CHAPTER XIV.

Results of the Elections--Defeat of Cobden and Bright--The War with China--Death of Lady Ashburton--Lord Palmerston's Success--The Handel Concerts--M. Fould in London--The Queen and Lord Palmerston--The Indian Mutiny--The Prince Consort--Death of General Anson--The State of India--Royal Guests--The Government of India--Temper of the House of Commons--Debates on India--Royal Visits--The Divorce Bill--The Divorce Bill in the House of Lords--Close of the Session--A Dukedom offered to Lord Lansdowne--Death of Mr. Croker--History of the Life Peerages--The Indian Mutiny and the Russian War--The Struggle in India--Reinforcements for India--The Queen's Attention to Public Business--Attacks on Lord Canning--Big Ships and Big Bells--Lord Canning defended--Courteous Behaviour of Foreign Nations--The Capture of Delhi and Lucknow--Difficulties in India--Depression in the City--Speculations on the Contingency of a Change of Government--The East India Company and the Government--Exaggerated Reports from India--A Queen's Speech--The Bank Charter Act.

_April 4th, 1857._--The elections are drawing to a close. It is strange that what ought to be a matter of fact is made matter of opinion, for while the Whigs of Brooks's and the Liberals generally claim an immense gain, the Conservatives and the Carlton Club and their organs only admit an inconsiderable loss. There can be no doubt, however, that a great many Conservatives have lost their seats, and a great many Radicals and Palmerstonians have been elected. At Brooks's they insist that it will be a very good Parliament, and they are throwing their caps up at the Government successes; but it seems to me that they are reckoning somewhat rashly, and counting as gains to the Government many men who will be found more troublesome and unmanageable than the moderate men over whose defeats they are exulting. But as to gains and losses, and all calculations, I agree with the late Speaker, Lord Eversley, who said to me the other day that nothing could be so fallacious as all such calculations, and that it is impossible to know the result till Parliament meets, and it is seen how the new members group themselves. The most striking and remarkable feature of this election is the complete rout of the Peelites and of the Manchester men, the Old Leaguers. For a long time past it has been absurd to talk of the Peelites as a Party. There were not a dozen men in the House of Commons who could by any possibility be so designated, and in fact only a few formerly members of Sir Robert Peel's Government or of Lord Aberdeen's, who still kept together, and were called Peelites, because they would not be either Whigs or Tories or Radicals. Now the designation must fall to the ground. Half these men have lost their seats; of the rest, some repudiate the association and announce their independence; some join, or are ready to join, Derby and the Tories; others openly declare their adhesion to Palmerston; and thus in one way or another there are no _Peelites_ left.

[Sidenote: DEFEAT OF COBDEN AND BRIGHT.]

The fate of Bright, Cobden, and Co. exhibits a curious example of the fleeting and worthless nature of popular favour. They who were once the idols of millions, and not without cause, have not only lost all their popularity, but are objects of execration, and can nowhere find a parliamentary resting place. No constituency will hear of them. The great towns of Lancashire prefer any mediocrities to Bright and Cobden. It seems that they had already ceased to be popular, when they made themselves enormously unpopular, and excited great resentment, by their opposition to the Russian War, the rage for which was not less intense in Manchester and all the manufacturing district than in the rest of the kingdom. This great crime, as it appeared in the eyes of their constituents, was never pardoned, and their punishment was probably determined while the war was still going on. As the favour of Cobden fell, so that of Palmerston rose, and his visit to Manchester a few months ago raised the favour to a pitch of enthusiasm. When Cobden therefore originated the China motion, he no doubt gave great offence, and he sealed his own condemnation. Bright has been long abroad, and has done nothing lately that any one could take umbrage at, but his opposition to the war has not been forgotten or forgiven, and when Cobden appeared at Manchester as his representative, and made a very able speech in his behalf, it is highly probable that his advocacy was in itself fatal to his re-election. It seems quite clear that another man, Sir Elkanah Armytage, lost his election at Salford solely because he was strongly supported and recommended by Cobden.

_May 1st._--Parliament met yesterday, the last (Irish) election having ended only a few days before. Denison's election as Speaker went off very quietly. The prevailing opinion now seems to be that this will prove a good Parliament, on the whole safe and moderate, and an improvement on the last. All the news we get from China, or in reference to Chinese affairs, only proves the more strongly how foolish and mischievous the conduct of Bowring was, and what a sound and correct judgement the vote of the House of Commons expressed upon it. It is impossible to conjecture what the result of the war now began will be, but is quite certain that we shall have to wade to our ends through all sorts of horrors and atrocities, which it does not become us to inflict, though the Chinese are a savage, stupid, and uninteresting people, who in some degree deserve the sufferings that will be inflicted on them, though perhaps not at our hands.

George Anson[1] writes to me from India that there is a strange feeling of discontent pervading the Indian Army from religious causes, and a suspicion that we are going to employ our irresistible power in forcing Christianity upon them. It is not true, but the natives will never be quite convinced that it is not, as long as Exeter Hall and the missionaries are permitted to have _carte blanche_ and work their will as they please in those regions.

Footnote 1: [General Anson was at this time Commander-in-Chief in India. He died there shortly after the outbreak of the great military revolt, of which the letter mentioned in the text was the first premonitory indication.]

[Sidenote: DEATH OF LADY ASHBURTON.]

_May 10th._--I passed the last week at Wynnstay for Chester races; a very fine place. The events that have occurred in the course of the last ten days are the opening of the Manchester Exhibition, very successfully; the first proceedings of the new Parliament, which promise a quiet session and a peaceful reign to Palmerston, who has put the House in good humour by promising a Reform Bill next year; the death of the Duchess of Gloster, and, what interests the world still more, the death of Lady Ashburton.[1] Milnes has written a short, but very fair and appropriate notice of her for the 'Times' newspaper, which of course was intended as a eulogy, and not as a _character_, with the bad as well as the good that could be said of her. Lady Ashburton was perhaps, on the whole, the most conspicuous woman in the society of the present day. She was undoubtedly very intelligent, with much quickness and vivacity in conversation, and by dint of a good deal of desultory reading and social intercourse with men more or less distinguished, she had improved her mind, and made herself a very agreeable woman, and had acquired no small reputation for ability and wit. It is never difficult for a woman in a great position and with some talent for conversation to attract a large society around her, and to have a number of admirers and devoted _habitués_. Lady Ashburton laid herself out for this, and while she exercised hospitality on a great scale, she was more of a _précieuse_ than any woman I have known. She was, or affected to be, extremely intimate with many men whose literary celebrity or talents constituted their only attraction, and while they were gratified by the attentions of the great lady, her vanity was flattered by the homage of such men, of whom Carlyle was the principal. It is only justice to her to say that she treated her literary friends with constant kindness and the most unselfish attentions. They, their wives and children (when they had any), were received at her house in the country, and entertained there for weeks without any airs of patronage, and with a spirit of genuine benevolence as well as hospitality. She was in her youth tall and commanding in person, but without any pretension to good looks; still she was not altogether destitute of sentiment and coquetry, or incapable of both feeling and inspiring a certain amount of passion. The only man with whom she was ever what could be called _in love_ was Clarendon, and that feeling was never entirely extinct, and the recollection of it kept up a sort of undefined relation between them to the end of her life. Two men were certainly in love with her, both distinguished in different ways. One was John Mill, who was sentimentally attached to her, and for a long time was devoted to her society. She was pleased and flattered by his devotion, but as she did not in the slightest degree return his passion, though she admired his abilities, he at last came to resent her indifference, and ended by estranging himself from her entirely, and proved the strength of his feeling by his obstinate refusal to continue even his acquaintance with her. Her other admirer was Charles Buller, with whom she was extremely intimate, but without ever reciprocating his love. Curiously enough, they were very like each other in person, as well as in their mental accomplishments. They had both the same spirits and cleverness in conversation, and the same quickness and drollery in repartee. I remember Allen well describing them, when he said that their talk was like that in the polite conversation between Never Out and Miss Notable. Her faults appeared to be caprice and a disposition to quarrels and _tracasseries_ about nothing, which, however common amongst ordinary women, were unworthy of her superior understanding. But during her last illness all that was bad and hard in her nature seemed to be improved and softened, and she became full of charity, good-will, and the milk of human kindness. Her brother and her sister-in-law, who, forgetting former estrangements, hastened to her sickbed, were received by her with overflowing tenderness, and all selfish and unamiable feelings seemed to be entirely subdued within her. Had she recovered she would probably have lived a better and a happier woman, and as it is she has died in charity with all the world, and has left behind her corresponding sentiments of affection and regret for her memory. I was once very intimate with her, but for a long time past our intimacy had dwindled into ordinary acquaintance.

Footnote 1: [Harriet Mary, eldest daughter of the sixth Earl of Sandwich, was married in 1828 to William Bingham Baring, afterwards second Baron Ashburton. One son, the only issue of this marriage, died in infancy. Lady Ashburton was distinguished for her wit, her social qualities, and her hospitality, which made Bath House and the Grange the centres of a brilliant literary society, well known by the records of it in the Life of Mr. Carlyle and the Autobiography of Sir Henry Taylor.]

_June 3rd._--There is really nothing to write about, but it is evident that the session is going to pass away in the most quiet and uneventful manner. Never had Minister such a peaceful and undisturbed reign as Palmerston's. There is something almost alarming in his prodigious felicity and success. Everything prospers with him. In the House of Commons there is scarcely a semblance of opposition to anything he proposes; a speech or two here and there from Roebuck, or some stray Radical, against some part of the Princess Royal's dowry, but hardly any attempt at divisions; and when there have been any, the minorities have been so ridiculously small as to show the hopelessness of opposition. The only men who might be formidable or troublesome seem to have adopted the prudent course of not kicking against the pricks. John Russell evinces no hostility, and accepts Hayter's letters. Gladstone hardly ever goes near the House of Commons, and never opens his lips. There seems to be a disposition in both Houses to work and bring legislative reforms to a conclusion. The House of Lords has been very busy with the Divorce Bill, and there has been a good deal of vigorous debating, particularly among Lyndhurst, the Bishops of Oxford and London, and Campbell and Wensleydale, who hate each other, and have interchanged blows.

[Sidenote: THE HANDEL CONCERTS.]

_June 20th._--All this past week the world has been occupied with the Handel Concerts at the Crystal Palace, which went off with the greatest success and _éclat_. I went to the first ('Messiah'), and the last ('Israel in Egypt'); they were amazingly grand, and the beauty of the _locale_, with the vast crowds assembled in it, made an imposing spectacle. The arrangements were perfect, and nothing could be easier than the access and egress, or more comfortable than the accommodation. But the wonderful assembly of 2,000 vocal and 500 instrumental performers did not produce musical effect so agreeable and so perfect as the smaller number in the smaller space of Exeter Hall. The volume of sound was dispersed and lost in the prodigious space, and fine as it undoubtedly was, I much prefer the concerts of the Harmonic Society.

Fould[1] came over from Paris the other day for the purpose of going to see the Manchester Exhibition. He was received with great distinction. The Queen invited him to Windsor for Ascot, and Granville gave him a breakfast here to meet the financial notabilities whom he wanted to talk to. We had the Chancellor of the Exchequer and an ex-Chancellor (C. Wood), the Governor of the Bank, and the ex-Governor of the Bank, _cum multis aliis_. He said that their financial affairs in France were in a very healthy state, which is contrary to the general impression here.

[Sidenote: THE QUEEN AND LORD PALMERSTON.]

I met Clarendon in the Park a day or two ago, and had some talk with him in the friendly and intimate tone of former times, which rejoiced my heart, because it proved that though circumstances and accidental habits had impeded our intercourse, there exist still the same feelings of regard towards me in his mind, and if our intercourse was restored again, he would probably fall into the same habit of confidence and communication which formerly existed, but which has lately been completely interrupted. He talked of Palmerston, his position and his health, and his _rapports_ with the Queen, who is now entirely reconciled to him. She treats him with unreserved confidence, and he treats her with a deference and attention which have produced a very favourable change in her sentiments towards him. Clarendon told me that Palmerston had lately been ailing in a way to cause some uneasiness. He had had a bad leg with a sore that it had been found difficult to heal, but he appears to have got over it. This might have been very serious. Clarendon talked one day to the Queen about Palmerston's health, concerning which she expressed her anxiety, when Clarendon said she might indeed be anxious, for it was of the greatest importance to her, and if anything happened to him he did not know where she could look for a successor to him, that she had often expressed her great desire to have a _strong_ Government, and that she had now got one, Palmerston being a really strong Minister. She admitted the truth of it. Clarendon said he was always very earnest with her to bestow her whole confidence on Palmerston, and not even to talk to others on any subjects which properly belonged to him, and he had more than once (when, according to her custom, she began to talk to him on certain things) said to her, 'Madam, that concerns Lord Palmerston, and I think your Majesty had better reserve it for your communications with him.' He referred to the wonderful change in his own relations with Palmerston, that seven or eight years ago Palmerston was full of hatred and suspicion of him, and now they were the best of friends, with mutual confidence and good will, and lately when he was talking to Palmerston of the satisfactory state of his relations with the Queen and of the utility it was to his Government that it should be so, Palmerston said, 'And it is likewise a very good thing that she has such boundless confidence in her Secretary for Foreign Affairs, when after all there is nothing she cares about so much.'

Footnote 1: [M. Achille Fould, who had made a large fortune as a banker in Paris, was one of the ablest and most honourable of the Ministers of Napoleon III. He was much attached to this country, where he had many friends, and he encouraged the Emperor in that Free Trade policy which led to the Commercial Treaty of 1860, and strengthened the ties between England and France.]

_June 28th._--I went last Saturday week to Strawberry Hill.[1] A large party of people, the Persignys, the Speaker and Lady Charlotte, etc.; it is an enjoyable villa, with its vast expanse of grass, profusion of flowers, and fine trees affording ample shade. Horace Walpole's ridiculous house is unaltered, but furbished up and made comfortable. I regret to hear that Denison does not make a very good Speaker, and that the Government think they made a mistake in putting him into the Chair. It was Palmerston's doing, who would hear of nobody else. There are several men among the Opposition who would probably have been fitter, but with the great majority the Government have they were in a manner compelled to take a man from their own party. Denison says it is owing to the laxity of Palmerston himself if things do not go on so well as they might in the House of Commons.

At Hatchford the past week, and when I got to town I was apprised of the disastrous news from India,[2] the most serious occurrence that has ever been in that quarter, not only from the magnitude of the events themselves as the telegraph conveys them, but because it is quite impossible to estimate the gravity of the case, nor what the extent of it may be. Till we receive the details it is idle to speculate upon it.

The Queen has made Prince Albert 'Prince Consort' by a patent ordered in Council, but as this act confers on him neither title, dignity, nor privileges, I cannot see the use of it. He was already as high in England as he can be, assuming the Crown Matrimonial to be out of the question, and it will give him no higher rank abroad, where our acts have no validity.

Footnote 1: [Strawberry Hill was the residence of the Countess of Waldegrave, to whom it had passed on the death of her second husband, the Earl of Waldegrave. It was then, and continued to be until her death in 1879, the most hospitable villa in the neighbourhood, and the constant resort of all that was distinguished in politics and in letters.]

Footnote 2: [The Indian mutiny broke out at Meerut on Sunday, 10th May, but the details were not known in England till nearly six weeks later. General Anson died at Kurnaul on the 27th May.]

[Sidenote: THE MUTINY IN INDIA.]

_July 15th._--For the last three weeks or more all public interest and curiosity have been absorbed in the affairs of India and the great Mutiny that has broken out there, and which has now assumed such an alarming character. I had intended to take some notice of this, and of other matters which time and the hour have brought forth; but, according to my bad custom, I kept putting it off, till at last all other things were driven out of my mind by the news which so unexpectedly reached us on Saturday last of the death of George Anson from a sudden attack of cholera. He was the oldest and most intimate friend I had, and almost the last surviving associate of my youth. I reserve for another moment to say a word or two of a man who, without great abilities or a great career, was too conspicuous a member of society to be passed over without some notice.

The alarm created here by the Indian news is very great, and Ellenborough (reckoned a great authority on Indian matters) does his best to increase it. The serious part of it is that no one can tell or venture to predict what the extent of the calamity may be, and what proportions the mischief may possibly assume. It is certain that hitherto the Government and the East India Company have been in what is called a fool's paradise on the subject. They have been so long accustomed to consider our Empire there as established on so solid a foundation, and so entirely out of the reach of danger, that they never have paid any attention to those who hinted at possible perils, and I don't think anybody ever foresaw anything like what has occurred, and they were disinclined to adopt any of the precautionary recommendations which would have been attended with expense, and the Press, and the public who are always led by the Press, took the same easy view of the subject. While the Russian War was going on a clamour was raised against Government for not calling away _all_ the British troops in India and sending them to the Crimea, and those who went mad about the Crimean War would willingly have left India without a single European regiment, and have entrusted all our interests to the fidelity and attachment of the Native army. Though our Government was willing enough to enter into anything that the passion of the multitude suggested, they were not so insane as all that; but as it is, we may consider it most providential that the mutiny did not show itself during the Russian, or indeed during the Persian war. If it had happened while we were still fighting in the Crimea, we could not have sent out the force that would have been indispensable to save India. At the present moment the interest of the public is not greater than its apprehensions and alarm. Rumours of every sort are rife, generally of the most disastrous kind, and though the mails only come at a fortnight's interval, and it is physically impossible that any intelligence should reach us during those intervals, the public curiosity is fed and excited by continual rumours, which generally circulate stories of fresh disasters and dangers. There is a disposition in some quarters to make if possible poor Anson the scapegoat, and, now that he is dead and cannot defend himself, to attribute to him and to his misconduct or _laches_ the misfortunes that have befallen us. I know not what he may have written home to the civil and military authorities; but, if I may judge by the tenor of his correspondence with me, I should infer that he has warned the Government against leaving India without adequate protection, and constantly urged the expediency of sending out fresh troops. I have long expected that the day would come when we should find reason for regretting our expansive policy and our going on with continual conquests and annexations.

We are overrun with Royalties present and prospective. Besides our Princess Royal's bridegroom, there are here the King of the Belgians' son and daughter, Prince Napoleon, the Queen of the Netherlands, and the Montpensiers _as Spanish Princes_, in which capacity Persigny has had to pay his court to them, and they have had to receive the Ambassador of Louis Napoleon.

_July 19th._--Although it is impossible that any fresh accounts should have come from India, reports are rife of fresh insurrections and of all sorts of evils. Amidst all the bad news from India the good fortune is that so many of the Native troops, and not only the military, but the whole population of the Punjaub, have shown so much fidelity and attachment to the British Government. It is the strongest testimony to the wisdom and justice of our rule, and of the capacity of the natives to appreciate the benefits they derive from it, for beyond all question the introduction of European civilisation into the East, and the substitution of such a government as that of England for the cruel, rapacious, and capricious dominion of Oriental chiefs and dynasties, is the greatest boon that the people could have had conferred upon them. Our administration may not have been faultless, and in some instances it may have been oppressive, and it may have often offended against the habits and prejudices of the natives, but it is certainly very superior in every respect, and infinitely more beneficent than any rule, either of Hindoos or Mahometans, that has ever been known in India. However, people much more civilized and more sagacious than the Indians do not always know what is best for them, or most likely to promote their happiness, so it will not be surprising if these disorders should continue to increase, supposing the means of immediately and effectually suppressing them should be found wanting.

[Sidenote: TEMPER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS]

For the last week the House of Commons has presented a more animated appearance than during the preceding months of this dull and passive session. Gladstone has reappeared and proved that his oratorical powers have not been rusted by his retirement, and John Russell has come forth showing his teeth, but not yet attempting to bite the Government. Palmerston, evidently nettled by these two, as well as by Roebuck and Disraeli, has spoken with considerable asperity, and with an insolent air of superiority and defiance, which has hitherto not been usual to him, and which has given no little offence. There are evident symptoms of an approaching cessation of that humble and deferential submission to his will which has hitherto distinguished his servile majority, and though it is not clear in what way they will assert their independence, those who watch the symptoms think that he will not find the same passive disposition in the next session, and if anything should go seriously wrong there would be open and general rebellion. Up to the present time, however, there is nothing to be seen but a certain amount of restlessness and a disposition to find fault, and the Government seem still to command the same enormous majorities, and Palmerston to be as powerful as ever, if he is not quite so popular. A violent effort is made by a number of Liberals in the House of Commons to renew the contest with the House of Lords for the admission of the Jews (the newspapers contain all the details of this attempt), which cannot be pursued without mischievous results, and will fail in its object.

_August 2nd._--The Civil War in India, for such it may be called, supersedes every other object of interest, and the successive mails are looked for with the utmost impatience. The Government, though anxious and nervous, are not disheartened, and as far as we can judge the authorities in India have not been deficient in the emergency. Canning writes in good spirits, and all accounts agree in reporting that he has done his work hitherto very well. The discussions in Parliament have been on the whole creditable. Disraeli came down to the House of Commons with a long set oration, in which he entered at great length into the causes of the present confusion, and the misgovernment and bad policy which had engendered it, and although his speech was able, and probably contained a great deal that was true, it was deemed (as it was) mischievous and ill-timed, and very ill received by the House. He was rebuked with some asperity by Tom Baring, his own political adherent, and by Lord John Russell, who declared it to be the duty of the House to give every support to the Government in such a crisis. In the House of Lords Ellenborough was as mischievous and ill-disposed as Disraeli in the Commons, and was no better received. Granville administered to him a severe lecture, by no means ill done, and the House of Lords went with Granville.

[Sidenote: THE PRINCE CONSORT.]

Last week was passed at Goodwood, with fine weather, and the usual _fête_ with the unusual accompaniment of foreign Royalties. First the Comte de Paris for a night, and then the Queen of the Netherlands for two. The young French Prince is good-humoured and unpretending, the Queen is very gay, natural, and pleasing. I renewed an acquaintance I had made with her at Ems many years ago. It is a new feature in the present day the flitting about of Royal personages. Besides these I have named, the Prince Napoleon has been finishing a tour through England and part of Ireland by a visit to Osborne, and the Emperor and Empress are coming to Osborne for a week. Prince Albert has been to Brussels for the marriage of the Princess Charlotte, where he seems to have made his first experiment of the effect to be obtained from his newly-acquired title of 'Prince Consort of England,' as I see that he signed the marriage contract immediately after the Queen Marie Amélie, and before an Austrian Archduke who was present.

_August 12th._--I was at Stoke on Saturday and Sunday, and went over to see Bulstrode; surprised to find the place less _délabré_, and more capable of being restored than I expected. I passed the first fifteen years of my life there, and don't know whether the place or myself is the most changed. To feed our curiosity during the intervals between the Indian mails, the newspapers, the 'Times' especially, collect all the letters they can obtain, and publish them day by day. We have had a success in China, but I always tremble for the consequences of our successes there, lest we should be seduced or compelled into making permanent settlements and further extensions of our Empire in the East. Parliament is approaching its close, and the Government ends the session with unimpaired strength, but depending entirely on Palmerston's life, for there is nobody else capable of leading the House of Commons. There are growing symptoms of independence on the part of the House in the shape of adverse votes every now and then, principally on matters of estimates.

_August 20th._--I have read over the few preceding pages, and am disgusted to find how barren they are of interest and how little worth preserving. They show how entirely my social relations have ceased with all those friends and acquaintances from whom I have been in the habit of drawing the information which the earlier parts of this journal contain, and consequently my total ignorance of all political subjects. There was a time when I should have had a great deal to say upon passing events of interest or importance, but all that is gone by.

The visit of the Emperor Napoleon at Osborne seems to have been spent in discussing the affairs of the Principalities and patching up the quarrels of the Ambassadors at Constantinople. As far as outward appearances go we do not appear to have played a very brilliant part, and the Opposition papers think they have got a good case on which to twit Palmerston, but as I do not know what has really taken place, I abstain from expressing any opinion upon the conduct of our Government.

The session of Parliament has been prolonged beyond all expectation by the vehement and acrimonious debates upon the Divorce Bill in the House of Commons, which has been very ably and vigorously fought by Bethell on one side _cum quibusdam aliis_, and Gladstone, Walpole, and Heathcote on the other. The Opposition hoped by constant obstructions to wear out the patience of Palmerston and to get the Bill put off till next session. Palmerston, however, was firmly resolved not to submit to this, and when they found that he was so determined, they contented themselves with insisting upon certain amendments, which Palmerston thought it prudent to consent to, and the spirit of compromise and concession which the Government have lately evinced has softened in some degree the asperity of the debates, and at last enabled the Government to carry the Bill. Bethell, who has fought the battle with great ability, is not a little disgusted at the concessions to which he has been forced to consent, and has done so with a solemn protest and warning with regard to the exemption clause for the clergy, which the Government have very reluctantly consented to, but on which Granville assures me they had no option, and that if they had refused to give way they would have infallibly been beaten upon it. I dined at Richmond with Lord Lansdowne yesterday, to meet the Duchess of Orleans and the Comte de Paris. I had never seen her before. She is plain, but pleasing, and with very good manners.

_August 21st._--The Divorce Bill having passed the House of Commons, went up to the House of Lords yesterday, when Lord Redesdale attempted to strangle it by a dodge, which he was obliged to give up in consequence of the vigorous attacks made upon him by the Ministerial side, who were supported even by St. Leonards, and particularly by an indignant and effective speech, made by Lord Lansdowne, who, in spite of weakness and gout, from which, he was actually suffering, spoke with extraordinary spirit. If Redesdale had persisted, and gone to a division, the Government would probably have been beaten, and the labour of half the session would have been thrown away. As it is, there is to be a fight on Monday next, the result of which depends on which side can get the greatest number to come up from the country to vote.

[Sidenote: CLOSE OF THE SESSION.]

_September 6th._--Went to Worsley on Thursday last, in order to go from thence to see the Manchester Exhibition, which is very pretty, but appears diminutive after the London and Sydenham Exhibitions. Its principal attraction is in the excellent collection of pictures; it will be a failure in a pecuniary point of view, but there are plenty of rich people in Manchester able and willing to bear the expenses. The session closed very quietly, though not without some grumbling. Some complained that Parliament should not continue to sit while the Indian troubles are going on with undiminished force, others that the Queen should go to Scotland; but the Government have brought their labours to a close very prosperously, and Palmerston continues as powerful and as secure as ever. There is no longer the same enthusiasm there was for him, but there is a universal impression that he is indispensable, and on the whole a feeling of satisfaction and confidence in his administration. Even I myself am compelled in candour to acknowledge that he does at least as well as anybody else would be likely to do, and no complaints can justly be made against the Government of any supineness in sending out adequate reinforcements to India. Lewis told me, just as Parliament was prorogued, that they were thoroughly impressed with the gravity of the case, and conscious of the danger, and that they were going to send out every man they could muster here or in the Colonies, and they have already despatched troops in great numbers with remarkable celerity.

They have made some Peers, of whom the most conspicuous is Macaulay, and I have not seen or heard any complaints of his elevation. Lord Lansdowne has declined the offered Dukedom, which I rather regret, for such a public recognition of his character and services during a long life would have been graceful and becoming, and the report of it elicited from all quarters expressions of satisfaction at such an honour having been so worthily conferred.

While Macaulay is thus ascending to the House of Peers, his old enemy and rival Croker has descended to the grave, very noiselessly and almost without observation, for he had been for some time so withdrawn from the world that he was nearly forgotten. He had lived to see all his predictions of ruin and disaster to the country completely falsified. He continued till the last year or two to exhale his bitterness and spite in the columns of the 'Quarterly Review,' but at last the Editor (who had long been sick of his contributions) contrived to get rid of him. I never lived in any intimacy with him, and seldom met him in society, but he certainly occupied a high place among the second-rate men of his time; he had very considerable talents, great industry, with much information and a retentive memory. He spoke in Parliament with considerable force, and in society his long acquaintance with the world and with public affairs, and his stores of general knowledge made him entertaining, though he was too overbearing to be agreeable. He was particularly disliked by Macaulay, who never lost an opportunity of venting his antipathy by attacks upon him.

[Sidenote: HISTORY OF THE LIFE PEERAGES.]

_Holwood, September 10th._--I came here on Tuesday on a visit to the Chancellor.[1] This beautiful place formerly belonged to Mr. Pitt, and abounds in local recollections of the great Minister in the shape of 'Pitt's Oak,' 'Pitt's Well,' &c. It is close to Hayes, where his father, the great Lord Chatham, lived and died. Nobody is here but Pemberton Leigh.

I asked the Chancellor what was the real history of the Life Peerage last year, and he told me that it originated in his finding great inconvenience from himself and Lord St. Leonards frequently sitting together in the House of Lords without any third, and as St. Leonards invariably opposed his view of every case great injustice was often done to suitors, and he urged on Palmerston the expediency of giving them some assistance. Palmerston said it would be a good opportunity for making some Life Peers. Wensleydale was willing to retire from the Bench and to accept a Life Peerage, so it was determined to create him a Peer for life only, and they did this without the slightest idea that any objection would be made in any quarter. He owned that he regretted this design had not been abandoned at once when the storm of opposition began. I told him that I had no doubt there would have been no opposition if he had imparted the intentions of Government to some of the Law Lords, and obtained their acquiescence, for Lyndhurst would certainly not have objected, having himself told me that he meant to comply with Parke's request to him to introduce him to the House of Lords. The Chancellor said this was very likely true, but that he had never liked the attempt to force it through the House of Lords. He thought the opposition had originated with Campbell, who had probably forgotten that he had recorded his own opinion, in his 'Lives of the Chancellors,' that Life Peerages would be advisable in certain cases.

Footnote 1: [Lord Cranworth at this time occupied Holwood as a summer residence.]

_September 22nd._--I am just returned from Doncaster, Bretby, and Wilby. The Indian mail arrived on Monday last, just as I was starting for Doncaster. The news it brought at first appeared rather good, but when it all came out it seemed so chequered with good and evil, that it produced great despondency. Still it is a curious circumstance (which I have heard no one else remark) that, with all the deep interest universally felt on account of this Sepoy war, not only as it regards our national interests, but out of feeling and sympathy for the vast numbers of our countrymen and women exposed to its horrors and dangers, it does not produce the same degree of enthusiasm as the Crimean War did, in which we had no real interest concerned, and which was only a gigantic folly on our part. People are very anxious about this war, and earnestly desire that the mutiny may be put down and punished, but they regard the war itself with aversion and horror, whereas they positively took pleasure in the war against Russia, and were ready to spend their last guinea in carrying it on. A subscription has been set on foot, but although there never was an occasion on which it might have been expected that vast sums would be subscribed, the contributions have been comparatively small in amount, and it seems probable that a much less sum will be produced for the relief of the Indian sufferers than the Patriotic Fund or any of the various subscriptions made for purposes connected with the Crimean War. I was so struck with the backwardness of the Government in rewarding General Havelock for his brilliant exploits, that I wrote to George Lewis and urged him to press his colleagues to confer some honour upon him and promote him.

I am on the point of starting for Balmoral, summoned for a Council to order _a day of humiliation_.

[Sidenote: VISIT TO SCOTLAND.]

_Gordon Castle, September 27th._--I left town on Tuesday afternoon, and slept that night at York, on Wednesday at Perth, and on Thursday posted to Balmoral, where I arrived between two and three o'clock. Granville, Panmure, and Ben Stanley formed the Council. Granville told me the Queen wished that the day appointed should be a Sunday, but Palmerston said it must be on a weekday, and very reluctantly she gave way. What made the whole thing more ridiculous was, that she gave a ball (to the gillies and tenants) the night before this Council. The outside of the new house at Balmoral, in the Scotch and French style, is pretty enough, but the inside has but few rooms, and those very small, not uncomfortable, and very simply decorated; the place and environs are pretty. In the afternoon I drove over to Invercauld with Phipps. On Friday morning came on here, by post, by rail, and by mail. Without any beauty, this is rather a fine place, and the house very comfortable.

_September 28th._--Went to Elgin to see the fine old ruin of the Cathedral, which is very grand, and must have been magnificent. It was built in the beginning of the thirteenth century, burnt down, and rebuilt in the fourteenth. I see they have done all I wanted to have done for General Havelock. He has got a good service pension, is made Major-General and K.C.B.

_Dunrobin Castle, October 2nd._--I came here from Gordon Castle on Wednesday, by sea from Burghead to the Little Ferry, a very tiresome way of travelling, the delays being detestable. Have long been most desirous of seeing this place, which has quite equalled my expectations, for it is a most princely possession, and the Castle exceedingly beautiful and moreover very comfortable. I start for London to-morrow morning with a long journey before me.

The Indian news of this week as bad and promises as ill as well can be, and I expect worse each mail that comes. We are justly punished for our ambition and encroaching spirit, but it must be owned we struggle gallantly for what we have perhaps unjustly acquired. Europe behaves well to us, for though we have made ourselves universally odious by our insolence and our domination, and our long habit of bullying all the world, nobody triumphs over us in the hour of our distress, and even Russia, who has no cause to feel anything but ill will towards us, evinces her regret and sympathy in courteous terms. Whatever the result of this contest may be, it will certainly absorb all our efforts and occupy our full strength and power so that we shall not be able to take any active or influential part in European affairs for some time to come. The rest of the Great Powers will have it in their power to settle everything as seems meet to them, without troubling themselves about us and our opinions. For the present we are reduced to the condition of an insignificant Power. It is certain that if this mutiny had taken place two years earlier, we could not have engaged at all in the Russian War.

_London, October 6th._--I left Dunrobin after breakfast on Saturday morning, 3rd inst., and arrived in London on Monday (yesterday) at 11 A.M. My journey was after this wise: We (i.e. Mr. Marshall of the Life Guards, an aide-de-camp of Lord Carlisle's, who travelled from Dunrobin with me) got into the mail at Golspie and took our places to Inverness. At Tain, the first stage, we walked on, leaving the coach to overtake us. After walking three miles, and no coach coming, we got alarmed, and on enquiry of the first man we fell in with, found we had come the wrong way, and that the mail had gone on. We started on our return to Tain, and falling in with a good Samaritan in the shape of a banker in that place, who was driving in the opposite direction, he took us up in his gig, and drove us back to the inn, where we took post, and followed the mail to Inverness, where we arrived an hour after it. There we slept, and at five minutes before five on Sunday morning we were in the mail again, and arrived at Perth at six o'clock, making 117 miles in thirteen hours. In twenty minutes more we were in the mail train, and reached Euston Square safe and sound at eleven o'clock, doing the distance between Perth and London in seventeen and a half hours. I have seen a vast deal of very beautiful scenery of all sorts, but the most beautiful of all (and I never saw anything more lovely anywhere) is the road from Blair Athol to Dunkeld, which includes the pass of Killiecrankie.

[Sidenote: REINFORCEMENTS FOR INDIA.]

I fell in with Granville and Clarendon at Watford, and got into their carriage. Of course my first enquiries were about India, when they told me that the general impression was not quite so unfavourable as that produced by the first telegraphic intelligence. Clarendon said that if it was possible for Havelock to maintain himself a short time longer, and that reinforcements arrived in time to save the beleaguered places, the tide would turn and Delhi would fall; but if he should be crushed, Agra, Lucknow, and other threatened places would fall with renewals of the Cawnpore horrors, and in that case the unlimited spread of the mutiny would be irrepressible, Madras and Bombay would revolt, all the scattered powers would rise up everywhere, and all would be lost. We both agreed that the next would probably be decisive accounts for weal or for woe. I told Granville afterwards that I was glad to see they had called out more militia, but regretted they had not done more, when he said that he was inclined to take the same view, from which it was evident to me that there has been difference of opinion in the Cabinet as to the extent to which the calling out of the militia should be carried. I urged him to press on his colleagues a more extensive measure. It is evident that public opinion will back them up in gathering together as great a force as possible in this emergency, regardless of expense, and at all events the course of this Government is not embarrassed and annoyed as that of another Government was three years ago in reference to the Crimean War. As a very true article in a very sensible paper set forth, the difference between then and now is, that the Government of Palmerston has fair play, while that of Lord Aberdeen never had it. The Press, and public opinion goaded and inflamed by the Press, treated the latter with the most flagrant injustice, while Palmerston and the whole Government, out of regard for him, are treated with every sort of consideration and confidence.

_London, October 19th._--I spent last week at Newmarket; the details of the last Indian news which arrived there put people in better spirits, but they were too much occupied with the business of the place to think much about India. Returned to town on Friday, and went to The Grove yesterday; had some talk with Clarendon, who said Palmerston was very offhand in his views of Indian affairs, and had jumped to the conclusion that the Company must be extinguished. At the Cabinet on Friday last he said, 'They need not meet again for some time, but they must begin to think of how to deal with India when the revolt was put down. Of course everybody must see that the India Company must be got rid of, and Vernon Smith would draw up a scheme in reference thereto.' This brief announcement did not meet with any response, and there was no disposition to come to such rapid and peremptory conclusions, but it seemed not worth while to raise any discussion about it then.

Clarendon then talked of the Court, and confirmed what I had heard before, going into more detail. He said that the manner in which the Queen in her own name, but with the assistance of the Prince, exercised her functions, was exceedingly good, and well became her position and was eminently useful. She held each Minister to the discharge of his duty and his responsibility to her, and constantly desired to be furnished with accurate and detailed information about all important matters, keeping a record of all the reports that were made to her, and constantly recurring to them, e.g. she would desire to know what the state of the Navy was, and what ships were in readiness for active service, and generally the state of each, ordering returns to be submitted to her from all the arsenals and dockyards, and again weeks or months afterwards referring to these returns, and desiring to have everything relating to them explained and accounted for, and so throughout every department. In this practice Clarendon told me he had encouraged her strenuously. This is what none of her predecessors ever did, and it is in fact the act of Prince Albert, who is to all intents and purposes King, only acting entirely in her name. All his views and notions are those of a Constitutional Sovereign, and he fulfils the duties of one, and at the same time makes the Crown an entity, and discharges the functions which properly belong to the Sovereign. I told Clarendon that I had been told the Prince had upon many occasions rendered the most important services to the Government, and had repeatedly prevented their getting into scrapes of various sorts. He said it was perfectly true, and that he had written some of the ablest papers he had ever read.

Clarendon said he had recently been very much pleased with the Duke of Cambridge, who had shown a great deal of sense and discretion, and a very accurate knowledge of the details of his office, and that he was a much better Commander-in-Chief than Hardinge. He had been lately summoned to the Cabinet on many occasions, and had given great satisfaction there. Clarendon talked of Vernon Smith, of whom he has no elevated opinion, but still thinks him not without merit, and that at this moment it would not be easy to replace him by some one clearly better fitted. He takes pains, is rather clever, and did better in the House of Commons than anybody gave him credit for last session; he makes himself well informed upon everything about his office, and is never at a loss to answer any questions that are put to him, and to answer them satisfactorily.

[Sidenote: ATTACKS ON LORD CANNING.]

_November 2nd._--Gout in my hand has prevented my writing anything, and adding some trifling particulars to what I have written above. In the meantime has arrived the news of the capture of Delhi, but though we have received it now a week ago we are still unacquainted with the particulars. All the advantages of the electric telegraph are dearly paid for by the agonies of suspense which are caused by the long intervals between the arrival of general facts and of their particular details. It still remains to be seen whether the results of this success turn out on the whole to be as advantageous as it appears to be brilliant. The Press goes on attacking Canning with great asperity and injustice, and nobody here defends him. Though I am not a very intimate or particular friend of his, I think him so unfairly and ungenerously treated that I mean to make an effort to get him such redress as the case admits of, and the only thing which occurs to me is that Palmerston, as head of the Government, should take the opportunity of the Lord Mayor's dinner to vindicate him, and assume the responsibility of his acts. His 'Clemency' proclamation, as it is stupidly and falsely called, was, I believe, not only proper and expedient, but necessary, and I expect he will be able to vindicate himself completely from all the charges which the newspapers have brought against him, but in the meantime they will have done him all the mischief they can. Amongst other things Clarendon told me at The Grove, he said, in reference to Canning's war against the press, that the license of the Indian press was intolerable, not of the native press only, but the English in Bengal. Certain papers are conducted there by low, disaffected people, who publish the most gross, false, and malignant attacks on the Government, which are translated into the native languages, and read extensively in the native regiments, and amongst the natives generally, and that to put down this pest was an absolute necessity.

_November 4th._--I have been speaking to Granville about Canning, and urged him to move Palmerston to stand forth in his defence at the Lord Mayor's dinner on the 9th. This morning he received a very strong and pressing letter from Clanricarde, in the same sense in which I had been urging him, and a very good letter, and this he is going to send to Palmerston. Clanricarde is struck, as I am, with the fact that nobody and no newspaper has said a word in Canning's favour, and he sees as I have done all the damage which has already been done to him by the long and uncontradicted course of abuse and reproach with which the press has teemed.

_Hatchford, November 8th._--Granville made a speech in defence of Canning, at a dinner given at the Mansion House to the Duke of Cambridge. He writes me word it was 'rather uphill work,' and I was told it was not very well received, but nevertheless it produced an effect, and it acted as a check upon the 'Times,' which without retracting (which it never does) has considerably mitigated its violence. It was the first word that has been said for Canning in public, and it has evidently been of great use to him.

The most interesting event during the last few days is the failure of the attempted launch of the big ship (now called 'Leviathan),' and it is not a little remarkable that all the _great_ experiments recently made have proved failures. Besides this one of the ship, there was a few weeks ago the cracking of the bell (Big Ben) for the Houses of Parliament, and not long before that the failure of the submarine telegraph in the attempt to lay it down in the sea. The bell will probably be replaced without much difficulty, but it is at present doubtful whether it will be found possible to launch the ship at all, and whether the telegraphic cable can ever be completed.

_November 10th._--Palmerston pronounced a glowing eulogium on Canning last night at the Lord Mayor's dinner, which will infallibly stop the current of abuse against him. It has already turned the 'Times.' He seems to have been induced to do this by the great pressure brought to bear on him, for otherwise he had no desire to stand forth and oppose public opinion and the press; but Clarendon, Lansdowne, and others all urged him strenuously to support Canning, and he did it handsomely enough. His speech in other respects was an injudicious one, full of _jactance_ and bow-wow, but well enough calculated to draw cheers from a miscellaneous audience.

[Sidenote: PALMERSTON'S SPEECH AT THE MANSION HOUSE.]

_November 11th._--I was told yesterday that Palmerston's swaggering speech would produce a bad effect in France, and those whom I have spoken to agree in thinking it very ill-timed and in very bad taste. It is the more objectionable because he might have said something very different that would have been very becoming and true. He might have observed upon the remarkable good taste and forbearance which had been so conspicuous in all foreign nations towards us, even those who may be supposed to be least friendly to us, or those whom we have most outraged by our violent and insulting language or conduct. It is at once creditable to other countries and honourable to us that no disposition has been shown in any quarter to act differently towards us, or to avail themselves of what they may suppose to be our weakness and difficulty; but, on the contrary, the same consideration and deference has been shown to us as if there had been no Indian outbreak to absorb our resources. Our position in Europe is not only as high as ever, but no one shows any disposition to degrade or diminish it; and while this is a gratifying homage to us and a flattering recognition of our power, it is, or at least ought to be, calculated to inspire us with amicable sentiments, and to be an inducement to us to depart from the insolent and offensive tone which has so long prevailed here, and which has made England universally an object of aversion. It was of course impossible that some expressions should not be given here and there and now and then to such feelings, but on the whole we have no reason to complain, but much the contrary; not even in Russia, whose power and pride we have so deeply wounded, and whom we have so outraged by every topic and expression of insult and injury which the bitterest hatred could suggest, has there been anything like asperity, or any rejoicing over our misfortunes.

_Frognal, November 14th._--The news of the capture of Delhi and the relief of Lucknow excited a transport of delight and triumph, and everybody jumped to the conclusion that the Indian contest was virtually at an end. Granville told me he thought there would be no more fighting, and that the work was done. I was not so sanguine, and though I thought the result of the contest was now secure, I thought we should still have a great deal on our hands and much more fighting to hear of before the curtain could drop. But I was not prepared to hear the dismal news which arrived to-day, and which has so cruelly damped the public joy and exultation. It appears that Havelock is in great danger and the long suffering garrison of Lucknow not yet out of their peril, for the victory of Havelock had not been complete, the natives were gathering round the small British force in vast numbers, and unless considerable reinforcements could be speedily brought up, the condition of the British, both military and civilians, of men, women, and children, would soon again be one of excessive danger.

[Sidenote: SUSPENSION OF THE BANK ACT.]

_The Grove, November 15th._--I talked with Clarendon about the Government letter to the Bank[1] and the state of financial affairs. It is evident that Clarendon knows very little about these questions, and takes very little part in them, but he told me one curious fact. A letter which appeared about a week ago, addressed by the Emperor of the French to his Finance Minister, made a great sensation here. In it the Emperor deprecated all empirical measures for the purpose of meeting the prevailing difficulties, financial and commercial, at Paris. About a week before this Clarendon received a letter from Cowley, who said that he had been conversing with the Emperor and with Walewski on these matters, and Walewski had begged him (by the desire of the Emperor) to write to Clarendon and request the advice of the English Government as to the course he should adopt. Clarendon said that George Lewis was out of town, but as there could be no delay, he sent his private secretary to the Governor and Deputy Governor of the Bank, and requested their advice and opinion. They said it was so important they would go down to the Foreign Office, which they did, when they told Clarendon that their advice was that the Emperor should insist on the Bank of France following as nearly as possible the example of the Bank of England, to keep their rates of discount high, and to avoid all rash experiments of any kind. He wrote to Cowley accordingly, who communicated the answer, and judging from the dates it would appear that the Emperor's letter was the consequence of the advice so tendered. But Clarendon seemed to think that the appearance of the Government letter was rather awkward, and would appear to the French Government very inconsistent with our communication to them. However, it will probably be easy to afford satisfactory explanations on this head. The measure itself here has apparently had the desired success, and they hope the panic and distress will gradually subside, without any more mischief happening. Lewis thinks that the best mode of dealing with Peel's Act will be to retain it, but to give a power to the Queen in Council to relax it in the same manner as has been now twice done by the interposition of Government, whenever an urgent necessity should arise, and I suppose this is the course that will be adopted, though not without a great deal of discussion and diversity of opinion. I have hitherto said nothing about the very curious and important state of affairs in America and in this country, because I am too ignorant of financial questions to talk about them, and I have not been apprised of any facts beyond what all the world knows that it was worth while to record, but this anecdote of the French Government and our own appears sufficiently curious to have a place in this book.

Footnote 1: [On the 12th of November a letter was addressed to the Governors of the Bank of England by Lord Palmerston and Sir George Cornewall Lewis, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, empowering the Bank to exceed the limits prescribed by the Bank Act of 1844 (if necessary) to meet the demands for discount and advances on approved security. This measure was rendered necessary by the extensive failures which had recently taken place, and the severe pressure on the money market. On the 4th November discount had advanced to 9 per cent. The Issue Department made over to the Banking Department two millions in excess of the statutable amount, of which about one million was advanced to the public. On the 1st December the whole amount was repaid. Parliament was summoned to pass a Bill of Indemnity, and public confidence was restored.]

_November 17th._--A council was held yesterday at Windsor to summon Parliament, where I found the ministers much dejected at the news from India. There was a letter from Colin Campbell, expressing great alarm at the position of Outram and Havelock, whom he thought to be in a great scrape, though without any fault of theirs, and there was also a report from Sir John Lawrence that affairs were in a ticklish state in the Punjaub, and expressing a great anxiety for reinforcements, which he had very little prospect of getting; in short the apparently bright sky in which we were rejoicing only a few days ago seems to be obscured by black clouds, and the great result to be as uncertain as ever.

[Sidenote: THE CLAYTON-BULWER TREATY.]

I met Clarendon at dinner this evening, when he told me that affairs were in a bad state in the City, and that Lewis had received very unsatisfactory accounts, so that it is not clear that the Government letter is producing the good which at first seemed to be following from it. There is a good deal of uneasiness in the financial and commercial world and no confidence. The very prudence of the trading community in arresting the course of production is becoming a source of distress, for already vast numbers of people are out of employment, or working short time with reduced wages. The prices of everything are falling, consumption will be diminished, and the revenue must be diminished likewise, while our expenses cannot but be increased by the war. A general cry is getting up for making India pay for the expense of this Indian war, which, even supposing it to be just and reasonable, will make the ultimate settlement of the Indian question more difficult, and a measure little calculated to reconcile the native population to our rule. Then, as if we had not embarrassments enough on our hands, America is going to add to them, for President Buchanan, who hates England with a mortal antipathy, threatens to repudiate the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty upon the pretence that we have not abided by its conditions, and if he proposes to the Senate to declare it null and void, the Senate will do so at his bidding. This would be a flagrant violation of good faith, and of the obligations by which all civilized nations consider themselves bound. If this event happens, it will place us in a very perplexing dilemma, especially after Palmerston's absurd bravado and confident boastings of our power, for we are not in a condition to enable us to take a highline corresponding with that lofty language, and we shall have to eat humble pie and submit to the affront. Hitherto all other nations and governments have behaved to us as well and as respectfully as we could desire, and far more than we deserve; but if America bullies us in one instance, and we are found pocketing the affront, it is by no means improbable that other governments will begin to take advantage of our weakness, and adopt towards us a conduct injurious to our interests or a tone galling to our pride.[1]

Footnote 1: [These apprehensions were unfounded. Mr. Buchanan did not seek to abrogate the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty with reference to the eventual construction of a passage through the Isthmus of Central America, and the neutral character of that undertaking, which is now said to be in progress by the Canal of Panama, has remained unchanged to the present time.]

_November 25th._--Last week I went to Ampthill from Wednesday till Saturday; on Saturday to The Grove, with the Duke of Bedford, the Lewises, Charles Villiers, and Ben Stanley. The Duke of Bedford told me he was very uneasy about his brother John, who seemed in an irritable frame of mind, and disposed to wage war against the Government when Parliament meets.[1] He told Sir George Grey the other day that they would not find him friendly. Clarendon told me of a conversation he had recently had with the Queen _à propos_ of Palmerston's health, concerning which Her Majesty was very uneasy, and what could be done in the not impossible contingency of his breaking down. It is a curious change from what we saw a few years ago, that she is become almost affectionately anxious about the health of Palmerston, whose death might then have been an event to be hailed with satisfaction. Clarendon said she might well be solicitous about it, for if anything happened to Palmerston she would be placed in the greatest difficulty. She said that in such a case she should look to _him_, and expect him to replace Palmerston, on which Clarendon said he was glad she had broached the subject, as it gave him an opportunity of saying what he was very anxious to impress upon her mind, and that was the absolute impossibility of his undertaking such an office, against which he enumerated various objections. He told her that Derby could not form a Government, and if she had the misfortune to lose Palmerston, nothing remained for her to do but to send for John Russell and put him at the head of the Government. She expressed her great repugnance to this, and especially to make him Prime Minister. Clarendon then entreated her to conquer her repugnance, and to be persuaded that it would never do to offer him anything else, which he neither would nor could accept; that the necessity was to have a man who could lead the House of Commons, and there was no other but him; that Lord John had consented to take a subordinate office under Lord Aberdeen, who was his senior in age, and occupied a high position, but he would never consent to take office under him (Clarendon), and the proposal he would consider as an insult. For every reason, therefore, he urged her, if driven to apply to him at all, to do it handsomely, to place the whole thing in his hands, and to give him her full confidence and support. He appears to have convinced her that this is the proper course, and he gave me to understand that if Lord John acts with prudence and moderation all the present Government would accept him for their head, and Clarendon is so anxious that this should be the turn affairs should take, that he urged me to talk to the Duke of Bedford about it, and to get him to exert all his influence with Lord John to conduct himself in such a manner as shall conduce to his restoration to office at a future time. I had only time to exchange a few words with the Duke before we parted the next morning, and we agreed that I should write him a letter on the subject which he may show to Lord John if he sees fit to do so. I went to Wrotham on Monday, and yesterday penned an epistle to be shown to Lord John, in which I set forth his position, and dilated on the great importance to himself and to the country of his conducting himself with patience and forbearance, and of his abstaining from any such vexatious opposition to the Government as might render his future union with them impossible. It remains to be seen whether my remonstrance (which I tried to couch in terms that would not be disagreeable to Lord John) will produce any effect.[2]

Footnote 1: [Lord John Russell had taken office in Lord Palmerston's first Administration as Colonial Secretary, but he resigned on June 13, 1855, and remained out of office.]

Footnote 2: [These speculations are curious, but happily the apprehensions caused by the supposed state of Lord Palmerston's health were unfounded, for with the short interval of the second Derby Government in 1858 and 1859, he continued to hold office and to discharge the duties of Prime Minister with his accustomed vigour and success until his death in October 1865, when he was succeeded by Lord Russell. At this particular moment (1857) the latent danger of the Government lay, not in the failing health of Lord Palmerston, but in an unforeseen occurrence which caused the unexpected defeat of Lord Palmerston's Ministry within four months of this date, and the accession of Lord Derby and his friends to office.]

[Sidenote: LORD JOHN RUSSELL IN OPPOSITION.]

_Hitchinbrook, November 28th._--I came here to-day from Riddlesworth, where I have now been for the first time for twenty years. I received there two letters from the Duke of Bedford, the first telling me he should show, and the second that he had shown, my letter to Lord John. He received it graciously, saying he agreed with almost all I said, but that it was easier to give than it was to take such advice, and that he had been blamed by certain persons for not having given more opposition to the Government last year on some questions than he had done, especially to the Persian War; but I rather infer on the whole that my letter made some impression on him, though it remains to be seen how much.

The last news from India is as good as could be expected, and the current there has evidently turned. I met Martin Smith (Indian Director) at Riddlesworth, and had much talk with him about Indian affairs. It is clear that the Company do not mean to submit to be summarily extinguished without a struggle. He told me that with regard to the great subject, the sending out troops by sailing vessels instead of by steamers, which is made matter of bitter reproach against the Directors, the fault lay entirely with the Government. The Directors wanted to send 10,000 men across Egypt, and the Government would not do it. They proposed it formally to the Board of Control, who referred it to the Foreign Office, and Clarendon said it could not be done on account of certain political considerations which rendered it inexpedient, so that if the Directors could have had their own way the thing would have been done. There may have been good grounds for the refusal of the Government, but in this instance the double Government was productive only of a sacrifice of Indian to Imperial interests, and it will not be easy to draw from this transaction any argument in favour of abolishing the East India Company and the Leadenhall Street Administration.

_London, December 2nd._--Yesterday morning Lord Sydney received a letter from Lady Canning, who said that although undoubtedly many horrible things had happened in India, the exaggeration of them had been very great, and that she had read for the first time in the English newspapers stories of atrocities of which she had never heard at Calcutta, and that statements made in India had turned out to be pure inventions and falsehoods. Yet our papers publish everything that is sent to them without caring whether it may be true or false, and the credulous public swallow it all without the slightest hesitation and doubt. Shaftesbury too, who is a prodigious authority with the public, and who has all the religious and pseudo-religious people at his back, does his utmost to make the case out to be as bad as possible and to excite the rage and indignation of the masses to the highest pitch. He is not satisfied with the revolting details with which the Press has been teeming, but complains that more of them have not been detailed and described, and that the particulars of mutilation and violation have not been more copiously and circumstantially given to the world. I have never been able to comprehend what his motives are for talking in this strange and extravagant strain, but it is no doubt something connected with the grand plan of Christianizing India, in the furtherance of which the High Church and the Low Church appear to be bidding against each other; and as their united force will in all probability be irresistible, so they will succeed in making any Government in India impossible.

[Sidenote: A QUEEN'S SPEECH.]

B---- showed me the Draft of the Queen's Speech this evening after dinner. Cobbett in his Grammar produces examples of bad English taken from Kings' Speeches, which he says might be expected to be the best written, but generally are the worst written documents in the world. It would be difficult to produce any former Speech more deplorably composed than this one. Long sentences, full of confusion, and of which the meaning is not always clear, and some faults of grammar for which a schoolboy would be whipped. B---- was so struck by one I pointed out that he said he would beg Palmerston to alter it. If this Speech escapes severe criticism and ridicule I shall be much surprised, as I am already that George Lewis, who has so lately been a literary critic, and is a correct writer himself, should have allowed it to pass in its present shape, and indeed the sentence he himself put in about his own business is as bad as any other part of it.

I have no idea what they mean to propose about the Bank Charter Act, but if it be what Lewis told me some time ago, to give the Queen the power of suspending the Act by Order in Council, I much doubt if they will carry such a proposal, and it appears to me on reflexion thoroughly unconstitutional, and as such I expect it will be vehemently attacked by all the opponents and the quasi-opponents of Government, and indeed by all except those who are prepared to follow Palmerston with blind submission, and to vote for anything rather than allow him to be put in jeopardy. John Russell, for instance, would hardly be able to resist the temptation of falling foul of such a proposal, though he would approve of their having followed a precedent which he had himself set in a case somewhat similar, though in some respects less urgent.