The Greville Memoirs, Part 3 (of 3), Volume 1 (of 2) / A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria from 1852 to 1860

December 6th.—Ever since the termination of the 'Resolutions' debate the world has been in a state of intense curiosity to hear the Budget, so long announced, and of which such magnificent things were predicted. The secret was so well kept that nobody knew anything about it, and not one of the hundred guesses and conjectures turned out to be correct. At length on Friday night Disraeli produced his measure in a House crowded to suffocation with members and strangers. He spoke for five and a half hours, much too diffusely, spinning out what he might have said in half the time. The Budget has been on the whole tolerably well received, and may, I think, be considered successful, though it is open to criticism, and parts of it will be fiercely attacked, and he will very likely be obliged to change some parts of it. But though favourably received on the whole, it by no means answers to the extravagant expectations that were raised, or proves so entirely satisfactory to all parties and all interests as Disraeli rather imprudently gave out that it would be. The people who regard it with the least favour are those who will be obliged to give it the most unqualified support, the ex-Protectionists, for the relief or compensation to the landed interest is very far from commensurate with their expectations. It is certainly of a Free Trade character altogether, which does not make it the more palateable to them. He threw over the West Indians, and (Pakington, their advocate, sitting beside him) declared they had no claim to any relief beyond that which he tendered them, viz. the power of refining sugar in bond—a drop of water to one dying of thirst. I think it will go down, and make the Government safe. This I have all along thought they would be, and every day seems to confirm this opinion. They have got from three hundred to three hundred and fifteen men in the House of Commons who, though dissatisfied and disappointed, are nevertheless determined to swallow everything and support them through thick and thin, and they have to encounter an opposition, the scattered fractions of which are scarcely more numerous, but which is in a state of the greatest confusion and disunion, and without any prospect of concord amongst them.

The Duke of Bedford came to me yesterday, and told me he had never been so disheartened about politics in his life, or so hopeless of any good result for his party, in which he saw nothing but disagreement and all sorts of pretensions and jealousies incompatible with any common cause, and Aberdeen, whom I met at dinner yesterday, is of much the same opinion. The principal object of interest and curiosity seems now to be whether Palmerston will join them or not. On this the most opposite opinions and reports prevail. Just now it is said that he has resolved not. At all events, if he does, he will have to go alone, for he can take nobody with him, as it certainly is his object to do. But it does not appear now as if there was the least chance of Gladstone or Sidney Herbert joining him. The Duke of Bedford told me that both Derby and Palmerston were in better odour at Windsor than they were, and that the Queen and Prince approve of Pam's move about the Resolutions, and think he did good service. Aberdeen also thinks that though the Whigs and Radicals are angry with Lord Palmerston, and that his proceeding was unwarrantable, he stands in a better position in the country, and has gained credit and influence by what he did. Abroad, where nobody understands our affairs, he is supposed to have played a very great part, and to have given indubitable proof of great political power.

December 9th.—Within these few days the Budget, which was not ill received at first, has excited a strong opposition, and to-morrow there is to be a pitched battle and grand trial of strength between the Government and Opposition upon it, and there is much difference of opinion as to the result. The Government have put forth that they mean to resign if beaten upon it. Derby and Disraeli were both remarkably well received at the Lord Mayor's dinner the night before last, and this is an additional proof that, in spite of all their disreputable conduct, they are not unpopular, and I believe, if the country were polled, they would as soon have these people for Ministers as any others. Nobody knows what part Palmerston is going to take.

December 18th.—The last few days have been entirely occupied by the interest of the Budget debate and speculations as to the result. We received the account of the division at Panshanger yesterday morning, not without astonishment; for although the opinion had latterly been gaining ground that the Government would be beaten, nobody expected such a majority against them.[1] Up to the last they were confident of winning. The debate was all against them, and only exhibited their weakness in the House of Commons. It was closed by two very fine speeches from Disraeli and Gladstone, very different in their style, but not unequal in their merits.

Panshanger, December 19th.—I went to town yesterday morning to hear what was going on. Lord Derby returned from Osborne in the middle of the day, and the Queen had sent for Lords Lansdowne and Aberdeen. She had been gracious to Derby, and pressed him to stay on, if it were only for a short time. I saw Talbot, and from the few words he let drop I gathered that they have already resolved to keep together, and to enter on a course of bitter and determined opposition. Not that he said this, of course, but he intimated that he had no idea of any new Government that might be formed being able to go on even for a short time, and that they would very speedily be let in again. The language of the Carlton corresponds with this, and I have no doubt they will be as virulent and as mischievous as they can. It remains to be seen, if a good Government is formed, whether some will not be more moderate, and disposed to give the new Cabinet a fair trial.

Clarendon writes me word that the meeting at Woburn between John Russell, Aberdeen, Newcastle, and himself has been altogether satisfactory, everybody ready to give and take, and anxious to promote the common cause, without any selfish views or prejudices. Newcastle is particularly reasonable, disclaiming any hostility to John Russell, and only objecting to his being at present the nominal head of the Government, because there is rightly or wrongly a prejudice against him, which would prevent some Liberals and some Peelites joining the Government if he was placed in that position; but he contemplates his ultimately resuming that post, and he (Newcastle) is ready to do anything in office or out. There is no disposition to take in Cobden and Bright, but they would not object to Molesworth.

I went over to Brocket just now, and found the Palmerstons there. He is not pleased at the turn matters have taken, would have liked the Government to go on at all events some time longer, and is disgusted at the thought of Aberdeen being at the head of the next Ministry. This is likewise obnoxious to the Whigs at Brooks's, and there will be no small difficulty in bringing them to consent to it, if Lansdowne refuses. Beauvale said if Palmerston had not been laid up, and prevented going to the House of Commons, he thinks this catastrophe would not have happened, for Palmerston meant to have done in a friendly way what Charles Wood did in an unfriendly one, and advised Disraeli to postpone and remake his Budget, and this advice so tendered he thinks Dizzy would have taken, and then the issue would have been changed and deferred till after the recess. But I don't believe this fine scheme would have taken effect, or that Dizzy would or could have adopted such a course. Beauvale says he is pretty sure Palmerston will not take office under Aberdeen's Premiership; on the other hand, Aberdeen has no objection to him, and will invite Palmerston, if the task devolves upon him. Ellice fancies Lansdowne will decline, and that Aberdeen will fail, and that it will end in Derby coming back, reinforced by Palmerston and some Peelites. The difficulties are certainly enormous, but by some means or other I think a Government will be formed. The exclusions will be very painful, and must be enormous. Lord Derby met Granville and others at the station on Friday, and he said he calculated the new Cabinet could not consist of less than thirty-two men, and many then left out. It will be a fine time to test the amount of patriotism and unselfishness that can be found in the political world.

London, December 21st.—I came to town yesterday morning, and heard that the day before (Sunday) a very hostile feeling towards Aberdeen had been prevailing at Brooks's, but no doubt was entertained that the Government would be formed. In the afternoon Clarendon came to me on his way to the House of Lords, and told me all that had passed up to that time. On receiving the Queen's summons, a meeting took place between Lansdowne and Aberdeen at Lansdowne House, at which each did his best to persuade the other to accept the commission to form a Government. Lansdowne pleaded absolute physical inability, and his friends seem to be quite satisfied that he really could not undertake it. Accordingly Aberdeen gave way, and departed for Osborne on a reiterated summons, and, after telling the Queen all that had passed between Lansdowne and himself, undertook the task. Nothing could be more cordial all this time than the relations between himself and John Russell; but as soon as it became known that Aberdeen was to form the new Government, certain friends of John Russell set to work to persuade him that it would be derogatory to his character to have any concern in it, and entreated him to refuse his concurrence. These were David Dundas and Romilly, and there may have been others. This advice was probably the more readily listened to, because it corresponded with his original view of the matter and his own natural disposition, and it produced so much effect that yesterday morning he went to Lansdowne and told him that he had resolved to have nothing to do with the new Government. Lansdowne was thunderstruck, and employed every argument he could think of to change this resolution. It so happened that he had written to Macaulay and asked him to call on him to talk matters over, and Macaulay was announced while Lord John was still there. Lansdowne told him the subject of their discussion, and the case was put before Macaulay with all its pros and cons for his opinion. He heard all Lansdowne and Lord John had to say, and then delivered his opinion in a very eloquent speech, strongly recommending Lord John to go on with Aberdeen, and saying that, at such a crisis as this, the refusal of his aid, which was indispensable for the success of the attempt, would be little short of treason. Lord John went away evidently shaken, but without pronouncing any final decision. Clarendon then called at Lansdowne House, and heard these particulars, and Lansdowne entreated him to go and see Lord John and try his influence over him. Clarendon had the day before given him his opinion in writing to the same effect as Macaulay. He went, saw him, and repeated all he had before written. Lord John took it very well, and, when he left him, said, 'I suppose it will be as you wish,' and when I saw Clarendon he seemed reassured, and tolerably confident that this great peril of the whole concern being thus shipwrecked in limine had passed away. After the House of Lords where I heard Derby's strange and inexcusable speech, we again discussed the matter, when he said Lord John had raised another difficulty, for he said he would not take the Foreign Office, alleging, not without truth, that it was impossible for him or any man to perform the duties of so laborious an office and lead the House of Commons. Lord John also signified to Clarendon that he should insist on his being in the Cabinet, which Clarendon entreated him not to require. Newcastle, who was there, suggested that Lord John might take the Foreign Office for a time, and if he found the two duties incompatible, he might give it up, and Clarendon seemed to think this might be done, and at all events he means to persuade Lord John (as no doubt he will) to make up his mind to take it, for his not doing so would certainly be very inconvenient. Should Lord John prove obstinate in this respect, I have no doubt Clarendon will himself be put there.

We talked about the Great Seal, and Senior had been with Lord Lansdowne, who appears to incline very much to getting Lord St. Leonard's[1] to stay if he will, but Senior thinks he will not; certainly not, unless with the concurrence of his present colleagues, which it is doubtful if Derby in his present frame of mind would give. The Chancellor was at Derby's meeting in the morning, which looks like a resolution to go out with them. It will be a good thing if he will remain, but it will do good to the new Government to invite him, whether he accepts or refuses. We talked of Brougham, but Clarendon, though anxious to have Brougham in as President of the Council, thinks he would not do for the woolsack, and that it will be better to have Cranworth if Lord St. Leonard's will not stay. There is a great difficulty in respect to the retiring pension. There can only be four, and Sugden's will make up the number, so that a fresh Chancellor could have none except at the death of one of the others. The worst part of the foregoing story is, that Lord John will not join cordially and heartily, and it is impossible to say, during the difficult adjustment of details, what objections he may not raise and what embarrassments he may not cause.

There was a meeting at Lord Derby's yesterday morning, at which he told his friends he would continue to lead them, and he recommended a moderation, in which he probably was not sincere, and which they will not care to observe. Lord Delawarr got up and thanked him. Nothing can be more rabid than the party and the ex-ministers, and they are evidently bent on vengeance and a furious opposition. I fell in with Lord Drumlanrig and Ousely Higgins yesterday morning, one a moderate Derbyite (always Free Trader), the other an Irish Brigadier. Drumlanrig told me he knew of several adherents of Derby who were resolved to give the new Government fair play, and would not rush into opposition, and Ousely Higgins said he thought the Irish would be all right, especially if, as the report ran, Granville was sent to Ireland; but there is no counting on the Irish Brigade, whose object it is to embarrass every Government. If they could be friendly to any, it would, however, be one composed of Aberdeen, Graham, and Gladstone, the opponents of the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill.

December 22nd.—On going to The Grove yesterday afternoon, I found a letter Clarendon had received from Lansdowne in bad spirits enough. He had seen Aberdeen, who had received no answer from John Russell, and Aberdeen was prepared, if he did not get his acceptance the next morning, to give the thing up. Lansdowne was greatly alarmed and far from confident Lord John would agree, at all events, that he would not take the Foreign Office, in which case Lansdowne said he (Clarendon) must take it. Nothing could look worse. This morning Clarendon received a letter from Aberdeen announcing that Lord John had agreed to lead the House of Commons, either without an office or with a nominal one, and asking Clarendon to take the Foreign Office. We came up to town together, he meaning to accept unless he can prevail on Lord John to take it, if it be only for a time, and he is gone to see what he can do with him. He told me last night that when he was at Woburn last week, the Duke informed him that he had had a confidential communication from Stockmar, asking for his advice, whom the Queen should send for if the Government was beaten and if Derby resigned. He had just received this letter, and had not answered it, and consulted Clarendon what he should say. Clarendon advised him to recommend Lansdowne and Aberdeen, and he wrote to that effect. The very morning after the division, just as they were going hunting, the hounds meeting at the Torr, a Queen's messenger arrived with another letter, requesting he would communicate more fully his sentiments at the present crisis. The messenger was ordered to keep himself secret, and not to let his mission transpire. The Duke, under Clarendon's advice, wrote a long letter back, setting forth in detail all that had, not long ago, passed about Palmerston and Lansdowne, and his notions of the difficulties and exigencies of the present time. He said that it was evident Lord John could not make a Government, and that he was himself conscious of it.

December 23rd.—It appears that on Tuesday (21st) Aberdeen went to Palmerston, who received him very civilly, even cordially, talked of old times, and reminded him that they had been acquainted for sixty years (since they were at Harrow together), and had lived together in the course of their political lives more than most men. Aberdeen offered him the Admiralty, saying he considered it in existing circumstances the most important office, and the one in which he could render the greatest service to the country, but if he for any reason objected to that office, he begged him to say what other office he would have. Palmerston replied that he had no hostile feeling towards him, but they had for so many years been in strong opposition to each other, that the public would never understand his taking office in Aberdeen's Government, and he was too old to expose himself to such misconceptions. And so they parted, on ostensibly very friendly terms, which will probably not prevent Palmerston's joining Derby and going into furious opposition. In the course of the day yesterday both Clarendon and Lansdowne called on Palmerston, and he expressed great satisfaction at Clarendon's appointment to the Foreign Office.

In the afternoon I called on Lady Clanricarde, who gave me to understand that Clanricarde was likely to become a personage of considerable influence and power (and therefore worth having), inasmuch as the Irish Band had made overtures to him, and signified their desire to act under his guidance. She said this was not the first overture he had received of the kind from the same quarter; that for various reasons he had declined the others, but she thought at the present time he might very well listen to it; that they were very anxious to be led by a gentleman, and a man of consideration and station in the world. All this, to which I attach very little credit, was no doubt said to me in order to be repeated, and that it might impress on Aberdeen and his friends and colleagues the importance of securing Clanricarde's services and co-operation; and I am the more confirmed in this by receiving a note from the Marchioness in the evening, begging I would not repeat what she had told me.

There was nothing new yesterday in the purlieus of Whiggism, but I think somewhat more of acquiescence, and a disposition to regard this combination as inevitable. The Derbyites quite frenzied, and prepared to go any lengths. Lonsdale told me the party were delighted with Derby's intemperate speech in the House of Lords, which seems to have been rehearsed at his own meeting the same morning; and the other day twenty ruffians of the Carlton Club gave a dinner there to Beresford, to celebrate what they consider his acquittal! After dinner, when they got drunk, they went upstairs, and finding Gladstone alone in the drawing-room, some of them proposed to throw him out of the window. This they did not quite dare to do, but contented themselves with giving some insulting message or order to the waiter, and then went away.

Hatchford, Friday, 24th.—The great event of yesterday was Palmerston's accession to the Government. Lord Lansdowne had called on him the day before, and had, I suspect, little difficulty in persuading him to change his determination and join the new Cabinet. He said he would place himself in Lord Lansdowne's hands, and yesterday morning I heard as a secret, though it was speedily published, that he had agreed to take the Home Office. The next thing was Lord John's consent to take the Foreign Office. This he was persuaded to do by Clarendon, who engaged to help him in the work, and relieve him by taking it himself the moment Lord John should find himself unequal to it, and on these conditions he consented. It was settled that Gladstone should be Chancellor of the Exchequer, but Delane went to Aberdeen last night for the purpose of getting him to change this arrangement on the ground of the difficulty there would be about the Income Tax.

The important part of forming the Cabinet is now done, and nothing remains but the allotment of the places. It will be wonderfully strong in point of ability, and in this respect exhibit a marked contrast with the last; but its very excellence in this respect may prove a source of weakness, and eventually of disunion. The late Cabinet had two paramount chiefs, and all the rest nonentities, and the nominal head was also a real and predominant head. In the present Cabinet are five or six first-rate men of equal or nearly equal pretensions, none of them likely to acknowledge the superiority or defer to the opinions of any other, and every one of these five or six considering himself abler and more important than their Premier. They are all at present on very good terms and perfectly satisfied with each other; but this satisfaction does not extend beyond the Cabinet itself; murmurings and grumblings are already very loud. The Whigs have never looked with much benignity on this coalition, and they are now furious at the unequal and, as they think, unfair distribution of places. These complaints are not without reason, nor will it make matters better that John Russell has had no communication with his old friends and adherents, nor made any struggle, as it is believed, to provide for them, although his adhesion is so indispensable that he might have made any terms and conditions he chose. Then the Radicals, to judge from their press, are exceedingly sulky and suspicious, and more likely to oppose than to support the new Government. The Irish also seem disposed to assume a menacing and half hostile attitude, and, having contributed to overthrow the last Government, are very likely (according to the policy chalked out for them after the election) to take an early opportunity of aiding the Derbyites to turn out this. Thus hampered with difficulties and beset with dangers, it is impossible to feel easy about their prospects. If, however, they set to work vigorously to frame good measures and remove practical and crying evils, they may excite a feeling in their favour in the country, and may attract support enough from different quarters in the House of Commons to go on, but I much fear that it will at best be a perturbed and doubtful existence. Such seems the necessary condition of every Government nowadays, and unfortunately there is a considerable party which rejoices in such a state of things, and only desires to aggravate the mischief, because they think its continuance and the instability of every Government will be most conducive to the ends and objects which they aim at.

London, December 28th.—The remonstrances against Gladstone's being Chancellor of the Exchequer were unavailing, but he says he is not tied up by anything he said about the Income Tax. This will nevertheless be a great difficulty, for Graham and Wood, though not perhaps so much committed as Gladstone, are both against the alteration, which the public voice undoubtedly demands. Last night the new Ministers took their places on the Treasury bench, and the Tories moved over to the opposite side. Aberdeen made his statement, which was fair enough and not ill received, but it was ill delivered, and he omitted to say all he might and ought to have said about Lord Lansdowne, nor did he say enough about John Russell. He said, on the other hand, more than enough about foreign policy, and gave Derby a good opportunity of attacking that part of his speech. Derby was more moderate and temperate than on the first night, and made a pretty good speech. He was wrong in dilating so much on what had passed in the House of Commons, and he made very little of the case of combination; he was severe on Graham and his speech at his election at Carlisle, and Graham heard it all. Nobody else said a word.

The Government is now complete, except some of the minor appointments and the Household. It has not been a smooth and easy business by any means, and there is anything but contentment, cordiality, and zeal in the confederated party. The Whigs are excessively dissatisfied with the share of places allotted to them, and complain that every Peelite without exception has been provided for, while half the Whigs are excluded. Though they exaggerate the case, there is a good deal of justice in their complaints, and they have a right to murmur against Aberdeen for not doing more for them, and John Russell for not insisting on a larger share of patronage for his friends.[1] Clarendon told me last night that the Peelites have behaved very ill, and have grasped at everything, and he mentioned some very flagrant cases, in which, after the distribution had been settled between Aberdeen and John Russell, Newcastle and Sidney Herbert, for they appear to have been the most active in the matter, persuaded Aberdeen to alter it and bestow or offer offices intended for Whigs to Peelites and in some instances to Derbyites who had been Peelites. Clarendon has been all along very anxious to get Brougham into the Cabinet as President of the Council, and he proposed it both to Lord John and Aberdeen, and the latter acquiesced, and Clarendon thought it was going to be arranged that Granville should be President of the Board of Trade, and Brougham President of Council; but Newcastle and Sidney Herbert not only upset this plan, but proposed that Ellenborough should be President of Council, and then, when he was objected to, Harrowby. They also wanted that Jersey should remain Master of the Horse, Jonathan Peel go again to the Ordnance, and Chandos continue a Lord of the Treasury. With what object they wished for these appointments I have not an idea, but the very notion of them is an insult to the Whigs, and will be resented accordingly.

Lord Lansdowne seems to have taken little or no part in all this. He hooked Palmerston, and, having rendered this great service, he probably thought he had done enough. The Whigs at Brooks's are very angry, and Bessborough told me that he thought his party so ill used, that he had implored Lord John to withdraw even now rather than be a party to such injustice. Lord John seems to have been very supine, and while the Peelites were all activity, and intent on getting all they could, he let matters take their course, and abstained from exercising the influence in behalf of his own followers which his position and the indispensability of his co-operation enabled him to do. This puts them out of humour with him as much as with Aberdeen and his friends.

We had a great reunion here (at Lord Granville's) last night, with half the Cabinet at dinner or in the evening. I told Graham what the feelings of the Whigs were. He said they had a very large and important share, the Chancellors of England and of Ireland, etc., and he defended some of the appointments and consequent exclusions on special grounds. They have made Monsell, an Irish Catholic convert, Clerk of the Ordnance, together with some other Irish Catholic appointments, and he said that these were necessary in order to reconquer in Ireland what had been lost by the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, and that it was of more consequence to conciliate that large part of the Empire than to provide for the Ansons and the Pagets; and on the same ground he justified the appointment of St. Germans instead of Lord Carlisle as Lord Lieutenant. All this may be very true, but the Whigs to be left out to make room for these substitutes will not be convinced or pacified by the political expediency which Graham sets forth, nor will such appointments be at all popular here. If, however, they really should be the means of rallying the Irish Brigade to the support of the Government, it may be patronage well bestowed. But this makes it a disagreeable start, and may be hereafter productive of serious consequences. Nothing can be more shortsighted, as well as unfair, than the conduct of the Peelites in trying to thrust their own people instead of Whigs into the offices, for they can only hope to keep their places at all by the zealous support of the whole Whig force, themselves bringing next to nothing in point of numbers, and to encounter such a numerous and compact Opposition will require the zealous co-operation of all who wish well to the Liberal cause, and who are against Derby. Newcastle talked to me last night about Aberdeen's speech, acknowledged its deficiencies, and said he had told Aberdeen what he thought of it. Aberdeen acknowledged it all, said he was so unaccustomed to make such statements, that he had forgotten or overlooked it, and wished he could have spoken it again to repair the omission. They all seem at present very harmonious in their intercourse.

After dinner last night John Russell and Charles Wood went off to meet Aberdeen, for the purpose, I believe, of settling some of the arrangements not yet fixed. Clarendon told me that Charles Wood had been of use in stimulating John Russell to interfere and prevent some of the proposed changes which the Peelites wished Aberdeen to make in the list as originally settled between him and Lord John, and it is very well that he did. It is impossible not to see that Lord John himself, though now willing to co-operate and do his best, has never been hearty in the cause, nor entirely satisfied with his own position; and this has probably made him more lukewarm, and deterred him from taking a more active and decided part in the formation of the Government. We are just going down to Windsor, the old Government to give up seals, wands, etc., the new to be sworn in. They go by different railways, that they may not meet. It is singular that I have never attended a Council during the nine months Lord Derby was in office, not once; consequently there are several of his Cabinet whom I do not know by sight—Pakington, Walpole, and Henley. With my friends I resume my functions.

December 29th.—I went down to the Council yesterday at Windsor with the ins, and we saw nothing of the outs, who went by another train and railway. Palmerston was there, looking very ill indeed. They all seem on very cordial terms. Graham told me he had had a very friendly conversation with Palmerston, and was greatly rejoiced at being again united to his old colleague. He acknowledged that it was a great mistake in Aberdeen to have offered the Mastership of the Horse to Lord Jersey. Aberdeen has now proposed the Lord Steward's place to Carlisle, which he will probably not take, and possibly be offended at the offer. I suppose Aberdeen has been subjected to pressure from various quarters, but might have made a better selection and distribution than he has done.

January 5th, 1853.—The elections are all going on well, except Gladstone's, who appears in great jeopardy. Nothing could exceed the disgraceful conduct of his opponents, lying, tricking, and shuffling, as might be expected from such a party. The best thing that could happen for Gladstone would be to be beaten, if it were not for the triumph it would be to the blackguards who have got up the contest; for the representation of Oxford is always an embarrassment to a statesman, and Peel's losing his election there in 1829 was the most fortunate event possible for him. The only speech of the new Ministers calling for special notice is Palmerston's at Tiverton, which appears to me to conceal an arri?re-pens?e. He spoke in civil, even complimentary, terms of the Derby Government, so much so, that if any break-up or break-down should occur in this, and Lord Derby return to office, there appears no reason why Palmerston should not form a fresh coalition with him; and it looks very much as if he was keeping this contingency in view, and putting himself in such an attitude as should enable him with some plausibility to join the camp of such a restoration.

The Cabinet of Lord Aberdeen's Administration consisted of the following Ministers:—

CHAPTER II.

A Royal Commission on Reform—M. de Flahault on the Emperor Napoleon—Lord John's Blunder—Disraeli's Negotiation with the Irish Members—Lord Beauvale's Death—Lady Beauvale's Grief—Napoleon III. and Mdlle. de Montijo—Parliament meets—The Emperor's Marriage—Disraeli's Attack on Sir C. Wood—Dislike of Mr. Disraeli—Lord John Russell leaves the Foreign Office—Lord Stanley's Liberal Votes—Disraeli's Opinion of his Colleagues—The Government in Smooth Water—England unpopular abroad—Massimo d'Azeglio—The Austrians in Italy—The Bishop of Lincoln—The Duke of Bedford's Papers—Lord Palmerston leads the House—Social Amenities—Rancour of Northern Powers against England—Friendly Resolution of the Emperor Napoleon III.—Difficulties at Home—The India Bill—The Eastern Question—The Czar's Proposals—Russian Assurances—The Royal Family.

Bowood, January 12th, 1853.—I came here on Monday to meet the Cannings, Harcourt,[1] and Lady Waldegrave, the Bessboroughs, Elphinstone, Senior, and the family. Senior talked to me about the Government and Reform, and the danger of their splitting on the latter question and propounded a scheme he has for obviating this danger. He wants to have a Royal Commission to enquire into the practice of bribery at elections and the means of preventing it, or, if possible, to have an enquiry of a more extensive and comprehensive character into the state of the representation and the working of the Reform Bill. We talked it over, and I told him I thought this would not be a bad expedient. He had already spoken to Lord Lansdowne about it, who seemed not averse to the idea, and promised to talk to Lord John Russell on the subject. Senior, when he went away, begged me to talk to Lord Lansdowne also, which I attempted to do, but without success, for he seemed quite indisposed to enter upon it.

Beaudesert, January 19th.—To town on Saturday and here on Monday, with the Flahaults, Bessboroughs, Ansons, my brothers and the family. Lord Anglesey and M. de Flahault talk over their campaigns, and compare notes on the events of Sir John Moore's retreat and other military operations, in which they have served in opposing armies. Flahault was aide-de-camp to Marshal Berthier till the middle of the Russian campaign, when he became aide-de-camp to Napoleon, whom he never quitted again till the end of his career. His accounts of what he has seen and known are curious and interesting. He says that one of the Emperor's greatest mistakes and the causes of his misfortunes was his habit of ordering everything, down to the minutest arrangement, himself, and leaving so little to the discretion and responsibility of his generals and others that they became mere machines, and were incapable of acting, or afraid to act, on their own judgements. On several occasions great calamities were the consequence of this unfortunate habit of Napoleon's.

London, January 24th.—The Duke of Bedford called here this morning. I had not seen him for an age; he was just come from Windsor with a budget of matter, which as usual he was in such a hurry that he had not time to tell me. I got a part of it, however. I began by asking him how he had left them all at Windsor, to which he replied that the state of things was not very satisfactory. The Queen disapproved Lord John's arrangement for giving up the seals of the Foreign Office on a given day (the 15th February) which had not been previously explained to her Majesty, as it ought to have been. She said that she should make no objection if any good reason could be assigned for what was proposed, either of a public or a private nature, any reason connected with his health or with the transaction of business, but she thought, and she is right, that fixing beforehand a particular day, without any special necessity occurring, is very unreasonable and absurd. Then they are all very angry with Lord John for an exceeding piece of folly of his, in announcing to the Foreign Ministers, the day he received them, that he was only to be at the Foreign Office for a few weeks. This, as the Duke said, was a most unwise and improper communication, particularly as it was made without any concert with Aberdeen, and without his knowledge, and, in fact, blurted out with the same sort of levity that was apparent in the Durham letter and the Reform announcement, with both of which he has been so bitterly reproached, and which have proved so inconvenient that it might have been thought he would not fall again into similar scrapes. The Foreign Ministers themselves were exceedingly astonished, and not a little annoyed. Brunnow said it was a complete mockery, and they all felt that it was unsatisfactory to be put in relation with a Foreign Secretary who was only to be there for a few weeks.

The Queen is delighted to have got rid of the late Ministers. She felt, as everybody else does, that their Government was disgraced by its shuffling and prevarication, and she said that Harcourt's pamphlet (which was all true) was sufficient to show what they were.[1] As she is very honourable and true herself, it was natural she should disapprove their conduct.

Yesterday Delane called on me, and gave me an account of a curious conversation he had had with Disraeli. Disraeli asked him to call on him, which he did, when they talked over recent events and the fall of the late Government, very frankly, it would seem, on Disraeli's part. He acknowledged that he had been bitterly mortified. When Delane asked him, 'now it was all over,' what made him produce such a Budget, he said, if he had not been thwarted and disappointed, he should have carried it by the aid of the Irish Brigade whom he had engaged for that purpose. Just before the debate, one of them came to him and said, if he would agree to refer Sharman Crawford's Tenant Right Bill to the Select Committee with the Government Bill, they would all vote with him. He thought this too good a bargain to miss, and he closed with his friend on those terms, told Walpole what he had arranged, desired him to carry out the bargain, and the thing was done. No sooner was the announcement made than Lord Naas and Sir Joseph Napier[2] (who had never been informed) came in a great fury to Disraeli and Walpole, complained of the way they had been treated, and threatened to resign. With great difficulty he pacified or rather silenced them, and he was in hopes the storm had blown over, but the next day he found Naas and Napier had gone to Lord Derby with their complaints, and he now found the latter full of wrath and indignation likewise; for Lord Roden, who had heard something of this compromise (i.e. of the Tenant Right Bill being referred to Committee), announced his intention of asking Lord Derby a question in the House of Lords. Added to this, as soon as the news reached Dublin, Lord Eglinton and Blackburne testified the same resentment as Naas and Napier had done, and threatened to resign likewise. All this produced a prodigious flare up. Disraeli represented that it was his business to make the Budget succeed by such means as he could, that the votes of the Brigade would decide it either way, and that he had made a very good bargain, as he had pledged himself to nothing more, and never had any intention of giving any suite to what had been done, so that it could not signify. He did not succeed in appeasing Lord Derby, who, a night or two after in the Lords, repudiated all participation in what had been done, and attacked the Irishmen very bitterly. Disraeli heard this speech, and saw at once that it would be fatal to the Budget and to them, as it proved, for the whole Brigade voted in a body against the Government, and gave a majority to the other side. He seemed in pretty good spirits as to the future, though without for the present any definite purpose. He thinks the bulk of the party will keep together. Delane asked him what he would have done with such a Budget if he had carried it.

He said they should have remodelled their Government, Palmerston and Gladstone would have joined them (Gladstone after the debate and their duel!); during the intervening two or three months the Budget would have been discussed in the country, what was liked retained, what was unpopular altered, and in the end they should have produced a very good Budget which the country would have taken gladly. He never seems to have given a thought to any consideration of political morality, honesty, or truth, in all that he said. The moral of the whole is, that let what will happen it will be very difficult to bring Lord Derby and Disraeli together again. They must regard each other with real, if not avowed, distrust and dislike. Disraeli said that Derby's position in life and his fortune were so different from his, that their several courses must be influenced accordingly. It is easy to conceive how Lord Derby, embarked (no matter how or why) in such a contest, should strain every nerve to succeed and fight it out; but the thing once broken up, he would not be very likely to place himself again in such a situation, and to encounter the endless difficulties, dangers, and mortifications attendant upon the lead of such a party, and above all the necessity of trusting entirely to such a colleague as Disraeli in the House of Commons without one other man of a grain of capacity besides. As it is, he will probably betake himself to the enjoyment of his pleasures and pursuits, till he is recalled to political life by some fresh excitement and interest that time and circumstances may throw in his way; but let what will happen, I doubt his encountering again the troubles and trammels of office.[3]