This agitated situation lasted nearly five years; the counties were in a blaze; and at last the Queen's trial became the pretext for fresh disorders. No one could take any interest in a queen who, in the decline of life, had carried on her intrigues in Syria, in Greece, and in Italy, with true English disregard of public opinion, which is in itself an eccentricity. Every one was aware of the irregularities of the Princess of Wales, now queen by the death of George III., and retaining in her service the witness and partaker of her excesses, her chamberlain, Bergami. But the Radical party did not look so closely at the affair; all they wanted was a pretext to excite the public mind, and they had recourse to the queen's trial as a means of occasioning riot and disorder. The Tories, deeply sensible of the embarrassed state of the country, and desirous, if possible, of avoiding a scandalous trial, proposed a middle course to the princess. Her name was not to be mentioned in the Liturgy, but she would still be queen, only she would be required to remain abroad, constantly travelling about, and a large pecuniary allowance would be made to her; but upon the Radical party being consulted, the old queen refused all the offers, and a long and disgraceful trial was obliged to take place. Lord Castlereagh determined upon the measure with firm and respectful energy; the more unwilling he had been to resort to this mode of proceeding, the more vigorously he was resolved to carry it through. When we contemplate the angelicfigure of Anne Boleyn, beside the gross and sensual Henry VIII., every one feels a strong and lively interest in the unfortunate victim; but who could have the slightest feeling for a queen grown old with the most degrading passions?The minister here again was opposed by his old adversary Canning, who was then aiming at extreme popularity. He had constituted himself the Queen's champion, not because he esteemed her, but because this course furnished him with the means of the most violent opposition to the ministry over which Castlereagh presided. The trial began, and was followed by debates, and the disgraceful and disgusting revelations are too well known. The oratorical fame of Brougham and Canning was greatly augmented by these proceedings; their popularity became immense, and their opponents were visited with a degree of reprobation to which men of distinguished capacity must accustom themselves in the course of their painful and wearisome task.All these domestic events occurred at a period when Europe, still full of agitation, was constantly holding congresses, in order to declare her principles, or to decide upon general arrangements. Since the declaration of Alexander, bearing the title of the Holy Alliance, England had taken up a separate position; her statesmen, more especially Lord Castlereagh, had declared the principles of that convention to be too vague to allow the English ministers to admit them, under their legal responsibility. From this first separation of interests from the rest of Europe, two political systems resulted: the one Russian, whose ascendency over the congress was almost absolute; the other English, which opposed any general deliberation upon interests now divided.Lord Castlereagh assumed this position when he attended the congresses of Troppau and Laybach; he signed the protocols without adopting the ideas of the Holy Alliance, but simply as the consequence of the treaties of 1815 and the articles of the congress of Vienna. In his conversations with Metternich he advanced this principle, that, although Europe might enter into an agreement to repress disturbances affecting the security of crowned heads, she neither could, nor ought to interfere with any modifications which a people might freely and spontaneously choose to make in their respective governments. This declaration referred to several very important questions that had lately arisen: first, the separation of the Spanish colonies from the mother-country; secondly, the disturbances in Greece; and, thirdly, the revolution in Spain. The emancipation of the Spanish colonies of an ancient date originated in the commercial interests of England, which constantly require to be satisfied; the markets opened by peace must replace those of war, and a new world was requisite for the overflow of her manufactures; under this point of view, therefore, the emancipation of the Spanish colonies secured a market to England, she henceforth became favourable to their independence, and her consuls resided with theirexequaturin these colonies. Lord Castlereagh's position at this juncture was rather delicate; for with one hand he favoured the sedition of the colonies, and with the other he severely repressed the riots in the English counties.Being a partisan of the emancipation of the colonies, he naturally felt no repugnance towards the government of the Cortes at Madrid. What is considered of importance in England, is not the form of government adopted by a power, but its tendency with regard to herself and her interests. She seldom breaks a lance for a mere chivalrousidea. Both Whigs and Tories are equally actuated by the same spirit of national selfishness, which is, in fact, patriotism; and, while holding this doctrine, that England is not to meddle with the internal form of government, the path remains open, so that they can decide according as interest advises. With regard to the emancipation of the Greeks, Lord Castlereagh viewed it in its true light, without weakness, and without sentimental feelings, allowing the question to rest on the ground of Russia and Turkey: thus, to emancipate the Greeks would be to aggrandise Russia, open to her the gates of the Bosphorus, and drive the Turks into Asia, and this policy would be unfaithful and puerile as far as the interests of England were concerned; it was, on the contrary, most advantageous to her to protect the Ottoman empire by the British flag, to develope her strength, and create in that country a commercial alliance for herself. Thus at the same time to give a new world to industry, by the emancipation of the Spanish colonies, to take no heed of the revolutions at Naples and in Spain, but watch Russia and restrain any ambitious projects she might have formed, by supporting the Porte: such were the politics of Lord Castlereagh in the first five years that succeeded his vigorous contest with Napoleon.The disturbances in England had begun to subside, when the ancient civil war was again renewed in Ireland between the Orangemen and the Catholics; it was a constantly recurring quarrel, as between two races who entertained the greatest detestation for each other. All the people who thought seriously on the subject felt that something must be done for the Catholics; the reason for the former oppression having ceased to exist, Ireland could not always remain in a state of slavery. Lord Castlereagh was well acquainted with this country,where his youth had been passed, and, whenever business left him leisure, was accustomed to visit the ancient towers of Londonderry, the beautiful lakes, and the old fishermen, whom his munificence assisted in rebuilding their villages and their boats, portioning their daughters, or increasing their own comforts. The bill for the admission of the Catholic lords into parliament was then in debate; it was opposed by the Orange party in Ireland, and, after passing the House of Commons, was thrown out by the Lords; and this was the cause of the sanguinary troubles which again threw Ireland into the most fearful state of disorder. The ministry shewed no indulgence, for the country was deluged with blood; and Lord Wellesley, then lord-lieutenant, declared at last that, if they were desirous of saving that country, more agitated than the ocean, it must be placed under a most vigorous system of legislative exception.[52]The old laws of the conquest were put in force against the parties of Whiteboys who ravaged the country, but by degrees these demonstrations gave way before the severe measures used to repress them.As soon as order was restored, it was necessary the ministry should take measures to relieve the sufferings of the three kingdoms, and they devoted themselves with the greatest attention to their difficult task. It is a historical truth worthy of the remembrance of agitators, that they occasion the slavery of all for the sake of the vain pleasure they derive from some ovations to themselves. Despotism is the successor of disorder, and there is more influence in reason and resignation than in the noisy acclamations of the public streets. O'Connell appears tome, to be just the man destined to bring about the complete subjection of Ireland; he will be the destroyer of his country for the sake of a little personal vanity, for the applause of 100,000 men, collected round the hustings. The Tories did every thing that was possible for Ireland when it was quiet: the emancipation of the Catholics was promoted by the Wellesleys, nor did they stop there.Lord Castlereagh, deeply sensible that there was real suffering among all classes of the people, now unfolded his vast plan of economy, with all the logic of Pitt in his admirable budget of 1798. Taking his ground on the existence of much distress in the agricultural districts, and in the principles of credit, he proceeded at once to retrenchments. The expenses of the army and navy were reduced by two millions sterling a-year; the interest of the public debt was reduced from 5 to 4 per cent; and the sinking fund was considerably increased.[53]These measures permitted the decrease of imposts, the suppression of all additional taxes, and a system of loans to agriculture by means of the bank, the grand instrument he always had recourse to, in order to make advances to parishes, and more especially to the producers of corn, so as always to keep down the price. It was an earnest undertaking, and the last he had to carry on during this session. In the meanwhile he could not fail to observe that the renown of his old adversary, Canning, was marvellously increasing; he was becoming a popular character, he was the favourite of the mob, while the firm and persevering minister who had aroused the world, and saved England, was branded with reprobation by the populace, who broke the panels of his carriage. Ought he to allow himself—he, so proud and haughty,to be drawn into the wake of Canning, on the boundless waste of revolutionary ideas? Partially reconciled to his adversary on the Catholic question, his lordship took only a secondary part in the debate; and he was stung by the conviction, that, while in foreign relations his influence was overpowered by the Holy Alliance, at home Canning was the person considered most necessary to the administration, because he was better suited to the new liberal situation in which they were becoming entangled; and he repeatedly expressed his grief and vexation at this circumstance. In England, where public questions are adopted like a mission, and the feelings of statesmen on the subject are deep and interwoven in their whole being, the destruction of a system involves that of the man. Mr. Pitt was killed by the battle of Austerlitz, and Lord Castlereagh belonged to that noble school. He whose life had commenced in so poetical a manner, who had feared neither single combat, nor the dangers of the raging waves in his shipwreck on the Isle of Man, could not be afraid of death; but as his hour drew near, his disposition became extremely irritable, and he expressed himself in parliament with a degree of bitterness and sullen haughtiness: I should almost say he looked with pity and contempt upon the opposition of the Whigs, who were advancing towards fresh storms and disturbances. There are times when people wish to have done with a situation which oppresses them, and with adversaries of whom they are weary; they utter their last words to their face, and after that they die without regret.Lord Castlereagh announced his intention of visiting the Continent, with the intention, if not of being present at the congress of Verona, at least of meeting the assembled sovereigns there; and Canning was in hopes that, when his colleague had once left England, hewould send in his resignation, and consequently leave him at the head of affairs. But matters were more rapidly drawing to a close: Lord Castlereagh had been unwell for several days, and there was every appearance of extreme nervous irritability about him; some expressions that fell from his lips shewed that he had some sinister ideas in his head, and when he went to take leave of the king, the state of his mind did not escape the monarch, who had a great esteem for him. From that time he constantly complained of a feeling of oppression in his head, and his physician, Dr. Bankhead, reported that when he visited him he was calm, though there were symptoms of impatience and caprice in his manner, and a few short and hurried words were all that he could draw from him; he let fall some observations on the troubles of life which raised apprehensions of suicide, and he was watched: but on Monday, the 12th of August, 1822, just as his physician entered his dressing-room, Lord Castlereagh uttered these few words: "Doctor, let me fall on your arm; it is all over!" and fell with the heaviness of a corpse. The blood was flowing in torrents, from a deep wound which he had inflicted in the carotid artery, with a small penknife he had concealed in a letter-case. Such was the end of the man, who had conducted the affairs of England with so much firmness and consistency for the last ten years!Since then people have endeavoured to prove that he was raving mad, and the opposite party have even asserted, that the energy of his government shewed a tendency to mental alienation: would they not have considered any man mad, who wanted to contend vigorously against them? No, Lord Castlereagh wasnotmad; he only felt the deep sorrow of a statesman who, after having fulfilled a great duty, finds himself forgotten and abandoned at the end of his career. Mr. Pitthad died at his post while his work was progressing towards its accomplishment, and Lord Castlereagh saw it completed by the fall of Buonaparte. But he, in his turn, had to contend with the revolutionary opinions that were again invading the world; Canning was like his evil genius, and as in a long political career they were both constantly before the public, we may inquire what services they rendered to England. Castlereagh gave his country the pre-eminence she every where exercises; he signed the treaties of 1815, he secured to her vast stations, colonies, and new worlds, and he was forced to escape, by suicide from the reprobation of the people; while Canning the declaimer, the renegade from the opinions of Pitt, and who, though threatening all the cabinets, did not dare to oppose the expedition to Spain in 1823, died peaceably in his bed, and was crowned with universal applause. Alas! it is because men who devote themselves to the serious affairs of their country, are in general persecuted and misunderstood; for with the populace, noise and clamour are thought more of, than good measures. Let it, however, be said to the credit of England, that she is returning to the men she formerly blamed. The noble hierarchy of statesmen which begins with Pitt and Castlereagh, and extends to Peel, Lord Aberdeen, and the Duke of Wellington, is now hailed as the school most fitted to afford protection to Great Britain; and Fox, Sheridan, and Canning, are only mentioned as eloquent speakers, who passed away long nights in the House of Commons.There is not the slightest doubt that the unfortunate termination of Lord Castlereagh's existence was owing to delirium.—Editor.Printed by George Barclay, Castle Street, Leicester Square.FOOTNOTES:[1]Nothing can exceed the paternal government of Austria to her hereditary states, or the severity of the police in her Italian dominions. In Hungary the Austrian power has never been sufficient to enable her to ameliorate the prominent defects of their still feudal system. The Italians, Sclavonians, and Hungarians, are still far from being amalgamated with the Austrians.[2]The French commissioners were attacked on leaving the city and many killed.—Editor.[3]See "Europe during the Consulate and the Empire of Napoleon."[4]Prince Metternich told me the Emperor had locked the door.[5]The sum of 5,000,000l.sterling was to be furnished for the year 1814, to be increased if necessary.—Editor.[6]Suzeraineté.[7]M. de Talleyrand, who had naturally an inclination in favour of ancient honours, preferred his title of duke of the old monarchy to his principality; for the title of prince, unless in connexion with the Blood Royal, was considered as of foreign extraction, and not to possess any aristocratic importance.[8]The arms of M. de Talleyrand were, Gules, three lions, or, langued, armed, and crowned azure, prince's coronet on the shield, ducal crown on the mantle. Device,Re que Diou(Nothing but God above us).[9]A pawnbroking establishment in Paris under the protection of the government.[10]About 20,000l.[11]Histoire de la Restauration.[12]Signed in the month of March,videMetternich.—Tr.[13]Histoire de la Restauration.[14]About 160,000l.[15]I speak of the time before Lord Durham had taken the side of Russia and of Conservatism.[16]"Il nobile Pasquale Pozzo di Borgo, oratore dei popoli di là da' monti in Corsica...." 1584."... Per egregium virum Pasqualem Pozzo di Borgo, civem Adjacii, oratorem et procuratorem populorum provinciæ Adjacii et Sartenæ, et aliorum hominum ultra montes Corsicæ.""Tutta la provincia di là da' monti nell' isola di Corsica in generale, ha eletto per oratore il Capitano Secondo Pozzo di Borgo sì per assistere presso le VV. SS...." 1597.All these charters are extracted from the work published by the wise and judicious magistrate, C. Gregori,Statuti Civili e Criminali di Corsica.[17]I saw all these papers, which were printed in 1793, in the hands of Count Pozzo di Borgo; he took pleasure in shewing the curious decree against Napoleon, afterwards the pride and glory of Corsica. Theconsultawas composed of 1200 deputies.[18]This observation appears to indicate some inaccuracy regarding the date of Paoli's demise. It took place in Feb. 1807.—Editor.[19]Videthe article "Metternich."[20]I have seen the rough copy of this proclamation written in pencil by Count Pozzo and corrected by Alexander himself.[21]"Histoire de la Restauration."[22]This memorial was found again some years afterwards at Warsaw. The Emperor Nicholas wrote to Pozzo di Borgo in 1830, "How rightly you foresaw what would happen! You would have saved us much difficulty and embarrassment."[23]About twenty-eight millions sterling.[24]On the 5th of April, 1824, the minister of finance brought forward a plan to substituterentesat three per cent for those already existing at five per cent, reserving to the holders of the five per centrentesthe option between the repayment of their nominal capital and its conversion into three per cents at the rate of seventy-five. Some modifications were suggested, but the plan failed at the time. In the following year it was renewed, and then it was decreed that the proprietors of five per centrentesshould be allowed till the 22d of June (afterwards extended to the 5th of August) the faculty of demanding from the minister of finance their conversion into three per cents at the price of seventy-five, and till the 22d of September the faculty of requiring their conversion into four and a half per cent stock at par, with a guarantee in both cases against being paid off till September 1835. Therentesso converted were to continue to bear interest at five per cent until the 22d December, 1825.—Editor.[25]Alexander had gone on a tour of inspection to the southern parts of his empire, and on arriving at a village in the Crimea, he insisted upon attending the service in a church which had long been shut up, in spite of the remonstrances of his attendants, who represented the danger arising from malaria. He was shortly afterwards seized with the fever common in the Crimea, and refused to submit to the strong measures recommended by his medical attendants, resolving to trust to abstinence and the mild remedies he had usually found successful when attacked by illness, but which were insufficient in this instance; and when he at last resigned himself into the hands of his physicians, it was too late. Reports were raised of his having been poisoned, but they were totally devoid of foundation.—Editor.[26]See "L'Europe pendant le Consulat et l'Empire de Napoleon."[27]Sapeurs-pompiers.[28]The Comte de Chabrol had been appointed prefect of the Seine upon the dismissal of Frochot after Mallet's conspiracy, and had distinguished himself by the most inflated expressions of devotion to the Emperor. "What is life," said he, "compared to the immense interests which rest upon the sacred head of the heir of the Empire? For me, whom an unexpected glance of your imperial eye has called from a distance to a post so eminent, what I most value in the distinction is the honour and right of setting the foremost example of loyal devotion!"—Editor.[29]The law to authorise arbitrary arrests was equivalent to the suspension of the Habeas Corpus act in England: and it was originally brought forward by M. Decaze and strenuously supported by Baron Pasquier. It was proposed that it should continue in force for one year, and after a debate which lasted for several sittings, it was passed by a majority of nineteen votes, modified however by the introduction of a clause forbidding arrests to be made under it during the night. A law restraining the liberty of the press was also passed after being most obstinately contested. The majority in the chamber of peers was onlytwoon this occasion.—Editor.[30]He was accused of great political tergiversation, and M. Vaublanc, a keen royalist, designated him as "a man who never left one administration till he had prepared to enter another, who never deserted one set of friends till he had looked out for another more in favour at court, and who had skipped into successive cabinets with that ease which marked all his movements."—Editor.[31]At the same moment that he dissolved the chamber of deputies, the king created seventy-six new peers, all of them people devoted to the government.[32]Gawilghur.—Ed.[33]20th January, 1812.[34]7th April, 1812.[35]24th July, 1812.[36]Witness Assaye, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajos, Vittoria, &c.—Editor.[37]He had long had a seat in the House of Peers, but the mistake is very natural for a foreigner.—Editor.[38]Upon this occasion the Duke of Wellington voted against his brother's measure.—Editor.[39]The editor begs to remind the reader that he is not answerable for M. Capefigue's opinions.[40]See Note, page 208.—Editor.[41]About 800l.[42]Now about 80,000.—Ed.[43]The government of Odessa includes the island of Taman, and part of the Caucasian line, inhabited by the Cossacks of the Black Sea, who were settled on the Lower Kouban by Potemkin, as a defence against the incursions of the Circassians; forming a chain of intrenched villages, sufficiently near to communicate by signals, and supported by some regiments of infantry and artillery. The Circassians have never been able to make any serious impression on this line; and the Russians, whose object was purely defensive, never even crossed the Kouban with an intention of permanently establishing themselves beyond the river till the conclusion of the last Turkish war, during which Anapa, and all other forts possessed by the Turks on the Black Sea, were ceded to Russia. The Circassians had only tolerated these nominal dependencies of Turkey, as affording convenient points of trade and export for the slaves captured from Russia and Georgia, as well as those taken during their own domestic wars. The natural strength of the country and its deadly climate have hitherto checked the Russian conquests, but, sooner or later, it must yield to a power capable of sending unlimited reinforcements, while every action permanently diminishes the strength of the mountain tribes. The war, which has now lasted sixty years, can have no effect on the prosperity of the southern provinces of Russia, nor is it felt twenty miles from the frontier. The few Circassians that have been educated in Russia are not permitted to return to the tribes. The Caucasian guard formed by Prince Paskewitch in 1830, and who return periodically to their own country, may have a much greater effect; they are taken indiscriminately from all the tribes, Circassians, Lesghis, Chechens, and Ossatinians, forming a body of about two hundred men, in some measure resembling the Mamelukes of Napoleon.—Editor.[44]Videart. Pozzo di Borgo.[45]64 millions sterling.[46]Ministres secrétaires d'état.[47]Videart. Pozzo di Borgo.[48]Videarticles "Pozzo di Borgo" and "Richelieu."[49]Count Capo d'Istria was murdered in September, 1831, by the brother and son of a Mainote he had imprisoned.—Ed.[50]Quære, Coyne?—Editor.[51]This assertion is untrue, and not borne out by any evidence.—Editor.[52]Parliament decided upon the re-enactment of the Insurrection Act, and the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, in Ireland.—Editor.[53]This is a mistake.—Editor.TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:Obvious printer errors have been corrected. Otherwise, the author's original spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been left intact.
This agitated situation lasted nearly five years; the counties were in a blaze; and at last the Queen's trial became the pretext for fresh disorders. No one could take any interest in a queen who, in the decline of life, had carried on her intrigues in Syria, in Greece, and in Italy, with true English disregard of public opinion, which is in itself an eccentricity. Every one was aware of the irregularities of the Princess of Wales, now queen by the death of George III., and retaining in her service the witness and partaker of her excesses, her chamberlain, Bergami. But the Radical party did not look so closely at the affair; all they wanted was a pretext to excite the public mind, and they had recourse to the queen's trial as a means of occasioning riot and disorder. The Tories, deeply sensible of the embarrassed state of the country, and desirous, if possible, of avoiding a scandalous trial, proposed a middle course to the princess. Her name was not to be mentioned in the Liturgy, but she would still be queen, only she would be required to remain abroad, constantly travelling about, and a large pecuniary allowance would be made to her; but upon the Radical party being consulted, the old queen refused all the offers, and a long and disgraceful trial was obliged to take place. Lord Castlereagh determined upon the measure with firm and respectful energy; the more unwilling he had been to resort to this mode of proceeding, the more vigorously he was resolved to carry it through. When we contemplate the angelicfigure of Anne Boleyn, beside the gross and sensual Henry VIII., every one feels a strong and lively interest in the unfortunate victim; but who could have the slightest feeling for a queen grown old with the most degrading passions?
The minister here again was opposed by his old adversary Canning, who was then aiming at extreme popularity. He had constituted himself the Queen's champion, not because he esteemed her, but because this course furnished him with the means of the most violent opposition to the ministry over which Castlereagh presided. The trial began, and was followed by debates, and the disgraceful and disgusting revelations are too well known. The oratorical fame of Brougham and Canning was greatly augmented by these proceedings; their popularity became immense, and their opponents were visited with a degree of reprobation to which men of distinguished capacity must accustom themselves in the course of their painful and wearisome task.
All these domestic events occurred at a period when Europe, still full of agitation, was constantly holding congresses, in order to declare her principles, or to decide upon general arrangements. Since the declaration of Alexander, bearing the title of the Holy Alliance, England had taken up a separate position; her statesmen, more especially Lord Castlereagh, had declared the principles of that convention to be too vague to allow the English ministers to admit them, under their legal responsibility. From this first separation of interests from the rest of Europe, two political systems resulted: the one Russian, whose ascendency over the congress was almost absolute; the other English, which opposed any general deliberation upon interests now divided.
Lord Castlereagh assumed this position when he attended the congresses of Troppau and Laybach; he signed the protocols without adopting the ideas of the Holy Alliance, but simply as the consequence of the treaties of 1815 and the articles of the congress of Vienna. In his conversations with Metternich he advanced this principle, that, although Europe might enter into an agreement to repress disturbances affecting the security of crowned heads, she neither could, nor ought to interfere with any modifications which a people might freely and spontaneously choose to make in their respective governments. This declaration referred to several very important questions that had lately arisen: first, the separation of the Spanish colonies from the mother-country; secondly, the disturbances in Greece; and, thirdly, the revolution in Spain. The emancipation of the Spanish colonies of an ancient date originated in the commercial interests of England, which constantly require to be satisfied; the markets opened by peace must replace those of war, and a new world was requisite for the overflow of her manufactures; under this point of view, therefore, the emancipation of the Spanish colonies secured a market to England, she henceforth became favourable to their independence, and her consuls resided with theirexequaturin these colonies. Lord Castlereagh's position at this juncture was rather delicate; for with one hand he favoured the sedition of the colonies, and with the other he severely repressed the riots in the English counties.
Being a partisan of the emancipation of the colonies, he naturally felt no repugnance towards the government of the Cortes at Madrid. What is considered of importance in England, is not the form of government adopted by a power, but its tendency with regard to herself and her interests. She seldom breaks a lance for a mere chivalrousidea. Both Whigs and Tories are equally actuated by the same spirit of national selfishness, which is, in fact, patriotism; and, while holding this doctrine, that England is not to meddle with the internal form of government, the path remains open, so that they can decide according as interest advises. With regard to the emancipation of the Greeks, Lord Castlereagh viewed it in its true light, without weakness, and without sentimental feelings, allowing the question to rest on the ground of Russia and Turkey: thus, to emancipate the Greeks would be to aggrandise Russia, open to her the gates of the Bosphorus, and drive the Turks into Asia, and this policy would be unfaithful and puerile as far as the interests of England were concerned; it was, on the contrary, most advantageous to her to protect the Ottoman empire by the British flag, to develope her strength, and create in that country a commercial alliance for herself. Thus at the same time to give a new world to industry, by the emancipation of the Spanish colonies, to take no heed of the revolutions at Naples and in Spain, but watch Russia and restrain any ambitious projects she might have formed, by supporting the Porte: such were the politics of Lord Castlereagh in the first five years that succeeded his vigorous contest with Napoleon.
The disturbances in England had begun to subside, when the ancient civil war was again renewed in Ireland between the Orangemen and the Catholics; it was a constantly recurring quarrel, as between two races who entertained the greatest detestation for each other. All the people who thought seriously on the subject felt that something must be done for the Catholics; the reason for the former oppression having ceased to exist, Ireland could not always remain in a state of slavery. Lord Castlereagh was well acquainted with this country,where his youth had been passed, and, whenever business left him leisure, was accustomed to visit the ancient towers of Londonderry, the beautiful lakes, and the old fishermen, whom his munificence assisted in rebuilding their villages and their boats, portioning their daughters, or increasing their own comforts. The bill for the admission of the Catholic lords into parliament was then in debate; it was opposed by the Orange party in Ireland, and, after passing the House of Commons, was thrown out by the Lords; and this was the cause of the sanguinary troubles which again threw Ireland into the most fearful state of disorder. The ministry shewed no indulgence, for the country was deluged with blood; and Lord Wellesley, then lord-lieutenant, declared at last that, if they were desirous of saving that country, more agitated than the ocean, it must be placed under a most vigorous system of legislative exception.[52]The old laws of the conquest were put in force against the parties of Whiteboys who ravaged the country, but by degrees these demonstrations gave way before the severe measures used to repress them.
As soon as order was restored, it was necessary the ministry should take measures to relieve the sufferings of the three kingdoms, and they devoted themselves with the greatest attention to their difficult task. It is a historical truth worthy of the remembrance of agitators, that they occasion the slavery of all for the sake of the vain pleasure they derive from some ovations to themselves. Despotism is the successor of disorder, and there is more influence in reason and resignation than in the noisy acclamations of the public streets. O'Connell appears tome, to be just the man destined to bring about the complete subjection of Ireland; he will be the destroyer of his country for the sake of a little personal vanity, for the applause of 100,000 men, collected round the hustings. The Tories did every thing that was possible for Ireland when it was quiet: the emancipation of the Catholics was promoted by the Wellesleys, nor did they stop there.
Lord Castlereagh, deeply sensible that there was real suffering among all classes of the people, now unfolded his vast plan of economy, with all the logic of Pitt in his admirable budget of 1798. Taking his ground on the existence of much distress in the agricultural districts, and in the principles of credit, he proceeded at once to retrenchments. The expenses of the army and navy were reduced by two millions sterling a-year; the interest of the public debt was reduced from 5 to 4 per cent; and the sinking fund was considerably increased.[53]These measures permitted the decrease of imposts, the suppression of all additional taxes, and a system of loans to agriculture by means of the bank, the grand instrument he always had recourse to, in order to make advances to parishes, and more especially to the producers of corn, so as always to keep down the price. It was an earnest undertaking, and the last he had to carry on during this session. In the meanwhile he could not fail to observe that the renown of his old adversary, Canning, was marvellously increasing; he was becoming a popular character, he was the favourite of the mob, while the firm and persevering minister who had aroused the world, and saved England, was branded with reprobation by the populace, who broke the panels of his carriage. Ought he to allow himself—he, so proud and haughty,to be drawn into the wake of Canning, on the boundless waste of revolutionary ideas? Partially reconciled to his adversary on the Catholic question, his lordship took only a secondary part in the debate; and he was stung by the conviction, that, while in foreign relations his influence was overpowered by the Holy Alliance, at home Canning was the person considered most necessary to the administration, because he was better suited to the new liberal situation in which they were becoming entangled; and he repeatedly expressed his grief and vexation at this circumstance. In England, where public questions are adopted like a mission, and the feelings of statesmen on the subject are deep and interwoven in their whole being, the destruction of a system involves that of the man. Mr. Pitt was killed by the battle of Austerlitz, and Lord Castlereagh belonged to that noble school. He whose life had commenced in so poetical a manner, who had feared neither single combat, nor the dangers of the raging waves in his shipwreck on the Isle of Man, could not be afraid of death; but as his hour drew near, his disposition became extremely irritable, and he expressed himself in parliament with a degree of bitterness and sullen haughtiness: I should almost say he looked with pity and contempt upon the opposition of the Whigs, who were advancing towards fresh storms and disturbances. There are times when people wish to have done with a situation which oppresses them, and with adversaries of whom they are weary; they utter their last words to their face, and after that they die without regret.
Lord Castlereagh announced his intention of visiting the Continent, with the intention, if not of being present at the congress of Verona, at least of meeting the assembled sovereigns there; and Canning was in hopes that, when his colleague had once left England, hewould send in his resignation, and consequently leave him at the head of affairs. But matters were more rapidly drawing to a close: Lord Castlereagh had been unwell for several days, and there was every appearance of extreme nervous irritability about him; some expressions that fell from his lips shewed that he had some sinister ideas in his head, and when he went to take leave of the king, the state of his mind did not escape the monarch, who had a great esteem for him. From that time he constantly complained of a feeling of oppression in his head, and his physician, Dr. Bankhead, reported that when he visited him he was calm, though there were symptoms of impatience and caprice in his manner, and a few short and hurried words were all that he could draw from him; he let fall some observations on the troubles of life which raised apprehensions of suicide, and he was watched: but on Monday, the 12th of August, 1822, just as his physician entered his dressing-room, Lord Castlereagh uttered these few words: "Doctor, let me fall on your arm; it is all over!" and fell with the heaviness of a corpse. The blood was flowing in torrents, from a deep wound which he had inflicted in the carotid artery, with a small penknife he had concealed in a letter-case. Such was the end of the man, who had conducted the affairs of England with so much firmness and consistency for the last ten years!
Since then people have endeavoured to prove that he was raving mad, and the opposite party have even asserted, that the energy of his government shewed a tendency to mental alienation: would they not have considered any man mad, who wanted to contend vigorously against them? No, Lord Castlereagh wasnotmad; he only felt the deep sorrow of a statesman who, after having fulfilled a great duty, finds himself forgotten and abandoned at the end of his career. Mr. Pitthad died at his post while his work was progressing towards its accomplishment, and Lord Castlereagh saw it completed by the fall of Buonaparte. But he, in his turn, had to contend with the revolutionary opinions that were again invading the world; Canning was like his evil genius, and as in a long political career they were both constantly before the public, we may inquire what services they rendered to England. Castlereagh gave his country the pre-eminence she every where exercises; he signed the treaties of 1815, he secured to her vast stations, colonies, and new worlds, and he was forced to escape, by suicide from the reprobation of the people; while Canning the declaimer, the renegade from the opinions of Pitt, and who, though threatening all the cabinets, did not dare to oppose the expedition to Spain in 1823, died peaceably in his bed, and was crowned with universal applause. Alas! it is because men who devote themselves to the serious affairs of their country, are in general persecuted and misunderstood; for with the populace, noise and clamour are thought more of, than good measures. Let it, however, be said to the credit of England, that she is returning to the men she formerly blamed. The noble hierarchy of statesmen which begins with Pitt and Castlereagh, and extends to Peel, Lord Aberdeen, and the Duke of Wellington, is now hailed as the school most fitted to afford protection to Great Britain; and Fox, Sheridan, and Canning, are only mentioned as eloquent speakers, who passed away long nights in the House of Commons.
There is not the slightest doubt that the unfortunate termination of Lord Castlereagh's existence was owing to delirium.—Editor.
Printed by George Barclay, Castle Street, Leicester Square.
FOOTNOTES:[1]Nothing can exceed the paternal government of Austria to her hereditary states, or the severity of the police in her Italian dominions. In Hungary the Austrian power has never been sufficient to enable her to ameliorate the prominent defects of their still feudal system. The Italians, Sclavonians, and Hungarians, are still far from being amalgamated with the Austrians.[2]The French commissioners were attacked on leaving the city and many killed.—Editor.[3]See "Europe during the Consulate and the Empire of Napoleon."[4]Prince Metternich told me the Emperor had locked the door.[5]The sum of 5,000,000l.sterling was to be furnished for the year 1814, to be increased if necessary.—Editor.[6]Suzeraineté.[7]M. de Talleyrand, who had naturally an inclination in favour of ancient honours, preferred his title of duke of the old monarchy to his principality; for the title of prince, unless in connexion with the Blood Royal, was considered as of foreign extraction, and not to possess any aristocratic importance.[8]The arms of M. de Talleyrand were, Gules, three lions, or, langued, armed, and crowned azure, prince's coronet on the shield, ducal crown on the mantle. Device,Re que Diou(Nothing but God above us).[9]A pawnbroking establishment in Paris under the protection of the government.[10]About 20,000l.[11]Histoire de la Restauration.[12]Signed in the month of March,videMetternich.—Tr.[13]Histoire de la Restauration.[14]About 160,000l.[15]I speak of the time before Lord Durham had taken the side of Russia and of Conservatism.[16]"Il nobile Pasquale Pozzo di Borgo, oratore dei popoli di là da' monti in Corsica...." 1584."... Per egregium virum Pasqualem Pozzo di Borgo, civem Adjacii, oratorem et procuratorem populorum provinciæ Adjacii et Sartenæ, et aliorum hominum ultra montes Corsicæ.""Tutta la provincia di là da' monti nell' isola di Corsica in generale, ha eletto per oratore il Capitano Secondo Pozzo di Borgo sì per assistere presso le VV. SS...." 1597.All these charters are extracted from the work published by the wise and judicious magistrate, C. Gregori,Statuti Civili e Criminali di Corsica.[17]I saw all these papers, which were printed in 1793, in the hands of Count Pozzo di Borgo; he took pleasure in shewing the curious decree against Napoleon, afterwards the pride and glory of Corsica. Theconsultawas composed of 1200 deputies.[18]This observation appears to indicate some inaccuracy regarding the date of Paoli's demise. It took place in Feb. 1807.—Editor.[19]Videthe article "Metternich."[20]I have seen the rough copy of this proclamation written in pencil by Count Pozzo and corrected by Alexander himself.[21]"Histoire de la Restauration."[22]This memorial was found again some years afterwards at Warsaw. The Emperor Nicholas wrote to Pozzo di Borgo in 1830, "How rightly you foresaw what would happen! You would have saved us much difficulty and embarrassment."[23]About twenty-eight millions sterling.[24]On the 5th of April, 1824, the minister of finance brought forward a plan to substituterentesat three per cent for those already existing at five per cent, reserving to the holders of the five per centrentesthe option between the repayment of their nominal capital and its conversion into three per cents at the rate of seventy-five. Some modifications were suggested, but the plan failed at the time. In the following year it was renewed, and then it was decreed that the proprietors of five per centrentesshould be allowed till the 22d of June (afterwards extended to the 5th of August) the faculty of demanding from the minister of finance their conversion into three per cents at the price of seventy-five, and till the 22d of September the faculty of requiring their conversion into four and a half per cent stock at par, with a guarantee in both cases against being paid off till September 1835. Therentesso converted were to continue to bear interest at five per cent until the 22d December, 1825.—Editor.[25]Alexander had gone on a tour of inspection to the southern parts of his empire, and on arriving at a village in the Crimea, he insisted upon attending the service in a church which had long been shut up, in spite of the remonstrances of his attendants, who represented the danger arising from malaria. He was shortly afterwards seized with the fever common in the Crimea, and refused to submit to the strong measures recommended by his medical attendants, resolving to trust to abstinence and the mild remedies he had usually found successful when attacked by illness, but which were insufficient in this instance; and when he at last resigned himself into the hands of his physicians, it was too late. Reports were raised of his having been poisoned, but they were totally devoid of foundation.—Editor.[26]See "L'Europe pendant le Consulat et l'Empire de Napoleon."[27]Sapeurs-pompiers.[28]The Comte de Chabrol had been appointed prefect of the Seine upon the dismissal of Frochot after Mallet's conspiracy, and had distinguished himself by the most inflated expressions of devotion to the Emperor. "What is life," said he, "compared to the immense interests which rest upon the sacred head of the heir of the Empire? For me, whom an unexpected glance of your imperial eye has called from a distance to a post so eminent, what I most value in the distinction is the honour and right of setting the foremost example of loyal devotion!"—Editor.[29]The law to authorise arbitrary arrests was equivalent to the suspension of the Habeas Corpus act in England: and it was originally brought forward by M. Decaze and strenuously supported by Baron Pasquier. It was proposed that it should continue in force for one year, and after a debate which lasted for several sittings, it was passed by a majority of nineteen votes, modified however by the introduction of a clause forbidding arrests to be made under it during the night. A law restraining the liberty of the press was also passed after being most obstinately contested. The majority in the chamber of peers was onlytwoon this occasion.—Editor.[30]He was accused of great political tergiversation, and M. Vaublanc, a keen royalist, designated him as "a man who never left one administration till he had prepared to enter another, who never deserted one set of friends till he had looked out for another more in favour at court, and who had skipped into successive cabinets with that ease which marked all his movements."—Editor.[31]At the same moment that he dissolved the chamber of deputies, the king created seventy-six new peers, all of them people devoted to the government.[32]Gawilghur.—Ed.[33]20th January, 1812.[34]7th April, 1812.[35]24th July, 1812.[36]Witness Assaye, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajos, Vittoria, &c.—Editor.[37]He had long had a seat in the House of Peers, but the mistake is very natural for a foreigner.—Editor.[38]Upon this occasion the Duke of Wellington voted against his brother's measure.—Editor.[39]The editor begs to remind the reader that he is not answerable for M. Capefigue's opinions.[40]See Note, page 208.—Editor.[41]About 800l.[42]Now about 80,000.—Ed.[43]The government of Odessa includes the island of Taman, and part of the Caucasian line, inhabited by the Cossacks of the Black Sea, who were settled on the Lower Kouban by Potemkin, as a defence against the incursions of the Circassians; forming a chain of intrenched villages, sufficiently near to communicate by signals, and supported by some regiments of infantry and artillery. The Circassians have never been able to make any serious impression on this line; and the Russians, whose object was purely defensive, never even crossed the Kouban with an intention of permanently establishing themselves beyond the river till the conclusion of the last Turkish war, during which Anapa, and all other forts possessed by the Turks on the Black Sea, were ceded to Russia. The Circassians had only tolerated these nominal dependencies of Turkey, as affording convenient points of trade and export for the slaves captured from Russia and Georgia, as well as those taken during their own domestic wars. The natural strength of the country and its deadly climate have hitherto checked the Russian conquests, but, sooner or later, it must yield to a power capable of sending unlimited reinforcements, while every action permanently diminishes the strength of the mountain tribes. The war, which has now lasted sixty years, can have no effect on the prosperity of the southern provinces of Russia, nor is it felt twenty miles from the frontier. The few Circassians that have been educated in Russia are not permitted to return to the tribes. The Caucasian guard formed by Prince Paskewitch in 1830, and who return periodically to their own country, may have a much greater effect; they are taken indiscriminately from all the tribes, Circassians, Lesghis, Chechens, and Ossatinians, forming a body of about two hundred men, in some measure resembling the Mamelukes of Napoleon.—Editor.[44]Videart. Pozzo di Borgo.[45]64 millions sterling.[46]Ministres secrétaires d'état.[47]Videart. Pozzo di Borgo.[48]Videarticles "Pozzo di Borgo" and "Richelieu."[49]Count Capo d'Istria was murdered in September, 1831, by the brother and son of a Mainote he had imprisoned.—Ed.[50]Quære, Coyne?—Editor.[51]This assertion is untrue, and not borne out by any evidence.—Editor.[52]Parliament decided upon the re-enactment of the Insurrection Act, and the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, in Ireland.—Editor.[53]This is a mistake.—Editor.
[1]Nothing can exceed the paternal government of Austria to her hereditary states, or the severity of the police in her Italian dominions. In Hungary the Austrian power has never been sufficient to enable her to ameliorate the prominent defects of their still feudal system. The Italians, Sclavonians, and Hungarians, are still far from being amalgamated with the Austrians.[2]The French commissioners were attacked on leaving the city and many killed.—Editor.[3]See "Europe during the Consulate and the Empire of Napoleon."[4]Prince Metternich told me the Emperor had locked the door.[5]The sum of 5,000,000l.sterling was to be furnished for the year 1814, to be increased if necessary.—Editor.[6]Suzeraineté.[7]M. de Talleyrand, who had naturally an inclination in favour of ancient honours, preferred his title of duke of the old monarchy to his principality; for the title of prince, unless in connexion with the Blood Royal, was considered as of foreign extraction, and not to possess any aristocratic importance.[8]The arms of M. de Talleyrand were, Gules, three lions, or, langued, armed, and crowned azure, prince's coronet on the shield, ducal crown on the mantle. Device,Re que Diou(Nothing but God above us).[9]A pawnbroking establishment in Paris under the protection of the government.[10]About 20,000l.[11]Histoire de la Restauration.[12]Signed in the month of March,videMetternich.—Tr.[13]Histoire de la Restauration.[14]About 160,000l.[15]I speak of the time before Lord Durham had taken the side of Russia and of Conservatism.[16]"Il nobile Pasquale Pozzo di Borgo, oratore dei popoli di là da' monti in Corsica...." 1584."... Per egregium virum Pasqualem Pozzo di Borgo, civem Adjacii, oratorem et procuratorem populorum provinciæ Adjacii et Sartenæ, et aliorum hominum ultra montes Corsicæ.""Tutta la provincia di là da' monti nell' isola di Corsica in generale, ha eletto per oratore il Capitano Secondo Pozzo di Borgo sì per assistere presso le VV. SS...." 1597.All these charters are extracted from the work published by the wise and judicious magistrate, C. Gregori,Statuti Civili e Criminali di Corsica.[17]I saw all these papers, which were printed in 1793, in the hands of Count Pozzo di Borgo; he took pleasure in shewing the curious decree against Napoleon, afterwards the pride and glory of Corsica. Theconsultawas composed of 1200 deputies.[18]This observation appears to indicate some inaccuracy regarding the date of Paoli's demise. It took place in Feb. 1807.—Editor.[19]Videthe article "Metternich."[20]I have seen the rough copy of this proclamation written in pencil by Count Pozzo and corrected by Alexander himself.[21]"Histoire de la Restauration."[22]This memorial was found again some years afterwards at Warsaw. The Emperor Nicholas wrote to Pozzo di Borgo in 1830, "How rightly you foresaw what would happen! You would have saved us much difficulty and embarrassment."[23]About twenty-eight millions sterling.[24]On the 5th of April, 1824, the minister of finance brought forward a plan to substituterentesat three per cent for those already existing at five per cent, reserving to the holders of the five per centrentesthe option between the repayment of their nominal capital and its conversion into three per cents at the rate of seventy-five. Some modifications were suggested, but the plan failed at the time. In the following year it was renewed, and then it was decreed that the proprietors of five per centrentesshould be allowed till the 22d of June (afterwards extended to the 5th of August) the faculty of demanding from the minister of finance their conversion into three per cents at the price of seventy-five, and till the 22d of September the faculty of requiring their conversion into four and a half per cent stock at par, with a guarantee in both cases against being paid off till September 1835. Therentesso converted were to continue to bear interest at five per cent until the 22d December, 1825.—Editor.[25]Alexander had gone on a tour of inspection to the southern parts of his empire, and on arriving at a village in the Crimea, he insisted upon attending the service in a church which had long been shut up, in spite of the remonstrances of his attendants, who represented the danger arising from malaria. He was shortly afterwards seized with the fever common in the Crimea, and refused to submit to the strong measures recommended by his medical attendants, resolving to trust to abstinence and the mild remedies he had usually found successful when attacked by illness, but which were insufficient in this instance; and when he at last resigned himself into the hands of his physicians, it was too late. Reports were raised of his having been poisoned, but they were totally devoid of foundation.—Editor.[26]See "L'Europe pendant le Consulat et l'Empire de Napoleon."[27]Sapeurs-pompiers.[28]The Comte de Chabrol had been appointed prefect of the Seine upon the dismissal of Frochot after Mallet's conspiracy, and had distinguished himself by the most inflated expressions of devotion to the Emperor. "What is life," said he, "compared to the immense interests which rest upon the sacred head of the heir of the Empire? For me, whom an unexpected glance of your imperial eye has called from a distance to a post so eminent, what I most value in the distinction is the honour and right of setting the foremost example of loyal devotion!"—Editor.[29]The law to authorise arbitrary arrests was equivalent to the suspension of the Habeas Corpus act in England: and it was originally brought forward by M. Decaze and strenuously supported by Baron Pasquier. It was proposed that it should continue in force for one year, and after a debate which lasted for several sittings, it was passed by a majority of nineteen votes, modified however by the introduction of a clause forbidding arrests to be made under it during the night. A law restraining the liberty of the press was also passed after being most obstinately contested. The majority in the chamber of peers was onlytwoon this occasion.—Editor.[30]He was accused of great political tergiversation, and M. Vaublanc, a keen royalist, designated him as "a man who never left one administration till he had prepared to enter another, who never deserted one set of friends till he had looked out for another more in favour at court, and who had skipped into successive cabinets with that ease which marked all his movements."—Editor.[31]At the same moment that he dissolved the chamber of deputies, the king created seventy-six new peers, all of them people devoted to the government.[32]Gawilghur.—Ed.[33]20th January, 1812.[34]7th April, 1812.[35]24th July, 1812.[36]Witness Assaye, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajos, Vittoria, &c.—Editor.[37]He had long had a seat in the House of Peers, but the mistake is very natural for a foreigner.—Editor.[38]Upon this occasion the Duke of Wellington voted against his brother's measure.—Editor.[39]The editor begs to remind the reader that he is not answerable for M. Capefigue's opinions.[40]See Note, page 208.—Editor.[41]About 800l.[42]Now about 80,000.—Ed.[43]The government of Odessa includes the island of Taman, and part of the Caucasian line, inhabited by the Cossacks of the Black Sea, who were settled on the Lower Kouban by Potemkin, as a defence against the incursions of the Circassians; forming a chain of intrenched villages, sufficiently near to communicate by signals, and supported by some regiments of infantry and artillery. The Circassians have never been able to make any serious impression on this line; and the Russians, whose object was purely defensive, never even crossed the Kouban with an intention of permanently establishing themselves beyond the river till the conclusion of the last Turkish war, during which Anapa, and all other forts possessed by the Turks on the Black Sea, were ceded to Russia. The Circassians had only tolerated these nominal dependencies of Turkey, as affording convenient points of trade and export for the slaves captured from Russia and Georgia, as well as those taken during their own domestic wars. The natural strength of the country and its deadly climate have hitherto checked the Russian conquests, but, sooner or later, it must yield to a power capable of sending unlimited reinforcements, while every action permanently diminishes the strength of the mountain tribes. The war, which has now lasted sixty years, can have no effect on the prosperity of the southern provinces of Russia, nor is it felt twenty miles from the frontier. The few Circassians that have been educated in Russia are not permitted to return to the tribes. The Caucasian guard formed by Prince Paskewitch in 1830, and who return periodically to their own country, may have a much greater effect; they are taken indiscriminately from all the tribes, Circassians, Lesghis, Chechens, and Ossatinians, forming a body of about two hundred men, in some measure resembling the Mamelukes of Napoleon.—Editor.[44]Videart. Pozzo di Borgo.[45]64 millions sterling.[46]Ministres secrétaires d'état.[47]Videart. Pozzo di Borgo.[48]Videarticles "Pozzo di Borgo" and "Richelieu."[49]Count Capo d'Istria was murdered in September, 1831, by the brother and son of a Mainote he had imprisoned.—Ed.[50]Quære, Coyne?—Editor.[51]This assertion is untrue, and not borne out by any evidence.—Editor.[52]Parliament decided upon the re-enactment of the Insurrection Act, and the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, in Ireland.—Editor.[53]This is a mistake.—Editor.
[1]Nothing can exceed the paternal government of Austria to her hereditary states, or the severity of the police in her Italian dominions. In Hungary the Austrian power has never been sufficient to enable her to ameliorate the prominent defects of their still feudal system. The Italians, Sclavonians, and Hungarians, are still far from being amalgamated with the Austrians.
[2]The French commissioners were attacked on leaving the city and many killed.—Editor.
[3]See "Europe during the Consulate and the Empire of Napoleon."
[4]Prince Metternich told me the Emperor had locked the door.
[5]The sum of 5,000,000l.sterling was to be furnished for the year 1814, to be increased if necessary.—Editor.
[6]Suzeraineté.
[7]M. de Talleyrand, who had naturally an inclination in favour of ancient honours, preferred his title of duke of the old monarchy to his principality; for the title of prince, unless in connexion with the Blood Royal, was considered as of foreign extraction, and not to possess any aristocratic importance.
[8]The arms of M. de Talleyrand were, Gules, three lions, or, langued, armed, and crowned azure, prince's coronet on the shield, ducal crown on the mantle. Device,Re que Diou(Nothing but God above us).
[9]A pawnbroking establishment in Paris under the protection of the government.
[10]About 20,000l.
[11]Histoire de la Restauration.
[12]Signed in the month of March,videMetternich.—Tr.
[13]Histoire de la Restauration.
[14]About 160,000l.
[15]I speak of the time before Lord Durham had taken the side of Russia and of Conservatism.
[16]"Il nobile Pasquale Pozzo di Borgo, oratore dei popoli di là da' monti in Corsica...." 1584.
"... Per egregium virum Pasqualem Pozzo di Borgo, civem Adjacii, oratorem et procuratorem populorum provinciæ Adjacii et Sartenæ, et aliorum hominum ultra montes Corsicæ."
"Tutta la provincia di là da' monti nell' isola di Corsica in generale, ha eletto per oratore il Capitano Secondo Pozzo di Borgo sì per assistere presso le VV. SS...." 1597.
All these charters are extracted from the work published by the wise and judicious magistrate, C. Gregori,Statuti Civili e Criminali di Corsica.
[17]I saw all these papers, which were printed in 1793, in the hands of Count Pozzo di Borgo; he took pleasure in shewing the curious decree against Napoleon, afterwards the pride and glory of Corsica. Theconsultawas composed of 1200 deputies.
[18]This observation appears to indicate some inaccuracy regarding the date of Paoli's demise. It took place in Feb. 1807.—Editor.
[19]Videthe article "Metternich."
[20]I have seen the rough copy of this proclamation written in pencil by Count Pozzo and corrected by Alexander himself.
[21]"Histoire de la Restauration."
[22]This memorial was found again some years afterwards at Warsaw. The Emperor Nicholas wrote to Pozzo di Borgo in 1830, "How rightly you foresaw what would happen! You would have saved us much difficulty and embarrassment."
[23]About twenty-eight millions sterling.
[24]On the 5th of April, 1824, the minister of finance brought forward a plan to substituterentesat three per cent for those already existing at five per cent, reserving to the holders of the five per centrentesthe option between the repayment of their nominal capital and its conversion into three per cents at the rate of seventy-five. Some modifications were suggested, but the plan failed at the time. In the following year it was renewed, and then it was decreed that the proprietors of five per centrentesshould be allowed till the 22d of June (afterwards extended to the 5th of August) the faculty of demanding from the minister of finance their conversion into three per cents at the price of seventy-five, and till the 22d of September the faculty of requiring their conversion into four and a half per cent stock at par, with a guarantee in both cases against being paid off till September 1835. Therentesso converted were to continue to bear interest at five per cent until the 22d December, 1825.—Editor.
[25]Alexander had gone on a tour of inspection to the southern parts of his empire, and on arriving at a village in the Crimea, he insisted upon attending the service in a church which had long been shut up, in spite of the remonstrances of his attendants, who represented the danger arising from malaria. He was shortly afterwards seized with the fever common in the Crimea, and refused to submit to the strong measures recommended by his medical attendants, resolving to trust to abstinence and the mild remedies he had usually found successful when attacked by illness, but which were insufficient in this instance; and when he at last resigned himself into the hands of his physicians, it was too late. Reports were raised of his having been poisoned, but they were totally devoid of foundation.—Editor.
[26]See "L'Europe pendant le Consulat et l'Empire de Napoleon."
[27]Sapeurs-pompiers.
[28]The Comte de Chabrol had been appointed prefect of the Seine upon the dismissal of Frochot after Mallet's conspiracy, and had distinguished himself by the most inflated expressions of devotion to the Emperor. "What is life," said he, "compared to the immense interests which rest upon the sacred head of the heir of the Empire? For me, whom an unexpected glance of your imperial eye has called from a distance to a post so eminent, what I most value in the distinction is the honour and right of setting the foremost example of loyal devotion!"—Editor.
[29]The law to authorise arbitrary arrests was equivalent to the suspension of the Habeas Corpus act in England: and it was originally brought forward by M. Decaze and strenuously supported by Baron Pasquier. It was proposed that it should continue in force for one year, and after a debate which lasted for several sittings, it was passed by a majority of nineteen votes, modified however by the introduction of a clause forbidding arrests to be made under it during the night. A law restraining the liberty of the press was also passed after being most obstinately contested. The majority in the chamber of peers was onlytwoon this occasion.—Editor.
[30]He was accused of great political tergiversation, and M. Vaublanc, a keen royalist, designated him as "a man who never left one administration till he had prepared to enter another, who never deserted one set of friends till he had looked out for another more in favour at court, and who had skipped into successive cabinets with that ease which marked all his movements."—Editor.
[31]At the same moment that he dissolved the chamber of deputies, the king created seventy-six new peers, all of them people devoted to the government.
[32]Gawilghur.—Ed.
[33]20th January, 1812.
[34]7th April, 1812.
[35]24th July, 1812.
[36]Witness Assaye, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajos, Vittoria, &c.—Editor.
[37]He had long had a seat in the House of Peers, but the mistake is very natural for a foreigner.—Editor.
[38]Upon this occasion the Duke of Wellington voted against his brother's measure.—Editor.
[39]The editor begs to remind the reader that he is not answerable for M. Capefigue's opinions.
[40]See Note, page 208.—Editor.
[41]About 800l.
[42]Now about 80,000.—Ed.
[43]The government of Odessa includes the island of Taman, and part of the Caucasian line, inhabited by the Cossacks of the Black Sea, who were settled on the Lower Kouban by Potemkin, as a defence against the incursions of the Circassians; forming a chain of intrenched villages, sufficiently near to communicate by signals, and supported by some regiments of infantry and artillery. The Circassians have never been able to make any serious impression on this line; and the Russians, whose object was purely defensive, never even crossed the Kouban with an intention of permanently establishing themselves beyond the river till the conclusion of the last Turkish war, during which Anapa, and all other forts possessed by the Turks on the Black Sea, were ceded to Russia. The Circassians had only tolerated these nominal dependencies of Turkey, as affording convenient points of trade and export for the slaves captured from Russia and Georgia, as well as those taken during their own domestic wars. The natural strength of the country and its deadly climate have hitherto checked the Russian conquests, but, sooner or later, it must yield to a power capable of sending unlimited reinforcements, while every action permanently diminishes the strength of the mountain tribes. The war, which has now lasted sixty years, can have no effect on the prosperity of the southern provinces of Russia, nor is it felt twenty miles from the frontier. The few Circassians that have been educated in Russia are not permitted to return to the tribes. The Caucasian guard formed by Prince Paskewitch in 1830, and who return periodically to their own country, may have a much greater effect; they are taken indiscriminately from all the tribes, Circassians, Lesghis, Chechens, and Ossatinians, forming a body of about two hundred men, in some measure resembling the Mamelukes of Napoleon.—Editor.
[44]Videart. Pozzo di Borgo.
[45]64 millions sterling.
[46]Ministres secrétaires d'état.
[47]Videart. Pozzo di Borgo.
[48]Videarticles "Pozzo di Borgo" and "Richelieu."
[49]Count Capo d'Istria was murdered in September, 1831, by the brother and son of a Mainote he had imprisoned.—Ed.
[50]Quære, Coyne?—Editor.
[51]This assertion is untrue, and not borne out by any evidence.—Editor.
[52]Parliament decided upon the re-enactment of the Insurrection Act, and the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, in Ireland.—Editor.
[53]This is a mistake.—Editor.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:Obvious printer errors have been corrected. Otherwise, the author's original spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been left intact.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
Obvious printer errors have been corrected. Otherwise, the author's original spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been left intact.