uBf^tn itf^iv R (iKOiscK, 4Tii KAKI. OF ABERDEEN, K.T. As Foreign Minister. 'rum a picture painted for Sir Kobort Pod by Sir Thomas Lawromr. P.K.A. Enjjravod by Samuel Cousins, 1831. THE LIFE OF GEORGE FOURTH EARL OF ABERDEEN K.G., K.T. BY LADY FRANCES BALFOUR LL.D., D.Litt. IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. I HODDER AND STOUGHTON LIMITED LONDON MADE AND PRINTED IN GRKAT BRITAIN. RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED, PRINTERS, BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. PREFACE THE papers and correspondence of the Earl of Aberdeen, Queen Victoria's Prime Minister, were entrusted to me by his grandson, the Marquis of Aberdeen and Temair, in the year 1913. I also received a large number of papers from Lord Stanmore. His father, the Arthur Gordon who appears so often in this work, known in the House of Lords as the first Lord Stanmore, had devoted much time to the collec- tion and the editing of the mass of State papers and correspondence left behind by Lord Aberdeen. It had been the intention of Lord Stanmore to publish these papers on a scale which has not been attempted in these volumes. In fact, the vastness of the work was too overwhelming for him to achieve. After Lord Aberdeen's death in 1860, Lord Stanmore was much abroad, and his life was filled with public work. Lord Aberdeen's life was published in the series entitled the " Queen's Prime Ministers," and that again was the shortened precis of a one-volumed Life privately printed, but never published. In Lord Stanmore's preface to the Short Life, he says it was with reluctance that he consented to write the book. He thought the life and nature of Lord Aberdeen's character were such as to make it pecu- liarly difficult to do them justice within the limits of a short biography. Lord Stanmore was conscious also that it must dimmish the value of any future publication of Lord Aberdeen's correspondence " a duty entrusted to me by the terms of my father's will." iv PREFACE More than sixty years have passed since the death of the Prime Minister. The publication of the Short Life has undoubtedly made the editing of the papers left seem a work of some difficulty. The vast and careful scale on which a longer memoir had been planned, made it almost impossible in these less leisured days to carry out the filial desire of the son, and the strong sense of duty which has throughout inspired the grandson. In the light of this double inspiration, I have tried to present a readable and understandable picture both of the times in which Lord Aberdeen lived, and of the strong personality of the Queen's Prime Minister. It is not often remembered that he was Castlereagh's Ambassador to Vienna in 1813, that he twice held the Seals of Minister for Foreign Affairs, before, at the age of sixty-nine, he became the Prime Minister of " the girl of eighteen," whom he had seen ascend the Throne. Lord Aberdeen was essentially, as he well describes himself, " a Minister of Peace, if ever there was one." Fate has almost entirely associated him with an unfortunate war. His life in his native Scotland was as remarkable as any other part of his career. If I have dwelt out of proportion on this feature, it is because I felt it to be of deep and dramatic interest. It presents a continuous picture of what " the landowning class," as they are now contemptuously called, have done in building up the prosperity of the country in all parts of Great Britain. I have endeavoured to follow the lines laid down by Lord Stanmore, and to select from the correspond- ence the things which seemed most to illustrate the times, and the man who lived in this epoch, and left his impress on his country. I have resisted the temptation " to write before and PREFACE v after," to make the past fit into the present. That history does repeat itself must come forcibly to the mind of every student of the world's public affairs. That public men are mortal, and capable of very obvious mistakes; that nations change their outlook, and the temper of to-day is not necessarily the temper of to-morrow, is self-evident to those who write ; whether it is so to those who read, depends much on how honestly history has been presented. I can only say that I have tried to represent things as they are revealed by the documents before me. If I have failed it is not the fault of the written words, which are nothing if they are not consistently upright and sincere, and " as the noonday clear." Two chapters have been devoted to the Disruption within the National Church of Scotland. I have endeavoured to write the story so as to make it com- prehensible, even to the mind of an Anglican, and an Englishman. The papers on this controversy ran into eight hundred closely printed pages. The two chapters were submitted to the late Lord Guthrie and to Sir William Robertson Nicoll. Both have kindly read and approved them. Lord Guthrie, the son of a Disruption Father, was so interested in the revival of these ancient ecclesiastical controversies, that he made himself quite ill over their perusal. To those who feel they are of no interest, and contain no lesson, it can only be said that they may be left unread, without the history being interrupted. One personal note may be allowed me. Lord Aberdeen was born in 1784, and my father died in 1900. When Lord Aberdeen died, I was an infant. As I have traced the features and conned the mind of this great Minister, I have come on much in the papers that has proved the deep veneration in which he was held by my father, and even yet more by my vi PREFACE mother. Something of that long chain of association was, no doubt, in the mind of the present Marquis when he asked me to write or, more properly, to edit, the Life. The war, with its personal anxieties and national absorption, has made the work long overdue. But it is not altogether inappropriate that the history should now appear. The world is weary of strife and warfaring, and it may have leisure to read and ponder on the work of one who was among the earliest heralds of the gospel of peace and a good understanding among the nations. FRANCES BALFOUR. 32 Addison Road, London. July 19, 1922. CONTENTS FAQS CHAPTER I EARLY YEARS (1784-1805) 1 CHAPTER II MARRIAGE (1805-1813) 83 CHAPTER III EMBASSY TO THE ALLIES (1813-1814) .... 69 CHAPTER IV FRANKFORT TO CHATILLON (1814) 135 CHAPTER V HOME AND COUNTRY (1814-1825) 191 CHAPTER VI PART I RUSSIA AND TURKEY (1828-1830) 216 CHAPTER VI PART II FRANCE (1830) 245 CHAPTER VI PART III NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM (1830) .... 265 INDEX 297 ILLUSTRATIONS To face pagt GEORGE, FOURTH EARL OF ABERDEEN, K.T., AS FOREIGN MINISTER ...... Frontispiece THE TERRACE, HADDO HOUSE ..... 48 HADDO HOUSE, 1815 56 HADDO HOUSE, 1860 64 GEORGE, FOURTH EARL OF ABERDEEN .... 96 JANE, CAROLINE AND ALICE GORDON . . . .128 CATHERINE HAMILTON, COUNTESS OF ABERDEEN . .160 "A CABINET PUDDING" 192 " SOME OF THE INS AND OUTS OF THIS WORLD " . . 192 ARGYLL HOUSE . ....... 240 A SKETCH OF LORD ABERDEEN RIDING IN ROTTEN Row. 256 AT BUCHAN NESS ........ 272 HARRIET DOUGLAS, COUNTESS OF ABERDEEN . . . 288 CHAPTER I EARLY YEARS (1784-1805) " O happy is the man who hears Instruction's warning voice ; And who celestial wisdom makes His early, only choice. For she has treasures greater far Than East or West unfold ; And her rewards more precious are Than all their stores of gold." GEORGE HAMILTON GORDON was born at Edinburgh on January 28, 1784. His father, George Lord Haddo, died from the result of an accident before he succeeded to the title. He and Lady Haddo were at the time residing in the beautiful castle of Gight, situated in a secluded valley five miles from Haddo House. The castle stands on the precipitous bank of the river Ythan, which here runs through a deep glen. Nothing is left of the castle save its ruined walls, holding vestiges of chapel and hall. Here occurred that event which in its sequel was destined to remove the future statesman from the place of his ancestral lands, and to bring him under influences which were to shape his career apart from the ways of his country and people. The tradition runs that Lord Haddo, riding out from Gight, had to pass the castle well, now standing in the green garth of the domain, though probably at that period it was within the outer court of the castle. A girl was about to draw water, and the horse, startled by the noise of the chain, or by her sudden appearance, reared violently, and fell back with the rider, who was thus mortally injured. Lord Haddo insisted, however, on walking to the Castle door, VOL. I. B 2 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN in order to allay his wife's alarm ; but very soon after- wards he expired. Lady Haddo soon left the place where her married life had come to so sudden and unhappy an end, and she resolved to spend the rest of her life in England. It was not destined to be a long one; she never re- covered from the shock of her husband's death, and lived in melancholy retirement until her death four years later, in 1795. Her children accompanied her to England. She settled at Barnet in Hertfordshire, and it was there that her eldest son George received his earliest education, and later in another school at Parson's Green. By Lady Haddo's death her children were left in a position which was one of singular and unhappy isolation. Their grandfather, Lord Aber- deen, would naturally have stood to them in the place of the father that they had lost. This unfortunately was not the case, and to trace the strange circumstances in which the family was placed it is necessary to give some account of the ancestral history. Like many of the great Scottish families, the early history of the Gordons is full of legend. Lord Stan- more writes : " That Bertrand de Gourdon, by whose arrow King Richard I was killed before the castle of Chalus in Perigord, left children, who settled in Scotland, and became the progenitors of the house of Gordon, is a proposition which I should hesitate to affirm ; but it is one which, in the presence of other members of that house, I should equally hesitate to deny." It is not from the senior branch of the family, which in the male line came to an end in 1408, that the Gordons of Haddo trace their descent. Half a century before the marriage of the last heiress of this line to Alexander Seton, who took the name of Gordon, a son of John Lord Gordon was established as Laird at Haddo in Aberdeenshire, and from him, in unbroken and direct male descent, springs the present line of Earls of Aberdeen. The Lairds of Haddo were a EARLY YEARS (1784-1805) 3 tough and exceedingly long-lived race. Some of them came to a violent end on the battlefield or on the scaffold, otherwise they reached, or exceeded, the allotted span of life. Sir John Gordon of Haddo distinguished himself in the Royalist cause. On March 19, 1644, he managed with a handful of men to surprise the town of Aberdeen, then closely watched and guarded by the Covenanting party. " Haddo's Raid " was completely successful. The bold cavalier, attended by some other gentlemen, and with a troop of about threescore horse, came galloping through Old Aberdeen to New Aberdeen, and the Provost and chief men of the city found themselves made prisoners of war. After other acts of violence, the old chronicle narrates : " Go to hors schortlie, and cumis bak throw the old toun, about ten houris in the morning, with thair four captives; and, but bo to thair blanket, thay rode doun throw the Gallowget, none daring to say it wes evill done. Simlie it is to be markit the like seldom hes been sein that so few men so pertlie, and publictlie, sould have disgraceit sic a brave brughe by taking away thair provest, and the rest men of note, without any kynd of contradictioun or obstacile." Haddo, at this time, had his children living in Old Aberdeen for the sake of their education. He could hardly rely on their safety in a town thus out- raged by this raid, so the chronicler notes, " he takis his young barnis at scooll hame behinde sum of his servandis." Thus, taking part in the triumphant return of his father, the future Earl and Lord Chan- cellor first appears upon the stormy scenes of the period. On the following day Sir John Gordon sent the children, with the exception of his eldest son, back to school. George, the second son, was born October 1637, and his mother was Mary, daughter of William Forbes of Tolquhen. - The affairs of the Royalists were mismanaged, and Sir John Gordon, who had been appointed by the 4 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN King next in command to the Marquis, had to retire to his house of Kellie before the Covenanting Army, led by the Marquess of Argyll. He was attacked in it by an overwhelming force, and after a brief resistance his artillerymen deserted, and he was forced to surrender both himself and his house to the enemy. His children, including the future Earl, were gathered round him at this last fight. " He had sex young children within the place of Kellie ; which, when it was rendeied, were all put to the yett saif and sound." Then followed the complete spoiling and destruction of the house. " Statelie wes the plenishing within this hous, and plesant yardis and planting about the samen. First, they take out the staitlie insicht and plenishing, sic as bedding, naprie, veschel caldrouns, chandleris, fyre vexhele, quhairof their wes plentie, trists, cofferis, cabinetis, trunbris, and armour." Household gear, cattle and sheep were driven away. Thus was the house of Kellie spoiled and made waste. Sir John Gordon was carried prisoner to Edinburgh, and there was no escape for such a noted Royalist. He was the first individual who was judicially con- demned and executed for adherence to the Royal cause. To the King, whom he had served with such zeal and courage, he commended on the scaffold his children. In a short prayer he said, " I com- mend my soule to God, and my sex children to his Majesteis cair, for whose saik I die this day." " And albeit Haddoche wes ane auncient barron of good estait, and still ane loyall subiect to the king; hardie, stout, bold in all haserdis; freind to his freind, and terribill to his enemy, of a goodlyf and conversatioun, moderat, temperat, and religious ; loth and unwilling still to give offence, and alss loth to tak offence; and withall ane good nichtbour, loving and kynd to his tennentis, kinsfolkis, and freindis, yet thus he ended." The children being thus bereft of parents and estate, " friendis took thrie of them, and uther thrie wes sent into Old Abirdene for lerning at the scoollis; EARLY YEARS (1784-1805) 5 bot had not ane penny of thair father's estait bestowit upone thame." George was one of those sent to Old Aberdeen, and when next heard of he was a distinguished scholar in King's College. Here he studied under John Strachan, who had a great reputation for learning. He took his Master's degree in 1658, and it is recorded that he was promoted to his degree first in order before the others of his own class or year. On his tutor's resignation, at his own request, the College appointed to the vacant regency his distinguished pupil, who thus became a professor the day after he ceased to be a student. The family at Haddo were not forgotten at the Restoration, though no other benefit was conferred on them than the rescinding of the forfeiture of their title and estates. In the Act which was passed, in the first Scottish Parliament held after the King's return, honourable mention was made of the conduct and sufferings of Sir John Gordon. In consequence of this Act the eldest brother of the " sex," who had been put out of " the yett," recovered possession of the family estates. The second brother remained at King's College till the spring of 1663, when he went abroad, resolved to devote himself to the study of law. The death of his eldest brother without male issue recalled him from the Continent, and placed him in possession of the estate and baronetcy. Sir George Gordon became a member of the Scottish bar, having in 1668, after the usual preliminary trials, been admitted by the Lords of Session " in and to the place and office of ane ordinarie advocat before them." We next find him elected as one of the Commissioners to represent the county of Aberdeen in the second Scottish Parliament held by Charles II. To this Parliament were submitted certain proposals with a view to the union of the kingdoms. Popularly these proposals were regarded with aversion, as an attempt to overthrow the national independence. The King's 6 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN Commissioner, the Duke of Lauderdale, laid the letter under the King's hand before Parliament. The immediate adoption of an answer of assent was rudely pressed on the House by the Commissioner. Sir George Gordon was not to be intimidated either by the King's representative or the rash and arbitrary terms submitted to Parliament. Almost alone, he offered resistance to the measure, and when Sir George Mackenzie counselled a day's delay in the decision of Parliament, he found a seconder in Sir George. Sir George's reputation as a lawyer did not suffer from his opposition to the Court. In 1678 he was made one of the King's Privy Council for Scotland, and in 1680 he was promoted from being one of the ordinary Lords of Session to the bench of the Supreme Court of Scotland, under the title of Lord Haddo. Under the administration of the Duke of York, Lord Haddo continued to rise in reputation and office. He succeeded Sir James Dalrymple of Stair as President of the Supreme Court in 1681, and in the same year there died John Leslie, Duke of Rothes, the Chancellor of Scotland. There was a delay in filling up the appointment, and the Duke of York was expected to make it on his return from London in 1682. The new occupant of this high office was to have his appointment made known under extra- ordinary circumstances. The Duke of York had embarked for Scotland on the Gloucester frigate, accompanied by Lord Haddo and a numerous retinue. The ship struck on a sandbank off Yar- mouth, on May 5. Nearly two hundred persons perished, and the Duke himself, with difficulty, and most unfortunately for Scotland, escaped by leaping from his cabin window into a small boat. Two or three others were thus saved, and the Duke called to Sir George Gordon to follow their example. In leaping he fell short of the boat into the sea. In the excitement of the moment the Duke called out, " Save my Chancellor ! " thus giving the first intimation how this high dignity had been bestowed. EARLY YEARS (1784-1805) 7 On reaching Edinburgh the Duke laid before the Privy Council the King's letters patent, constituting Sir George Gordon of Haddo to be Lord High Chan- cellor of Scotland, in place of the Duke of Rothes. The Duke of York had from an early period of his residence placed great reliance on the ability and character of Sir George, and, in 1682, he was promoted to the Peerage under the title of the Earl of Aberdeen. The patent recited the eminent services he had rendered the King by means of his splendid mental endowments. The reference to his father's loyalty and suffering was made more marked by the record how Lord Aberdeen " now sat in that very city and judgment seat where his father suffered so sad and unjust a sentence." During a period of more than two years the adminis- tration of public affairs remained in Lord Aberdeen's hands. He had a reputation for a close and steady application to business, and he superintended with watchful care and a steady hand every department of public affairs. His singleness of eye and dis- interested mind were typical of his descendant, the fourth Earl, and in the succeeding generations it is possible to trace the same aloofness of mind and love of justice, which made them not always understood by those whose outlook on the affairs of Church and State was more coloured by the passions of personal and party gains. The Lord High Chancellor was entirely at one with the Government in prosecuting with the utmost rigours of the law the party in rebellion in the south and west of Scotland for the cause of civil and religious liberty. Outside the law he was not prepared to go, and when the Duke of York's obsequious Privy Council originated a scheme of unlawful rigour against the rebels, that husbands and fathers should be made responsible by fine and imprisonment for the opinions of their wives and daughters, he declared as a judge that such an order 8 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN could not be carried out under any existing statute, and as a Minister he declined to propose any alteration in the law. His remonstrances were unheeded, and rather than countenance measures which were alike unjust and illegal he resigned his high office into the hands of the King. There was no comprehension of this " Just Judge." But Lord Aberdeen's loyal services were of value to the Government, and even the ignoble conspirators who had got him out of office made new overtures to him, " if he would have condeschended to act as Chan- celor with the juncto." He told the King, except he exercised (office) as freely as his predecessor the Duke of Rothes did, he could not serve him ; and the King telling him " he wold be served in his owne manner and conforme to his own measures, he then voluntarily demitted." These transactions took place in London in May, 1684. The Earl travelled back to Edinburgh, there dismantled his house, and retired to his Aberdeenshire estate. The Earl of Perth succeeded him as Lord Chancellor, with the Duke of Queensberry as Lord Treasurer. They set to work remodelling the different offices at their disposal, and engaged in an effort to crush and disgrace the eminent statesman they had supplanted. A rumour reached them that a con- venticle had been held within the County of Mid- lothian, of which Lord Aberdeen was Sheriff principal. They began with pious zeal to proceed against him for not having suppressed it. Lord Perth had suc- ceeded him in this office as well as that of Lord Presi- dent. Their researches into this matter led to the discovery that the conventicle had indeed been held, not, however, in Lord Aberdeen's county, but a few yards within the march of the property of their own peculiar friend and fellow-conspirator, the Earl of Tweeddale. Whereupon, the chronicler says, " the matter was suffered to sleip." Their next effort was to get hold of Lord Aberdeen's papers, hoping to find in them incriminating matter. EARLY YEARS (1784-1805) 9 Sir John Dalrymple's person and papers were seized and he was committed " to the tolbuite of Edinbrugh. The Hy Tresurer was incensed that Sir John would give them no discoveries against the Earl of Aberdeen." These and other efforts to blacken and sully Aberdeen's reputation, though carried on over a considerable period, came to naught. William Fletcher, one of Aberdeen's advocates, brought sharp rebuke on him- self for saying, " My Lord Aberdeen could justify all the interlocutors he had procured when he sate on the bench, and that he nather was guilty of injustice nor malversations." Lord Aberdeen continued to take an active part in Parliament after his withdrawal from office, but after the landing of the Prince of Orange he retired to the country. William III regretted that he could not obtain his services, for Mackay had represented him as being " the solidest statesman in Scotland ; a fine orator, speaking slow but strong." He remained a non-juror till the accession of Queen Anne, when he emerged from his retirement and for the first time took the oaths to the new Government. He lived to a great age and died in 1720 at Kellie, from whence he had been driven out as a child, and from whence his father had been carried to the scaffold, seventy-six years before his own peaceful end in the place of his ancestors. His son William, as Lord Haddo, had been elected, after the Union, to the Parliament of Great Britain as member for Aberdeenshire. The election, after much debate, was set aside in 1714, on the ground that the eldest sons of Peers had not been allowed to sit in the Scottish Parliament, and were therefore ineligible for a Scottish seat in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Lord Haddo was a strong Jacobite, and the House of Commons may have considered that fact more than the question of constitutional law, which was strained by the decision. Earl William married, first a daughter of the Duke of Atholl, and secondly 10 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN a daughter of the Duke of Gordon. These alliances did not help to detach him from the cause of the House of Stuart. He corresponded with the Jacobite leaders, and masses of letters in cypher are preserved in the archives at Haddo House. He did not join the Pre- tender in 1745, though he was much interested in his earlier success. " Fortunately for the interests of the family," he died somewhat suddenly. His eldest son and successor, George, according to the prudent custom of Scottish families at that time, had been brought up as a Whig, and he at once declared his adhesion to George II. He lived till over eighty, and died in 1801, surviving his eldest son George, Lord Haddo. Pie formed a marked contrast to his father, being a man of exemplary character, refinement and taste. He married, in 1782, Miss Baird, daughter of William Baird of New- byth, sister to the famous General Sir David Baird. They were the parents of seven children, of whom the eldest was not twelve years of age, and the youngest barely four, at the time of the death of their father. Lady Haddo was not on friendly terms with Lord Aberdeen. She had expressed a well-grounded dis- approval of his dissolute mode of life, and his interests were removed from her and his grandchildren by other relations not compatible with the legitimate claims of his name and race. He had been persuaded or coerced by powerful friends to send the young Lord Haddo to Harrow, but there his intervention ended. He refused to take upon himself any of the respon- sibilities attaching to the bringing up of his grand- children, and their other relatives seem to have been afraid to intervene or assist them in any way. George, when between the age of eleven and twelve, addressed a respectful request for help to his grand- father, but finding his request completely unheeded, he showed a rare judgment, in one of his years, when he turned elsewhere for parental advice and guardian- ship. EARLY YEARS (1784-1805) 11 Henry Dundas, afterwards created Lord Melville, was at that time the most powerful man in Scotland. Lord Haddo had been well acquainted with him, and after his death Lady Haddo had occasionally sought his advice and help. To him in his difficulties the boy turned, and Henry Dundas at once responded to his appeal. The condition of the young family was such as to commend them to the interest of anyone conversant with the facts, and bound, as Henry Dundas was, by the ties of friendship. He was also probably not unmindful of the influence he would thereby attain over one of the most powerful families in the north of Scotland. From that time Dundas 's house became Lord Haddo's home, and his only sister Alicia lived for the next thirty years as a daughter with Lady Jane Dundas, under whose maternal care all the children came on the death of their mother. As the five younger brothers grew up, two of them, William and John, entered the Navy, and lived to attain the rank of Admiral. Two others, Alexander and Charles, obtained commissions in the Army. Alexander was a favourite aide-de-camp of the Duke of Wellington; he was already a Lieutenant-Colonel, and had been created a K.C.B. when killed at Waterloo, at the age of twenty-eight. Charles died Colonel of the Black Watch in 1835. The remaining brother, Robert, entered the Diplomatic Service, and his correspondence with his eldest brother appears often in the family papers. Dundas lived at Wimbledon, and there was no more frequent visitor in his house than Mr. Pitt. From the first he took the keenest interest in Lord Haddo, and as the youth grew older their friendship and intimacy increased. At the age of fourteen Lord Haddo again took a decisive step. A right is given by Scottish law to one reaching that age to name for himself " curators," or guardians. Lord Haddo named in that capacity Mr. Pitt, then Prime Minister, and his earliest friend, Henry Dundas. They both accepted the charge, and from that time 12 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN their ward lived with them alternately. Thus the disadvantages of his family circumstances led him in early youth into direct contact with the master minds of his age. It was a veritable " school of the prophets " into which he entered, and by his own happy choice he had selected the greatest statesmen of the time for his guardians and leaders. We know very little about his school life. Harrow gave him perhaps the only good gifj a public school can give, some friendships with men who were to be his comrades and colleagues through life. Among these were Palmerston and Althorp ; and there also he met Peel, Lord de Grey, Lord Ripon, and Lord Binning, afterwards Lord Haddington, with whom in particular he contracted an intimacy which was to last through their mutual lives. At Harrow he was known as a quiet and studious boy. His interests were classical and he devoted himself to Greek scholarship, in which he obtained distinction. He was a wide reader outside the usual grooves of school work, and acquired an acquaintance with the Italian poets which was said to be greater than most men attain in a lifetime. He read also such histories of modern Europe as were then at the command of the student. When the time came for leaving Harrow, Lord Haddo proposed to continue his studies at Cambridge University. His grandfather refused to furnish him with the means for what he called a needless extravagance. Lord Haddo's curators were of a different opinion, and the following letter shows that Henry Dundas did his best to put a more enlightened view before Lord Aberdeen : Wimbledon, Oct. 10, 1800. MY DEAR HADDO, I send you a letter I have received from your grandfather. I do not know if my letter will make any impression on him, but I take it for granted you do not mean to acquiesce in the principle that your EARLY YEARS (1784-1805) 13 Rank supercedes the necessity of education, and if you sincerely wish to go to the University, means must at any rate be fallen upon to send you there. Yours Affect., HENRY DUNDAS. The curators jointly threatened Lord Aberdeen that if he would not properly provide for the education and expenses of his grandson, they would themselves advance what was necessary from their personal funds. It is not known to which course Lord Aberdeen consented. In one way or the other Lord Haddo was enabled to follow his own desire, and he entered St. John's College, Cambridge, in October 1800. Succeeding to his title on the death of his grand- father in 1801, Lord Aberdeen took steps to continue his relations with Mr. Pitt, and for the remainder of his minority associated him with other trustees, whose relations may have been more formal, but could not have been more parental on the one hand, or more filial on the other. Walmer Castle, Oct. 22, 1801. MY DEAR LORD, I am sincerely obliged to you for your very kind letter and accept with great pleasure the Testi- mony it gives me of your Partiality and Regard, of which I am persuaded I shall allways have reason to be proud. It cannot I fear be in my power to render any material assistance to those with whom you have joined me, but I am happy to think they will not want it; and I can at least answer for it, that you will find me at all times (as indeed I have long been) sincerely interested in whatever concerns your happiness and credit. Believe me, my dear Lord, Yours very sincerely, W. PITT. 14 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN He collected while at Cambridge a fine library consisting of early editions of the classics, and of early Italian poetry. It included the De Officiis of Cicero, printed by Fust at Mayence in 1464, the Dante of 1486, and many other rare editions of works. His friends at College were men of like mind with himself, and with many of them he carried on a life-long correspondence . When the Peace of Amiens reopened the Continent to British travellers, Lord Aberdeen was among the first to take advantage of it. One of the few letters preserved from Pitt deals with the manner of his going. Park Place, Sunday, Dec. 20, 1801. MY DEAR LORD, On my return from Cambridge yesterday evening, I found your letter. If it were not for the circum- stances you mention, I confess I should have rather inclined to doubt whether you would not have found it more advantageous to defer your visit to Paris to a later Period ; But I certainly do not think that it is now desirable for you to make any change in your plan. " The question of being introduced to Bonaparti (if contrary to your expectation it should present itself) seems to me to be one of mere etiquette, and therefore to be best decided by whatever you find practiced by others in similar situations to your own. Probably you may think it best on that or any other Point of ceremony to consult Mr. Jackson the English Minister whom you will find at Paris. If you think it will be of any use, I shall be happy to give you a Letter of Introduction to Him, and perhaps it may be some convenience, if you enable me to mention your companion's Name to Him at the same time. Believe me, my dear Lord, Yours most sincerely, W. PITT. EARLY YEARS (1784-1805) 15 In 1802 he visited Paris. Young though he was, one so nearly connected with Mr. Pitt, even though the great Minister was not at that moment in office, Lord Aberdeen was not a person to be neglected. He was the object of much attention from the First Consul and La Citoyenne Buonaparte, as on her invitation cards she still styled herself. Lord Aberdeen dined with them several times, almost in private, and had much conversation with the First Consul. He was greatly fascinated by his singular beauty and used to say " that Napoleon's smile was the most beautiful he ever saw, and that his eye was wholly unlike that of any other man." Some notes have been preserved which he made of his impressions of the state of France. The book through- out its length does not contain a single date, but the topics on which Lord Aberdeen writes prove that the observations were made during this, the first of many Continental journeys he was to make throughout his life. NOTES I am apt to believe that Royalty in France has many more partizans than is generally understood. At a dinner given by Lord Cornwallis, there was a General Officer who admired an ornament in the middle of the table on which there were some medal- lions. He enquired who one was meant for, and upon being told the King of England, He exclaimed, " Good God, how like mon pauvre Roi ! ' Upon going to see Versailles, which is in a state of devastation and misery, I said to several of the tradesmen, that the town seemed to be in a state of prosperity and the people flourishing, notwithstanding the alterations which had taken place; their uniform answer was " Prosperous, flourishing ? How is it possible to be so without a King ? " 16 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN Formerly Versailles was the most beautiful town in Europe, now it is the most miserable. I can easily conceive it to have been much more beautiful, but it is still one of the prettiest towns in France. It is evidently the " Ton " at Paris to ridicule the Revolution and all species of Equality. I am persuaded that Buonaparte only made the King of Etruria in order to familiarize the people to the idea of Regal power being perfectly compatible with civil Liberty. At one time indeed, I have little doubt he intended to call himself Emperor of Gaul, or some such Title, but probably he thought the acquisition of the power of greater consequence and much easier to be accomplished than the Title. The conversation in Paris, indeed through the whole of France, is perfectly unrestrained. You may hear a party of Jacobines railing at the present Govern- ment, and complaining of their being deluded with only a show of Liberty etc. etc. A party of Contents and Royalists all in the same Coffee House, talking most vociferously. Moreau is a quiet, moderate man, and much re- spected in France. He allows that if it had not been for gross blunders of the opposite party his retreat must have been inevitably cut off. Indeed all their principal battles seemed to have been determined by some lucky chance, which gives us at once cause of regret and pleasure. Journal from Calais to Paris. The first I saw of the French sailors, did not conduce to give me a very favourable idea of their skill, as it was with considerable difficulty we got into Calais Harbour, and not without a compleat wetting. EARLY YEARS (1784-1805) 17 The rapacity of the Municipal officers is incon- ceivable. I was obliged to pay 220 Livres before even my carriage was suffered to pass. From Calais we passed through an open hilly country to Boulogne, which seems to have suffered a great deal during the Revolution. Here, of course I narrowly inspected the Harbour, and I beg leave here to mention a few circumstances relative to the Bombardment of this place by Lord Nelson, last summer, and although it is an unpleasant employment to detract from the character of a great man, but truth obliges me to say, upon the authority of respect- able eye witnesses on both sides, that Lord Nelson added nothing to his fame by that business. The sailors, as might be expected, behaved most gallantly but the business was badly planned, and of course could not be successfully executed ; it was injudicious to make three divisions, as by that means they came into action at different times. Our sailors also were only armed with a cutlass, a Pistol, and tomahawk, whereas the French boats were full of troops armed with muskets, and defended from being boarded by a net-work 8 or 10 ft. high. One boat's crew however, would not leave England without muskets, and they succeeded in capturing a boat. The French Admiral (Latouche) said at the time he had no hopes of any of the French being saved, for he declared that if the English came a little nearer they might set every ship on fire. It is false that there were any of them chained, there were one or two aground. I was pestered by a great number of women and children begging, and upon my enquiring the cause, I was instantly told because formerly there were several of the noblesse who lived in and near the town, but that now they were gone, the town was in wretchedness and beggary. VOL. I. 18 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN At Abbeville, as I was returning to the Hotel, some women hissed and gave me some interruption, probably from my being in regimentals. We lay the next night at Rheims. The Cathedral, which was also built by the English is extremely fine, and has suffered very little by the Revolution, the Mayor having taken up arms against the soldiery who wished to destroy it. It has however been despoiled of all its plate and riches, and some of the figures demolished. Particularly, compartments in which are represented history from the Old and New Testaments. The heads of nearly all the figures are cut off. On Friday we slept at Chantilly, which I only mention, in order to observe that it is one of the most distressing scenes I have ever witnessed in France. The magnificent Palace, once the abode of princely worth, is in ruins, and a band of rcgicidal Freebooters living in what were the stables. The woods and gardens are all neglected, and in disorder, in short the whole is calculated to excite the most melancholy ideas. At Amiens I saw Lord Cornwallis who was very kind. I was invited to dine with Joseph Bonaparte, but did not go, in hopes of seeing him in Paris, when after a little Practice I should be able to speak French more Fluently. The Priest at Calais, who seems a sensible man, informed me that the people came daily in greater numbers to Church. The religion of the people is greatly altered, and although there are not a very great number of Atheists, yet it appears to me that they are impressed with no awe, no warmth of devo- tion, professing the Catholic religion yet remaining indifferent about any. Notwithstanding the ordinances of Government EARLY YEARS (1784-1805) 19 in order to oblige tradesmen to keep open their shops on Sunday, one frequently sees those who in defiance of the Legislature shut them up, indeed there is certainly an air of Sunday through the town. The devastation amongst the ecclesiastical buildings is immense, there is not a village I saw but what there was a Church in ruins or greatly injured, the same is the case in many of the streets in Paris. The manners of the lower classes are certainly altered by the Revolution, but not nearly so much as one would be led to expect, from the great changes which have taken place in the Government; in general they are remarkably civil and obliging. They seem to have lost some of their National gaity, which renders them still more like the Scotch, who indeed I should say are like the French. I have scarcely ever seen a countryman with a muff, which practice used formerly to be universal, instead of which they wear a great pair of gloves, with fur inside and out. They dress worse, and more dirtily than before the Revolution, among the lower classes cocked hats seem to be the rage, one may see people of all discriptions, sailors, soldiers, tailors, blacksmiths, carters and even sportsmen and postmen, with these immense inconvenient articles. Caps of all descriptions are worn, from the red cap of Liberty to a cap made of Fox's skin, with the brush hanging down behind a la guerre. Bonaparte is certainly popular, but it is more through necessity than anything else, not but what they must be grateful for his overturning the Directory. They all say, we lived in continual terror and danger ; he came, we live at least in safety and tranquility if not in happiness. They are, however, sensible that it is only conferring Supreme power upon one man which before was possessed by five, and they 20 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN wisely prefer one Tyrant to any other number, in as much as Tyrants, always get worse in an inverted ratio, for instance of all Tyrannies a Monarchical Government is the best, an Aristocratical the worst, and a Democratical the worst possible. It would be unpardonable were I to omit saying something of Moreau, whom I shall not hesitate to affirm is one of the greatest characters of the age. He is indubitably one of the best officers, if we except the Archduke Charles, perhaps the very best in Europe he is extremely modest in his manners and temperate in his opinions, he possesses an accurate knowledge of the Laws of his country, (having prac- tised formerly as advocate), joined to considerable learning. I think the most admirable trait in his character is that in whatever part he may have carried on the War, he has always made himself beloved by the inhabitants. This, when we con- sider that he is the only officer who never received any succours from the Treasury at home, is an incontrovertible proof of his consummate skill as a commander, and goodness as a man. I had the happiness of being introduced to him, and found him everything I had expected. The Government of France at present is almost entirely Military. The Generals are the people who are looked up to in the place of the ancient noblesse and whose alliances are coveted with equall avidity- even the appartments of Bonaparte in the Tuilleries which are extremely magnificent (formerly the royal appartments), are decorated almost entirely with military ornaments, swords, helmets, shields, etc. all scattered about in the greatest profusion. In the magnificent hall, where the great dinners are given, I discovered nothing but statues of eminent military characters, such as the great Conde, Marshall EARLY YEARS (1784-1805) 21 Turenne, Chevalier Bayard, the Great Duquesne, Marshall de Luxembourg etc., etc. A martial air reigns through the town, soldiers parade most of the principal streets, and keep the peace. The utmost respect is paid to everything military but although the influence of the army is thus predominant, yet Bonaparte neither as chief nor in his civil capacity is quite absolute, as has been proved by the rejection of the code of Civil Law proposed by him, and the adoption of which he was known to have had very much at heart. The fundamental principle of the constitution is, that all Laws must originate with, and be proposed by, the Consulate. The Legislative Body have thus the power of rejecting this proposal, or of ordering it to pass into a Law. It is true however that the Chief Consul by virtue of what is called an " arrete " can do what he pleases, but it is as a violent proceeding, and never acted upon but on trifling occasions. I understand, however, that he is determined to carry his proposed Civil Code through all opposition, and in this manner, namely, by getting rid of everyone who opposed it ; which is done by declaring the necessity of a new election. Bonaparte takes care of course that no ob- noxious member shall be re-elected; in this manner they go on rejecting twenty or thirty of the old members daily, they are however to be allowed to sit, until the first of Germinal, when the Code is to be proposed again and no doubt carried. All Bona- parte's friends are much surprised at this strong measure, the consequences of which nobody can foresee, but I think the sentiment of his enemies seems exaltation, and of his friends dread. He him- self probably thinks that the object is tantamount to any danger to which he may be liable, and therefore through a real desire to do good, and perhaps relying 22 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN upon his popularity, he hopes all may turn out well. Bonaparte has returned from Lyons with the title of first Consul of the Italian Republic. I should suppose that this must have been understood by the negotiating parties, for if not it is calculated to produce serious consequences, as in all probability he will soon make himself First Consul of the Helvetic and Batavian Republics. It is impossible to cal- culate the advantage which France must receive from the Incorporation of these three Republics. As in each of them will be organised at least thirty thousand men. There will be then on the Frontiers of France a Force of 90,000 men, ready to march at a moment's warning. Bonaparte was received with no particular demonstrations of joy. Soon after he arrived there was a review at which I was, after which I was introduced to him, he talked for about a quarter of an hour. The Spectators were very numerous, yet no joy was shewn. All this very strange, but I apprehend it springs from a kind of jealousy mixed with their admiration, which must for some time be the case, until all the popular ideas of liberty have subsided, and the people are contented to sit quietly down under an absolute Government, which is the only one by which France can ultimately flourish, of this truth Bonaparte is perfectly sensible, as are all those who know the interests of France. From France Lord Aberdeen went to Italy, and in Florence spent some interesting evenings at the house of the Pretender's widow, the Countess of Albany. At one end of the room the Countess sat with her bevy of visitors ; at the other, cloaked and hatted, seated at a table, was Alfieri, alone, and apparently unnoticed by the little Court around EARLY YEARS (1784-1805) 23 the Countess. Lord Aberdeen's acquaintance with Italian literature enabled him to have some converse with the poet, which he was not accustomed to have with British visitors. Lord Aberdeen was anxious to travel in the Levant, and at length extorted from his two guardians a somewhat reluctant permission to gratify his wish. At Malta he joined Mr. Drummond, the new British Ambassador to the Porte, and accompanied him to Constantinople. The Embassy touched at almost every island in the ^Egean Sea in its route. After reaching Constantinople, Lord Aberdeen spent some time there, and after obtaining the necessary firmans he proceeded on a long journey through Greece and Asia Minor. In those days such wander- ings were attended with much hardship, and occasionally with a certain amount of danger. He stayed for a considerable time at Athens, where he rediscovered and excavated the Pnyx; he then crossed to Smyrna, and thence visited Ephesus and other points in Asia Minor. He returned to Greece and explored the Morea, visited Albania, and passing to Corfu, returned home, after an absence on the Continent of two years. On his return to England in 1804 Lord Aberdeen resumed the life he had lived before going abroad, and he resided alternately with Mr. Pitt and Lord Melville. On January 28, 1805, he attained his majority, and he then went to Haddo House to take possession of his estates, and receive a welcome and congratula- tions from his many tenants and county neighbours. Lord Aberdeen had never visited the home of his ancestors since he had left Scotland as a child of only eight years old. Such impressions as he retained of his early life at Haddo were those misty and illusionary impressions which are made on the infant mind. His boyhood and early youth had been passed among the most cultivated and illustrious men of the time. His school and his various homes 24 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN were situated in some of the most beautiful of English counties. He had travelled early and far, and he had lingered amid the Southern scenes of a great past. There he had seen the vestiges of a complex and ordered civilisation, set amid a natural scenery, untouched in its glowing beauty and richness by the history of the decay and ruin of vanished nations. Whether at home in England, or travelling abroad, the surroundings of his life had been totally unlike the conditions which existed in Scotland at that date; and his imagination had never pictured what awaited him on his return to his native land. His son has recorded that Lord Aberdeen could but rarely be induced to speak of these early days, or the rough awakening he was to experience. When he did recall them, he spoke " with great force on his sensations when brought face to face with the realities." It was very literally the nakedness of the land that lay before him. Two hundred years had passed since the union of the crowns, and the union of the countries was barely seventy years old at the date of Lord Aberdeen's birth. Aberdeenshire lay remote from the tide of prosperity and common interests, which was slowly linking up the two countries. When the north of Scotland began the movement of enlightened progress, it was no laggard in the race, and its people were to take the lead in everything that needed commercial sagacity and agricultural science; but that period was only just looming on the horizon of its history at the date when Lord Aberdeen came to his home. When he had mastered his first deep disgust at the backward condition of agriculture, the miserable dwellings and half-savage habits of the people, the drinking and coarseness of the gentry, the inclemency of the climate, the ugliness and monotony of the country, bare and undulating and treeless, he entertained wild ideas of breaking the entail and disposing of the property. He saw he could not do this, and then the intention of permanent absenteeism EARLY YEARS (1784-1805) 25 presented itself as another form of temptation. It was not until after many days of mental conflict that his intense desire to escape to more smiling regions gave place to the conviction that it was his duty not to abandon, but to improve the vast territorial posses- sions to which he owed his place and position in the world. To desert those who were living under his influence was clearly impossible, and the work which lay to his hand was to improve those conditions, which he felt so keenly were neither those of progress nor of civilisation. It is rare in any age that one born to the name and position inherited by Lord Aberdeen should have been brought up until he had attained his majority in scenes so remote from the lot in which his inheritance was cast. Scotland has always suffered from so many of her sons being educated in England, leaving them without the knowledge of that race and country from which they have sprung. Too often they neither share nor understand the beliefs and traditions of their own countrymen. Yet in the beginning of the nineteenth century, had Lord Aberdeen remained in the remote and isolated north of Scotland he might have differed very little from those neighbours whose lack of refinement he felt so keenly, when called upon to view them in the light of social acquaintances. Had he not been conversant with a different standard of comfort and well-being within the rural districts of England, he might never have taken rank among those who were bent on being reformers and benefactors on their native soil. That the young man was not over-fastidious can be demonstrated from any of the records of the condition of the country-side at this time. " A tree in Scotland is as rare as a horse in Venice," was Dr. Johnson's dictum, and there was a larger amount of truth in the Saxon gibe than was always the case where Johnson and Scotland were concerned. 26 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN The ancient woods had been laid low, wastefully used as fuel, and destroyed as cumberers of the soil, or sold by impecunious and absent landowners who wasted their revenues by dissipation at the English capital and Court. In agriculture the cultivation of the turnip made no real progress till after the famine of 1782. That disaster taught farmers a severe and much-needed lesson, and at last the ancient and outworn methods were abandoned. Before the famine there were not two hundred acres put under turnip in any one year. Improvement had set in by the time Lord Aberdeen came to his home, but how much it was needed, and how little had been effected in the outer face of nature and man, may be gauged by the impressions made upon him. In writing to his friend, Hudson Gurney, three or four days after attaining his majority, he says, " I have feasted about eight or nine hundred neighbours as well as the principal gentlemen of the County, and I have been immersed, not in Greek [as Gurney supposed], but in Port and Claret." Lord Stanmore wrote thus, regarding his father's first arrival at Haddo : The scene before him was certainly cold and cheerless. The short lime avenue before the house terminated in a dreary and extensive peat moss, which lay stretched between it and the grim high walls of a distant deer park. Snipe were to be shot in the marshy swamp which reached to the foot of the garden terrace. Stacks of fuel and sheds of lumber were piled against the walls of the house itself. The neighbouring lairds, not excluding the few peers who lived almost wholly in the country, were uneducated, and had little in common with " Athenian Aberdeen." Three o'clock in the afternoon was the ordinary EARLY YEARS (1784-1805) 27 hour of dinner, at which every gentleman present was expected to propose a toast and every lady a senti- ment. A particular small kind of raw turnip appeared on the table as the winter dessert. Stores of salt meat were laid in for winter use. There was one house on the estate, besides the great house, which paid window tax, but only one. Women habitually assisted to draw the plough; and the houses of the peasantry, and even the smaller farmers, were of the poorest description. It is difficult to believe that even the remotest districts of our island could have been so far behind the conditions which had been attained by the more civilised parts of the kingdom. One anecdote will be sufficient to show how little advance had been made, at all events in luxury. The umbrella which Lord Aberdeen brought down with him on this occasion was the first ever seen in the parishes of Methlick or Tarves, and on going out with it, he was repeatedly stopped by curious persons, who asked him to put it up and close it again. Having one day performed this operation several times, at the request of an old man, he was rewarded by a long sigh, a grave shake of the head, and the ejaculation, ' Eh, they're braw chiels i' the Sooth.' The con- trary opinion was expressed by the old huntsman of the family, who declared that the young Earl would have been a fine man, " gin they hadna ta'en him to England, and spoiled his education." When this was repeated to Lord Aberdeen he wrote to his friend Gurney : I by no means despise the old huntsman's reflections. My father certainly contrived to make himself the most popular character of this county by conforming to the pursuits of the country, and by the art of concealing the learning and rationality he possessed, 28 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN and of which, indeed, few people had more. This appears to me enviable. Enviable it might be, but Lord Aberdeen's gifts did not lie in this direction, nor at any time of his life could he successfully affect interest in that which did not interest him. Once convinced that " duty stern and high " demanded any sacrifice of him, Lord Aberdeen never failed to pursue the appointed task. That in the course of long years he lived to see his particular wilderness blossom as the rose, that his labour for the country and his own property became a labour of love, and that he had the reward of seeing his estates increase in prosperity and in material value, lay still in the unknown future. What conditions he found, and what conditions he left when his life ended, are well recorded in an interesting report, covering the period from 1801-1860, by Mr. George Muirhead, F.R.S.E., during the time that he was factor to the present Lord Aberdeen. Some extracts give a clear account of the estate and condition of things : Previous to the early years of the eighteenth century agriculture in Aberdeenshire was in a very rude state, little or no improvement having been made in the cultivation of the land, which still con- tinued to be cropped and managed by the unenlight- ened tenantry in the same manner as it had been for ages by their benighted forefathers. The whole country was bare and open; no fences, trees or plantations for shelter or ornament were to be seen in the wide expanse of Buchan and Formartine. Moors, mosses, and barren wastes, interspersed with bogs and morasses, covered the greater part of the surface of the ground. The cultivated lands were continually soaked by the copious rains and melting snows of winter, and poached into mortar by the heavy feet of the drowsy steers which dragged the EARLY YEARS (1784-1805) 29 cumbrous " twelve owsen " plough along the crooked furrows, which were thus rendered sour and unfruitful and yielded poor and scanty crops. Artificial drainage, as well as the use of lime for agricultural purposes, was almost unknown. There were no roads or bridges, and no means of conveying grain to the market except on the backs of pack- horses. The land was occupied by two classes the proprietors and their tenants. Owing probably to the disturbed state of the country, the former took little or no personal interest in agriculture. The only ground they cultivated was near their mansions, and that just for household purposes. The tenants tilled only small patches of land on the running system. They followed the practices of their fathers, and these were thriftless and barbarous in the extreme. They sowed successive crops of corn on the same piece of ground until it was utterly ex- hausted, when it was left foul with weeds, to recover its powers by an indefinite period of rest. Oats, bere, and peas were the usual field crops, and the straw of these, along with such herbage as they could find in the field, formed the winter food of the cattle, which before the return of the spring were often so weak from starvation that they were unable to rise without assistance. The improvements introduced by the enterprising and patriotic landowners, such as drainage and liming, turnip-growing and the sowing of the land with artificial grass seeds, were at first but slowly adopted by the tenantry. The report then quotes the Rev. Francis Knox, Minister of Tarves. Writing in 1842, he says that agriculture in 1772 in that parish, a typical one of the Haddo estate, was in a truly wretched condition. 30 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN Green crops, with the exception of a few potatoes and cole worts in the gardens, were unknown. The horses employed in agriculture were diminutive in size and used merely for burden, never for draught. They carried out manure and home peats in panniers or creels. Carts and wheeled carriages were only to be found in the possession of landed proprietors. The dwelling-houses of the tenants generally con- sisted of two apartments a " but " and a " ben." The walls were built of stones and clay, and roofs covered with " divots " or thatched with rushes or heather cut from the neighbouring moors. One bad harvest of 1782 and the disasters which followed it had a very depressing effect upon the tenantry, and the close of the eighteenth century found the general condition of the Haddo House estates much the same as it had been for the previous five-and-twenty years. About 1805 the rise in the price of agricultural produce, and especially of cattle, which succeeded the breaking out of the war with France, stimulated the tenantry to engage in improvements on their holdings. From this time forward the progress was very rapid. As a proof of this, the rental of the estates rose about fifty per cent, in eight years. In the first ten years of entering into his property Lord Aberdeen laid out in improvements close on three thousand pounds. The report traces all the enlightened management, the improved system of leases, and the example set by the landowner, through the years covered by this report. Much of it seems the commonplaces of to-day over agricultural Scotland, but Lord Aberdeen and many of the surrounding proprietors made possible by their generous terms, and steady leader- ship, the enrichment of the country and its people. When an end came to his stewardship, the total he had expended in improvements, which included buildings, roads, draining and planting, was close on sixty thousand pounds : He drained, he planted, he built. Tracts of EARLY YEARS (1784-1805) 31 moorland became fields of corn, new schools rose in every parish, new buildings on every farm. Few knew the sacrifices of taste and inclination involved in his adoption of Haddo as an habitual summer residence. For many years it was in the highest degree repugnant to him. But in spite of inclination he persevered. Lord Aberdeen lived to see the works of his hand prosper, and he learnt to love his patrimony with the love which was that of a native of Caledonia stern and wild. He never lost his early impressions of the rigours of the January winter in which he returned to his home. To the end of his large correspondence, much of it when written from Haddo dwelt on the changes and chances of climate. In early autumn, and even in the late summer of the north, he con- stantly forecasted snow-storms, and the blockading of roads he had in many cases himself constructed. Writing to a friend from Haddo in October 1809 he says : It will make me truly happy to see you, but, alas ! this is not my Paradise : this is not Vail' Ombrosa of which you have heard so much, but a real Siberian waste. Far as the eye can reach no tree is seen. " Earth clad in russet scorns the lively green." The desolation of the exterior is only equalled by the appalling badness of the house. We will contrive, however, to despise these matters. If the storm rages we will sit close in the old Library. I'll broach ye a pipe of Malvoisie and bring pasties of the doe ! in short do all that is possible to make you forget the frozen latitude in which we are placed. I go to-morrow to visit a brother Kamskatchan. It has been worth while to describe the condition of Aberdeenshire and the Haddo estates at the end of the eighteenth century, not only because it is part 32 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN of the history of the development of Scotland after the union of the countries, but because much of the character and talent of Lord Aberdeen may be traced to the race and country from which he drew his name and position. The success of the " Aber- donian," in all spheres of work, has passed into a proverb, and something of the tough dourness and long-headed sagacity of the race of men and women who have owned Aberdeenshire as their county, is due to the wrestle with a harsh climate and soil, which was never that of the Garden of Eden. You may transport a Scot, and nurture him in the soft South, amidst the luxuries of the capitals of Europe, but untouched will remain those character- istics which have been welded into his being by conditions which have called forth the courage, endurance and sagacious ability of the sons of the North. CHAPTER II MARRIAGE (18051813) " I feel, as everyone ought, that the most solid blessing in life, perhaps the only one, is the possession of a faithful and true heart." ABERDEEN . LORD ABERDEEN'S residence at the University seems to have extended to two years. Lord Stan- more, writing of that period, says : At that time, not only did the vicious practice of granting degrees to noblemen without examination prevail, but they were actually precluded from pre- senting themselves for examination even when desirous to do so. He appears, however, to have continued the classical studies which he had carried on at Harrow, and to have made himself conversant with modern history, especially that of the Renaissance. After what has been said of Lord Aberdeen's studious habits, the reader may be surprised to learn that one of his favourite recreations while at Cam- bridge was acting. Silent, shy and sensitive as he was, the personation of another seemed to give him confidence which in his own character he did not possess. On one occasion, he and two friends presented themselves under assumed names to the manager of the theatre at Canterbury, and were engaged by him to perform the principal parts in Shakespeare's tragedy of King John. Their success was complete, and the manager was most anxious to retain them in his company, offering Lord Aberdeen a liberal salary, VOL. i. 33 D 84 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN if he would only enter into an engagement for the entire season. He did not leave this talented taste behind him when he left Cambridge, and when he joined the circle at the Priory he became a welcome recruit of the private theatricals carried on there. In one play in which there were but eleven male parts, there are to be found among the actors two future Prime Ministers, Lord Aberdeen and Lord Melbourne, two Ambassadors at Vienna, Sir R. Gordon and Lord Beauvale, Sir Thomas Lawrence, and Mr. T. Sheridan. Probably his curators knew nothing of his theatrical engagement at Cambridge, but after his marriage the watchful eye of Lord Melville was on him, and he expressed his anxiety to his former charge : Dalchonzie, 1805. I am not much in the way of hearing anything at this place, but it was mentioned by somebody two days ago in conversation, that there was to be some theatrical entertainment at the Priory and that you was to have a part. Not knowing the circumstances, nor whether it is a thing which either yourself or Lord Abercorn are eager about, it may be pre- sumptuous or perhaps rusticated in me to suggest doubts as to the propriety of your taking a part, but having these doubts, it can do you no harm merely to suggest to you whether at your time of life, and with the prospects of ambition which naturally present themselves to your view, it would not be as well to keep your oratorical talents for another theatre than that of any private spectacle of mere amuse- ment, and of which as performers it is not likely you are to meet with many partakers of your own rank and condition in life. If I am wrong you can think no more of my MARRIAGE (1805-1813) 35 doubt and throw this into the fire, but if you think there is anything in my suggestion it will not cost either Lord Abercorn or you much trouble to give it five minutes' consideration. I have spoken to the Duke of York of a Commission to Alec, and about the latter end of next week Charles goes to sea under the care of Sir Home Popham. He will have a fair trial of his love of the sea, as Sir Home is going on a very distant service. I remain, my dear Haddo, Yours affectionately, HENRY DUNDAS. Lord Haddo took counsel with his other guardian and received an answer : Downing Street, Sunday, Oct. 27, 1805. MY DEAR LORD, I feel very much flattered by your wish to know my opinion on the subject of your Note. Your character for attention to real Business cannot, I am sure, suffer in my eyes, nor I think in those of others, from your taking a Part in the Amusement of the Priory. They will, I hope, only be a prelude for graver Exhibitions; and whenever an opportunity may arise, you will be ready to obey the summons you remember in Tacitus : " Nunc ego te ab Auditoriis et Theatris, in Pulverem atque Aciem et ad vera Proelia voco." Ever, my dear Lord, Most sincerely yours, W. PITT. It was not the private theatricals, which so disturbed Lord Melville, which were the centre of Lord Aberdeen's thoughts at the Priory. He was about to enter into the drama and tragedy of his 36 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN private life, and at this time all his hopes and prospects seemed of the fairest. On attaining his majority Lord Aberdeen con- tinued to live chiefly with Mr. Pitt, and his entrance into Society was into that circle which contained Mr. Pitt's friends. Among those to whose notice Lord Aberdeen was specially commended by Mr. Pitt was Lord Abercorn. John James, Marquess of Abercorn, occupied a position at that time less sin- gular than it would be now that of a man who, never sitting in a Cabinet, or accepting office, never- theless, by virtue of the possession of rank and wealth, and the command of shrewd ability, exercised no inconsiderable influence on affairs, and was consulted by Cabinets and by the sovereign. In his youth Lord Abercorn's accession to the title had not been anticipated, but his handsome person, his great strength and the boldness and frequency of his adventures of gallantry had made him, at an early age, a marked figure in Society. Mr. Pitt had a very high opinion of his talents, and according to Walter Scott, declared that had Lord Abercorn remained a Commoner he would have become one of the most distinguished speakers of the Lower House. As a peer he was remarkable for pride and stateliness, but in the brilliant society which he gathered round him, literature and art held at least as high a place as rank and power. The imperious owner of Bently Priory, and those who habitually gathered there, have been sketched by Sir Walter Scott in a now forgotten article in the Quarterly Review. The picture is an attractive one. The Shcridans, Walter Scott him- self, Lawrence the painter, Kemble the actor, Payne Knight the antiquary, were among the most constant and familiar guests, and to Lord Aberdeen the Priory soon became a home. MARRIAGE (1805-1813) 37 The eldest daughter of Lord Abercorn, Lady Catharine Hamilton, was one of those bright and rare beings who seem rather to rest on the earth's surface than to belong to it. The likeness of her graceful form, full of restless life, of her stately bearing, and eager, passionate face, has been preserved to us by Lawrence. Though the fire and animation of the mobile features are shown upon his canvas, it is evident that their beauty, great as it is, must have been enhanced by their constant play of varying expression, the Lampeggiar delV Angelica riso which goes so far to form love's paradise. To his friends, Lawrence whispered that his fortune would have been made if he could have dared to paint, as the embodiment of scorn, her attitude and expression, as with half-averted head and out- stretched arm she allowed the Prince of Wales, whom she despised and thought she had reason to hate, to fasten an armlet above her elbow. With her Lord Aberdeen fell passionately in love, and she with him. There was nothing to impede his suit, and they were married on the 28th July, 1805. Lord Aberdeen worshipped her with complete devotion. He found in her society a happiness he had never known or imagined, and which was all the more appreciated from its contrast to his previous solitary and forlorn condition. Kind as his guardians had been, the dependence on strangers had been bitter to him. He had known no home or family life. There were none on whom he could freely lavish his strong affection, and he had early learned to repress all outward signs of feeling. For a few short years his happiness was now brilliant and unclouded, it was then lost for ever. In these words, the son of his old age gives the history of what were truly the sanctities of Lord 38 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN Aberdeen's home. The happiness and subsequent tragical grief runs like the warp and woof of the web of life through all his subsequent history. It was a grief borne with a fortitude, and concealed by a reserve which even at this distance of time can be vividly read in the faded ink of these documents which tell the story of all the lives which were so early removed from the happy circle of Lord Aberdeen's home. The marriage made no difference in his relations with his two guardians and friends. Lord Melville, visiting the Priory after the betrothal, writes warmly of his pleasure in making Lady Catharine's acquaintance. Priory, July. MY DEAR LORD, I can't pass a second day here without com- municating to you my cordial contentment in the prospect of your affairs after saying this I need hardly explain it by adding that I find Lady Cath- arine is really one among ten thousand, and that I don't find that any part of all the good I had heard of her has been exaggerated. I think her one of the most natural and most pleasing people I ever saw, and I am persuaded, though on so short an acquaintance, that she has one of those happy natures that, the more undisguised they are, must become the more attaching; and certainly there are circumstances, extreme cases, that almost preclude of common gradations of intimacy. She has perfectly complied with your desire in this respect, and met me at least half-way but what I honour her for is the honesty with which she shows her regard for you without either mystery or affectation. It might not be sufficiently flattering in Lord A.'s ears, but you will do justice to the extent of my meaning when I declare to you that I am quite satisfied, and more so than I ever could have been if the choice of your destiny MARRIAGE (1805-1813) 39 had been left to me. I trust nothing will happen to detain you long, I never saw any person's presence more desired than yours is here. His relations with Mr. Pitt became even more intimate after the impeachment and trial of Lord Melville by the House of Lords, which took place in 1806, and at Mr. Pitt's request the young couple took up their residence at Lord Melville's villa at Wimble- don, so as to be near Mr. Pitt's house at Putney. It was not to be for long, and how profoundly the change affected Lord Aberdeen is set forth in his correspondence. FROM LORD MELVILLE l Bath, Jan. 5, 1806. Mr. Pitt was seized with another attack of the gout last night in the foot not attacked before. He is thin and feeble. Sir Walter Farquhar arrived here last night and I shall know more accur- ately to-day the state of his health. But without being a physician or hearing any report, upon my own observation I cannot help regretting most severely the early approach of the meeting of Parlia- ment, before which time it does not appear to me possible for him to have recovered any competent degree of strength. . . . Conduit Street, 22nd. I have received your letter. The fatal Blow I am to receive from Putney, in the course of not many hours, would at any rate have disabled me 1 Henry Dundas, 1742-1811. Mr. Pitt's most trusted colleague and intimate friend. Lord Advocate, 1775 ; President of the India Board, 1784-1801. Created Viscount Melville, 1802. First Lord of the Admiralty, 1804-5. Tried and acquitted by the House of Lords on a charge of peculation, as Treasurer of the Navy, 1806. Though acquitted he was shown to have been negligent in financial control, and declined to resume office when asked to do so by the Duke of Port- land in 1807. 40 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN from joining any party at present ; I will endeavour to give you a Call in the course of to-morrow, but I shall go on to Bath without delay. God bless you and yours. . . . London, Jan. 23, 1806. MY DEAR ABERDEEN, The fatal Blow you will have heard is struck. I am going to Blackheath but will breakfast with you to-morrow on my way to Bath. My love to Lady Aberdeen, and I remain, My dear Lord, Yours very truly and affectionately, MELVILLE. LORD ABERDEEN TO THE REV. G. WHITTINGTON 1 Wimbledon, Jan. 24, 1800. MY DEAR WHITTINGTON, With mingled sentiments of grief and horror I now write to you. Mr. Pitt is no more; the country has lost its only support in this dreadful time of disasters; and I have lost the only Friend to whom I looked up with unbounded Love and Admiration. The sun is indeed set, and what can now follow but the blackest night 1 Why are you absent ? not that I can tell you anything ; Lord Melville was here this morning in absolute despair. Everybody in the streets looks as if they had lost a a father and Protector; and they are right; they have. He was sensible until a short time before he died, which he did with perfect resignation. He continued to talk when senseless, and wished to write to the Foreign Office and Treasury. But why do I expatiate on anything so distressing ? To think that I am now writing at a Table, where I have seen 1 Rev. G. Whittington, 1780-1807. Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. MARRIAGE (1805-1813) 41 him a thousand times, is indeed Agony. What will become of the Country torn by differing factions ? While he lived, whether in or out of place, there was at least one object to which all eyes were directed, and which might have united all hearts in the time of danger. But now it is all void and blank : on whom can we put our trust? where can the mind repose with confidence? Nothing is known of any arrangements, and you will not expect me to go over reports at present. For God's sake come to England; if I do not close my eyes, which I have not these last two nights, I shall be soon as miserable in body as in mind. The Blow is so dreadfully fatal, because wholly irreparable, and admits of no alleviation. Farewell, and come to England. Believe me your most affectionate Friend, ABERDEEN. LORD ABERDEEN'S JOURNAL Jan. 25, Saturday. Wimbledon. I have often resolved progressively to note down and record the political events and transactions which pass under my observation and are worthy of such attention, but more particularly every subject of that nature in which I am individually concerned or interested. More especially at the present time am I inclined to observe and record my own actions, as from the expulsion of Lord Melville last year, and the recent death of Mr. Pitt, I am deprived of the two only persons to whose influence I have so long looked up for assistance and protection. Mr. Pitt, having spent some time at Bath without benefit, returned to Putney in order to attend the ensuing meeting of Parliament. His health remained in a fluctuating state, but when Parliament did meet 42 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN on the 21st of this month he was too ill to attend. I received on the evening of the 22nd a note from Lord Melville, intimating that his death might be expected, and on the morning of the 23rd I was informed he was no more, having expired that morning at a quarter past four. From my having lived with him on terms of the utmost intimacy from my childhood, from his having been my guardian, and from his constant affection for me, the dismay and affliction which I suffered and still do suffer under this irreparable loss, by being absorbed in individual feelings, renders me callous or insensible to those of a public nature. Yet the idea is dreadful ! the sun is indeed set, and what can now follow but the blackest night ? I am resolved to recollect and write down many things which I heard Mr. Pitt say, in the course of this journal. Nothing fell from his lips without its weight ! Jan. 24 RUSSIA AND TURKEY (1828-1830) 241 hereafter, in case of its entire annihilation and ex- tinction. All I wish is, to get out of the Greek affair without loss of honour, and without imminent risk for the safety of the Ionian Islands. After much discussion, the independent sovereignty was conceded to Lord Aberdeen; but he could not gain the assent of the Cabinet to any extension of the limits of Greece beyond those already determined. With his accustomed loyalty to his chief and to his colleagues, he strove, in all his correspondence, to make the best of an arrangement he did not really like. To his brother alone he permitted himself to express the whole extent of his views with regard to the future which lay before the new State. In his judgment, however, the exact limits of the Greek kingdom had now become of far less importance than the choice of an efficient sovereign for it. He thought it essential that he should be a man of real capacity, willing to work and competent to rule ; one on whom would naturally devolve or who, in case of need, might seize the inheritance of the Sultan. Among the numerous princes who were either candidates for the new sovereignty, or had been urged to become so, there were two Prince Frederick of Orange and Prince Philip of Hesse who appeared to Lord Aberdeen to combine the qualities required for the post. Both were men of ability, decision, and strength of character. But of these, Prince Frederick declined to allow himself to be nominated, and the French Court refused to permit the appoint- of a prince who was also a general in the Austrian army, which was the position of Prince Philip. Of him the Duke wrote : "I know him, and believe him to be as little friendly to this country as any other Prince on the Continent." Prince John of Saxony was the candidate put forward by France, while Prussia urged the claims of Prince Charles of Mecklenburg. Two Archdukes, Maxi- milian and Bernard of Tuscany, were supposed to VOL. I E be willing to undertake the task. In Lord Aberdeen's opinion they were more fit to criticise Greek archi- tecture and collect Greek coins than to rule a turbulent and hungry crowd of modern Greeks. Two other princes had proposed themselves as candidates, Prince Paul of Wiirttemberg and Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg. Prince Leopold was accepted, to his own great satisfaction, by the Con- ference, rather on the principle that no Power could offer a definite objection to him. Lord Aberdeen wrote to his brother at Constanti- nople : I hope you have been preparing our friends for the independence of Greece. This is what we shall certainly establish. We have reduced the limits as much as we have been able; but in this respect we have been obliged to give way more than we could have wished. I consider the appointment of Leopold an invaluable security for the Porte. I think you are allowing yourself to be deceived respecting the state of that Empire. It is not wonderful that you should feel a kindness for people who treat you with such favour and distinction, and I am among the first to admit that the poor devils have endured great injustice. For their great misfortunes they have themselves only to thank ; their obstinacy and infatuation have brought them to their present state, and have deprived us of the means of being really useful to them. It is impossible that you can be right respecting the possibility of their recovering their former position in Europe. Every province is in revolt, and the moral effect of a peace dictated at Adrianople cannot be recovered by any means at the disposal of the Sultan. Sir Robert said Lord Aberdeen's despatch had made him perfectly unhappy, because he regarded it RUSSIA AND TURKEY (1828-1830) 243 as tantamount to a death-warrant of Sultan Mahmoud's power, which he had been labouring to defend and foster. He believed that the Treaty of Adrianople, with all its burdens, would be more palatable to the Porte than the certain knowledge that the preser- vation of the Turkish Empire was no longer an object of the British care. Lord Aberdeen wrote in reply to remove some of the apprehensions he had raised by his despatch. He said that His Majesty's Government had formed decided opinions concerning the Turkish Empire. After having seen a victorious enemy within a single march of the Capital, apathy and disaffection prevail- ing in every province, a general disorganisation, and even attempted reforms made without method and discretion, it was difficult to place much confi- dence in the stability of a Power in such a condition. At the same time he told Sir Robert he was entirely mistaken in supposing that the Government was indifferent to the preservation of the Porte, or that they contemplated its downfall with complacency. Greece, he said, could not be left as it was before the peace of Adrianople. The increased dangers to the Turkish Empire, and its uncertain duration, made the complicated relations at one time contem- plated with the Greek State impossible. " We are satisfied that the independence of Greece, with a restricted frontier, will ultimately prove more advantageous to the Porte." The shrewdness and diplomatic talents of the future King of the Belgians, Prince Leopold, were not then suspected. He was thought to be indolent and undecided, and that the Russian Minister who then presided over the Greek State would be able to guide his ways. Capo d'Istrias had no wish to part with his own authority, and when he became aware that the Prince was a man of considerable capacity, he was as anxious to get rid of him as he had been to name him. By playing on the indolence and self-indulgence 244 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN of Prince Leopold's character he knew how to frighten him into abdicating the dignity he had accepted. It was a misfortune. Had he, or either Prince Frederick of Orange or Prince Philip, assumed the reins of government, Greece would probably have played the part which Lord Aberdeen intended her to play, and which was much the same as that which Bulgaria has played in our own times. No successor to Prince Leopold had been selected before Lord Aberdeen left the Foreign Office. By Lord Palmerston it was determined that the sovereign of Greece should not be its ruler, but a constitutional king of the approved type, a figure-head, not a governor; and that, even during the time which must elapse before a Constitution could be framed, he should rule through a council. Accordingly, the young Otho of Bavaria was chosen, and a council of regency, mainly composed of Germans, set up to rule in his name. It was an unfortunate choice. What Greece wanted was the direction of a single vigorous mind, the grasp of one firm hand. What it got was a divided council of timid and selfish pedants, acting in the name of a dull, incompetent boy. CHAPTER VI PART II FRANCE (1830) " A time there is for change and chance, A time for passing of the cup ; And One abides can yet bind up Broken France. A time there is for change and chance. Who next shall drink the trembling cup, Wring out its dregs and suck them up, After France ? " C. Rossetti. THE dispute in Portugal concerning the successor to the Crowns of Portugal and Brazil came before the Foreign Office. Lord Aberdeen was of the opinion that neither the interests of Great Britain nor of Portugal would be benefited by interference. Dom Pedro, on his accession in 1826, chose Brazil and resigned Portugal to his infant daughter. He at the same time granted a Constitution to Portugal which wholly set aside the existing Cortes. The question was one of imposing the young Queen and the Constitution by means of British bayonets. To this Lord Aberdeen decidedly objected. His argument to M. Barbecue is only interesting as it shows how much interference there had been with the affairs of neighbouring States. It is then either for the purpose of resisting successful rebellion, or for that of deciding by force a question of doubtful succession, that Great Britain has now been called upon to act. But it is impossible to imagine that any independent State could ever intend thus to commit the direction and control of 245 246 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN its internal affairs to the hands of another Power; for doubtless, if His Majesty be under the necessity of furnishing effectual succour in the event of any internal revolt or dissension in Portugal, it would become a duty, and indeed it would be essential, to take care that no such cause should exist if it could possibly be prevented. Hence a constant and minute interference in the affairs of Portugal would be indispensable, for His Majesty could never consent to hold his fleets and armies at the disposal of a King of Portugal without any of those due precautions, and that superintendence, which would assure him that his forces would not be liable to be employed in averting the effects of misgovernment, folly or caprice. Is this a condition of things in which any State professing to be independent could endure to exist? These demands on the part of the young Queen were echoed in the House of Lords by Lord Holland, to whom Lord Aberdeen pointed out that the obliga- tion incumbent on Great Britain to defend the House of Braganza from foreign invasion did not extend to the case of internal dissensions. " It would be quite impossible to fulfil such engagements, if they had ever been entered into, which they had not. There would be no end to interference, if we were liable to be called on in every case of dispute between the members of that family or between the King and his people." This is a doctrine more obvious to-day than to the Whig opposition of 1830. We may be content with knowing that apart from the age of the Treaty, British bayonets were not employed against Portugal, " our ancient ally." Indeed other matters were engrossing the attention of the Foreign Office. France was on the eve of her Revolution of 1830, and was in various ways endeavouring to distract attention by foreign enterprise. A few weeks after the French FRANCE (1830) 247 Revolution which set Louis Philippe on the throne of France and drove Charles X as an exile to the Palace of Holyrood, Belgium was in revolt, and this was speedily converted into a revolution. Questions more difficult of solution than those involved in the French Revolution were thus raised. Whatever might be said as to the inapplicability of the protocol of Aix-la-Chapelle to the existing state of things in France, it was impossible to deny that the obvious primd facie interpretation of existing engagements under the Treaties of 1814 and 1815 bound England and her allies to maintain the integrity of the kingdom of the Netherlands, and to comply with the King's request for their armed intervention between himself and his revolted subjects. The Duke of Wellington and Lord Aberdeen were resolved not to adopt a course which would have rendered war with France all but inevitable, and were most anxious to engage the French Government in negotia- tions which would, at all events, prevent any open assistance being afforded to the Belgian insurgents from that quarter. In the pursuit of these objects they were most efficaciously aided by Talleyrand, who had been sent to London as French Ambassador by Louis Philippe; and it is not impossible, nor indeed improbable, that with his assistance means might have been found to maintain the link which bound together the Provinces of the Netherlands, while giving effect to the just complaints of Belgium. In one paragraph of the draft of a despatch Lord Aberdeen had remarked, with satisfaction, that in the change which had been effected " the horrible excesses which disgraced the former revolution have happily been avoided." The Duke of Wellington pencilled on the margin, " We must not travel too fast. Observe that only one month has elapsed since the issue of the Ordinances ; compare that with the first month of 1789." The paragraph was altered to the expression of a 248 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN hope that such excesses might be avoided. The discussion held with Prince Polignac daily assumed a more threatening aspect, and but for the revolu- tion in France might have brought about a war between that country and England. It was held at the time that the Wellington Government and Lord Aberdeen entertained strong sympathies with the reactionary Government in France. It was thought that, if they did not advise, they at least regarded without displeasure its attempt to recover autocratic power. This was a mistaken view. The correspondence of Lord Aberdeen shows how clearly he saw the folly, and how decidedly he disapproved the violence of the French Government. His public as well as his private letters prove that the Government of Charles was regarded by him from first to last with suspicion, distrust and dislike. In the latter part of 1829 rumours reached the English Government that France contemplated an expedition against Algiers, and had entered into engagements with Mehemet AH Pacha of Egypt to assist in the operation, the Pacha receiving as his reward the Regencies of Tunis and Tripoli. The truth of these rumours was persistently denied. In the early days of January 1830 Lord Aberdeen received from Prince Metternich, through Lord Cowley, copies of the despatches of the French Ambassador at Constantinople to his Government, which the Prince had found means to intercept. These despatches afforded incontrovertible evidence, not only that the French Government contemplated an expedition against Algiers, but also of the alliance with Mehemet Ali. The English Ambassador at the Porte was directed to interpose to procure reasonable satisfaction for France, and a warning was dispatched to Mehemet Ali, which effectually stopped his co-operation. Lord Stuart de Rothesay was also instructed to suggest to Prince Polignac " the sincere desire of FRANCE (1830) 249 His Majesty that the King of France should obtain from the Regency of Algiers the most ample repara- tion which the provocation and insults he has endured entitle him to demand from that State; but you will at the same time avow a hope that it may still be possible to obtain this reparation without carrying into execution the measures of entire destruction which have been threatened. Should this termination of the affair prove to be impracticable, and if the French Government should persevere in the resolution utterly to destroy the Regency of Algiers, you will suggest to M. de Polignac the propriety of affording some explanation of their ulterior views, and of satisfying those who cannot but witness with some anxiety the con- sequences of an undertaking of this description. M. de Polignac will probably think it right to give the necessary assurances that his most Christian Majesty has no intention of establishing a French garrison on the coast, or of finally settling this State with a view to the exclusive prevalence of French interests. On the 25th Lord Stuart saw Prince Polignac, who told him that the expedition was resolved on, and would enforce the demolition of the fortifications of Algiers and the abolition of piracy and slavery. He denied the intention on the part of the French Government to form any colony, or place French garrisons on any part of the African coast, saying that, whenever the object of the expedition was obtained, either by the submission of the Dey 1 or the establishment of a new national government dependent on the Porte, the expedition, which was to be of 40,000 men, would return to France. Lord Aberdeen drew attention to the alarm felt by the Maritime Powers at such a force being sent, 1 Husein III, Dey of Algiers, 1818-1830. 250 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN and, as M. de Polignac had only verbally stated the above, it was of course necessary that this pledge should be recorded more formally. " The formidable force about to be embarked appears to indicate an intention of effecting the entire destruction of the Regency, rather than an infliction of chastise- ment. This probable change in the condition of a territory so important from its geographical position cannot be regarded without much interest, and it renders some explanation of the intentions of the French Government still more desirable. The intimate union and concert existing between the two countries give us reason to expect to receive the full confidence of the French Government in a matter touching the interests of both, and which in its results may be productive of the most important effects upon the commercial and political relations of the Mediterranean station." On the 15th Lord Stuart wrote that he had seen M. de Polignac, who had informed him that explana- tions would be given through the Duke of Laval, that the despatch would contain a full recapitulation of events which had provoked the expedition, and that it would conclude with the assurance that the King of France would concur with all or any of his allies in determining the future government of the country which had been the scene of military operations. No renunciation on the part of France to obtain territory on the coast of Africa appeared in the despatch when, after long delay, it was com- municated to Lord Aberdeen. The Duke here interposed a memorandum : It will be necessary for Lord Aberdeen to consider what the Cabinet ought to do upon this case. We have demanded an official explanation, we have received a verbal one; which upon one point is so far unsatisfactory as that it states the intention of the French Government to alter the nature of the tenure of its possessions on the coast of Africa from FRANCE (1830) 251 being, as heretofore, a commercial factory, to here- after a fortified post. We have stated in Parliament that the French Government had manifested a disposition to give every explanation we had a right to require. They now decline to give that explanation in the only form in which it can be used in Parliament or elsewhere. I don't think that we can go to war because we have a verbal explanation instead of one in writing, but I think that we ought to desire Lord Stuart to present a Note to Prince Polignac, expressing the disappointment of this Government upon finding that, notwithstanding His Highness's repeated assur- ances, the French Ambassador in London had not been authorised to give more than verbal explanations. The Memorandum concluded that Lord Stuart might be ordered to convey to the French Government the knowledge that although we admit the justice of their cause, His Majesty will look with anxiety on the termination of those operations, as the interests of his people and the honour of his crown require that there should be no alteration in the state of possession on the coast of Africa, to the detriment of the Ottoman Porte, and in favour of His Most Christian Majesty. On May 4 Lord Aberdeen again wrote : The affair begins to wear a sinister appearance, and to give rise to doubts and suspicions, which it would be very far from the desire of His Majesty's Government to entertain. We have a duty to per- form from which we cannot shrink. It is clearly our duty to require an official explanation of the ultimate designs of the French Government in equipping and fitting out a military expedition of unexampled magnitude, and thereby calculated to 252 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN excite speculation and apprehension throughout the south of Europe. But the rotund processes of diplomacy were too slow to overtake the French action. They were now fully equipped and had their prey in view. Lord Aberdeen heard with astonishment and concern that the French Government thought the expectations of His Majesty's Government were unreasonable, and declined to give any further explanation or assurances in any official form. Lord Aberdeen on his part made one more appeal to the consistency and good faith of M. de Polignac. " It will be my duty humbly to take His Majesty's commands respecting such further instruction to your Excellency as the occasion may seem to require. The affair of the explanation respecting Algiers has become very serious." Lord Stuart, bombarded with despatches, replies that " Your Lordship has sufficient experience of the mode of proceeding of this Government to admit that I cannot fairly be rendered responsible for the false- hood of the assurances I receive, or the failure of M. de Polignac's promises. My representations upon this subject, both direct or indirect, have been un- ceasing, and have on more than one occasion been accompanied by indications of the hostile consequences which must result from the formation of French establishments on the coasts of Africa that have been contained in your Lordship's instructions." Another despatch was forwarded, where the word " official " was underlined, and the gravest consequences were pointed out. Austria now takes up the word, and Lord Cowley, our Ambassador at that Court, writes of certain despatches received there. The new elections were on in France and M. de Polignac speaks with con- fidence of their result. He expects a considerable majority. The Austrian Ambassador considers that the Algerine expedition has been undertaken upon FRANCE (1830) 253 so large a scale with no other purpose than to give eclat and consideration to the Government. The elections in France took place at the same time with the success of the French arms in North Africa. They varied from day to day, and M. de Polignac was determined that all was satisfactory. It was admitted that the Algerine success had gratified the vanity of the French, but Lord Stuart reports : " The progress of the elections is unfavour- able, and whenever the deputies in the department in which the return has been deferred shall have been chosen, there is little doubt that the party opposed to the present Ministers will bring together a majority of at least one hundred members." After surveying M. de Polignac's position Lord Stuart says : " The nearer the crisis approaches the more the French Minister appears determined to run every risk rather than abandon the principles which he professed when the Administration was formed." In the meantime, on July 16, Lord Stuart officially congratulated M. de Polignac on the success of the French arms at Algiers. M. de Polignac now gave every assurance that the French had no desire to retain possession of the territory, and Lord Stuart remarks that, " the treasure which has fallen into the hands of the army having covered the whole expense incurred by the expedition, the project of a military occupation for the purpose of obtaining an adequate indemnity of course falls to the ground." On the 19th M. de Polignac told Lord Stuart that he had resolved to divide the Algerine question into two parts : the one embracing the territorial possession of Algiers and its dependencies; the other relating to the immediate and complete abolition of piracy, tribute, and slavery throughout the Mediterranean. With respect to the first, he expects to remove all suspicion of an undue appro- priation of the countries which the French army has subdued, by the simple acknowledgment of the 254 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN sovereignty of the Porte, and the consequent mani- festation to treat exclusively with that Government for the possessions which the French were entitled to claim before the war, leaving the Porte to make the arrangements which they may think most expedient to secure their own authority over the whole Regency. Whether the French Government would have had the courage to carry out its professions, or whether it had ever intended to do so, may be doubtful. But the foregoing history makes it likely that a serious breach with Great Britain would have followed. Ten days after the last conversation with Lord Stuart, not M. de Polignac alone, but also the dynasty he served, was overthrown by the Revolution which drove Charles X from France. Lord Aberdeen, instead of considering what should be done in the event of France evading her promises, was consider- ing the place of exile, and the method of transporting " the Count of Pouthieu " to these shores. Lord Stuart was taken entirely unawares. On July 23, 1830, the very day before the issue of the Ordinances, he wrote : " The various reports respect- ing the possibility of a coup d'etat I believe to be utterly unfounded." As soon as the Ordinances were published, unaccompanied by any serious dis- turbances, Lord Stuart was at once instructed to deliver no opinion. On July 31, Lord Aberdeen, taking advantage of a private conveyance, writes : The truth is that from our inevitable ignorance of the actual state of affairs at Paris, it would answer no good purpose to furnish you with instructions which the next hour might become wholly inapplicable. Indeed we cannot form any opinion which ought to influence our conduct respecting events of which the progress is so rapid. We must, therefore, wait until we see a conclusion of some kind; or rather a con- clusion of the first act of the drama; for I take it FRANCE (1830) 255 for granted that we are destined to witness a succession of important scenes. I do not understand how the city has been evacuated by the troops, who appear to have been everywhere the masters. If symptoms of defection were gaining ground, it might be desirable to prevent further contact with the people. If the troops brought together at St. Cloud continue faithful, and if they should be directed with energy, they may still be too strong for the population of Paris, even with the assistance of the National Guard. The desertion which has already taken place makes it impossible to confide in the steadiness of the other troops, but upon this subject, which is the most important of all, you can give us no information. Judging from appearances, I should say that the question now to be decided is, whether a monarchy under any form will be permitted to exist, or whether we shall again see a republic. Notwithstanding the astonishment, and even alarm, which prevail here, the effect on the Funds has been but slight, the persuasion in this city being, that a change of Ministers will set all to rights. Rothschild receives frequent expresses, and I hope you will avail yourself of his couriers when you are able. Algiers was soon found to be a victory in name alone. Sickness decimated the troops, while the continued hostility of the natives rendered it impos- sible to retain even temporary possession of the territory. Lord Stuart on August 23, 1830, reports from Paris : Everything that has been said to myself and friends upon the subject of the expedition to 256 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN Africa indicates great indifference respecting the fate of their conquests in that country. That a permanent settlement is useless, because experience has shown that the climate and soil are not suited to the cultivation of the productions of tropical climates; that their exportations must therefore be confined to corn, which will entail ruin on the pro- prietors of the southern departments, who are now beginning to recover from the effects of the import of that article from Odessa under the administration of the Duke de Richelieu. They consequently return to the opinion that it will be expedient to concert with the Powers interested in the commerce of the Mediterranean the best mode of re-establishing the authority of the Sultan in those countries, under arrangement for the suppres- sion of piracy, slavery and tribute ; and they consider that this cession may be rendered conditional, depend- ing on the consent of the Sultan to admit rectifica- tions, which may prevent future differences respecting the line of the Greek frontier. Our Government and the French were much concerned as to the future residence of the abdicated Monarch. At one time Charles X believed that the vessel on which he was to embark had orders to convey him to the United States, and he requested that two English ships of war should be sent to escort him to Jersey. Lord Aberdeen pointed out that this might lead to very complicated relations. To suspect America of lending herself to such " foul play," or to suspect France of it, was equally impossible. " The situation of the King is most difficult and cruel, but it is not foreign advice which can improve it." On July 11 Lord Aberdeen reported to the Duke that he had seen Lord Marcus Hill, who had been in Paris during the late disturbances. A SKETCH OF LORD ABERDEEN RIDING IN ROTTEN Row. Taken by H.B. from one of his cartoons. He confirms in a greater degree than could be thought possible the total want of preparation on the part of the Government to meet any opposition, and indeed the certainty of their never having calculated upon any serious resistance to the Ordinances. So entirely ignorant of the real state of affairs was the King himself, that when Semonville went to St. Cloud on the 30th and used the expression, ' tout est fini,' the King imagined that the confusion was at an end, and proposed to return to Paris the next day ! Lord Marcus also confirms the general deter- mination shown by the mob to abstain from pillage. All accounts agree that the number of persons unem- ployed and turned adrift by the manufacturers in consequence of the bankers refusing to transact any business, was the immediate cause of the assemblage being formed to resist the military. We may safely presume that the final result was looked to by such bankers as Lafitte, Casimir Perrier, Odier Delessert. However, it seems that we are now to have Philip I King of the French. I suppose we must take it for granted that King Philip will reign long and prosperously, especially as Lafayette has declared that his sovereignty is the best sort of republic. Perhaps it may expire with the Chamber of Peers, which it is clear is not destined to last long. They have confined themselves to the destruction of the Peers created during the reign of Charles X, and have adjourned the question of whether an hereditary peerage shall exist at all. The tricoloured flag and the setting aside of the Due de Bordeaux may sanctify the title of the Duke of Orleans in the eyes of many, but I cannot think that even the charms of Republicanism and usurpation will enable him to last very long. VOL. i s In the meantime it is possible that we may have Charles X and his family at Portsmouth. Sir George Cockburn 1 has been here to know how they are to be received. In these times the most simple and natural things become matters of difficulty. Under ordinary circumstances an abdicated King would be received with the personal honours due to a reigning Sovereign; and, at all events, a cargo of princes and princesses arriving in their proper character, as such could scarcely fail to meet with the respect due to their birth. I have told Sir George, however, in case they should arrive before I hear from you, to desire the Admiral to go on board, and to pay every personal respect; but to make no public demonstration without further orders; and to plead his ignorance, and the absolute novelty of his situation, as his excuse for waiting for instructions. The Duke of Wellington sums it up : It is very astonishing, but it is quite clear, that the King, Charles X, was not prepared for the conse- quences of his Ordinances. Those consequences, how- ever, were prepared. I don't think that the Duke of Orleans knew anything from either side; but he has been very ready to act. I conclude that I shall receive, on to-morrow or Saturday, the accounts of the final termination of the affair, and I will immediately go to London. We can then decide whether we still act without assembling the Cabinet, or without waiting for the opinion of any of our Allies. There are some bitter pills to swallow : the cockade ; the apparently verbal, but, in fact, real and essential alterations 1 Admiral Sir George Cockburn (1772-1853) took part in the capture of Washington in 1813. FRANCE (1830) 259 of the Charter ; the act of placing it under the sauve- garde of the National Guard; the tone assumed by La Fayette. However, the best chance of peace is to swallow them all. If we don't quarrel with them they must set these matters to rights, or quarrel among themselves, or quarrel with us. Any one of these would be better for us and for the world than that we should at this moment quarrel with them. I believe that there is not a Power in Europe who will not be relieved from a load of anxiety when it is known that we have recognised the new Govern- ment. However, we must look at everything. His Majesty, King Charles X, accompanied by his family, arrived at Spithead the day before yester- day; and the Marquis de Choiseul was dispatched with a letter, which has this day been placed in my hands, for the purpose of being laid before the King our Master. It appears that His Majesty has assumed the title of Count de Pouthieu, and that it is his wish to be considered as a private individual. He has written to the Emperor of Austria, in whose dominions he is desirous of obtaining a permanent asylum; and until the answer to this request shall be received, King Charles is anxious to take up his residence in this country. His Majesty's Government, considering the strictly private character which the King has assumed, have not thought themselves justified in offering any opposition to the accomplishment of his wishes. It has been impossible for us to forget his age and his misfortunes; and we have felt, that to compel these illustrious exiles to seek an uncertain refuge from port to port would have afforded a spectacle little honourable to the Government of Great Britain. 260 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN It is intended that King Charles and his family, during their residence in this country, should fix their abode in some mansion at a distance from the metropolis, in which they may remain in privacy and seclusion. There are still those who remember stories concerning the exiled monarch at the Palace of Holyrood. There is no mention in the Aberdeen papers of his going there, but we may believe that the plan came from Lord Aberdeen. Holyrood was sufficiently " in privacy and seclusion " at that date, and one wonders what inhospitable welcome it gave the exiles. Not worse perhaps than that which it extended to the young Queen Mary, also accustomed to all the pomp and fleeting vanities of " la belle France," and at least King Charles was not the centre of plots between the sister kingdoms. There remains a kindly memory of an unfortunate gentleman, lavish with his gold and silver, and looked upon with respect by the good-hearted people, who knew so little about the " Ordonnances " or the rival claimants to the throne of France. Nor did they know of the tossings to and fro, the desire for America and the Low Countries before his little fleet finally brought him to the shores of England. " Country houses have been burnt and pillaged by the populace in the depart- ments of Correze and the Garonne," but safe in the ancient Palace of Holyrood lived the exiles. Lord Aberdeen sent a despatch to our Ambassadors in which he summed up the history of these months : The events have followed each other with a rapidity which has afforded little time for exami- nation or reflection, and a very few days have been sufficient to overthrow the established Government, to dethrone and expatriate three generations of Princes, and to call a new dynasty to the succession. The Revolution being now consummated by the elevation of the Duke of Orleans to the French FRANCE (1830) 261 throne, we ought rather to direct our attention to the actual condition and character of the Government of France, and to the manner in which it may exercise an influence upon the general welfare of Europe. His Majesty's Government have especially felt it to be their duty to consider how far the recent changes have affected the political situation of Great Britain and her Allies, and what course, under the extraordinary circumstances of the time, it may be most proper for His Majesty to pursue. Lord Aberdeen pointed out the nature and extent of our engagements under existing treaties, and how far they were applicable in the present state of France. For this they were to look for the objects of the general Treaty of Paris of November 20, 1815, after- wards explained by the protocols and declarations of the contracting parties at Aix-la-Chapelle in the year 1818. There the Allied Powers, having overthrown the usurpation of Bonaparte, and being anxious to protect Europe from the evils which surrounded it, entered into a solemn Treaty for that purpose. The stipula- tion by which the Allies bound themselves to exclude for ever from the throne of France any member of that family, and to resist all territorial aggression on the part of the French Government, were sufficiently explicit. Should, however, the same revolutionary principles reappear under other forms, convulsing France, and thereby endangering the repose of other States, the Allies further engage to concert among themselves, and with His Most Christian Majesty, the measures which they may judge necessary to be pursued for the safety of their respective States, and for the general tranquillity of Europe. Manifestly this precise case has occurred in France, and was not foreseen or provided for in the Treaty. The object aimed at was the confirmation of the order of things in France, founded on the Royal authority, and of the constitutional Charter. The danger to be guarded against was the overthrow of this order of things by revolutionary principles under some form or other. The Revolution having been consummated, the question now arises, whether revolutionary principles have appeared in such a form as to endanger the repose of other States. It cannot be denied that the resistance to the decrees of Charles X has been followed by acts which are too well calculated to excite uneasiness and apprehension. The adoption of the revolutionary colours, the National Guard, and the arbitrary destruction of a large body of the Peerage, with the threatened abolition of the hereditary character of the Chamber, all recall to our recollection the early periods of the Revolution, although we may be permitted to hope that the horrible excesses which disgraced the progress of that event will be avoided. Under these conditions there is nothing clearer than that the Great Powers must act in perfect union and concert, founded on their determination to preserve the state of territorial possession as settled in the Treaties of Vienna and Paris. The very dangers of the Revolution in France, with all its accompanying circumstances, point to the propriety of union, and acting promptly so as to avert approach- ing danger. The spirit of the Treaty appears to justify and to require this concert. His Majesty's Government has decided that we should studiously abstain from all interference in the external affairs of France. This principle, at all times recommended by the British Government, deserves the utmost attention at the present moment. FRANCE (1830) 263 In the actual state of France it is not only necessary to avoid every reasonable ground of offence, but to afford no pretext for complaint of any kind. Should we unfortunately be destined again to endure the calamities of war, it is more than ever indis- pensable that we should exhibit our enemy to the world as being unquestionably the aggressor. The justice of our cause will prove the chief cause of our strength. The opinions of our Allies upon this subject coincide with our own. Despatches from the Cabinets of Vienna and Berlin addressed to the representatives of Austria and Prussia fully confirm the system of policy which I have now endeavoured to inculcate. A watchful neutrality is recommended, with an avowed determination to protect the integrity ,and independence of all States as established. In view that the despatches from the different Govern- ments have made no mention of the Duke of Orleans as King of France, we find ourselves in a somewhat insulated position. It seems natural, with the course taken to abstain from all interference, that we should not hesitate to acknowledge the Sovereign placed upon the French throne. The proposed neutrality of the Allies has been dictated by a desire to give no cause of umbrage to the French nation or Government, and thus, if possible, to secure the continuance of those blessings which Europe has enjoyed during a long interval of peace. If we failed to recognise the Sovereign it would create excitement and irritation in France, and our hopes of preserving peace must in proportion be diminished. Lord Aberdeen pointed out that in the midst of measures subversive of the Royal authority the 264 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN principle of monarchical government had still been preserved. It is by upholding this principle that we shall best defeat the designs of those who would throw France into confusion and render foreign war inevitable. The proximity of our situation demands a speedy decision. Under these circumstances, and influenced by these considerations, His Majesty has determined to acknowledge the Duke of Orleans as King of the French. His Majesty has felt also, that in coming to this determination, and to enhance its value, the recog- nition should be made promptly, frankly and cordi- ally. I have therefore received His Majesty's commands to transmit letters to Paris without delay, for the purpose of accrediting His Majesty's Ambas- sador to King Louis Philippe." CHAPTER VI PART III NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM (1830) " We are on the threshold of a great age, the age of the Peoples." Mazzini. No sooner were the affairs of France settled than trouble appeared at The Hague. Lord Aberdeen wrote to the Duke : There is unpleasant intelligence from the Nether- lands, but it might have been still worse. There were some disturbances, which were met by the magistrates calling on the Garde Communale to turn out and protect the public peace. The riot, serious as it was, seems to have been in great measure accidental. It has been the custom for some time to attend the representation of Masaniello (" Le 25 AoQt on jouait sur la theatre de Bruxelle ' La Muette de Portice,' qui montre precisement sur la sce"ne une revolution populaire, Les jeunes gens, sortirent du theatre, criant ' Imitons les Parisiens ' ") for the purpose of applauding passages favourable to liberty. In consequence of the events in France, this piece had drawn an immense number of persons, and the disturbance appears to have commenced among the overflowing of the theatre. No leader has shown himself, nor did the populace assemble at the house of any popular Liberals. Perhaps the worst symptom is the destruction of the Royal Arms upon the shops of the King's tradesman. At all events it is a great 265 266 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN blessing that this tumult should have been suppressed so soon, even without much aid from the military, as there were but two battalions in the town. They will now have time to take measures of precaution. Sir Charles Bagot, our representative at The Hague, writes of the frontier difficulty. It was a great error to leave the fortresses so utterly defence- less as, upon the first suspicion of danger, they proved to be. The storm, if one be brewing, will not burst on this side, and it is not to the north that the eyes of the present French Government will be turned. If a single French regiment enters the country with overtures of fraternisation I would by no means answer for the consequences. The Duke returns the papers : Falck knows better than I do what is the constitu- tion, and what are the duties of the Garde Com- munale. If they are at all the same as those of the Garde Nationale of France, the retreat of the troops is decisive. When I see that besides the Garde Com- munale, the inhabitants received arms from the store, I cannot but be apprehensive that this is another revolution. Sir Charles Bagot writes on August 27 : Heaven only knows whether it is a riot merely or a revolution that my despatch of to-day announces. Till we know whether the contagion spreads, and the other towns in Belgium imitate the example of Brussels, it is impossible to decide. It is evident that as yet nothing but the dregs of the people have appeared as actors in the disturbances, that there has been no distinct political cry or rallying word, and that mischief and pillage have been the chief objects of the mob. NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM (1830) 267 Every hour that passes away before the disturb- ances are quelled in Brussels increases the danger of contagion to the other towns. I tremble for the first accounts from Liege and Hainault; I tremble too, though not so much, for those from Ghent and Bruges. I do not think the spirit is bad at Antwerp. I fear (he writes again) that the question is pretty nearly decided, and that it is not mere riots, but something very like complete revolution. It is true that at present we know of no disturbances anywhere but at Brussels. There has been some little assembling of the people at Louvain, but it was without disorder, and has led to nothing. The complexion of things, however, at Brussels is, as far as it can be understood, because as yet it is very far from clear what the armed bourgeoisie, which is in full possession of the town, really is, and really designs; and whether it proposes to itself complete separation from the general Government, whether they mean independence whether they mean junction and fraternisation with France, or whether they are acting by their own impulses or by French excitation. The Princes are now in the act of starting for Antwerp, and the States General are to be imme- diately convoked here, because we are still (that is, till the third Monday in October) in the year of Hague residence. In four or five days I believe that a force of about 10,000 men may be collected in and about Antwerp. If the other towns remain quiet, this may be ample to impose upon an open town like Brussels. It was not unnatural that France was supposed to have a hand in this mysterious revolution, and Sir Charles was asked, in the event of this proving 268 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN true, whether the Netherlands could look for military assistance from England. He advised them in their own interest to do nothing which can provoke the cry of, or feelings inspired by, " baionettes etrangeres." Later Sir Charles Bagot writes : " Revolution, in the broad sense of the word one can hardly call it, but at Liege and Brussels at least the people are ascendant, and in an attitude of armed negotiation with their Government," Again Sir Charles communicates that the whole may turn out to be a regular conspiracy : Not one to overturn the fabric of Government, but one to force the redress of grievances. In this con- spiracy it is now nearly certain that some of the first families of Flanders, both in name and wealth, are, and have long been, concerned. He continues : It has been the tactics of these persons to get hold of the Press, the Courrier des Pays Bas and the Beige newspapers. Their plan has been to supply the lowest rabble with money, and then to set them on as a rabble, to attack and pillage the houses of certain obnoxious persons. When this had taken place, and the inhabitants of the towns were sufficiently alarmed, the scheme was then to get the middle classes and bourgeoisie to arm for public tranquillity, then to engage the mob so to act against this armed bourgeoisie as to induce them to fire upon them, and thus establish animosity between them; while, on the other hand, with money and brandy, they kept the mob up to the proper mark of pillage and riot, in order to justify the continuance of the bourgeoisie in arms. By this contrivance they managed to get and keep NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM (1830) 269 under a most plausible and popular pretext, arms in the hands of the more respectable classes, and to put them in a condition to prevent plunder and riot going too far. If this be true, many of the Garde Bourgeoisie will gradually retire on this account, others will do so from the loss and inconvenience occasioned to them by their military duties; and such a wish will arise for the protection of more regular troops, that what is now the great instrument of the agita- tors will crumble from under them. The regular troops, once peaceably admitted (a single shot might, I admit, change all this) into Brussels, and the States General once assembled here, the most effective part, if not the whole of the machinery, upon which the promoters of the mischief have reckoned is broken up. We must add to this chance the prospect that there now is that France will in no way come to their assistance, for Baron Verstolt told us yesterday that he had received more than a hint that M. de Potter 1 had made a distinct offer to the French Government to put them in possession of the Belgian Provinces, and that another and separate proposal of the same nature had been made directly from Brussels, both of which had been met in Paris with a decided and unqualified rejection. The revolution in the Netherlands continued to give great anxiety. Lord Aberdeen, writing to the Duke, says : You will have received Lord Stuart's despatch. I do not clearly understand his proposition. If he means that we are to join the French Government in advising the King of the Netherlands to attend to the demands of his subjects, the idea may 1 L. A. de Potter (1786-1859), a Belgian statesman. 270 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN be at once rejected. What advice it may be proper to give to the King of the Netherlands is another question, and which properly may belong to us. We are bound to secure the union of Belgium with Holland upon certain conditions; we have there- fore a right to see that those conditions are fulfilled, and that our guarantee shall not unnecessarily be called into execution. Our advice has not been asked ; and what may be the real state of the question between the King and his Flemish subjects I do not know. Probably no reasonable ground of complaint exists. The Foreign Minister at Paris, M. de Mole, 1 had called on Lord Stuart to tell him that his despatches showed that the movements at Brussels had produced an effect throughout the Belgian Provinces which induced him to consider the maintenance of their connection with Holland extremely doubtful, and he regretted that the King of the Netherlands should delay the communication with the persons in power at Brussels which are necessary to prevent the total annihilation of his authority in Belgium. M. de Mole also stated that the Belgian demands were all concerned with local objects, and that the French Government was not compromised by the events taking place. Although the four Great Powers are determined not to interfere in the affairs of France, he felt sure that they were too interested in the maintenance of the present state of territorial possession to encourage the apathy of the Dutch Cabinet by remaining silent spectators of the events which were taking place in Belgium. M. de Mole therefore felt anxious to ascertain whether the Powers would agree to address to the Court of the Netherlands a representation asking it 1 Comte M. de Mole (1781-1855), Foreign Minister to Louis Philippe. NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM (1830) 271 to get into touch with the Belgian Provinces, and endeavouring to find out the causes of their discon- tent, and to prevent their total separation from Holland. Lord Aberdeen wrote on the perplexed situation to Sir Charles Bagot : Your revolution, or whatever it may be called, is a most incomprehensible affair. We know so little of the real causes, and of the actual state of parties, that advice is out of the question, except of a general nature which cannot be required by so sensible a man as the King of the Netherlands. The question of foreign interference is of a most delicate kind, and cannot be answered offhand. You have done quite right to discourage the notion, and I apprehend it could not take place without leading to a general war. At the same time our Treaties are sacred, and the Netherlands Government may naturally rely on the performance of our engagements. We have guaran- teed the union of Holland and Belgium, and if the King has faithfully performed his part, we must perform ours. But I hear nothing of separation, nor do I know what are their grievances. Do not imagine that I am not fully aware of the force and bearing, and tremendous possible consequences of the de- spatches which I send, but we are come to this, the kingdom can be no longer saved by its own internal unaided means, and it now remains for the Allied Powers to decide whether it is to be preserved at the risk which foreign intervention of any kind may, and probably will, incur. It is for you to determine whether the communi- cation which I announce from hence does or does not make out the casus fcederis. It is for you also to determine whether, if we have the intention, we 272 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN have also the means of prompt and of sufficient assistance; you too must decide whether France can be made to stand aloof while we fulfil the obliga- tions (if obligations they prove to be) of our Treaties, or whether they are to be fulfilled at the peril of war with her. All this is high matter, qui n'est pas de mon ressort ; but rely upon it that this Govern- ment has no longer the physical means of defending the greater part of Belgium against France, or against those who design to surrender it to France. All that has happened is remotely French, all that is happening is directly so. It is no cause, real or pretended, of Belgium which has triumphed at Brussels. If it is not the cause of the French Govern- ment, it is the cause of a French faction which is superior to the Government and the result must be the same for the rest of Europe. It is no longer a question of what this Government can or cannot do to satisfy demands. We have passed that stage. I believe that no declaration of the King's and no measure of the States General would now produce any effect whatever in the greater part of the Southern Provinces. All that is opposition to the Government, all that is even home-made faction, is now swept away. I have no doubt the French Government are perfectly sincere in their desire not to interfere, but they are powerless, and the impulse is given from Paris in spite of them, and by persons nearly connected with the Government. Sir Charles Bagot wrote from The Hague, Septem- ber 3 : I know not what you will think of the Prince of Orange's measure of entering Brussels as he did; I know not what to think of it myself. If the choice lay between entering as he has done and taking the >>H s-a i S "** t3 ^ 'S O cfi M t: - ~-' # q C Pn " ^ S ^ O' Tfl CO co 03 NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM (1830) 278 town by assault, he has perhaps acted wisely, and it may prove a great card in his hand that, as yet, no drop of blood has been spilt under his orders, by the national troops, but it was a fearful experiment, and I suspect that it was with the greatest difficulty that the Garde Bourgeoisie saved him from worse than insult on the part of the mob when he first entered the town. That danger past, his reception was on the whole good, and it is scarcely possible that the confidence and courage which he has displayed should not, in the end, impose even upon that basest of all human congregations, a Belgian rabble. I do sincerely believe that in the whole history of the world there never was an example of a popular revolution so totally uncalled for, and so totally unjustified by real popular grievances, as this will prove to be, if it really ends in becoming revolution in the extended sense of the word. I hope, and I still think, that it will not so end, but, end as it may, the work of fifteen years is already undone, and no man living can say yet how it is all to be repaired. On September 9 Lord Aberdeen wrote to the Duke of Wellington : The affairs of the Netherlands have now assumed a new character, and one which will require much attention from us as well as from the other European Powers. The question of some kind of separation will be considered by the States General under the King himself. What the precise nature of the proposition is does not yet appear; but it is clear that if the separation shall be of such a character as to satisfy the authors of the insurrection, it will be equivalent to a juncture with France. A mere separate adminis- tration for the Flemish Provinces under the control of the King might be of little consequence, but if the VOL. I T 274 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN finances are distinct, and the army also, what becomes of the engagements of the King to protect the frontier? The interest of the Great Powers, and especially of this country, in the state of the fortresses, and the money expended, will require to be attended to. I apprehend that no separation can take place such as is but too probably contemplated, without the abrogation of the Eight Articles of the Treaty of London. These form a part of the General Act of the Congress of Vienna, to which France is a party. The King will unquestionably refer to the Great Powers the consideration of the changes which it is proposed to make. The frontier was manifestly constituted against France : is France to deliberate upon the condition of that which is intended to be a protection against herself? But, as France is a party to the Treaty of Vienna, the question has become European and the French Government may assert their right. In a despatch sent to Lord Stuart, Lord Aberdeen notes the desire of M. de Mole to exculpate the French Government from any charge of participating in the disorders which had broken out. France, through her Minister, had concurred in such measures as might be necessary for the execution of the Treaties, and in that had given evidence of the spirit of modera- tion and justice which had directed the Councils of the King of the French. The condition of the Netherlands must be regarded with the utmost degree of interest by the Powers of Europe, as the result of the crisis might materially affect the objects proposed by the parties to the late Treaties, according to which the Belgian Provinces were united to Holland. Lord Aberdeen pointed out that anything that gave a reasonable prospect of strengthening that connection would meet with the agreement of His NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM (1830) 275 Majesty's Government, but the propositions of M. de Mole were not likely to be helpful. His proposal was that a joint representation should be addressed to the King of the Netherlands, which would point out the manner of his dealing with the Belgian Provinces. That he should communicate with the authorities in those Provinces, to find out their grievances, and to prevent if possible the total separation of the countries. It appears (Lord Aberdeen wrote) that the populace of Brussels and of other towns, stimulated possibly by the example of what had recently taken place at Paris, suddenly broke out into acts of riot. No political object was announced, but the excesses were directed against the dwellings and property of certain individuals. A Burgher Guard was organised in self-defence, and this Guard had remained in possession of the town, assuming a power not only unconnected with the Government, but with the exercise of any lawful authority. These persons are said to have petitioned the King for the redress of their grievances. We have no certain information of the grievances, nor of the petitions being presented. It would be extremely hazardous to give to a Sovereign so enlightened as the King of the Netherlands any general advice on such a situation. The King, already by a most wise decision, has sent the Princes, his sons, into the Southern Provinces, with a body of troops sufficient to restore order and to give confidence to the well-affected part of the community. He has convoked an extraordinary meeting of the States General, by whose deliberations he may be assisted. Under these circumstances we should incur heavy responsibility by interposing foreign counsel. Every- thing appears to have been done which is most 276 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN consistent with the character of a constitutional Sovereign ; and we ardently hope, that by a judicious union of conciliation and firmness, the dangers which threaten the Government may be overcome. On September 17 Sir Charles Bagot writes again : The violent party, consisting either of pure Jacobins or of those who desire to throw the country into the arms of France, and the party which by comparison may be called moderate, are, as it should seem, now come to an open rupture. I cannot conceal from Your Lordship that the situation of the country and the position of the King are becoming every moment more critical. The military force does not amount to more than 20,000 men. Of this force the proportion of Belgians to Dutch is at least three to five; the fidelity of the Belgian part must, in such a struggle, be very questionable. As yet the Provinces of Liege and South Brabant alone can be declared in a state of open revolt; there is every reason to believe that the two Flanders and the towns of Ghent and Antwerp are decidedly friendly to the Government, but the other towns and a great part of the Plat Pays are only waiting the signal from the town of Brussels or from France. In all the fortresses of the frontier the population is greatly superior to their garrisons : the finances and credit of the country are fast getting into derangement; the Northern Provinces are becoming highly dis- contented with the supposed inactivity of the Govern- ment, and every sacrifice now made to the Belgian demands, and every measure which might seem to pardon or overlook the proceedings at Brussels, might endanger the King's popularity in this part of the country to a very serious degree. NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM (1830) 277 Writing an undated despatch, Sir Charles says : Since I wrote my despatches the Prince of Orange has been with me. His object was to ascertain, in consequence of the Council held this morning, what we would and what we could not do. For the would, I made him easily understand that it was quite out of my power to answer. For the could, materially speaking, I told him that I believed that there hardly ever was a moment in which we were so little provided. He seemed to admit that this might be the case, but he seemed also to think that we might afford a great moral assistance, by giving France to understand that in interfering under the engagement of our treaties, to maintain the order of things to which we were pledged, and nothing more, we should consider any obstacle on her part to such an operation as a declaration of hostilities against us, and probably against all the other Powers connected with us by the same obligations. On September 19 fresh disturbances broke out in Brussels and the Burgher Guards were over- powered. Prince Frederick of Orange, concluding that action was inevitable, attacked the town. After four days' fighting, on September 27, the Dutch troops, unable to advance, were withdrawn from the positions they had won. On the following day the Lower Chamber of the States General decided in favour of a dissolution of the union between Belgium and Holland. Lord Aberdeen wrote to his brother, Sir Robert Gordon : The events in our part of the world are sufficient to move even the most phlegmatic Mussulman. The French Revolution has completed its first period ; you will see that we have acknowledged the King 278 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN of the French, and the Great Powers are following our example. I have no great belief in the stability of the present order of things in France. The Jacobins are gaining ground, and the King and his Government are without power. The first change will probably be to turn the King into a President, that is in name; for in reality he is now nothing more. The condition of the Netherlands is most critical. The conduct of the King has been wise and moderate, as he has taken care to put himself in the right. But the spirit at Brussels, and Liege especially, is as bad as possible, and generally a separation will be desired. I have no conception how this will end. The French Government have not openly interfered, and indeed profess to regret this state of affairs ; but many of the most influential persons in France are undoubtedly connected with the whole affair, and the nation generally are eager to resume possession of what they consider to be their own Provinces. I think no party in this country would agree to the separation of the Belgian Provinces from Holland, and still less would tolerate their union with France. Here then, with all our desire of peace, is a cause of war not very distant. Germany is in an extraordinary state. Insurrec- tions have been frequent. Brunswick, Hesse, Saxony, Hamburgh have all been convulsed, I do not very well know why. As yet nothing serious has broken out in Italy, but it is to be feared, especially in Piedmont, where some symptoms have already appeared. I hear too that in the Roman States the danger is great. The Austrians are reinforcing their army in Lombardy, and I suppose are pretty secure. You will want to know what we are about here. The newspapers will show you that we have been NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM (1830) 279 nearly mad about this French Revolution, and the heroic populace of Paris. I think that people are gradually coming to their senses, and they begin to see what the revolution really is, and what are likely to be its consequences. We have behaved handsomely to the new Government, and if they stand we may preserve peace; but happen what may, if we take good care to be right, I think we shall be supported. You will be astonished to hear that old Talleyrand is on his road as Ambassador ; I have already received a letter from him, in which he refers to the pleasure of his former rapports with me. Considering that these related to the restoration of Louis XVIII, the recollection is rather out of place. In other respects the country is going on well. We have had a good harvest, commerce is flourishing, and I believe manufactures of all kinds. The King is very popular, and cordially supports his Govern- ment. Although we have gained numbers by the late election, the general impression has been unfavour- able, for we have met with signal defeats. I should say there was no general hostility to the Government, but there is certainly no zealous support in the country. The Catholic question has utterly destroyed all party attachment, and, having separated the Duke and Peel from their natural followers, has thrown them on the mercy of the candid and impartial, who, I fear, will never give the necessary strength to any Government. For myself, I assure you that I am at single anchor; there are many things in leaving office which I should undoubtedly regret, but the motives which induce me to wish to retire are becoming stronger every day. LORD ABERDEEN TO THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON Sept. 29. I think it best to send the intelligence which we have received from the Netherlands, without any delay. Its importance and character are such as to require immediate attention ; and in this instance I act according to the instructions of Bonaparte, who decided that not a moment should ever be lost in communicating bad news, but that the good might be left to a convenient time. I will write to Peel to-night, for we may expect to be called upon by the King of the Netherlands immediately. On the 3rd October he wrote further instructions to Lord Stuart : We are desirous that you should take an early opportunity of seeing the King of the French, and conversing with him upon the present state of the Netherlands. You may impress him as strongly as possible with the conviction of our sincere desire to do everything in our power to prevent these convulsions from becoming the cause of war in Europe. He must be aware of the feeling of our Allies upon this subject, and the difficulty under which we are placed in recommending the most conciliatory and pacific course. A frank concurrence on the part of the King in friendly counsels may effect this; but if he should separate himself from the other Powers, and carry the principle of non- intervention so far as not even to assist in giving advice for the purpose of securing the continuance of a work to which France herself is a party, it is easy to see what must be the consequence. No one will believe the sincerity of those declarations of neutrality which are violated by hundreds of French NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM (1830) 281 subjects every day, unless the Government should come forward in the spirit of peace, and prove that they are desirous of seeing an end of these troubles. If the French Government will fairly act with us, and with the other Powers, in the endeavour to discover what may be the best practicable modifica- tion of the union, we may hope that the Belgians will come to their senses and that some arrangement may be made. The present state of anarchy cannot continue, and if it could, it would be disgraceful to the Powers who have created this kingdom to permit it. I fear, therefore, that without a friendly concert the course of events must inevitably lead to a state of actual hostility at no distant period. Lord Stuart in reply stated that the views of the British and French Governments were sufficiently analogous, and that he could not doubt the French Government would concur in devising the means of bringing about a settlement of the affairs of the Low Countries, by which every interest might be consulted. He believed the happiest result would follow the similarity of opinion which prevailed in the two Cabinets. M. de Mole acknowledged the stipulations of the several Treaties, and then said it would be necessary to consider the means at the disposal of the Allies. The Southern Provinces were now separated. Whether the indication of the opinions of the several Powers, through the King of the Netherlands, would in the present moment of irritation be a good mode of inducing them to acquiesce in the views enter- tained by the Allies, he felt that it was impossible for them to enter into direct communication with the Provisional Government which had been formed at Brussels, or to listen to any overture from that source. A Conference of the respective Governments was suggested either at Paris or in London. The King 282 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN of the Netherlands was in favour of a concert between his Government and the Allies, and he thought the choice of the Prince of Orange to govern the Low Countries to be the most secure arrangement that could be adopted. He felt that the maintenance of the present order of things in his country depended upon the maintenance of peace with Great Britain and Prussia. Lord Stuart after seeing the King, had a short interview with the Prussian Minister. He asserted that the views of his Court were the same as those of the British, and he said he would support the overtures which had been made to the French Ministers. The Prussian Government was preparing for every alternative, and in case the policy of the Allies should not be duly appreciated, and the King of the French encouraged projects incompatible with existing treaties and the tranquillity of other States, he asserted that military preparations in Germany were in a state of forwardness which would permit Prussia to bring a force of 260,000 men to the Rhine within two months from October 1. On that date Sir Charles Bagot, writing from The Hague, says : In the meantime the sceptre of Belgium has passed away, and the King reigns no more over it than he does over the two Jerusalems. Whether he is again to reign over it par droit de conquete is a question for you to decide. Everything is going or gone like a house of cards. I have no conception how we can weather the inevitable confusion of the finances. The expenses are increasing threefold, and the revenue is, of course, diminishing in at least the same proportion. LORD ABERDEEN TO SIR CHARLES BAGOT Oct. 6, 1830. After what had happened in the Netherlands it is clear that great alterations must take place in the NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM (1830) 283 manner in which the Kingdom is constituted, even if it be possible to preserve it entire. Our interests and the interests of the three Allied Powers are the same as those of the King. Nothing, therefore, can be more desirable than to get France into a negotia- tion with us, where her separate interest must be pressed at a great disadvantage, in case she is disposed to pursue it. The short of the matter is this, the affairs of the Netherlands can never be permanently settled without the concurrence of France. This can only be obtained by persuasion or by force; we are bound to attempt the first before we employ the latter mode. If the Belgians should see that France is employed with us in an arrangement of their affairs, upon the avowed principle of conciliation with Holland and separation from France, I cannot help trusting that they will cool a little in the work of revolution, and that by degrees they may be brought to reason. At all events we shall have the French Government committed to our principle, which must necessarily embarrass their future pro- ceedings, in case we should disagree. We have reason to think that the French Ministers are disposed to act with us cordially in this matter, and we ought, therefore, if possible, to strengthen their hands. I received late last night the Note from Falck 1 demanding assistance. Having made our overture to France last Sunday, we shall wait the result before giving an answer to him. Have the goodness to place it in the best light to the King and M. Verstolk. Show them that, at all events, it is the safest for the Netherlands and the whole world. It may possibly succeed; in which case the blessing would be beyond all price, but even if it fail it will give a 1 A. R. Falck (1773-1843), Dutch Minister for Foreign Affairs. 284 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN moral power which we shall find of the utmost importance in the adoption of future measures. Sir Charles Bagot reported his conversation with Verstolk : I fear that I shall have some difficulty in making our project of negotiations palatable to him. He thinks that France will gladly accept our proposition, that it is exactly what she wants, that it gives her time to form and discipline the 110,000 men that she has called out, that the Govern- ment neither can nor will give any security that, while negotiations are going on, money and assistance of all kinds should not continue to pour into Belgium as they do now, and that in the meantime the hands of England and the other Allies are tied up. Time, he contends, is everything, and though he does not deny the moral force which the Allies would acquire by putting France yet more in the wrong, he does not admit that it counterbalances the physical force which she will now acquire by every day's delay. The Allies, he says, must speak to the French Government, but the Government cannot control the Nation, and that while the Allied Powers are holding diplomatic conferences, the French people, under the name of Belgians, will be securing all the fortresses, overrunning Holland (which has not, unassisted, the means at this moment of defending itself), and perhaps penetrating into Hanover and the North of Germany. War is inevitable in his opinion, and that all delay is provoking it in favour of France, which is not yet prepared for aggression, and to the disadvantage of Europe and the Allied Powers. I have not failed to endeavour to persuade him that an overwhelming foreign force might perhaps put down the rebellion, and secure, for a very short time NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM (1830) 285 longer, the nominal integrity of the kingdom and sovereignty of the House of Orange, but that it would be but for a moment, and that nothing could be permanently arranged unless France, Government and people, were concurrent parties to the arrangement. Lord Aberdeen's note on this letter was : It appears to me to be neither more nor less than a demand to send troops into the Belgian Provinces as a preliminary to all discussion. It is the duty of this Government to look at the state of things at present, at the chances of the conquest of Belgium, and even of any benefit to be derived from the conquest if made. In the meantime Namur had capitulated, and Antwerp and Malines were the only strong places left in the hands of the Royal troops. Baron Verstolk again wrote on the French attitude that, whatever the intentions of the French Govern- ment, the French nation (to which he attributed the present complexion of the revolution) only desired to avert for a time an armed intervention in the affairs of the Netherlands, in order to acquire that force which at the present moment it had not, and which, when acquired, would make such intervention nugatory. He said that while the Allies remained inactive he could get no security from France that she would not continue to encourage and support the revolution by every means in her!' power, and contended that, late as it was, the presence of a combined Prussian and English force would suppress the revolution, and probably preserve that general peace which six months hence could not be preserved. Both the Minister and the King pressed this view with warmth, and Sir Charles Bagot thought that he had had little effect in combating this view of the true policy of Europe, and the obligations of the four Allied Powers. 286 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN On October 15 the French Ambassador commu- nicated the desire of his Government for a Con- ference of the Allied Powers, to consider the restoration of tranquillity, and the establishment of a regular Government in the Netherlands, and that it should be held at Paris. Lord Aberdeen answered that, though the original idea of a Conference came from His Majesty's Government, it had never been the desire of his Goverment to make London the usual place for such meetings. Under ordinary circumstances the proposal of the French Government would meet with no objection. " In the actual condition of the Netherlands," the despatch went on to say, " it is clear that these Conferences, to be really useful, should be promptly undertaken, and, if possible, speedily brought to a close. All the Ministers at the Court of Great Britain are ready to join in these deliberations, and to concur in what- ever arrangements are thought suitable. At Paris, on the contrary, where no Austrian or Russian Minister is yet accredited to the King of the French, a delay highly prejudicial must occur, and the intrigues of the insurrectionary Government will tend to impede the progress of the negotiations. Nothing could more tend to give confidence in the desire of the King of the French to maintain the peace of Europe, and to execute the Treaties by which it exists, than that the French Plenipotentiary should be engaged in concert with the British Plenipotentiary and his Allies, in endeavouring to re-establish tran- quillity in the Netherlands. We lament that such an opportunity should be lost by the perseverance in the proposal to hold the Conferences in Paris instead of in London. On October 16 The Hague was expressing a wish through Sir Charles Bagot that the Four Powers which had signed the Eight Articles of London should appoint Plenipotentiaries, to whom might be referred the modification which it might be found expedient to make in the Fundamental Law. As NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM (1830) 287 the rebellion in the Belgian Provinces had made such rapid progress, and had assumed so menacing an attitude, it was very uncertain whether either the Deputies or the States General would meet in sufficient numbers to proceed to business, or in short whether there remained any regular and legal means by which the differences which had arisen between the Northern and Southern Provinces could be adjusted. His Netherlands Majesty felt that, although his Allies were disinclined to afford him military assistance in his present difficulties, a diplomatic measure of this kind might be of the greatest service to him, and might contribute essentially at this moment to the preservation of the general peace. On the Plenipotentiaries meeting, the King of the Netherlands thought that their first measure should be to demand an armistice, and if this was conceded, the French Government taking part in the measure, there could be very little doubt that such an arrangement might be effected as would satisfy the just demands of each division of the kingdom, and prevent any disturbance of the general peace. The Netherlands Foreign Minister suggested that the proposed Congress should be held at The Hague, but as the Belgians might fear coming to The Hague, he suggested either the towns of Breda or that of Cleves. Lord Aberdeen wrote to Lord Heytesbury, our Minister at St. Petersburg : The importance of affairs in the Netherlands makes us less alive to anything else. I am not very sanguine about the effect of our conciliatory overture to the French Government, because I cannot help entertain- ing some doubt of their good faith ; and this is con- firmed by the proposition of Talleyrand to transfer the Conference to Paris. It is clear that the time of forcible interference is not yet come; nor can we yet tell what it is that we are to attempt to perform. 288 LIFE OF .THE EARL OF ABERDEEN One only thing is quite indispensable union and I am happy to say that nothing can be more perfectly satisfactory than the spirit which prevails among the Four Powers in this respect. Lord Aberdeen's next letter was sent to Baron Falck. It was in answer to a direct appeal made for military succour. Lord Aberdeen proceeds to sum up the situation : Your Excellency may be persuaded that His Majesty will scrupulously fulfil all the engagements into which he has entered. The obligation of Treaties, the interests of his own people, and his regard for the person of the Sovereign, His Ally, all combine to render it impossible for His Majesty to remain indifferent to the fate of the Low Countries, and to the result of the present troubles. The great object of His Majesty's care, and of which he can never lose sight, is to prevent, if possible, the disturbances of these Provinces from leading to any interruption of the general peace of Europe. It is not to be doubted that the other Powers, parties to the Treaties and diplomatic acts which regulate the constitution of the Netherlands, are animated by sentiments equally pacific. With these views His Majesty's Ambassador at Paris has been instructed to invite the French Government, according to those Treaties to which France is a contracting party, to join the deliberations of His Majesty and his Allies, and to concur in such measures as by common consent should be thought indispensable for the re-establishment of order in the Netherlands; and which should be framed with a due regard for the security of other States. The King of the French has testified his desire to enter into this concert, and we may be permitted to hope HARRIET DOUGLAS, COUNTESS OF ABERDEEN. Sister of the 17th Earl of Morton. Married, first, Viscount Hamilton (son of John James, 1st Marquess of Abercorn), who died in May, 1814. She married secondly, George, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, at Bentley Priory, July 15th, 181.3, and died August 20th, 1833. From a picture by Sir Thoma* Lawrence. NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM (1830) 289 that the sincere endeavours of the Allied Powers, in conjunction with the enlightened judgment of the King of the Netherlands, will prove successful in applying an effectual remedy to the present evils. The French still continued to raise objections to the Conference being held in any other place than Paris. M. de Talleyrand was directed to say that rather than come to London, the Conference should be conducted through the Ambassadors who were acting as the medium of their Courts. A further letter indicated that it was jealousy of the appoint- ment by the King of Prince Talleyrand, and that the proposal to meet in London was due to his inspiration. To this Lord Aberdeen replied that the extraordinary reason of M. de Mole against the Conference being held in London did not appear to be worth serious consideration. "It is for the French Government to determine in what manner they may think proper to employ their representative, but M. de Mole must admit that his observations about M. de Talleyrand afford no valid answer to the reasons for selecting London as the seat of the Conferences." Lord Aberdeen said that if no better reasons were presented it would give rise to the suspicion that a prompt and satis- factory adjustment of the dissensions in the Low Countries was not the object of the cordial and zealous endeavours of the French Government. The Netherlands also objected to the Conference being held in London, on the ground that if Holland were not chosen a very ill impression would be produced. A direct appeal was made on October 25 through Sir Charles Bagot for a certain number of troops for the defence of Antwerp. " It has certainly been turned by the advanced force of the rebels, and we are as certainly alarmed here for the Dutch line of defence." To the appeals for military assistance the Duke of Wellington made vigorous reply : VOL. i u 290 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN We are accused of apathy and our Ambassador at The Hague says nothing. Then we do not send military succours ! The King of the Netherlands with great wisdom, deter- mined in the first instance to consider the insur- rection as an internal affair; and without consulting with us, to discuss it and determine upon it with the States General without insisting upon the previous submission of the insurgents. He subsequently tried force; and His Majesty's forces were not sufficient to obtain possession of the town of Bruxelle. It was at that time that His Majesty called for the assistance of his Allies, and parti- cularly of England, and before the demand arrived, we heard of the revolt at Bruges, and of the loss of Ostend, Nieuport, Ypres, Tournay, Ath, Mons, Namur, Charleroi, Huy, and the Chartreuse at Liege. The affair, however, increased in importance, but was still considered in the Netherlands as one of internal insurrection, to be settled by measures of legislation. We were to consider the affair then as domestic, and although there was and is undoubtedly great jealousy of French interference in it, no charge is made against the French Government. Are we then to be accused of apathy in a cause interesting to our Allies, as well as to this country, because we do not at once get under arms, and put ourselves and all Europe in a state of war, in a cause in which we have not yet tried negotiations asked by the King of the Netherlands himself : in which course be it observed that we had commenced to negotiate before we received the application from His Majesty? But we ought to have sent our forces when required to negotiate, and to concert with others the means of pacifying the Netherlands ! For what purpose ? to secure the fortresses ? They were lost, NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM (1830) 291 and we should have been driven off by the fire of the cannon which we had provided ourselves ! To defend Antwerp, Maestricht, the northern division itself of the kingdom, from the hostility of the southern Provinces ? I am really ashamed of discussing such a question. I cannot believe it possible that the necessity for such defence exists; or that, the question being fairly discussed, any man, who had any regard for the honour of the Netherlands, could pretend that it existed. But I'll for a moment suppose that the King cannot defend himself against the Belgians; it is surely necessary that, before we provoke a fresh revolution at Paris, or a war, either with the existing French Government or with another which may displace the present Government, of which war, the first movement would be to place all the Nether- land fortresses in the hands of France, we should try at least the effect of showing to the world, and to the Netherlands, France engaged in concert with England and all Europe in an endeavour to pacify Belgium, and the further effect of negotiation. The French yielded the point about the Conference meeting in London, and appointed a Pleni- potentiary to act with Prince Talleyrand. Lord Aberdeen said that notwithstanding the ungracious manner in which the French Government had acted, he considered their acquiescence in the British proposals a great point gained. " Only let the King retain Antwerp and Maestricht, and the Belgians may go on making what Governments and Constitu- tions they please, without our chances of a satisfactory settlement being diminished." Antwerp fell on October 26. Sir Charles Bagot writing says : Whether the citadel has held, or can eventually 292 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN hold out, is more than I know. I have been this morning with Verstolk to urge the importance of maintaining the citadel as long as possible, and of reinforcing in every way Lillo, Batz and all the defences of the Scheldt. All that can be done will be done, but all is, I fear, very little. They are inundated. If the country, I mean the old seven united Provinces, is only to be defended by its own internal means, and the French or Belgians, or whatever they are, choose to attack it, it must fall. It has absolutely no power of resistance whatever. The whole disposable force of the Government is not 30,000 men. They are ill organised and ill officered, and the extent which they have to defend is not inconsiderable. In addition to this the spirit of the country, without being bad, is beginning to be discouraged, and emissaries are at work endeavouring to make it discontented. On the other hand, the Southern Provinces are flushed with their successes; and though it may not enter into their policy to overrun this country, they are, I fear, quite able to do so if they please. It is certain that there is not less than 20,000 Frenchmen in arms at present in Belgium. A General Chasserond or some such name a French General of Napoleon's who once commanded in the Illyrian Provinces, and who has been living for some years on property which he acquired in Limburg has collected an army of 3000 men and 300 cavalry, with which he is so harassing the garrison of Maastricht (a mixed garrison, by the way) by keeping them constantly on the alert, that serious apprehensions are entertained for the result. Conferences were held in London, an armistice was proclaimed, and Protocols were drawn up. These were strongly objected to by the King of the Nether- NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM (1830) 293 lands, as he considered the Netherlands were called upon to surrender to the insurgents territory of which they never had possession, but that after having maintained at the suggestion of the Allied Powers, and at great hazard to the security of the Dutch dominions, the citadel of Antwerp, he was required to surrender it at the moment when its successful defence had contributed more than any other measure to check the progress of the rebel forces. The King went on to say that the ancient line did not even reinstate the seven United Provinces securely in their ancient possessions. Sir Charles Bagot had ventured to remind His Majesty that the Protocol had expressly stipulated that the line suggested in the armistice should not in any way affect or prejudice the general adjustment which the Allied Powers would afterwards be called upon to make. The Plenipotentiaries had necessarily been ignorant of the exact position occupied by the respective forces of the two divisions of the country at the moment of the Conferences, but that according to all the later reports which they must have received of the danger to which this part of the kingdom was exposed, they might have reasonably presumed that the probable effect of the line which they had prescribed would be to restore to His Majesty positions occupied by the Belgians within the Dutch limits. M. de Verstolk also agreed with the King, that the armistice upon the prescribed basis had never been what the Dutch Government had wanted. Nothing was stated in the Protocol as to the duration of the armistice; and it was left doubtful whether the King was at liberty to withdraw from Antwerp the military stores with which it was abundantly furnished. It was not clear whether Fort Lillo and the other forts which commanded the navigation of the Scheldt were to be evacuated or not; and nothing had been stipulated in respect to prisoners, of whom the Belgians had many, while the Prince 294 LIFE OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN of Orange had given up nearly all those taken by the Dutch. The despatch ended by saying that the King would ultimately acquiesce in the armistice, but that the matter which most touched his feelings was surrendering the citadel of Antwerp, and that the proposed line might need alteration. Tl^ Protocol was signed by the five Powers in London on November 4. The line of demar- cation was still under consideration, and the Nether- lands Government suggested that Commissioners should be sent from London to trace the line on the spot. The armistice was to last three months; the citadel of Antwerp was not to be given up till the frontier line was definitely traced; all prisoners on both sides were to be exchanged, and the Pleni- potentiaries were to make some public declaration by which the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg was excluded from the Belgian Provinces. On November 26 the Wellington Government had fallen and Sir Charles writes a farewell to his late chief : " More last words of Mr. Baxter." You probably did not bargain for another letter from me, but I must be allowed to thank you for the few and very kind parting words which I received from you last night. They have gratified me more perhaps than you think. You have been thrust from your stool. The same fate may await me. If Whigs can save the country, in God's name let them save it, but I fear the time is coming, if it be not already arrived, when the spirit which is universally abroad is neither to be influenced nor controlled by the Ministers of established Governments, be they who they may. A young Comte de La Rochefoucauld told me the other day in my own room, that Monsieur de Talleyrand had certainly been a man of some NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM (1830) 295 eminence in the old school, " mais que maintenant la jeunesse faisoit tout ! " This is the universal mode or creed, and no excep- tion will be made in favour even of elderly Whigs. I try not to croak, but I am seriously alarmed, and I believe in my conscience that our days are doomed to set in tenfold greater trouble than that in which they rose, and this is saying a good deal. INDEX NOTE. The words "4th Earl" are used in this index to indicate the subject of the biography. ABBEVILLE, 18 Abercorn, John James, 1st Marquess of, 34, 51, 62, 184; his talents, guests, and daughters, 36-7 ; cor- respondence of, with 4th Earl, 52 sqq. , on his Mission to the Allied Sovereigns, 69-71 ; tree- planting by, 66 ; criticism of, on 4th Earl's attendance at Chatillon, 186 ; 4th Earl's second marriage urged on by, 191 ; failing health of, and correspondence with 4th Earl, 194 sqq., death of (1818), 199 2nd Marquess of, 199 Abercorn, Marchioness of, 74 &"?&., 82 Aberdeen, Catharine, Countess of, born Hamilton, 37, 174 ; first visit of, to Haddo, 52 ; letter to her father, on her impressions of Haddo House (1806), 53-4 ; death of, 66-7, 191 Countess of (the 2nd), widow of Viscount Hamilton, born Douglas, marriage of, to 4th Earl, 191-2 sqq. ; letters to, from 4th Earl, on the journey to Haddo, and his work there, '200, 201-2, 203, on George IV. 's visit to Edinburgh (1822), 205 sqq. 1st Earl of, Sir George Gordon of Haddo, later, Lord Haddo, and Lord High Chancellor of Scot- land, 3, 5 ; attitude of, to the Union, 6 ; elevation of, to the peerage, 7 ; character of, 7-9 ; resignation of his office and efforts made to disgrace him, 8-9 ; a non-juror, 9 ; death of, 9 2nd Earl of, William, Lord Haddo, a Jacobite, 9-10; election of, to Parliament of Great Britain set aside, 9 3rd Earl of, George Gordon, 2 ; atti- tude of, to his orphan grand- children, IQsqq. 4th Earl of, George Hamilton Gordon, ancestry and parentage of, 2 sqq. ; character, tastes and studies of, 10, 14, 23, 24-5, 297 Aberdeen, 4th Earl of, contd. 28, 32, 65, 200-1; love of acting, 33-5 ; love of books, 197-9 ; love of nature, 184, 201 ; placability and self-con- trol of, illustration of, 125-6 1784-1805. Early life and educa- tion, 2, 10 ; brothers and sister of, 10, 11, see also under names ; friendship with Dundas and with Pitt, 11 sqq. ; other friends, 12 ; studies and tastes, 12, 23 ; life at Cambridge, 12, 13 sqq., 33-4; college friends, 12, 14 ; succession to the Earl- dom, 13 ; library of, 14 ; travels in France (1801), his own notes on, 15 sqq. ; his acquaint- ance with Buonaparte, 15, 22 ; furtherjourneysin Italy, Greece, the Levant, etc., 22-3 ; excava- tions by, at Athens and dis- covery of the Pnyx, 23, 65 ; first visit to Scotland since early childhood, 23, his im- pression, 24, 31, and his im- provements, 25 sqq., see also under Haddo House. 1805-13. Taste of, for acting, hid guardian's letters on, 33-5 ; friendship with Lord Abercorn, 36, and marriage to his daughter, hapmness of the union, 37-8, 66, 67; life at Wimbledon, illness and death of Pitt, 39 sqq. , letters on, to Whittingtou, and journal on, 46 sqq. ; desire of, to sit in Parliament, 42 sqq. ; English Peerage sought by, 423, 45, 49 ; correspondence with Lord Abercorn, 52 sqq., with Lord Melville, on the Dissolution (1806), 57 sqq., with Whit- tiugton on the fall of the Grenville Ministry and the General Election of 1807, 62-3 ; Russian Embassy offered to, 62, 64, and refused, 65 ; Sicilian 298 INDEX Aberdeen, 4th Earl of, contd. Embassy declined by, 64-5 ; letter to, from Lord Melville on Ids reluctance to return to Office, 64 ; President of the Society of Antiquaries, 65, 200-1 ; Trustee of the British Museum and Fellow of the Royal Society, writer in the Edinburgh Review and work of, with Pitt's Parliamentary friends, 65 ; Order of the Thistle bestowed on (1808), G5 ; elected a Scottish repre- sentative Peer, 65 : births of Ids children and their early deaths, 66, 192-4; death of his first wife, 66-7, 191 ; mission to U.S.A. declined by, 67; letter from, to Gurney, on events in Sicily (1812), 68 1813-14. Embassy of, to the Allies, course of, narrated in letters and despatches, 69 sqq. ; his instructions, tlsqq., 82; correspondence with Lord Aber- corn on his mission, tiQsqq., with Lady Maria Hamilton (see that head), with Castlereagh (1813), 72-3, 82, 87-94, 100-2, IQlsqq., lllsqq., 117 sqq., on the operations and diplomacy of the Allies and of Napoleon, 73 sqq. , requesting nomina- tion to Privy Council, 83, on evils of divided command, 83 sqq. ; on the Treaty, 113; conversations of, with Metter- nicli on Imperial German Crown, and on Peace negotia- tions (1813), 87 sqq. ; state- ment by, on his authority as Ambassador, furnished by, to Metternich, 92-3 ; popularity of, with Allied Sovereigns and Ministers, 94, 96, 102, 111, 116, 149, 166, 169, 172, 184; letters from, to Stewart from Teplitz, 94 sqq., 97; illness of (cholera), at Teplitz (1813), 96 ; Treaty Negotiations of, 96, 100, 113, 154; letter from, to Lord Harrow by, onlifeatTeplitz and characters of the great folk there, 92-100; impressions of, on the notabilities at Teplitz, etc. (1813), 100, 102, 103; private audience with Alex- ander I., 107; on the Battle of Leipsic, 121, 122 sqq. 1813-14. At Frankfort and at the Conference of Chatillon, Aberdeen, 4th Earl of, contd. events narrated in letters and despatches, 135 sqq. ; estimate of the character and abilities of those gathered at Frankfort, 135; share of, iu Peace negotiations, attitude to, of other British Ambassadors, 136, 137-9, jealousy of, as being "an amateur," 137, 139; request of the Powers that he be appointed the British Pleni- potentiary in matters affecting the Alliance, 139 ; letters and despatches from, to Castlereagh on the Frankfort negotiations (1813), IBS sqq., 115 sqq., 153 sqq., 162 sqq., on the Capitula- tion of Dresden, an honour for Schwartzenberg and the Treaty of General Alliance, 158 sqq.; Liberal politics of, Sir R. Wilson on, 143-4; efficiency preferred by, to political and social considerations, 145 ; letters from, to Abercorn, on his wish to quit his Ambas- sadorship, on those present at Frankfort and on the plan of campaign, 149-51; desire of, to leave his Embassy, 149, 152- 3, 156, 162, 165, 174-5, 184-5, 190; on the Treaty of General Alliance, 157, 160, 167-8; on his children's letters to him, 153; Order bestowed on, by Francis I., 167; letter to, from Ward, 169 sqq. ; letters from, to Harrowby, 172 sqq., 176 sqq., 186; position of, at the Chatillon Confereuce(1814), intended, and actual, 185-6; share of, in negotiations at, Paris over the Treaty of Peace of 1814, 186 sqq., 190; death of his brother-in-law (1814), 190, and its consequences, 191 1814-25. Return to England and second marriage (1815), 190, 191. ?qq.; doings at Haddo, 192-3, 194, sec also under Haddo House ; a looker-on in politics, 195; relations of, with Castlereagh, refusal to go to the Congress of Vienna, 195 ; correspondence of, with Aber- corn, 195, 196 sqq. , with Castlereagh, 195-6 ; property inherited by, from his father- in-law (1818), his life and guests there, 199 ; on its associations for him, 200 ; let- INDEX 299 Aberdeen, 4th Earl of, contd. ters from, to his wife, on the difficulties of reaching Haddo, on his improvements there (1821), and on the visit of George IV. to Edinburgh (1822), 201 sqq. ; tower built by, 204; called "a Jacobin," 214, 215 ; Bill of, concerning Scottish entails (1825), 213-14 ; letter from, to his son, on join- ing the Pitt Club, Cambridge, 214-15 ; increasing friendship of, with Wellington (1822-28), 215 ; seat in Canning's Cabinet refused by, 215 ; becomes Chan- cellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 215 1828-30. At the Foreign Office in the Wellington Ministry, 195, 215, 2l6sqq., 274 Dispute over Portuguese Succes- sion, letter from, to Barbecue, stating his views, 245-6 Events of his Ministry. The Russo-Turkish War, 215 sqq. ; accused of Turkish sympathies, 216, and, later, of Russian sympathies, 217 ; Russian aggression feared by, 217; action of, on renewed blockade of the Dardanelles, 223 sqq. ; correspondence of, with Wel- lington, on the Russo-Turkish War, 219, 226-7, 231, 232 sqq., 240, witli Heytesbury on the same, 217-19, 21 9 sqq., 224 sqq., 232, 233, 236, on the Treaty of Adrianople, 2378 ; despatch from, to Cowley at Vienna, on proposed negotiation for Russo- Turkish Peace, and on Greek independence (Dec. 1828), 227 sqq. ; correspondence of, with his brother (the Ambas- sador to the Porte) on the same, 237, 239-40, and on the independence of Greece (1830), 240, 242-3 ; on his distrust of Russia and on the state of Turkey (1830), 239; Princes considered desirable by, for the Greek throne, 241, 242, 244 French Algiers Expedition, des- patches and correspondence on, with Metternich, Cowley, Stuart de Rothesay, and Polignac, 248, 249 sqq. French Revolution of 1830, 246 sqq., 254 sqq., despatches and correspondence on, with Aberdeen, 4th Earl of, contd. Stuart de Rothesay, 254 sqq., on the arrival in England of Charles X., 259-60; corre- spondence with Wellington, on Lord Marcus Hill's account of events in Paris in July, 1830, 256 sqq. ; despatch from, to English Ambassadors, on the French July revolution and its effects on Allied policy, 260 sqq. The Revolt of Belgium from Union with Holland (1830), 265 sqq. ; despatches and corre- spondence on, with Wellington, 265-6, 269, 273-4, 280, with Bagot, 266-7, 268-9, 271 sqq., 271, 276, 282-4, 285, 291-2, with Stuart de Rothesay, 269-71, 274-6, 280-2, with Sir R. Gordon, 277 sqq., with Heytesbury, 287-8, with Falck, in reply to a request for military succour, on British observation of Treaty engage- ments and on the presence of France at the Conference, 288- 9 ; on venue for Conference on the Netherlands, correspond- ence with the French Ambas- sador (Oct. 1830), 286, 289; Bagot'a farewell letters, on fall of the Wellington Government, 294-5 Aberdeen, Earls of, family of, history of, 2 sqq. Aberdeen, "Haddo's raid" on, 3 Aberdeenshire in 1805, 4th Earl's im- provements, 23-4, 25 sqq. Act introduced by 4th Earl, concerning Entail, 213 Addington, , 48 Adelaide, Queen Dowager, at Stanmore, 199, 200 Adrianople, Russian Forces at (1830), 236, 237. Treaty of, see that head JEgean Islands, 23 Agriculture, in Aberdeenshire, 1805, 4th Earl's improvement in, 21 xqq. Aix-la-Chapelle, protocols of, 247, 261 Albania, 23 Albany, Countess of, 22-3 Alexander I., Emperor of Russia, 81, 103 ; and the command of the Allied Annies, 84-5, 93 ; Allied irruption into Southern France urged by (1813), 95 ; 4th Earl's characterisation of, 100 ; as wearer of the Garter, 103 ; on the coming Peace (Oct. 1813), 107 ; beaii gestc of, as to Zamose, 108 ; at Chem- 300 INDEX Alexander I., contd. nitz, 113 ; at Comotan, 115 ; entry of, into Frankfort (Nov. 1813), 133 ; intimacy of Wilson with, 144, and wishes concerning, 145 ; at Frankfort, 150 ; and the Treaty of General Alliance, 163, 164, 167-8 ; appreciation of, for 4th Earl, 166~ 172 ; and Nesselrode, 172 ; scheme of, for making Bernadotte Emperor of France, 176-7 ; master-stroke of(1816), 195 Alfieri, 22-3 Algiers, French Expedition against (1830), British action regarding, 248 sqq. Allemagne, V (Stael), 4th Earl on, 176 Allied Armies, round Teplitz (1813), 99 ; prospects of, 108 sqq. ; prisoners taken by, at Leipsic, 128, 130 Conference on the dissolution of the Union of the Netherlands sug- gested (1830), 281-2 Observance of Swiss neutrality (1814), 177 Plans of Campaign (1813), 109, 142-3, 150-1 Policy after the French July revolution, 4th Earl on, 262-3 During the Belgian revolution (1830), 284, 285 Reply to Napoleon's Peace proposals after Leipsic, 125 Sovereigns in 1813-14, 4th Earl's em- bassy to, 69 sqq. ; mutual attitude of, and of their armies, 84 sqq., 93, 106; H.Q. of, at Frankfort (1813), 135, 150 Successes (1814), 179 Allies, the, appointment by, of Pleni- potentiaries, desired by the Hague, to whom to refer modifica- tions in the Fundamental Law, 286-7 Treaty obligations of, as to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, 270, 271, 274, 277, 281 Altenburgh, 120, 122 Althorp, Viscount (3rd Earl Spencer), 12 Amiens, 18 Anapa, 232 Anjou, Charles of, and his descendants, 175 Anne, Grand Duchess, marriage of (1816), 195 Antwerp, in 1830, 267, 276, 285, 289 ; fall of, 291-2 ; protocol re objected to, by the King of the Nether- lands, 293 Arbuthnot, Sir William, Bt., Provost of Edinburgh, knighting of, 211-12 Argyll, 6th Duke of, 209 Argyll House, 190, 194 Asia, Russian penetration in, British attitude to, 232 Asia Minor, 4th Earl's travels in, 23 Aspern, Battle of, 115 Athens, 4th Earl's excavations at, 23, 65 Atholl, 2nd Duke of, 9 Attrition, use of, by Schwartzenberg, 109-10 Augereau, Wrede's operations against, 118 Austria, position of, in 1813, 72; Allied support to, 73-4 ; the Allies joined by (1813), 74, 86, 101, 179; Metternich on the alliance, 99; 4th Earl on zeal shown, 113 ; operations of (1813), 84, 85, 101 ; attitude of, to Bavaria, Poland and Saxony, 86, 93 ; attitude of, to person of Napoleon I., Metter- nich on, 97-8 ; Balance of power desired by, 99, 101 ; mediation of (1813), accepted by Great Britain but acceptance kept secret, 90, later made known to Metter- nich, 104-8 ; Peace aims of (1813), 97-8 ; views of, on Italy (1813), 101-2 ; policy of, as to German Confederation, 110-11 ; action of, in regard to Bavaria, tribute to, by 4th Earl, 118-19 ; troops of, placed under the Bavarian General, Wrede, 118 ; decision of, to recover the Tyrol, Voralberg and Unter Thai, advantages to Allies, 119 ; Prussia, and Russia, request from, that 4th Earl be made British Plenipotentiary in all Allied affairs, 139 ; wisdom of action of, in Bavaria and Wurtemburg, 157 ; desire of, for peace (1828;, 218 ; views on the Levant inquired into, 219 ; and England, concern of, for tranquillity of Europe, 4th Earl on (1829), 236 ; attitude of, in 1828, Nicholas I. on, 221-3 ; influence of, to secure Russo- Turkish Peace urged by 4th Earl, 228 sqq. ; view in, on French Algiers expedition (1830), 252 ; Charles X. 's wish to live in, 259. Austrian Archdukes, a visit from, feared, 196 BADEN, Grand Duke of, 150 ; popularity of, and of the Grand Duchess, 182 Baden, and the Confederation of the Rhine, 130; attitude of, iu 1813, 158 INDEX 301 Bagot, Sir Charles, Ambassador at the Hague, on the troubles in the Netherlands (1830), the froutier question, etc., 266 sqq. ; letter to, from 4th Earl on the same and on foreign interference, 271-2 ; further despatches from, on the same, and on the entry of the Prince of Orange into Brussels, 272-3, on the state of affairs in September, 1830, 276, 277, on a visit from the Prince of Orange and his inquiry into what Great Britain could or would do, 277 ; on financial confusion after the secession of Belgium (1830), 282; letter to, from 4th Earl on affairs after the secession of Belgium, 282-4 ; letter from, to the same, on his conversation with Verstolk (Oct. 1830), 284-5 ; Dutch appeal through, for military aid and the Duke of Wellington's vigorous reply (Oct. 1830), 289-91 ; on the fall of Antwerp, and the power- lessness of Holland, 291-2; on the Protocol of the Conference of London (1830), 293 ; farewell letter of, to 4th Earl, 294-5 Baird, General Sir David, 10 Baird, William, of Newbyth, 10 Balance of Forces, Allied and French (Oct. 1813), 109 Balance of Power, Austrian efforts to- wards, 99, 101, British attempts to secure, 71-2, 238 Baltic Sea, 75 ; 4th Earl's stormy pas- sage of (1813), 76 ; winter con- ditions of, 96 Bankers, Parisian, and the July revolu- tion, 257 Barbecue, M. , letter to, from 4th Earl, on the Portuguese Succession, 245-6 Barclay de Tolly, Field-Marshal, Order conferred on, 84-5, after insub- ordination, 85 ; 4th Earl on, 100 Barnet, 4th Earl's early school at, 2 Baronscourt, trees planted at, 66 Bassano, Maret, Duke of, and Peace proposals (1813), 138, 162, 163 Bathurst, Countess, 152 Bathurst, 3rd Earl, 152, 177, 197, and Greek independence, 240 Bautzen, Battle of, 122, 179 Bavaria, King of, letter to, from Francis I. on the desired Alliance, 101 ; at Frankfort, 150, 155 Bavaria, Austrian plan of advance on, 85 ; hopes of gaining, to the Alli- ance, 86, 93, 100-1, 109 ; acces- sion of secured, 117, 135-6, 154, Bavaria, contd. 179 ; independence of, and re- nunciation by, of the Confedera- tion of the Rhine, 119 ; wisdom shown by Austrian conduct to- wards, 157, 158 Bavaria, Otho of, chosen King of Greece, 244 Bavarian territory and acquisitions, agreement on (1813), 119 Bayard, Chevalier, statue of, 21 Beauvale, Lord, later, 2nd Viscount Mel- bourne, 79 n., a? actor, 34 Bedford, 6th Duke of, 48, 202 Belgian Provinces, offer of, to France in 1830, 269 Belgium, Revolution of (1830), Treaty problems caused by, 247 ; course and events of, 265 sqq., 290; French influence suspected, 266, 267, 272, 284, 285, 292 ; revolting towns in, 290 ; Union with Hol- land dissolved (Sept. 1830), 277, 281 Bellegarde, Marshall, 144, 145 ; objective of (1814), 150-1 Benevente, Princess of, and her guests, 188 Benkendorff, General, 226 Benningsen, General, 95 ; operations of, in 1813, 103-4, 106, and suc- cesses of, 112, 113 ; at Teplitz, 108, 109 Bensizlea, 103 Bently Priory, see Stanmore Berlin, French advance on (1813), 76 sqq. Bernadotte, Charles, Crown Prince (Prince Royal) of Sweden, 81, 138, 150, 154, 156, 162, 188 ; operations of, in 1813, 73, 76-8, 80, 123-4, 143 ; popularity of, 75 ; character of, 152, 160 ; scheme of Alexander I. to make Emperor of France, 176-7 Berri, S. A. R. , Due de, letter from, offer- ing co-operation to Wellington (1813), 95, Metternich's view on, 98, difficulties caused by (1814), 187 Berry Pomeroy, Vale of, 130 Berthier, Peace urged by, on Napoleon, 105 Bertrand, made prisoner, 124 Binning, Lord (Earl of Haddington), 12, 43<2r^. 1, 211 Black Forest, the, 175-6, 183-4 Blandford, Marquess of, 43 Bliicher, General, 78, 84, 112, 124 ; part assigned to, in campaign of 1813- 14, 150 ; Wilson's intimacy with, 144 302 INDEX Bolingbroke, Lord, speeches of, Pitt on, 51 Bonaparte, Joseph, 18 Books, 4th Earl's interest in, 197 Bordeaux, Due de, 257 Bosphorus, forts on, 219 ; free passage of, Russian demand for (1829), 234 Boulogne, Nelson's bombardment of, 17 Bourbon Princes of France, embarrass- ment due to (1814), 179, 187 Bo wood, a visit to, Ward on, 170 Brandias, 80 Brazil, Crown of, succession to, Portu- guese dispute on, 4th Earl's non- intervention view on, 245-6 Bremerkhe, 166 Breslau, 4th Earl at, 78-9 Bridal, The, of Triermain (Scott), 4th Earl's comments on, 134 Bride, The, of Abijdos (Byron), 171 Bristol, 5th Earl of, 50 British Fleet, Sir R. Gordon's plans for (1830), 236 Bruges, '267 Brussels, disturbance at (1830), 265-6, 267, 268, 275, 278 ; entry into, of the Prince of Orange (1830), 272-3 ; attack on, of the Prince of Orange, failure of, results of, 277 Buccleugh, 4th Duke of, 55, 57 Buonaparte, Josephine, 15, 182 Burghersh, Lord, 144 Burgherah- Wilson affair, share in, of 4th Earl, 144 sqq. Byron, Lord, poems by, 171 CALAIS to Paris, 4th Earl's journey iu 1802, 16*77. Calton Hill, Edinburgh, 202 ; view from, 207 Cambridge, H.R.H. Adolphus -Frederick, Duke of, 44 Cambridge University, 4th Earl at, 13 sqq., and, later, his desire to represent, 43, 44 ; his son at, 214-215 Candidates for the throne of Greece, 241-2 Canning, George, 48, 50, 51, 57, 59, 62; mot of, onSidmouth, 49 ; Ministry of, 4th Earl invited to join (1827), 215 Canova, 51, 52 Capo d'Istrias, Count, and Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, 243-4 Carlsruhe, 4th Earl at (1813), 180, 181-2 Caroline Bonaparte, wife of Joachim Murat, Queen of Naples, 91 Cassilis, 6th Earl of, 49 Castlereagh, Viscount, 43-44, 50, 51, 62; 4th Earl sent by, as special Castlereagh, Viscount, contd. Envoy to the Allies (1813- 14), 69 sqq. ', correspondence of, with 4th Earl in 1813, on the Austrian declaration, 82-3, after the entry into Frankfort, 137, on the negotiations at Frankfort, 139 sg<7.~, 145 it??., 153 sqq., 162 sqq. , on Wilson and Burghersh, 144-5, on Napoleon's reply to St. Aignan's mission and on the Treaty of General Aliauce, 162 sqq. ; despatch to, containing Napoleon's Peace offers, story of, 126-7; 4th Earl's Peace views approved by, 139 ; efforts of, to retain 4th Earl as Ambassador, 156, 165, 166, 172, 173 sqq. ; decision of, to go to Frankfort, 176 ; and the Chatillon Con- ference, 185-6 ; later relations of, with 4th Earl, 195 ; letter from, on European affairs (1814), 195; death of (1822), 209 Castlereagh, Viscountess, suppers of, in Paris, 188 Cathcart, 1st Earl, Ambassador at St. Petersburg, 70, 81, 82, 90, 113, 147, 148, 156; views of, contrary to those of 4th Earl (1813-14), 136, 138 ; 4th Earl's estimate of, 137 ; and the Treaty of General Alliance, 164, 167 ; and the Con- ference of Chatillon, 185 Catherine, Grand Duchess of Russia, 109 Catholic Question, dissolution due to (1807), 61, 62; effects of, on the AVelliugton Ministry (1830), 279 Caulaincourt, Due de Vicenza (Colin- court), at Prague, 102 ; desire of, for Peace and powers entrusted to, 186 Change of Government and General Election of 1807, letters on, 62 sqq. Chantilly, in 1802, 18 Charles, Archduke, military skill of, 20 Charles Edward * Stewart (the Young Pretender), 10, 205 ; widow of, 22-3 Charles I., 4 Charles II., 5 Charles X. , King of France, 227 ; deposi- tion of, and exile, 247, problem of future residence for, 256, re- ception of, in England, 258, 259, at Holyrocd, 254, 260; Government of, 4th Earl's disapproval of, 248 ; his ignorance of the state of affairs in July, 1830, 256, 258; Ordi- nances of, effects of, 247, 257, 258, 260, 262 INDEX 303 Chasserond, General, and his forces at Maestricht (1830), 292 Chatillon, see Conference of Chemnitz, Allied Sovereigns at, 113, 120; cannonade near (1813), 121 Clam-Collorado, Corps of, 112 Clanwilliam, 3rd Earl of, 201 Coalitions, 4th Earl on, 47, 151 Cockburn, Admiral Sir George, 258&ft. Code Napoleon, the, 21 Colincourt, sec Caulaincoart Collorado, , 94, 109 Comotan, Allied H.Q. at (1813), 104 sqq., 108, 111 Comotan-Marienburg-Zwickau-Geraline, Allied advance by (1813), 108 Conde, statue of, 20 Confederation of the Rhine, 110 ; alter- native to, 4th Earl on, 111; renounced by Bavaria, 119 ; dis- solution of, 130, 136 Conference of Chatillon (1814), prelimi- nary difficulties 'smoothed by 4th Earl, 185-6 Conference on the Netherlands, question of venue for (Oct. 1830), 286-7, 289, held in London, 291, 292 sqq., and the ejections of the King of the Netherlands, ib. Congress of Vienna (1814), 196; 4th Earl's refusal to attend, 195 ; and Turkish independence, 229 Constantine, Grand Duke, 103 Constantinople, 62, 217, 221, 222, 225; 4th Earl's visit to, 23 ; Russian approach to (1829), 4th Earl on, 233 sqq. , resolute attitude at (1829), 234; British Ambassador at, see Gordon, Sir Robert Consumption, treatment of, early nine- teenth century, 193-4 Corfu, 23 Cornwallis, Marquess of, 15, 18 Cossacks, 80, 100 ; enormities of, in Saxony (181&), 120, 122 Courtesy and Care essential in Diplo- macy, 4th Earl on, 178-9 Cowley, Lord, Ambassador at Vienna (1828), 248, 252; 4th Earl's des- patch to, on proposed Peace between Russia and Turkey (1828), 227 sqq. ; despatches from (Aug. 1829), on Russian success and terms offered to the Turks, 234-5, on Austrian opinion on the French Algiers Expedition (1830), 252-3 Crimean War, 65 ; British sympathy during, for Turkey, 217 Crosseu, an upset near, 78 Crown Prince, sec Bernadotte Cuxhaven, 166 DALKYMPLE, Sir John, 9 Dalrymple of Stair, Sir James, 6 Dante, early edition of, owned by 4th Earl, 14 d'Arblay, Madame (Fanny Burney), 171 Dardanelles, the, Russian blockade of (1828-9), 217, comments on, of Nicholas I., 220-1 ; British action in regard to, 217, 236, 238; free passage of, Russian demand for (1829), 234 Darmstadt, 180 De Bilke, Baron, Swedish Minister, 121 Degrees granted to noblemen without examination (circa 1805), 33 de Grey, Lord, 12 de la Rochefoucauld, Comte, on youth doing all, in 1830, 294-5 Delessert, Odier, 257 Denmark, 156; submission of (1814), 136 De Officiis of Cicero, early edition owned by 4th Earl, 14 Dermbach, the "road " to, 127 Dessau Marienbad, Allied forces strung out between (1813), 111 Devonshire, 6th Duke and Duchess of, 152 Devonshire House, a dinner at, 49 Diebitsch, General, 226, 233 Diplomatic Secrecy, difficulty in main- taining, 104-5 Directory, the, fall of, 19 Divided Command, evils of, 83 sqq. Docteroff, General, 108, 109 Doncaster Races, 202 Douglas, Lord, 62, 64 Dresden, Allied attack on (1813), failure of, 80, 85, 86 ; Murat at, 86, 91- 2 ; French forces in, 108 ; Napo- leon's departure from, 112-13 ; capitulation of, 158-9 Dresden Teplitz Road Peterswalde, French troops along (1813), 108, 1 09 ; Benningsen's advance along, 112 Drummond, , British Ambassador to the Porte, 23 Drummond, , British Ambassador in Sicily, 64-5 Dudley and Ward, 4th Viscount, at the Foreign Office, 215 Dugald, , 171 Dumont, , 170-1 Dundas, Henry, see Melville, Viscount Dundas, Lady Jane, see Melville, Vis- countess Dundas, R., 50, 51 Duudas, Robert, later, 2nd Viscount Melville, 63 Dundas, William, Lord Clerk Register, 49^71., 50 304 INDEX Duroc, death of, and Napoleon I., 114 D*quesue, the Great, statue of, 21 Dutchappeals for military succour (1830), 288, 289, Wellington's reply, 289-91 ; objections to London as venue for the Conference of Oct. 1830, 289, towns suggested as venue for Conference of Pleni- potentiaries (1830), 287 EDGEWORTH, Maria, 171 Edinburgh, beauty of, 206 Execution at, of Sir John Gordon, 4, 7; George IV. 's reception at (1822), 4th Earl's accounts of, 205 sqq. Edinburgh Review, Macintosh's articles in, 171 Eger, the, 115 Elbe, Line of the, held by Napoleon (1813), 93, 101 ; Allied aims on, 109 Eldon, Earl of, 62 Ellenborough, Lord, 50 ; and Greek independence, 240 Ellis, C., 50 English literature, 4th Earl on, 183 Public opinion, Metternich's sensitive- ness to, 155 Entail, Scottish system of, 4th Earl on his Bill concerning (1825), 213-14 Ephesus, 23 Erfurth, Allied advance on (1813), 108 ; French troops directed on, 109 Erskine, ,61 Robert, 61 Erzerourn, Russian capture of (1829), 235 Etruria, King of, 16 Europe, instability in (1828-30), 216; Nicholas I. on, 222 Peace of, Treaties securing, broken by Russian declaration of war on Turkey, 218 FALCK, Baron A. R., Dutch Minister for Foreign Affairs (1830), 266; Note from, demanding assistance, 283 &n. ; on the venue for the Conference, 287 ; 4th Earl's letter to, on British observance of Treaty obligations, and on French share in the Conference, 288-9 Farquhar, Sir Walter, 39 Fife, 4th Earl of, 209 Fitzpatrick, , 48 Fitzwilliam, 2nd Earl of, 48 Flanders, leaders from, of the Bt l<.'ian revolution (1830), methods of, 268-9 ; the two, revolt of, see Belgium, revolution Flaxman, John, 51, 52 Fletcher, William, 9 Forbes, William, of Tolquhen, 3 Foreign Policy in 1806, 59 Formartine, 4th Earl's tower at, 204 Fort Lillo on the Scheldt, 293 Forth Ferry, crossing of, 203 Fox, Charles James, 44, 47, 48, 50, 52 Fox, Mrs. G., 202 France, State of, in 1802, 4th Earl's Notes on, 15 sqq., ; Royalism in, 15, 16 ; Military Character of the Government, 20-1 ; and Russia in 1806, 59 ; Boundaries of, to be secured by Peace (1813), 71; Powerof, reduction of Alliedefforts towards (1813) 71-2, 73, 83 sqq., passim ; Glory and Patriotism of, the obstacle to Peace in 1813, 105, 136 ; Frontiers of, natural, 4th Earl's views on, 136, 139, 140, those unfortified, 142 ; Limits of, compatible with Secure Peace, in 4th Earl's view (1814), 136 ; Route of Schwartzenberg's pro- posed invasion of (1813-14), 142 ; Plunder of, restoration of, Ward on, 169-70, 4th Earl's view, 189 ; Bourbon partisans in, 4th Earl on (1814), 179 ; after the Restora- tion, 4th Earl on, 187 sqq. ; antici- pated attitude of, to Russo- Turkish War, (1828), 218 ; atti- tude of, to Russian blockade of the Dardanelles (1828), 224 ; after the July revolution, applicability to of existing Treaties, 261 sqq. ; attitude of, to Brussels provisional Government (1830), 281 ; Second Chamber of, hereditary principle threatened, 257, 262 ; and the tricolour, 257, 262 ; suspected of furthering the Belgian revolution (1830), 266, 267, 272, 284, 285, 292; offer to. of the Belgian provinces in 1830, declined by, 269 Francis I., Emperor of Austria, 80, 81, 82, 83, 95, 103 ; 4th Earl received by (1813), 82; declaration of, on joining the Allies, 82 ; attitude of, to the person of Napoleon, 98 ; 4th Earl's estimate of, 100, 117, 153, 182, 187 ; letter from, to King of Bavaria on the desired Alliance, 101 ; moves of (Sept.- Oct., 1813), 103, 115, 120, 121, 123, 124, 125 ; on the surrender of Zarnose, 107 ; appreciation by, of 4th Earl, 111, 116, 149, 152-3, 166, 167, 172, 184, and on Napoleon, 113-14; popularity of, in his home dominions, 117, and in the Venetian provinces, 195 ; INDEX 305 Francis I. contd. Austrian troops placed by, under Wrede, 118; Schwartzenberg decorated by, on the field of Lcipsic, 124; acclaimedatLeipsic, 125 ; reception of, at Fulda, 129 ; entry of, into Frankfort, 131, 132, 133 ; and Sir R. Wilson, 145 ; at Frankfort (1813), 150, 151 ; and the capitulation of Dresden, 158- -9 ; Orders bestowed by, on 4th Earl, and on Wellington, 167 ; attitude of, respectively to return of the Bourbons and to Bern.i- dotte's elevation as Emperor of France, 177 ; and the Order of the Garter, 195 ; Metternich's boasts concerning (1828), 231 ; on the Treaty of Adriauople, 237 ; and Charles X. in exile, 259 Frankfort, 4th Earl's journey to (1813), 77-8 ; Allied Entries (1813), 130, 131, 132; H.Q. of Allied Sovereigns (1813), 135, 150; notables at, 150; negotia- tions at, on bases of Peace negotia- tions, 137 sqq. Frankfort to Chatillon (1814), 135-90 Frederick the Great, 225 Frederick William III., King of Prussia, 81, 103, 115, 176-7; 4th Earl's estimate of, 100 ; at Teplitz, 103 ; appreciation by, of 4th Earl, 149 ; and Wilson, 'l46 ; at Frankfort (1813), 150 French, the, in Tyrol and Noithprn Italy, 4th Earl's instructions concerning (1813), 72 ; efforts against, 106, and the same (1814), 144, 115, 150-1 French Advance on Prague, and on Teplitz (1813), 94, 96, and retreat, 97 Army of the Pyrenees, contained by Wellington (1813), 95 Candidate for the Greek throne (1830), 241 Charter, the, alterations in (1830), 258-9, 262 Expedition against Algiers and engage- ments with Mehemet AH of Egypt, British action concerning (1830), 248 sqq. ; report on, from British Minister, 255-6 ; success of, 253 ; Forces in motion (Oct. 1, 1813), 109 Government (1829), co-operation of, in Eastern European affairs in- vited, and the response, 234-5 Influence on Belgian revolution, sus- pected, 266, 267, 272, 284, 285, 292 Nation as distinct from French VOL. I French contd. Government, Verstolk's anxieties on (Oct. 1830), 284, 285 French Revolutions : 1789, 247, 262 1830, 216 ; results of, 246-7 ; Algiers Expedition in relation to, 246, 253 ; 4th Earl on, 247,254-5, 262, 277-8 Frenchmen in arms in Belgium (Oct. 1830), 292 Frere, , 50 Freyberg, French troops at (1813), 108 ; Allied Mission to (1814), 180 Fulda, horrors of the way to, 127-8 ; reinstatement of its Prince-Bishop demanded, 129 Fundamental Law, modification of, appointment of Plenipotentiaries to whom to refer this, desired by the Hague (1830), 286-7 GARDE BOURGEOISIE, at Brussels (1830), 269, 273, 275, 277 Garde Communale, called out at Brussels (1830), 265, 266 Garde Nationale of France, 255, 259, 262, 266 Cell, Sir William, letter from, on a Statue of Pitt, 51 &n., 2 General Election of 1806, 55 sqq. Genoa, 106 Gentz, Frederic von, 86 &">i., 155 George, Prince of Wales, 37, 49, 90 ; as Prince Regent, 111 ; views of, on Austria and the Imperial German Crown, 89 ; approval expressed by, of 4th Earl's part in Peace negotiations (1813), 139, sec also George IV. George III., 15; on the death of Pitt, 44 ; alleged wish of, for a Regency, 58 ; attitude of, to Ministers (1806), 60; and the Catholic Question, 62-3 George IV., reception of, in Edinburgh (1822), letters on, of the 4th Earl to his wife, 205 sqq., High- land Dress worn by, 208, 209 ; and Nicholas I., 220, 4th Earl's com- ment, 223 ; and the Treaty of Adrianople, 237 ; recognition by, of Louis-Philippe, 264; popularity of, 279 German Dominions, British (1813), 111, restitution of, Secret Article re, in Russo-Prussian Treaty, 90-1 Independence, Austrian desire for, 90, 101 Influence in newly-independent Greece, 244 People, 4th Earl on, 176, 182-3 306 INDEX w Germany, 4th Earl's journeys in (1813- 14), 76 sqq. Imperial Crown of, resumption of, by Austria, Metternich on, 87-8 Two new Confederations of, proposed by Stein (1813), 110, 111 Insurrections in (1830), 278 North, Friends of Virtue in, danger from, 110 Ghent, 267, 276 Giaour, The (Byron), 171 Giesshubel, French driven from (1813), 112 Gight, Castle of, death of Lord Haddo at, 1-2 Glatz, 80 Glenorchy, Viscountess, 211 Gloucester frigate, wreck of, 6 Gordon, Admiral the Hon. John, 11 Admiral the Hon. William, 11 Colonel the Hon. Charles, Black Watch, 11 ; at sea in youth, 35 Duchess of, 48, 53 2nd Duke of, 10 4th Duke of, 206 Family, of Haddo, 3, 4, 5 John, Lord, direct ancestor of present Earls of Aberdeen, 2 Lady, born Mary Forbes of Tolrjuhen, 3 Lady Alicia, 11, 46er?i. Lady Alice, early death of, 66, 192, 194 Lady Caroline, early death of, 66, 192 Lady Jane, early death of, 66, 192, 194 ; letters to, of 4th Earl, 193 Lieut. -Colonel Sir Alexander, K.C.B., killed at Waterloo, 11, 35 Sir George, of Haddo, sec Aberdeen, 1st Earl of Sir John, of Haddo, Royalist, raid by, 3, execution of, 4, fate of his family, 3, 4 sqq. Sir Robert, Ambassador to the Porte, 11, 72, 116, 152; as actor, 34; action of, on arrival of UieRussians atAdrianople(lS30), 236; on the condition of Turkey (1829), 237 ; correspondence of, with 4th Earl ontheresultsofthe Rus.so-Turkish War and on the independence of Greece, 239-40, 242-3 ; 4th Earl's letter to, on the revolutions in France and the Netherlands, affairs in Germany and Italy and on the Catholic Question (1830), 277 sqq. ; warning sent via, to Mehemet AH (1830), with effect, 248 Goulburn, , and Greek independence, 240 Gourdou, BertranJ de, 2 Gotteuburgh, 74 Grant, , 62 Great Britain, Austrian alliance with (1813), 82, 87; balance of power striven for by, 71-2, 238 ; German dominions of, 111, Restoration of, Secret Article in Russo-Prussian Treaty on (1813), 90-1 ; objects of, in the Continental War (1813), 88-9 ; readiness of, to treat for Peace (1813), 89; interest of, in independence of Turkey, bases of, 229, 233, 243; action of, con- cerning the blockade of the Dardanelles (1828-30), 217, 236, 238 ; engagements of, towards the House of Braganza, 246 ; aid of, desired by the House of Orange in 1830, 268, 277, 283, 285, 289 sqq. Greece, 4th Earl's travels in (1802-4), 23 ; future of, Wellington on (1828), 227; affairs of, desired settlement of (1828), 230, 231, Russian Peace terms concerning (1829), 234, 4th Earl's view on, 238-9 Independence of (1830) and extension of, 4th Earl's proposals on, the former secured, 241 ; the candi- dates for the throne and the choice of a king, 241 sqq. ; constitu- tion for, 244 ; Treaty confirming, Austrian attitude to, 230 Greek Insurgents in the Morea (1828), British popular sympathy with, 216 Treaty, the, Austrian attitude to, 230 Grenville, Lord, and his Cabinet (1806), 47-8, 49, 52, 56, 57 Grey, 1st Earl, 48 2nd Earl, 144 Guelfs and Ghibellines, 175 Gurney, Hudson, letters to, from 4th Earl. 26, on Sicilian affairs, 67-8 ; 4th Earl called "Jacobin" by, 214 Gwydyr, Lady, 207 Gwydyr, 2nd Lord, 209 HADDINGTON, Charles Hamilton, 8th Earl of, 43 n. 2 Haddo, George, Lord, father of 4th Earl, death of, 1-2, 10, 11 George, Lord, son of 4th Earl, letter to, on joining the Pitt Ciub, Cam- bridge, 214-15 Gordons of, descent of, 2 Lady, born Baird, mother of 4th Earl, 1, 10, 11 ; death of, 2 Haddo House, archives, 10 ; 4th Earl's INDEX 307 Haddo House contd. first visit to (1805), and impres- sions on, 23 sqq., improvements and tree-planting carried out by, 25 sqq., 52, 53, 54, 66, 196, 200, 203 ; impressions on, of 4th Earl's first wife, 53-4 ; later attitude to, of 4th Earl, 192-3, 200 ; attitude of his second wife, 193 ; journey to, fatigues of, 200, 4th Earl on, 201 sqq. " Haddo's Raid," 3 Hague, the, trouble at (1830), 265-6 Hainault, 267 Hamburgh, 102 Hamilton, Lady Catharine, beauty of, and marriage of, to 4th Earl, 37-8, see also Aberdeen, Countess of Lady Maria, 4th Earl's friendship with, and letters to, on his wife's death, 67 ; on his Embassy to the Allies (1813), 72, 74 sqq., 96, 102-4, 115-17, 120 sqq., 127 sqq., 151-3, 161-2, 166-7, 180 sqq., 191 ; serious ill health of, as a cause for 4th Earl's wish to go home, 174-5 ; death of, as affect- ing 4th Earl's second marriage, 191 Viscount, brother-in-law of 4th Earl, death of, and consequences of, 190, 191 Viscountess, marriage of, to 4th Earl, 191 sqq., see also Aberdeen, Coun- tess of, the second Hamilton and Brandon, 10th Duke of, at the Edinburgh reception of George IV., 206, 209, 210, 212 Hanau, storming of (1813), Wrede wounded at, and visited at, by 4th Earl, 128-9, 132 Hanover, 138, 201, 284 ; restoration of, 72 ; independence of, 160 Hanoverian dominions, see German Hapsbnrg, House of, early possessions of, 175-6 Hardenberg, Prussian Chancellor, and 4th Earl, 138-9; 4th Earl's estimate of, 160 Hardwicke, 3rd Earl of, 47 Harrow, 4th Earl educated at, 10, 12 Harrowby, Countess of, 152 Harrowby, 1st Earl of, 4th Earl's letters to, during his Embassy to the Allies, on life at Tcplit/, 99-100 ; on a Treaty : the French Govern- ment : the Due de Berri : Napo- leon's falsity : Bernadotte ; on affairs at Frankfort and bis retire- ment, 172 sqq. ; on Castlereagh, coming to H.Q. and on the scheme for making Bernadotte Harrowby, 1st Earl of contd. Emperor of France ; on neutrality of Switzerland ; on preference, on effect of slight negligences, 176 sqq ; on 4th Earl's despatches, 169 Haughtiness, Lord Abercorn on, 71 Hawkesbury, Viscount, 43, 47, 51,57, 62 Heidelberg, 180 ; Castle of, great tun at, 181 Heligoland, 154, 166 Helsinburgh, towns seen from, 75 Helvetic and Batavian Republics, 22 Hesse-Darmstadt, Prince of, 130, 150 Hesse, Prince Philip of, 241, 244 Heytesbury, Lord, Ambassador at St. Petersburg (1828-30), 4th Earl's instructions to, 217, 218-19 ; interview of, with Nicholas I., peaceful note in, 219 sqq. ; 4th Earl's further instructions to, on the Blockade of the Dar- danelles (1828), 224 ; his des- patch on the matter, 224-6 ; on lack of system in Russian Government, and Russian military strength (1829), 232; 4th Earl's instructions to (Aug. 1829), 233, and private letter to, 236 ; 4th Earl's despatch to, criticizing the Treaty of Adrianople, 237 ; letter to, from 4th Earl on affairs in the Netherlands : the Conference : Allied Unity, 287-8 High Street, Edinburgh, 210 Highland Chiefs and the reception of George IV. in Edinburgh (1822), 205 sqq. Hill, Lord Marcus, account given by, of Paris, during the July revolu- tion (1830), 256 sqq. Hocheim, 148 Hohenzollern family, ancestral castle of, 176 Holland, 3rd Lord, 239 Holland (see also Netherlands), revolt of (1813), 136 ; independence of British attitude to (1813), 72, 139, 140 ; proposed Allied in vasion of (1813), 143 ; affairs in (Nov. 1813), 165 ; separation of, from Belgium (1830), 277, 281 ; Belgian revolution leading to, 165, 166, 167, 169, 216 ; problem of, 4th Earl on, 273-4 ; Ward's proposed trip to, with Byron, 171-2 ; fears of French invasion of (1830), 284 Holloway, Miss, and the children's letters, 153 Holyrood, Palace of, Charles X. in exile at, 247, 260 308 INDEX Hope, John, Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, letter to, from 4th Earl, on his Bill concerning Entail (1825), 213-14 Howick, Viscount, 57 Humboldt, Baron von, Prussian Minister to Vienna, 121, 123 Humboldt, Baron vou, the Traveller, 121 Hungarian force, joining Allied army, 101 Huntly, Marquess of, 53, 206 Huseiu III., Dey of Algiers (1818-30), Huskisson, W., 215 IONIAN Islands, 241 Indemnity, demanded by Russia from Turkey (1828-30), 222, 234 Irish Peerage, proposed assimilation to, of the Scottish, 56 Italian Campaign, plans for, of Austria (1813), 131, 144-5 sqq. Poetry, 4th Earl's knowledge of, 14 Republic, 22 Italy, 4th Earl's travels in, 22-3 ; Austrian views on (1813), 101-2 ; affairs in (Oct. 1813), 106-7 ; French frontier towards, 140 ; state of, in 1830, 278 JACKSON, , English Minister at Paris (1801), 14 Jacobi, 164 "Jacobin," epithet applied to 4th Earl, 214, 215 Jacobin or Mediation Party (1814), 177 Jacobins, the, in 1802, 16, in 1830, 278 Jena, 125 Jersey, Charles X.'s wish to go to, 256 Johnson, Dr., on trees in Scotland, 25 Johnston, , 203 Johnstone, Mrs. Hope, 211 Jomini, 4th Earl's characterization of, 100 KELLIE, House of, siege of, 4 Kemble, the actor, 36 Keogh, , 61 Kicheloff, General, 226 King's College, Old Aberdeen, 5 Kinnoul, Countess of, 207 10th Earl of, 206 Klenan, and the capitulation of Dresden, 158 Knight, Payne, 36 Kuox, Rev. F., Minister of Tarves, on Agriculture in that village (1772), 29-30 Konigiustadt, 80 LAFAYETTE, and Louis-Philippe, 257, 259 Lafitte, Maisons, 257 Lamb, Hon. Frederick, Secretary of 4th Earl's Embassy to the Allies (1813), 726^71., 79&n., 116, 152 Langeron's Corps, 109 Launes, devotion of, at Aspern, 115 ; death of, Napoleon's brutal words on, 115 Lansdowne, 4th Marquess of, at Bowood, 170-1 La Rothiere, Battle of, 186 Lascelles, Henry (2nd Earl of Harewood), 44&?i. Latouche, Admiral, 17 Lauderdale, Duke of, 6, 48-9 ; mission to Paris (1806), 52, 55 Laurence, , 197 Lauriston, made prisoner, 124 Laval, Duke of, and the French Algiers Expedition, 250 Lawrence, Sir Thomas, 36 ; as actor, 34 : portrait by, of 4th Earl's first wife, 37 Lebzeltern, Chevalier, 142, 164 Leipsic, Allied forces near (Oct. 1813), 111 ; horrors of, after the battle, 125 Battle of (Oct. 17, 1813), 4th Earl on, 121 sqq. ; Napoleon's Peace over- ture under fire, and the 4th Earl's magnanimous behaviour concern- ing, 126-7 (see also Merfeldt) ; Allied losses, 123, 124 L'Estocq, General, 77-8 Levant, travels in of the 4th Earl, 2n ; unrest in (1828), 218 Leveson, Lord Francis, 209 Levesons, the, 152 Liege, 267, 268 Liege, Province of, revolt of (1830), 276 Lieven, Prince, 164 ; letter to, on the Turkish indemnity and security of future Treaties, 223 ; confidence desired by (1829), 233 Princess de, 233 Liverpool, 2nd Earl of, 177 Lombardy, 106 ; Austrian forces in (1830), 278 London, Treaty of General Alliance to he signed in, by desire of Alexander I., 163, but this objected to by Castlereagh, 164 as venue for Conference on the Netherlands, 286, French and Dutch objections, 289, finally decided upon, 291, 292 Louis XVI., 15 Louis XVIII., 189 ; and his Marshals, 187, 188 ; and Talleyrand, 279 Louis Philippe (Duke of Orleans), King of the French, 288, 289 ; on the Treaty of Adrianople, 237 ; acces- INDEX 309 Louis Philippe contd. sion of, 247, 257, effects of, on Allied policy, 4th Earl on, 260 sqq. ; recognition of, tardy, 263, 286, by England, 4th Earl on, 264, 277-8 ; and French neutrality towards the Netherlands (Oct. 1830), 280-1 Louvain, 267 Louvre, the, treasures of, 189 Lowenburgh, Battle of, 86 Lutterel, , 197 Lutzen, Battle of, 122, 179 Luxembourg, Marshall de, 21 Luxemburg, Grand Duchy of, exclusion of, from Belgium (1830), 294 MxcGREGOR, The, and his clansmen, in Edinburgh (1822), 207 Mackay, , 9 Mackenzie, Sir George, 6 Mackintosh, Sir James, 170, and his writings, 171 Macleod, Miss, beauty of, 207 Mahiuoud II., Sultan of Turkey, and the war with Russia (1828-30), 222-3, 228-9, 229-30, 234 ; Sir K. Gordon's fears for (1830), 243 Malcolm, Admiral Sir P., 236 Malines, 285 Malta, 23 Mannheim, suggested as place for Peace Congress (1813), 138, 162, 163 Maria da Gloria, Queen of Portugal, British aid sought to establish (1830), 4th Earl on, 245-6 Marie-Louise, Empress, 98, 114, 177 ; on the difficulty of making Peace (1813), 105 Marienberg, 115, 117, 130 Marmora, Sea of, 236 Mary, Queen of Scots, at Holyrood, 260 Mataniello, performance of, at Brussels, 265 Matchin, fortress of, fall of, 221 Mayence, tete du pont at, objective of Wrede (1813), 118 Mecklenburg, Prince Charles of, 241 Mehemet Ali, Pacha of Egypt, contem- plated French alliance with (1830), 248 Meissen, French troops at (1813), 108 Melbourne, 1st Viscount, as actor, 34 Melville, 1st Viscount (Henry Dundas), friendship of, with 4th Earl, 11 sqq., 45, 64, 65, 201, 205, 208, 212 ; correspondence of, with 4th Earl, on his going to Cam- bridge, 12-13 ; on 4th Earl's theatricals, 34-5 ; on Lady Aber- deen, 38-9 ; on Pitt's illness, 39, Melville, 1st Viscount contd. and death, 40, 42 ; on General Election of 1806 : Election of Scottish Peers, 55-6, 57 sqq. ; Impeachment and Trial of,39