning in the same letter, was not nov^ ' a very united one.' Lord Palmerston had not got his heart in the contest, and Lady Palmerston openly proclaimed her hope that the Lords would throw the Bill out.' Lord Granville, fortunately, agreed with the Premier on the subject of the fortifications, but he supported Mr. Gladstone, as did Lord John Russell, in his determination to insist on the maintenance of the views of the majority of the House of Commons in regard to the paper duty. Thereby he was able once more to play the part of the honest broker. Mr. Gladstone had to yield on the question of expenditure ; Lord Palmerston as to the paper duty; and in 1861 the Government was able to face the House of Lords with an undivided front. Recourse was now had to a practice which has since become the established usage, and was not without precedent even at ' Lord Granville to Lord Canning, May lo, i860. 1860-1862] Death of Lord and Lady Canning 381 the time. It was determined to include all the financial measures of the year in one Bill, and to give the House of Lords the choice of accepting or rejecting them en bloc ; the House of Commons by the resolutions of the previous year having defined the financial prerogative of the House of Commons to be inconsistent with the right of amending a Money Bill by the House of Lords as distinct from the right of that House to reject such a Bill. In 1787 Mr. Pitt — as Lord Granville took occasion to remind the House of Lords — had introduced a comprehensive financial scheme founded on no fewer than 3,500 distinct resolutions, and containing a schedule of sixty pages. Objection was then raised in the House of Lords to the measure on account of the multiplicity of the provisions which it contained ; the question was fully debated, and on a division the Bill was adopted in the shape in which it stood. Many other precedents of the same kind. Lord Granville pointed out, could be quoted. In regard to the present occasion he urged on the irate peers that it was thought by Lord Palmerston's Government more respectful to the House of Lords, instead of again bringing in the identical proposal which they had rejected as a separate measure, to introduce it coupled with the other portions of the Budget, inasmuch as it ' was more likely to be agreeable to them to consider and adopt it in that form than to deal with it in a manner having anything like the appearance of a retractation of a previous decision.' By these and other sedative arguments, conveyed in conciliatory language, the solid phalanx on the Opposition benches was gradually melted and finally vanished. The Budget Bill was thus eventually returned unaltered to the House of Commons, and the crisis was over.' There had also been differences on the Reform question, and at one moment they were hardly less serious than those on the Paper Duties. Lord Granville to Lord Canning. Chiswick, y?/;ze II, i860. ' My dear Canning, — I thought two days ago that we were breaking up. Gladstone talked at the Cabinet of the necessity of a ' Hansard, clxiii. 696, 702-3. 382 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xiv. sicbstitute ; and Johnny told me that if Gladstone went, he should take an early opportunity of following him. On Saturday's Cabmet, however, Johnny himself proposed to abandon the Reform Bill this evening, and Gladstone talked over future plans of finance.^ ' Ben Stanley will probably be the new Postmaster, to the great disgust of the majority of his colleagues, and to the indignation of other aspirants. It is not a vote-catching appointment, but I have no doubt that he is the most useful man in the House of Lords, and in every way is a pleasant colleague and an irritating outsider. ' Yours affectionately, G.' Lord Canning to Lord Granville. June 20, i860. ' My dear Granville, — I am still in good heart about the taxes. I find less difficulty in moulding the income tax to native usage than I expected. The licence tax is quite easy of management. In Oude and the Punjab, where legal enactment is not required, everything continues to go on swimmingly. There may be a show of resistance here and there in the Regulation Provinces, but I think nothing serious. We shall probably not collect half of what would be due under the strict application of the measure ; but that is a small matter, if the measure itself can be brought into first adoption smoothly. ' I see some of the English papers are assuming that an income tax must be here, as in England, one of rigid unbending consistency and sameness all through the country. Nothing of the kind. The modes of assessment, and in great measure the machinery, will vary with every province, if this is found expedient — perhaps with several districts in the same province. ' Wilson continues to be of first-rate use in laying down and working out all the principles and laws of the measure. He is still a little slow — or reluctant, rather — to admit the necessity of variety, and of accommodation to local peculiarities ; but with this part of the subject he will have little to do. ' I look for great benefit from his labours on many other matters : a consolidated Revenue Board, a new system of audit of remit- tances, and the new currency. He is immensely patient and pains- taking, and works hard. I am a little afraid of the effect of the rains and damp heats upon him. He is beginning to complain.'^ ' Contrary to the wishes of some of the Cabinet, Lord John Russell had introduced a Reform Bill, to which he considered himself bound. '■* Mr. Wilson died August 11, i860. 1860-1862] Death of Lord and Lady Canning' 383 ' I (like Reeve) have a sante insolente at present ; but the Council consists of nobody but Frere (Wilson's work being all extra and new matter), and the pressure is severe. I have no hope of Outram's returning in a condition to take up his work again, and I look in vain for signs of that Executive Council " Reform Bill " which Wood is to bring in. The telegram of the mail of May 18 has just come in from Bombay and says nothing of it. Pray stir up the matter. ' I am charmed with Frere, whom I had seen only once before (at Bombay on my way out). He is thoroughly well-conditioned and gentlemanlike — full of information, and with a much less localised mind than that of any high Indian servant I know. So very piano in manner as to be almost priggish, but quite the contrary of this in work and Council. Very good-looking — something like a manly- faced Dufferin with a Vandyke beard. ^ ' Adieu, my dear G. ' Ever your affectionate C. ' P.S. — I don't like this China affair at all. Disaster is not likely, because the material of our force is so good — quite first-rate and well equipped ; but I much fear that we shall accomplish nothing final this year ; perhaps come to a deadlock for want of larger numbers ; look like fools; and have to begin again in the spring of 186 1. If there is anything in the world which ought to be done with all one's might — when done at all — it is a war, however little our hearts may be in it. ' What on earth is the meaning of taking so ridiculous a vote as 800,000/. for a war in China ? ' Calcutta, y«({«^ 30, i860. * My DEAR Granville, — Pray look at these missionary amenities. ' Read first the despatch which is printed in the inclosed news paper extract, which tells the story in short ; then read the article in the Christiafi (so-called) Intelligencer. ' I see that at a great gathering of the Church Missionary Society at Exeter Hall, on the first of last month, the subject of these papers was brought up, and the facts represented in the missionary colouring, to the indignation of the company. As it is but one step from Exeter Hall to some benches of the House of Lords, perhaps the subject may be broached there too. The despatch has been published in the newspapers here ; so that it may be treated as a paper open to all. I wish you to know, and to be able to tell others, the truth of the case. The Bishop here (Cotton) is a sensible well-judging man, but rather timorous. ' I have not heard from you for two mails. By the last (May 26), Wood tells me that he is going to make the change in my Council ' Mr. Frere, afterwards Sir Bartle Frere. 384 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xiv. this session. This is the best news I have had for a long time. I hope you will have kept him up to his intention. ' Ever yours, C Calcutta, y?^/v 4, i860. ' My dear Granville, — I send this Delhi Gazette because it shows what has been doing in the Punjab towards giving to the sirdars (i.e. chiefs and landholders, who are our subjects) the status and trust of gentlemen associated with — not severed from — the ruling power of their country. The measure is the same (allowing for local difference and peculiarities) as was adopted in Oude a few months before ; but in Oude it was easier. The newness of our rule, and the entire rebellion of the province, followed by the annihilation of the old tenures by confiscation, gave a clear stage in Oude upon which to work out anything that might seem fittest \ whereas in the Punjab the deliberate and avowed thrusting aside and lowering of every great family for ten years past (ever since Dalhousie sided with John Lawrence against Henry Lav/rence, and forced the latter to leave the Punjab) made it a difficult and ticklish matter to hark back.^ I could not have done it but for the sort of opportunity which the splash of the march and visit to Lahore furnished. If it had had to be done on paper from Calcutta, it would have been impossible to prevent the appearance of its being an undignified recantation under pressure of recent fears. ' The official correspondence is in the first part of the newspaper. Nothing is more remarkable than the way in which the several Divisional Commissioners — men trained by John Lawrence, and until lately imbued with his sentiments — and all able men, have chimed in with the scheme. Montgomery was always rather well- inclined on the question, but fearful of the experiment. But the most curious thing of all is the article which the paper gives upon it. Though a more respectably conducted paper than most in India, it has always taken a truculent anti-Native tone, and is not more friendly to me than the rest of them ; yet it speaks favourably of what has been done. In itself this is of no great importance ; but if it is an indication that common sense and right feeling are asserting themselves at last — and really I think it may be so interpreted— it is valuable. ' Meanwhile there is plenty of wrong feeling showing itself here in Calcutta, in the quarter where one should least expect it. A Disarm- ing Bill, or rather the continuance and amendment of one, is before ' See the Life of Sir Henry Lawrence^ by Sir Herbert Edwardes and Mr. Herman Merivale, chap. xvii. 1860-1862] Death of Lord and Lady Canning 385 the Legislative Council, and, as was to be expected, the fact that it draws no distinction between natives and Europeans is making the Calcutta British public very angry. But the leaders of the agitation are the Queen's judges. Peacock (Chief Justice) and Wells ; and the speeches they have been making in the Council (those of Wells at least) are claptrap. Peacock is honest and in earnest, and very obstinate. Wells, who has never been twenty miles from Calcutta, is sheer bunkum. ' Ever sincerely yours, C. Lord Granville to Lord Canning. 16 Bruton Street, London, YJ.,July 26, iSbo. ' My dear Canning, — I feel very much your kindness in con. stantly writing to me lately, and it is a great pleasure seeing the cheerful tone with which you look at everything now going on in India. You regret the feeling which I expressed of dreading our meeting. I have found that I was deceiving myself when I said so, for my annoyance was great when I found from your last letter but one that you were likely to stay away another year. So consider what I have to say with the grain of my personal disappointment. There are for your staying the following reasons. It would be for the public good. I doubt any successor being found in any degree to be compared with you ; and on several matters, particularly the financial one, the treatment of natives, and the reorganising the administration, your experience will be of great use. The reason which you give as having some weight with you has absolutely none with me, viz. the passing of the Bill next year for the reform of the Executive in India. Charles Wood in his respectful way says " that is a pack of nonsense." This would naturally be his line ; but your sister, whose bias is always towards susceptibility, agrees with me.^ Then there is not the slightest fear of anyone thinking you were clinging to your office. ' The reasons against ajopear to me to be these, and they are in my opinion vastly preponderant. You have gone through an un- paralleled time of difficulty ; you have brought it to a successful issue. You have had several warnings as to health, though your constitution has come out of the struggle triumphantly. Who can guarantee you against some difficulty of some sort or another, which you may not have to leave with regret unsettled ? Who can pretend that there will not be a thousand things in 1862 which your ex- perience will not enable you to settle better than a new man ? You have nearly concluded the specified time. I think you had much better, for your fame, your health, and for your and Lady Canning's ' Lady Clanricarde. VOL. L C C 386 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xiv. social happiness, come back at a time which is cut and dried for you. How many of your friends are already gone ! Who can say what havoc another year may make among the remaining ? ' Lady Clanricarde tells me that she has given you contrary advice, and her opinion is of immense value. It is against her wishes, and I hardly knew till yesterday how warm her feelings about you were. ' Charles Wood is also of her opinion, but he is entirely guided by his own desire that you should continue to do useful work, and that he should be relieved from the great embarrassment of choosing your successor. If he goes out, Stanley would probably appoint Lawrence ; or be obliged to appoint Dizzy, which last, however, you probably would not object to. ' I know Dalhousie attributes his whole breakdown to the extra time he served. Pray consider all this, and do not be led away by the natural temptation of seeing everything you have undertaken brought more or less to a close. A long memorandum ought to enable an intelligent successor to carry out all the personal changes. ' The Government continues as a whole. Gladstone has been on half-cock of resignation for nearly two months. He swallowed the constitutional question, and a compromise was made about the Fortifications. With great want of tact, having swallowed the last camel, he could not get over the gnat of being in the House when Palmerston proposed the scheme. Palmerston has tried him hard once or twice by speeches and Cabinet minutes, and says that the only way to deal with him is to bully him a little, and Palmerston appears to be in the right. I like Gladstone very much, and have generally taken his part in the Cabinet, but not to the extent which Argyll does. The Duchess of Sutherland is miserable at the attacks made upon him. ' The House of Commons part of the Cabinet look jaded to death, always excepting Palmerston, who stands higher than he did. I know none of his colleagues who have gained much. S. Herbert has, I believe lost ground. G. Lewis holds his. No good young men in either house. I believe Ben will be the new Postmaster. I like Somerset very much. Able, honest, and not vain. The Chancellor is getting old, but, on the whole, is useful both in and out of the Cabinet.^ I was with the Queen at Osborne on Sunday, very gracious. She talked much about you, was delighted with a very interesting letter, which she showed me, about your Imperial Progress. As soon as Parliament is up, if that ever happens, I shall go to Spam with Pahlen, J. Acton, and Fred. Cavendish, ' Yours affectionately, Granville.' ' Lord Campbell. 1860-1862] Death of Lord and Lady Canning 387 16 Bruton Street, London, W., August 4, i860. 'My dear Canning, — In politics nothing very new. The last party fight is to come off on Monday on Paper. I believe that we shall win, and in any case shall not go out. ' I have been calling in vain (and he has called on me) to thank Lord Clyde for all the truth he has been saying in private, and on Thursday in public, about you. He is a regular old brick. I hear he was very nervous, and said once or twice, " God bless me, I have forgotten it." It was really a very handsome and just tribute, very well expressed, as you will see by the reports. ' How far shall you regret the amalgamation of the armies ? The Bill will be next week in our House, and will be opposed only by Ellenborough. ' My Spanish plan is rather shaken. The House will not be up till the end of the month. Johnny Acton has thrown us over. . . . ' Your affectionate G.' Lady Canning to Lord Granville. Government House, Calcutta, August^, i860. ' INIy dear Lord Granville, — I am very much touched at your so kindly thinking of sending me that little remembrance of your dear wife. I shall indeed keep it always. The last thing she gave me I had been so grieved to lose when my tent was burnt ; it was a little horse-shoe brooch I almost always wore, and I think it must have been stolen, as no remains were found of it. If you have any really good photograph either from a portrait or from the life, I should so much like to have it. I have only the little French full-lengths of her, and even those were like and natural. ' I came here a fortnight ago, beginning with a cruelly hot journey, for the rains were so late that I got tired of waiting for them, and I only came into them as far down as Cawnpore. After that I had railways and river all the way to Calcutta, and in fact I opened the new unfinished line from the Ganges ; for the train which was sent to fetch me from Ranmehal was the first that had run the whole way and it brought me here in eight hours, and was rather an event. ' I find Canning very well, much better than at Simla. I thmk it was a very happy thing that he came back. He has liked so much better to be in the midst of his work, and he never takes at all kindly to anything the least like a holiday, and Simla did not suit him at all in any way. ' In this house everyone keeps well, but there is much sickness, and we are very anxious indeed about poor Mr. Wilson. You will know how he is long after this date, as there is a telegraph to Galle ; c c 2 388 Life of the Second Earl Grmiville [ch. xiv. certainly just now he is in a dangerous state, and his iUness is alwaj's a most difficult one to treat — it is very bad dysentery. The doctor has moved him into his own house, and is unceasing in his care of him. He knows exactly what his state is, and bore it well when he asked the doctors to tell him plainly what they thought. Even if he recovers he must go to sea and cease to work. He is a great loss, especially just now ; and he has always seemed to me to be the only man whose work seemed to be a real relief and help to Canning, and he has almost always done so very well We have really liked him, and Canning feels his state as a great distress. ' What a grievous loss there is too in poor Sir H. Ward. ' I hope nothing will prevent this from being our last year here. I think I get more and more impatient to be back amongst all one cares for, and do not in the least respond to Lord Dalhousie's parting wish — viz. that we should leave India with as much regret as he did ! ' I hope you have seen dear old Lord Clyde ; I think he must be charmed at having the Coldstreams given to him. He grew terribly unpopular here at last owing to his writings upon Indian officers. Sir H. Rose makes himself very agreeable, and has had no great opportunity as yet of proclaiming any opinions ; so his popularity has not yet diminished. He is living in one of the bungalows in the park at Barrackpore, and now and then comes here for a day or two. I think he has given up all thoughts of Simla this year. ' Certainly Canning is better this year than he ever has been before in India. ' Believe me, yours very sincerely, 'C. Canning.' Lord Granville to Lord Canning. 16 Bruton Street, London, W., August 24, i860. ' My dear Canning, — Nothing particular to tell you. The Indian Loan Bill has gone off quietly. Haroun al Raschid has called upon me, but I have not seen him.' Lord Clyde keeps himself quiet, and struck Johnny Acton as young and cheery at the Athenseum. Our labours come to an end on Tuesday. The session has been a dull one, and not very creditable to the Government or to the House of Commons ; but everything has been done, excepting the Bankruptcy Bill, which people really wished for, and much has been left undone which nobody wished for. ' Palmerston is decidedly the most powerful man in the country, and I doubt his losing his present prestige till his strength fails him, unless we have a succession of bad harvests, which this one now ' The allusion is apparently to Lord Stratford de Redcliffe. 1860-1862] Death of Lord and Lady Canning 389 promises to be. Heartrending work to see magnificent crops every- where rotting on the ground. Trade also is more slack. * Manchester complains of your legislation. Ben is in the seventh Heaven at your old shop in the City.^ He has begun his career by a violent quarrel with Argyll, whom I am inclined to believe to be wrong; but Ben has mixed up Gladstone, who had nothing to do with the cause of the row, i.e. throwing open to unlimited competition the carriers, the day before Ben was appointed. ' Shelburne is enjoying great dignity, but not much ease, from his success as Chairman of the Great Western. He is looking well. . . . Pahlen, after complaining bitterly of my parliamentary delays, announced himself for Monday, the day before the prorogation, and says that several days in London are indispensable.^ . . . ' I go to Aldenham to-morrow. It is an effort, but one which I wish to make. ' Yours affectionately, G.' 'LO'U'DO'ii, /a?mary 24, 1861. ' Mv DEAR Canning, — I am so grateful for the Himalaya stuff. First of all, it is quite charming in itself ; secondly, a little souvenir from you is very pleasant ; and thirdly, it gives me a starting-point to write from. I was beginning to get oppressed after the long pause, by the feeling which one has about the necessity of writing at great length when one writes so far. I do not believe that I have written to you since I despatched a fine argumentative epistle against your remaining any longer in India. I tried the same argument to Lord Clyde, who stopped me with : " Lord Canning owes another page to history, my Lord." I do not pretend to be convinced, but I bow to your own judgment of what you think right. 'I went to Spain for two months with Pahlen and Fred. Cavendish, two very different but pleasant companions. We entered Spain by Perpignan to Barcelona, steamed from there to Valencia, railed to Madrid, visited the royal palaces, Segovia and Toledo ; diligenced to Granada, rode (el Senorito and I) to Cordova, railed to Seville and Cadiz, steamed to Gibraltar ; rode all of us to Ronda, where we parted, and I returned alone through Spain. The weather was magnificent all the time. I never met with any discomfort, excepting the night work in the diligence, and I cannot call to mind ' Lord Canning had been Postmaster-General in Lord Aberdeen's Govern- ment, the office now held by Lord Stanley of Alderley, who had succeeded Lord Elgin on the appointment of the latter to China. ^ Count Nicholas Pahlen was a well-known figure in London society. He was the younger son of the Count Pahlen, one of the nobles who removed the Emperor Paul. Owing to his Liberal opinions he was not bicit mi by the authorities in Russia ; and, except during the Crimean War, lived principally in England and in France. He died at a great age at Nice. 390 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xiv. anything which did not far exceed my expectations. Several things, the Gallery at Madrid, Granada, and Seville, each separately worth the whole journey. I learned sufficient Spanish to make myself in- telligible to an intelligent, patient person, and drove the whole stock of Italian out of my head. I presume you will not either of you be much given to foreign travelling after your return, or I should propose myself as a cicerone. Since my return I have been chiefly in London. Two days at Trentham, at Bowood, at Rushmore, and at Tottenham. You will have heard of the Duke of Sutherland's dangerous illness — paralysis. He is better, but I am afraid that it is the beginning of the end. She is very low, and has given up the " robes." I do not know who is to be her successor. She is full of Lady Waterford whom we saw at Dunrobin, She confided her admiration to Marochetti, who answered prettily enough, " Oui, c'est un grand homme et une femme charmante." At Bowood the old Marquis was remarkably well, and I thought less deaf, but walking with him in frosty weather was chilly. Lady Shelburne well, proud and occupied with her three children. ' Sidney Herbert is ill. His own family would have advised him to stay in the Commons, and resign his office. I hear that the latter is in great disorder, and wants a thorough reorganisation. I have long been of opinion that the Horse Guards and the War Office are incompatible institutions, but any change would kill the Queen. Palmerston is stronger than ever, both in health and in political position. John Russell asked to be made a peer, but Palmerston would not part with him, a proof that he thinks himself very safe. China has been an enormous piece of luck for us. It might have been a great scrape. Your arrangements seem to have been perfect. The Spider is in a scrape about the 500,000/. I was told, not by him, that it was the Queen who had insisted upon it as due to her honour.^ ' I have undertaken, together with Chandos, Tom Baring, Fairbairn, and Dilke, the management of a new Exhibition in 1862. I was much averse to it, and Charles Greville and all my friends predict it will be a great failure. It is impossible to argue the other way \ but I believe it will be an absolute success, not a comparative one. I am afraid you will be loo pompous for the head of the jurors, and it is difficult to do without some. Pray stir up your people to send us a good Exhibition. We will forward to you an official request, as soon as we get our charter. There are some fearful contingencies. ' The vote originally proposed for the China expedition had been judged insufficient by both the Queen and Lord Canning, and was increased from 800,000/. to 1,300,000/. 1860-1862] Death of Lord and Lady Canning 391 War in Europe — another bad season — failure of cotton crop. What is going on in America is wonderfully interesting. It has quite wiped out the Prince's visit, which was a great success, besides introducing a good feeling between the two countries.^ It has also been useful to Newcastle, relieving him of his own notion of his being unlucky. ' Yours affectionately, G.' Chiswick, February 24, 1861. ' My dear Canning, — The Speaker has been making great play in Rotten Row with your story about the friend who called on you upon an elephant bought fifty years ago, but which was still very fresh on his legs. He is at this moment rather sanguinely despondefit, as one of your great predecessors said. ' There is a clever article in the North British, an exaggerated encomium on Palmerston, in which, looking for a successor, the writer can find no one but you. There are few things I should like better than a Secretaryship of State under you. I wonder what will be your political attitude when you come back. I do not know at all, whether you would prefer for a short time unbounded rest and idleness, or whether you would be ready to buckle to at once. Our position is precarious, depending entirely upon Palmerston's popularity among the Tories, and a certain unwillingness on the part of the Radicals to turn out a Ministry which has Gladstone for Chancellor of the Exchequer. The unpopularity of the latter among all other sections of political parties is stronger than ever. ' Herbert's success, quoiqu'ett disent qicelques journaux, has been complete. Nothing could be more agreeable to our House than his light agreeable gentlemanlike manner. ' Newcastle looks ill, but not so ill as Herbert. Newcastle's pomp has certainly much increased by the American journey. I shall stipulate that our umpires are not to look at him for a week before they pronounce judgment on you, lest it should falsify their standard. ' We have been in a peck of troubles since I wrote about the Exhibition : Paxton writing an insidious letter to the Times (after a distinct promise of warm support), hitting us between wind and water, just at the moment we required signatures to the Guarantee Fund. We are, however, succeeding with the latter, and have ordered a building, designed by Captain Fowke and Cole ; but from which we have been obliged, to our great regret, to excise a great Hall, which would have been the eighth wonder of the world. Pam is as adverse to us as he was in 185 1. ' News came of Eglinton's death (not true). Oswald got excited, ' In 1 860- 1 the Prince of Wales had visited the United States of America, accompanied by the Duke of Newcastle. 392 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xiv. and announced to Jem Howard that he should go straight to Palmerston, demand the Lord-Lieutenancy not as a favour but as a right, and refuse to leave the room till he had an answer. The latter he would soon have got, and I believe there is still sufficient vigour left in Pam's gouty toe to kick poor Oswald out of the room. ' Yours ever, G.' Lord Canning to Lord Granville. Calcutta, March 3, 1861. 'My dear Granville, — I was very glad to get your letter. I don't know which of us has been longest in debt. I believe I have, but with no excuse for it — none at least that would be intelligible. The question of my stay here is past discussion ; and the face of affairs has changed so much that that which was my chief induce- ment in the summer has become quite a minor one ; for a reform ot the Executive, to which then I attached most importance, is now much less pressing than a reform of the legislative machinery. Yet I think that I was right in my first reasons for staying ; and, at all events, what has since happened in other branches of government, military and finance especially, has made my stay to be even more of a duty than I then thought it. But it is already very irksome — if that is any triumph to you : I find myself thinking how pleasant it would be if, according to rule, I were steaming westward ; and I have not the zest in my work that I had even last year. I am as well as possible, and not the least afraid of the hot season, but I believe I want rest. ' I don't feel up to engaging you for Spain in 1862. I have seen all you describe, except Cordova and Toledo, but I should not much care to go there again. I wonder whether you admired the Escurial sufficiently. It is too grim and severe to be called handsome, but I know nothing more grandiose. The dwelling of a single man expanded into almost a city, and so solid and massive. ' I think your Exhibition for 1862 a mistake. I do not believe that advances in arts and manufactures have been sufficiently marked to be appreciated by the common herd, and to be successful you must make impression upon them. Nor has there been time for them to forget 185 1, and they will judge you relatively, do what you will. The best that I see to be said of it is that it is a palpable announcement that you are resolved and expect to keep the peace. As to India, we shall make a bad show. All ornamental and attractive manufactories have received a great blow, and are far from recovered. At Delhi little is doing, at Lucknow nothing that would have any interest. Madras will probably send you most. It 1860-1862] Death of Lord and Lady Canning 393 was outside the storm, and Harris took great pains with the Exhibition there. In Upper India they say that they received no benefit from the Exhibition of 1851, and that many things sent to Paris in 1855 were lost. Then the want of the India House will be felt. Wood will see us all somewhere before he will undertake to help as the East India Company did. Indeed, he could not do it. I will look into the course taken in 185 1, and let you know in due time what to expect for 1862. As to the jury, I wish you may catch me. Not that pomposity would be any disqualification after the distinguished services which Baron Charles Dupin was able to render in that capacity. ' I was surprised at Herbert's move, but I think he was very right to go to the House of Lords with office rather than to stay in the House of Commons without. To remain in the House of Commons in such a position would have been no rest in the long run. Where is Lea ? ^ Is it a pleasant place ? ' Lady Canning is ploughing the sands of the Ganges about 300 miles above Calcutta. I left her in the camp about a month ago, and made a flying visit in a carriage drawn and pushed by twelve coolies through some jungly country to Lucknow and other places, and then came down to Calcutta by road. Lady Canning went with the camp till they reached the Ganges and then embarked ; but the river was never so low in the memory of the oldest inhabitant, and the last I heard of her was that the yacht was fairly embedded in a sandbank, and that the country had turned out to dig her out. Luckily the vessel is very comfortable, and it will not be very hot up there for some time to come. But I have no hope of seeing her arrive here for ten days to come. ' As to public matters. Financially, I hope and believe we shall make both ends meet without any borrowing except what Wood will take for railways. Militarily, I expect a great deal of trouble and vexa- tion in carrying out the amalgamation scheme, and in supplying its deficiencies or modifying it ; and by the time that is done, or before it, you will have settled what changes are to be made in the legislative system. This will be another heavy job to be finished off before I pack up, but it is one which I could not with an easy conscience have run away from, and left to my successor. It has become much more full of difficulties since the class asperities of last summer were fomented by the judges. As to more purely native ' The allusion is to ihe title of Lord Herbert of Lea, which Mr. Sidney Herbert assumed on his elevation to the House of Lords. Lea is the name of a small village near Malmcsbury in North Wiltshire, where the Earl of Pembroke still has a property. 394 ^if<^ of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xiv. matters everything is most prosperous. The people are not in any way irritated by the income tax ; and if it had not been for great mismanagement in Bombay, my ambition to carry it through without showing an armed man anywhere would have been accomplished. The temper and success with which the Native landowners and chiefs have discharged their new duties is more perfect than I ever dared to hope. Sir G. Clerk tells me, writing from 800 or 900 miles away from the side of India where the experiment has been tried, that the announcement of the policy and of the general recognition of adoptions has brought his chiefs and their people generally into such real goodwill towards the Government, that he finds his civil officers offering to dispense with a great part of the troops which are still left to them ; and he says that he believes that in many places we could do literally without any. He is rather impul- sive, and I don't mean to try the experiment ; but it is pleasant hearing. 'The really pleasant thing, however, was the other day, when I paid a flying visit to Lucknow, to see the change in the aspect and bearing of the talookdars. I had sixteen or seventeen of those who were nearest, and who had been most active as magistrates, summoned from their districts for about eighty or a hundred miles round, and they came into the room with an erect, manly walk, and looking one straight in the face, cheery and self-possessed, and as respectful as if they had been courtiers all their lives, Eighteen months ago they skulked about the camp with their faces to the ground and a hangdog look that foreboded no good ; but the feeling — and now the certain proof and knowledge — that they are trusted, and that it is intended (though all our officers do not give full effect to the intention) that their authority shall be treated with respect by English as w^ell as natives of all classes, has made men of them. The acuteness and impartiality with which they do their work is quite remarkable. As was to be expected, they have greater pride in it than paid Native judges ; and neither in Oude nor the Punjab has there been the slightest trace of abuse of power, undue favour, or any like malpractice. It is a curious thing that in almost every case in which there has been any doubt as to whether the sentence awarded by them was right, the error, if there was any, was always on the side of leniency. ' I heard three or four days ago that a deputation of Oude talook- dars are coming up to Calcutta to bring an address to me, but I do not know to what effect. I believe they are keeping it to themselves. It is as un-Indian a custom (out of the Europeanised towns) as could be imagined. Three months ago or so, a Punjab chief wrote to Bowring to ask if the chiefs of that country might write to the Queen 1860-1862] Death of Lord mid Lady Canning 395 to request her to appoint me for another five years, but that was knocked on the head at once. NS[ this, with every allowance for interested motives and Oriental suppleness, shows a wholesome temper, and that in the parts of the country which are most critical. ' I have a commission for you about a monument over the well at Cawnpore into which the massacred women and children were thrown. It will not be very troublesome after you have once read the papers which I shall send you, but it will require the discreetest taste and judgment in deciding whom to employ. The plans &c. are not ready yet. ' Ever your affectionate C Lord Granville to Lord Canning. London, Aprils, 1861. * My dear Canning, — I am delighted to get your satisfactory letter of the 3rd of last month. I doubt your being worthy of Spain, or you would have jumped at my handsome offer of meeting you there ; and as to your opinion of the Exhibition of 1862, I consider you a poor shortsighted party, incapable of comprehending all that is grand in the prospect. By a singular coincidence, however, 9,999 persons out of every 10,000 are of your opinion. Nobody wished for it excepting Cole, and it is a great proof of the power of a strong will. But I wish to put on record my opmion that, barring want of cotton, want of food and want of peace for ourselves, the whole thing will be a success. ' Pray do the best you can for us. ' I can conceive nothing more satisfactory than the feeling which you have inspired among the natives of India. How much good service you have crowded into these short five years ! I shall be glad, however, to see you back. Where do you intend to look out for a house ? I trust in a civilised part of the town. The poor Duke of Sutherland's death has been a great break-up for many of the family. Both Lady Stafford and Stafford have behaved with the greatest affection and consideration for the Duchess. They implored her to keep Trentham, offering her anything she required for its mainten- ance. It is absurd not being able to live on 10,000/. a year, but I am afraid she will find it difficult. ' Palmerston has the gout at Broadlands. It was made worse by his riding. He could not come to-day for the Cabinet, which was to hear Gladstone's Budget, a question on which the Tories expect to do us a great mischief, and which will probably be the turning point of our existence as a Government this year. There is a report, which everyone believed, that Newcastle is your successor. I believe there is no foundation for it, but Newcastle will be angry if the offer is not 396 Life of the Second Ea^d Gi^anville [ch. xiv. made. Lady Waldegrave, who is his principal confidant, says he does not wish it ; that he means to be Prime Minister. Elgin arrives to-day, much satisfied — as he has a right to be — with his mission and its results.^ He will probably be sent to India. I believe Lord John will propose a pension for him. You will have been sorry for poor Dalhousie's death.^ I spent my holidays at Aldenham, at Keele (becoming a beautiful house, and nearly ready to receive you),^ and at Althorpe, where the host and hostess are the pleasantest addition to society since you left us. . . . My best and kindest love to Lady Canning. ' Yours affectionately, G.' Lord Canning to Lord Granville. Calcutta, y^w^ 17, 1861. ' Mv dear G., — I am rather alarmed by a letter from Lady Waterford in which, writing after she had seen you, she suggests as a design for the Cawnpore monument " a woman clinging to a cross with the bodies of murdered children near her." This is the sort of design I wished to avoid. It would be a very painful record to some English families, and a very exasperating one to our fellow- countrymen — soldiers for instance. Nor do I think it desirable to put before the natives for all time to come so literal a picture of the horrors of 1857. ' It was very much with the view of steering clear of anything of the sort that I asked for something ethereal — ghostly ; something in which the figures should not represent flesh and blood, but angels or guardian spirits. ' I am afraid that I said something about a Rachel weeping for her children which may have misled you on this point ; but even that sub- ject (if it were to be chosen) should be treated quietly and allegorically. The crisis of murder and terror is not the moment to be perpetuated, nor is the first great agony of grief; but rather the after-condition of sober mournfulness sustained and cheered by hopefulness. ' I think that some such sentiment as this is the one which should prevail, not only for Indian reasons, but because the chief purpose of the monument is to mark the grave of Christian people. To convey the story of the massacre is quite a secondary object — if, indeed, it be an object at all. ' I hope that this will be in time. ' Ever yours, C ' Lord Elgin's mission to China is referred to. - The Marquis of Dalhousie died December 19, i860. ^ Keele Hall, the country house of Mr. Ralph Sneyd. 1860-1862] Death of Lord and Lady Canning' 397 Lord Granville to Lord Canning. London, y«/y 10, 1861. ' My dear Canning, — You will have been angry and surprised at not hearing earlier from me about your statue, which has given me more pleasing anxiety than any business which I have in hand. At first I wished to defer writing to you till I could say something definite. I should have done better to write from time to time what was passing. The persons whom I have chiefly consulted have been Lady Waterford, Lady Shelburne, and Taunton. No time has been lost. I wrote in the first instance to Marochetti, telling him your wishes in detail, and I said that if this had been for myself, or in a private matter, I should have merely asked him whether he could undertake the commission. As it was, I begged him to send me a sketch, I paying him for it if rejected, and informing him that I should make a similar application to a limited number of sculptors, and decide chiefly according to the advice given me by the Lans- downe family. Lady Waterford, and Taunton. ' Marochetti implored me not to have recourse to competition, that it had always failed here and in other countries ; that he did not mmd competing if all parties were obliged to exhibit models of the full size ; that he did not choose his person to be judged by his waistcoat, that a clever sketch went some way to a picture, that it was of little use as regards a piece of sculpture ; that a Venus was preferable to a peasant, but that a well-executed peasant was a better thing than a badly executed Venus. ' We had several conversations, and several letters passed. He at last consented to send a sketch. He advised me to apply to Foley ; bethought him clever in composition, and excellent in execution. All the rest he pronounced to be pitoyabk. After this I decided upon asking him to send me a sketch. He sent me five. I found that there was no reliance to be placed upon Gibson. He won't give up a statue Avhich he likes. Westmacott has given up work. I applied to Foley, who answered that he was much flattered, but that he could not depart from his usual practice, viz. to receive commissions and then execute them. I asked Woolner, a young artist of great imagi- nation and good workmanship, to send a sketch. He has lately made a magnificent statue of Lord Bacon (not altogether a pathetic subject). In the meantime Marochetti had taken a journey, and only came back three days ago. Woolner instead of a sketch has made a very pretty model ; a woman leaning against a cross, a dead infant at her feet, a sword worked into the cross (an old English one, not very intelligible to a superficial observer). 39^ Life of the Second Eai'l Gra7iville [ch. xiv, 'The sketch which we prefer is a new sort of Britannia : not a lady in a hehnet ruHng the waves, but a handsome pathetic woman with a wreath of cypress on her head, clasping a large plain cross. Marochetti preferred a " St. George in Armour." Lady Waterford thought it beautiful, Lady Shelburne hideous ; I thought it too like a fiance to Princesse Marie's Jeanne d'Arc' We all agreed it was not appropriate. Marochetti likes the sketch of the screen. He thinks the architect must be a clever man. It is not in one point favourable for a statue, which the spectator will see at first from nearly a level, before he descends again into the arena surrounding the well. Both he and Woolner thought a canopy over the statue would be desirable. He assumes your measurements to be exactly accurate. If there is any doubt about it he should know. His model will require three months, his statue one year more. I will endeavour to send you a sketch of the Britannia by an early post. ' Yours sincerely, ' Granville.' Lord Canning to Lord Granville. CALCUTTA,y?^/V 21, 1861. 'My dear Granville, — Many thanks for the cover into which you have put the Bishop's old letter. He little knew how wild a flight of imagination it was to think that you would write. ' Seriously, I am uneasy at not hearing from you about the monument. I console myself with hoping that the design with the murdered children in the foreground is abandoned ; especially as Lady Shelburne speaks of a Britannia which she rather likes. I don't quite figure to myself Britannia as a monument over a grave (one's first thought is of the back of a halfpenny), but I shall be quite content if you have steered clear of the horrible. ' I am getting on pretty well, but it is a great hardship to have one's last months, during which I had looked to finishing off many important matters, broken in upon and frittered away by the work which the absence of two sick Members of Council throws upon me, and this just as I had got together a full and good working Council for the first time since 1857 ; but there's no help for it. ' Wood says that my successor is not settled, but that in fact there is little choice, and that I shall probably not be far wrong if I guess who it will be. This is oracular, but I suppose it means Elgin. 'Your affectionate C In August, Lord Granville accompanied the Queen as ' Princesse Marie d'Orleans, the talented daughter of Louis Philippe, whose work here referred to was generally regarded as her chef-cPa^jivre in sculpture. 1 860-1862] Death of Lord and Lady Canning 399 Minister in attendance during a visit to Ireland. Before her departure she had to give her consent to a rearrangement of some of the principal offices in the Administration. As had been indicated by Lord Granville to Lord Canning, the health of Mr. Sidney Herbert had become seriously im- paired. He had accepted a peerage in order to lighten the burden of his official duties, but his malady was mortal, and the end, it began to be whispered, could not be far off. ' Poor Herbert is very ill [Lord Granville warned Lord Canning in July]. It is not at all certain that you will find him when you return. I can conceive no greater loss socially and politically. . . . He has placed his resignation in the hands of Palmerston. Lewis is to be War ; G. Grey, Home ; Cardwell, Duchy of Lancaster ; Chichester Fortescue, Irish Secretary, without Cabinet; Hartington, probably Under Secretary of Colonies. ' ^ These changes were important, but the advent at this juncture of Lord Russell in the House of Lords — for under this title we have in future to speak of Lord John Russell — was a more important event than all the other changes. It was so especially to Lord Granville, who on a previous occasion, when such a possibility was under consideration, thought the appearance of the ex-Liberal Premier would be incompatible with his being the leader of the House, a position which Lord Russell might have claimed. Lord Russell, however, declined to press his claims. Lord Granville to Lord Canning. 16 Bruton Street, London, V\L,/ufy 17, 1861. ' My dear Canning, — Johnny Russell will come up to the Lords immediately. He is to be, I believe, Earl of Ludlow, and some think he has hopes of the present Duke making him a present of at least a portion of the legacy of Lord Ludlow to the late Duke. Rothschild says that the change is unlucky, as the present Lord Mayor, Cubitt, a Tory, will, with the influence of his posidon, come in. I saw Palmerston on the subject of my continuing to lead, with such a swell as Johnny in the House of Lords. He told me that he had stated to Johnny that he presumed he did not mean to interfere with my position in the Lords, and that Johnny had ' Lord Granville to Lord Canning, July 17, 1861. 400 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xiv. entirely assented. Pam considered that it was desirable for the Government that no change should be made, and advised me personally to continue. ' He is in a peck of troubles about his other arrangements : the new War Minister must be in the Commons ; Charles Wood refuses to give up India; G. Grey is forbidden by his doctor to take such a laborious post. G. Lewis does not much object, but his family and the public think he is a square man in a round hole for it. Pam argued the matter with Lady Theresa.^ He said his business would be chiefly civil. " He would have to look after the accounts." " He never can make up his own." " He will look after the commissariat." " He cannot order his own dinner." " He will control the Clothing Department." " If my daughters did not give the orders to his tailor, he would be without a coat." Newcastle has been spoken to about India, but without an offer. Elgin will be the man. ' How very uninteresting all this must be to you, excepting the last. I do not know that Elgin is a very good appointment, but, as somebody said, he is like the card which the conjurer forces you to take. He is inevitable. I believe it will not be disagreeable to you. ' How flourishing you are in every way ! Sam Laing will be a loss, I presume.^ 'Yours, G.' Lord John Russell to Lord Granville. Pembroke Lodge, y?^/j^ 21, 1861, ' My dear Granville, — I meant to have said to you yesterday in the Cabinet what I now write to you. It is my earnest desire that you will continue to lead the party in the House of Lords. You are so justly popular, that I should be very sorry to disturb your position and probably weaken that of the Government. I shall be ready to support you in debate, and to take my part on Foreign Affairs as in duty bound. ' I remain yours faithfully, 'J. Russell.' The hands of Lord Russell were indeed full enough with- out the additional responsibilities which the lead in the House of Lords would have entailed. Civil war had broken ' Lady Theresa Lewis, sister of Lord Clarendon. - Mr. Samuel Laing, M.P,, was Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and went out to India as Minister of Finance on the death of Mr. Wilson. He subsequently returned to parliamentary life, and sat as member for Wick and the Orkney and Shetland Isles for many years in the House of Commons. i86o 1862] Death of Lord and Lady Canning 401 out in the United States of America ; and Italian affairs had hardly passed out of their acutest stage before the friendly relations of Great Britain and the Northern States were endangered by the seizure of the Envoys of the Southern Confederacy, Messrs. Mason and Slidell, on November 8, 1861, on board the steamer Trent. Reparation for this seizure, as well as the release of the captives themselves, was demanded by public opinion. At the end of November the prospect of war was daily becoming more serious. If Mr. Seward in the United States — though at the time this was not known — represented the pacific influences of the hour, the more power- ful personality of the President was either in a refractory humour or underrated the risk of a breach with England should he decline to make reparation for the seizure of the two envoys.^ Lord Falmerston wrote to Lord Granville that ' the Yankees were in a fool's Paradise ; ' that President ' Lincoln had ' told a Canadian that the Federal Government would have no difficulty ' in ' getting along ' with the Trent affair ; therefore, Lord Palmerston went on to say, the news from England would be a 'thunderclap' to the President. He urged on the Cabinet the immediate issue of a Proclamation by the Queen in Council forbidding the export of arms, gun- powder, and saltpetre, as it was plain that war with the United States was possible. ' If that is so [he wrote to Lord Granville], would it not be an act of folly amounting to absolute imbecility, to let those who may soon be our enemies, and whom we believe intending to be, to go on extracting from our own warehouses and workshops the means of war against us? ... . The right thing would be to prohibit the export of arms altogether ; some of our merchants and manufacturers might suffer and complain, but the interest of the few must yield to the welfare of the many.' ^ While events bore so threatening an aspect on the other ' A discussion of the views and position of the eminent men mentioned in the text took place in the Spectator during August 1900. I may especially refer to an interesting letter by the late Mr. W. J. Stillman, in which he pointed out as a material fact that Mr. Seward was not President Lincoln's preference, but his defeated rival in the same party, and accepted malgrc lid through the necessity of party usage, as Secretary of State. - Lord Palmerston to Lord Granville, November 29, December 26, 1S61. VOL. L D D 402 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xiv. side of the Atlantic, the prospect nearer home was not reassuring. Lord Clarendon, who had accepted a special mission to attend the coronation of the King of Prussia, wrote on his way to Konigsberg that if the quarrel with the United States ended in war, ' he was sure that Louis Napoleon would instantly leave us in the lurch, and do something in Europe which we could not stand.' ^ Since the annexation of Savoy and Nice, British statesmanship had lost all reliance on the good intentions of the French Emperor being able to withstand the temptation of making a coup if an opportunity offered itself, and Lord Clarendon had to confess that he shared that opinion himself On the exact terms of the despatch to be sent by Lord Russell to the United States demanding reparation for the seizure of the envoys, much depended. Lord Granville threw all his weight on the side of the section of the Cabinet which, supported by the authority of the Prince Consort, desired to make easy an honourable retreat from the indefensible position which the Government of the United States had been made to assume by the act of a sub- ordinate. In accordance with these views, the original draft of Lord Russell's despatch, on the reception of which the issues of peace or war probably turned, was modified. As ultimately settled, it stated that the British Government was willing to believe that the United States officer who committed the aggression ' was not acting in compliance with any authority from his Government, or that, if he considered himself so authorised, he greatly misunderstood the instruc- tions he had received.' ^ The Government of the United States replied in a suitable spirit, and war was avoided. A few days after this letter was written, the nation was lamenting the death of the Prince Consort ; but, though it mourned, the nation did not yet know the full extent of the obligation which it owed to the deceased Prince in regard to these quite recent events.^ ' Lord Clarendon to Lord Granville, September 14, 1861. - Walpole's Life of Lord John Russell, ii. 346. ^ See Martin's Life of the Prince Consort, v. 420. 1860-1862] Death of Lord and Lady Canning 403 The letters in which Lord Granville conveyed to Lord Canning the first news of the illness of the Prince, had also to carry the tidings of the death of Lord Herbert of Lea. Death at this moment was indeed ravaging the old Ministerial circle. Lord Aberdeen had died almost immedi- ately before the death of the Prince Consort. Lord Lansdowne passed away at the age of eighty-two ; ' the youngest man in these days of decrepitude,' so Lord John Russell had de- scribed him in a letter to Lord Granville at the close of 1859. When he died early in 1863, his end was not caused by illness, but by the effects of a blow on the head from a fall over a step on the terrace at Bowood. But Lord Aberdeen and Lord Lansdowne at least passed away having accomplished more than the span usually allotted to man — Lord Herbert died prematurely in the prime of life and at the zenith of his powers, soon after the world of politics and literature was lamenting the too early death of Lord Macaulay. There was already a sense of ' extraordinary desolation,' to use the words of Mr. Gladstone at this time,' when another calamity, felt even more acutely than the losses already enumerated in the inner circle of friendships, came to darken the day. At an interval of little more than a year after the death of Lady Granville, Lady Canning died in India. Lord Granville to Lord Canning. Bretby Park, Deceniber 6, 1861. 'My dear beloved Friend, — I have just received by telegraph this sad, heart-breaking news. I cannot say how I feel for her, and for you ; and when I think of you alone, without one intimate friend, whose sympathy might at all events be soothing to you, it makes me miserable. ' Palmcrston has asked me to break it to her family. If Lady Stewart and Lady Waterford are in the North, I shall be there in the morning. ' I can hardly believe what I have to tell them of one of the noblest, bravest, best women that ever lived. But it is a moment in which I feel the depth of my affection for you. There is much to console you, but I do not feel equal to urging any such topic upon you. ' Life of Gladstone, ii. 194. D ij 2 404 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xiv. ' God bless you, and give you strength, my dearest Canning, and believe me, ' Yours affectionately, ' Granville.' December 9, 1861. ' My dearest Friend, — When I arrived in town I found the painful duty had already been performed. I hear pretty good accounts of your poor mother and sister-in-law. The former is tolerably calm and quite submissive, the latter is devoted to her. I have seen some beautiful and touching letters from her. ' You cannot imagine the gloom which has been cast over your friends, and the deep sympathy felt for you. ' It is a blessing for you that you have business which cannot be neglected, and I suppose it is difficult for you to hasten your departure. I cannot say how I long to hear from you, or at all events about you. I trust that you will take care of your health. ' Your being able to attend to business in England may have the most important consequences on the future welfare of India. ' God bless you, my dear Canning. You will always believe me ' Your most affectionate friend, ' Granville.' ' There is some anxiety about Prince Albert, who has gastric fever.' These words formed a postscript to the above letter, and on the night of the 14th the Prince Consort was no more. It was believed that he had caught a severe chill while attending a review of the Eton College Volunteers on the slopes of Windsor Castle. Fever set in, and the fatal end quickly followed. On the i6th Lord Granville was again writing to Lord Canning with ill tidings. Lord Granville to Lord Canning. London, December 16, 1861. My dear Canning, — In the midst of your great affliction, you will be deeply shocked to hear the fatal news of the night before last The most valuable life in this country has been taken, and the public are awakening to the value of the good and wise man who is gone. ' The loss to the country is great : to the Queen it is irreparable. I was at Windsor yesterday afternoon, and saw the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Sutherland and Phipps. I was relieved by their account of the Queen. She gave way much, cried, and was able to speak of him. I am told that her language was simple, eloquent, 1860-1862] Death of Lord and Lady Canning 405 and wonderfully touching. She is perfectly docile, anxious to do her duty, and absorbed in the desire to do all that he would have wished. She goes to Osborne to-morrow, on the advice of the doctors, and at the request of Lord Palmerston. 'The Prince of Wales has behaved with great affection and feeling. The Princess Alice has shown singular tact and good feeling. I own I was afraid that the Queen's nervous system would have given way. Perhaps the grief at the Duchess of Kent's death has been a preparation for her. Still her future is fearful. Having given up twenty years, every year more, the habit of ever deciding anything, either great or small, on her own judgment, the strain is immense for her to conduct the affairs of her family, her Court, and of the country. And who has she upon whom she can lean ? Excepting once, I cannot remember ever feeling the same dejection as this accumulation of fatal news has now produced. ' Palmerston is ill with the gout in his hand and foot. The death of the Prince has affected him much. I never saw him so low, but there is enough to make him so, coupled with the depression always caused by the gout. Lady Palmerston appeared to me for the first time to be a little anxious about him.' December 19, 1861. ' My dear Canning, — Palmerston has been worse, and a report was even spread of his death, but the gout coming out more has done him good. Ferguson told him that if he did not take more care of himself, he would wake some morning with a paralysed arm and leg. ' I was sent for on Tuesday by the Princess Alice to see the Queen. I found that the account which had been given to me of her was perfectly correct. She cried and gave way six or seven times, but during the intervals was perfectly calm, discussing the past and the future, and shrinking from no details about the Prince's character, his habits, his constitution, and the events of his last illness. ' Palmerston has declined being put in nomination for the Chancellorship of Cambridge. This will probably be a contest be- tween the Dukes of Devonshire and Buccleuch. ' No decision can arrive from America till after Christmas. ' Ever yours most sincerely and affectionately, ' Granville.' London, Jmiiiary 3, 1862, ' Mv DEAR Canning, — I trust that you have been able to resume work, and finish the many important questions you have been so successfully dealing with. 4o6 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xiv. ' There has been much here to occupy the pubUc mind. Every day, in great and small things, the great loss of the Prince is brought home to us. The Queen continues well in health, although much thinner. I received a most heartrending letter from her three or four days ago, but it is good that she is able to give vent to her feelings. I am afraid that one of her difficulties will be about the Prince of Wales's travels. . . . Both he and she wish that he should travel in the East. Palmerston has rather objected, but of course will give way. The latter has recovered his health, although the gout leaves him lame. ' The news from America, although not decisive, looks favourable to peace. It will be a great mercy to be spared the war. ' Good-bye, my dearest friend. ' Yours sincerely, ' Granville.' Tottenham, January i6, 1862. ' My dear Canning, — I was at Osborne the other day, and saw the Queen, the King of the Belgians, the Prince of Wales, and the Princess Alice. I came away with stronger feelings of devotion and attachment to the poor Queen than ever, but fully as uneasy about the future. ' I am afraid there is little chance of the thing happening which the King of the Belgians says justly is the most important, viz. that she should be very cordial with her Ministers. She retains some of her husband's feelings about Pam and John, and this is increased as regards the former by recollection of great enmity between them at one time, although I believe both the men have entirely forgotten and forgiven it. . . . ' Palmerston has given strong advice against the Prince being sent to Syria, and I am sure it will be much disapproved by the public ; but the Queen and the Prince both wish it so much . . . that it is perhaps better that he should go. ' Marochetti has been very dilatory about your commission, but most amiable at the same time. He is now going to have ready before your return, a figure suggested by Lady Waterford, as the embodiment of what she has reason to believe was the intention of her sister, which she has gathered from several letters. ' Yours affectionately, ' Granville.' ' I hear that you start immediately after Elgin's arrival. How much I long to see you.' Such were the last words of the last letter in the long correspondence which Lord 1S60-1862] Death of Loi'd and Lady Canning 407 Granville had carried on with Lord Canning since 1855,' letters which Lady Canning described as ' a real delight.' ' You cannot imagine,' she told Lord Granville, ' the treat it has been to have your charming and detailed accounts of everything going on. I have the benefit of enough bits to speak feelingly on the subject. ' ^ Lord Canning's appearance in England was anxiously expected. His friends looked forward to welcoming not mere!}' a trusted personal con- nection, but also a valuable political ally. The health of the Duke of Newcastle was known to be failing and his early retirement probable. Thus there was a prospective vacancy in the Cabinet, and Lord Canning's accession to one of the highest places in the Government might be considered a mere question of time, depending a good deal on his own personal wishes. * I can hardly believe [Lord Granville had written to him the year before] in the fact of your coming back next year. It is too great a pleasure. ... I cannot say how I look forward to it, and the long rides we must take by the towing path to Cliveden, &:c. But the changes have been, alas ! more numerous than even you con- templated. As for Herbert, you will have felt what has been uni- versally felt here, that it was the greatest loss, considering his time of life, that could have occurred for the public, for society, and for his friends. His poor sisters are sadly broken-hearted about him. His was after all a singularly useful, brilliant, and happy life, and his end was calm, and without apparently a regret.^ The Ministry is weakened by his death, and by John Russell's removal to the Upper Form. People think it will not be in existence by the time you are back. I believe no one can tell. It depends upon the health of Pam, who has a great hold on the country, both from his merits and his faults. I saw him the other night looking very well, but old, and wearing a green shade, which he afterwards con- cealed. He looked like a retired old croupier from Baden. My plans are not fixed.' Among those holding a leading political position in the younger generation of statesmen in 1862, not one was more clearly marked out than Lord Canning for one of the highest ' January i6, 1862. - Mays, '^^i. ^ L(ird Herbert of Lea died August 2, 1861. 4o8 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xiv. posts of all, and there were those who already indicated him as the most fit successor of Lord Palmerston, He was returning home with all the halo of success after a Governor- Generalship unusually prolonged and of exceptional diffi- culty. His last year in India, as his letters have shown, was one of anxious expectation and constant longing to be again at home, feelings strengthened by the domestic calamity which had befallen him and made every association in India painful. It was tinged also with unavoidable anxiety as to the possible consequences of a stay prolonged beyond the usual limits of duty, which, as Lord Granville had urged, had proved fatal to more than one of his predecessors. What political exile, even if his absence be voluntary, and however splendid may be his surroundings, has not felt his heart thrill and his pulse beat faster at the thought of again hearing the well-known voices of the friends of old? His is the prayer of Ulysses in the magic isle, to see once more before the end ' Gaunt Ithaca stand up out of the surge,' and he prefers the anticipation to the cloudless skies above and the trappings of Imperial power around the throne. The long-desired journey was now over ; the toilsome days ended ; and Lord Canning arrived in England in April 1862 with health apparently unimpaired and strength undiminished. The remark of an intimate friend under similar circumstances to the first Earl of Minto might have been repeated to him, that * he had a good deal of youth and beauty ' still left.^ But the climate and the prolonged anxieties of a great position had insensibly undermined a constitution originall}' strong, and only a few weeks after his return Lord Canning — recalling in this too the fate of Lord Minto — was numbered with the dead. Of Lord Minto, Burke had said, ' He was one of the best men I have ever known, and one of the ablest.'^ On Lord Canning, Lord Granville wrote a fuller epitaph, but it was to the same effect. ' Lord Minto in India, by the Countess of Minto, pp. 6, 385 ; Letters of Burke, iii. 405. ^ Life and Letters of Sir Gilbert Elliot by the Countess of Minto, ii. 405. 1860-1862] Death of Lord and Lady Canning 409 Lord Canning, a sketch by lord granville. 'Canning was like Hoppner's picture of his father as a young man : a great gentleman in character and demeanour. He was handsome, with singularly fine eyes. He was fond of sports, hunting, shooting and especially fishing, although his pleasure in the latter amusement consisted exclusively in the throwing the fly. His interest was gone as soon as he had hooked his fish. He paid much attention to whatever he did, and generally succeeded in it. He had extra- ordinary powers of continuous work for months and years, when the occasion arose, together with a facility for being perfectly idle for long periods, hardly looking at a newspaper. Perfectly right about money, neither extravagant nor stingy ; so many people are both. He was always prudent, and at the same time liberal. He was of temperate habits. ' He took first-class honours in Classics ; second, I think, in Mathematics. He inherited from his father a strong sense of the ridiculous ; but his fun, bubbling over at the moment, was never ill-natured. We once went to hear an old Oxford friend, who had become a popular preacher, chiefly owing to an excellent voice and good delivery. He concluded his sermon by telling the congregation the effect it ought to have upon them. " It is no use saying We have heard a good sermon." " Oh, Heaven forbid ! " was Canning's rejoinder in a stage whisper. * I am convinced that, with practice, he would liave been a great speaker. But of practice he had less than any public man I have known. It was only in the House of Lords that he spoke, and that seldom. On the occasion of the second reading of a Bill, he broke down. After the breakdown in the House of Lords he spoke on the same Bill when in Committee, and he showed his tact by making it clear that he was not using any of the speech which he had prepared for, but had not delivered, on the second reading. We were not sure whether the cause of the failure was moral or physical. It had happened to him more than once to faint. He did so when shooting with Prince Albert in Windsor Park on seeing that he had fired straight in the direction of the Prince of Wales, then a boy. ' One great characteristic of Canning was his truthfulness ; and inaccuracy of any kind was what he was most severe upon in others. ' His departure for India deprived me of the most valuable assist- ance I ever had in speaking. He always gave me his opinion on my speeches. I knew his criticisms to be exactly what he thought, and 4IO Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xiv. I had absolute confidence in his judgment. There was no question, from the most important points of public and private life to the shape of a saddle, on which I did not miss his advice. ' He was one of my greatest friends. I am not sure that he was the most intimate. He had some natural reserve, and, on the other hand, I should not willingly have told him of things that I had said or done, of which I was ashamed. ' Lord Aberdeen made him his Under Secretary of the Foreign Office. He had implicit confidence in him, and allowed him to do much of the Secretary of State's work. He was greatly looked up to in the Office. ' On the formation of Lord Aberdeen's Government, he was deeply and not unnaturally hurt at not having any Cabinet office offered to him. But he never showed resentment. He was an excellent Post- master General under Lord Palmerston. I was the first person who told him of the probability of the Viceroyalty of India being offered to him. He at once discussed it and seemed inclined to accept it. It was an interesting conversation. We had travelled by rail to Windsor, attended service at St. George's, and rode to Cliveden, where we had tea, and then dined at Salt Hill. ' His departure and that of the beautiful and clever Lady Canning created a great void in a very intimate society. ' Lord Palmerston gave me leave to write all Cabinet secrets to him while in India. I say nothing of his Indian policy, with which Sir Henry Cunningham is so well acquainted.^ He is sure to do justice to his moral courage at the time of the Mutiny. Many men would have been unnerved by the local criticism. Few could have resisted as he did the censure coming from Parliament and from the press, from statesmen, great philanthropists, and even from personal friends in England ; his almost only support being his admirable wife, who passed away before he left India. ' I was assured by a great doctor on his return that he was perfectly sound. He died, and nearly all his organs were found to be destroyed by the heavy strain, possibly by that of the last additional year, when a sense of duty made him go through.' The catalogue of calamity before the year was over was to claim yet another victim in the most inner circle of Lord Granville's affections. The earlier chapters of this volume have already shown the tender solicitude with which Lord Granville's mother had watched over her son's early career ; ' It appears to have been the intention of Sir Henry Cunningham to write a Life of Lord Canning. 1860-1862] Death of Lord and Lady Canning 411 and if the narrative of a considerable portion of her life had not already been a labour of love to others,^ more might have been said in these pages of her constant identification with her son's personal wishes and political ambitions ; of the never-failing devotion with which she noted each event, great or small, in his life ; of the pride with which she saw him gradually climbing the ladder of fame. ' Darling of my heart,' she had written in reply to congratulations on a successful speech by her son and the gift of the Garter in 1857, * I shall keep it all where I do that of which I never talk, and that you can hardly know — my excessive love for you. . . . You can steer through all political shallows and depths. The ribband " Yes." Give me what that ribband binds.' ^ It was her death which, before 1862 was over, Lord Granville had to add to the long catalogue of loss. When stunned by the sudden calamity which befell him in i860 Lord Granville was for a moment contemplating retirement from public life, the advice of Lord Palmerston, ' that the impulse was perfectly natural, yet that it would be very unwise to give way to it, and indeed unjustifiable,' doubtless acted as a tonic ; but the feeling that a knowledge of his retirement would have made his mother close her eyes with a sense of failure, probabl}' counted for more than even the opinion of the Prime Minister in causing him to remain at his post. ' I only see comfort,' Lord Russell now wrote, ' in reflecting on her admirable life.'^ ' Letters of Harriet, Countess Granville, l8io- 1845, edited by her son the Hon. F. Leveson-Gower. - Dowager Lady Granville to Lord Granville, 1857. (Undated.) •' Lord Russell to Lord Granville, November 21, 1862. 412 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xiv. APPENDIX From his Excellency the Governor-General of India. To the Right Honourable Sir Charles Wood, Bart., G.C.B. &c. &c. &c. Calcutta, May 25, i860. ' Dear Sir Charles, — It is time that I should write to you of my retirement from the Governor-Generalship. ' On March i next I shall have held the Government of India five years. ' I wish not to leave India before that, the recognised time. There are matters in progress which I have much at heart, and which I am desirous to see well advanced, and made secure, as far as possible, against disturbance, intentional or accidental, before I turn my face homewards. The new system in Oude, and that in the Punjab, by which the upper classes of the natives are being brought into a position of trust and usefulness, the placing of adoptions on a clear and permanent footing, the new financial measures, and the outline at least of army re- organisation, are amongst these. 'Before March i, though probably not much earlier, we may, I trust, reckon upon all of them being completed, or definitely laid down. ' After March i, then, I shall be glad to return home as soon as it may be convenient to you to relieve me. 'There is, however, one other pending question, the settlement of which, above all, I am anxious to have made in my own time. It is the reconstruction of the Executive Government in its intended new form. ' I never dreamt till the other day that there was any chance of this measure being delayed in Parliament beyond the present session ; but the close of your last letter (of April 18) has alarmed me on this score, and the alarm is confirmed by my having heard since my return to Calcutta that Mr. Le Geyt has been told by a correspondent in your Council that there will not be any organic change this year. ' Now I confess that I should not like to see the intended change brought before Parliament, or carried into execution in India, immediately upon my retirement. Rather than that this should happen, I would remain in the country another hot season ; and therefore if your Bill is not passed in this session, my desire to leave India in March 1861 will cease. ' I do not say this from personal feelings alone, although those feelings are strong ; for I cannot patiently look forward to its standing recorded that this great change, by which a more direct and avowed responsibility will be entrusted to the Governor-General, was brought forward as soon as my back was turned. ' Considering the times through which we have been passing, and that for a great portion of them I was necessarily conducting the chief 1860-1862] Death of Lord and Lady Canning 413 business of Government away from my Council, an inference very disagreeable to myself (however little intended by you) would jump into the mind of every observer if this were to happen, and it is an inference which nothing that I— or even yourself, if you were disposed to guard me against it — could say or do would prevent. Explanation in Parlia- ment or in a despatch would soon be forgotten. Nobody would know that the change was in close accordance with my own views and suggestions. But the bare fact of my retirement having been immediately followed by it would stand forth in history for all time. ' I speak, however, on public grounds also. I am sure that no Governor-General, even though he had Indian experience, would launch the new system with anything like the advantage to the public service which would attend this being done by myself. The task of a Governor- General who within his first year of office should have to select the secretaries under the new system — to put them into their proper positions, and to keep them there — to remodel a part of their departments — and to discard pretenders to the posts to be filled, would be a very difficult one. He could not perform it satisfactorily unaided, and yet I hardly know where he could find disinterested and safe advice. The advantage of giving to the new Governor-General the choice of his own instruments is not to be compared with that of making the choice through one who has had experience of the working of the Government under the present system, and who knows the men through whom the new system must be carried on. ' I have spoken of the changes in the Executive Council alone, because I imagine that the changes in the Legislative Council will come into the same Bill with them ; but as regards the last-named changes I care much less about being the introducer of them.' CHAPTER XV LORD GRANVILLE AS MINISTER OF EDUCATION 1859-1864 The failure of Lord Granville to form an Administration in 1859 among other consequences prevented the acceptance of office by Mr. Cobden, who was willing to serve under him or Lord John Russell, but not under Lord Palmerston. Mr. Lowe, if subsequent events are to be any guide, was another of those to whom Lord Granville in 1859 would have offered a seat in the inner circle of Government. Under Lord Palmerston he became Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education, of which Lord Granville as Lord President was once more the head. Mr. Lowe in this capacity, as well as in that of Vice-President of the Board of Health, became the representative of the Council Office in the House of Commons. Like so many of the institutions of the country, a National Sanitary Department has been developed in but a slow and tentative fashion. The Board in 1859 still depended upon an Act annually renewed and always bitterly opposed : by nobody more so than by Mr. Tom Buncombe, the Radical member for Finsbury, who in the name of individual liberty, and with a keen eye also to local popularity among the small 10/. householders of his constituency, asserted the indefeasible right of the British citizen to refuse to be clean, or to pay rates and taxes for such an object as the removal of nuisances injurious to public health. Thus the Liberal party was on this question a house divided against itself; and many years were to elapse before the then leader of the Opposition, Mr. Disraeli, was to discover that sanitation was and always had been the original and true watchword of the Conservative party. Minister of Edttcation 415 To add the Board to the number of permanent institu- tions was in 1859 deemed by Lord Granville to be within the range of parliamentary possibilities and worth an effort. But it was on his brilliant representative in the House of Commons that the brunt of the struggle fell, which by the end of the year had for ever secured the existence of a public department entrusted with the defence of the national health, and Lord Granville was the last person to desire to arrogate to himself the honours which properly belonged to another on the field of political battle. But with the question of education his connection was no merely nominal tie. Already in 1853 he had made efforts to secure the passing of an Education Bill, but the obstacles at the time proved in- surmountable. Those obstacles were numerous and some of them peculiar. A Bill had been prepared and brought into the House of Commons by Lord John Russell on be- half of the Government, of which the principal feature was to enable boroughs with a population of more than 5,000 to give aid from the rates to local elementary schools. This Bill, which was the parent of all the subsequent proposals to municipalise education, had to be abandoned, like the Reform Bill of that year, under the pressure of the events which led to the Crimean War. Some comparatively modest pro- posal for increasing the aid to education out of the taxes Lord Granville hoped might nevertheless succeed. But in 1853 Mr. Gladstone, who held the strings of the public purse, was unfriendly, believing that private effort was capable of covering the field of education. Some technical and departmental difficulties also at the moment existed and were urged by him with the practised skill of a trained dialectician in order to defeat the proposals to which he objected. Mr. Gladstone to Lord Granville. Downing Street, y/('/v 11, 1853. ' My dear Granville, — I shall be very happy, if you think fit, to make the appointment for Thursday at noon which you suggest. But this is not what we really want. The refusal to allow the discus- sion of the schoolmasters' grant is simply on the grounds of regularity, 4i6 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xv. as respects the public accounts and control of Parliament over expen- diture, and has nothing to do with the merits. * But when we come to this, the main question, I must say I am wholly without the information necessary to be had before we agree to a grant of public money. I do not question the utility of the plan, but public money should not be voted for it until it is shoivn by a careful exposition of the facts that there is not already sufficient inducement to execute it, either by unaided private moneys, or by these aided by loans of public moneys. Now this is the part of the question that wants thorough working up ; and in which you and I, even with Mr. Temple's aid, can make no progress.^ It must rest with your office and the Poor Law Board to show what the economical working of the plan will be, where the necessity for Government to interpose begins, and how far it reaches. * The only fact in my possession is that some gentlemen have applied to me for a loan only, with which they hope to do it in War- wickshire. ' It strikes me that it should be considered whether the Kneller Hall difficulty may not be met in some degree by consolidation with the Army training school.^ ' Ever yours, 'W. E. Gladstone.' Besides the obstacles arising" from the attitude of Mr. Gladstone, it became increasingly difficult, as the shadow of the Crimean War lengthened over the land, to interest the public mind in any subject except diplomacy and military preparations. At that time also the attitude both of the leaders of the Church of England and of some of the most trusted guides of Nonconformist opinion was equally opposed to any advance in establishing a national system of education under the control of the State. '^^ The Church of England, it must in justice be granted, had largely departed from the views adopted by many divines of the eighteenth century, who, believing that the people of the ' The lale Archbishop of Canterbury. - Kneller Hall, near Richmond, was an undenominational training college for Poor Law school teachers. Mr. Temple was the first head of it. Owing to the opposition of the Church party it was not successful, and the Government were considering how to deal with it. ' See Miss Martineau's observations on the attitude of the Nonconformists to education, Histo)y of the Peace, vol. iv. ch. vii. p. 213, ed. 1878 ; J. Morley, Life of Cobden, ii. 21, 22, 30, 41, 84, 146. 1859-1864] Minister of Education 417 country, with the exception of a few favoured individuals, had nothing to do with the laws except to obey them, drew the not strictly logical conclusion from these premisses that the laws of the country would be better obeyed by an uneducated than by an educated people. No doubt even in 1853 there were here and there persons, some hid in obscure vicarages and others placed in the highest stations of the Church, who still held such opinions. But the Church, as represented by those who on this matter had authority to speak in her name, was now battling not against education but for the control of education ; and the struggle went on along the whole line, from the Universities and their colleges through the endowed schools down to the humblest class rooms in country villages and in the side streets of the great manufacturing and commercial towns. If however the Church of England was entrenching herself on one side, the Nonconformists were doing so on the other. Thus it happened that when the undenominational training college at Kneller Hall, ' wisely formed in the be- ginning by Lord Lansdowne, Lord John, and the Committee of Council,' was only requiring, to quote Lord Granville's own words, the ' little additional expenditure, which had been originally intended, to justify the large outlay which had already been made,' the Church of England never rested until that plan was abandoned, although a clergyman of the Church of England — in whom Providence concealed a future Archbishop — had been placed at the head of it. Nor was Nonconformist support either strong or unanimous in favour of the plan. * I believe it will be found difficult in the present state of religious feeling [Lord Granville therefore went on to tell the Prince Consort] to adopt any great national plan, (i) It is possible to extend the grants made by the Privy Council to elementary schools ; (2) to bribe Poor Law guardians to establish pauper district schools, thereby affording a proper field of labour for the highly trained teachers of Kneller Hall ; (3) to provide for a better distribution of the funds of educational endowments. Beyond this it is difficult to go, and there- fore your Royal Highness's suggestions with reference to scientific instruction ought to be a godsend to the Government.' ^ ' Lord Granville to the Prince Consort, January 14, 17, 1853. VOL. I. E E 41 8 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xv. The sugfPfestions referred to were for the extension of the system of science and art teaching, of which the first timid beginning had been made in 1837, by the appropriation of a parhamentary grant to aid the foundation of the Normal School of Design. But Lord Granville's hopes, moderate as they were, proved excessive, and the legislative achievements of the Aberdeen Government on the field of education had to be limited to a further extension of the Factory Acts of 1833 and 1846. The Bill for this purpose and a Burials Bill, Lord Palmerston, then Home Secretary, described as his ' two stray children,' and Lord Granville took charge of them in the House of Lords. ' The Bill limiting the employment of children in factories so as to prevent them from being employed earlier than six in the morning or later than six in the evening [Lord Palmerston wrote to him] was gladly accepted by the manufacturers in the House of Commons, as an escape from Cobbett's Bill, which proposed to establish those limits for the moving power ; and I am convinced that my Bill will do much good by preventing young urchins from being sent to the mill before their mothers go thither in the morning, and from being left to find their way home in the evening by themselves. It will also in some degree tend to prevent the employment of women and young persons later than six in the evening.' ^ The Bill passed. Shortly afterwards — as related in a previous chapter — Lord Granville left the Council Office to become Chancellor of the Duchy. When he returned to it in 1855 he had to face the same condition of affairs. He, however, obtained the consent of the Cabinet, which no longer included Mr. Gladstone, ' to propose a very liberal Education Bill in the House of Lords ' ^ and to increase the Privy Council vote in the House of Commons so as to extend the capitation grants from the rural to the town districts. ' But [he wrote to Lord John Russell, who was not at the time in office] there is much difficulty in passing any Educadon Bill. It is not quite seemly that the Government should not stir in the matter. ' Lord Palmerston to Lord Granville, August 10, 1853. * See above, pp. 128, 145. 1 85 9-1 864] Mmister of Educatio7i 419 But I would not do anything which would prevent your carrying a Bill through the House of Commons, if you think it possible. I presume it would be difficult to push an Education Bill through many stages in your House during the first six weeks. We are always reproached for giving the House of Lords nothing to do at the beginning of the session. I should be inclined to introduce a Bill there at once. I could fix the stages so that it would either pass, or be thrown out, before the time when anything could be done either by the Government or a private member in the Commons. The Bill which I should propose would be of the simplest character. It would much resemble the Public Libraries Bill of last year.^ It would enable municipal bodies to erect or assist schools, if they thought fit, without any restrictive conditions. I do not see why we should show so much jealousy of the local bodies. There would be a practical restriction which would operate in nine cases out of ten, viz. that they could get no money out of the Privy Council for their schools, unless those schools were under the Privy Council, while minorities would be protected to a certain degree in the same way. Lord Lansdowne, George Grey, and Palmerston think well of the plan. Of course I wish to be guided as much as possible by you in the matter.' ^ In reply to this letter Lord John Russell expressed a pre- ference for his favourite plan of proceeding by resolution. He thought Lord Granville's plan well devised, yet doubted if the House of Commons would entertain a Bill coming from the Lords. The extension of the Privy Council grants, the better appropriation of endowments, and rating as a last resort, were in his opinion the main features to be kept in view.^ But the stars in their courses were hostile ; and whether by Lord Granville as Lord President or by Lord John Russell as an independent member, it was as difficult in 1855 to press forward an Education Bill as a Reform Bill amid the storm and stress of the war. ' The Times aspires to be not the organ but the organiser of Government,' Lord John Russell wrote to Lord Clarendon about this time ; ^ and no sooner was it rumoured that the Government wished to move, and that the resolution which Lord John Russell ' 18 & 19 Vict. c. 70, 1854-55. - Lord Granville lo Lord John Russell, undated, 1S55. ' Lord John Russell to Lord Granville, December 8, 85 5. * Lord John Russell to Lord Clarendon.July 22, 1855 E E 2 420 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xv. proposed to make would receive official support, than that powerful newspaper commenced a hostile campaign, not because it loved education less, but because it disliked Lord John Russell more. It was insinuated that the ministers, such as Lord Granville, favourable to his plans represented only themselves ; and that a vote against the resolutions would not be distasteful to the Government as a whole. ' Your friend Mr. Delane,' Lord John Russell wrote to Lord Granville, ' seems to be drunk with insolence and vanity. But he will spare you, as long as you make him your intimate friend ; ' and he described how some gentlemen talking privately against ' limited liability ' in the House of Commons had found themselves ' gibbeted ' next day.^ The prospect, as the session advanced, became more and more involved, and the idea of introducing a measure had to be abandoned by the Government. In the following year with characteristic fear- lessness Lord John Russell decided, although Lord Granville felt the risk of mooting the matter in the face of a hostile audience and a formidable Opposition, to go on himself. He was badly defeated, as the Peelites joined their former friends to oppose him. ' So education is gagged for this year [he wrote to Lord Granville with a sigh]. I suppose you will hardly proceed with your Bill, which Graham and Gladstone will certainly oppose. However, you may live to see a much greater scheme than mine carried, for I cannot believe this country will in the end consent to be so much behind all others, except Spain and Turkey.' ^ Although the larger measure was abandoned, it was found possible to pass a Bill for the permanent appointment of a Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Educa- tion and for the transfer to that department of certain matters relating to education which had hitherto belonged to other departments, such as the superintendence of the Civil Service examinations and the giving of advice on educational matters which devolved on the Charity Commissioners. Beyond this no progress was made. Other and less controversial ' Lord John Russell to Lord Granville, October lo, December 7, 1856. « Ihid. 1859-1864] Minister of Education 421 fields, however, fortunately existed where the cause of edu- cation in other branches could be pushed. It has already been seen that in connection with the work of the Exhibi- tion of 185 1, Lord Granville had acted as the right-hand man of the Prince Consort. This co-operation continued in regard to the endeavours of the Prince to raise the standard of science and art teaching in England, and to use the surplus funds of the Exhibition with that object. As in most matters of the kind, private effort had to precede and stimulate public endeavour. But in 1857 the Science and Art Department was at last constituted, finding a home in South Kensington, and a great meeting presided over by the Prince Consort at Willis's Rooms in June gave an impetus to this side of the educational movement which makes it a landmark in the history of the question. In regard to public elementary education, after another unsatisfactory parliamentary experience in 1856, it was at last deemed advisable by Lord Granville to proceed on the line of least resistance ; and the decision was accordingly taken, in the days immediately preceding the fall of Lord Palmerston's first Administration in 1858, to appoint a Royal Commission to inquire and report. The Chairmanship was in the first instance offered by Lord Granville to Lord John Russell.^ It was ultimately accepted by the Duke of New- castle. The basis and proper method of distribution of the Privy Council grants for popular education was the special order of reference for the inquiry thus instituted. The sittings of the Commission were necessarily protracted ; nor did it report till i86r. The Chairman wrote at an early date warning Lord Granville, now again at the Council Office, that their recommendations would mean great expense, and that in order to avoid public odium it would be necessary before proposing them to Parlia- ment to make large corresponding reductions if possible in other branches of public expenditure.- This warn- i ng naturally found a responsive listener in the mind of ' Lord John Russell to Lord CJranville, February 17, 1858. ■■^ Duke of Newcastle, January 11, i860. 42 2 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xv Mr. Gladstone, who was again at the Exchequer ; but he acknowledged to Lord Granville that other reasons, besides economy, weighed with him. ' With my clerical constitu- ency,' he wrote, ' I have as many motives to keep me back, apart from the merits of the case, as one can well have.' ^ No warning could be franker or more honourable. There was in fact a fundamental difference of opinion which it was idle to conceal. Mr. Gladstone believed in the necessity of teaching religious dogma to the children of the working classes. Lord Granville believed that the minds of children of a tender age were not capable of receiving it. ' Your Grace [he once wrote on this subject to the Archbishop of Canterbury] seems to imply that no useful teaching on ordinary subjects can be given, which is not interspersed by religious teaching of a controversial character. I was educated at a private school, at a public school, and at a university, the teachers in all of which were clergymen of the Church of England. I cannot remember an instance, during the ordinary school lessons, in which incidental religious instruction was given inextricably bound up with the doctrines in dispute between Churchmen and Dissenters.' ^ The Commission recommended, and the section of the Cabinet represented by Lord Granville and Lord John Russell desired, three things : — to make the Privy Council grants depend on the examination of individual scholars ; to introduce a ' conscience clause ; ' and to encourage the founda- tion of schools, where the voluntary system was inadequate, supported by rates to be levied by municipal and county educational authorities. In these schools, according to the view of the Whig statesmen, a form of religious education representing the points of Christianity common to all Churches and sects might be taught : a system which they undoubtedly hoped and believed would ultimately prevail by its own merits over every other system in all State- supported schools, as Lord John Russell had told the House of Commons in 1839.^ But in 1861 Lord Granville was con- ' Mr. Gladstone to Lord Granville, January 17, i860. ^ Lo d Granville to the Archbishop of Canterbury, July 21, 1869 ' Lord John Russell, Speeches and Despatches, ii. 79. 1859-1864] Minister of Education 423 tent to aim less high, and by following the recommendations of the Commission he hoped to obtain unanimity in the Cabinet for a more restricted plan than that actually favoured by Lord John Russell and himself Some form of conscience clause' — the right to withdraw a child from religious education disapproved of by the child's parents — Mr, Gladstone was ready to accept, but with the undenominational teach- ing of religion he did not sympathise nor did he believe n the possibility or justice of teaching it at the public expense. It is no unfair surmise that if Mr. Gladstone had made the education question his own in 1 870, he would have decided either in favour of the complete separation of secular and religious teaching, a solution advocated by no less emi- nent a Churchman than Dean Hook, or in favour of a com- pletely denominational system. There is no reason indeed to believe that even in his later years Mr. Gladstone ever held any view but one unfavourable to the undenominational teaching of religion. It was ' a pitfall,' he thought, ' into which whoever was precipitated would probably find the sub- stance of the Gospel has escaped or is fast escaping from his grasp.' His opinion, as expressed in his writings, was that ' if the State should think proper to frame new creeds by cutting the old ones in pieces and throwing them into the cauldron to be reboiled, we have no remedy, except such as may lie hidden among the resources of the providence of God. . . . Let Christianity,' he therefore argued, ' keep its own acts to its own agents, and not make them over to hands which would justly be deemed profane and sacrilegious when they come to trespass on the province of the sanctuary.' ^ The ' province of the sanctuary ' in Mr. Gladstone's mind certainly included the teaching of religion to children ; and even in regard to the conscience clause he raised many ingenious points, as may be seen from the following letter written a few years after these events, when the question was again prominent. ' Mr. Gladstone, Later Gleanings, Theological and Ecclesiastical, pp, 299, 303. 304- 424 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xv. Mr. Gladstone to Lord Granville. September 6, 1865. ' My dear Granville, — I have not yet been able to read the evidence on education ; if, therefore, I trouble you with betises on the conscience clause, which it disposes of, do not take the pains to answer this letter. But I am uneasy about the ticket you have chosen for it (I say you, because I do not know that it has even been before the Education Committee), which seems to me difficult to defend by reason of antiquity. 'Provision I understand is required to allow the withdrawal of the children of Dissenters from instruction in the " formularies and doctrine " of the Church of England. What does this mean ? If it be limited to instruction from ex professo in Church doctrine, it is an immediate corollary to the exemption from formularies ; but this limitation of meaning is too important I think to be left as matter of inference only. And then arises the question whether it could or ought to satisfy the Dissenting argument. ' But suppose the schoolmaster is reading with his boys the third chapter of St. John, and he explains the passage relating to baptism in the sense of the Prayer Book and Articles. The Dissenter would say this is instruction in the doctrines of the Church of England. Now it is utterly impossible for you to tell the Church schoolmaster or the clergyman that he must not in his school explain any passage of Scripture in a sense to which any of the parents of the children, or at least any sect, objects ; for there you would in principle entirely alter the character of the religious teaching for the rest of the scholars, and in fact upset the whole system. The Dissenter, on the other hand, ought (in my opinion) to be entitled to withdraw his child from the risk (if he considers it such) of receiving instruction of the kind I describe. But would the conscience clause secure to him this right ? Would not a very awkward wrangle arise upon the question whether bo7id-fide exposition of the Scripture text, inciden- tally touching doctrine in which the Church of England differs from some other body, is to be considered as " instruction in the doctrine of the Church of England " ? It would not be desirable to leave the decision of such a question to an excentric and political depart- ment with fluctuating views. ' It appears to me as if the right of withdrawal ought to embrace the whole or any part of the religious instruction, or of what the parent considers to be such. You are strong on this ground, but weak, as I think, when you use language which gives even the faintest colour to the imputation that your real meaning is, under 1859-1864] Minister of Education 425 cover of protecting exceptional consciences, to invade the integrity of the instruction which is to be given to the mass of the children. * Sincerely yours, ' W. E. Gladstone.' Violent opposition manifested itself against the proposal of the Commission to introduce municipal rating for educa- tion. The opposition was of a twofold character. It arose partly from the representatives of Nonconformist opinion, who objected to being rated for schools most of which, especially in the country districts, were, and would continue to be, under Church control ; and partly from the representa- tives of the ratepayers themselves. At an early stage there- fore this proposal had in consequence to be abandoned. There remained the question of the basis on which the Government grants were to be distributed. It was around this question that the battle was now fought, and here Lord Granville, under the influence of Mr. Lowe, parted company with Lord Russell. Those who take part in public affairs at the present day have watched a steady process by which the inspection of schools as the basis of the grants paid by the Government has been substituted for the examination of individual pupils ; but in 1859 the tendency was towards an exactly opposite change. Inspection of the school as a whole was then the rule, but many — and those the persons most conversant with the subject — considered that inspection was not producing satisfactory results ; that too much time was being sacrificed to the production of a few brilliant pupils, and that the rank and file of the elementary scholars of the country frequently left school without even the slender equipment in reading, writing, and arithmetic requisite to fit them for the struggle of life. The abandonment of inspection as the basis of the payment of Government grants thus became in 1861 the cry of the educational reformer. This order of ideas pre- vailed up to a certain point with the Royal Commission, for one of their principal recommendations was a proposal that the future basis of the Privy Council aid should be a system of capitation grants, to be paid per head on the 426 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xv. average number in attendance, and to be divided into three classes according to the age of the children, the size of the school, and the report of the inspector of the school.^ When the Revised Code appeared, it was accordingly found that, in addition to many other proposals which excited controversy, it had adopted a plan largely reversing the existing state of things, and proposing to introduce a system of payment de- pending on the results of the examination of individual pupils, according to the number of passes in reading, writing, and arithmetic, coupled with the future condition of a favourable report being given in regard to the discipline of the school and the efficiency of the religious instruction. This system, of which Mr. Lowe was the author, the managers of the schools declared would greatly reduce their income ; would oblige them to reduce the salaries of the teachers ; and would tend to degrade the condition of the teaching given. A bitter contest now in consequence arose, which raged with equal fury both inside and outside Parliament. Enormous deputations, which ' thought to prevail by their numbers and much speaking,' invaded the Council Office ; and Lord Gran- ville, as titular head of the Office, had to receive them all, especially when, as a rule, they said they had come to appeal to the Lord President to save them from the talons of the Vice- President. Lord Palmerston is said to have once defined a deputation as ' a noun of multitude, signifying many but not much,' but these deputations were formidable. ' Here they come in number about five thousand,' was Mr. Lowe's pithy description of a body of enraged clergy who were thronging the passages one summer morning and about to seek an audi- ence of the Lord President.^ Lord Granville stood firmly by the Minister around whose head the clerical lightning played in the House of Commons. He had able and loyal advisers in Mr. Helps and Mr, Lingen, who were in entire harmony ' A summary of the Report of the Commission will be found in Four Periods of Public Education, by Sir James Kay Shuttleworth (Longmans, London, 1861), p. 563- - Patchelt Martin, Life of Robert Lowe, Viscount Sherbrooke, ii. 219. 1859-1864] Minister of Education 427 with the poHcy of their parliamentary leaders ; but he failed to secure the support of the equally high authority of Sir James Kay Shuttleworth, who for many years had been the able and indefatigable Vice-President of the Council before that post had been made a parliamentary office. Sir James now expressed himself with some acrimony as to the changes proposed by his successor, which he regarded as the reversal of the principles of the Minute of 1846 on Inspection, of which he was the acknowledged author, and he published a powerful criticism of the Revised Code in the shape of two letters addressed to Lord Granville. He thereby greatly strengthened the opposition, which was now able to cite on their own side the authority of the man generally regarded as the practical founder of the system of national education in England, who had hitherto been the object of their attacks and was chiefly known as the trusted adviser of former Presidents of the Council.^ But notwithstanding the high authority of Sir James Kay Shuttleworth, the antagonists of the Code could not deny the broad fact which came clearly out of the Report of the Royal Commission, viz. that whereas 2,200,000 children ought to have been in the inspected schools, not more than 920,000 actually attended them, and that only 230,000 received adequate and efficient instruction in the elements of reading, writing, and arithmetic. The Revised Code it was said remedied the objection made to the existing system of Privy Council grants, that three-fourths of the children of the working classes obtained no educa- tion, and that the expense was incommensurate with the results. A minor but not unimportant ground of attack on the Revised Code was that it had been published just after the rising of Parliament in 1861, and that an attempt had been ' Two Letters to Earl Grativi/le, K.G., in 1861 : (i) on the recommendations of the Conmiissioneis appointed by warrant under the Queen's sign manual of June 30, 1858, to inquire into the present state of popular education in England as contained in their report dated March 18, 1861, presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of her Majesty ; (2) on the minute of the Committee of Council on Education, dated July 29, 1861, establishing a Revised Code of regula- tions for the distribution of the parliamentary grant. 428 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xv. thereby made by Lord Granville to steal a march on the public. It was urged that changes so considerable ought to have been embodied in a Bill ; and that so large an exercise of legis- lative powers by a public department, even though not ultra vires, was nevertheless objectionable, and went beyond what Parliament had intended when it confided those powers to the Privy Council. Lord Granville explained the Code to the House of Lords in a speech of great clearness and studied moderation, in which he pointed out that, whatever else might be true, the cry which had been raised of ' The Church in danger ! ' was ridiculous, and indeed hardly honest, for the religious inspec- tion was not touched, and the whole grant to a school might be disallowed on an unfavourable report of the religious teach- ing and moral discipline. Mr. Helps had a long interview with his chief the day before the battle began. ' After I went away [he wrote to him early in the morning of the following day] I thought over what you had said, and liked it all. You will make a great speech. One point, however, you did not mention, though I think it must have been in your mind, and I want you to give three or four sentences to it. It is this — that with the acknowledged facts before you, you were bound to make a change in the system. There could have been no clamour if there had been but little change. You, however, knowing well the difficulty of the subject, foreseeing large opposition and great misconstruction, determined to endeavour to provide a remedy for an acknowledged evil, and not to be content with patching. To have done otherwise would have been an easy course, but would have been a signal dereliction of duty. ' I tell you why I want you to labour this obvious point. People in general seem to think that you and Lowe rushed out, like Irish- men at a fair, to have a blow at something or somebody. Show that you were obliged to come forth as you have done ; and ask them whether any great plan that could have been devised to meet the evil would not have been sure to encounter the resistance that belongs to every project of sound reform. Do not fear to make too long a speech to-day. It is a very great matter, and will bear an ample treatment. *You can at the same time be severe in argument and gracious in expression. The latter is very needful to-day, even towards Shuttleworth. You will remove the discussion into a higher sphere 1859-1864] Minister of Education 429 than personal contention. That sort of work may be done else- where. ' Forgive me for thus troubling you ; but few people, I believe, watch your career with more affectionate anxiety (if I may say so) than I do. ' Be very tender [he added in a postscript] with the schoolmasters, even though they may have gone beyond their province. Think what a conceited animal by nature a pedagogue is.' ^ The struggle, how^ever, was only just beginning. All through March and April it raged in both Houses. In the House of Lords, Lord Granville had to face not only the regular leaders of the Opposition, who were quick to seize the opportunity afforded them, but also the fornaidable attacks of the Bishop of Oxford, and the friendly but not less dangerous criticism of experts such as Lord Lyttelton.^ Lord Palmerston's experienced eye quickly saw danger ahead. Some concessions it became clear would have to be made in order to save the ship, and the Government eventually consented that the Privy Council grants should be given on a system framed so as to recognise not only * passes ' in examination, but attendance also ; that the grouping of pupils for examination in specified subjects should be made in such manner as the managers might determine ; and that it should be more clearly expressed that the grant was to be withdrawn if religious instruction should be found to be neglected. Some useful proposals in regard to the training colleges had also to be abandoned ; for they had excited the apprehensions of the Church, and any further revision of the Code would, it was promised, be laid before Parliament at least a month before coming into operation. These and some other minor concessions Lord Granville announced in the House of Lords on April 1 1 ; stating at the same time that they were made out of deference to the wishes of the House of Commons, and not because the Government approved of them on their ' Mr. Helps to Lord Granville, February 12, 1862. "^ The principal debates in the House of Lords were on February 13 and March 4, 1862. 430 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xv. merits.^ Thus for the moment did this great struggle end ; but the same questions which distracted the educational reformers in the early sixties have come up again and again during the past forty years, and although the leaders of Nonconformity have learnt wisdom, the claims of the Church still continue a permanent obstacle in the path of those who desire to set up a really national system of education in this country. In 1863 a ' conscience clause' was proposed. Though at the time confined to parishes having only one school, it was bitterly attacked because it exempted the children of Non- conformists from compulsory attendance at the religious teaching and the public worship of the Church of England, and was therefore denounced as an infringement of the most sacred rights of the Establishment. Lord Granville and Mr. Lowe, however, triumphed on this occasion ; but for Mr. Lowe it was a Pyrrhic victory, and he had to pay the penalty of success. He was soon after accused of ' editing ' the reports of the inspectors of education in an unjustifiable manner, in order to make them appear more in harmony with his own views than they really were in regard to the effects of the Code and kindred matters ; and had to succumb to a parliamentary attack from the disappointed and infuriated Church party who on April 12, 1864, suc- ceeded in carrying a motion in the House of Commons censuring what was termed ' the mutilation ' by the Vice- President of the school reports. Mr. Lowe considered that he had been but weakly defended by some of his colleagues in the House of Commons,- from which the departure of Lord John Russell had removed the only Minister besides himself with a keen personal interest in education, though it is true that Lord John Russell viewed the proposals of the Code in regard to inspection — involving as they did a reversal of the policy of 1846 — with no great favour. ' The principal debates on these questions will be found in Hansard, clxv. 89, 170-184,345, 1007, 1014-15, 1022, 1136-1146, 1500; clxvi. 537-538, 755-758, 831-834. -' Patchett Martin, Li/e of Robert Lozue, Viscount Sherbrooke, ii. 220. 1859-1864] Minister of Education 431 It was otherwise in regard to the conscience clause, and Mr. Disraeli was able to taunt the Cabinet successfully with the weak support which in Lord John Russell's absence from the House they had given to their own policy. Certain it is that Mr. Lowe himself considered that in the House of Commons he had lacked the chivalrous support which he had received in the House of Lords. Lord Granville and Mr. Lowe both immediately tendered their resignation after the vote of April 1 2. Lord Palmers- ton requested them both to withdraw it. Lord Granville stated that he could not do so unless Lord Palmerston could induce the House of Commons also to withdraw the stigma which they had attached to him as head of the Privy Council Office. Lord Palmerston considered that no attack had been made on Lord Granville, and this was true. After some further explanations in the House of Commons, Lord Granville accordingly withdrew his own resignation.^ But Mr. Lowe, who understood that he undoubtedly had been the object of a personal attack and a personal censure, deemed it impossible to overlook these obvious facts, and therefore adhered to his determination, and demanded the appoint- ment of a committee to examine the charges made against him. Lord Granville considered that Mr. Lowe was the best judge of what was required by his own sense of honour, and when the final decision had been taken he conveyed his own feelings to Mr. Lowe as follows : — Lord Granville to Mr. Lowe. 16 Bruton Street, April 17, 1864. ' My dear Lowe, — I am still of opinion that logically you should have awaited the decision of the Committee ; but I appreciate the scrupulous delicacy with which you regard a point affecting your personal honour. You refer in very kind words to our relations during the last five years. Those personal relations are now for a time broken. I shall miss every day the support I have received from your remarkable powers of mind, and the confidence I have reposed in your unswerving zeal for the advantage of the public service. I shall miss still more the opportunity of daily intercourse ' Hansard, cxci. I 432 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xv. with one for whom feelings of regard have gradually strengthened into those of strong attachment. I am sure you will join with me in preventing such intercourse being sensibly diminished. 'Yours sincerely, ' Granville.' Encouraged by their partial success in the field of primary education, the Government determined to try to touch the edge of the question known to a former and comparatively plain-minded generation as Middle Class Education, but then beginning to be termed Secondary Education, and since termed ' Education other than Elementary,' thereby once more making public confession of the inability of the English language to express itself clearly in legal terms,' In 1864 legitimate grounds existed for a respite of action, because the facts on which alone action could be based were not as yet ascertained. A motion was made in the House of Commons urging some action by Sir John Pakington and accepted by the Government. The appointment of a Royal Com- mission which followed to examine and report was no excuse for delay, but a legitimate step. The selection of the Com- missioners, however, was no easy task. The first persons Lord Granville consulted were Lord Russell and Mr. Lowe. To the latter he offered a place upon it : to the former he offered the Chairmanship. The names of Lord Lyttelton, Lord Taunton, Mr. W. E. Forster, Lord Fortescue, Dr. Temple, Dean Lake, Dr. Storrar, Sir Stafford Northcote, Mr. Twistleton, and Mr. Halford Vaughan were only a few of those suggested for an invitation to serve. The choice of a chairman was above all things difficult. Lord Russell, owing to the ties of the Foreign Office, declined. Lord Clarendon and Lord Devon were next suggested. Eventually Lord Taunton accepted. Still more difficult was the choice of the Commissioners. From Mr. Lowe, Lord Granville received the following characteristic letter of advice in which he refused the offer of a place : — ' See the language of the Education Act, 1902, 2 Edward VII., c. 42, s. 2. 1 859-1864] Minister of Education 433 Mr. Lowe to Lord Granville. Sherbrooke, Caterham, Surrey, October 21, 1864. ' My dear Granville, — I am very much obliged to you for the trouble you have been so kind as to take. I need not trouble you to-morrow, for the list of the Commission is quite enough to satisfy me that I could be of no use on it. I never like entering a body of the kind without having some hope of managing it, and here I see none. * The only man in whom I should have any confidence is Temple, and he could hardly attend regularly, and is a parson after all : a very material point when you come to deal with the appropriation of endowments. Forster is not the least to be trusted in Church and education matters, and wants education himself. Carpenter or Storrar would have little influence. ' Altogether, therefore, I think I should be able to do no good, and hope you will not think me captious or unkind if I beg you to excuse me from serving on this inquiry. * Believe me always, with many apologies for the trouble I have given you, ' Very sincerely yours, ' Robert Lowe.' If Mr. Lowe was severe on Mr. Forster, Lord Lyttelton, whom Lord Granville next consulted, was equally severe on others of their suggested colleagues. In a letter declining the Chairmanship, he asked * to be excused if he wrote at much greater length than Lord Granville had perhaps bargained for.' His great attainments notwithstanding, he well knew that his handwriting was the despair of his friends, who in after years invented an excellent tale that he had put in an amendment at the table of the House of Lords to the Reform Bill of 1867, proposing that nobody who could not read and write legibly should be entitled to vote, but had that amendment returned to him by the Clerk next day as itself illegible and incapable of entry on the Journals without further explanation. ' Frederick Cavendish,' he now wrote, * says that when you got an unusually long and illegible letter, it always came to him noted, " What is all this about ? " But the second epithet is so clearly inapplicable in my case that I cannot anticipate anything of the kind. So he went on to review his proposed colleagues, beginning with Lord Clarendon. VOL. I. F F 434 ^tf^ ^f i^^^ Second Earl Granville [ch. xv. Lord Clarendon had identified himself with the reform of the great public schools, a task which he had taken in hand with the support of the Government, and with the special good-will of Lord Granville, who, like Lord Clarendon, desired to see modern languages, history and science, occupy- ing some portion of the time too exclusively devoted, especially at Eton, to the practice of writing Latin verses. A Royal Commission had been appointed, and had just concluded its labours. Of that Commission, Lord Clarendon had been Chairman. Lord Lyttelton had been one of his colleagues, with several others of those whose names were now suggested for the inquiry on Secondary Education. Lord Clarendon however, in the opinion of Lord Lyttelton, sinned by making jokes, which annoyed the witnesses ; while Lord Devon sinned by not being able to joke at all. ' He can laugh sometimes,' Lord Lyttelton said, ' but a joke you might as well expect from a bell-wether or a Newfoundland dog.' In regard to the other members of the Commission, Sir Stafford Northcote judging from past experience would, he thought, be ' the ablest and most serviceable of the lot,' but * he is devoured by political ambition, and if your rickety Government tumbles to pieces, he becomes Chancellor of the Exchequer and exit' Mr. Edward Twistleton was ' a queer man, who had long fits of silence and torpor alternating with great vivacity.' Professor Hepworth Thompson — after- wards Master of Trinity — was ' a man of most polished and philosophical intellect, of great wit and humour, but over- refined and fastidious, somewhat too satirical and consti- tutionally very indolent, though if you poke him up he will do a fair share of work.' Nevertheless, for all these there was much to be said, but there was one man to be avoided. That man was Halford Vaughan, the glory and the despair of a bygone Oxford generation. In regard to him, said Lord Lvttelton : — ' He is a marvel of subtle and minute industry, power of elaborate investigation, and long-drawn and luminous statements and argu- ments, at least as luminous as his labyrinthine processes of thought admitted of; but much of it far too artificial and theoretical ; and his 1859-1864] Minister of Education 435 practical results, though not to be despised, by no means in propor- tion to the quantity of matter out of which they came. He used to rule his own statistical tables, and do all kinds of work down to that of the merest clerk, for himself. But with all this as a colleague he was intolerable. He would puzzle any witness out of his wits with metaphysical cross-questioning ; and so disputatious, proHx, un- manageable a man in council, it was hardly possible to meet with. He quarrelled, I believe, with nearly all his friends, and lives a sort of hermit life at the top of Hampstead Heath.' ^ Such are but a few of the opinions of candid friends, conscious of one another's disabilities, to be found among the mass of replies to the letters which Lord Granville addressed to many eminent persons, either inviting them to serve on the Commission or seeking their advice whom it would be politic to invite : replies which if collected might iorm a valuable additional chapter of the work entitled What Great Men have said of Great Men. Meanwhile it must suffice to note that eventually a commission was issued on December 28, 1864, to Lord Taunton as Chairman with Lord Stanley, Lord Lyttelton, Sir Stafford Northcote, Dr. Hook, Dr. Temple, the Rev. A. W. Thorold, Mr. Acland, Mr. E. Baines, Mr. W. E. Forster, Mr. Erie, and Dr. Storrar, as colleagues. Mr. Halford Vaughan was left in the retire- ment of his hut on Hampstead Heath. The interest of Lord Granville in education was not ministerial only, nor confined to his office. In the Potteries, with which he was closely connected, an enormous ' school population,' to use the modern phrase, was growing up. For over a quarter of a century he was the sole lessee of the Shelton collieries, and was one of the largest shareholders in the iron and steel works at Etruria, and when those two great industrial undertakings were amalgamated he became Chairman of the Board of Directors. With Mr. William Woodall as an adviser, he founded elementary schools at Cobridge, and in connection with the Coal and L"on Masters' Prize Scheme supported one of the first of the numerous plans for continuation classes, out of which at a later date ' Lord Lyttelton to Lord Granville, 1864, undated. F V 2 43^ Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xv. the movement for technical education developed itself. In the success of the Wedgwood Institute he also took an active interest, accompanying Mr. Gladstone in 1863 on the occasion of the laying of the foundation stone and the delivery by him of one of those addresses which reminded the public how wide the range was of the varied accomplishments of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. As Chancellor of the London University, to which he was elected in 1856, Lord Granville became intimately asso- ciated with the cause of higher education at the centre of the life of the nation. ' It might be said,' Sir James Paget observed when Vice-Chancellor, ' that the work there was to Lord Granville in some ways perhaps like a recreation, inasmuch as it enabled him to escape from the conflicts of politics.' The period of Lord Granville's Chancellorship — it lasted altogether thirty- five years — 'was one of continual progress, not only in the University, but in the prosperity and advancement of the highest education throughout the United Kingdom,' ' and made considerable demands on the time and attention of even the titular head of the University, who however had very strong opinions of his own on some educational subjects. The cause of admission of women to the examination and degrees was in particular one which he was never weary of pleading, and his wit and good humour had perhaps as much to say to the success in the final struggle as the heavy artillery of more .serious arguments. Were not ' blue stockings,' it was frequently asked, the most odious of the human race? Would not the proposed examination be an invitation to blue stockings ? Was the University tamely to allow itself to be overrun with ' blue stockings ' ? Heaven forbid ! Lord Granville fortunately had not forgotten how Sydney Smith had poured ridicule on those who believed that ' the perpetual solicitude a mother feels towards her children depends on her ignorance of Greek and mathematics ; ' and ' that she would desert an infant for a quadratic equation ! ' ' Sir James Paget, speech on Presentation Day of the University of London, May 13, 1891, in the limes of May 14, 1891. 1859-1864] Minister of Education 437 ' O yes ! [he replied to his critics] he was ready to admit that the most detestable women he had met with were those who might be properly called " blue stockings ;" but he agreed with Dr. Johnson, who met a similar argument by saying that if you gave a silk-laced waistcoat to a country lad, he would be proud and haughty over his fellows of the village, but that if you gave all the boys in the parish a silk-laced waistcoat, there would be no one over whom they could be proud. This, he thought, applicable to the women. If they were all educated alike, they would have no cause to pique themselves upon their superiority. But in this case he would appeal to the other sex, and ask whether they had never met with men with some small literary talent, but ungainly in manner, in mind presumptuous, dogmatic in conversation, and without any real merits whatever to justify their pretensions ; and yet it would hardly be contended that, because such characters were to be met witli, the London University should abstain from adopting a system of education which would tend to raise the moral and intellectual character of the people of this country. He would further appeal to the meeting whether they had not known women who of late years had w'ritten on science, art, history, political and social subjects, and shown a power in poetry and works of imagination, who were, in many instances, the most agreeable, most amusing, most modest, and simple women they had ever known in their lives. He once was speaking with his late friend, Signor Marochetti, of a lady of great talent whom they both knew, when he remarked, " She is a great man, but she is also a charming woman." ' ^ The realisation of the advantage which his own knowledge of French had been to him, made Lord Granville urge that the conversational knowledge of modern languages should be given weight in the university and Civil Service examinations. On this subject he carried on a long but friendly controversy with Mr. Grote. Even the Post Office he thought might be encouraged to cultivate such knowledge. Had he not himself once received a letter with an address, a natural one for a Frenchman to write, En son hotel a Londrcs, and had not this proved too much for the officials of St. Martin's le Grand, who when they at length forwarded the letter to the proper destination were found to have first marked the envelope, ' Not known at the Eiiston Hotel'' "i ' Speech at the London University, May 13, 1S68, in the Times of May 14, 1868. 438 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xv. Lord Granville's power of adapting himself to the mood of the moment, added to the gift of conversational eloquence, had from an early date secured to him a special welcome on all non-political occasions and the reputation of being the most popular after-dinner speaker of his day — in Lord Canning's phrase, ' the great master of public joking ' — equally welcome at the Literary Fund Dinner, or at the annual banquet of the Royal Academy, as at the Iron and Steel Institute, where tlie principal owner of the Shelton Mineral Estate seemed to be in his natural element, and where anybody listening to him would easily have been persuaded that the development of the iron industries of England had been the sole interest and the principal occupation of his life. Speeches on such occasions were also, he thought, good prac- tice ; and he once recommended Lord Hartington to attend innumerable charity dinners for the benefit of his elocution. But of all such occasions Lord Granville's opening address at the annual prize day of the University of London was always looked forward to as that on which he was at his best, and his speech was the event of the afternoon. ' I have received your note with deep regret and considerable uneasiness on more than one account,' Mr. Grote wrote just before one of these occasions, when owing to some clashing of dates and duties the Chancellor had had to excuse himself and ask the Vice-Chancellor to replace him. ' If it be really a matter of necessity, I must of course take your place and do the duty as well as I can ; but if it be not a matter of strict necessity, I would beg you to reconsider the case. As Vice-Chancellor, I can relieve you from all trouble about the detail and management of the University ; and I am perfectly willing to do so. But for the periodical solemnities, the effect of your presence and discourse is such as I cannot in any way supply : the more so, as your discourses have in every successive year been admirably suited to the occasion, and have produced an excellent effect. I have heard them always remarked upon in the most favourable manner. It is neither flattery nor false modesty which makes me speak when I ^ Lord Granville to Lord IlarLinglon, October 29, 1S79. 1859-^864] Minister of Education 439 say, that the scene presided over by me in your place will be terribly flat and disappointing. ' I shall be very glad to hear that you can overcome this necessity. I assure you that the case is one which demands an effort to do so. I will add that the fatigue of the ceremony is something which I really dread. This is the one day in the year on which your presence as Chancellor is all but indispensable.' CHAPTER XVI FOREIGN AFFAIRS 1 862-1 864 Ein garstig Lied ! Pfui ! ein politisch Lied ! Ein leidig Lied ! Dank Gott mit jedem Morgen, Dass ihr nicht braucht flirs Rom'sche Reich zu sorgen ! Ich halt' es wenigstens fur reichlichen Gewinn, Dass ich nicht Kaiser oder Kanzler bin. Doch muss auch uns ein Oberhaupt nicht fehlen. Goethe, Faust. Ill success in the early part of 1862 continued to beset the Federal generals and armies in America. The Emperor of the French, who had plunged his army into Mexico, fearing, and as the event proved with reason, that the Federal arms might nevertheless be eventually successful, and that their success might prove fatal to his wild adventure, desired to take advantage of the situation as it then stood in order to offer mediation, and to recognise the Southern Confederacy as a Sovereign State in the event of a refusal by the Government at Washington. Lord Granville had supported Lord Russell in declining to allow an English force to join the French expedition in their march into the interior of Mexico. The dangerous and uncertain character of the aim of this expedition from the very commencement deeply impressed itself on the mind of the British Cabinet, and the catastrophe in which it ended served to create a permanent opinion against dashes into distant and almost unknown lands, with no clear idea or determinate policy as to the objects to be gained. Lord Granville's own letters show how when twenty years after- wards the question of an expedition into Egypt — still more Foreign Affairs 441 of an expedition into the Soudan — was mooted, the story of the siege of Puebla and the tragedy at Queretaro, of the protracted guerilla warfare and the consequent disorganisation of the French army which was so vitally to affect the result of the Franco-German War, were memories constantly present to him and his colleagues. But if Lord Russell wisely declined to go an inch beyond Vera Cruz, he showed signs of favouring the proposed me- diation between the belligerents further North ; and Lord Granville had to intervene to prevent a step the consequences of which would have been almost as incalculable as a plunge into Mexico itself. It was premature in his opinion to assume that the fortune of war had as yet proved itself to be decisively on the side of the South. A rather bellicose letter reached him at Gotha from the Foreign Minister, whom he had succeeded there in September as Minister in attendance on the Queen. It happened that at the moment he was reading a history of Lorraine. Out of the pages of the book he took occasion to remind Lord Russell, to whose mind an historical analogy always recommended itself, how in 1636 the Imperial armies invaded France, and began by marching rapidly upon Paris.^ They were opposed by no great army nor by any very skilful general ; but they were obliged to retreat. The French then in their turn tried to invade Lorraine ; a province at the time defended neither by large armies nor by considerable fortresses. They were defeated through the resistance of one small town. The Imperialists in their turn again invaded France, and were themselves unexpectedly stopped by the gallant defence of another small town.^ The moral to be derived from these abortive campaigns and their uncertain issue might, Lord Granville ' The allusion is to the events of the later part or ' third period ' of the Thirty Years' War, when, after the battle of Ncirdlingen, France entered into the struggle ; and Lorraine, Alsace, and what is now the East of France, became the scene of operations. ■•* The town is St. Jean de Losne, which in 1636 drove back the Imperial armies from Burgundy and saved France. Its inhabitants in consequence were set free from taxation and enjoyed the immunity till the Revolution. An account of St. Jean de Losne will be found in Miss Bctham-Edwards's East of Paris. 442 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xvi. thought, be deemed not inappHcable to the fortunes of the American War, and to point to perseverance in the poHcy of watching events which hitherto had been pursued by the British Government, rather than to any premature plunge into partisan action.^ * John Russell [he wrote to Lord Stanley of Alderley] has sent me a message announcing a Cabinet, to consider whether we should offer to mediate, and in case of refusal to recognise the Confederates. Palmerston had already said something to me on the subject. I have written to Johnny my reasons for thinking it decidedly pre- mature. I, however, suspect you will settle to do so ! Pam, Johnny, and Gladstone would be in favour of it ; and probably Newcastle. I do not know about the others. It appears to me a great mistake.' ^ In a letter to Lord Russell he recorded his opinions at greater length. Fortunately for the peace of the world and for the future relations of Great Britain and the United States, his views at the decisive moment, though he was not present to support them in person, proved to be those of the majority of the Cabinet ; and there is every reason to suppose of the Queen also, who ' had an instinctive dread of war and of all foreign complications likely to result in war.' ^ The letter to Lord Russell ran as follows : — Lord Granville to Lord Russell. GOTHA, September 27, 1862. 'My dear Lord John, — Meade has given me your message, viz. that the Cabinet is likely to be summoned to consider the present state of the American question : whether the time is not come to offer the mediation of H.M.'s Government, and in case of refusal to recognise the Southern Confederacy. When I last saw Lord Palmerston, he mentioned the subject to me, so that I have had time to think over it. ' Lord Granville to Lord Russell, September 27, 1862 ; Lord Palmerston to Lord Russell, September 14, 1862 ; Lord Russell to Lord Palmerston, September 17, 1862. - Lord Granville to Lord Stanley of Alderley, October I, 1862. •' See the Proceedings of the Massachusetls Historical Society, II, October 1903, and IV, December 1903 to January 1904, pp. 123-152 and 439-458, where the subject is discussed in an article by the President, Mr. C. F. Adams. 1 862-1 864] Foreign Affairs 443 ' If we were asked to mediate, we could not refuse. The North hate us now; the Southern leaders did hate us, and may for all we know do so now or hereafter; and therefore we might selfishly argue that it was not politically disadvantageous to us that both parties should exhaust themselves a little more before they make peace. It would, however, be monstrous not to avail ourselves of a good opportunity to put an end to the crimes and calamities which are now desolating North America, and inflicting at the same time injury on our commerce and manufactures. But the difficulties of mediation are great. Public opinion in England is diametrically opposed to that of both Northern and Southern statesmen on slavery. The questions of boundary are of vital importance not only to the North and South, but to the West. The negotiations would have to be carried on in common with the French, who, although they want cotton, are partial to the North. I doubt whether any European Government really understands American politics, or the objects of the North and of the South, and of the different states once released from the hope of preserving the Great Union ; or the views of the different important parties in the Republic. ' I doubt whether, in offering to mediate, we should do so with any bona-fide expectation of its being accepted. If either or both parties wished for mediation, we should certainly have had some (more or less direct) intimation of it. ' It is possible that one or both belligerents might accept the offer of mediation, not with a view to peace, nor with the intention of making concessions mutually acceptable, but for the purpose of gaining time, intriguing politically and renewing their military resources. In that case we should be dupes ; we should give false hopes of a supply of cotton, and destroy the stimulus, which although painful at the moment is likely to be so beneficial for the future by giving us supplies from our own possessions and other parts of the world. ' The probability is that our offers would be refused by one or both belligerents, as such offers generally are when made before they are wanted. If the South refuses, which in consistency with their public declarations, repudiating all foreign interference, they ought to do, it would be hardly a reason for recognising them. If the North alone refused, the question would then naturally arise, whether we ought not then to recognise the South. Such a recognition, as has been explained several times to Parliament by the Government, would not by itself remove the blockade, or supply us with cotton. It would give no physical strength to the South, but it would greatly stimulate the North and undoubtedly assist their Government in raising men and money. By the time you will receive this letter, 444 ^if^ of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xvi. you will probably know more of the relative positions of the combatants. At present we know that the Federals have been defeated in their attempt to conquer the South, but we also know that the two parties have changed parts in the great tragedy. The Southerners, instead of being invaded, are become the invaders. ' It would not be a good moment to recognise the South just before a great Federal success. If, on the other hand, the Con- federates continue victorious, as it is to be hoped, we should stand better then than now in recognising them. 'In any case I doubt, if the war continues long after our recognition of the South, whether it will be possible for us to avoid drifting into it. The expectation of an immediate supply of the best cotton will have been raised in this country. The dislike which now exists between us will be much increased. The North will become desperate, and even against their intentions will give us innumerable casus belli. The result of such a war under present circumstances is not doubtful, but much valuable blood would be unnecessarily spilt, infinitely more treasure would be spent than is sufficient to maintain the cotton operatives during their temporary distress ; and whether the French went with us or not, it is not unlikely that circumstances might arise which would enable the Emperor more freely to adopt any foreign policy either in Italy or elsewhere which might suit him. ' I am afraid your message was not intended to produce such a long rigmarole, but you will see by it that I have come to the con- clusion that it is premature to depart from the policy which has hitherto been adopted by you and Lord Palmerston, and which, notwithstanding the strong antipathy to the North, the strong sympathy with the South, and the passionate wish to have cotton, has met with such general approval from Parliament, the press, and the public. ' Yours sincerely, ' Granville.' So ended this unwise attempt at intervention. But the danger of a rupture with the United States had hardly- been averted, when a cloud arose in the East of Europe. Poland was once more in insurrection. The Emperor of the French and the nation over which he reigned had strong Polish sympathies.' A similar state of feeling existed in England and found an echo in the hearts of the ' two ancient masters,' whose bellicose tendencies the Queen was now intervening to check. ' See above, ch. v. p. 121. 1862-1864] Foreign Affairs 445 Whatever were the treaty rights of Europe under the stipu- lations of 181 5 in regard to intervention in Poland, whatever were the merits or the demerits of the Poles as a nation, and whether they had or had not brought their troubles on their own heads, diplomatic intervention without the support of Austria or Prussia seemed to Lord Granville an act of mad- ness ; while to encourage the idea that military intervention might take place, even failing the support of those Powers, would only be a cruel and misleading invitation to the Poles to persevere in a hopeless struggle. Lord Palmerston and Lord Russell could not deny that the strength of the military position of Russia in Poland was very different in point of solidity from the former hold of Austria on Italy, and that without the co-operation of Austria and Prussia nothing effectual could be done to aid the insurrection. But they further ignored the fact that whatever might be true in regard to the possibility of Austrian support, connivance even by Prussia was out of the question. Poland was then, as it still is, the hinge on which Prussian foreign policy turns. Ever since the first partition, to avoid a conflict with Russia has been the policy of the Prussian Foreign Office and the inherited tradition of her Royal P'amily. The Minister whom William L had just called to his councils, already contemplating that he might shortly have to open a new and perilous chapter of German and European history, which might bring him into collision with Austria and France, was determined under no circumstances whatever to risk a struggle with Russia. He, on the contrary, intended to obtain a solid guarantee of her future good- will, with an eye to coming events. To stand rigidly aloof from European intervention in the affairs of Poland was the obvious method to gain his end, especially as this policy would have the additional advantage of separating Russia from France, should France join in the proposed inter- vention. 446 Life of the Seco7id Earl Granville [ch. xvi. General Grey to Lord Granville, Balmoral, yi!g^, January 2, 1868, ' My dear Granville, — On a deliberate view of my past labours, my present age, and the future anxieties of the State, I have made up my mind not again to take office if it is now offered to me. I have communicated this decision to Mr. Gladstone, who acquiesces in the most friendly manner. I have only to say that I shall be glad, while Derby is the head of the Ministry, to help the party in any way that can be most useful. ' Yours affectionately, ' Russell. ' P.S. — This last sentence seems ambiguous. What I mean is that if a new Government is formed, my assistance, though always willing, would hardly be required.' Lord Granville to Lord Russell. 16 Bruton Strket, /am/ary 3, 1868. 'My dear Lord Russell, — Your letter took me by surprise. There is no one in England who has so clear a right to rest as you, if you wish it, or think it necessary for your health. There seems, however, no chance at present of a change of Government, and it is impossible to say what may be the state of the country, and of parties, when this Administration comes to an end. 'All younger politicians must envy you, who through storm and sunshine have built up a great political reputation. But that fact imposes on you great responsibility. I am glad to learn that in any case you do not intend to make any change in your present position. ' Yours affectionately and gratefully, ' Granville.' From Italy, Lord Clarendon wrote on the situation thus created. ' I suppose that there will be nothing to do in England except watching the undeserved success of the Tories, and the hopeless disunion of the Whigs, which, as far as I am concerned, may be done as well at Rome as in London. You must be a far better judge than myself, but I cannot discover a germ of approximation towards Gladstone, or an attempt to discover how he can be done without ; there seems a determination to distrust him, and to find fault with whatever he does or does not do. His genius and eloquence enable him to soar high above the heads of his party, who are always 1 865- 1 86 7] The Leadership 0/ Eaj'l Russell 519 suspicious of what he may devise when he gets into higher or un- known latitudes. * If Derby gets one or two more such attacks as the last, he will not much longer be able to render his party the cohesive service of his name, and then will come the question of "Disraeli" or "not Disraeli." His party would make no objection, but Parliament and the public being less interested may be more doubtful, and if he thinks the pear is not ripe, I expect he will propose a Duke, and that Richmond will be he. Disraeli is bent on being First Minister, and his chances of it would be gone if lie took office under Stanley. I wonder whether you will agree with me, or whether you have a better tracing of the future? If so, please let me have it. I was horrified at the announcement that Ivan Ivanovitch was about to address Chich. on the state of Ireland,' and I am sure that your unavailing efforts will be useless to prevent it, but I conclude that if he did not get occasional relief he would die of suppressed epistle.' - Lord Clarendon's forecast proved correct. Lord Derby resigned early in 1868, and Mr. Disraeli became Prime Minister. A few minor offices were redistributed, but beyond the change in the Premiership and the substitution of Sir Hugh Cairns as Chancellor for Lord Chelmsford, the composition of the Cabinet was not substantially changed, Some idea, however, of trj^ing to place his Government on a broader basis seems — at least for a moment — to have floated before the mind of the new Prime Minister. Dr. Ouin was at the time a physician of considerable reputation and much personal popularity in London society, in which he was a conspicuous figure, especially in political circles which he frequented irrespective of party, and through Dr. Ouin Mr. Disraeli tried to feel his way towards Lord Granville as a possible colleague. Lord Granville to Mr. Gladstone. 16 Bruton Street, London, W., February 13, 1868. * My dear Gladstone, — I write, in case I do not find you alone to-morrow, for yonx private information. ' In 1868 Lord Russell published a letter on the state of Ireland addressed to Mr. Chichester Fortescue. - Lord Clarendon to Lord Granville, February 4, 1868. 520 Life of the Second Earl G^-anville 'Disraeli called to-day on a friend of his and mine, not badly chosen for the purpose. He talked over the political position, the prosperous state of the Government in many respects, but their immense difficulty in the House of Lords. He thinks it impossible that Derby should go on in his present state of health, and he knows of no one who could be put in his place, who would have the will and the ability to adapt the tone of speaking in the House of Lords to the line of policy in the House of Commons. ' He then paid me some compliments, spoke of the pleasant social relations on which we had always met, suggested that it would not be difficult for us to come to some agreement on future political measures, and desired our friend to find out whether I would join him, and if so how many and which of my friends I should require to bring ! . Yours, G.' Lord Granville to Dr. Quin. Baginton Hall, Coventry, February 26, 1868. ' My dear Quin,— a thousand thanks. Your note was the first intimation of the important events. It is an immense thing for Dizzy, with all the obstacles in his way, to have accomplished. If Dizzy speaks to you again about me, you had better say that you have communicated with me ; that I am much flattered by his good opinion ; that I have a great admiration for his personal qualities ; and that his courtesy to me in all matters of business and in our social relations would make it agreeable to me to be brought into connection with him ; but there are many reasons which would oblige me to decline his Administration, and would make me of little use to him were I to do otherwise. ... * Yours sincerely, ' Granville.' CHAPTER XIX MR. GLADSTONE'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 1868 Mr. Gladstone now took one of those great resolves which make the landmarks of history. Throwing aside all ideas of concurrent endowment, at the end of May he brought forward a series of resolutions, by which he sought to pledge the House of Commons to the complete disestablishment and disendowment of the Irish Church. These resolutions were carried after four days' debate by 328 to 272, and a ' Sus- pensory Bill ' — in other words, a measure to suspend all further promotion in the Irish Church pending a fresh settle- ment — was thereupon introduced and carried against the Government by a large majority. These events led to a correspondence of a peculiarly delicate character. It was suggested by Opponents that the resolutions ought to have been moved in both Houses of Parliament, and not in the House of Commons only, and that they ought to have been previously submitted to the Crown. Special objection was taken to the third resolution, which proposed that an Address be presented to her Majesty praying that, with a view to the purposes of the two previous resolutions, ' her Majesty would be pleased to place at the disposal of Parliament her interest in the temporalities of the archbishoprics, bishoprics, and other ecclesiastical dignities and benefices in Ireland and in the custody thereof'^ It was suggested that the course adopted was not only unconstitutional, but also disrespectful to the Crown. ' Hansard, cxci. 33. 522 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xix. Lord Granville to Mr. Gladstone. Walmer Castle, Deal, April i^, 1868. ' My dear Gladstone, — I have received the inclosed from Bess- borough.^ 'My first impression was to do nothing. I am, however, afraid that if the Queen hears nothing but from one side, her displeasure with you may be the beginning of many difficulties of a serious character. ' Pray look at the accompanying draft of a letter. I have written it with a wide margin, in order that you may correct, revise, and omit. I am not quite sure of some of my facts. ' Before, however, giving yourself any trouble, consider whether it is better to write or not. ' Yours, G.' Mr. Gladstone to Lord Granville. Hawarden, 4/^n7 II, 1868. ' My dear Granville, — Many thanks for your letter, and for the inclosures which I return herewith. ' I think you are the best and the only competent judge as to the expediency of your offering an explanation of your own share in the resolutions relatively to their supposed bearing upon the Queen. ' If you write — and I in no measure dissuade you — I agree in thinking it should be to the Queen herself and to no one else, and I would suggest that you might with propriety make it quite clear — ' I. That you do this on your own behalf and not on mine. ' 2. That you do it as having been cognisant of the proceedings, I think of all the proceedings, preliminary to the introduction of the resolutions. ' I will describe my case as I see it myself. Where there is smoke there is fire, and there is probably something at the bottom of all these rumours about her Majesty's displeasure. But my opinion of the Queen's good sense, good feelings, and constitutional knowledge leads me only to receive them with an enormous discount. Though I do not feel myself entitled to offer any explanation to her Majesty, yet if I received any apparently authentic mtimation, however indirect, that it was conformable to my duty, I should then do it. ' I should do it assuming this to be a case in which error at all would be a very serious fault, and in which error by neglect would justify any terms of blame, however severe, in the case of a man who ' The letter is quoted in Lord Granville's letter to the Queen below (April 13, 1868). i868] Mr. Gladstone s First Ad^ninistration 523 now, whatever else he may be, is reckoning the fourth decade of years since first he served the Crown. ' But I should not conceal my decided opinion that as the fault would have been a most grave one, so the charge brought against us, if it has been brought by the confidential advisers of the Crown in error, and still more if in light-minded or factious error, exhibits them too as guilty of a grave offence. ' This is my view of the position ; and as to the matter itself I am really curious to know what is the course which it is supposed ought to have been taken in order to satisfy the principles of the Constitu- tion, and the claims of personal loyalty and faith. ' Ever sincerely yours, 'W. E. Gladstone.' Lord Granville's letter to the Queen ran as follows : — Lord Granville to the Queen. Walmer Castle, April 13, 1868. ' Lord Granville, with his humble duty, ventures to approach your Majesty on the subject of a letter he has received from an intimate friend, who writes : — ' " It is positively said that the Queen is very angry with you and Gladstone for having permitted resolutions touching her Majesty's prerogative to be submitted to the House, without previously sub- mitting them to her Majesty. I took little notice of it, but I find the Queen's views are the constant topic of the Conservatives, so I thought I might as well tell you." ' Lord Granville would regret your Majesty's disapproval of any political step which he may take, but that would be as nothing com- pared to your Majesty thinking him capable of any want of respect to your Majesty. It would, however, be presumptuous for him to defend himself, if he felt certain that any accurate statement had been made to your Majesty respecting the third resolution, upon which your Majesty could exercise your Majesty's judgment and constitu- tional knowledge. ' Lord Stanley in the debate said he would refer to the third resolution, but he did not do so. No more did Sir Stafford North- cote nor Mr. Disraeli. Mr. Hardy in a short sentence said that the resolutions were unconstitutional, that the Address should have been moved in both Houses. This Mr. Gladstone denied, and showed that the course he had taken was according to precedent. ' But Lord Granville finds the case stated to this effect in the Government newspapers : — ' '* Mr. Gladstone proposes to direct by a resolution of the House 524 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xix. of Commons that no further appointments be made in the Church of Ireland, and to request by an Address that her Majesty will place the patronage at the disposal of the House of Commons. He intends by a resolution of the House to cause the Queen to leave unfulfilled duties imposed upon her by the Constitution and recognised by her in the Coronation oath." ' If a similar statement was made to your Majesty, your Majesty cannot but be annoyed and indignant with those who have concurred in Mr. Gladstone's resolutions. On this account Lord Granville attaches some weight to the information this friend has sent him. ' Lord Granville has no right and no authority to speak for Mr. Gladstone ; but having been cognisant of all the preliminaries of the resolutions, he can state the facts as follows : — ' Mr. Gladstone, after the declaration of policy respecting the Irish Church by the Government, came to the conclusion that the state of Ireland and the almost unanimous opinion of the Liberal party, in accordance with his own, which for some years he has not concealed, made it necessary that he should take action on the subject in the House of Commons. ' An abstract resolution was bad, and it would have been impracti- cable to ask the Government to introduce a Bill dealing with the whole subject this session. An Irish M.P. had announced his inten- tion of moving a Bill to suspend Episcopal appointments in the Church of Ireland. This course appeared to Mr. Gladstone and to friends whom he consulted at different times to be the best mode of proving the intentions of the Legislature, and conciliating the public opinion of Ireland towards this country. ' Mr. Gladstone took especial pains to ascertain how this might be done in the most respectful manner to your Majesty. He consulted some of the late law officers and other authorities. It was proposed by one of his late colleagues to do what the Government papers say he has done. This proposal was not adopted, as wanting in respect to your Majesty. It was thought entirely out of the question for the House of Commons, without the concurrence of the other branches of the Legislature, to ask your Majesty to suspend the exercise of your Majesty's prerogative. It was believed that this could only properly be done by your Majesty permitting a Bill to be intro- duced, to be considered by both Houses of Parliament, and if passed by them to be submitted to your Majesty for the Royal Assent. Mr. Gladstone found a precedent in the Church Tem- poralities Act.^ He took the same words, but expanded them to make them more respectful. ' 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 37, 4 & 5 Will. IV. c. yo. i868] Mr. Gladstone s First Administration 525 'The third resolution asks your Majesty not to suspend your Majesty's present action, but to give your Majesty's formal assent to a Bill being introduced and considered by Parliament. ' It is competent for either branch of the Legislature to make such a request. But it would be unprecedented for any individual member of the Opposition to approach your Majesty for such a pur- pose. Any confidential communication might place your Majesty in a great difficulty. Your Majesty, since the change of your Majesty's Government, has been as kind to Lord Granville as ever, and in a way that if possible makes him feel the kindness more. But your Majesty has not spoken to Lord Granville of politics, nor would he have ventured to do so to your Majesty. ' Lord Granville may be wrong in not knowing what course ought to have been taken in order to satisfy the principles of the Constitu- tion, and the claims of personal loyalty and faith to your Majesty. He cannot be mistaken as to Mr. Gladstone not only intending no disrespect to your Majesty, but as to his not erring, if he has erred, from inattention or indifference, which in such a case would deserve the severest blame. The third resolution was adopted by him and his friends, after great consideration, as the most respectful course which in their opinion could be taken towards your Majesty. 'Lord Granville presents his humble and respectful apology for troubling your Majesty with this long and ill expressed letter. He believes, however, that your Majesty will appreciate the feelings which have dictated it.' To this communication the Queen sent a gracious answer : ' She had had too many proofs of Lord Granville's devotion to her service to allow her to believe for a moment that he could have been a party to anything which could by possi- bility imply a want of respect for her,' nor had the Queen ' ever mentioned Lord Granville's name in connection with this question.' The reports were incorrect. She at the same time acknowledged that she feared that the question of the Irish Church being mixed up with a party movement might make the ultimate settlement more difficult ; but if any reports had got abroad as to her sentiments, it was only, perhaps, what was to be expected when the subject under discussion was of such vital interest and importance, and had been brought forward so unexpectedly ; even those who brought it forward admitting that it could not be settled in this Parliament. Lord Granville, her Majesty added, 'will 526 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xix. not be surprised if the Queen adds that, on a subject of this nature, she feels bound to communicate his letter and a copy of her answer to Mr. Disraeli.'' To this communication Lord Granville replied as follows : — Lord Granville to the Queen. April 18, 1868. ' Lord Granville presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs to thank your Majesty for your Majesty's gracious answer to his letter. ' It would be unjustifiable on the part of Lord Granville to take up your Majesty's time with any argument on the opportunity of Mr. Gladstone's resolutions. ' Lord Granville thinks that perhaps he ought to apologise again to your Majesty for having troubled your Majesty with a letter, particu- larly as it was based on a rumour which turns out to be incorrect on the only point on which Lord Granville had any claim to approach your Majesty. He could, however, hardly do so with sincerity. He has felt too much pleasure at the great kindness with which your Majesty has so fully reassured him on a matter which had caused him deep anxiety. ' Lord Granville begs respectfully to add that he perfectly under- stands your Majesty's intention to show the correspondence to Mr. Disraeli.' The Government were laying on the table of the House of Lords a timid measure to deal with the English educa- tion question, a measure mainly intended to strengthen the position of the voluntary schools connected with the Church of England. Some of their supporters, after their defeat on the Church resolutions, were talking about an appeal to the nation on the old franchise. Others, however, asked why they did not at once resign. ' You asked a question about education [Lord Russell wrote to Lord Granville], and the answer satisfied my mind that the foolish measure of the Government will not be persevered with. I propose to ask, with a proper preface on the motion for adjournment on Friday next, " whether it is intended in future to dispense with the constitutional maxim that the Ministers of the Crown ought to have the confidence of the House of Commons, or whether that maxim is ' The Queen to Lord Granville, April 16, 1S68. iS6S] Mr. Gladstone s First Administration 527 only kept in abeyance till after the next general election ? " I believe the threat of a dissolution at present is only kept hanging in terrorevi over the heads of timid members of the House of Commons.' ^ The Suspensory Bill soon passed the House of Commons, and on Lord Granville, at Lord Russell's own wish, the diflficult task fell of introducing it in the House of Lords. The speech which he made greatly raised his reputation, and may perhaps be regarded as his most successful parlia- mentary effort. But the fate of the Bill was a foregone conclusion, for if the Liberal peers came up to the last man to vote for it, the Tory peers also mustered in full strength to record their votes in a division which was felt to be the prelude of greater events to come ; for the final issue could not be fought out till after the elections. On November 1 1 Parliament was dissolved. ' These elections,' Mr. Lowe wrote to Lord Granville, ' will be a complete Waterloo for the Tories ; but how long will the Whigs survive them ? ' 2 Mr. Lowe himself had found a refuge in the newly created constituency of the University of London. The University of Oxford in 1865 had ejected Mr. Gladstone from the seat which he had so long occupied and he was again seeking a political shelter in one of the divisions of Lancashire. Thence he wrote to Lord Granville, sending a copy of his address. ' I have taken all the pains I could give it,' he wrote ; ' but the affair is a serious one, and probably it is full of faults.'^ Simultaneously Mr. Disraeli issued a manifesto to the people of the United Kingdom in the shape of an address to the electors of Buckinghamshire. 'What a difference [Lord Clarendon wrote to Lord Granville from Wildbad] between the addresses of the Jew and the Gentile. The former aims at the pompous affirmations of a Queen's Speech \ but except in the part where he has to inflame religious passion, it is more like a circular of " Moses & Co." proclaiming their world- wide celebrity, and that parties will be better and more cheaply fitted at their establishment than at any other house in town. ' Lord Russell to Lord Granville, May 23, 186S. - Mr. Lowe to Lord Granville, September 12, 1S68. ' Mr. Gladstone to Lord Granville, September 16, 1868. 528 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xix. Gladstone's is the firm and purposelike language of a man girding up his loins for a mighty encounter. To my surprise and delight, it offers few opportunities for hole-picking.' ^ Mr. Gladstone was regretting that Lord Russell was not still a member of the House of Commons, and engaged like himself in courting a constituency with a population of two hundred thousand, so as * to keep him quiet.' ^ For Lord Russell was still suffering from what Lord Clarendon called ' suppressed epistle ; ' in spite of the publication of his letter on the state of Ireland to Mr. Chichester Fortescue. ' Mere fidget, however irrational [Mr. Gladstone said in a letter full of pathos and sympathy], is of little consequence, until the time comes for practical resolutions. Here is, however, sadder material for contemplation. A great reputation built itself up on the basis of splendid public services for thirty years. For almost twenty it has, I fear, been on the decline ; and now the process threatens to be rapid. The movement of the clock continues : the balance-weights are gone. I hope I am not too gloomy about it, but such is my view.' ^ Lord Russell only a few days after writing to Mr. Gladstone that he intended in future merely to watch the process of affairs ' with great interest, looking out from the loopholes of a retreat from the great world,' ^ was proposing to move a whole set of resolutions in the House of Lords on the vexed question of the proper method of dealing with the surplus revenues of the Irish Church. His proposals suggested that he had determined to adopt a detached position on the retirement of his old rival, Lord Derby ; and claimed the right to revive his old advocacy of a certain measure of concurrent endowment, even although his appearance in the chair of a great meeting at St. James's Hall earlier in the year had been interpreted at the time as an acceptance of Mr. Gladstone's policy. ' A pedantic equality,' he now wrote to Lord Granville, ' I do not aim at. It is establish- ' Lord Clarendon to Lord Granville, October li, 1868. - Mr. Gladstone to Lord Granville, November 19, 1868. 3 Ibid. October 16, 1868. ^ Mr. Gladstone quotes the words in the above letter. 1 868] Mr. Gladstones First Administration 529 ment which causes inequality.' • Mr. Gladstone himself was desirous of treating the Church as leniently as possible in the matter of property, but leniency to the Church was bound to involve some equivalent concession to other religious bodies. ' I have no doubt [Lord Granville had written to him in August] of what I believe to be your plan being the best, viz. to give back to the Church (besides all recent endowments) the churches, parson- ages, and glebes (of the latter enough for personal use, but never sufficient to relet) : to give the same or an equivalent, once for all, to the Roman Catholics and Presbyterians. This would probably exhaust the amount ; but if it did not, I should give something to lunatic asylums, hospitals, &c. I doubt about giving anything foi educational purposes, as it would only be a relief to the Consolidated Fund. But can you carry anything which resembles endowment of the Catholics? '2 Lord Granville noted that among others Viscount Amberley, Lord Russell's eldest son, in the mid.st of pledges of devotion to Mr. Gladstone, was promising never to consent to any new endowments. ' I leave the patient under your soothing treatment,' ^ Mr. Gladstone replied ; and to Lord Russell accordingly Lord Granville addressed himself as follows : — Walmer Castle, October 10, 1868, ' My dear Lord Russell, — A thousand thanks for your two letters and the inclosures. ' I have availed myself of your permission to copy the resolutions. It is much easier to reflect upon anything which is in writing. ' If we can settle in time what should be done, why should not a Bill be introduced? I see some of your resolutions are not so precise as the clauses of a Bill would be. * Your plan of disestablishing the Church by a certain date, and appointing a Commission to report upon the necessary preliminary steps, appears to be good ; but I object to leaving 250,000/. a year to the Church. To do this, and to take away the Maynooth grant and the Regium Donum, would be inconsistent with our declarations that we intended to establish religious equality in Ireland. ' Lord Russell to Lord Granville, October 3, 1868. 2 Lord Granville to Mr. Gladstone, August 29, 1S68. ' Mr. Gladstone to Lord Granville, October 16, 1S68. \'0L. L M M 530 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xix. ' I doubt the expediency of finally adopting any plan till after the debate and division, and the subsequent completion of the new Ministry. ' Yours sincerely, ' Granville.' Lord Russell did not intend to abolish the Regium Donum and the Maynooth grant. There was, however, another and for the moment a more serious difficulty of a personal character which it required all Lord Granville's skill to adjust. Although Lord Russell had abandoned all wish or expectation of again being Prime Minister, he was nevertheless proposing to invite the Liberal peers to dinner at the commencement of the autumn session of Parliament, thereby apparently intimating that he still considered himself technically to be the leader of the Liberal party, at least in the House of Lords ; although Lord Granville had understood that the committal of the Suspensory Bill into his hands a few months before had been intended to mark the time and hour of Lord Russell's final retirement. In October Lord Russell was on a visit to Lord Granville at Walmer. His strength was evidently failing. He appeared incapable of any physical exertion, and talked of Mr. Gladstone as the future Prime Minister ; saying nothing, however, to indicate retirement on his own part,^ and spending most of his time in capping anecdotes with another veteran, the ex- Chancellor Lord Chelmsford. ' Lord Russell was here two days [Lord Granville wrote to Mr. Gladstone], deaf, but most amiable and agreeable — delighted with the Spanish Revolution, and generally absorbed in politics. He stated his plan of resolutions, which I had misunderstood. But you will (or will not) be surprised to hear that he now wishes to leave to the Church all their lands, only taking from them their tithe rent charges. In the course of conversation he said that it would devolve upon you to form a Government, but he gave no signs of retirement from political life. He told me that the great disappointment of his life had been Grey's refusal to join his Government, which had pre- vented his name going down in history as the repealer of the Corn Laws. On going away, he invited me to his parliamentary dinner on the opening of the session.' ^ ' Lord Granville to Lord Clarendon, October 4, 1868. 2 Lord Granville to Mr. Gladstone, October 6. 1868. i868] yJ/r. Gladstone s First Admimst7^ation 531 It used to be a favourite adage with the Rev. William Rogers, the Rector of Bishopsgate, whose genial character and broad theology made his presence the delight of Liberal circles, that when there was a difficulty ' you had better give a dinner.' But there are exceptions to every rule, and this dinner of Lord Russell's was one of the exceptions. ' Lord Russell's present proposal about the Irish Church property [Mr. Gladstone wrote to Lord Granville] amazes me. But probably it will soon be superseded by another. More surprising still is his dinner at the commencement of the session. Are you committed ? What is really almost necessary seems to be that that evening should be given to a real consultation on the Address, and the amendment which I take it for granted we must move. . . . With your incom- parable temper you bear all these inconsequences ; but I am afraid the public inconvenience will be great.' ^ The position was evidently awkward. ' Johnny's dinner is a difficulty [Lord Granville replied]. If he per sists in giving one, I do not know how you can avoid giving another. I am not sure that you ought not in any case. John Russell's power of self-assertion is one of the strong points of his nature, which, as some one said, is a compound of a giant and a little child. This power has given him great success at times, and may do so again. It is only a guess, but I suspect that his present ambition is to be sent for by the Queen (which he expects, but I do not) ; to have the credit of magnanimously recommending you to her Majesty ; to build on that recommendation a right to dictate a policy by which his name will be connected with the disestablishment of the Irish Church, and to have a potential voice in the selection of the persons who are to form the new Administration. ' Palmerston told me that Johnny had complained bitterly of his forming the Government by a caucus, i.e. in consultation with his colleagues, as they one after another joined him. " I expected that you and I would meet together, and settle everything." Palmerston added with that peculiar twinkle he sometimes had in his eye : " A pretty mess I should have been in with Johnny alone, and objecting to all his proposals with no one to back me up." . . . ' You had better propose to give a large dinner, and either go on with it, or then suggest that both should be given up for a small conclave. ' Mr, Gladstone to Lord Granville, October S, iS68. M M 2 532 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xix. ' Johnny is physically very weak. It is a question whether he could give his dinner, and make a speech the next day. It is sad to write in this way. . . . ' . . . Do you wish me to write saying that I understand you wish to have a select meeting on the eve of the Queen's Speech — that when Lord Russell asked me to dinner, I presumed that you and he had each agreed to give one — that there would be advantages in this, coupled however with the great difficulty of selection in both cases ; but if you declined giving a dinner, it appeared to me im- possible that the only semi-official meeting should be one of a small number of peers. It would give great offence to our friends in the Commons.' . . . ' The important thing,' Lord Granville said, * is that Johnny- should not appear to the astonished public to be the leader of the Opposition, and that he should not be allowed to treat with you as puissance h puissance about your future policy, or the selection of your colleagues. As to his leading in the House of Lords till the present Government are out, I see no objection to it. There will be some disadvantage in his doing so after your Government is formed, but there would be considerable compensations, and I at all events should not be entitled to object.' ^ Eventually the difficulty was got over by a tactful discovery on the part of Lord Granville that Mr. Gladstone's house was being painted, and that it was therefore impossible for Mr. Gladstone to give a dinner to the Opposition leaders in the House of Commons at his own house. It was out of the question that there should be a dinner to the Opposition peers but no dinner to the Opposition commoners, and both dinners ought, it was suggested to Lord Russell, to be abandoned in consequence. Lord Russell was induced to accept this view, but he then proposed that the projected meeting of the leaders of the Opposition in both Houses should be held at his house, which was not being painted, ' presuming that the smell of paint being bad for friends at dinner would not be innocuous to friends in council' ^ ' The point as to paint is neatly put,' Lord Granville observed, who evidently thought that some ' Lord Granville to Mr. Gladstone, November il, 13, 24, 1 868. " Lord Russell to Lord Granville, November 20, 1868, 1 868] Mr. Gladstone s First Administration 533 rather pretty fencing was going on, and that Lord Russell had scored. He was none the less persuaded that the Opposi- tion would resent the meeting being held anywhere except at Mr, Gladstone's own house, and this view Lord Russell eventually accepted. Lord Granville to Lord Russell. Walmer Castle, November 21, 1868. 'Mv dear Lord Russell, — Thanks for telling me that your banquet is postponed. There would have been some advantage in two parliamentary dinners, but the difficulty of selection in both cases would have been great. ' Some little time ago, Gladstone wrote to me that he had asked you to meet a select few at his house immediately upon the receipt of the Queen's Speech, and invited me. I told him I would come in case your dinner was put off in consequence of his having none. I am therefore engaged unless he puts me off. * The Liberal candidates have adopted with a wonderful unanimity your declaration that he must undertake the job, and it is possible in these circumstances that he would prefer having the little meeting in his own house, and that the Commons would like it better. ' Yours sincerely, ' Granville.' Lord Russell to Lord Granville. Park Lane, November 23, 1868. ' My dear Granville, — I had understood from Gladstone that he could not give a parliamentary dinner, as his house was painting, and I concluded (rashly, it appears) that as paint would not agree with guests at dinner, it would be bad for friends in council. But unless the smell of paint is very bad, I shall of course go to his house on the 14th. 'Yours truly, ' Russell.' It was at this time that Mr. Gladstone published the Chapter of Autobiography, in which the world was taken into the confidence of the author on the matters which had influenced his mind in the gradual evolution by which the statesman, once the hope of the stern and unbending Tories, had at length become the leader of the advanced school of political Liberalism. The moment was appropriate. To Lord Granville, Mr. Gladstone sent the proofs of the pamphlet and asked for his observations. 534 ^if^ ^f ^^^ Second Earl Granville [ch. xix. Lord Granville to Mr. Gladstone. VValmer Castle, Deal, October 14, 1868. ' My dear Gladstone, — After the attention you paid to some of my superficial suggestions, I feel nervous about saying anything on the Chapter which you have been good enough to send me. ' I had conflicting feelings in beginning to read it. I have a passion for autobiography. No work, certainly none of fiction, ever interested me so much as the somewhat uneventful autobiography of Gibbon. I had naturally the greatest curiosity to learn the history of the workings of your mind, in the change which has taken place since the publication of your book ; but I had also a feeling that the less a person in your position publishes the better ; that the explana- tion was unnecessary, and would only lead to fresh attacks. In this state of mind I set to work. You appeared to me happy in your motto and introduction : excellent in your argument why you should publish. ' The description of your book gave me little pleasure, for the obvious reason that I never liked or quite understood it ^ ; but when I came to your personal history, I never read anything which delighted me more — so candid, so simple, and so clear — it is perfectly un- answerable. ' Your description of a phase of the history of the English Church is one of the most eloquent and feeling passages 1 know. It has more than the merits of Macaulay and none of his defects. It will give many votes to Roundell Palmer if he stands for the University. 'Your acknowledgment of the power of the Nonconformists is graceful, and will make some amends to them for your showing yourself so passionate an Oxonian and Churchman. ' Then comes your answer to Macaulay, and the statement of what you now think the true theory of the conscience of a State. I had been reading, and running at full speed. I had been bowling along the straightest and smoothest of roads at thirteen miles an hour, and here I began to think the road rougher. I asked myself whether you did not exaggerate the difference between you and Macaulay ; and if you did not, whether I perfectly understand your meaning. I began to fear after so prosperous a journey that you were a little in difficulty, and that we should be balked of our trot up the Avenue. ' You may judge of my pleasure when I found myself bounding along again on the beautiful and well-gravelled approach of the last two pages. ' The allusion is to the Essay on Church and State, 1 868] Mr. Gladstones First A'dministratioii 535 ' I hope you understand from the foregomg silly account of "the workings of my mind " while reading your proofs, that I think the Chapter admirable, and am all for its publication. ' I remember that you are writing your opinions, and not mine. I do not ask you to omit or alter the answer to Macaulay, but I .should like you to read it over once more before you finally send it to the publisher. ' Yours, G. ' P.S. — I hope you are not knocking yourself up by overwork. I was glad to hear the other day that you had cut down a tree. Not so a Constitutionalist present, who exclaimed, "There is nothing he would not destroy." ' Although the Liberal party was victorious at the polls, the Liberal leader was defeated in South-west Lancashire, but a simultaneous return for Greenwich saved him from lacking a seat in Parliament. On his defeat, Lord Granville wrote to him as follows : — Lord Granville to Mr. Gladstone. Walmer Castle, Deal, November 25, 1868. ' My dear Gladstone, — However philosophically I spoke of it, I cannot feel so. I am exceedingly grieved, and am afraid that you are a good deal disappointed. There is no doubt that the obligation, however tiresome, of making so many speeches has had an immense effect upon other elections, and it may be good for you in the midst of your great national triumph to have a slave in your chariot. The only practical disadvantage is the reviving of hopes amongst some of those who wish to save the Irish Church, and a possible encourage- ment to Salisbury and others to make a real fight in the House of Lords. For all House of Commons purposes, the majority will be too large. I hear but do not believe that Dizzy has said that Salisbury would have a great game leading the Tories, and he in leading the discontented Radicals. ' Vours, G. ' P.S. — The Autobiography looks and reads very well in its drab coloured outside. Did Bright bind it for you ? ' All speculations as to the composition of a future Liberal Government, and as to the intention of the Government to face Parliament, were quickly swept aside. Events marched rapidly. Mr. Disraeli accepted the verdict of the country as decisive, and resigned. Some thought the Queen would send 536 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xix. for Lord Russell, others that she would repeat the experiment of 1859 and send for Lord Granville. But it was Mr. Glad- stone who was at once sent for. Lord Russell, Lord Granville wrote to Lord Stanley of Alderley, as yet not conscious of the want of physical strength which to others was so obvious, probably at first wished for office ; but at the last moment he wisely refused the seat in the Cabinet without departmental duties which Mr. Gladstone pressed upon him. 'The snapping of ties [Mr. Gladstone wrote to him] is never pleasant ; but your resolution is probably a wise one ; and I rejoice to think that there are ties between you and us which cannot be snapped. Perhaps it is selfish of me to think of and mention them, rather than to dwell upon those ties which inseparably associate your name with so many great and noble passages in the history of your country.' ^ There were those who, not being aware of what had passed, accused Lord Granville and Mr. Gladstone of having treated the veteran Liberal leader with discourtesy. It was asserted that by immemorial constitutional custom the Queen on the resignation of Mr. Disraeli ought in the first instance to have sent for Lord Russell, the last Premier of the party, before she sent for Mr. Gladstone, and that it was owing to some intrigue that this had not been done. The reply is easy. The Constitution knows no such custom. The Sovereign at such times has a free hand and an unfettered dis- cretion, although the outgoing Prime Minister in such circum- stances, if invited to do so, but not otherwise, advises the Oueen whom to select as his own successor. The Oueen on this occasion simply recognised the verdict of the country — spoken in unmistakable language — when she determined to send for Mr. Gladstone.^ Discontent — of a more justifiable kind — was caused by the exclusion of Mr. Charles Villiers from the new Cabinet. Intimately associated in the public mind with Mr. Bright and Mr. Cobden as one of the great champions of Free Trade, Mr. Charles Villiers also enjoyed a wide reputation in society ' The correspondence will be found in vol. ii. p. 435 of Sir Spencer Walpole's Life of Lord Russell. ■•' See Mr. Gladstone's observations. Gleanings, i. 38, 230. 1 868] Mr. Gladstones First Administration 537 owing to his caustic but not unkindly wit. Some little weaknesses in Mr. Gladstone's own panoply had perhaps been too often the object of these winged shafts to make it altogether a matter of astonishment that the inner circle of his admirers sought to justify the exclusion by a sudden discovery that it was a great principle of the Constitution, that two brothers could not sit at the same time in the same Cabinet, regardless of the fact that Lord Clarendon and Mr. Villiers had both been members of the Cabinets of Lord Palmerston and Lord Russell. Whatever may have been the real reasons of Mr. Villiers's exclusion, the friendship of long standing between him and Lord Granville made it the most disagreeable event to Lord Granville himself in these transactions, in which other old friends also had to be sacrificed. Lord Clarendon was greatly hurt, and at one moment seemed determined not to accept office in consequence. The situation was in reality saved by the good temper of Mr. Villiers himself, which, only half concealed by his dry sense of humour, always lay behind the hard hitting with which he flavoured alike debate and conversation. Somebody once reflected on his carelessness in dress, and on the fact that the buttons on his shirt front were generally conspicuous by their absence. Lord Granville, to whom the remark was made, observed, ' No, he always keeps the buttons to put on the tips of his foils.' ' It was this quality which prevented Mr. Villiers, if not quite able to conceal a sense of grievance, from ever degenerating into a ' candid friend ' in Parliament, or becoming the in- habitant of a political cave. Another of the fuor tisciti, Lord Stanley of Alderley, showed that his sense of injury was deep, and Lord Strafford — one of the greatest of the Whig magnates — was expressing his indignation in no measured terms that his son George Byng, Viscount Enfield, was not given a place. These, how- ever, were but a few of the complainants, and against all and several of these Lord Granville had to defend Gladstone. At such moments, he once said that it was necessary ' to ^ Sir Alj^ernon West, Recollections^ i. 199. 538 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xix. have the skin of a rhinoceros, and to be perfectly impervious to rebuffs.' ^ Lord Granville to Lord Stanley of Alderley. 16 Bruton Street, December 5, 1868. ' My dear Ben, — The only certain appointments are : — Chancellor .... Page Wood Foreign Office Colonies India (probably) Exchequer Army Navy Clarendon Self Argyll Lowe Cardwell Childers. ' Bright positively refused last night, but after a strong and genuine resistance, chose the Board of Trade to-day. ' Lord John has been very friendly, but has declined an unofficial seat. * Gladstone is now in the full difficulty of re-election. I have put aside all personal feelings and friendships, but have urged with all my strength what I thought were real personal claims founded on able administration, and on practical use in Parliament. ' Nothing is yet decided, but I think it is not unlikely that I may fail, not from the want of recognition of merit but from the difficulty of places. ' Yours, G.' Colonial Office, Decejnber 10, 1868. ' My dear Ben, — Gladstone has just shown me your letter. He was much and justly touched by the tone of it. I really cannot tell you how grieved I am for private and public reasons. However absorb- ing political struggles may be, the pleasure of being engaged in them depends almost entirely on being associated with intimate friends. You have been a very true one to me, and your assistance has been invaluable. I shall miss it every day in the House of Lords. Lord Russell is not aware of the want of physical strength, which is obvious, and I believe wished for office. George Grey and Somerset are, I believe, delighted to be out. Halifax has (with some reluctance) refused Ireland, which will probably be offered to Spencer. ' Yours, G.' ' Bright,' the letter concluded, ' promises to be a very useful and reasonable member of a Cabinet.' His acceptance ' To Mr. Gladstone, November 28, 1S82. i868] Mr, Gladstone s First Administration 539 of office was perhaps the most striking feature in the new- arrangements. It was the outward and visible sign of the definite junction between the more advanced section of the old Liberal party and the Radicalism of the school of Mr. Cobden. The Tadpoles and Tapers of London Toryism went about asserting that none of the * gentlemen ' of the Liberal party would associate with the great tribune of Birmingham, and Lord Derby was freely quoted by them, though without any kind of authority, as having said that the Queen would never receive Mr. Bright as a minister. Lord Granville marked his opinion by walking down Parlia- ment Street from the Cabinet arm in arm with the new President of the Board of Trade to the House on the day of the meeting of Parliament, and piloted the new minister on his first journey to Osborne. Lord Granville to Mr. Gladstone. Osborne, December 31, 1868. * My dear Gladstone, — We took charge of Bright at Waterloo. He is rapidly becoming a very loose character. He flirted violently with my wife all the way down, describing to her his wife, his family, and his home — reading verses to her, and quoting similar passages in the older poets — denouncing luncheons, and then eating enormously of mayonnaise, and drinking goblets of claret, which he declared was so light, it must be " Gladstone's." ' We had a fine passage, during which he left us to ourselves, and was mean enough, I am much afraid, to pump the open-hearted captain on the extravagances connected with the royal yacht. He was much pleased with the royal footman who was waiting for us at Cowes, and asked whether they were really hired by the length. All went well till our entry at Osborne. He was really angry with the footman at the door for transferring his carpet bag to a man in an apron. In vain we pleaded the division of labour, the necessity of the former preserving his red coat and his white stockings from the dirt of luggage. " If I had known the fellow was too fine to take it, I would have carried it myself." He stayed in Lady Granville's sitting room till past dressing time. came in. Nothing could be more striking than the contrast between the two men. Both a little vain, and with good reason to be so — but one so guileless in his allusions to himself, and the other showing it enveloped with little artifices and mock humility — one so intrinsically a gentleman, and 540 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xix. so ignorant of our particular society ; the other a Httle vulgar, but a consummate master of the ways of the grand monde. The com- bined influences of Bright's connection with the press, the platform, and the House of Commons, together with the great simplicity in which this combative and able man was brought up, and which he has maintained in his social and family habits, give his conversation a singular flavour. ' He told us he only informed his wife two days ago of his visit here, and of her almost reproachful answer — " It seems strange you should be going where I cannot follow." * I called for him at dinner time — his dress was irreproachable, after he had readily agreed to take off a pair of bridal white gloves. He was rather pleased, quoted his tailor's approval of tights, and acknowledged he had promised to rehearse the costume before his wife and daughter. ' The beginning of dinner was awful — the Queen with a sick head- ache and shy — Princess Louise whispering unintelligibly in my ear, and Lady CUfden shouting ineffectually into the still more impene- trable receptacle of sound belonging to Charles Grey. Bright like a war horse champing his bit, and dying to be at them. At last an allusion to children enabled me to tell Bright to repeat to her Majesty his brother's observation, " Where, considering what charming things children were, all the queer old men came from." This amused the Queen, and all went on merrily. She talked to him for a long time, and the old roue evidently touched some feminine chord, for she was much pleased with him; and saw him again the next morning. Without unnecessary depreciation of our enemies, it is probable that she is not insensible to the charm of sincerity and earnestness. ' We then retired to the Household at tea, and Bright was by no means dashed, when Alfred Paget addressed the company as if through a speaking trumpet : " Well, I never expected to see John Bright here^ winning his money at Blind Hookey." ' Yours, G.' The Liberal majority in the House of Commons was large, and on the immediate issue of the moment thoroughly united. The Government could claim that it comprised in its ranks all that was strongest in the various sections of the party. The Opposition was weak in numbers and discredited in reputation. Their leaders were at variance, and speculations were even possible whether eventually Lord Salisbury himself might not join Mr. Gladstone There had been other specu- i868] Mr. Gladstone s First Administration 541 lations connected with Lord Salisbury's name. Lord Mayo's recent appointment as Governor-General of India had not been, in the first instance, well received by the public. ' If you cancel Mayo's appointment,' Lord Granville had written to Mr. Gladstone in September, 'what do you think of Salisbury ? It would be a teat taken away from our pigs, but it would weaken the Opposition. It would be acknow- ledged as a good appointment, and the offer would take away all flavour of a job, even if he refused it.' ^ ' I think the suggestion an excellent one,' Mr. Gladstone had replied.^ But the same fate which once before had decided that Lord Robert Cecil should not become Clerk to the Privy Council, had also settled that Lord Salisbury should not be Viceroy of India, and reserved him for higher fortunes. Lord Mayo's appointment was not cancelled. The detached position occupied by Lord Salisbury was an additional trouble to his own party and a valuable asset to the Government, whose difficulties, notwithstanding the prestige of Mr. Gladstone, then at the height of his power and reputation, were not to be underrated. The Cabinet were about to deal with the Irish question on new and bolder lines than any which had yet been attempted ; the English education question was pressing for settlement ; the Non- conformists were determined to secure the abolition of University tests ; a large and active section of the party demanded the introduction of the ballot, the abolition of purchase in the army, and large changes in the law relating to land tenure and local government. These were but a few of the reforms for which the majority of the newly enfran- chised electors and those who represented them were pressing. But the forces of resistance, though at the moment impaired and divided, might yet prove strong, and no very intimate agreement existed on some of the proposed measures, especi- ally in regard to education, between the leaders of the party and large sections of their own followers. ' I am much obliged [Lord Shaftesbury wrote to Lord Granville, on December 28] by your wishes for a happy New Year. I wish the ' Lord Granville to Mr. Gladstone, September 28, 1868. « Mr. Gladstone to Lord Granville, October 8, 1868. 542 Life of the Second Earl Granville [ch. xix. same to you. But what a tempestuous ocean you have embarked upon. What shoals and quicksands. I have no trust in Gladstone and Bright ; but I have a special distrust in Derby and D'Israeli. Your seas and your waves are roaring. May God be at the helm ; for be assured, my dear friend, that no merely human skill will save the British Empire from utter shipwreck.' ' Whether Lord Shaftesbury's gloomy vaticinations went beyond the mark, it was certain that whatever might be the case at home, abroad there were dangers which each day tended to increase. Lord Granville had long since recognised that the position and prospects of the French Emperor were becoming more and more precarious, and that the fall of the Empire was certain to be followed by a European catastrophe. ' I never knew a time [he had written to Lord Clarendon at the end of 1867] when things looked so bad for him. It almost looks as if, after spending magnificently in every direction, the bad quarter of an hour was come. Discredited in his foreign policy ; a financial crisis ; a bad harvest ; a universal disposition to blame ; as much abuse from the Imperialists out of place as from the Legitimists and Orleanists, and the Ministers hating and abusing each other to their hearts' content ! ' ^ Nor had matters improved since 1 867. The danger was that the Emperor, knowing himself to be in peril, would find the temptation irresistible to seek a path out of his domestic difficulties in a foreign war. Prussia was the obvious anta- gonist. Great reliance was, however, placed on the pacific intentions of the King, who at the end of 1868, just before the formation of the new Government, had explained his own views of the situation in a few words to Lord Claren- don. His talk was interesting ' because its tone was eminently pacific. He said that he was determined neither to give nor take offence ; and that, if war there was to be, the undivided responsibility of it should rest with France.' ' He told me [Lord Clarendon added] that he had seen the Emperor of Russia, who had agreed with him that there did not now exist in Europe the shadow of a pretext for war. I gave some reasons why ' Lord Shaftesbury to Lord Granville, December 28, 1868. - Lord Granville to Lord Clarendon, November 7, 1867. i868] Mr. Gladstone s Fh'st Adimnistratio7i 543 the Emperor Napoleon was pacific, and he admitted them ; but said, " No one can tell when supposed dynastic interests may make war necessary to avert attention from interior troubles. It was that fear which kept them all armed to the teeth, and prevented the re- establishment of confidence." ' ^ The King spoke sincerely. But there was a minister at Berlin more powerful than the King. Meanwhile for another eighteen months armed peace was allowed to continue in Europe. ' Lord Clarendon to Lord Granville, August 25, 1868. END OF THE FIRST VOLUME PRINTED BY SrOTTISWOODE AND CO. 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