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When we made our first convention with France, on going to war together with Russia, I thought it would be prudent to put in a clause that neither Power should get any benefit for itself from the war. The Emperor accepted the proposal cheerfully; said it was a grand precedent, &c. &c.; but when I read over the convention with Walewski, prior to signature, the clause was omitted, and I had it restored. In the case of Savoy, we must admit that our policy makes objection on our part not only difficult but absurd. We have been telling the Italians that they were justified in expelling their rulers and electing a new sovereign, and that treaties could not be pleaded against accomplished facts; and how can we remonstrate against the annexation of Savoy to France, if V. Emanuel releases the Savoyards from their allegiance, and they elect L. Nap. for their sovereign?
To Lord Brougham
62 Rutland Gate, March 5th. Since my visit to Paris I have never had a doubt that Louis Napoleon was pursuing, and pursuing actively, a scheme for the annexation of Savoy, and that nothing which this country can say—for doing is out of the question—will have any effect in preventing it. The King of Sardinia is the dog and the shadow. He drops his bone to clutch a phantom of Italian empire, which will dissolve as he approaches it. The most amusing part of it is that the policy of his imprudent friends here (J. R. and so on) has urged him on to pursue the shadow without remembering what it would cost in substance.
The Reform Bill is considered so very mild a production that I begin, for the first time, to think it will pass. Even the Tories could conceive nothing so moderate, and they had better close with the bargain. I have no doubt it will be rather favourable to the Conservatives than to the Radicals. For example, where there are to be three seats, in the large towns, the Conservative minority will probably carry one out of the three.
March 14th.—Your volume of scientific tracts arrived just after I had sent off my last letter. I am very much indebted to you for it, and I shall probably have occasion to refer to your learned paper on the cells of bees in the review I am going to publish of Mr. Darwin's book. As for Newton, I should be glad to give my vote in favour of a monument whenever a suitable opportunity occurs. It is very embarrassing to know where to place monuments to men illustrious in letters and science. Westminster Abbey is crowded, and can take no more statues. We are going to put up a mural monument to Hallam there; and, by the way, if you had been in England, you were invited to be on the committee; I still hope you will give your name.
Events have taken a prodigiously lucky turn for the Government, and I think it is long since we had any administration so strong as Lord Palmerston now is. Gladstone's triumph is complete on all points, and people are so weary of J. R. and his Reform Bill that I think all parties are ready to swallow this last dose, de guerre lasse. Then will follow the dissolution in the autumn, and we may expect a strong Liberal majority.
The affair of Savoy will pass off quietly enough if he leaves the neutralised territories to Switzerland; but if not, it will become serious enough, for it is expressly provided by the final act of the Congress of Vienna that, if Sardinia evacuates those districts, no other Power but Switzerland shall move troops into them, and this arrangement was subsequently confirmed by a very formal declaration of all the Powers....
Mrs. Austin is making arrangements for a new edition of her husband's lectures, with considerable additions.
The Journal has here:—
March 15th.—Dinner at home. The Due d'Aumale, Lavradio, Lady Stanhope, Lady Molesworth, Lady William and Arthur Russell, Lord Kingsdown, the Lord Advocate, Professor Owen, Colonel Hamilton, and Colonel Greathed.
From Lord Clarendon
[Sunday] March 18th.—If you happen to be passing Grosvenor Crescent way on Tuesday or Wednesday, about twelve o'clock, will you look in upon me, and we will have a talk about the awful fix in which Europe in general and England in particular are now placed?
By reason of his connexion with Geneva, Reeve had all along necessarily felt the keenest interest in the negotiations between France and Sardinia, which he had discussed in an article on 'France, Savoy, and Switzerland' for the April number of the 'Edinburgh Review.' He had possibly already intended to visit the 'debateable land' as soon as the Review was sent to press, or very possibly the advisability of doing so was suggested in this interview with Lord Clarendon. At any rate, on April 4th he started for Paris, and, after seeing his friend Pourtales, went on to Geneva in company with Sir Robert and Lady Emily Peel. By the 12th he was back in Paris, where, on the 15th, he had long interviews with Fould and Thouvenel, the minister of foreign affairs, the minutes of which he wrote out at considerable length, and two days afterwards read them to Lord Palmerston. He reported to Palmerston that Thouvenel was willing to make 'a reasonable adjustment of the Swiss frontier,' which he believed meant 'an extension of the Swiss territory to the Fort de l'Ecluse and Saleve.' Palmerston, however, refused the overture, saying, 'We shall shame them out of it.' 'So,' added Reeve, in relating the affair, 'neither he nor the Swiss got anything at all.'
From Lord Brougham
Cannes, April 20th.—I hope my account of J. Austin will appear in the 'Law Magazine and Review.' It is written con amore, though very far from such an article as I could have wished to make it. The letter of Mrs. Austin was invaluable, and I inserted her very words in more instances than one; but your mention of the effect produced by the publication now out of print was still more valuable. I only trust that it may all be printed correctly, for it must be too late for me to have proofs.
The roguery of L. N. and Cavour exceeds all belief; but they have cheated one another, and have probably overreached themselves. The lies they tell about the Nice vote are unheard of even in the time of Napoleon I. We believe here that thousands of Piedmontese having no residence were sent to vote. However, there is a real majority, though nothing like the unanimity pretended. In Savoy there is entire unanimity. I suppose Normanby believes the Tuscans have not voted for their annexation; but he believes whatever anybody writes to him from Florence.
To Lord Brougham
C. O., May 16th.—I cannot remember any passage in Macaulay's writings which can be called an attack on Henry V. In the Introduction to the 'History of England' there is a passage in which he speaks of the French wars of the English kings, and speculates on the results which might have ensued if the conquests of Henry V. had not been lost by Henry VI. Perhaps this is what Lord Glenelg meant; but I am writing from the office, where I have not the books to refer to.
I don't know what sort of monument the Lord Chief Baron proposes to erect. To put Macaulay on a level with Newton and Bacon would be absurd. His mind was essentially what the geologists would call 'a tertiary formation;' theirs were 'protogenic.' But I think some monument to Macaulay may very fitly be placed in Trinity Chapel. We meet on Tuesday to consider what is to be done for Hallam in Westminster Abbey; but there will certainly be no statue, probably a slab and bust only.
I hope you are coming up for the debate in the Lords on Monday,[Footnote: On the repeal of the paper duty, a Government measure, which was rejected by the Lords.] which will be one of great interest. I cannot think there is anything solid in the so-called constitutional objection—which is to be urged on behalf of the Government—to the interference of the House of Lords with a bill of this nature.
From Lord Clarendon
Grosvenor Crescent, May 16th.—Many thanks for your letter and opinion of Aix-la-Chapelle waters, which seem exactly to fit my case, but I should be very reluctant to go there just now, as the inconvenience of it would be great. I shall try change of air next week, and, if that won't do, why alors, comme alors, as the life I am now leading is intolerable. The gout came again very sharply last night, but not, I am sure, owing to your most agreeable dinner, which could only do good. I have not passed three such pleasant hours for a long while.
I have seen one or two peers to-day sorely puzzled as to the vote they shall give on Monday. My only doubt is about the damage it may do the House of Lords; and I can't quite go Lyndhurst's [Footnote: In a closely reasoned speech, rightly considered remarkable from a man of eighty-eight, Lord Lyndhurst maintained that it was no unusual thing for the Lords to veto bills for repealing taxes as well as bills for inflicting them, and quoted numerous precedents. The bill was thrown out by 193 to 104.] length, who says that if there is no precedent it is high time, and the proper opportunity, to make one.
The Journal here records:—
Mr. Greville resigned the clerkship of the council in May; as Mr. Bathurst could not carry on the business, he had to resign too [Footnote: This is written on the blank page of the 'Chronology,' apparently from memory, and the dates are somewhat confused. Greville resigned in May 1859. It was then settled that there should be but one clerk; Bathurst acted by himself for a twelvemonth, and resigned in May 1860.]. It was settled that there should be but one clerk of the council. Lord Granville, I believe, wished to appoint me, but some obstacle stood in the way. I never exactly knew what; but if it was the Court, it is singular that I should have been so well received at Balmoral. What I desired was that the registrarship of the P. C. should become the second clerkship of the council, I offering to do my share of the general business; but this they declined. On June 9th Arthur Helps was appointed clerk of the council. I felt great irritation at the manner in which I had been treated; but it certainly turned out very well for me in the end, as I continued to hold an easier office, and eventually obtained the same income, without the annoyance of attending the Court at Balmoral, or Osborne, or elsewhere.
On May 15th we had to dinner Lord Clarendon, Prince Dolgoroukow (the one who wrote the book [Footnote: La Verite sur la Russie, 1860. Cf. Edinburgh Review, July 1860, p. 175.] on Russia), Lord Stanley, Sir R. and Lady E. Peel, Hodgson, and Cornewall Legh.
On August 4th we made an expedition from Farnborough, with the Longmans, to Selborne. Lunch with T. Bell. [Footnote: The editor of White's Selborne] Walked to the Lithe and the Hanger. A charming day.
From Lord Brougham
Brougham, August 5th.—I have been reading the last 'E. R.,' which is a most excellent number. The ballot article [Footnote: 'Secret Voting and Parliamentary Reform.'] is admirable, and will prove useful. I may send you a few remarks on the G. Rose article. [Footnote: 'Diaries and Correspondence of George Rose.'] But I am delighted with the showing up of Miss Assing, [Footnote: 'Correspondence of Humboldt and Varnhagen von Ense.' In editing this, Miss Assing had shown—according to the Review—a singular want of taste and discretion.] only I don't think it is as much as she deserves.
To Lord Brougham
C. O., August 7th.—I have been making short country visits at several places near London since the termination of my Judicial Committee labours, or I should certainly have called to see you before you left Grafton Street. Now I am starting on Saturday next for Aix-la-Chapelle, where I propose to take a few baths. I return on the 25th, and shall proceed to Aberdeenshire at the end of the month....
The victory of the Government last night was very decisive;[Footnote: On the motion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the reduction of the duty on paper.] and I am heartily glad of it, for the protectionist cry of the paper-makers took one back before the Deluge.
I saw Mrs. Austin yesterday at Weybridge, and was glad to find her so well. She desired to be remembered to you. She is very busy with J. Austin's MSS.; but, in fact, they are in perfect order, and might be sent at once to the press.
And then the Journal—
Later in August went to Aix. I went over to Bonn to see Bunsen, who was dying, but full of enthusiasm for Italy. Came home on August 27th.
CHAPTER XIV
LITERATURE AND POLITICS
Early in August Mrs. Henry Reeve had gone on a visit into Dorsetshire, and at the time of her husband's return from Aix was in Cornwall—at Pencarrow, near Bodmin—on a visit to her old friend, Lady Molesworth. Reeve, thus left to himself, started almost immediately for Scotland on a visit to Sir James Clark, who, with Lady Clark and his son—the present baronet—was then living up Dee-side at Birk Hall, lent him by the Queen.
The Journal's scanty notices of a very interesting visit can be happily replaced by extracts from the letters which he wrote almost daily to his wife at Pencarrow.
To Mrs. Henry Reeve
Birk Hall, Ballater, September 1st.
My dearest wife,—Matters have turned out here very pleasantly. I proceeded to Aboyne by rail, and then posted along the Dee-side to this place—the Strath most beautiful; a lovely mixture of wood, water, and heather, with mountains beyond. I got here just before six, and found the Clarks and Van de Weyers sitting down to an early dinner in order to go to the Gillies' Ball at Balmoral, in honour of the Prince's birthday, to which I found myself also invited. We drove up to the Castle, which is eight miles off, through a fine wooded glen, in the moonlight. The old house of Balmoral has quite disappeared, and the Castle is now a very fine edifice, decorated in excellent taste. On arriving, we waited in the library, where arrived Lady John Russell and her boys, the Farquharsons of Invercauld, young Peel [Footnote: Robert Kennedy Peel; son of Lady Alice and Colonel Peel, who had been Secretary of State for War in the Derby Ministry of 1858-9.] (Lady A.'s son), the William Russells, the Duke of Argyll—and then the Court. Nobody was in mourning, as it was a birthday; the Queen in white, with a floating sash of Royal Stuart tartan from her shoulders: about half the men in kilts. The Queen made a circle, and then we went into the ball-room, where about a hundred and fifty of the tenants, servants, &c., with their wives and daughters, were assembled. Reels then began, which were danced with great energy, and also jigs—very droll. Prince Arthur danced like mad; and Princess Alice was 'weel ta'en out' by the gamekeeper. I stood in a corner talking with the Duke of Argyll, &c. At last the Prince came round, and conversed very courteously for ten minutes. He had heard I had been in Germany lately, so we soon got into the heart of German and Austrian questions. All this lasted two hours, and then the Queen withdrew into the supper-room, where there were sandwiches and champagne. She went round again, and talked to Lord Melville, behind whom I was standing, and then made me a very gracious bow, but without saying anything to myself. Soon afterwards we drove home, and got back here at half-past one. To-day we are going up to Balmoral again to write our names and see the Castle; and to-morrow the Queen is coming here to call on Mme. Van de Weyer. I am rather amused, after divers recent occurrences, to find myself in so much royalty, and I had not anticipated any civility from them. But I see the Clarks are very kind about it, having had Helps here last week, and probably are desirous to remove any misconception which may have existed. So that, in fact, nothing can turn out better, and I have certainly no reason to be dissatisfied with my reception.
Ever yours most affectionately,
H. REEVE.
Birk Hall, September 4th.—At last we have got a beautiful day, quite warm and bright. Nothing can be more lovely than this Strath of the Dee, with its birch woods and pine-covered mountains. We went up a hill yesterday—the Coyle—and looked across the glen to the broad snow fields which still encircle the black cliffs of Lochnagar. To-day we are going up to Alt na Ghuissac, and shall lunch at the Queen's hut. H. M. called here on Sunday, and was remarkably pleasant and jolly. P. Albert drove, with P. Leiningen on the box; the Queen, Princess Alice, and Princess Leiningen in the carriage, and one man on a seat behind. Nothing can be more simple, courteous, and even droll, than she is, seen in this way, eating Scotch cakes, and asking for the 'prescription' to make them, and making Leiningen taste the birch wine—which is not bad. To-day they are gone on a wild expedition over the hills, and are to sleep in some little inn on the brae-side, where the people are supposed not to know who they are. The Queen will be seven hours on her pony. She rides through all weathers and over all places, and chaffs everybody for not taking exercise enough.
I shall leave this on Friday for Braemar—else I should have to appear at another Balmoral ball—and on Saturday proceed to Keir, where I spend Sunday with Stirling, who is very sorry you are not of the party. On Monday I go on to the Moncreiffs, at Alva (near Stirling), and on Thursday to Kirklands, making some calls in Edinburgh as I go through.
Birk Hall, September 5th.—The day kept its promise, and was fair to the end. We drove up this glen, which is Glen Muich, to the loch which terminates it, about six miles off. There stands the Queen's hut, with a few fir-trees about it. It deserves its name—a small Highland cottage, with a room on each side the door and two rooms behind; a little plain wooden furniture and a Kidderminster carpet. There are two or three other wooden cottages about for the attendants. Here we lunched—for everybody lunches in this royal region; and then mountain ponies to go up to the Dhu Loch, about 1,200 feet higher—very wild, grand scenery, and a very rough, boggy path, on which Van de Weyer's contortions were very droll. Madame stayed under the royal honeysuckles below.
I suppose Hopie and I shall go to Raith on the 15th, if they can take us in. At any rate, we shall leave Kirklands on that day; but our movements cannot be quite fixed till we hear.
Braemar, September 7th.—Very fortunately I have had magnificent weather just when I wanted it. Clark gave me two good days of shooting on the hill on Wednesday and yesterday; we got about ten brace each day, and I had a famous hard walk. This morning I came on here by the Queen's private road through Balmoral and Invercauld. The scenery is wonderfully beautiful; and, if it were not for my love of the sea, I should admit that Braemar is the finest thing in Scotland. I have been up the glen this afternoon, past Mar Lodge, to the Linn of Dee—a fine cascade through rocks; the water is so clear that you can see the rocks under it, and wild blasted pines growing all round. I was sorry to leave Birk Hall. The Clarks are admirable hosts, and made their house most agreeable.... You will have lamented, as I do, the untimely cutting off of our poor friend, the late Lord High—I mean Ward. [Footnote: See ante, vol. i. p. 314.] There seems to be a fatality about Madras. Somme toute, the more I see of the chances of life, the more I am persuaded that, as my lot has been cast on such small but easy cushions, I ought to be perfectly content.
The Queen came back on Wednesday night in high glee with her lark over the hills to Grantown. [Footnote: The Queen's account of this 'lark over the hills' is in Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the Highlands (8vo. 1868), pp. 189-203.] They slept at a very little Highland inn, and were waited on by the maid only. The beds were awful, for they could not stand the feather bed, and, that being thrown aside, nothing soft remained beneath. General Grey found it so hard that he got up and put on his clothes to lie in. However, they were in high glee, and were not found out till they went away in the morning, when the man of the house said, 'Gin I'd known it was the Queen, I'd hae put on my Sunday claiths and waited on her mysel'.' They gave the Highland lassie a 5 L. note, at which she nearly fainted.
I hope by this time to-morrow I shall be at Keir. I am here at a little Highland inn for to-night, but not so ill off as H. M. I shall have to post to Blairgowrie to-morrow to get there in time for the train.
Keir, near Dunblane, September 9th.—I left Braemar yesterday morning at 6 A.M.; posted across the Grampians by a very wild pass; reached the railroad at Blairgowrie, and came on here in the afternoon. The first person I found in the hall was Motley. His wife and Lily arrived in the evening. Mrs. Norton, the Wyses, and Sir James Campbell also here. A most pleasant party to fall into, and your absence very much regretted. Keir is more beautiful than ever, and glorious in this fine weather which floods the Carse of Stirling with light. It really does seem as if the harvest would pick itself up after all.
I shall proceed to Alva to-morrow, and to Kirklands on Wednesday. I don't yet know whether the Fergusons can receive us on the 15th. If they can, we shall go to Raith on that day, and return to London from Edinburgh by sea.... At any rate, I expect to be in London either on Friday, 21st, or Monday, 24th—I'm not quite sure which. I suppose, if you don't go to Saltram, you will come up about the same time. There will be a good many things to look after and think of for the Spanish expedition. I am up to my neck here in Stirling's Spanish books.
P.S.—I am a year older to-day than I was yesterday.
The Journal records that he returned to London on September 22nd.
From Lord Clarendon
Wiesbaden, September 14th.—I have been idle and absent at Baden, or I should sooner have answered your letter and told you with what pleasure we will execute your commission. [Footnote: See post, p. 54.] I was very sorry to have missed you here, though it would have been but a glimpse, as you were going next morning. I shall hope to see you before you start on your enviable Spanish tour, as I mean to go home as soon as my cure is complete, for Lady C. feels Alice's absence, [Footnote: Lady Alice Villiers, married on August 16th, 1860, to Lord Skelmersdale, created Earl of Lathom in 1880. She was accidentally killed by the overturning of her carriage on November 23rd, 1897.] and is lonely with only two children out of six.
I passed two very pleasant days at Baden with the Aug. Loftuses and the Princess of Prussia, who is domiciled there, and we returned last night.
The Grove, September 30th.—I returned here last night without touching at Grosvenor Crescent. If I had gone there, I should have been at home ten minutes within the twenty hours from Paris, which is a fair rate of speed when one remembers that in pre-railway days one travelled hard and got shaken much to arrive at Paris in three days; and in pre-steamer times I was once eighteen hours in getting from Calais to Dover. Yet people are not satisfied; and Rothschild told me he was bullied by everybody about the slowness of the Ligne du Nord.
I am afraid I shall not have the pleasure of seeing you, as I cannot go to London to-morrow, and from Tuesday till Friday we are engaged to the John Thynnes. In the improbable event of your charming expedition being postponed, we should be quite delighted if you and Mrs. and Miss Reeve would come here on Saturday.
As it is now nearly twenty-two years since I left Spain (how time flies!), new generations have sprung up of whom I know nothing. There are two persons—Mme. de Montijo and Olozaga [Footnote: Reeve had known him as the Spanish ambassador in Paris fifteen years.]—who I should have liked you to see as social and political ciceroni; but the former is at Paris, in the deepest affliction at the death of her daughter, and the latter is just gone to Italy, as I heard two days ago from Howden. Of course you know that clever, agreeable little fellow Comyn, who was charge d'affaires here, and is now under-secretary at the F.O. in Madrid? If not, I will send you a letter to him.
I wound up at Wiesbaden by a severe attack of gout, which seemed to please my Esculapius more than it did me; for when I showed him my misshapen scarlet claw of a foot, he rubbed his hands and said, 'Oh dat is a beautiful manifest podagra.' It came just at the same time as the Skelmersdales, and prevented my going about with them. Wasn't that just like the gout?
I never doubted that as soon as the guerillero business was over and civil organisation began, Garibaldi would prove a mischievous, spoiled child.... The French Government and their friends want the Pope to remain at Rome, thinking that la France Catholique would resent his evasion, as a proof of mistrust of the Emperor; but the Emperor wants him to go; as he would then withdraw his garrison and let Rome take its chance, which he thinks would close his accounts with the followers of Orsini; and he dislikes having to reinforce his garrison, which he must do if the Pope decides on remaining.
I have brought the amethyst beads you desired to have for Mme. Van de Weyer, and I dare say somebody will be going up to-morrow or next day by whom I can send them to you. The man wanted rather more than 5 L for them, but on my walking away from his shop, he, of course, gave them for that sum.
From Lord Brougham
Brougham, October 1st.—We have all here been greatly disappointed at not having seen you and our kinswoman,[Footnote: Miss Reeve, Brougham's second cousin twice removed. Through the Robertsons, Brougham and John Richardson were second cousins.] and I believe we have little chance now, as you talked of going abroad as soon as your quarterly labours were over. We shall be here the whole month; then take our southward flight....
If you can find an opportunity of noticing my volume on the Constitution which is to appear in November, it would be very serviceable to the publisher. It is only a reprint of that part of the 'Political Philosophy,' and lays down true and sound principles—at this time necessary to be well learnt.
To Lord Brougham
62 Rutland Gate, October 2nd.—I am extremely obliged to you for the copy of your Glasgow address, which in some degree consoles me for not having heard it, and for having lost the pleasure of seeing you this year at Brougham. Nothing can be more felicitous than some of the illustrations you have introduced, and the occasion of a mere scientific meeting has been turned to the best political purpose. No doubt in that region the absence of party gives a broader and a nobler aim to the exertions of your society, and it is gratifying to see how heartily men meet to combine, in these days, without party badges. But if this opinion were to be expressed by the 'Edinburgh Review,' we should be told by John Russell & Co. that we have no business to wear blue and buff, which is the final cause of reviews and editors.
The political article which I have just sent to the press is on the United States under Mr. Buchanan—a great show-up of that scandalous scene of corruption, slave-trading, and anarchy. I am afraid it is now too late to introduce an allusion to your discourse. As to home politics, there is little to be said; as to Continental affairs, there is too much. The mountebanks in Southern Italy have now very nearly upset the coach, and the question is whether the Sardinians or the French are to march to Naples. I hope it will be the former, but it is quite clear Louis Napoleon means to support the Pope in Rome.
Lord Clarendon is just come back from Wiesbaden. We start on Saturday for Madrid, via Valencia, and shall be about six weeks in Spain and Portugal.
And so they started—Reeve, his wife, and daughter—Reeve, as usual, noting merely the stages of the tour, trusting to his wife to fill in the details. Extracts from Mrs. Reeve's Journal are here given in square brackets.
Journal
October 8th.—We started for Spain by Paris, Lyons, and Marseilles. Sailed in the 'Cephise' for Valencia on the 10th.
11th.—[Hopie and I came on deck soon after eight. We spent the day lying down, and only caught glimpses of the coast of Spain when a roll of the 'Cephise' brought land and sea above the line of her sides.]
12th.—[About 4 A.M. the wind changed, and we were able to use sail, which steadied the vessel, besides assisting her progress. I went on deck at nine, found the Mediterranean more like my 'Caire' experience, and was told that we should probably be at Grao by twelve.... Henry has set up an acquaintance with a Mexican who knows a little of England and English, and is going to pass the winter at Valencia. About one o'clock we were in the harbour of Grao. We landed in boats, and found ourselves surrounded by a crowd of clamorous porters and tartana drivers—one of the scenes characteristic of landing in a country where police regulations do not exist ensued. However, Henry's Mexican acquaintance came to his rescue, and two courteous Gauls to mine. They were taking the French despatches into Valencia, and offered Hopie and me seats in their tartana—a covered cart not on springs, which is the cab of the country. We joyfully accepted, leaving Henry to struggle through custom-house and other difficulties as best he could. The drive (into Valencia) is about two miles, part shaded by an avenue and carefully watered by men stationed at intervals, who ladled the water in buckets out of the runlets on each side of the road. We took up our quarters at the Fonda de Paris, and congratulated each other on having arrived in Spain.]
13th.—[We went out at eight o'clock. Our first point was the market, which we found in full activity. Such supplies of fruit and vegetables can only be found in a city surrounded by leagues of huerta.... We went to the plateria, but found the shops poor, and the articles displayed were coarse and ill-wrought. We visited the churches of St. Martin, St. John, and the cathedral, and ascended the tower del Miguelete. The churches are so dark that it is quite impossible to distinguish the pictures, much less to judge of their beauty. The panorama from the tower is most beautiful: the city and plain of Valencia, the Mediterranean and the encircling mountains, the fertile huerta, and the glorious sky of deepest blue above....
Placards of a bull-fight on the morrow caught our eyes; and Hopie and I, taking the bull by the horns, declared our intention of going to it, and suggested that places should be taken. After a very feeble resistance, Henry consented, and our valet-de-place was directed to ascertain the price of a box.]
14th.—[The price asked for a box being too high, we took reserved seats, and at two o'clock started on foot.... The Plaza de Toros at Valencia is a new building, only completed this year; it holds twenty thousand persons, and is the largest in Spain.... 'El Tato' is the second matador of Spain: he is a well-looking and remarkably well-grown young man, and a well-grown figure is set off to great advantage by the dress. The horses used are only fit for the knacker's yard; they are contracted for at about six pounds each; on this occasion thirteen or fourteen were killed. As regards the horses, it is a cruel and disgusting sight; but as between the bull and the matador, the display of courage, eye and presence of mind, as well as of skill and agility, is most interesting and exciting.] We saw 'El Tato' kill six bulls.... [At dinner our conversation turned on the sight of the day. 'Tableau de moeurs espagnoles,' said a Frenchman, raising his shoulders. 'In Peru, where I have seen many bull-fights,' he went on, 'they use high-spirited and valuable horses, and the picador would be for ever disgraced if he allowed the bull to touch his horse.']
15th. [From Valencia to Madrid is 308 miles; the time from 4 P.M. to 6.20 A.M., and our train was pretty punctual.]
16th.—Saw Isabella and her Court enter Madrid. She was shot at [by a foolish, half-witted lad, who did not know how to load his pistol, and had no motive for the crime, or rather attempt]. Delighted with the gallery. [There are a few seats and no visitors; and the wisest thing travellers can do, and by far the pleasantest, is to spend all the hours of all the days they are in Madrid that the gallery is open in contemplating its treasures.]
17th.—[Immediately after breakfast, Hopie and I went to the Museum. Henry joined us presently, and we remained till four o'clock.]
18th, Thursday.—[We had intended to make the Toledo excursion to-day, but an undoubted attack of gout confines Henry to the sofa. Hopie and I walked before breakfast to the Church of the Atocha, where we were shown ... in a wardrobe in the vestry, the crimson velvet robe which Isabella had on when the Cure Merino stabbed her. [Footnote: On her way to the church, February 2nd, 1852. The priest, a Franciscan, was garotted in due course.] It has the stain of blood on the lining; the massive embroidery in gold saved her life by turning aside the knife.... After breakfast we took a walk through the unfashionable parts of the town: narrow streets, noisy and crowded, where open stores with bright-coloured scarfs and petticoats collected round them men in the peasant dress—short jackets, breeches, and gaiters partly open. These were picturesque, but the streets and houses were uninteresting enough.
There can be no doubt that Madrid is the least interesting capital in Europe, and that it is only worth the traveller's while to go there for the sake of the pictures.... It is settled that we leave Madrid on Saturday evening, and Henry has therefore consented to our going to Toledo tomorrow without him.]
19th,—[Excursion to Toledo, fifty-six miles by rail.]
20th, Saturday.—[After dinner started for Granada, where, after thirty-six hours (rail and diligence), we arrived on Monday morning.]
27th, Saturday.—[At 6 P.M. we stow ourselves in the interior of the diligence, and pound along the dusty road towards Santa Fe. It is dusk before we get there, and dark after.]
28th, Sunday.—[From Granada to Malaga is seventy-six miles. Guards are not only stationed along the road, but two or three are taken on the diligence. The roads were not good; we seemed to be crossing a series of sierras, and when day dawned, after a fresh, almost cold night, we found ourselves amid ghaut-like hills, and wondered when the topmost point would be gained and the descent to Malaga begun. I think it is at Fuente de la Reina that the magnificent view of the Mediterranean, the port and city of Malaga, and the long perspective of zigzags down spurs of mountains is seen. Neither the French nor English Handbook speaks of this view with the enthusiasm it deserves. It is far finer than the view on the heights looking down on Trieste and the Adriatic.... We entered Malaga about 10 A.M.; the descent had taken about two hours.]
29th.—[Very early it was announced that an unexpected boat had come in, and was going on to Cadiz.... At 2 P.M. we went on board... but she did not steam till six. We should have been very irate at the delay but for the remarkably good dinner they gave us.... We made a detour and went very slow at starting, to avoid a vessel sunk in the harbour, on which a provisional pharo is placed. This vessel, the 'Genova,' had on board shells and powder for the Morocco war, when it was discovered that spontaneous combustion had broken out in the coal—a defect of Spanish coal—and, fearing she would not only blow up herself but also the city of Malaga, they determined to sink her; and, after a deal of bad practice by the guns of fort and fleet, she went under water, and there she has been eight months.]
30th.—[Cadiz. On the 31st crossed over to Puerto Santa Maria; and on November 1st to Seville by rail.]
November 2nd.—[Henry has again a threatening of gout, and must have recourse to rest and remedial measures. He sent us out to buy the works of 'Fernan Caballero;' but only one volume was to be had, and no explanation was given us of the strange fact that the writings of the most popular novelist in Spain are not to be obtained in the capital of Andalusia, where she lives, and whence all her characters and scenery are taken. No satisfactory map or guide-book of Seville could be found. I took a catalogue of the books that the shop contained back to Henry. They were chiefly of a religious character. Hopie and I took an exploring walk as far as the Plaza and Church of San Lorenzo, stopping now and then to peep into the cool patios filled with flowers, and a murmuring fountain often in the middle, which you see through the corridor, sometimes with a door of iron trellis, sometimes open. All the windows of the basement have iron gratings and wooden shutters; and the courting and sweethearting is carried on with the lady inside and the lover outside the railing. Not that we saw anything of the kind as it takes place of an evening; but the construction of the houses explains the descriptions as given in these charming tales of 'Fernan Caballero.']
3rd.—[Hopie and I set out to 'do churches'... After breakfast to the Museum.... We then joined Henry, who was better, and had been to call at the Palace, and drove to Alfarache, about four miles' distance.]
4th.—[In the afternoon to Cordova (eighty-one miles), returning to Seville on the evening of the 5th.]
6th.—[A decidedly grey day, unfortunately for our plans of picture-seeing. We did a little shopping... and then went to the Museum; but, alas! there was not more light than you would have in Trafalgar Square; and those Murillos at a distance from the window were scarcely visible. We were so vexed on Henry's account. We spent the afternoon in writing letters, bathing our faces with milk, and hoping the mosquito bites, which have driven us well-nigh distracted, will be less conspicuous to-morrow, when we are to spend the morning at the Palace, and be presented to the Infanta.]
7th.—[Nine o'clock was the hour named by the Duke, and a few minutes after we were at the Palace of San Telmo (in bonnets and our tidiest dresses). We were shown into a room on the ground floor, and in a few seconds the Duc de Montpensier [Footnote: For the circumstances of the Duc de Montpensier's marriage, see ante, vol. i. p. 181.] came in attended by an A.D.C. He received us very graciously, asked if we would drive or walk round the grounds, and said he thought we had better see the gardens first, and then the house and pictures.... Our promenade, with an occasional rest, took nearly two hours; and then, returning to the Palace, H.R.H. showed us the state rooms and the pictures, many of great beauty and merit, all very interesting; and then, suggesting we should like to take off our bonnets, desired the A.D.C. to show us rooms.... A servant waiting outside the door showed us into a drawing-room upstairs, where we found two ladies of the Infanta's suite, and an old marquis, whose gold key showed he was the chamberlain. In a few minutes the double doors of a larger room were thrown open, and 'los Duques' and the four Infantas, their daughters, came in.... When the dejeuner dinatoire was announced, the Duke told Henry to offer his arm to the Duchess, then he advanced towards me, the chamberlain took Hopie, the children and the suite followed. We were eighteen at table. ... Servants stood behind us with paper flappers, whisking away the flies, who swarmed round the sweet dishes on the table; and H.R.H. complaining of les mouches, I ventured to complain of les moustiques. He smiled, and said, 'I noticed that you had been victimised.' Breakfast was very gay and agreeable; the Duke has the family talent for conversation, and the Duchess is very amiable, and of course speaks French. She wore a high, plain silk dress of the prevailing colour, and a black chenille net. The Infantas had black silk skirts with a broad piece of black velvet at the bottom, and white pique shirts. We left the table in the same order as before, and, after a few minutes in the salon, the Duke took Henry into his private room. The Duchess requested us to be seated, and asked us questions about our tour, &c.... and then, rising, she said Adieu, and left the room. The Duke took us to the large library on the ground floor, to show us the albums and other things of interest.... There was an interesting portrait of an elderly lady in a black dress and mantilla, which H.R.H. pointed out as being that of the lady who writes under the name of 'Fernan Caballero;' and on Henry's mentioning that we had tried in vain to purchase her novels, he desired the librarian to see whether there were duplicate copies, and, on hearing there were, gave us a set, as well as a coloured lithograph of the Palace and photographs of the Duchess, himself, and the princesses.... It was altogether a most interesting and agreeable morning, and we came away charmed with the courtesy and kindness of 'los Duques.']
9th.—Back to Cadiz; very stormy voyage to Lisbon. Home to Southampton, November 22nd.
From Lord Clarendon
The Grove, December 6th.—I was glad to get your letter, as I thought you must be due about this time, and I had not heard of your arrival. I can imagine no change for the worse equal to that of coming from the blue sky and thermometer of Andalusia to the fogs and hydrometer of London, and your impaired respiratory organs must make that change peculiarly pleasant.
I am very glad your impressions of Spain are the same as Granville's. He raves of the things he has seen, and of the good hotels and general civility; and says he tasted no garlic since he dined at the Maison Doree at Paris. Spain must indeed be changed since my time!
We returned from Ashridge [Footnote: The seat of Lord Brownlow.] this afternoon, and are off again next week. Paterfamilias is obliged to drink the cup of gaiety to the dregs, which is almost worse than being in office.
Pray remember us very kindly to Mrs. Reeve. As soon as we are free agents, we shall hope for the pleasure of seeing you here.
To Lord Brougham
C. O., December 10th. I have not the slightest intention of plunging at present into the turbid waters of Indian finance, still less of engaging in the personal controversy of Trevelyan's merits or grievances.... I am not sure that his view of extensive reduction is not, in reality, more rational and possible than Wilson's view of extensive taxation. Probably, however, both will be needed before we have done. But I suspend my judgement on the question, and I shall not venture to discuss it in the 'Review' at present.
We returned from Spain and Portugal a few days after you had the kindness to call in Rutland Gate. I proceeded immediately to call on you in Grafton Street, but you had already gone north. Since then I have been unceasingly occupied at the Judicial Committee. Our journey was very successful and agreeable. We coasted round the whole peninsula, and went up to Madrid, Grenada, Seville, Cordova, &c.
The changes taking place in France are (if sincere) most remarkable. My friends think that one of L. N.'s objects is to have a debate on his foreign policy and his relations with Italy, which—as he well knows—will be extremely adverse to the Italian cause, and afford him a pretext for abandoning Victor Emanuel. There is some idea that when Francis II. evacuates Gaeta, he will surrender it, not to Victor Emanuel, but to France. I expect this affair in Southern Italy to end by a Muratist demonstration; in other words, the Neapolitans will place themselves under the protection of France to escape from the Piedmontese.... Thank God, your namesake and my friend, Henry Brougham Loch,[Footnote: Now Lord Loch, then secretary to Lord Elgin, in China. He and Harry Parkes had been treacherously seized by the Chinese on September 18th, and kept in vilest durance and imminent danger of being put to death till October 8th, when, after the capture of the Summer Palace, both the prisoners were released.] is safe. We have been very uneasy about him, and not without cause. The China war is a slough of despond: the further we advance the more we shall flounder, until we are half ruined by our successes.
62 Rutland Gate, December 24th.—I have shut myself up for some days, to try to get rid of an irritation in the larynx, which has troubled me for some time past; but in this weather one's library is the most secure retreat.
62 Rutland Gate, January 3rd.—I see the Court of Queen's Bench in Canada has decided in favour of the extradition of the fugitive slave who turned and slew his pursuer. This surprises me; for surely, by our law, such an act is not murder. What, however, interests me most is to know whether the case can be brought up to the Privy Council by way of appeal. I do not know what form the proceedings in Canada have taken; but I apprehend the proceedings are civil, not criminal, and therefore appealable. If it does come here, it will be a matter of great interest.
The reference is to the celebrated case of John Anderson—or Jack—a negro of Missouri, who, in 1853, had been met by one Diggs, a white man, thirty miles away from his home. In accordance with the laws of the State, Diggs attempted to seize him. Anderson killed Diggs, and—by 'the underground railway'—made good his escape to Canada, where he had lived ever since. In 1860 he had been recognised, and, on formal application for his extradition, he had been arrested. The Court of Queen's Bench in Canada accepted the argument that they had to decide only as to the evidence of the commission of the crime, not as to the nature of it, and remanded the prisoner. In England the excitement was very great. The Secretary of State sent out an order that Anderson was not to be given up without instructions from him; and the Court of Queen's Bench sent out a writ of habeas corpus, directing the man to be brought before it. But meanwhile an application for a writ of habeas corpus had been made to the Court of Common Pleas in Canada, and the prisoner had been discharged on the technical ground that he was not charged with any crime included in the Extradition Treaty, as, for instance, murder; for the indictment was that he did 'wilfully, maliciously and feloniously stab and kill, &c.,' words which meant, inferentially, manslaughter; and manslaughter was not recognised by the treaty.[Footnote: See Annual Register, 1831, part ii. p. 520.]
The Journal here mentions the awfully sudden death of a friend of many years' standing:—
January 8th.—The Frederick Elliots and Marochettis dined with us. There was a frost, and torches on the Serpentine. Mrs. F. Elliot drove round to see it, and went home and died in the night [of a spasm of the heart. The news reached Reeve by a note from Mr. Elliot, dated seven o'clock in the morning].
From Mr. E. Twisleton
Bonchurch, January 24th.
My dear Reeve,—I am much obliged to you for your letter of the 18th instant, which has been forwarded to me here. I am sorry to say that I have so much on my hands at present that I could not undertake to write an article on American affairs; though I am equally obliged to you for the proposal.
I lament what has taken place in the United States. Although, in a narrow political sense, a disruption may be useful to England, in another point of view it is a misfortune, inasmuch as the maintenance of one confederation during seventy-two years, over such a vast extent of territory, with no civil war, and only two foreign wars, is the greatest thing which the English race has done out of England, and its dissolution is sure to be viewed with pleasure by all who in their hearts hate free institutions and the English race.
Since Brown's attempt to excite an insurrection of the slaves in Virginia, I have thought it impossible to avoid a civil war, if the anti-slavery feeling in the North went on increasing in intensity, as I have known it to increase during the last ten years; but I had not the most distant idea that Lincoln's election would lead to immediate secession on the part of even a single state. In the north of the Union they have been absolutely taken by surprise, and have hardly yet made up their minds as to the course they will pursue. If Congress had merely to deal with South Carolina, it could easily checkmate that one state; but the difficulty arises from the number of states, which either side with South Carolina or will not act against her.
I have the highest respect for Tocqueville's opinion; but I do not happen to remember what he has written respecting secession. I well understand the difficulty for a confederation if any one state has a settled permanent determination to secede from it. But, under the constitution, Congress has ample powers to levy the federal revenue and maintain the laws of the Union in South Carolina—and to pass all laws necessary for this purpose. Moreover, everyone in the Union who levies war against the United States Government is guilty of treason, and there is no recognition in the constitution of any right in any state to secede from the Union. Under these circumstances, everyone in South Carolina caught in arms against the federal Government is liable to be hanged. With such laws and powers, an united Congress and a resolute president, like General Jackson, would soon reduce South Carolina to submission; and my belief is that the same might be the case if there were a league against the Union of the cotton states alone. For a time Congress would baffle such a league quite as effectually as the Swiss Confederation put down the Sonderbund.
Pray give my kind regards to Mrs. Reeve. I expect to be in London at the end of next week, and I shall be happy to communicate and receive ideas on American politics. The critical point at present is the course which will be pursued by Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Yours very truly,
EDWARD TWISLETON.
The Journal notes:—
February 26th.—Dined with the Apponyis, now Austrian ambassador; Duchess of Wellington, Clarendon, Lewis, Lady Westmorland, and Mme. de Bury, who was in great favour at Vienna.
To Lord Brougham
62 Rutland Gate, March 1st.—Never was a session opened with so little interest. I believe it is quite true that the Tories are resolved to menager Palmerston as much as possible, and to enter into no hostile combinations against him with the Radicals. In fact, Palmerston is gaining ground with the Conservatives, and losing it with some sections of the Liberals. He has exasperated the Irish Catholics to the last degree; and for my own part, I think his language and conduct about Mr. Turnbull's resignation highly discreditable. It is another specimen of the unhappy influence of Shaftesbury's ignorance and bigotry. However, the practical result is that the Government have lost Cork by a large majority, and that at the next election there will hardly be a ministerial candidate returned in Ireland.
It is impossible not to see that the general tendency of the public mind in this country is rather towards conservatism than reform. Even the reformers are compelled to haul down their bill; and if the Tories had better men to fill the offices, I think they would, in two or three years, have a fair chance of regaining power and keeping it.
At the present moment, the bishops seem to be the most eager combatants; in France they are denouncing the Emperor [Footnote: In January 1860 Reeve was told in Paris that the Pope spoke of him as the beast of the Apocalypse.] as Pontius Pilate; in England they are thirsting for the blood of a few heterodox parsons. Nothing is talked of here but 'Essays and Reviews.' In my humble opinion they by no means deserve the importance attached to them, either in point of style or in point of substance.
Keep my secret, but I have in preparation a regular mine under Eton College. There has been of late a good deal of discussion about it, with very little knowledge. Fortunately, I have lighted upon the evidence taken by you before your celebrated committee in 1818, all which is still quite applicable. Eton is very little improved, and the depredations of the Fellows go on with shameless audacity. I mention this to you because your committee has been of so much use to us; but I wish to keep the thing very quiet till the next number of the 'Review' makes its appearance.
From Lord Brougham
Cannes, March 4th.—It is very odd that for two or three days I had been reading and discussing with one or two Eton men here the subject on which you propose to do infinite service, but of course I shall not even drop the most remote allusion to your plan. The conduct at Eton is perfectly scandalous; our two boys never cost less than 200 L. a year while they were there; and I believe the case is understated, and not overstated, in the 'Cornhill Magazine,' and other places. One of the men who spoke to me about it said it was no fault of mine, but of Eldon, that it had not all been set right forty years ago—alluding to the Education Commission to which you refer. I recollect being reluctantly forced to insert the exemption in the Act and in the commission of inquiry. He had opposed the whole bill, and we defeated him in the Lords when he attempted to throw it out—a very extraordinary event in those days. But Rosslyn, Holland, and others who had charge of the bill, were apprehensive of being beaten on a further stage if we held out on the exemptions. In 1819 (the year after) I endeavoured to remove the exemptions in the Extensions Act to all charities, and this gave rise to Peel's very shabby attack on the whole inquiry when I was very unwell, and wholly unprepared, and to my defence in the speech which I have often said I could not now make if I would, and would not if I could. I venture to refer to it, however, as the most remarkable I ever made in all respects.
When you have sprung your mine, I hope and trust the 'Quarterly' will follow your example. If Elwin was still in command I feel confident he would, for he has always joined against Eldon & Co. I highly approve your keeping it quite secret on every account.
Here the Journal has:—
April 9th.—I was elected a member of 'The Club,' in place of Lord Aberdeen—proposed by Lord Stanhope; the greatest social distinction I ever received.
This was the literary club founded in 1764 by Reynolds and Johnson, which, in the course of years, had dropped all extraneous title, and become simply The Club. 'It still continues the most famous of the dining societies of London, and in the 133 years of its existence has perhaps seen at its tables more men of note than any other society.'[Footnote: Edinburgh Review, April 1897, p. 291.] Gibbon, who became a member of it in 1774, had suggested the form in which a new member was to be apprised of the distinction conferred on him. This has continued in use to the present day, and on April 9th, 1861, a copy of it was sent to Reeve, signed by the president of the evening:—
Sir,—I have the pleasure to inform you that you have this evening had the honour of being elected a member of The Club.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
GEORGE RICHMOND.
This was followed, a week later, by another letter from the same writer:—
10 York Street, Portman Square, April 16th.
My dear Mr. Reeve,—I have just returned to town and found your note of the 10th inst., and I lose not a minute in writing to say that the election which I had so much pleasure in announcing to you, I announced as president for the night, and in the form of words prescribed by Gibbon. The moment I had written it I began a note to you in my own proper person, but I did not know whether it would be quite regular to send it, and I had to leave town on the following morning. The 'Sir,' and 'I am, Sir,' which anything but express what I feel, I most gladly exchange now, if you will allow it, for a very different greeting, and I beg to remain, my dear Mr. Reeve,
Very faithfully yours,
GEORGE RICHMOND.
The Bishop of London was elected on the same night with you, and it may interest you to know that the members present were:—
Lord Lansdowne. Lord Clarendon. Sir H. Holland. Sir David Dundas. The Dean of St. Paul's. Sir Charles Eastlake. Lord Stanley. Lord Cranworth. Lord Stanhope. Duke of Argyll.
To Madame de Tocqueville
62 Rutland Gate, April 17th.
My dear Madame de Tocqueville,—I have just published, in the 'Edinburgh Review,' a short notice of that book and that life which are to you the dearest things in the world, and to all of us, his friends, among the dearest. A few separate copies have been struck off, and I send one to you by this post, which will, I hope, reach you with this letter. It was a matter of sincere regret to me that I found it impossible to execute my intention of translating the two volumes, [Footnote: Oeuvres et Correspondance inedites d'Alexis de Tocqueville, publiees et precedees d'une notice par Gustave de Beaumont.] partly because I found that I was too prominently noticed in them, and partly because our friends, the Seniors, were much bent on the undertaking. I therefore relinquished it in their favour. But I always intended to express in my own manner my deep affection for the memory of your husband, and my estimate of his genius as a man of letters and a statesman. This I have attempted to do in this article, and though I am sensible that it falls far short of the subject of it, yet you will discover in it traces and reminiscences of that which was one of the greatest happinesses and honours of my life—our mutual friendship.
From Lord Brougham
Cannes, April 24th.—I have read the Eton article with great satisfaction, and I really think it must have the best effect. But Ker, to whom I lent my copy of the number, is not quite satisfied; but he takes extreme views. He also thinks you have not ascribed enough to the Education Committee of 1818, or rather to the effect of our being thwarted by Eldon, Peel, &c. But he was very deep in that controversy at the time, having defended the committee in a pamphlet, and I believe also in the 'Edinburgh Review,' and may be apt, therefore, to take an exaggerated view of the subject.
I am still cruelly hurt at the Newton monument being for ever cushioned. If Elwin had remained editor of the 'Quarterly' it would have been taken up, and on right grounds. Indeed, a learned professor had actually prepared a scientific and popular article on the subject; but Elwin retired, and the 'Quarterly Review' will now do nothing. Altogether I believe there never will be a monument to the greatest man that England ever had, or will have.
I am anxious to read the rest of the number, but have only just got it, and I sent it to Ker after I had read the Eton; and I am unwilling to delay thanking you for that.
The Journal notes:—
Went down to Weymouth alone for a few days in May, Read Buckle's second volume on the way.
June 17th.—Dinner at Lansdowne House to the Comte de Paris and the Due de Chartres; Elgins, Holfords, Bishop of Oxford, Grotes, &c.
From Lord Clarendon
G. G., June 28th.—I did not expect that any answer to the Eton article would be attempted, for it was unanswerable; the facts were real facts, and the moderation with which they were stated made them all the more telling. The commission is the proper corollary to it; and so many parents of ill-educated boys appear to think.
To Mr. G. Dempster
62 Rutland Gate, August 5th.—In spite of Sir H. Holland's drugs, I see my fate is sealed; and as I cannot even now put on a shoe, it is vain to hope that I shall be able to walk for some time; and, indeed, to avoid relapses, I must undergo a regular cure of Vichy water. Therefore, with extreme regret, I make up my mind to turn my face south, instead of north, as soon as I can move.... I fear that, having lost the present month, there is little hope of our reaching Scotland at all this year.
Accordingly, the Journal has:—
Bad fit of gout in July and August. Went to Vichy on August 10th. The heat was extreme, and the waters made me worse. Thence to Clermont, Pontgibaud, Gergovia. Home on the 31st.
September 1st.—To Torry Hill [Lord Kingsdown's]—first time; shot there. Farnborough; Atherstone; Torry Hill again on the 21st. Stetchworth-good shooting.
From Lord Clarendon
Harpton Court, September 22nd.—I would have gladly escaped the Prussian mission,[Footnote: For the coronation of the King.] which is not much to my taste, but the Queen insisted, and the Viscount [Footnote: Lord Palmerston.] and the Earl [Footnote: Lord John, created Earl Russell on July 30th, 1861.] attached political importance to it, so I yielded, and Lady C. and Constance and Emily are, also on royal recommendation, to accompany me. The two latter are of an age to like a lark, which is more than their respected parents do. I need not say that my hope of doing any good by a flying visit in the midst of a carousal is exceedingly small; but I know the King well, and shall have no difficulty in telling him what I believe to be the truth concerning his interests.
I am sorry to hear that you have been worried by gout, and that Vichy did you no good. I am inclined to speak well of Wiesbaden, for the glorious weather I had there (94 deg. in the shade always) made the waters effective, and somehow I felt younger; but that pleasant sensation is now rather on the decline.
From M. Guizot
Val Richer, 7 Octobre.
My dear Sir,—Votre tante, Madame Austin, qui est ici depuis quinze jours, a fait hier, en se promenant dans une petite voiture trainee par un ane, et qu'elle menait elle-meme, une chute dans laquelle elle s'est fait, au coude du bras droit, une luxation qui nous a fait craindre d'abord une fracture grave. Mon medecin de Lisieux, que j'ai envoye chercher sur le champ, a reduit la luxation, c'est-a-dire ramene les os du coude dans leur emboitement naturel. Petite operation fort douloureuse, mais simple et sans gravite au fond. Madame Austin en sera quitte pour deux ou trois semaines de repos et d'immobilite absolue de son bras, qui est contenu dans des eclisses. Au premier moment, elle a ete fort ebranlee par cet accident. Mon medecin une fois arrive, elle s'est remise; elle a eu un peu de fievre cette nuit; mais elle a dormi, et elle est assez bien ce matin, presque sans souffrance de son bras. J'espere qu'elle se remettra promptement; mais je n'ai pas voulu que vous ignorassiez la cause de la prolongation de son absence. Ma fille Henriette ecrit a Sir Alexander Gordon. Avec la sante de Madame Austin, tout accident peut etre grave; mais je crois que vous pouvez etre sans inquietude sur les consequences de celui-ci. Mon medecin est un homme habile qui soignera tres bien votre tante, et mes filles lui epargneront un mal tres penible, l'ennui de l'immobilite.
Je ne vous parle pas aujourd'hui d'autre chose. Si vous etiez la, nous causerions. De loin, il n'y a rien qui vaille la peine d'etre ecrit. Tout a vous, my dear Sir,
GUIZOT.
The gout was still threatening; so, according to the Journal:—
To Aix in October; back by Paris. Went to stay with Lord and Lady Cowley at Chantilly; they had hired the chasse and the chateau. Shooting there, November 11th. Home on the 16th.
At this time Lord Brougham was preparing the autobiography which was published shortly after his death. Early in November his brother, Mr. Brougham, wrote to Reeve, begging him to bring his influence to bear, and induce Lord Brougham to make this biography interesting and amusing. He wrote:—
From Mr. W. Brougham
Paris, November 14th.—Mind you dwell on books of biography which have failed for lack of personal matter and anecdotes, and use this argument, which (for reasons I need not trouble you with) will, I know, have more weight than anything you can urge—that, irrespective of any question of his own fame or reputation, if he wishes the book to be eminently successful in a commercial point of view, he must give as much as possible every detail, no matter how minute, and tell everything connected with his own history and doings. That circumstances he may consider trivial all have the greatest interest with the general public, who are the buyers he must look to; that people don't want to read history in such a book as his autobiography; what they want is his life, and not a history of his times—anecdotes or peculiarities of his Bar and Bench friends; how he worked as a boy to make himself mathematician and orator; how he worked for the English Bar; his early associates in Edinburgh, both at school and college, and all connected with the beginnings of the 'Edinburgh Review;' his early associates in London before he came into Parliament in 1809, and for years afterwards; all he did at Birmingham in '90, '91, and '92, when he lived there with his tutor; all he can recollect of his mother and grandmother-paternal, but more especially maternal. In short, every personal thing, no matter how trifling, will be the making, as the omission will be the marring, of the book.
I am persuaded that a good strong letter from you will have immense effect; and don't be afraid of making it too long; the more topics like those I have hastily put down above you can give him to think over, now he is quietly at Cannes, the more chance we have of his digging into his mind and early recollections, and producing what we want.
Don't forget to quote Guizot; also tell him that Lord Malmesbury's heavy book was saved solely by the gossip in the third and fourth volumes. The first two are heavy historical matter that would have sunk a 74.
The letter which Reeve wrote in consequence of this has unfortunately not been preserved, but it is evident from Lord Brougham's reply that it closely followed the lines suggested by his brother.
From Lord Brougham
Cannes, November 17th.—I have not words to express how grateful I feel for your most kind letter, which arrived this morning. I fear I must admit all you say on the necessity of much personal matter. However, I really feel certain that, with the political and general, there will be a number of personal anecdotes interspersed. Thus in the Queen's trial, numberless singular anecdotes, professional and other; and on the changes of government and the unity of our administration, strange things of individuals: e.g. Lord Grey having, six months before taking office in 1830, positively declared to Lansdowne that he had resolved never to take office; and in 1822, to me, that unless I would consent to take office, and be leader in the Commons, nothing should induce him to take part in any administration—there being then an expectation of an offer to us; in answer to which I positively refused leaving the progressives. I give these as examples of what the correspondence contains. I quite feel, however, that something personal and in early life will be desiderated. If you look at my 'Life of Robertson' you will see all you refer to about his being at Brougham, and about the translation of 'Florus,' and other anecdotes, and a good deal about my grandmother. Indeed, in that Life, and in my contributions to the 'Law Review,' there are numberless anecdotes of interest.
I cannot conclude on this subject without expressing how grieved I am to see what you say of my old and dear friend Richardson. He wrote in very good spirits last spring, and I fear he has had some severe illness since. Pray let me know how this is.
The mention of him reminds me of an instance that matters which derive their whole interest from connexion with myself are thus very hateful to set down. He had given me a sermon and a hymn, written by the Principal's father—my great-grandfather. When I attended the Glasgow congress last year, the hymn was by mere accident sung in the church where we were on the morning after our arrival:
Let not your hearts with anxious thoughts Be troubled and dismayed, &c.
I believe I was the only person in Glasgow who knew that the old minister was the author, or who knew of his existence. [Footnote: Cf. Life and Times of Lord Brougham, i. 30.] Now such things would make the narrative a tissue of mere egotism. However, I feel the force of your remarks exceedingly. Certainly when Guizot's book came out, and I was asked my opinion of it, and some defects were pointed out, I could not avoid saying there was a worse defect than all they mentioned; there would be a defect of readers. And so it has proved; I have, with all my respect for him, and desire to read, been unable to get through a volume.
I must set about digging in my published works for anecdotes; and, as in the case of Robertson's Life, I may find a great number which, apart from personality, may be interesting in their connexion with events. Again repeating my gratitude, believe me, most sincerely yours,
H. BROUGHAM.
To Madame de Tocqueville
Paris, November 15th.
My dear Madame De Tocqueville,—Although on the point of leaving Paris, I must write two lines to express to you my gratitude for allowing M. de Beaumont to return to me some of my own letters, which derive some value in my eyes from their connexion with my ever-lamented and illustrious friend. I have had a melancholy satisfaction here in seeing the bust which M. Salaman has made. It surpasses my expectations, especially as regards the mouth and forehead, and I trust that even you will not be entirely disappointed in it.
From Lord Clarendon
The Grove, November 19th.—I have only a minute for writing, as we have had Princess Alice here all day, and I, of course, could do nothing but the very easy task of entertaining her.
I was very glad to get your letter, as I thought you were still abroad, and I only hope you are as glad to find yourself at home again as I am, though I am not sorry to have been to Berlin. I rather envy you being at Paris during the late crisis, and getting the first impressions upon it.... I have no doubt the deficit is about what Senex [Footnote: Reeve was at this time writing occasional letters in the Times under the signature of 'Senex.' Lord Clarendon seems to have known this. Other correspondents did not; notably Lord Kingsdown, some of whose letters innocently comment on the opinions expressed by Senex.] puts it at. I read your admirable letter with great pleasure, and thought it must be yours, though I did not understand whence it was written.
I should very much like to have a talk with you. If you are not engaged, why shouldn't you and Mrs. and Miss Reeve come here on Saturday? We have asked Granville and C. C. G.; and I believe Lewis is coming. Miladi would write to propose this to Mrs. Reeve, but thinks she will consider two letters unnecessary.
From Lord Brougham
Cannes, December 8th. There is a new complication of the American case, and I fear, though I don't join in what I find the universal feeling in England, that the Government of Washington will hold out. But even if they give in, this hesitation, and their manifest fear of the mob, is the most complete confirmation of all I have been so long and so often preaching, of the extreme mischief of mob-government. They are in the hands of the mob—and one of the worst mobs in the world. You see they even are under this dominion as to their military operations; for their disaster at Bull's Run was owing to the clamour forcing their comrades to advance and do something; and now no one can have the least doubt that, if Lincoln and Seward were left to themselves, a war with England would be the thing they most dreaded; yet it is very possible they may feel unable to resist the mob-clamour, and may bring on that calamity. The mob of Paris threw France into all the horrors of the reign of terror (1793-4), which have left such indelible disgrace on the French, and which stopped all improvement both in France and in Europe for a quarter of a century, and which even now create such a force in favour of despotism—as they did in the first Napoleon's time. But I don't think the evils of mob-government—that is, of the supreme power being in persons not individually responsible—can be more clearly manifested, though they may not lead to such atrocious crimes, than in the States of America—and the southern as well as the northern—for the mob governs in both. My opinion will be the same, even if, contrary to probability, the Washington men are stout enough to resist the mob; for this hesitation and this struggle against the insanity of war could only be occasioned by the mob tyranny.
Prince Albert died on December 14th. It was impossible to allow an event so important in the political as well as in the social history of the reign to pass without a notice in the 'Edinburgh Review,' and that on the earliest occasion; though, in the middle of December, some special arrangement had to be made for it. It was, in fact, brought into the concluding pages of the article on 'May's Constitutional History of England.' But the subject was one which called for exceeding care and delicacy in the handling. The services of Prince Albert to the Crown had been many and great; but by the country at large they were still looked on with jealousy and suspicion. A profound sympathy was everywhere felt for the death of the Queen's husband; the death of a man regarded by an ignorant prejudice as the embodiment of German influence in the Cabinet might easily be considered as no great loss. Reeve seems to have consulted Lord Clarendon as to how much or how little it was prudent to say; in answer to which Lord Clarendon wrote:—
The Grove, December 31st.—I feel, as you do, that the events of the last month are too vast in themselves and in their consequences for discussion by letter, though I should much like to have a day's talk over them with you.
I am very glad that you mean to undertake the task—a labour of love—of doing honour to the Prince, as I am sure it will be admirably performed; but I would suggest to you not to be too precise as to the manner in which he exercised his political influence.... There is a vague belief that his influence was great and useful; but there is a very dim perception of the modus operandi.... Peel certainly took the Prince into council much more than Melbourne, who had his own established position with the Queen before the Prince came to this country; but I cannot tell you whether it was Peel who first gave him a cabinet key. My impression is that Lord Duncannon, during the short time he was Home Secretary, sent the Prince a key when the Queen was confined, and the contents of the boxes had to be read or signed by her.
The concluding sentence in the next letter from Lord Clarendon refers to the feeling which had been roused in Canada by the threat of war between England and the United States. The Canadians showed an exemplary loyalty; and great numbers of Irish—many of whom (like O'Reilly) had been known at home as turbulent characters—now not only pressed forward to be enrolled in the militia, but formed themselves into special regiments.
The Grove, January 21st.—I cannot help telling you how excellent I think your article on the Prince. You have said the right thing in the right way, and have so hit the happy medium between justice to him and no flattery or exaggeration, that I am sure the article will be read with pleasure by everybody, because it exactly reflects the public feeling.
The Belligerent and Neutral article is also very good, and I expect that the temperate and sensible way in which the author recommends the abandonment of rights we can never again exercise will have some useful results.
The loyalty of Canada is far greater than I expected; but that the French and Irish there should come out so strong for the Crown against Democracy is indeed a surprise. That Captain Eugene O'Reilly was a tremendous patriot in '48; and if I had not put him in prison for a little time to cool, he would have made a greater donkey of himself than he did.
The next letter from Lord Clarendon relates to a point on which widely different opinions have been and will be held, till it is decided in the only practical way. It would be foreign to our present purpose to argue it here; but it is interesting to see the opinion of the man who, more distinctly than any other, was responsible for the great change theoretically introduced into our maritime code by the Declaration of Paris.
The Grove, January 28th.—With respect to alterations in our maritime law and usages, I don't know what Russell's opinion may be, but I know that Palmerston does, or did, think the time come for relinquishing rights that we can no longer exercise. He readily assented to the doctrines laid down at Paris in '56, and was so entirely of my opinion about going further that he tried it on at Liverpool some time afterwards; but that part of his speech was so ill received, and he received so many remonstrances against giving up the palladium, &c. &c., that he told me when he returned to London that the pear was not ripe, and that we must give public opinion a little more time to become reasonable.
On January 9th Charles Sumner had spoken at great length in the United States Senate, proving, very much to his own satisfaction and that of his fellow-citizens, that the surrender of Mason and Slidell was a great moral victory, confirming the principles of maritime law for which they had always contended, and which the English now admitted. A short telegraphic summary of this had caught the mail at Halifax, and been published in the 'Times' of the 20th; but it was not till the 27th that the United States papers, with the full report, reached England. Of this the 'Times'—on its own part—took no further notice; but on February 1st it published a long and most scathing criticism of it by 'Historicus' (Mr., now Sir, William Harcourt).
From Lord Clarendon
The Grove, January 30th.—When you can spare it, I shall be very glad to see Sumner's speech....
Russell was, of course, guided in his despatches by the law officers, and it is no wonder, therefore, that they should resemble the papers that had previously appeared—many of which were written by lawyers—or that they should be a reproduction of them; as a government could not, without risk of failure in its peaceful object, express itself with the vigour of Senex or the 'Edinburgh Review.' The most important despatch of all, however, and the one upon which everything hung—viz. the demand for reparation—was well conceived and executed, and did its work effectually.
From Lord Brougham
Cannes, February 16th.—I yesterday met Miss Courtenay, who gave me the very pleasing information that Mrs. Austin had excellent accounts of Lady Duff Gordon, and was quite easy about her. I trust you will confirm this account, and also add to it a general good account of Mrs. Austin herself.
I hope there is a good article on the Amendment Cases in the 'E. R.' They have stupidly omitted to send it from Grafton Street. The 'Quarterly' came, and a better article than our friend your neighbour's never was written. I admired it so much that I wrote to him about it. Pray tell him my opinion of it, in case my letter should have miscarried, and that I admired it far more than I did the very spiteful article of someone inspired by a personal enmity against myself, and who has not the common sense and fairness, when relying on the wholly immaterial circumstance of my mis-stating the day of the Westminster election (the night of Princess Charlotte's running away), to see that Dundonald [Footnote: Autobiography of a Seaman, ii. 892. It has, however, been recently shown (Atlay's Trial of Lord Cochrane, pp. 330 et seq.) that Lord Dundonald had very little to do with it.] makes the Duke of Sussex fall into the very same mistake.
Cannes [February].—I am much obliged to you for your kind letter, and rejoice to hear of the good intelligence [Footnote: As to the health of Lady Duff Gordon.] from the Cape which will be such a relief to my valued friend, her mother.
The American news is a good deal more favourable, but still they are not out of the wood, or anything like it; and, even if they beat the Southerners in the field, the re-union is as far off as ever. Their only safe course is to regard the whole campaign as a kind of drawn battle, and both sides to negotiate as to terms of separation.
I have no doubt that a certain most intriguing ambassadress is at the bottom of the spiteful attack in the 'Quarterly,' and she will find her own letters rise up in judgement against her. She never will forgive my having been at the dancing school with her, because that makes her near eighty, and she pretends only to be seventy-four.
I am in constant expectation of a paper from a great mathematician, to which will be added, by B. Ker, artistic matter on monuments. It will be all sent to you, in the hope that it may assist whoever you have put on the monument question.
Cannes, March 17th.—I am extremely sorry to find that, after all, I cannot finish you the Cambridge article on Newton, to be used at your discretion, or that of your contributor; for Mr. Routh has no less than five wranglers, including the senior, as his pupils, and this has entirely occupied him, to the exclusion of all other work. I trust it will not prevent the article. In truth, my discourse at Grantham contains all the learning on the subject, and it may be used without any acknowledgement whatever, and I shall never complain of the plagiarism.
The Journal records:—
April 4th.—Breakfast to the Philobiblon at home. There came the Due d'Aumale, Van de Weyer, Milman, Lord Taunton.
To Mr. Dempster
Exeter, April 25th.—If that providence which shapes our ends will but finish those I rough-hew, I trust that the second week in October, or perhaps a few days earlier, will see us at Skibo. We hope to start straight for the far North as soon as ever my autumnal egg is laid....
We have hit on an Easter ramble, original and agreeable. I sent down my horses to my father's-in-law, in Dorset, and for the last week Christine and I have been riding gently along the coast of South Devon. Yesterday we went to see Sir John Coleridge's place at Ottery St. Mary, and he drove us also round the neighbourhood. To-day we have been at Lady Rolle's, at Bicton, on our way from Sidmouth, to see her gardens and arboretum, which are really marvels of beauty and growth. To-morrow we shall saunter on to Dawlish, and so at last reach Plymouth, I believe. I want to get out of the way of the Exhibition opening, which bores me. At Torquay we expect to find the Fergusons of Raith and the Scotts of Ancrum.
I hear that other literary entrepreneurs have been as much struck as I am by the power and judgement there is in all that is written by a certain young author of our acquaintance.[Footnote: See ante, vol. i. p. 374.] To write as well as that is a gift; but it is more for it cannot be done without infinite practice, labour, and good sense.
At Devonport they saw Mount Edgcumbe and the ironclad frigate 'Warrior' then still a novelty, and unquestionably the most powerful ship of war afloat. The Journal adds: 'Back to town on May 3rd.'
From Lord Brougham
Cannes, April 22nd.—I have just got the new number, and hasten to say how much I am pleased with the only article I have had time to read with care, the Alison.[Footnote: 'Alison's Lives of Lord Castlereagh and Sir C. Stewart,' April 1862.]Nothing can be more able or more triumphant, and it is quite fair and candid towards Castlereagh, and much more than fair towards Ch. Stewart, Indeed, if the letter to me deserves half what is said in its praise,[Footnote: Sc.' one of the most caustic and successful pamphlets that have appeared in defence of an unpopular cause.'] he never could have written it himself; and his gross stupidity in construing what I have said of his brother, and affixing a meaning which none but himself ever did, or could, was at the time admitted by his friends, whom he had consulted, and in spite of whom he had published—among others, Strangford, from whom I heard what had passed. I have a copy of my own, which I should like the author of the article to see, and shall send it through you when I return, for it is out of print. One of the blockhead's follies was the not perceiving how great a panegyric I had bestowed on his brother's speaking in the H. of Commons, after fully stating its defects. In fact, he had much greater weight as leader than Canning, who, by the way, is too much praised in the article. Such a book as Alison's is almost incredible for its badness of all kinds; but the author (on p. 521, line six from foot) gives him a pull or two as to style by 'ineligible for election'—though that is a trifle. The care with which the whole subject is treated, and the gross errors—partly from ignorance, partly from adulation—exposed is quite admirable.
I have naturally been attracted to the Monument article, but have not had time fully to profit by it; only I am greatly indebted to the learned author for what he says of my Grantham address.[Footnote: 'Public Monuments,' April 1862, p. 550.] However, I should have been far better pleased had he left me out altogether, and dwelt at more length on the disgrace of the country never having erected a monument to the greatest man she ever produced—indeed, the greatest [that has] ever been. He seems not to be aware of the one in Westminster Abbey having been raised by his niece's family, and not by the public.
Cannes, April 27th.—I have a complaint to make of the 'E. R.' last number. In the learned and able article on 'Jesse's Richard III.,' at p. 307, Lingard is referred to as having quoted the commission of the High Constable. I have scanned every line and every word of Lingard and find no such commission. But in a note to the third volume of Hume, note R, the commission is given verbatim from Rymer. Jock Campbell used to hold that a false reference was an offence that ought to be made penal. I don't go so far, but the evil is very great. I have lost three or four hours in consequence. Therefore, pray have inquiry made of your contributor whether or not I am right; and if not, where in Lingard the quotation is.
Reeve referred the 'complaint' to Hayward, the writer of the article, who replied:—
I believe B. is right, for when I corrected the proof I looked in vain in Lingard, although I was firmly convinced that he had quoted the document. But pray remind his lordship that, when Campbell spoke of a false reference, he meant one with volume and page.
Lord Brougham's answer to this defence is not given, but it is impossible to allow it to pass without protest; for, whatever Campbell may have meant, it is very certain that a false reference, with volume and page cited, by which the falsehood is at once made manifest, is a venial offence in comparison with a false reference given vaguely, which may keep the victim hunting for it for hours, as this one actually did keep Lord Brougham.
From Lord Brougham
Cannes, May 7th.—I wish to suggest to you the positive duty of taking care that justice is done upon the trumpery, and one-sided, and altogether insignificant Life of Pitt by Stanhope. Murray having published it, of course the 'Quarterly' has puffed it, and done so with an entire ignorance of the subject which is hardly conceivable. Therefore take great care before you commit the subject to any unsafe hands.
To Lord Brougham
62 Rutland Gate, May 11th.—As I have lived for many years on terms of personal friendship, and indeed intimacy, with Lord Stanhope, and am indebted to him for many acts of kindness, it would be quite impossible for me to attack his book, even if I thought as ill of it as you do. I shall, therefore, content myself with recording the very different view which I entertain of the success of Mr. Pitt's administration. I think it may be shown that both in peace and in war he was one of the most unsuccessful ministers who ever exercised great power.
On these lines Reeve himself wrote the article, which was published in the 'Review' of July, and brought him the following:—
From Lord Stanhope
Grosvenor Place, July 17th.
My dear Mr. Reeve,—Allow me to say how very much I have been gratified in reading the article on my 'Life of Pitt' in the new number of the 'Edinburgh.' Had the criticism been hostile I assure you that I should not have felt that I had the smallest reason to complain; nor should I have inquired or even wished to know the writer's name. But as the matter stands, I would ask to convey to him through you my acknowledgement for his very indulgent appreciation of myself, as well as for the perfect fairness and honourable candour with which the public questions at issue between us are discussed. It would be a pleasure to me if either now or at some time hereafter he would permit me to become acquainted with the name of a critic who is evidently so accomplished as to render the praise of no slight or mean account. Believe me,
Very faithfully yours,
STANHOPE.
It does not appear that Lord Stanhope ever knew who the writer was.
Meantime the Journal notes:—
This was the year of the second Great Exhibition.
May 15th.—The Binets came to see us. On the 21st the Duc d'Aumale's fete to the Fine Arts Club; took Binet there. Went to the Derby with Binet and Stewart Hodgson. Xavier Raymond came.
July 22nd.—Dined at the Clarendon with the Comtes de Paris and Chartres, on their return from the American war. Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar and the Due d'Aumale were there.
July 31st.—Left London for Germany. By Ostend and Cologne to Wiesbaden, where the Boothbys and Hathertons were. Then to Nuremberg, Munich, Salzburg, and through the Tyrol to Venice. Stayed there till the 24th.
August 25th.—Went to Arqua to see Petrarch's house and tomb. Milan; Italian lakes. Back over the St. Gothard, Lucerne, Paris. Home, September 9th.
To Lord Brougham
C. O., September 11th.—Your very kind letter of last month would certainly not have remained so long unanswered if I had been in England. But we have been travelling for the last five weeks in the Tyrol and the north of Italy; my letters were not forwarded, and I only received that which you had been good enough to address to me on my return to London yesterday. There is probably no living opinion upon the character and administration of Mr. Pitt so enlightened and valuable as your own, and I am gratified in the highest degree to find that my attempt to place the leading acts of his administration in a somewhat new light meets with your approval. The chief defect in Lord Stanhope's book is, in my opinion, that it does not present any connected view of Mr. Pitt as a statesman at all; and this the reader of the article may infer from every page of it. I began to write with a disposition to place Mr. Pitt rather higher than he had been placed before in the 'Review;' but upon a careful survey of his conduct on each of these questions, I found the ground crumble away under me.
As to the state of the army from 1783 to 1803, it was deplorable. Did you ever see Sir Frederick Adam's notes on what the army was when, at the age of 14, he entered it.[Footnote: In 1795. These notes do not seem to have been published.] When the Duke of Wellington first went to the Peninsula, he gives a wretched account of the forces—ignorant officers and rascally men. One of the grandest services the Duke rendered to his country was that he raised the character of the army and made it a most admirable instrument. But that was long after the days of Pitt.
The present Duke of Wellington tells me he is very well pleased with the article on his father's supplementary despatches in the last number of the 'Review,' and I think it is fairly done. They are a mass of most interesting and instructive materials, but very few persons will master them, whilst the trash that Thiers calls history circulates broadcast in Europe. I heard in Paris on Sunday that 65,000 copies of his 20th volume are already sold.
To Mr. Dempster
C. O., September 12th.—We returned to England on Tuesday, after a pleasant tour, but the weather drove us from the mountains to the plains, and instead of preparing ourselves to graduate in the Alpine Club, we loitered in the galleries of Munich, Venice, and Milan, or amongst the remains of Padua and Verona. On the Lago Maggiore we met the Speaker [Footnote: Mr. Denison, afterwards Lord Ossington.] and Lady Charlotte, and with them crossed the St. Gothard to Lucerne.... We still hope, if it suits you, to come down to you when I have got quit of the 'Review.' I shall be engaged in London till October 7th, and then we are going for a few days to Raith... but I hope about the 12th or 13th we may reach the far North.
From Lord Brougham
Brougham, September 14th.—I can well believe that Wellington is satisfied with the review [Footnote: "Wellington's Supplementary Despatches," July 1862.] of his father's correspondence. It is very ably and very fairly done. But I wish it had reprimanded the Duke for making the publication nearly useless by giving no table of contents. When I complained of this, he said it had been considered, and that an index would have been hardly possible. My answer was that I did not want an index, but only a dozen of pages giving the dates and the titles of the letters in succession. As it is, one can find no letter without turning over the whole of a volume.
Well, what shall we now say of the Disunited States? My last letter from J. Parkes,[Footnote: Probably Joseph Parkes, the well-known agent of the Liberal party. He died August 11th, 1865, but none of the obituary notices mention his wife.] who is married to a Yankee, and in correspondence with many men of note in the North, represents the feeling to be growing for mediation, but mediation on the ground of a re-uniting of the South, which means no mediation at all. But he says that the real feeling of the Americans, both N. and S., is of great respect for England, and pride in their descent from and connexion with us. The tone of the press, however, shows that this feeling dares not be shown, and that the popular clamour—that is, the mob-cry—is t'other way.
The Journal has:—
September 12th.—To Torry Hill; shooting for ten days.
22nd.—Rode over to Leeds Castle with Lord Kingsdown. Farnborough, Stetchworth, Chorleywood (W. Longman's).
October 8th.—To Raith, with Christine and Hopie. Mrs. Norton there. Then by Elgin and Burgh Head to Skibo. Shooting there. To Novar; back to Edinburgh and Kirklands, October 26th. Then to Abington on the 29th, and to Brougham—amusing visit. I was asked to read Lord B.'s Memoirs, and dissuade him from publishing them. To Ambleside to see Harriet Martineau. Thence to Badger Hall [Cheney's], November 8th. Went over Old Park iron works. Home on November 11th.
December 17th.—We went to Chevening, and met there the Grotes, Milman, Lord Stanley, Scharf, and Hayward. Lewis came on the 19th. Most agreeable party.
22nd.—Shooting at Stetchworth.
31st.—To the Duke of Newcastle's at Clumber. Sir F. Rogers [afterwards Lord Blachford] there.
1863.—The year opened at Clumber. The Webbes of Newstead, the Manners-Suttons, Venables, and Herbert came there. Shooting good; caught three pike; rode with the Duke to Thoresby and Welbeck, through Sherwood Forest.
January 6th.—To the Speaker's at Ossington.
12th.—I was made treasurer of the Literary Club [Footnote: This must not be confused with The Club (see post, 133), which had long since dropped the 'Literary.'] (Walpole's) on Adolphus' death. |
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