CHAPTER X.

The Queen's Visit to France--Sir George C. Lewis on the War--Inefficiency of Lord Panmure--The Queen and the Emperor--Lord John Russell's Estrangement from his Friends--The Fall of Sebastopol--The Queen on the Orleans Confiscation--The Prince Regent's Letter on the Holy Alliance--Ferment in Italy--The Failure at the Redan--Lord John's Defence--General Windham--Lord John Russell's Retirement--Death of Sir Robert Adair--Adieu to the Turf--Progress of the War--Colonial Office proposed to Lord Stanley--Lord John Russell's Position--Relations with Mr. Disraeli--Mr. Labouchere Colonial Secretary--Negotiations for Peace--The Terms proposed to Russia--The King of Sardinia and M. de Cavour at Windsor--The Demands of the King of Sardinia--Lord Palmerston presses for War--Lord Macaulay's History of England--An Ultimatum to Russia--Death of the Poet Rogers--French Ministers--The Emperor's Diplomacy--Sir George C. Lewis's Aversion to the War--Quarrels of Walewski and Persigny--Austria presents the Terms to Russia--Baron Seebach mediates--The Emperor's Difficulties and Doubts.

_London, August 21st._--The Queen as usual has had magnificent weather for her Paris visit, and all has gone well there except that unluckily she arrived after her time at Boulogne and still more at Paris, consequently the Emperor was kept waiting at Boulogne, and the whole population of Paris, which turned out and waited for hours under a broiling sun, was disappointed, for they arrived when it was growing dark. However, in spite of this, the scene appears to have been very fine and animated. Clarendon, who is not apt to be enthusiastic, writes so to Palmerston, and tells him that Marshal Magnan said he had known Paris for fifty years, and had never seen such a scene as this, nor even when Napoleon returned from Austerlitz.

George Lewis called on me yesterday. I have hardly seen him during the session, and, having advised him to take his present office, I was glad to be able to congratulate him on his success. He was very natural about it, and owned that he had every reason to be satisfied with his reception both by the House of Commons and the City. I found that his sentiments about war and peace were identical with my own. He had been all along against the war, and thought it ought to have been prevented, and might have been in the outset, and that peace ought to have been made the other day; but, as he was in no way responsible for the war, he had nothing to do but to submit to the _fait accompli_ and to do his best to raise the necessary supplies in the most advantageous manner. It is evident that, if there could have been a potential peace party in the Cabinet, he would have been one of them, but as it is he kept his real sentiments to himself and subscribed to the decision of the majority. We talked of the session and its incidents. He said history recorded nothing like the profusion with which the present House of Commons was inclined to spend money. It was impossible to ask for too much; their only fear seemed to be lest the war should not be conducted with sufficient vigour, and to accomplish this they were ready to vote any amount of money. Lewis thinks the rage for war as violent as ever, and the zeal of the country not at all diminished, he sees no symptoms of it. The wealth and resources which the crisis has developed are most curious; thus, he reduced the interest on Exchequer Bills not long ago--an operation he believes never before attempted in time of war. War has had little or no effect on trade, which is steady and flourishing; but he thinks, unless some great successes infuse fresh animation into the public mind, that before long they will begin to tire of the contest, and to reflect that it is being carried on at an enormous cost for no rational object whatever, and merely from motives of pride and vanity and a false notion of honour. Charles Villiers thinks differently, and that there is already a manifest change of opinion, and that opposition to the war has already begun. I wish I could see some symptoms of it, but, though there may be some, I think they are slight. Lewis thinks John Russell has completely done for himself by his last speech. He was recovering from the effects of his first; there was a reaction in his favour; his friends were anxious to be reconciled to him and to renew their support and confidence, when he played into the hands of his enemies and made his own position worse than it was before.

Lewis told me that he was much struck with the mediocrity of Panmure, who was one of the dullest men he ever knew, and that he was by far the least able man in the Cabinet, and as bad as possible as Minister of War--prejudiced, slow, and _routinier_. It is evident that Newcastle was a much abler man, and if he had happened to have come after Panmure, he would have been as much belauded as he has been abused.

BATTLE OF THE TCHERNAYA.

_September 5th._--A complete stagnation in every way; no news whatever since the battle of the Tchernaya,[1] and nobody has the least idea, Ministers included, of the state and progress of the war. I asked Granville, who is just come from Paris, if he knew anything, and he said he did not, and that the Emperor, whom he had seen a day or two ago, complained of being equally in the dark. His Majesty, Granville said, was very low about the war, and complained that none of the expeditions and diversions had been undertaken which might have advanced the cause more rapidly. Pélissier seems to be very much _déconsidéré_ and thought worth very little as a general.

I saw Clarendon one day last week for a short time, but had no opportunity of hearing the details of his sojourn at Paris. He said the Queen was delighted with everything and especially with the Emperor himself, who, with perfect knowledge of women, had taken the surest way to ingratiate himself with her. This it seems he began when he was in England, and followed it up at Paris. After his visit the Queen talked it all over with Clarendon, and said, 'It is very odd; but the Emperor knows everything I have done and where I have been ever since I was twelve years old; he even recollects how I was dressed, and a thousand little details it is extraordinary he should be acquainted with.' She has never before been on such a social footing with anybody, and he has approached her with the familiarity of their equal positions, and with all the experience and knowledge of womankind he has acquired during his long life, passed in the world and in mixing with every sort of society. She seemed to have played her part throughout with great propriety and success. Old Jérome did not choose to make his appearance till just at the last moment, because he insisted on being treated as a king, and having the title of _Majesté_ given him--a pretension Clarendon would not hear of her yielding to.

[Footnote 1: The battle of the Tchernaya was fought on the 16th August, when General Liprandi attacked the French and Sardinian armies in their lines, with a large force, but was repulsed with great loss.]

_September 7th._--I had a long visit from the Duke of Bedford this morning, who came to talk to me about his brother John, his position and prospects. He has seen John and heard from him in great detail all his case, and he has likewise seen Clarendon and heard his and the Government's case. He tells me that he has never in his life suffered more pain than at hearing these cases and witnessing the bitter feelings which exist and the charges which are mutually made, especially between Clarendon and Lord John. The latter thinks he has been very ill-used by most of his former colleagues, but especially by Clarendon, whose conduct he thinks both unjust and ungrateful. Clarendon wrote to him while he was at Vienna in such a tone and language that Lord John had determined to resign his embassy and return home, and had actually written a letter to Clarendon for the purpose, but he gave up doing so partly because he felt that it would make a prodigious noise all over Europe and partly because, having consulted his brother-in-law, George Elliot, he prudently advised him against such a step; but he felt deeply, and resented what he thought bad conduct towards himself. I read to the Duke all that I had written about John in the preceding pages, against which he had nothing to say. He asked his brother how he came to speak so ill _for himself_ in the House of Commons, and he replied that he was embarrassed by the impossibility of saying everything that he knew, especially the fact, which I have mentioned, of the way in which the Emperor Napoleon determined to throw over Drouyn de Lhuys and to reject the Vienna proposals. This was told to John by Baudin; and one of the things he complains of is that the Cabinet never was informed of what had passed, and its members were allowed to suppose, like the public, that the Emperor's rejection had been spontaneous, instead of having been suggested and urged upon him by us. John bitterly feels his own position, his estrangement from his old friends, and, above all, the unkindness and ingratitude he thinks they have been guilty of towards him. He is now intent upon his own vindication, and is preparing to compose it with a view of giving it to the world, though he does not know, and it is difficult to determine, in what shape. He seems less dissatisfied with his old enemy Palmerston than with any of the others, and says he thinks Palmerston is the best man there is at present to be Prime Minister. After Clarendon he most reproaches Charles Wood.

THE FALL OF SEBASTOPOL.

_September 17th._--Went to The Grove with Clarendon last Saturday sennight; on Monday to Doncaster, where I had no time to write anything but bets in my betting-book, all of which I lost. On the Saturday we heard from General Simpson by telegraph that the assault was to take place that day. We were kept in suspense all Sunday, but on Monday morning read in the 'Times' that the Malakoff was taken, but we had no idea then that the city with all its vast defences would fall immediately after, but I heard it the same night at the Huntingdon station.[1]

I heard a great deal from Clarendon about the royal visit to Paris, and details connected with it, and we talked over the quarrel with John Russell, at which he expressed great regret, though not without bitterness. Clarendon said nothing could exceed the delight of the Queen at her visit to Paris, at her reception, at all she saw; and that she was charmed with the Emperor. They became so intimate, and she on such friendly terms with him, that she talked to him with the utmost frankness, and even discussed with him the most delicate of all subjects, the confiscation of the Orleans' property, telling him her opinion upon it. He did not avoid the subject, and gave her the reasons why he thought himself obliged to take that course; that he knew all this wealth was employed in fomenting intrigues against his Government, which was so new that it was necessary to take all precautions to avert such dangers. She replied that, even if this were so, he might have contented himself with sequestrating the property and restoring it when he was satisfied that all danger on that score was at an end. I asked Clarendon what he thought of the Emperor himself, and he said that he liked him, and he was very pleasing, but he was struck with his being so indolent and so excessively ignorant. The Prince of Wales was put by the Queen under Clarendon's charge, who was desired to tell him what to do in public, when to bow to the people, and whom to speak to. He said that the Princess Royal was charming, with excellent manners, and full of intelligence. Both the children were delighted with their _séjour_, and very sorry to come away. When the visit was drawing to a close, the Prince said to the Empress that he and his sister were both very reluctant to leave Paris, and asked her if she could not get leave for them to stay there a little longer. The Empress said she was afraid this would not be possible, as the Queen and the Prince would not be able to do without them; to which the boy replied, 'Not do without us! don't fancy that, for there are six more of us at home, and they don't want us.' The Emperor himself proposed to the Queen to go to the Chapel consecrated to the memory of the Duke of Orleans upon the spot where he met with his fatal accident and expired. It is creditable to her that she talks without _gêne_ or scruple to the Emperor about the Orleans family, making no secret of her continued intimacy with them, and with equal frankness to them of her relations with him. She wrote to the Queen Marie Amélie an account of her going to the Chapel and of the Emperor taking her there, and received a very amiable reply. The first thing she did on her return was to receive the Duc and Duchesse de Montpensier.

Clarendon told me a few things besides of no great importance, and which I am not sure that I recollect: about Spain, he said that matters were going on better there and the Government had contrived to get money--the Spaniards were very anxious to take part in the war, but he had discouraged it entirely. As to Naples, that we were calling the Neapolitan Government to account for their recent impertinence to us, but that Palmerston and he had disagreed as to what should be done, Palmerston, according to his old habit, wanting to send ships of war to Naples and to proceed to violence, while he was opposed to having another Pacifico affair on our hands, and proposed to proceed with caution and quietly.

MARRIAGES OF THE ROYAL FAMILY.

While they were in the yacht, crossing over, Prince Albert had told him that there was not a word of truth in the prevailing report and belief that the young Prince of Prussia and the Princess Royal were _fiancés_, that nothing had ever passed between the parents on the subject, and that the union never would take place unless the children should become attached to each other. There would be no mere political marriage. The Prince showed Clarendon all the correspondence which had taken place between the Emperor of Russia and the Prince Regent about the Holy Alliance, which he said was very curious, and George IV.'s letter declining to be a party to it very good indeed. These documents were left in Lord Liverpool's papers, and fell into the hands of Harcourt, who married his daughter. Harcourt lent them to the Prince to read, but exacting a promise that he would not take a copy of them, and he had since repeatedly pressed the Prince to return them. I told Clarendon they ought not to be returned, or at least that Harcourt ought to be desired to give them to be preserved in the Government Archives, for they can in no way be considered as private property. Lord Liverpool's papers were for the most part destroyed, but these were preserved. This is all I can recollect of what he told me.

[Footnote 1: The final bombardment of Sebastopol commenced on the morning of September 5th, and continued without intermission until the 8th, when the Russians blew up their magazines and in the night evacuated the southern portion of the city. The intelligence of the fall of Sebastopol reached England on the afternoon of Monday, September 10, and was received with great enthusiasm throughout the country.]

_September 23rd._--At The Grove from Saturday to Monday; nobody there but Reeve; nothing very particular. Clarendon said Prussia was very anxious to interpose to renew negotiations, but they would not hear of her interference, and if anything was done it could only be by Austria. He showed me a paper sent by Hudson with an account, very brief, of the state of Italy, which is in fermentation though not in open disturbance. The Sicilian malcontents sent to the King of Sardinia an offer of their crown for one of his sons. He replied, 'You have need of a man, and a boy will be of no use to you.' This they took for a refusal, and they are now thinking of a Coburg; in no case will they have a Murat. I forget what the Neapolitan Liberals want, but I doubt if the country will have either the courage or the power to emancipate itself.

GENERAL CHARLES WINDHAM.

_September 28th._--No fresh news, but a letter from Charles Windham (the hero of the Redan), in which he gives an account of that affair which corresponds very closely with the report of Russell, the 'Times' Commissioner. He gives a poor character of the generals in the Crimea, and says the troops, except some of the old soldiers, behaved by no means well. The whole thing seems to have been grievously mismanaged on our part.[1]

I have had much correspondence with the Duke of Bedford about Lord John and his case, which the Duke says, now that he has heard it all and seen the correspondence, he thinks much better than he had supposed, and that John was meditating the publication of a defence of himself, but could not determine in what shape it should be. I earnestly advised him to dissuade his brother from publishing anything, as he could not make an effectual defence of his conduct without making revelations that would be held unjustifiable and cause all sorts of ill humour and recriminations, and render his position, both personal and political, worse than it now is. Some communications in a friendly spirit have taken place between Lord John and Clarendon, but I can see that there is still existing a great deal of soreness and a not very cordial feeling between them. I have been reading Lord Grey's speech on the war, which he has published in a pamphlet, and I think it excellent and unanswerable. I long to write something on the subject and to add to Grey's argument on other parts of the case. I do not care about the unpopularity of doing so, and am only deterred from taking so much trouble by feeling that it would be unavailing, and that to attempt to make the public listen to reason and take a dispassionate view of the various questions connected with the war on which they have been so completely bamboozled and misled, would be like Mrs. Partington and her mop.

[Footnote 1: The British attack on the Redan failed, whilst the French attack on the Malakoff succeeded, to the extreme annoyance of the British army and public: but in his assault Colonel Charles Windham (as he then was) displayed the most signal bravery, which in some measure redeemed the credit of the British forces. This circumstance gave him an amount of popularity and distinction which his rank in the army and his previous services did not altogether justify.]

_October 2nd._--I have been in correspondence for a long time with Charles Windham, and had a letter from him written a few days after his great exploit at the Redan. I showed his letter to Granville, and he to Palmerston and Clarendon. I was glad to find every disposition to reward his bravery and conduct, and Henry Grenfell told me they had made him a general and were going to give him a division, as Markham and Bentinck are both coming home. This was no more than was reasonable to expect; but great was my astonishment when I was told yesterday morning that they were thinking of making Windham _Commander-in-Chief_, and I was asked to give any of his letters to me, from which extracts might be made to show to the Cabinet to enable them to judge of his character and talents. I offered to get his journal and letters, from his wife and others, which I did; but at the same time I said I thought it a hazardous speculation to raise him _per saltum_ from being a colonel and brigadier to the command of a great army. B---- said this was true, but the matter pressed and they did not know where to find a man. This morning I gave him some papers, and he then told me Simpson had resigned, and it was necessary to come to some immediate decision. Codrington would have been undoubtedly chosen if he had not apparently (for as yet we know very little) failed in what he had to do on the 8th. With regard to Windham what the Cabinet will do I know not. I suggested that it would be better to try him first in his command of a division and go on if possible for some time longer, but Simpson's resignation compels them to come to some immediate decision, and they do not like to appoint another man _pro tempore_. I still incline to the opinion that Windham's extraordinary promotion from so low to so high a rank, and his passing over the heads of such multitudes of officers, will occasion great jealousy, envy, heart-burning, and resentment, besides casting a slur on the whole service in the eyes of the world; for when every general in the service is passed over, and a colonel appointed who has never done any but subordinate work, and shown extraordinary bravery and coolness, but no aptitude for command, because he has had no opportunity of so doing, every general and superior colonel now on service will feel himself insulted and a stigma cast upon him. I am not at all sure Windham may do better than any other man would do, but to justify such an appointment he ought to do far better; and, though he is a sharp fellow enough, I have never seen anything in him which indicates real genius or a superior intellect.

_October 7th._--At Woburn, where the Duke and I had much conversation about Lord John and his position, and he showed me a great many of John's letters to him about his quarrel with the Government and the conduct of Clarendon to him, which he cannot forgive, though they are again corresponding with ostensible amity. The Duke owns that he does not see how John can take any prominent part in public life, at least for the present, and indeed considers it probable that his career as a statesman is closed; and, what is more, John seems to consider it so himself and to acquiesce in his position, though what his secret aspirations may be none can tell. He has, however, determined to give up his house in town, which looks like retirement. I strongly advised that John should go to the House of Lords, where he might still act a dignified and useful part; his position in the House of Commons would be very anomalous and disagreeable, and it is not at all certain that he would not lose his seat in the event of an election--very doubtful whether he would be returned again for the City; and the thing most to be deprecated is that he should stand and be defeated for that or any other place. The Duke neither agreed nor dissented, but he owned what I said of John's position was true, though he still thought he would be very reluctant to quit the House of Commons for ever, and retire to the Lords.

DEATH OF SIR ROBERT ADAIR.

On Tuesday last, after a few days' illness, Sir Robert Adair died at the age of 93, having preserved his faculties, and especially his remarkable memory, quite to the last. He was the last survivor of the intimate friends of Fox and of the political characters of his times. He had entertained a warm affection for Fox, and he preserved a boundless veneration for his memory; and the greatest pleasure he had was in talking of Fox and his contemporaries, and pouring forth to willing circles of auditors anecdotes and reminiscences of the political events with which he had been mixed up, or of which he had been cognisant in the course of his long life. This he did in a manner quite remarkable at so advanced an age, and he never had any difficulty in finding listeners to his old stories, which were always full of interesting matter, and related to the most conspicuous characters who flourished during the reigns of George III. and George IV.

_October 29th._--All last week at Newmarket, and probably very nearly for the last time as an owner of racehorses, for I have now got rid of them all, and am almost off the turf, after being on it more or less for about forty years. I am sorry that I have never kept any memoranda of my turf life, which might have been curious and amusing; for I have known many odd characters, and lived with men of whom it would have been interesting to preserve some record. Perhaps I may one day rake together my old recollections and trace the changes that have taken place in this racing life since I first knew it and entered into it, but I cannot do so now.

Since I last wrote, the war has proceeded without any great events, but with the same progress and success on the side of the Allies which have marked the contest throughout and have excited my wonder. The most important of these successes has been the defeat of Mouravieff at Kars by the Turks under English officers, which, after what Clarendon told me, was the very last thing I expected. The death of Molesworth has made a difficulty for Palmerston; I knew so little of him that I cannot pretend to say anything about him. That of Lord Wharncliffe touches me more nearly; but this is more matter of private regret than of public concern, as the part he played in life was never important, though very honourable. The appointment of Codrington seems to be well taken, more perhaps because nobody can suggest a better choice than from any peculiar merits of the new Commander-in-Chief.[1]

[Footnote 1: The Right Hon. Sir William Molesworth, Secretary of State for the Colonial Department, died on October 22, 1855, aged 45. John, 2nd Baron Wharncliffe, also died on the 22nd. General Sir William Codrington had been appointed to the command of the British forces in the Crimea, on the resignation of General Simpson.]

LORD STANLEY.

_London, November 7th._--The event of the last few days has been the offer of the Colonial Office to Lord Stanley and his refusal to take it. When Palmerston proposed it to him he said that he could not give an answer without consulting his father, which _implied_ that he would accept if his father gave his consent. He posted down to Knowsley, from whence he had just come, and entered the room where Derby was playing at billiards, and much to his astonishment saw his son suddenly return. 'What on earth,' he cried out, 'has brought you back so soon? Are you going to be married, or what has happened to you?' Stanley said he wanted to speak to him, and carried him off. What passed is not known, but of course he advised his son to refuse office. He wrote to Palmerston in very becoming terms, and, I hear, a very good letter. He had, if not consulted, certainly imparted to Disraeli what passed, for Disraeli told me so. I think he judged wisely in declining, for it would have been an awkward thing to pass at once from the Opposition side of the House to the Treasury Bench, and take high office in a Cabinet without having any political or personal connexion with a single member of it, and to which he has hitherto been opposed generally, although upon many subjects his opinions have much more coincided with theirs than with those of the party to which he still nominally belongs. He is young and can afford to wait, and his position and abilities are certain before long to make him conspicuous and to enable him to play a very considerable part. He is exceedingly ambitious, of an independent turn of mind, very industrious, and has acquired a vast amount of information. Not long ago, Disraeli gave me an account of him and of his curious opinions--exceedingly curious in a man in his condition of life and with his prospects. Last night Lord Strangford (George Smythe) talked to me about him, expressed the highest opinion of his capacity and acquirements, and confirmed what Disraeli had told me of his notions and views even more, for he says that he is a real and sincere democrat, and that he would like if he could to prove his sincerity by divesting himself of his aristocratic character and even of the wealth he is heir to. How far this may be true I know not: if it be true, it may possibly be ascribed in some degree to his own consciousness that the realisation of his ideology is impossible, and at all events time will show whether these extreme theories will not be modified by circumstances and reflexions. Nothing appears to me certain but that he will play a considerable part for good or for evil, but I cannot pretend to guess what it will be. At present he seems to be more allied with Bright than with any other public man; and, as his disposition about the war and its continuance is very much that of Bright, it would have been difficult for him to take office with Palmerston, whose whole political existence, or at least his power, rests on the cry for war and its active and energetic prosecution.

_London, November 12th._--I saw John Russell on Saturday morning to have a talk with him about the state of affairs and the questions of peace and war. There still exists a great deal of bitterness between him and Clarendon, he thinking that he has been very ill used by Clarendon and others of his former colleagues. He is particularly sore about their allowing so many things to be said to his disadvantage concerning the Vienna negotiations which they know to be untrue, without saying a word to contradict them and cause justice to be done to him, particularly in reference to the matter of Austria having engaged to join if Russia refused her last proposals. George Grey denied that Austria had so engaged, and none of the others ever admitted it, whereas it was perfectly true. Lord John and I do not agree as to the earlier part of the question, because he was originally a party to the war while I was always against it. He was, however, rather against it quite at first, being, as he told me, with Aberdeen, and against Clarendon and Palmerston, who were all along inclined to go to war. He had been at the Mansion House dinner the night before, where he was very ill received, though he would not allow it; he prefers to flatter himself that the signs of his unpopularity were not so strong and marked as everybody else who was present thought them.

I likewise saw Disraeli and had some talk with him. He told me that he had now nothing whatever to do with the 'Press,' and that the series of articles in that paper on the war and in favour of peace were all written by Stanley. He said he had received a letter from Stanley to this effect: 'My dear Disraeli,--I write to you in confidence to tell you that I have been offered and have refused the Colonial Office. As it is due to Lord Palmerston to keep his offer secret, I have told nobody of it but yourself and my father, and I beg you not to mention it to anybody.' On receiving this he said he began to concoct an answer in his mind of rather a sentimental kind, and conveying his approbation of the course he had taken, but before he put pen to paper he got the 'Times' with Stanley's letter to Sir----, which was tantamount to a disclosure of the whole thing, on which he wrote instead, 'Dear Stanley,--I thank you for your letter, but I had already received your confidential communication through your letter to Sir----.'

I have occasion to see Disraeli very often about ----'s affairs, about which he has been wonderfully kind and serviceable, and on these occasions he always enters on some political talk, and in this way we have got into a sort of intimacy such as I never thought could have taken place between us.

MR. LABOUCHERE TAKES OFFICE.

_London, November 24th._--After his failure with Stanley, Palmerston applied to Sidney Herbert, who went to Broadlands, but, finding that he and Palmerston could not agree upon the subject of war and peace (the details of their disagreement I do not know), he declined the offer of the Colonial Office. Palmerston then sent for Labouchere, who accepted.[1] He called on me the day after and told me he had been to Broadlands, that Palmerston had told him everything about the state of affairs and his own views and opinions, and, as he could find nothing therein to object to, he had accepted the office. As Labouchere is certainly moderate, this would indicate more moderation on the part of Palmerston than Sidney Herbert found in him, unless Labouchere and Sidney Herbert take totally dissimilar views of affairs.

After this, a few days ago, I had a long conversation with George Lewis, who told me that France and Austria were endeavouring to bring about peace, and that communications were going on between France and our Government on the subject, and he said, moreover, that Palmerston was by no means so stiff and so bent on continuing the war as was generally supposed. This intelligence appeared to me to explain what I could not understand in his communications with Sidney Herbert and Labouchere; for, if the Emperor has really intimated to our Government his determination to try and make peace, Palmerston must needs come down from his very high horse and evince a disposition to go along with our Imperial ally, who has got the whole game in his own hands, and whom we must perforce follow when he is determined to take his own course. Then our warlike propensities may be probably restrained by the alarming prospect of financial difficulties which Lewis sees looming in the distance. He said to me, 'I am sure I do not know how I shall provide ways and means next year, for the enormously high prices will be a great blow to consumption, and the money market is in a very ticklish state.' I said, 'You will have to trust to a great loan, and ten per cent. income tax;' to which he assented. They have now patched up the Government, by getting Baines to take the Duchy of Lancaster with a seat in the Cabinet--a very respectable man, who cannot speak, and who will be of no use to them. Neither he nor Labouchere will add much to their strength, but they are both very unexceptionable appointments. I think that, in spite of the undiminished violence of the press, the prevailing opinion is that there is the beginning of a change in the public mind, and an incipient desire for peace; and I agree with Disraeli, who thinks that, when once the current has fairly turned, it will run with great rapidity the other way.

[Footnote 1: The Right Hon. Henry Labouchere, born in 1798, a highly respected member of the Whig party, who filled many offices in Liberal Governments. He was created Baron Taunton on his retirement from office in 1859, and died in July 1869.]

PROPOSALS FOR PEACE.

_November 27th._--At length there really does appear to be a prospect of putting an end to this odious war, and my conjectures of a few days ago are assuming the shape of realities. Yesterday morning I met George Lewis in the Park and turned back and walked with him to the door of his office, when he told me the exact state of affairs. I had received a letter from the Duke of Bedford in the morning, who said that Charles Wood, who was at Woburn, had told him the statement in the 'Press' a week ago was so substantially accurate that they must, he thought, have received their information from some French official source. This was in itself confirmatory of all I had already inferred and believed. Lewis's story was this: The Austrians have framed a proposal for peace which they offer to send to Russia, and, if she refuses it, Austria engages to join the Allies and to declare war. The Emperor Napoleon agrees with Austria, and is resolved not to go on with the war if peace can be arranged on the Austrian terms. This resolution he has communicated to us, and invited us to accede thereto; Walewski's letters are not merely pressing, but even peremptory. It is in fact a second edition of the Vienna Conference and proposals, with this difference, that, while on the last occasion the Emperor knocked under to us and reluctantly agreed to go on with the war, he is now determined to go on with it no longer, and requires that we should defer to his wishes. Our Government are aware that they have no alternative, and that nothing is left for them but to acquiesce with a good grace and make the best case they can for themselves here, the case being that the Emperor is determined to make peace, and that we cannot carry on the war alone. This was the amount of Lewis' information, to which he added the expression of his disgust at the pitiful figure we cut in the affair, being obliged to obey the commands of Louis Napoleon, and, after our insolence, swagger, and bravado, to submit to terms of peace which we have already scornfully rejected; all which humiliation, he justly said, was the consequence of our plunging into war without any reason and in defiance of all prudence and sound policy. Afterwards I saw Charles Villiers and had a talk with him. He told me Clarendon had been sent for on Sunday to Windsor in a great hurry to meet Palmerston there. The Queen had received a letter from the Emperor, brought by the Duke of Cambridge, which no doubt contained in a private and friendly shape to her the communications which Walewski had already made officially to the Government and she wanted to know what answer she should send to it. Charles Villiers told me that Palmerston had already thrown out a feeler to the Cabinet to ascertain if they would be willing to carry on the war without France, but this was unanimously declined. I can hardly imagine that even Palmerston really contemplated such a desperate course.

_November 29th._--I met Sidney Herbert last night. He seems to know what is going on and thinks we shall have peace; he only doubts whether the terms will be such as Russia will accept, for he is not convinced, as I am, that Austria has already settled that with Russia. He told me that, when Palmerston offered him office, he had not received the French communication, and was ignorant that it was coming.

_December 4th._--At The Grange the last four days, where I found everybody in total ignorance of what is passing about peace, except Sidney Herbert, who told me that the plan is _neutralisation_. On coming back yesterday I met Lord Malmesbury just come from Paris; he is supposed to be the person who supplied all its information to the 'Press' paper, and I believe it was he. He confirmed the Emperor's desire for peace, but thought it very doubtful whether Russia would accept the terms of the Allies. He told me likewise that Pélissier has sent word he is in a fix, as he cannot advance or expel the Russians from their positions; and James Macdonald told me the Duke of Cambridge is going again to Paris to represent us at a grand council of war to be held there, to decide on future operations. If it were not that the Allies seem infallible and invincible, and the Russians unable to accomplish anything, offensive or defensive, I should augur very ill from this council of war, for nothing can be worse than to have a set of men at Paris forming plans to be executed by another set in the Crimea who have had no share in the deliberations.

This morning the Duke of Bedford writes me word that Westmorland tells him he has heard from Clarendon the state of affairs, and the answer we have sent to France, and he augurs ill of peace, as he thinks there can be no agreement with Russia on such terms; and the 'Morning Post,' which has long been quite silent about war or peace, has this morning an article which is evidently a regular Palmerstonian manifesto, decidedly adverse to any hope of peace, for it is certain that Russia will continue the war, _coûte que coûte_, rather than submit to such conditions as the 'Morning Post' says we are to impose on her. I am persuaded Palmerston and Clarendon will do all they can to prevent peace being made on any moderate terms, and the only hope is that the Emperor Napoleon may take the matter into his own hands and employ a _douce violence_ to compel us to give way.

THE PROPOSALS MODIFIED.

_December 5th._--I met Charles Villiers last night, who told me a good deal of what is going on, and cleared up some matters. The Austrian proposal transmitted here by the Emperor Napoleon was considered by the Cabinet and sent back with amendments--that is, it was made more stringent. The Emperor consented to send it so amended to Vienna, and it remains to be seen what course Austria will take--whether she will send it in its present shape to Russia or adhere to her own edition, and whether, if she does send it, she will (supposing it to be rejected) join the Allies and declare war. The latter, I think, she will not do, nor be bound to do. Next is the question what the Emperor Napoleon will do if Austria declines to adopt the amended version, or if Russia should reply she would take the original proposal, but not our amendments. The Emperor is certainly very anxious to make peace, and when he is bent upon a thing he generally does it, and my own opinion and hope is that he will refuse to give way to us _now_ as he did last May. It is universally admitted that every man in France desires peace ardently. There is, Charles Villiers tells me, great uneasiness amongst Palmerston's adherents, and some idea that, if peace cannot be had on the terms he has insisted on, he will be no party to making it, and if the majority of the Cabinet are for taking the original terms proposed, supposing the Emperor Napoleon again to press their acceptance, that he will resign, throw himself on the popular enthusiasm for the war, and leave his colleagues to make an unpopular peace. If Palmerston was forty instead of seventy he would probably do this; but he has not time to wait for fresh combinations and to speculate on distant chances, so he will probably consent to make peace if he is obliged by France to do so, and trust to fortune to enable him to reconcile Parliament and the country to it. This is rendered more likely by Disraeli having made a communication to the Government that he and Stanley will be ready to support any peace they may now make.

_December 6th._--I saw George Lewis yesterday, who told me the state of affairs so far as he recollects it; but it is evident that he takes but a secondary interest in the details of diplomacy, however anxious he may be about the results, and what passed shows the extreme difficulty of keeping clear of mistakes, even when one's information is derived from the best sources. He said he did not think Russia would accept the offered terms, and Clarendon thought not also. The terms which it will be most difficult for her to swallow are the neutralisation of the Black Sea, which as worked out is evidently worse than limitation, for she is to have no fortress and no arsenal there, so that she will, in fact, be quite defenceless, while the other Powers can at any time collect fleets in the Bosphorus and attack her coasts when they please. Then she is to cede half Bessarabia to the Turks, including the fortress of Ismail, the famous conquest of Souvaroff when he wrote to the Empress Catherine, '_L'orgueilleuse Ismailoff est à vos pieds_;' and they are not to repair Bomarsund, or erect any fortress on the Aland Isles. The alterations we made in the scheme sent to us were not important, and what surprised me much was, the terms, instead of being tendered by Austria, were concocted at Paris by Walewski and the Emperor--at least so Walewski asserts, but there must I think be some incorrectness in this, for it is impossible to doubt that the Emperor and Austria really concerted them between themselves, though Walewski may have had a hand in the matter in some way. However, the terms are gone or going directly to St. Petersburg. I earnestly hope they may be accepted, be they what they may. Russia is to be asked whether she will take them Yes or No, and, upon the preliminaries being signed, hostilities will cease. I asked if Russia might not accept as a basis, and negotiate as to modification and details, but Lewis professed not to understand how this is, or whether her acceptance generally would or not bind her to _all_ the conditions precisely as they are set forth. He knows nothing in fact of diplomacy and its niceties and operations.

M. DE CAVOUR AT WINDSOR.

Lord John Russell met Clarendon at Windsor Castle,[1] but refused to hear what Clarendon offered to tell him of the state of the negotiation; he thought he should compromise his own independent action if he did. He says, 'Were peace to be made on the four points newly explained and enlarged, I would do nothing but applaud and support.' The only men Lord John communicated with at Windsor were Cavour and Azeglio. He writes: 'I asked Cavour what was the language of the Emperor of the French; he said it was to this effect: France had made great efforts and sacrifices, she would not continue them for the sake of conquering the Crimea; the alternative was such a peace as can now be had by means of Austria, or an extension of the war for Poland,' etc. The Sardinians, Ministers and King, are openly and warmly for the latter course. I suspect Palmerston would wish the war to glide imperceptibly into a war of nationalities, as it is called, but would not like to profess it openly now. I am convinced such a war might suit Napoleon and the King of Sardinia, but would be very dangerous for us in many ways. Cavour says if peace is made without anything being done for Italy, there will be a revolution there. Clarendon is incredulous.

[Footnote 1: The King of Sardinia, Victor Emmanuel, arrived in England on the 30th November, accompanied by his Minister, M. de Cavour. Lord Clarendon and Lord John Russell were invited to Windsor to meet the King.]

THE KING OF SARDINIA.

_London, December 11th._--I met Clarendon at the Travellers' on Friday evening, and had a talk with him. He did not seem inclined to enter much into the question of peace and war, but he told me that Buol declared most solemnly that he had had no communication with Russia about _the terms_, and that he had only slight hopes that peace might be made. Of the terms themselves Clarendon did not say a word. He talked a great deal about the King of Sardinia, and gave me an account of his conversations both with the King and Cavour. He thinks well of the King, and that he is intelligent, and he has a very high opinion indeed of Cavour, and was especially struck with his knowledge of England, and our Constitution and constitutional history. I was much amused, after all the praises that have been lavished on Sardinia for the noble part she has played and for taking up arms to vindicate a great principle in so _unselfish_ a manner, that she has after all a keen view to her own interest, and wants some solid pudding as well as so much empty praise. The King asked Clarendon what the Allies meant to do for him, and whether he might not expect some territorial advantage in return for his services. Clarendon told him this was out of the question, and that, in the state of their relations with Austria, they could hold out no such expectation; and he put it to the King, supposing negotiations for peace were to take place, and he wished his pretensions to be put forward by us, what he would himself suggest that a British Minister could say for him; and the King had the candour to say he did not know what answer to give. Cavour urged the same thing, and said the war had already cost them forty millions of francs, instead of twenty-five which they had borrowed for it and was the original estimate, and they could only go on with it by another loan and fresh taxes, and he did not know how he should propose these to the Chambers without having something advantageous to offer to his own country, some Italian acquisition. They would ask for what object of their's the war was carried on, and what they had to gain for all their sacrifices and exertions. Clarendon said they must be satisfied with the glory they had acquired and the high honour their conduct had conferred on them; but Cavour, while he said he did not repent the part they had taken, thought his countrymen would be very little satisfied to have spent so much money and to continue to spend more without gaining some Italian object. They complained that Austria had, without any right, for a long time occupied a part of the Papal territory, and suggested she should be compelled to retire from it; but Clarendon reminded him that France had done the same, and that this was a very ticklish question to stir.

The King and his people are far better satisfied with their reception here than in France, where, under much external civility, there was very little cordiality, the Emperor's intimate relations with Austria rendering him little inclined towards the Piedmontese. Here the Queen was wonderfully cordial and attentive; she got up at four in the morning to see him depart. His Majesty appears to be frightful in person, but a great, strong, burly, athletic man, brusque in his manners, unrefined in his conversation, very loose in his conduct, and very eccentric in his habits. When he was at Paris his talk in society amused or terrified everybody, but here he seems to have been more guarded. It was amusing to see all the religious societies hastening with their addresses to him, totally forgetting that he is the most debauched and dissolute fellow in the world; but the fact of his being excommunicated by the Pope and his waging war with the ecclesiastical power in his own country covers every sin against morality, and he is a great hero with the Low Church people and Exeter Hall. My brother-in-law said that he looked at Windsor more like a chief of the Heruli or Longobardi than a modern Italian prince, and the Duchess of Sutherland declared that, of all the Knights of the Garter she had seen, he was the only one who seemed as if he would have the best of it with the Dragon.

My hopes of peace wax fainter. Everybody seems to think there is no chance of Russia accepting our terms, or of her proposing any that the Allies would accept. Lewis told me yesterday evening that he expected nothing, and that Russia had now made known (but in what way he did not say) that she was disposed to treat. Meanwhile Palmerston continues to put articles in the 'Morning Post' full of arrogance and _jactance_, and calculated to raise obstacles to peace. I told Lewis so, and he said it was very foolish, and that he held very different language in the Cabinet, but this is only like what he did in '41, when he used to agree to certain things with his colleagues and then put violent articles in the 'Morning Chronicle' totally at variance with the views and resolutions of the Cabinet. Labouchere told me that he thought the condition of the cession of Ismail ought never to have entered into the terms proposed to Russia.

_December 14th._--My hopes of peace, never very sanguine, are now completely dashed, for Lewis told me last night that he thought the terms were at last pretty well agreed upon between England, France, and Austria. I was greatly surprised, for I thought they had been agreed upon long ago and must be by this time on their way to St. Petersburg. I said so; and he replied, 'Oh no, they are only just on the point of being settled.' It was quite extraordinary, he said, how eager Palmerston was for pursuing the war. I gathered from him that our Government has been vehemently urging that of France, through Cowley, to be firm in pressing the most stringent terms on Russia, and particularly not to consent to any negotiation, and to compel her to accept or refuse. I said this was not reasonable, and that we had no right to propose the terms as an ultimatum. That, he replied, was exactly what we were doing, that Cowley was very urgent with the Emperor, who appeared to be intimidated by him, and that he was evidently very much in awe of England and afraid of having any difference with us. I said I could not believe that the Emperor would not leave himself a loophole, and if, as was most probable, Russia declined the terms, but offered to negotiate, that he would agree to that course, which, however, Lewis clearly thought he would not do against our inclination. I was greatly surprised to hear this, because I had a strong impression that the Emperor, when he really desired anything very much (as I believe that he did this peace), would obstinately persevere in it; and it seems so obviously his interest to gratify his own people rather than to be led by this country, that I was persuaded he never would consent to this proposal being _un dernier mot_, and thus to ensure the failure of the attempt. Palmerston, who is the most obstinate man alive in pressing any object he has once set his mind upon, was sure to press the French Government with the utmost vehemence and pertinacity as soon as he found there was a chance of making them yield to his will.

MACAULAY'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

_December 17th._--This morning the two new volumes of Macaulay's History came forth. The circumstances of this publication are, I believe, unprecedented in literary history; 25,000 copies are given out, and the weight of the books is fifty-six tons. The interest and curiosity which it excites are prodigious, and they afford the most complete testimony to his immense popularity and the opinion entertained by the world of his works already published. His profits will be very great, and he will receive them in various shapes. But there is too much reason to apprehend that these may be the last volumes of his history that the world will see, still more that they are the last that will be read by me and people of my standing. Six years have elapsed since the appearance of the first volumes, and these two only advance about ten years. He announced at the outset that he meant to bring down the history of England to a period within the memory of persons still living, but his work has already so much expanded, and of course will do so still more from the accumulation of materials as he advances, that at his present rate of progress he must live much beyond the ordinary duration of human life, and retain all his faculties as long, to have any chance of accomplishing his original design; and he is now in such a precarious state of health that in all human probability he will not live many years. It is melancholy to think that so gifted an intellect should be arrested by premature decay, and such a magnificent undertaking should be overthrown by physical infirmities, and be limited to the proportions of a splendid fragment. He is going to quit Parliament and to reside in the neighbourhood of London.

This morning the 'Morning Post' has published the terms which are offered by the Allies and are now on their way from Vienna to St. Petersburg. They were already pretty well known, but it is the first time that Palmerston (for the article is evidently his own) has announced them so openly and distinctly, and they state _totidem verbis_ that it is an Ultimatum which is sent to St. Petersburg. I believe this course to be unprecedented, and it is certainly unfair. If Russia had applied to the Allies and expressed a desire for peace, if she had asked them on what terms they would consent to terminate the war, it would have been quite fair and reasonable that they should have stated the precise conditions, adding if they pleased that they would consent to no others and to no change whatever in them, though it may be doubted if it would be wise to be thus peremptory. But to send to Russia and propose to her to make peace, and accompany the proposal with an Ultimatum and an announcement that they would listen to no remonstrances or suggestions, much less any alterations, and that she must say Yes or No at once, is a stretch of arrogance and dictation not justified by the events of the war and the relative conditions of the belligerents, or by any usage or precedent that I ever heard of.

Reports are very rife of the distressed state of Russia and of her inability to make head any longer against the Allies, but very little is really known of the condition of the country, of its remaining resources, and of the disposition of the people. Nobody can doubt that the terms are deeply humiliating to the pride of such a Power, which has been long accustomed to stand in so high a position and hold such lofty language; and if she consents to accept the offered terms, it must be that her enormous losses have really incapacitated her for going on with the war, and that her Government is conscious that the next campaign will be still more disastrous to her than the two preceding ones have been. I have very little doubt that Palmerston has hastened to publish these terms in hopes that they may find acceptance with a considerable part of the public here, and that they may the more tightly bind the Emperor Napoleon, and, in the event of Russia sending any conditional acceptance and proposing to treat, that he may be unable to enter into any negotiation whatever. It has surprised me that he should have so completely given way to Palmerston as he has done.

DEATH OF MR. ROGERS.

_December 21st._--The poet Rogers died two days ago at the age of 93. I have known him all my life, and at times lived in a good deal of intimacy with him, but for some years past he had so great an aversion to me that I kept away from him and never saw anything of him.[1] He was an old man when I first made his acquaintance between thirty and forty years ago, or probably more. He was then very agreeable, though peculiar and eccentric; he was devoured by a morbid vanity, and could not endure any appearance of indifference or slight in society. He was extremely touchy, and always wanted to be flattered, but above all to be listened to, very angry and mortified when he was not the principal object in society, and provoked to death when the uproarious merriment of Sydney Smith or the voluminous talk of Macaulay overwhelmed him and engrossed the company; he had a great friendship nevertheless for Sydney Smith, but he never liked Macaulay. I never pretended, or could pretend, to be a rival to him, but I was not a patient and attentive listener to him, and that was what affronted him and caused his dislike to me as well as to anyone else of whom he had the same reason to complain. His voice was feeble, and it has been said that his bitterness and caustic remarks arose from the necessity of his attracting attention by the pungency of his conversation. He was undoubtedly a very clever and accomplished man, with a great deal of taste and knowledge of the world, in the best of which he had passed his life. He was hospitable, generous, and charitable, with some weaknesses, many merits, and large abilities, and he was the last survivor of the generation to which he belonged.

[Footnote 1: Samuel Rogers, the author of the _Pleasures of Memory_ (which was published in 1792), was born at Stoke Newington in 1762. His father was a banker, and he remained a partner in the bank all his life. He died on December 18, 1855.]

_The Grove, December 23rd._--Came here for Christmas. No other guests but the family. We have had some talk about the peace propositions and other odds and ends. Clarendon told me that Walewski and Persigny are bitter enemies, and their estrangement the greater because Walewski is a corrupt jobber and speculator, and Persigny an honest man. When Drouyn de Lhuys resigned the Foreign Office, much to the Emperor's annoyance and regret, he did not know where to find a man, and he determined to appoint Walewski because he knew not whom else to take. Not choosing to send the offer to him through Drouyn, he employed Cowley, and requested him to telegraph in cypher to Clarendon a request that Cowley would send for Walewski and communicate to him the Emperor's intentions. A curious shift to be reduced to, but throughout the Eastern Question Cowley has acted the part of Foreign Minister to the Emperor almost as much as that of Ambassador.

Lewis this morning recapitulated to me the exact circumstances of the overtures from France about peace. It arrived here on a Saturday; was submitted to the Queen on Sunday, who approved of it; on Monday (or Tuesday) it was read to the Cabinet, when no discussion took place, but Palmerston shortly said, without giving any reasons, that he thought we must agree to the proposal, which was generally concurred in. The next day there was another Cabinet, when they examined in detail all the articles and discussed them. A few alterations were made, none of which were of any importance except the Bomarsund question. The cession of Bessarabia and the neutralisation of the Black Sea both formed part of the original proposal, and the latter was particularly insisted upon, and reasoned out at considerable length by France, for it turns out that the Emperor has never had so much in view the object of _making peace_ (not expecting, nor ever having expected, that these proposals would be accepted) as the object of securing the active cooperation of Austria, which he expects to do. Austria engages, if Russia refuses the conditions, to put an end to diplomatic relations between the two Empires, and Napoleon thinks this cannot fail to end in hostilities, and to this extension of the alliance he looks for bringing the war to a conclusion. He thinks, moreover, that, when Austria has declared war, Russia will attack her defenceless frontier, and that as any attack upon Austria will compel the whole of Germany to assist her and to take part in the war against Russia, this offer will lead to Prussia and the whole of the German States being engaged on the side of the Allies, and that such a confederacy cannot fail to bring the war to a successful issue, because Russia would be absolutely incapable of offering any resistance to it. This is a new view of the policy and motives of France, but I very much doubt if the whole of the Emperor's scheme will be realised. Even though Austria may take up arms, it is probable that Russia will act strictly on the defensive, and will avoid giving any cause to the German States to depart from their neutrality. We both agreed that the conduct of Austria is quite inexplicable, and that Russia will never forgive her for the part she has acted and is acting now.

CRITICISMS ON THE WAR.

_The Grove, December 24th._--George Lewis and I have been walking and talking together all the morning. He is fully as pacific as I am, and entertains exactly the same thoughts that I do, of the egregious folly of the war, of the delusion under which the English nation is labouring, and of the wickedness of the press in practising upon the popular credulity in the way it has done. He seems to like to talk to me on this subject, because he can talk freely to me, which he could hardly do with any of his own colleagues, still less in any other society. This morning he again recurred to the circumstances of the negotiations now going on, and he gave me an account of the transaction which puts the whole thing in a very ridiculous light, which would be very comical if it were not so very tragical. 'Think,' he said, 'that this is a war carried on for the independence of Turkey, and we, the Allies, are bound to Turkey by mutual obligations not to make peace but by common consent and concurrence. Well, we have sent an offer of peace to Russia of which the following are among the terms: We propose that Turkey, who possesses one half of the Black Sea coast, shall have no ships, no ports, and no arsenals in that sea; and then there are conditions about the Christians who are subjects of Turkey, and others about the mouths of the Danube, to which part of the Turkish dominions are contiguous. Now in all these stipulations so intimately concerning Turkey, for whose independence we are fighting, Turkey is not allowed to have any voice whatever, nor has she ever been allowed to be made acquainted with what is going on, except through the newspapers, where the Turkish Ministers may have read what is passing, like other people. When the French and Austrian terms were discussed in the Cabinet, at the end of the discussion someone modestly asked whether it would not be proper to communicate to Musurus (the Turkish Ambassador in London) what was in agitation and what had been agreed upon, to which Clarendon said he saw no necessity for it whatever; and indeed that Musurus had recently called upon him, when he had abstained from giving him any information whatever of what was going on. Another time, somebody suggesting in the Cabinet that we were bound to Turkey by treaty not to make peace without her consent, Palmerston, who is a great stickler for Turkey, said very quietly that there would be no difficulty on that score; in point of fact, the Turk evidently

'Stands like a cypher in the great account.'

_The Grove, December 26th._--Since I have been here Clarendon has resumed all his old habits of communication and confidence with me, has told me everything and shown me everything that is interesting and curious. I wish I could remember it all. Such fragments as have remained in my memory I will jot down here as they recur to me. Here are letters from Seymour at Vienna describing his good reception there, gracious from the Court, and cordially civil from the great society, especially from Metternich who seems to have given the _mot d'ordre_. Metternich talked much to Seymour of his past life and recollections, complimented him for his reports of conversations with the Emperor Nicholas, and said that many years ago the Emperor had talked to him (Metternich) about Turkey in the same strain, and used the same expression about '_le malade_' and '_l'homme malade_,' when Metternich asked him '_Est-ce que Votre Majesté en parle comme son médecin ou comme son héritier_?' Also letters from Bloomfield (Berlin) and from Buchanan (Copenhagen) with different opinions as to the probability of Russia accepting or refusing--the former for, the second against; some curious letters from Cowley, full of his indignation against Walewski; the quarrels of Persigny and Walewski; the perplexity of the Emperor, his desire for peace, his hopes that Russia may lend a favourable ear to the proposals; Cowley's suspicions of Walewski, and in a smaller degree of the Emperor himself, especially of His Majesty's communications with Seebach, the Saxon Minister, and not impossibly through him with St. Petersburg.

A curious anecdote showing the strange terms the parties concerned are on: One day Cowley was with Walewski (at the time the question of terms was going on between France and Austria) and the courier from Vienna was announced. Walewski begged Cowley, who took up his hat, not to go away, and said he should see what the courier brought. He opened the despatches and gave them to Cowley to read, begging him not to tell the Emperor he had seen them. In the afternoon Cowley saw the Emperor, who had then got the despatches; the Emperor also gave them to Cowley to read, desiring him not to let Walewski know he had shown them to him!

DISPUTES OF FRENCH MINISTERS.

There has been a dreadful _rixe_ between Walewski and Persigny. I have forgotten exactly the particular causes, but the other day Persigny went over to Paris partly to complain of Walewski to the Emperor. He would not go near Walewski, and told the Emperor he should not; the Emperor, however, made them both meet in his Cabinet the next day, when a violent scene took place between them, and Persigny said to Walewski before his face all that he had before said behind his back; and he had afterwards a very long conversation with the Emperor, in which he told him plainly what danger he was in from the corruption and bad character of his _entourage_, that he had never had anything about him but adventurers who were bent on making their own fortunes by every sort of infamous _agiotage_ and speculation, by which the Imperial Crown was placed in imminent danger. 'I myself,' Persigny said, 'am nothing but an adventurer, who have passed through every sort of vicissitude; but at all events people have discovered that I have clean hands and do not bring disgrace on your Government, like so many others, by my profligate dishonesty.' 'Well,' said the Emperor, 'but what am I to do? What remedy is there for such a state of things?' Persigny replied that he had got the remedy in his head, but that the time was not come yet for revealing his ideas on the subject.

As we went to town, we talked over the terms proposed to Prussia. Clarendon said he could not understand the policy of Austria nor what she was driving at. She had entered very heartily into plans of a compulsory and hostile character against Russia, who would never forgive her, especially for proposing the cession of Bessarabia. I said I thought the most objectionable item of their propositions (and I believed the most unprecedented) was the starting by making it an Ultimatum. He replied that it was Austria who tendered the Ultimatum, and that it was not exactly so, the sharp edge having been rounded off by the mode to be adopted, which was as follows: Esterhazy was to communicate the project to the Cabinet of St. Petersburg, and say he had reason to believe that the Allies would be willing to make peace on those terms; he was then to wait nine days. If in that time the Russian Government replied by a positive negative, he was, as soon as he got this notification, to quit St. Petersburg with all his embassy; if no answer was returned at the end of nine days, he was to signify that his orders were to ask for an answer in ten days, and if at the end thereof the answer was in the negative, or there was no answer, he was to come away, so that there was to be no Ultimatum in the first instance. 'But,' I said, 'what if Russia proposed some middle course and offered to negotiate?' 'His instructions were not to agree to this.' 'Well,' said I, 'but when you abstain from calling this an Ultimatum, it is next to impossible that Russia should not propose to negotiate, and if she does beg that her proposal may be conveyed to the Allies before everything is closed, it will be very difficult to refuse this; and is it not probable that France and Austria will both vote for entering into _pourparlers_; and, if they do, can you refuse?' He seemed struck with this, and owned that it was very likely to occur, and that, if it did, we should be obliged to enter into negotiation. So probable does this contingency appear, that there has already been much discussion as to who shall go from hence to the Congress, if there is one. I said he had much better go himself. He expressed great dislike to the idea, but said the Queen and Prince wished him to go, and that Cowley urged him also, and was desirous of going with him. I see he has made up his mind to prevent any negotiation if he can, and, if it is unavoidable, to take it in hand.

NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE.

This afternoon Persigny arrived from Paris and came directly to the Foreign Office. The Emperor had given him an account of his interview with M. de Seebach,[1] who had gone off directly afterwards _viâ_ Berlin to St. Petersburg. The Emperor told him to do all he could to induce the Russian Government to consent to the terms, and to assure them that, if they did not, it would be long enough before they would have any other chance of making peace; that he wished for peace, but that above everything else he was desirous of maintaining unimpaired his alliance and friendship with England; that England had most fairly and in a very friendly spirit entered into his difficulties and his wishes; that she was a constitutional country with a Government responsible to Parliament, and that he was bound in honour to enter in like manner into the obligations and necessities of this Government. They had had some differences of opinion which were entirely reconciled; they were now agreed as one man, and no power on earth should induce him to separate himself from England or to take any other line than that to which he had bound himself in conjunction with her. This announcement, which the Emperor made with great energy, carried consternation to the mind of Seebach, and he resolved to lose no time in getting to St. Petersburg to make known the Emperor's intentions.

It is thus evident that the Emperor's mind is divided between his anxiety to make peace and his determination to have no difference with England; but his desire for peace must be great when, as Clarendon assures me, it was not without difficulty that he was deterred from ordering his army away from the Crimea. The feeling here towards the Emperor seems to be one of liking and reliance, not unaccompanied with doubt and suspicion. He is not exempt from the influence of his _entourage_, though he is well aware how corrupt that is, and he listens willingly to Cowley and to whatever the English Government and the Queen say to him, but his own people eternally din into his ears that we are urging him on to take a part injurious to his own and to French interests for our own purposes, and because our Government is itself under the influence of a profligate press and a deluded people; and although he knows that those who tell him this are themselves working for their own private interests, he knows also that there is a great deal of truth in what they say. His own position is very strange, insisting upon being his own Minister and directing everything, and at the same time from indolence and ignorance incapable of directing affairs himself, yet having no confidence in those he employs. The consequence is that a great deal is ill done, much not done at all, and a good deal done that he knows nothing about, and he is surrounded with quarrels, jealousies, and struggles for influence and power both between his own Ministers and between them and the foreign diplomatists at his Court.

LORD PALMERSTON'S POSITION.

We have had a good deal of talk about Palmerston. Clarendon says nothing can go on better than he and Palmerston do together. They seldom meet except in the Cabinet, and their communications go on by notes between Downing Street and Piccadilly. Palmerston, much more moderate and reasonable than he used to be, sometimes suggests things or expressions in despatches, which Clarendon always adopts or declines according to his own ideas, and Palmerston never insists. Palmerston is now on very good terms with the Queen, which is, though he does not know it, greatly attributable to Clarendon's constant endeavours to reconcile her to him, always telling her everything likely to ingratiate Palmerston with her, and showing her any letters or notes of his calculated to please her; but he says it is impossible to conceive the hatred with which he is regarded on the Continent, particularly all over Germany. An agent of his (Clarendon's) who, he says, has supplied him with much useful information, has reported to him that he finds the old feeling of antipathy to Palmerston as strong and as general as ever, and that it is as much on the part of the people as of the Governments, both thinking they have been deceived and thrown over by him.

[Footnote 1: M. de Seebach was the Saxon Minister in Paris, through whom many of these communications passed.]

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

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