Read Ebook: The Greville Memoirs Part 3 (of 3) Volume 1 (of 2) A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria from 1852 to 1860 by Greville Charles Reeve Henry Editor

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 300 lines and 118794 words, and 6 pages

The Duke of Bedford writes to me about his papers and voluminous correspondence, which he has been thinking of overhauling and arranging, but he shrinks from such a laborious task. He says: 'With respect to my political correspondence, it has been unusually interesting and remarkable. I came so early into public life, have been so mixed up with everything, have known the political chief of my own party so intimately, and of the Tory party also to a limited extent, that there is no great affair of my own time I have not been well acquainted with.' This is very true, and his correspondence, whenever it sees the light, will be more interesting, and contribute more historical information, than that of any other man who has been engaged in public life. The papers of Peel and of the Duke of Wellington may be more important, but I doubt their's being more interesting, because the Duke of Bedford's will be of a more miscellaneous and comprehensive character; and though his abilities are not of a very high order, his judgement is sound, his mind is unprejudiced and candid, and he is a sincere worshipper of truth.

ALLIANCE OF FRANCE AND ENGLAND.

HOSTILITY OF AUSTRIA.

The prevailing feeling against England which Flahault found at Paris has been proved on innumerable occasions. Clarendon is well aware of it, and does his best, but with very little success, to bring the foreign Ministers and others to reason. Madame de Lieven writes to me in this strain, and even liberal and intelligent foreigners like Alfred Potocki, who has been accused of being a rebel in Austria, writes that we ought to expel the refugees. At Vienna the people are persuaded that there is some indirect and undefinable participation on the part of the British Government in the insurrectionary and homicidal acts of Milan and Vienna, and they have got a story that the assassin Libeny had a letter of Palmerston's in his shoe. Unreasonable as all this is, we ought to make great allowance for their excited feelings, for they have a case against us of a cumulative character. It goes back a long way, and embraces many objects and details, and is principally attributable to Palmerston, partly to his doings, and perhaps more to his sayings. They cannot forget that he has long been the implacable enemy of Austria, that he advised her renunciation of her Italian dominions, and that he and his agents have always sympathised with, and sometimes aided and abetted most of the revolutionary movements that have taken place. Then there was the Haynau affair, and the lukewarmness and indifference which the Government of that day, and Palmerston particularly, exhibited about it; then the reception of Kossuth, the public meetings and his speeches, together with the speeches at them of Cobden and others of which no notice was ever taken, and finally the transaction about Palmerston's receiving Kossuth and his famous answer to the addresses presented to him from Finsbury and Islington. All these things satisfy the foreign Governments that we are not only politically but nationally their enemies, and that we harbour their rebellious subjects out of hatred to them, and that we regard with sympathy and a secret satisfaction the plots which they concoct in safety here and go forth to execute abroad. And when they are told that our laws afford these people an asylum, which no Government has the power to deny them, and that Parliament and public opinion will not consent to arm the Government with the powers of restraint or coercion they do not possess, they only explode the more loudly in denunciations against that free and constitutional system which is not only a perpetual reproach, but, as they think, a source of continual danger to their own. So much for foreign affairs.

CONVERSATION OF THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS.

THE EASTERN QUESTION.

Clarendon told me he had seen Brunnow, and after recapitulating to him all the various causes for alarm, resting on facts or on rumours, especially with regard to Russia and her intentions, he said that our Government had received the word of honour of the Emperor that he had no sinister or hostile intentions, and disclaimed those that had been imputed to him, and that on his word they relied with such implicit confidence that he had not the slightest fear of disquietude. Brunnow was exceedingly pleased, and said that was the way to treat the Emperor, who would be excessively gratified, nothing being dearer to him than the confidence and good opinion of this country, and he said he would send off a courier the next day, and Clarendon should dictate his despatch. The instructions given to Menschikoff have been enormously exaggerated, the most serious and offensive parts that have been stated being totally false. I asked what they were, and he said nothing but a string of conditions about shrines and other ecclesiastical trifles. Walewski seems to have done well here, condemning the conduct of his own Government, and not concealing from them his own opinion, and entirely going along with us. It was on Saturday night that the courier arrived with Rose's and Dundas's despatches, and a few of the Cabinet met on Sunday at the Admiralty to talk the matter over. Clarendon sent for John Russell from Richmond, and he thought it advisable to summon Palmerston to this conciliabule, to keep him in good humour, which it had the effect of doing. There were himself, Palmerston, John Russell, Aberdeen, and Graham. He had written to Lord John on Saturday night, and sent him the despatches; he got an answer from him, full of very wild talk of strong measures to be taken, and a fleet sent to the Baltic to make peremptory demands on the Emperor of Russia. This, however, he took no notice of, and did not say one word to Aberdeen about it, quietly letting it drop, and accordingly he heard no more about it, nobody, he said, but me, knowing what Lord John had proposed. I asked him what were Palmerston's views. He replied that he did not say much, and acquiesced in his and Aberdeen's prudent and reserved intentions, but he could see, from a few words that casually escaped him, that he would have been ready to join in more stringent and violent measures if they had been proposed. His hatred of Russia is not extinguished, but as it was, there was no expressed difference of opinion, and a general agreement. He said he had had a prejudice against Gladstone, but he now liked him very much, and Granville had already told me the same thing.

Aberdeen likes his post and enjoys the consciousness of having done very well in it. He is extremely liberal, but of a wise and well-reasoned liberality. As it has turned out, he is far fitter for the post he occupies than Lansdowne would have been, both morally and physically.

The Queen is devoted to this Government, and expressed to Aberdeen the liveliest apprehension lest they should get themselves into some scrape with the India Bill, and entreated he would run no risks in it. Aberdeen, in announcing this one day to the Cabinet, said that the best thing for them to do was to bring forward a measure of so liberal and popular a character as to make any serious opposition impossible. Clarendon agreed in this, and I told him that this had long been my own idea, and that what they ought to do was to throw open the civil and military appointments to competition, and to grant appointments after examination to qualified candidates, just as degrees are given at the universities. We passed the whole evening together, talking over all matters of interest, and he told me everything he knew himself.

THE ROYAL CHILDREN.

Lady Lyttelton, whom I met at Althorp, told me a great deal about the Queen and her children; nothing particularly interesting. She said the Queen was very fond of them, but severe in her manner, and a strict disciplinarian in her family. She described the Prince of Wales to be extremely shy and timid, with very good principles, and particularly an exact observer of truth; the Princess Royal is remarkably intelligent. I wrote this because it will hereafter be curious to see how the boy grows up, and what sort of performance follows this promise, though I shall not live to see it. She spoke in very high terms of the Queen herself, of the Prince, and of the simplicity and happiness of her private and domestic life.

Weakness of the Government--Gladstone's Budget--A Conversation with Disraeli--Suicidal Conduct of the Tories--Their Irritation--A Charge against Mr. Gladstone defeated--The Stafford Committee--Harmony of the Government--Electoral Corruption--Impending War--Success of the Government--Macaulay's Speech on the Judges' Exclusion Bill--Erroneous Predictions from Paris--Unsettled Policy as to the War--Lord John's Anti-Catholic Speech--The English and French Fleets sail for the Dardanelles--Conduct of Austria--Russia means War--Attacks by the Opposition--Explanations desired--Attempted Mediation--Lord Aberdeen's Confidence shaken--Divisions of Opinion--Terms of Accommodation--Lord Palmerston's Views--Prospect of Peace--Division in the Lords on the Succession Duties Bill--Friendly Relations of Lord Palmerston and Lord Clarendon--Fears of War--Hopes of Peace--Lord Palmerston and Mr. Cobden--Rejection of the Vienna Note--Lord Palmerston courted by the Tories--Lord John Russell's Position--The Duke of Bedford's Part in the last Crisis--Dangers at Constantinople--Lord Stratford's Influence--Suspected Intrigue of France with Russia--Lord Palmerston goes to Balmoral--Sir James Graham's View--Lord Stratford's Conduct--Importance of the Vienna Note--A Cabinet summoned.

MR. GLADSTONE'S BUDGET.

SUICIDAL CONDUCT OF THE TORIES.

THE STAFFORD COMMITTEE.

The Stafford Committee has at length closed its proceedings, after exposures of the most disgraceful kind, which are enormously damaging not only to Augustus Stafford himself but to Lord Derby and his Government. The Duke of Northumberland comes clear out of it as to corruption, but cuts a wretched and ridiculous figure, having failed to perform the duties or to exercise the authority of a First Lord while he was at the Admiralty. Disraeli's evidence was nothing but an attempt to shirk the question and involve it in a confusion of characteristic verbiage which only excited ridicule. This affair has done great harm to them as a party, and served to make them more odious and contemptible than they were before. They are now irretrievably defeated, and though they may give much trouble and throw difficulties and obstructions in the way of the Government, it is all they can do. Every day adds to the strength and consistency of the Government, both from their gaining favour and acquiring influence in the country, and from the ruin in which the Tory party is involved, and the total impossibility of their rallying again so as to form another Government. This latter consideration has already produced the adhesion of some moderate and sensible men who take a dispassionate view of affairs and who wish for a strong and efficient Government, and it will produce still greater effects of the same kind.

APPROACHING RUPTURE OF RUSSIA AND TURKEY.

The Government continues to go on very well; the Opposition got up a debate on the legacy duties in the House of Lords the other night, which only served to prove how entirely Derby's influence has declined even there. They had thought themselves sure of beating the Government, but not only were they defeated, but accident alone prevented their being defeated by a considerable majority. The Cabinet is going on in the greatest harmony, and the men who were strangers up to the time of its formation have taken to each other prodigiously. Aberdeen unfortunately wants the qualities which made Lord Lansdowne so good a leader, and is rather deficient in tact and temper in the House of Lords as he used to be formerly, when he attacked Lord Grey's Government and Palmerston's administration of foreign affairs always with too much asperity; but in spite of these defects he has not done ill even there, and in the Cabinet he is both liked and respected, being honest, straightforward, and firm, very fair, candid, and unassuming. Granville tells me that of the whole Cabinet he thinks Aberdeen has the most pluck, Gladstone a great deal, and Graham the one who has the least. He speaks very well of Molesworth, sensible, courageous, and conciliatory, but quite independent and plain spoken in his opinions.

Last night Macaulay reappeared in the House of Commons, and in a speech of extraordinary power and eloquence threw out the Judges' Exclusion Bill. It was the first time he had spoken, and though his physical strength is impaired he showed that his mental powers are undiminished.

UNPOPULARITY OF THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT.

He talked with great disgust of John Russell's speech on the Irish Church, how unfair it was as well as unwise, and how reckless of the damage it caused to the Government, and the embarrassing and awkward situation in which he thereby placed many of their supporters. These are the general sentiments with regard to that speech, which was neither more nor less than speaking the Durham letter over again, and, considering what that famous letter cost him, he might have been expected to steer clear of such a scrape. But he is more than ever the creature of impulse and of temper, and he seems to have lost a great deal of his tact and discretion, and certainly he is no longer fit to be either head of a Government or leader of the House of Commons, and perhaps the latter position in such a Government as this suits him still less than the former would. When I came to town yesterday morning I found that several of the Irish Roman Catholic members of the Government, occupying subordinate offices , had resigned in consequence of Lord John Russell's speech, but an hour afterwards I learnt that they had been induced to remain by an assurance from Lord Aberdeen that Lord John did not express the sentiments of the Government on this subject.

Charles Wood brought on the India Bill on Friday night in a speech of unexampled prolixity and dulness. There is not yet time to ascertain how the plan is likely to be received, but I suspect it will meet with a great deal of opposition, although, as it is more favourable to the existing interests than was expected, it will very likely pass, as, if Leadenhall Street was to go further, it would certainly fare worse.

THE ALLIED FLEETS AT THE DARDANELLES.

Austria holds the same language that we do, but will not act. Clarendon sent for Count Colloredo on Saturday , and set before him in detail all the dangers with which Austria is menaced by the possibility of war breaking out in the East, and above all by that of France being brought into the field in hostility with Austria. In such a case the French would be quite unscrupulous, and excite all the revolutionary spirit, which, though now repressed, is thickly scattered over every part of the Austrian Empire, from Milan to Hungary. Colloredo acknowledged the truth of the representation, and promised to report textually to Buol what Clarendon said.

DIVIDED OPINIONS IN THE CABINET.

THE INDIA BILL CARRIED.

The Government have been going on well enough on the whole. Their immense majority on the India Bill was matter of general surprise, and showed the wretched tactics of Disraeli, as well as his small influence over his party, for he could not get one hundred of the Tories to go with him. A few small holes have been made in Gladstone's Budget, but nothing of consequence. Tom Baring, however, told me he thought Gladstone had made some great mistakes, and that Graham would have been a better Chancellor of the Exchequer; but this I much doubt. Popularity is very necessary to a Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Graham would never have been so persuasive with the House as Gladstone.

WARLIKE VIEWS OF LORD PALMERSTON.

SUCCESSION DUTIES BILL.

NEGOTIATIONS WITH RUSSIA AND TURKEY.

Yesterday all the world went to the great naval review at Portsmouth, except myself. It appears to have been a fine but tedious sight, for Granville set off at 5.30 A.M., and only got back at one in the morning.

TURKISH DIFFICULTIES.

The Session ended with a very flourishing and prosperous speech from the Throne, and nothing was wanting to the complete success of the Government but the settlement of the Turkish question, which, however, seems destined to be delayed some time longer; for the Turks have refused to accept the Vienna note, except with some modifications, though these are said to be so immaterial that we hope the Emperor will not object to them. But all this is vexatious, because it reopens the whole question, causes delay and uncertainty, and keeps the world in suspense and apprehension. Granville told me that what had occurred showed how much more sagacious Aberdeen had been as to this affair than Palmerston, the former having always maintained that there would be no difficulty with the Emperor, but if any arose it would be from the Turks; whereas Palmerston was always sure the Turks would make none, but that the Emperor would refuse all arrangements.

The Queen is gone to Ireland, and Lord Granville with her, who is afterwards to attend her to Balmoral. This is new, because hitherto she has always had with her either the Premier or a Secretary of State. Granville is to be relieved when circumstances admit, but at present there is no other arrangement feasible. Aberdeen and Clarendon are both kept in town till the question is settled. Newcastle got leave to go to Clumber for his boys' holidays, and Her Majesty does not desire to have the Home Secretary.

But Charles Villiers told me last night that Lord Palmerston's influence and popularity in the House of Commons are greater than ever, and if this Government should be broken up by internal dissension, he would have no difficulty in forming another, and gathering round him a party to support him. This is what the Tories are anxiously looking to, desiring no better than to serve under him, and flattering themselves that in his heart he personally dislikes his colleagues, and in political matters agrees with themselves. They pay him every sort of court, never attack him, and not only defer to him on all occasions, but make all the difference they can between him and the rest of the Government; nor does he discourage or reject these civilities, though he does not invite them, or say or do anything inconsistent with his present position, but he probably thinks the disposition towards him of that large political party enhances his value to his own friends and increases his power, besides affording to him a good alternative in case anything should happen to break up the present Government or separate him from it.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL'S POSITION.

The Duke of Bedford, of whom I have seen nothing for a long time, called on me a few days ago, and talked over the present state of affairs, and the position of Lord John Russell. He said Lord John was now quite satisfied with it, and rejoiced at his own comparative freedom, and his immunity from the constant attacks of which he used to be the object; and he is now conscious that, by the part he has acted in waiving his own pretensions, he has not only not degraded himself, but has greatly raised himself in public estimation and acquired much credit and popularity, besides rendering the country a great service. He is very well with his colleagues, and gratified at the deference shown him, and the consideration he enjoys in the House of Commons. There, however, I know from other sources, all the popularity is engrossed by Palmerston and by Gladstone, and Lord John has foolishly suffered Palmerston to take his place as leader very often, because he chose to stay away at Richmond, and not come near the House.

The Duke took this opportunity of telling me what is now a very old story, but which he said he thought he had never told me before, and I am not sure whether he did or not. It was what happened to him at the time of the formation of this Government last year, of which he was evidently very proud. Just before the Derby Government broke down, and before that reunion at Woburn of which so much was said, the Prince gave him to understand that they should look to him for advice if anything occurred, which they were every day expecting. The Duke was at Woburn, and one morning when the hounds met there and half the county was at breakfast in the great hall, word was brought him that a messenger had come from Osborne with a letter for him. He found it was a letter from the Prince, in which he informed him that this was despatched by a safe and trustworthy hand, and nobody was to know of its being sent; that the Derby Government was at an end, and the Queen and Prince were anxious for his opinion on the state of affairs, the dispositions of public men, and what course they had better take. The Duke had recently been in personal communication with all the leaders, with Aberdeen and Lord John, Newcastle, Clarendon, Lansdowne, Palmerston, and others, and he was therefore apprised of all their sentiments and in a condition to give very full information to the Court. He sat himself down and with the greatest rapidity wrote four or five sheets of paper containing the amplest details of the sentiments and views of these different statesmen, and ended by advising that the Queen should send for Lords Lansdowne and Aberdeen--as she did. Lord John had already told him he did not wish to be sent for. After this of course he could not resent the advice the Duke gave; and happily Lord John was firm in resisting the advice of some of those about him, and acted on the dictates of his own conscientious judgement and the sound advice of his friends.

OPPOSITION OF LORD STRATFORD.

DISPOSAL OF THE FLEET.

I was glad to find that the Queen has consented to let Palmerston take his turn at Balmoral, and Aberdeen has informed him that he is to go there. It was done by Aberdeen speaking to the Prince at Osborne, who said he thought there would be no difficulty. The Queen acquiesced with the good sense she generally shows on such occasions, being always open to reason, and ready to consent to whatever can be proved to her to be right or expedient.

LORD STRATFORD'S GOOD FAITH.

PROSPECTS OF WAR.

The Conference at Olm?tz--The Turks declare War--Lord Palmerston's Views--Lord Palmerston lauded by the Radicals and the Tories--Failure of the Pacific Policy--Lord Aberdeen desires to resign--Lord John to be Prime Minister--Obstacles to Lord John's Pretensions--Danger of breaking up the Government--Lord John's Wilfulness and Unpopularity--Alliance of the Northern Powers defeated by Manteuffel--Conflict of the two Policies--Meeting of Parliament discussed--French Refugees in Belgium--General Baraguay d'Hilliers sent to Constantinople--Mr. Reeve returns from the East--Lord John's Reform Bill--The Emperor of Russia writes to the Queen--Sir James Graham's Views on Reform, &c.--Opponents of the Reform Scheme--Abortive Attempts at Negotiation--The Four Powers agree to a Protocol--Lord Palmerston threatens to secede--Lord Palmerston resigns on the Reform Scheme--Lord Palmerston opposed to Reform--Effects of Lord Palmerston's Resignation--Conciliatory Overtures--Lord Lansdowne's Position--Lord Aberdeen's Account--Lady Palmerston makes up the Dispute--Lord Palmerston withdraws his Resignation--Baraguay d'Hilliers refuses to enter the Black Sea--War resolved on--Review of the Transaction.

TURKISH DECLARATION OF WAR.

Yesterday morning a messenger arrived, bringing the telegraphic despatch from Vienna, which announced the determination of the Turks to go to war, and that a grand Council was to be assembled to decide on the declaration, news which precluded all hope of adjustment; and yesterday afternoon the further account of the decision of the Council was received. Such of the Ministers as are in town met in the afternoon, and it was decided that all the rest should be summoned, and a Cabinet held on Friday next.

Palmerston's position is curious. He is certainly very popular, and there is a high idea of his diplomatic skill and vigour. He is lauded to the skies by all the Radicals who are the admirers of Kossuth and Mazzini, who want to renew the scenes and attempts of 1848, and who fancy that, if Palmerston were at the head of the Government, he would play into their hands. On the other hand, he is equally an object of the flattery and praise of the Tories, who cannot get over their being succeeded by a Peelite Prime Minister, and they cling to the belief that there can be no real cordiality, and must be complete difference of opinion, between Aberdeen and Palmerston, and they look forward to the prospect of their disunion to break up this odious Government, and a return to office with Palmerston at their head. These are the political chimeras with which their brains are filled, and which make them take the same part as the Radicals on the Eastern Question. My own conviction is that both parties reckon without their host. Palmerston is sixty-nine years old, and it is too late for him to look out for fresh political combinations and other connexions, nor would any object of ambition repay him for the dissolution of all his personal and social ties. He will, therefore, go on as he does now, accepting such popularity as is offered him as a means of enhancing his own importance in this Cabinet; and, in the event of any accident happening to it, of making his own pretensions available.

FAILURE OF THE PACIFIC POLICY.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL'S PRETENSIONS.

Nothing more seems to have taken place at that time, nor till lately, when Lord John went again to Aberdeen, and repeated his determination not to go on; but this time the communication does not seem to have been received by Aberdeen with the same ready acquiescence in the proposed change, and some plain speaking took place between them. I infer, but as Clarendon did not expressly say so I put it dubiously, that Aberdeen had spoken to Gladstone and ascertained that he would by no means agree to the substitution of John Russell, and should go with Aberdeen if he retired. At all events, while Aberdeen told him that he was prepared, if he wished it, to broach the matter to his colleagues, he intimated to him that it was evident he wanted to turn him out, and put himself in his place, but that he could not agree to retire at this moment, and before Parliament met, and that Lord John had better well consider the step he was about to take, as it would in all probability break up the Government, and asked him if he was prepared to encounter the odium of doing so, more especially as he must remember that he had only consented to form this Government on Lord John's own assurance to him that he was himself unable to form one. He asked him if he was secure of Palmerston's concurrence in the change he proposed, and he replied that he did not expect to find any difficulty in that quarter. This was the substance of what passed between them, Aberdeen being evidently a good deal nettled, and thinking Lord John is behaving very ill. This is Clarendon's opinion also, and he thinks, if Lord John persists, the Government will be inevitably broken up, for a considerable part of the Cabinet will certainly not consent to have Lord John again placed at the head of the Government. Clarendon does not believe a word of Palmerston's being a party to it, and he knows that both Gladstone and Newcastle would resign. Graham he is not sure of, but inclines to think he would retire with Aberdeen, especially if Aberdeen has any compulsion or ill-usage to complain of. For the moment, however, this storm has blown over, as Lord John has signified to Aberdeen that he does not mean to press the matter again for the present. The Queen, when it was mentioned to her, was anything but approving of or consenting to the change.

THEIR MISCHIEVOUS EFFECTS.

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet