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FOOTNOTES.1[No pamphlet was written, but the substance of the Prince's views on the seizure of Cracow was published in an article in the 'Edinburgh Review,' vol. lxxxv. p. 261.]2He endeavoured to tranquillise me about the information to Thiers, and said of course it would be given with great caution. It did not tranquillise me, however, and my soul was prophetic. What mischief has resulted from this false and profligate step! (February 21st).3[Henry, Lord Cowley, younger brother of the Duke of Wellington (born 1773), had been Ambassador at the Court of France under the late Government. He resigned on the fall of Sir Robert Peel's Administration, but remained as a private gentleman in Paris until his death, which took place in April 1847, shortly after this interview.]4Miraflores came to Paris for (seepost) the purpose of getting something settled. He told the King that Trapani was out of the question, the two sons of Don Francisco de Paula almost impossible from the Queen's dislike of both, especially of Don Enrique, on account of his insolent letter to her from Bayonne. If, therefore, His Majesty would not give them his own son, he entreated him to leave them alone and let them choose for themselves. The King answered very angrily, said he would not give the Duke de Montpensier, still urged one of the Spanish Princes, but above all recommended delay, and to take time for consideration. This Miraflores told to Lord Cowley, who wrote it home to Palmerston. This is the communication which Palmerston alludes to in his long note, but he is very incorrect in his allusion.5I said that the idea ofintimidatingFrance had never entered his head, that he wasun homme de coeurhimself, and knew that France was too great and too powerful to be intimidated by anyone.6[Louis Philippe was certainly not wanting in physical courage, but in moral courage he appeared in his later years to be deficient. M. Thiers was in the habit of using exaggerated language, and he disliked the King; for M. Thiers' great defect was that he could notserveanyone. The Revolution of February 1848 proved that there was a good deal of truth in these predictions. But the want of resolution which M. Thiers imputed to the King arose solely from his honourable and consistent aversion to violence and war.]7[Mr. Francis Baring had married Clara, the daughter of Maret, Duc de Bassano, and was well versed in French affairs.]8[Sir Frederick Lamb, Lady Palmerston's brother, had recently been created Lord Beauvale.]9It was verbal.10[He did not do it in 1847; but in 1850 a similar transaction led to Lord Palmerston's expulsion from the Foreign Office, to which he never returned, though he subsequently filled other and higher offices of State.]11[Pius IX., who had recently been elected to the Papal See, signalised the commencement of his reign by liberal measures, which were vehemently opposed by the Austrian Government.]12[Prince Albert was elected Chancellor of the University of Cambridge on February 27, 1847.]13[The conduct of the British Government with reference to the annexation of Cracow was again discussed by Lord George Bentinck. Eight or ten years before it had been proposed, and even promised, to send a British Consul to Cracow, but this design being strongly opposed by the three Northern Powers, Lord Palmerston abandoned it.]14[The Emperor of Russia placed a sum of two millions sterling in the hands of the Bank of France. The motive of this investment was never discovered, but it proved that the finances of Russia were then in a flourishing condition.]15[The effect of the quarrel arising out of the Queen of Spain's marriage, and the squabble between M. Guizot and Lord Normanby, began to bear fatal consequences on the politics of Europe. The amicable relations which had subsisted between France and England until Lord Palmerston returned to power were at an end. Lord Normanby, though ostensibly reconciled to M. Guizot, remained in close alliance with M. Thiers and the leaders of the French Opposition, and his efforts to overthrow the Government to which he was accredited contributed to the overthrow of the Monarchy. M. Guizot, at variance with the English Minister of foreign affairs, and assailed by the English Ambassador in Paris, drew nearer to the policy of the Northern Courts, and especially of Prince Metternich. Such were the signs of the approaching tempest which broke over Europe in the following year.]16[Lord Hatherton and the Bishop of Exeter (Phillpotts) were Lord Dudley's executors. This diary never saw the light.]17[An insurrection had broken out in Portugal in October 1846 against the authority of Queen Donna Maria. In the following month the British fleet entered the Tagus to support the Queen. The contest continued for some months, and in May 1847 a conference was held in London between the representatives of Great Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal—the original parties to the Quadruple alliance—to settle the disorders which had broken out in the last-mentioned kingdom.]18[The successor was Lord Clarendon himself.]19[In this interval Lord Clarendon consented to accept the Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland from a sense of public duty. He remained there five years, and, during a very stormy period, proved himself one of the best Viceroys who ever governed Ireland.]20[About this time the proposal was made, chiefly by Sir Frederic Trench, to place the equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington (by Wyatt) on the top of the archway opposite Apsley House. Most people thought that it was absurd and in bad taste to place a statue there. It was, however, agreed to erect it provisionally; but, once there, the Duke showed great irritation at the idea of removing it, which he declared would be an indignity: so there the statue stood until it was removed to Aldershot in 1884. It was the first instance of an equestrian statue erected in London to a subject.]21[The Right Hon. Edward Strutt, afterwards Lord Belper, was a distinguished member of the advanced Liberal Party. He brought in a Bill at this time for the regulation of railways, which the Government soon withdrew.]22[These letters have been published in the Croker Papers, vol. iii. p. 94.]23[It was on October 25 that the Government authorised the Bank of England to issue paper in excess of the limit imposed by the Act of 1844. This measure led to the immediate meeting of Parliament to pass a Bill of Indemnity, though the power was revoked on November 23.]24[The Hon. Edward Harcourt, Archbishop of York, died on November 5, in his ninety-first year.]25[William Fox had entered life as a Unitarian Minister, and he continued to preach for several years at the Finsbury Chapel of that persuasion. But he subsequently quitted the pulpit, and was returned to Parliament for the borough of Oldham in 1847. He became an active member of the Radical Party, but his eloquence was less admired in the House of Commons than it had been in his chapel.]26[Lord Minto, then Lord Privy Seal, had been sent in the course of this autumn on a roving mission to Italy. Pius IX. had been elected Pope in June 1846.]27[Dr. Hampden, who was accused of heterodox opinions, and whose appointment to a Canonry at Oxford had already occasioned an explosion of bigotry and intolerance in the Church, was raised to the See of Hereford by Lord John Russell, chiefly, as it would seem, as an act of defiance to the Clerical party. Hampden was a dull, heavy man, who made more noise in the world than he deserved, but he was not a bad bishop.]28[Victor, Duc de Broglie, was at this time French Ambassador in London.]29Dudley, second Baron and first Earl of Harrowby, born December 22, 1782; died December 26, 1847.30[On December 11 an attempt was made to arrest the confirmation of Dr. Hampden as Bishop of Hereford in the church of St. Mary-le-Bow. But this was overruled by the Commissioners. On December 24 the Attorney-General showed cause against a rulenisigranted on the 14th by the Court of Queen's Bench, for a mandamus against the Archbishop of Canterbury. Judgement was given on February 1. Mr. Justice Coleridge and Mr. Justice Erle were in favour of granting the mandamus; Lord Denman, C. J., and Mr. Justice Patteson against it. The Court being equally divided, no mandamus was issued.]31[Sir Arthur Aston was Secretary of Legation in Spain.]32[Sir John Jervis was at this time Attorney-General, afterwards Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. Sir David Dundas was Solicitor-General.]33[This letter is reprinted in the Appendix to this volume.]34[The Marquis of Granby, born May 16, 1815, succeeded his father as Duke of Rutland in 1857.]35[Lord George Bentinck threw up the leadership of the Protectionist party in a fit of ill-humour, caused by some reflections of Major Beresford, which showed, he said, that he had not the confidence of the party. Mr. Disraeli called him 'a wrong-headed man,' although they had for some time worked together with apparent cordiality.]36[The 'Morning Chronicle' newspaper was sold by Sir John Easthope, and purchased by Lord Lincoln, Sidney Herbert, and the other followers of Sir Robert Peel. It was conducted with ability, but it failed to command public support, and after a few years, and the loss of a great deal of money, the old Whig organ sank altogether.]37[Lord William Hervey, then First Secretary of Embassy at Paris, had taken up the question of the Spanish Marriages with extreme warmth. He it was who mainly disinterred and relied upon the renunciations annexed to the Treaty of Utrecht, which were designed to exclude any other branch of the House of Bourbon from the Spanish throne. Lord Palmerston adopted these arguments, but without effect, as, indeed, the whole state of Europe had changed; and Lord John Russell never thought there was much weight in them. Lord William Hervey was a highly accomplished and honourable diplomatist, third son of the Marquis of Bristol. His health was bad, and he died in May 1850, at the age of forty-five.]38'The Girondins,' and still more Dumas' play of the 'Chevaliers de la Maison Rouge.'39His prediction was exactly accomplished, only a good deal later.40[Lord Palmerston made an unsuccessful attempt to remove Louis Philippe from Claremont, although it was not even an English royal palace at that time, but belonged to the King's own son-in-law, Leopold, King of the Belgians. Lord Palmerston's design was signally defeated, and only excited the disgust of all those who knew the circumstances; but it was characteristic of his virulent personal animosity to the Orleans family, which, indeed, appears to have dated from a much earlier period, even before the Restoration in 1815.]41[M. Delessert had been Préfet de Police under the late French Government, and was one of the most judicious and respected members of the Conservative Party in France.]42[These were the preparations for the Great Chartist meeting announced to be held by Feargus O'Connor on Kennington Common on April 10, when a Chartist Petition, signed by five millions of persons, was to be presented by a huge procession of the people to the House of Commons.On April 7 Sir George Grey brought in a Bill for the better security of the Crown and Government of the United Kingdom, directed against all persons who sought to accomplish seditious ends by open speaking.The Duke of Wellington explained to the Cabinet on the 6th, with admirable lucidity, the details of his preparations.]43[A dinner was given to Lord Hardinge on April 5, on his return from India.]44[On March 16 Lord Palmerston addressed a despatch to Sir Henry Bulwer, British Minister at Madrid, in which he directed him to represent to the Queen of Spain that she would do well to change her Government. Sir Henry not only communicated this despatch to Queen Christina and the Duc de Sotomayor, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, but caused it to be published in the Opposition journals. The Spanish Government returned the despatch with a haughty answer. Lord Palmerston, however, approved the conduct of Sir H. Bulwer, and the consequence was that on May 19 the British Minister was ordered to leave Spain in forty-eight hours.]45[Mr. Southern had been Lord Clarendon's private secretary when he was Minister in Spain, and had just paid him a long visit in Ireland. Southern entered the diplomatic service, and eventually became British Minister at Rio Janeiro, where he died.]46[On April 29 an affray took place at Limerick between the Old and Young Irish Repealers. Meagher delivered one of his most impassioned speeches. But the 'moral force' O'Connellites attacked and beat the other party.]47[John George Ponsonby, fifth Earl of Bessborough, succeeded his father (the late Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland) in 1847. He died in 1880.]48[On May 15 another insurrection occurred in Paris. The mob forced its way into the Chamber of Deputies, and declared the Government, of which Lamartine was the head, to be dissolved. But the National Guard turned out with spirit, and, with the aid of the troops of the line, quelled the sedition and reinstated Lamartine.The passage that follows is certainly incorrect. Lamartine did not act with Ledru Rollin, and undoubtedly did not feather his nest, for he fell from power as poor a man as he was when he assumed it.]49[The Prince of Prussia—brother to the King, and afterwards King Wilhelm and Emperor of the Germans—had taken refuge in London from the mob of Berlin, and was residing with Chevalier Bunsen at the Prussian Embassy in Carlton Gardens.]50[On June 5 Mr. Bankes moved in the House of Commons a resolution censuring the conduct of Lord Palmerston and Sir Henry Bulwer at Madrid. After a debate the motion was withdrawn, and the discussion turned out quite differently from what was expected. Seeinfra, June 10th.]51[On May 24 Mitchell, one of the leaders of the Young Ireland Party, was convicted of felony under the Act for the better security of the Crown and Government, and sentenced to be transported for fourteen years. The sentence was immediately carried into effect. It occasioned some commotion and disturbance amongst the Chartists and Irish in London and elsewhere.]52[The Spanish Minister in London, Isturitz, was not withdrawn, but Mirasol was sent on a special mission to London, to explain the course adopted by the Spanish Government. He was unsuccessful, and on June 14 Isturitz received his passports and left the country. Diplomatic relations were thus suspended between England and Spain.]53[Ministers were beaten in the House of Lords by a majority of six on the Irish Poor Law Bill, and by a majority of one in the House of Commons on a motion relating to the Public Accounts.]54[The Princess Sophia, fifth daughter of King George III., born Nov. 3, 1777; died May 27, 1848.]55[A strong attempt was made on behalf of the West India interest to exclude slave-grown sugar from this country. On June 16 Lord John Russell proposed to reduce the sugar duty from 13s.to 10s., which was ultimately carried by a majority of 260 to 245.]56[Military precautions were taken against a rising of the Chartists in London on June 11. But the Chartist demonstration was a total failure.]57[When Lord Clarendon went to Ireland in 1847, he was animated by an earnest desire and hope to conciliate the Irish Catholic body. He invited their prelates and their leaders to the Viceregal Lodge, opened his mind to them freely, and expressed with perfect sincerity his liberal intentions towards them. But the experience of a year, and more especially the conduct of the Roman Catholics during the agitation which had prevailed in Ireland, convinced Lord Clarendon that no reliance at all could be placed on the loyalty of the Catholic population or of its chiefs. He arrived most reluctantly at this conclusion, but it never altered his determination to treat the Catholics with perfect courtesy and justice.]58[A fierce discussion took place in the House of Commons on May 23 on the postponement of Mr. Hume's motion on Reform. The motion came on, however, on June 20, and after several adjournments was defeated on July 6 by 358 to 84 votes. But the scene here referred to took place on a subsequent debate on Lord John Russell's Sugar Bill.]59[Lord John Russell brought in his Bill for reducing the Sugar Duties on June 16. On the 19th, Sir John Pakington proposed an amendment, condemning the scheme of the Government. It was on this point that the fate of the Ministry turned. Lord George Bentinck envenomed the debate by accusing the Colonial Office (in which Mr. Hawes was Under Secretary) of the suppression of documents. Lord John Russell replied that such tricks were not resorted to by men high in office, but were rather characteristic of men engaged in the pursuits the noble lord had long followed. Upon this, Mr. Disraeli retorted that Lord George Bentinck was not to be bullied either in the ring or from the Treasury Bench. Sir John Pakington's amendment was rejected on June 29 by 260 to 245.]60[The great uprising of the revolutionary party in Paris took place on June 23. The city was declared in a state of siege, and General Cavaignac commanded the operations of the troops. The battle (for such it was) lasted three days, and the losses on both sides were enormous. The Archbishop of Paris was killed in front of a barricade, and several general officers fell. This was one of the most sanguinary contests which had till then occurred in the whole course of the French Revolution. In the end the troops were victorious, and General Cavaignac was placed at the head of the Government.]61[The Duke of Bedford's residence in Devonshire.]62[On July 18 the Lord Lieutenant issued a Proclamation against the treasonable proceedings of the Repeal Clubs in Dublin, Waterford, Cork, and Drogheda. On July 21 Lord John Russel announced that the Habeas Corpus Act would be suspended in Ireland. The Bill was brought in on the 22nd, and carried through the House of Commons in one day, and passed the House of Lords on the 24th. It came into operation in Dublin on the 26th.]63[Upon the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland, Smith O'Brien and the other leaders of the Repeal movement fled to Ballingarry, where they were ignominiously hunted down by a party of fifty policemen and soon afterwards captured. The crisis had arrived, and the whole agitation collapsed.]64[William Henry Cavendish, third Duke of Portland, born April 14, 1738; died October 30, 1809, haying been twice Prime Minister. He was the father of Mr. Greville's mother, Lady Charlotte Greville.]65[An insurrection broke out in Naples on May 16, and soon afterwards the people of Sicily declared their independence. This movement was much favoured and indirectly aided by the British Government.]66[The Duke of Buckingham being ruined, all the contents of the great house of the Grenvilles at Stowe were sold by auction. All London went to see the place, the furniture, and the curiosities. Even the deer in the park were for sale.]67[On July 25 the Piedmontese army was defeated by the Austrians under Marshal Radetzky, near Verona, and again three days later at Gotto. Milan capitulated on August 5, and thus ended, for the time, the hopes of independence of Italy.]68[M. Gustave de Beaumont came to London as French Ambassador under Cavaignac. His accomplished wife was a grand-daughter of M. de Lafayette.]69[Lord George Bentinck died very suddenly on September 21, 1848. He was Mr. Greville's first cousin, and they had been in early life intimate friends, but circumstances had led to a complete estrangement between them.]70He had a great many quarrels, and at last he fought a duel, in which Admiral Rous was his second, who knows all the details of it.71Some years before he had lost 11,000l.at Doncaster, which he could not pay. The Duke was greatly annoyed, but paid the money for him, exacting a promise that he would not bet any more on the turf. Of course, he never dreamt of his keeping racehorses.72It was not long after this that a very important incident in his turf life occurred. The Duke, his father (the most innocent of men), had his curiosity awakened by seeing a great number of horses running in the names of men whom he never saw or heard of. These were all his son's aliases. He asked a great many questions about these invisible personages, to the amusement of all the Newmarket world. At last it was evident he must find out the truth, and I urged George to tell it him at once. With reluctance and no small apprehension he assented, and mustering up courage he told the Duke that all those horses were his. The intimation was very ill received; the Duke was indignant. He accused him of having violated his word; and he was so angry that he instantly quitted Newmarket and returned to Welbeck. For a long time he would not see George at all; at last the Duchess contrived to pacify him; he resumed his usual habits with his son, and in the end he took an interest in the horses, tacitly acquiesced in the whole thing, and used to take pleasure in seeing them and hearing about them.73[Here follow, in Mr. Greville's manuscript, several details of racing transactions in which Lord George Bentinck took a part, which Mr. Greville strongly disapproved; but they have now lost their interest, and are omitted.]74[Afterwards a Baron of the Court of Exchequer.]75He told Martin that he had carefully and elaborately got up the case, but he could not make the speech, and he begged him to find a man who would use his materials and speak for him. The man found, he undertook to provide him with a seat in Parliament. The first man they applied to was Humphry. George saw and conversed with him, and immediately said he would not do. They then went to Serjeant Byles. He was delighted with the Serjeant, and would gladly have taken him, but, after at first consenting, the Serjeant drew back and declined the task. After this, Martin asked Frederick Robinson if he knew of a man, when he replied, 'It is all nonsense, looking out for a man; he must make the speech himself. Do you think the House of Commons would listen to a hired orator, brought down for the purpose? They will listen to him and to nobody else.' This Martin repeated to him, telling him it was very true; and then he added what I had said about his speech at the Jockey Club. He said, 'Did he really say so? I thought it very bad, and I was disgusted at doing it so ill, and making such bad use of the good materials I had.' The next day he wrote word to Martin that he had made up his mind to make the attempt himself. This was ten days or a fortnight before the night on which he spoke.76[M. Dumon had been Minister of Finance in M. Guizot's Cabinet.]77[This sounds strange, but it was believed by those who were acquainted with thechronique scandaleuseof a former generation, in the last century, that William Lamb and Lady Cowper (afterwards Lady Palmerston) were not the children of their putative father, the Lord Melbourne of that day, but of Lord Egremont, who never married, but had numerous illegitimate offspring. William, Lord Melbourne, whose death is here recorded, was the husband of Lady Caroline, a daughter of the Earl of Bessborough, the authoress of 'Glenarvon,' celebrated for her passion for Lord Byron and her subsequent quarrel with him.]78I read this to Lord Lansdowne, and he told me what had occurred about himself. When the Whigs came in, in '30, Lord Grey proposed to him to be First Lord of the Treasury, and offered to take the office of Privy Seal himself. Lord Lansdowne told him the Government must behisGovernment, that he should only behisFirst Lord, and that it was fitter and better he should take the post himself: besides that, for various reasons, he had no disposition for it, and he would rather take some other office. When Lord Grey retired, and the King sent for Melbourne, Melbourne spoke to Lord Lansdowne and said, 'I believe you do not wish to take Lord Grey's place, is not that the case?' Lord Lansdowne said it was so, and that he might make himself quite easy as far as he was concerned. He had no objection to remain where he was, but would not be at the head of the Government.79[The passage occurs in the 'Annals of Tacitus,' book iii. ch. 30. Sallustius Crispus was a descendant of the sister of Caius Sallustius, the historian who allowed him to assume the name of Sallust. Horace addressed to him the second Ode of the second book of Odes.]80[Lord Macaulay's 'History,' or at least the first two volumes of it, had just been published.]81[The Hon. Frederic Lamb, raised to the peerage as Lord Beauvale for his diplomatic services, succeeded his brother William as Viscount Melbourne. He was married to Mdlle. de Maltzahn, daughter of the Prussian Minister at Vienna, but left no offspring, and with him both titles expired.]82[On December 20 Louis Charles Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed President of the French Republic. He was elected by 5,534,520 votes, General Cavaignac having 1,448,302 votes. From this moment the Prince becomes one of the most important personages in the political world, and virtually the master of the French nation.]83[It was not Austria, but Naples, which had reason to complain of Lord Palmerston. He had allowed stores to be sent from Woolwich to the Sicilian insurgents, and for this breach of neutrality Lord John Russell insisted that an apology should be made to the King of Naples, and it was made. The transaction was first discovered and disclosed by the 'Times' newspaper. Till then Lord John Russell knew nothing of it.]84[A Bill for the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland for a period of six months had been passed in the previous summer. It now became necessary to renew it, and it was originally intended to renew it for twelve months, as Lord Clarendon, the Lord-Lieutenant, thought it expedient to do.]85[Mr. Trevelyan, afterwards Sir Charles Trevelyan, Bart. and K.C.B., was at this time Secretary of the Treasury.]86[Henry Baillie, Esq., of Redcastle, was then Member for Inverness-shire, and a considerable West Indian proprietor. He was assisted in organising this attack on the Colonial Department by Mr. Matthew Higgins, better known as 'Jacob Omnium,' a man of great wit and intelligence.]87[Viscount Torrington was Governor of Ceylon during a formidable insurrection which had occurred in that island in the preceding year. He was violently attacked for the measures he had taken to suppress it, but he eventually defended himself, on his return to England, with complete success. Lord Torrington died in 1884.]88[It is curious that Mr. Greville should not have remembered and stated exactly how this affair of the Sicilian arms transpired. Mr. Delane knew Hood, the arms contractor—a man who used to hunt with the Old Surrey Hounds—and by mere accident learnt from Hood all this story. The 'Times' perceived the importance of it, and soon afterwards charged the Government with having connived at a supply of arms from the Queen's stores to the Sicilian insurgents. No notice was taken of this first charge. It was therefore repeated in stronger language. Upon this, Lord John Russell (who knew nothing of the matter) took it up, said he must enquire into it, and that the charge must be contradicted or the practice stopped. On enquiry, he found it was all perfectly true, and then it was that he compelled Lord Palmerston, sorely against his will, to make a formal official apology to the King of Naples, the man whom he most hated and despised in the whole world.]89[Hudson had made a large fortune in railway contracts and speculations, which he afterwards lost. He was known as the 'Railway King,' and had been the object of a most servile and contemptible homage in the days of his prosperity.]90[The battle of Chillianwallah, one of the most sanguinary and least successful actions ever fought by the British in India, took place on January 13. Lord Gough, the Commander-in-Chief, was severely blamed for his rash and headstrong tactics on this occasion. Sir William Gomm had just been appointed to succeed Gough, but he was believed to be equally incompetent. The state of India demanded a far stronger hand, and it was found in Sir Charles Napier. Lord Gough, however, defeated the Sikhs shortly afterwards in a second battle at Gujerat.]91[Sir John Cam Hobhouse was then President of the Board of Control.]92[Mr. Greville removed at this time from the house he had occupied, No. 40, Grosvenor Place, to a suite of rooms in Lord Granville's house in Bruton Street, in which he passed the remainder of his life.]93[The Right Hon. Edward John Stanley was called up to the House of Lords on May 12, 1848, by the title of Baron Eddisbury. He succeeded his father as second Baron Stanley of Alderley in 1850. Lord Eddisbury was at this time Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.]94[Then Governor-General of India.]95[The Hon. Edward Twistleton had held the office of Chief Poor Law Commissioner in Ireland, but had recently resigned.]96[Marshal Radetzky defeated the Sardinian army at Novara on March 23, 1849. This event was followed by the abdication of Charles Albert, and deferred the emancipation of Italy for ten years. The Piedmontese were unquestionably the assailants in this campaign, hence it was thought that they were justly punished for their presumption. Lord Palmerston was constant in his hatred of the Austrians and his attachment to the cause of Italy.]97[It will be remembered that Lord Clarendon was at this time Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. He attached the greatest importance to the opinion and co-operation of Sir Robert Peel.]98[The measure which Lord Clarendon had in view, and was anxious to carry, was a Bill to facilitate the sale of encumbered estates in Ireland, which was ultimately adopted and carried by the Government by the creation of the Land Court. In the course of the thirty ensuing years, land to the amount of more than fifty millions was sold under the direction of this Court, and the encumbrances cleared off.]99[The second reading of the Bill for the repeal of the Navigation Laws was carried in the House of Lords on May 8 by a majority of 10.]100[Afterwards the Rt. Hon. Sir Frederic Peel, K.C.M.G., Under-Secretary for the Colonies, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and a Railway Commissioner. He entered Parliament as member for Leominster in February 1849.]101[Lord Canning had been Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs.]102[The present castle of Balmoral was not then built. The residence was at this time simply that of a Scotch laird.]103[This was the celebrated despatch with reference to the marriage of the Queen of Spain, in which Lord Palmerston named the Coburg Prince as one of the candidates for her hand.]104[Sir Herbert Jenner, then Dean of the Arches, had given judgement against Mr. Gorham, who was the promoter of the 'Duplex Querela' for institution to the living of Brampford Speke, which was the commencement of these celebrated proceedings.]105[Dr. Sumner was then Archbishop of Canterbury; Dr. Musgrave, Archbishop of York; Dr. Blomfield, Bishop of London.]106[Parliament was opened by Commission on January 31. A Protectionist amendment to the Address was defeated in the House of Lords by 152 to 103, and in the House of Commons by 311 to 192.]107[In consequence of thehiatusin these Journals from September to January, no mention has yet been made of the demands on the Greek Government in favour of Don Pacifico, a Gibraltar Jew, by order of Lord Palmerston, but they led to very serious consequences. On January 18, 1850, Admiral Parker proclaimed a blockade of the Piræus, the Greek Government having refused to acknowledge the British claims. On February 5, France offered her good offices as a mediator; but this, as will be seen, did not settle the question.]108[A Select Committee of the House of Commons had been appointed to enquire into the grievances alleged to exist in Ceylon, especially with reference to the means taken by the Governor to quell the recent insurrection in that island, and an understanding had been arrived at in the preceding Session, that certain witnesses should be brought over from Ceylon on the reappointment of the Committee. These witnesses were not forthcoming, and condemnatory motions were made by Mr. Hume, Mr. Disraeli, and Mr. Bright, but rejected by the House of Commons.]109[In October 1849, Lord Clarendon, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, dismissed from the Commission of the Peace Lord Roden and the other Orange magistrates implicated in the fray which took place at Dolly's Brae on July 12, 1849. Lord Stanley brought the whole subject forward in the House of Lords on February 18, and Lord Clarendon defended his measures in person.]110[On February 19 Mr. Disraeli moved for a Committee to revise and amend the Poor Laws for the purpose of affording relief to the agricultural classes. Mr. Gladstone voted for the motion, though it became virtually a Protectionist demonstration. The resolution was defeated by 273 to 253—only 20 majority for Government.]111[This was a Note in which the Russian Government protested against the abuse of the maritime power of England to coerce small and unresisting States.]112[The maintenance of a costly squadron on the coast of Africa for the suppression of the slave trade had become very unpopular, even with the Liberal Party. Mr. Hutt moved an Address for the purpose of relieving the country from that obligation, but his resolution was negatived by 232 to 154.]113[Ministers were defeated on April 15 on their Stamp Bill by a majority of 164 to 135.]114[M. Drouyn de Lhuys was then French Ambassador in London. Baron Gros had been sent to Athens to mediate, but had failed. The irritation of the French Government at the measures taken at Athens became so great that General Lahitte, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, recalled M. Drouyn de Lhuys from London shortly afterwards, as will be seen below.]115[Lord Campbell succeeded Lord Denman as Lord Chief Justice of England on March 5, 1850. This was one of his first important decisions in the Court over which he continued to rule with consummate ability and success.]116[An unlucky prediction! As it seems that this wild scheme was communicated to me, I must be allowed to add that I never for an instant entertained or encouraged so preposterous a proposal, having known Prince Louis Napoleon far too well to suppose that he would relinquish the prize which was already within his grasp.—H. R.]117[General Lahitte was then French Minister for Foreign Affairs. Sir Thomas Wyse was the British Minister at Athens, who conducted the negotiations there, and regulated the coercive measures of Admiral Parker's squadron.]118[The present Earl of Derby, 1885.]119[The resignation of the Great Seal by Lord Chancellor Cottenham was announced on May 28—the Seal to be put in Commission.]120[This refers to the arrangements concluded in London between the Great Powers for the maintenance of the integrity of the Danish dominions, which were afterwards so shamefully violated and abandoned.]121[On June 17 Lord Stanley made his motion in the House of Lords censuring the Government for their coercive measures against the commerce and people of Greece, in a speech of extraordinary eloquence and power. The debate lasted all night. As morning dawned the division resulted in a majority of 37 against Ministers.]122[Mr. Roebuck moved a resolution applauding the principles which have hitherto regulated the foreign policy of the Government, to countervail the recent vote of the Lords. A great and memorable debate followed, in which Lord Palmerston delivered his ablest speech, and Sir Robert Peel his last. The debate ended by a Ministerial majority of 46, so that, for the time, the supporters of Lord Palmerston were completely victorious; yet in that majority a large number of votes were given by those who most condemned his high-handed proceedings.]123[In spite of the triumph Lord Palmerston had obtained in the House of Commons, the evils of his arbitrary mode of conducting-foreign affairs continued to excite the anxiety of his colleagues and something more than the distrust of the Court, and an attempt was made, with the concurrence of Lord John Russell, the Duke of Bedford, Lord Lansdowne, and Lord Clarendon, to induce him to take some other office in the Government, which, of course, he declined to do. The details of this negotiation cannot now be published, but they were the premonitory symptoms of the storm which wrested the Foreign Office from the hands of Lord Palmerston in the following year.]124[It may here be noted that the Minute of the Queen, in which Her Majesty laid down the rules which ought to govern the conduct of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and intimated that a departure from them 'must be considered as failing in sincerity towards the Crown, and justly to be visited by the exercise of her constitutional right of dismissing that Minister,' bore date August 12, 1850, and was communicated to Lord Palmerston by Lord John Russell at this time, within a few weeks of the termination of the debate on the foreign policy of the Government.]125[The German question relates to the proceedings which had arisen out of the Frankfort Convention, the Schleswig-Holstein quarrel, and the dispute in Hesse, which nearly led to war. Lord Palmerston was strongly opposed to the views taken by the Court on these German questions.]126[H.R.H. Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, youngest surviving son of George III., died in July 1850, and was succeeded by his son, Prince George of Cambridge. A question arose as to his precedence; but H.R.H. sits in the House of Lords as fourth Peer of the Blood Royal, the Duke of Cumberland not having taken the seat to which he has an hereditary right.]127[Upon the death of William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne, his brother, Frederic Lamb, previously created Lord Beauvale, succeeded to the Melbourne title and to the Brocket and other estates. Lord Beauvale had married at Vienna, where he was British Minister, Mdlle. de Maltzahn, daughter of the Prussian Minister at that Court. Mr. Greville was much more intimate with Frederic, than he had ever been with William, Lamb, and he continued, during the remainder of Lord Beauvale's life, to be a frequent guest at Brocket. He generally called his friend by his former name or title, though he was, in fact, Viscount Melbourne after his brother's death.]128[This letter is reprinted in the Appendix to the present volume.]129[Mr. Green was Professor of Anatomy in the Royal Academy of Arts—a very eloquent and remarkable man, though but little known by the public. He had been the most intimate friend of the poet Coleridge in his later years, and published a work on the philosophical opinions of Coleridge after his death.]130[It was on the 22nd of February that Lord John Russell moved the postponement of the Committee of Ways and Means, which implied his intention to resign, though it was not generally understood to have that meaning. An interesting and accurate account of this transaction is to be found in a letter from Lord Canning to Lord Malmesbury in the first volume of Lord Malmesbury's Journal, p. 274.]131[Lord Malmesbury gives an account of the failure of Lord Stanley to form a Government in his Journals (vol. i. p. 278), which was mainly due to the timid conduct of Mr. Henley and Mr. Herries. Mr. Disraeli did not conceal his anger at the want of courage and interest shown by those persons. They may, however, have had better reasons for refusing to join a Protectionist Cabinet.]132[Lord Stanley said of this speech of Graham's that it was very bitter but very telling; and it convinced him that the Tories had nothing to hope for from the leading Peelites but opposition.]133[The details of this negotiation between the Whigs, Lord Aberdeen and Sir James Graham, have been published in an article on the 'Correspondence of Lord Aberdeen,' which appeared in the 'Edinburgh Review' for October 1883. The insurmountable objections of the Peelites to the Anti-Papal Bill was the deciding cause of the failure; but the transaction is interesting, because it was the forerunner of the Coalition ultimately formed between the Whigs and the Peelites in 1852.]134[In the negotiations with the Peelites, Lord John Russell had offered to reduce the provisions of the 'Ecclesiastical Titles Bill' to a minimum, and to omit the preamble. It was impossible for him, after what had passed, to withdraw it altogether.]135[It is a remarkable proof of the candid and dispassionate spirit of the Queen, that the three men who, at different times and for different reasons, were notoriously the objects of her distrust and aversion, subsequently obtained, as First Ministers of the Crown, her entire confidence. Sir Robert Peel was no favourite at the time of his abortive attempt to succeed Lord Melbourne in 1839. Lord Palmerston was entirely at variance with the Court whilst he held the seals of the Foreign Office. And Mr. Disraeli was supposed to be especially disliked. Yet in the higher office of Prime Minister each of these statesmen enjoyed the confidence and approval of the Sovereign, and carried on the Government with success for several years. None, certainly, ever received higher marks of favour and distinction than have been bestowed, in life and in death, on Sir Robert Peel and Lord Beaconsfield.]136[The provisions of the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill were considerably curtailed, when Sir George Grey moved the next stage of the proceedings on this measure.]137[George Turner, Esq., Q.C., afterwards one of the Lords Justices in Equity.]138[On April 11 Mr. Disraeli moved resolutions in favour of the owners and occupiers of land, which were negatived by 263 to 250 votes.]139[A motion of Mr. Hume, limiting the Income Tax to one year, was carried against the Government by 244 to 230.]140[On November 18, a deputation from Finsbury and Islington waited upon Lord Palmerston to congratulate him on the liberation of Kossuth. Lord Palmerston took the opportunity of expressing his strong sympathy and that of the British nation with the Hungarian cause.]141[This transaction, which was little known at the time and is now forgotten, derives importance from the events which followed, and which led to Lord Palmerston's expulsion from the Cabinet. The proximate cause of that rupture was his unauthorised approval of thecoup d'étatin France on December 2. But that incident was only the crowning incident of a long series of disputes recorded in these pages, which had rendered Lord Palmerston's autocracy in the Foreign Office alike intolerable to the Court and to his colleagues.]142[It was supposed that the Austrian Government had resented the reception by Lord Palmerston of Kossuth and the Hungarian refugees. But more serious matters were impending.]143Flahault told me this, and that Walewski ought not to have asked any opinion of Palmerston.144[The Marquis of Normanby formally resigned the office of Ambassador to France on February 21, 1852, and one of the first acts of Lord Granville as Foreign Secretary was to appoint the second Lord Cowley in his place. The first Lord Cowley, who had been Ambassador at Paris in the reign of Louis Philippe, died in April 1847.]145[M. Thiers had been compelled to leave France after thecoup d'état, having been kept in arrest but a few days. He repaired first to Brussels, and afterwards to London, where he remained for some time.]146[Parliament was opened by the Queen in person on February 3rd, when full explanations were given by Lord John Russell and Lord Palmerston of the transactions related in the preceding pages.]147[On February 16, Lord John brought in a Militia Bill, to which Palmerston, who was burning with a desire to revenge himself for his dismissal, moved an amendment, which he carried against the Government by a majority of nine. On this John Russell resigned, and Lord Derby was sent for. The resignation of the Russell Government was announced to both Houses on the 23rd, and Lord Derby's first exposition of policy as Prime Minister was made on February 27.]148[Mr. Walpole, the Home Secretary in Lord Derby's Administration, had announced that he should move on bringing up the Militia Bill the insertion of a clause, 'That any person who shall serve in the Militia for two years shall be entitled to a vote in the county in which he resides.' This proposal excited a good deal of ridicule, and was subsequently withdrawn. The Militia Bill passed the House of Commons on June 7th, and the House of Lords on the 21st of the same month.]149The second reading was carried by 355 to 165.150[The Cabinet composed by the Earl of Derby in 1852 consisted of—Earl of DerbyFirst Lord of the Treasury.Lord St. LeonardsLord Chancellor.Mr. DisraeliChancellor of the Exchequer.Earl of LonsdaleLord President of the Council.Marquis of SalisburyLord Privy Seal.Earl of MalmesburyForeign Secretary of State.Sir John PakingtonColonial Secretary of State.Mr. Spencer WalpoleHome Secretary of State.Earl of HardwickeFirst Lord of the Admiralty.Mr. HerriesPresident of the Board of Control.Lord John MannersFirst Commissioner of Works.]151[The Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed on May 10 to transfer the four vacant seats for Sudbury and St. Albans to the West Riding of Yorkshire and the Southern Division of Lancashire. Mr. Gladstone moved the previous question, which was carried by 234 to 148.]152[The strong anti-Catholic feeling which had been excited by the measure of the Pope for the establishment of a Roman Catholic hierarchy in England in 1850, was kept alive by the Tories and directed against the more recent provision made by Sir Robert Peel for the College of Maynooth.]153[Parliament was prorogued on July 1, and dissolved immediately afterwards.]154Curious that this scheme was eventually realised, not under Lord Lansdowne, but under Lord Aberdeen.155[It was Lord Blessington who induced Alfred D'Orsay, then a very young man, to throw up his commission in the Guards of the King of France (for which the French never forgave him), and to become a member of the Blessington family. This was done with a formal promise to the Count's family that he should be provided for, and a marriage was accordingly brought about between him and the only daughter and heiress of Lord Blessington by his first marriage, which turned out very ill.]

1[No pamphlet was written, but the substance of the Prince's views on the seizure of Cracow was published in an article in the 'Edinburgh Review,' vol. lxxxv. p. 261.]

2He endeavoured to tranquillise me about the information to Thiers, and said of course it would be given with great caution. It did not tranquillise me, however, and my soul was prophetic. What mischief has resulted from this false and profligate step! (February 21st).

3[Henry, Lord Cowley, younger brother of the Duke of Wellington (born 1773), had been Ambassador at the Court of France under the late Government. He resigned on the fall of Sir Robert Peel's Administration, but remained as a private gentleman in Paris until his death, which took place in April 1847, shortly after this interview.]

4Miraflores came to Paris for (seepost) the purpose of getting something settled. He told the King that Trapani was out of the question, the two sons of Don Francisco de Paula almost impossible from the Queen's dislike of both, especially of Don Enrique, on account of his insolent letter to her from Bayonne. If, therefore, His Majesty would not give them his own son, he entreated him to leave them alone and let them choose for themselves. The King answered very angrily, said he would not give the Duke de Montpensier, still urged one of the Spanish Princes, but above all recommended delay, and to take time for consideration. This Miraflores told to Lord Cowley, who wrote it home to Palmerston. This is the communication which Palmerston alludes to in his long note, but he is very incorrect in his allusion.

5I said that the idea ofintimidatingFrance had never entered his head, that he wasun homme de coeurhimself, and knew that France was too great and too powerful to be intimidated by anyone.

6[Louis Philippe was certainly not wanting in physical courage, but in moral courage he appeared in his later years to be deficient. M. Thiers was in the habit of using exaggerated language, and he disliked the King; for M. Thiers' great defect was that he could notserveanyone. The Revolution of February 1848 proved that there was a good deal of truth in these predictions. But the want of resolution which M. Thiers imputed to the King arose solely from his honourable and consistent aversion to violence and war.]

7[Mr. Francis Baring had married Clara, the daughter of Maret, Duc de Bassano, and was well versed in French affairs.]

8[Sir Frederick Lamb, Lady Palmerston's brother, had recently been created Lord Beauvale.]

9It was verbal.

10[He did not do it in 1847; but in 1850 a similar transaction led to Lord Palmerston's expulsion from the Foreign Office, to which he never returned, though he subsequently filled other and higher offices of State.]

11[Pius IX., who had recently been elected to the Papal See, signalised the commencement of his reign by liberal measures, which were vehemently opposed by the Austrian Government.]

12[Prince Albert was elected Chancellor of the University of Cambridge on February 27, 1847.]

13[The conduct of the British Government with reference to the annexation of Cracow was again discussed by Lord George Bentinck. Eight or ten years before it had been proposed, and even promised, to send a British Consul to Cracow, but this design being strongly opposed by the three Northern Powers, Lord Palmerston abandoned it.]

14[The Emperor of Russia placed a sum of two millions sterling in the hands of the Bank of France. The motive of this investment was never discovered, but it proved that the finances of Russia were then in a flourishing condition.]

15[The effect of the quarrel arising out of the Queen of Spain's marriage, and the squabble between M. Guizot and Lord Normanby, began to bear fatal consequences on the politics of Europe. The amicable relations which had subsisted between France and England until Lord Palmerston returned to power were at an end. Lord Normanby, though ostensibly reconciled to M. Guizot, remained in close alliance with M. Thiers and the leaders of the French Opposition, and his efforts to overthrow the Government to which he was accredited contributed to the overthrow of the Monarchy. M. Guizot, at variance with the English Minister of foreign affairs, and assailed by the English Ambassador in Paris, drew nearer to the policy of the Northern Courts, and especially of Prince Metternich. Such were the signs of the approaching tempest which broke over Europe in the following year.]

16[Lord Hatherton and the Bishop of Exeter (Phillpotts) were Lord Dudley's executors. This diary never saw the light.]

17[An insurrection had broken out in Portugal in October 1846 against the authority of Queen Donna Maria. In the following month the British fleet entered the Tagus to support the Queen. The contest continued for some months, and in May 1847 a conference was held in London between the representatives of Great Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal—the original parties to the Quadruple alliance—to settle the disorders which had broken out in the last-mentioned kingdom.]

18[The successor was Lord Clarendon himself.]

19[In this interval Lord Clarendon consented to accept the Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland from a sense of public duty. He remained there five years, and, during a very stormy period, proved himself one of the best Viceroys who ever governed Ireland.]

20[About this time the proposal was made, chiefly by Sir Frederic Trench, to place the equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington (by Wyatt) on the top of the archway opposite Apsley House. Most people thought that it was absurd and in bad taste to place a statue there. It was, however, agreed to erect it provisionally; but, once there, the Duke showed great irritation at the idea of removing it, which he declared would be an indignity: so there the statue stood until it was removed to Aldershot in 1884. It was the first instance of an equestrian statue erected in London to a subject.]

21[The Right Hon. Edward Strutt, afterwards Lord Belper, was a distinguished member of the advanced Liberal Party. He brought in a Bill at this time for the regulation of railways, which the Government soon withdrew.]

22[These letters have been published in the Croker Papers, vol. iii. p. 94.]

23[It was on October 25 that the Government authorised the Bank of England to issue paper in excess of the limit imposed by the Act of 1844. This measure led to the immediate meeting of Parliament to pass a Bill of Indemnity, though the power was revoked on November 23.]

24[The Hon. Edward Harcourt, Archbishop of York, died on November 5, in his ninety-first year.]

25[William Fox had entered life as a Unitarian Minister, and he continued to preach for several years at the Finsbury Chapel of that persuasion. But he subsequently quitted the pulpit, and was returned to Parliament for the borough of Oldham in 1847. He became an active member of the Radical Party, but his eloquence was less admired in the House of Commons than it had been in his chapel.]

26[Lord Minto, then Lord Privy Seal, had been sent in the course of this autumn on a roving mission to Italy. Pius IX. had been elected Pope in June 1846.]

27[Dr. Hampden, who was accused of heterodox opinions, and whose appointment to a Canonry at Oxford had already occasioned an explosion of bigotry and intolerance in the Church, was raised to the See of Hereford by Lord John Russell, chiefly, as it would seem, as an act of defiance to the Clerical party. Hampden was a dull, heavy man, who made more noise in the world than he deserved, but he was not a bad bishop.]

28[Victor, Duc de Broglie, was at this time French Ambassador in London.]

29Dudley, second Baron and first Earl of Harrowby, born December 22, 1782; died December 26, 1847.

30[On December 11 an attempt was made to arrest the confirmation of Dr. Hampden as Bishop of Hereford in the church of St. Mary-le-Bow. But this was overruled by the Commissioners. On December 24 the Attorney-General showed cause against a rulenisigranted on the 14th by the Court of Queen's Bench, for a mandamus against the Archbishop of Canterbury. Judgement was given on February 1. Mr. Justice Coleridge and Mr. Justice Erle were in favour of granting the mandamus; Lord Denman, C. J., and Mr. Justice Patteson against it. The Court being equally divided, no mandamus was issued.]

31[Sir Arthur Aston was Secretary of Legation in Spain.]

32[Sir John Jervis was at this time Attorney-General, afterwards Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. Sir David Dundas was Solicitor-General.]

33[This letter is reprinted in the Appendix to this volume.]

34[The Marquis of Granby, born May 16, 1815, succeeded his father as Duke of Rutland in 1857.]

35[Lord George Bentinck threw up the leadership of the Protectionist party in a fit of ill-humour, caused by some reflections of Major Beresford, which showed, he said, that he had not the confidence of the party. Mr. Disraeli called him 'a wrong-headed man,' although they had for some time worked together with apparent cordiality.]

36[The 'Morning Chronicle' newspaper was sold by Sir John Easthope, and purchased by Lord Lincoln, Sidney Herbert, and the other followers of Sir Robert Peel. It was conducted with ability, but it failed to command public support, and after a few years, and the loss of a great deal of money, the old Whig organ sank altogether.]

37[Lord William Hervey, then First Secretary of Embassy at Paris, had taken up the question of the Spanish Marriages with extreme warmth. He it was who mainly disinterred and relied upon the renunciations annexed to the Treaty of Utrecht, which were designed to exclude any other branch of the House of Bourbon from the Spanish throne. Lord Palmerston adopted these arguments, but without effect, as, indeed, the whole state of Europe had changed; and Lord John Russell never thought there was much weight in them. Lord William Hervey was a highly accomplished and honourable diplomatist, third son of the Marquis of Bristol. His health was bad, and he died in May 1850, at the age of forty-five.]

38'The Girondins,' and still more Dumas' play of the 'Chevaliers de la Maison Rouge.'

39His prediction was exactly accomplished, only a good deal later.

40[Lord Palmerston made an unsuccessful attempt to remove Louis Philippe from Claremont, although it was not even an English royal palace at that time, but belonged to the King's own son-in-law, Leopold, King of the Belgians. Lord Palmerston's design was signally defeated, and only excited the disgust of all those who knew the circumstances; but it was characteristic of his virulent personal animosity to the Orleans family, which, indeed, appears to have dated from a much earlier period, even before the Restoration in 1815.]

41[M. Delessert had been Préfet de Police under the late French Government, and was one of the most judicious and respected members of the Conservative Party in France.]

42[These were the preparations for the Great Chartist meeting announced to be held by Feargus O'Connor on Kennington Common on April 10, when a Chartist Petition, signed by five millions of persons, was to be presented by a huge procession of the people to the House of Commons.On April 7 Sir George Grey brought in a Bill for the better security of the Crown and Government of the United Kingdom, directed against all persons who sought to accomplish seditious ends by open speaking.The Duke of Wellington explained to the Cabinet on the 6th, with admirable lucidity, the details of his preparations.]

On April 7 Sir George Grey brought in a Bill for the better security of the Crown and Government of the United Kingdom, directed against all persons who sought to accomplish seditious ends by open speaking.

The Duke of Wellington explained to the Cabinet on the 6th, with admirable lucidity, the details of his preparations.]

43[A dinner was given to Lord Hardinge on April 5, on his return from India.]

44[On March 16 Lord Palmerston addressed a despatch to Sir Henry Bulwer, British Minister at Madrid, in which he directed him to represent to the Queen of Spain that she would do well to change her Government. Sir Henry not only communicated this despatch to Queen Christina and the Duc de Sotomayor, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, but caused it to be published in the Opposition journals. The Spanish Government returned the despatch with a haughty answer. Lord Palmerston, however, approved the conduct of Sir H. Bulwer, and the consequence was that on May 19 the British Minister was ordered to leave Spain in forty-eight hours.]

45[Mr. Southern had been Lord Clarendon's private secretary when he was Minister in Spain, and had just paid him a long visit in Ireland. Southern entered the diplomatic service, and eventually became British Minister at Rio Janeiro, where he died.]

46[On April 29 an affray took place at Limerick between the Old and Young Irish Repealers. Meagher delivered one of his most impassioned speeches. But the 'moral force' O'Connellites attacked and beat the other party.]

47[John George Ponsonby, fifth Earl of Bessborough, succeeded his father (the late Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland) in 1847. He died in 1880.]

48[On May 15 another insurrection occurred in Paris. The mob forced its way into the Chamber of Deputies, and declared the Government, of which Lamartine was the head, to be dissolved. But the National Guard turned out with spirit, and, with the aid of the troops of the line, quelled the sedition and reinstated Lamartine.The passage that follows is certainly incorrect. Lamartine did not act with Ledru Rollin, and undoubtedly did not feather his nest, for he fell from power as poor a man as he was when he assumed it.]

The passage that follows is certainly incorrect. Lamartine did not act with Ledru Rollin, and undoubtedly did not feather his nest, for he fell from power as poor a man as he was when he assumed it.]

49[The Prince of Prussia—brother to the King, and afterwards King Wilhelm and Emperor of the Germans—had taken refuge in London from the mob of Berlin, and was residing with Chevalier Bunsen at the Prussian Embassy in Carlton Gardens.]

50[On June 5 Mr. Bankes moved in the House of Commons a resolution censuring the conduct of Lord Palmerston and Sir Henry Bulwer at Madrid. After a debate the motion was withdrawn, and the discussion turned out quite differently from what was expected. Seeinfra, June 10th.]

51[On May 24 Mitchell, one of the leaders of the Young Ireland Party, was convicted of felony under the Act for the better security of the Crown and Government, and sentenced to be transported for fourteen years. The sentence was immediately carried into effect. It occasioned some commotion and disturbance amongst the Chartists and Irish in London and elsewhere.]

52[The Spanish Minister in London, Isturitz, was not withdrawn, but Mirasol was sent on a special mission to London, to explain the course adopted by the Spanish Government. He was unsuccessful, and on June 14 Isturitz received his passports and left the country. Diplomatic relations were thus suspended between England and Spain.]

53[Ministers were beaten in the House of Lords by a majority of six on the Irish Poor Law Bill, and by a majority of one in the House of Commons on a motion relating to the Public Accounts.]

54[The Princess Sophia, fifth daughter of King George III., born Nov. 3, 1777; died May 27, 1848.]

55[A strong attempt was made on behalf of the West India interest to exclude slave-grown sugar from this country. On June 16 Lord John Russell proposed to reduce the sugar duty from 13s.to 10s., which was ultimately carried by a majority of 260 to 245.]

56[Military precautions were taken against a rising of the Chartists in London on June 11. But the Chartist demonstration was a total failure.]

57[When Lord Clarendon went to Ireland in 1847, he was animated by an earnest desire and hope to conciliate the Irish Catholic body. He invited their prelates and their leaders to the Viceregal Lodge, opened his mind to them freely, and expressed with perfect sincerity his liberal intentions towards them. But the experience of a year, and more especially the conduct of the Roman Catholics during the agitation which had prevailed in Ireland, convinced Lord Clarendon that no reliance at all could be placed on the loyalty of the Catholic population or of its chiefs. He arrived most reluctantly at this conclusion, but it never altered his determination to treat the Catholics with perfect courtesy and justice.]

58[A fierce discussion took place in the House of Commons on May 23 on the postponement of Mr. Hume's motion on Reform. The motion came on, however, on June 20, and after several adjournments was defeated on July 6 by 358 to 84 votes. But the scene here referred to took place on a subsequent debate on Lord John Russell's Sugar Bill.]

59[Lord John Russell brought in his Bill for reducing the Sugar Duties on June 16. On the 19th, Sir John Pakington proposed an amendment, condemning the scheme of the Government. It was on this point that the fate of the Ministry turned. Lord George Bentinck envenomed the debate by accusing the Colonial Office (in which Mr. Hawes was Under Secretary) of the suppression of documents. Lord John Russell replied that such tricks were not resorted to by men high in office, but were rather characteristic of men engaged in the pursuits the noble lord had long followed. Upon this, Mr. Disraeli retorted that Lord George Bentinck was not to be bullied either in the ring or from the Treasury Bench. Sir John Pakington's amendment was rejected on June 29 by 260 to 245.]

60[The great uprising of the revolutionary party in Paris took place on June 23. The city was declared in a state of siege, and General Cavaignac commanded the operations of the troops. The battle (for such it was) lasted three days, and the losses on both sides were enormous. The Archbishop of Paris was killed in front of a barricade, and several general officers fell. This was one of the most sanguinary contests which had till then occurred in the whole course of the French Revolution. In the end the troops were victorious, and General Cavaignac was placed at the head of the Government.]

61[The Duke of Bedford's residence in Devonshire.]

62[On July 18 the Lord Lieutenant issued a Proclamation against the treasonable proceedings of the Repeal Clubs in Dublin, Waterford, Cork, and Drogheda. On July 21 Lord John Russel announced that the Habeas Corpus Act would be suspended in Ireland. The Bill was brought in on the 22nd, and carried through the House of Commons in one day, and passed the House of Lords on the 24th. It came into operation in Dublin on the 26th.]

63[Upon the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland, Smith O'Brien and the other leaders of the Repeal movement fled to Ballingarry, where they were ignominiously hunted down by a party of fifty policemen and soon afterwards captured. The crisis had arrived, and the whole agitation collapsed.]

64[William Henry Cavendish, third Duke of Portland, born April 14, 1738; died October 30, 1809, haying been twice Prime Minister. He was the father of Mr. Greville's mother, Lady Charlotte Greville.]

65[An insurrection broke out in Naples on May 16, and soon afterwards the people of Sicily declared their independence. This movement was much favoured and indirectly aided by the British Government.]

66[The Duke of Buckingham being ruined, all the contents of the great house of the Grenvilles at Stowe were sold by auction. All London went to see the place, the furniture, and the curiosities. Even the deer in the park were for sale.]

67[On July 25 the Piedmontese army was defeated by the Austrians under Marshal Radetzky, near Verona, and again three days later at Gotto. Milan capitulated on August 5, and thus ended, for the time, the hopes of independence of Italy.]

68[M. Gustave de Beaumont came to London as French Ambassador under Cavaignac. His accomplished wife was a grand-daughter of M. de Lafayette.]

69[Lord George Bentinck died very suddenly on September 21, 1848. He was Mr. Greville's first cousin, and they had been in early life intimate friends, but circumstances had led to a complete estrangement between them.]

70He had a great many quarrels, and at last he fought a duel, in which Admiral Rous was his second, who knows all the details of it.

71Some years before he had lost 11,000l.at Doncaster, which he could not pay. The Duke was greatly annoyed, but paid the money for him, exacting a promise that he would not bet any more on the turf. Of course, he never dreamt of his keeping racehorses.

72It was not long after this that a very important incident in his turf life occurred. The Duke, his father (the most innocent of men), had his curiosity awakened by seeing a great number of horses running in the names of men whom he never saw or heard of. These were all his son's aliases. He asked a great many questions about these invisible personages, to the amusement of all the Newmarket world. At last it was evident he must find out the truth, and I urged George to tell it him at once. With reluctance and no small apprehension he assented, and mustering up courage he told the Duke that all those horses were his. The intimation was very ill received; the Duke was indignant. He accused him of having violated his word; and he was so angry that he instantly quitted Newmarket and returned to Welbeck. For a long time he would not see George at all; at last the Duchess contrived to pacify him; he resumed his usual habits with his son, and in the end he took an interest in the horses, tacitly acquiesced in the whole thing, and used to take pleasure in seeing them and hearing about them.

73[Here follow, in Mr. Greville's manuscript, several details of racing transactions in which Lord George Bentinck took a part, which Mr. Greville strongly disapproved; but they have now lost their interest, and are omitted.]

74[Afterwards a Baron of the Court of Exchequer.]

75He told Martin that he had carefully and elaborately got up the case, but he could not make the speech, and he begged him to find a man who would use his materials and speak for him. The man found, he undertook to provide him with a seat in Parliament. The first man they applied to was Humphry. George saw and conversed with him, and immediately said he would not do. They then went to Serjeant Byles. He was delighted with the Serjeant, and would gladly have taken him, but, after at first consenting, the Serjeant drew back and declined the task. After this, Martin asked Frederick Robinson if he knew of a man, when he replied, 'It is all nonsense, looking out for a man; he must make the speech himself. Do you think the House of Commons would listen to a hired orator, brought down for the purpose? They will listen to him and to nobody else.' This Martin repeated to him, telling him it was very true; and then he added what I had said about his speech at the Jockey Club. He said, 'Did he really say so? I thought it very bad, and I was disgusted at doing it so ill, and making such bad use of the good materials I had.' The next day he wrote word to Martin that he had made up his mind to make the attempt himself. This was ten days or a fortnight before the night on which he spoke.

76[M. Dumon had been Minister of Finance in M. Guizot's Cabinet.]

77[This sounds strange, but it was believed by those who were acquainted with thechronique scandaleuseof a former generation, in the last century, that William Lamb and Lady Cowper (afterwards Lady Palmerston) were not the children of their putative father, the Lord Melbourne of that day, but of Lord Egremont, who never married, but had numerous illegitimate offspring. William, Lord Melbourne, whose death is here recorded, was the husband of Lady Caroline, a daughter of the Earl of Bessborough, the authoress of 'Glenarvon,' celebrated for her passion for Lord Byron and her subsequent quarrel with him.]

78I read this to Lord Lansdowne, and he told me what had occurred about himself. When the Whigs came in, in '30, Lord Grey proposed to him to be First Lord of the Treasury, and offered to take the office of Privy Seal himself. Lord Lansdowne told him the Government must behisGovernment, that he should only behisFirst Lord, and that it was fitter and better he should take the post himself: besides that, for various reasons, he had no disposition for it, and he would rather take some other office. When Lord Grey retired, and the King sent for Melbourne, Melbourne spoke to Lord Lansdowne and said, 'I believe you do not wish to take Lord Grey's place, is not that the case?' Lord Lansdowne said it was so, and that he might make himself quite easy as far as he was concerned. He had no objection to remain where he was, but would not be at the head of the Government.

79[The passage occurs in the 'Annals of Tacitus,' book iii. ch. 30. Sallustius Crispus was a descendant of the sister of Caius Sallustius, the historian who allowed him to assume the name of Sallust. Horace addressed to him the second Ode of the second book of Odes.]

80[Lord Macaulay's 'History,' or at least the first two volumes of it, had just been published.]

81[The Hon. Frederic Lamb, raised to the peerage as Lord Beauvale for his diplomatic services, succeeded his brother William as Viscount Melbourne. He was married to Mdlle. de Maltzahn, daughter of the Prussian Minister at Vienna, but left no offspring, and with him both titles expired.]

82[On December 20 Louis Charles Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed President of the French Republic. He was elected by 5,534,520 votes, General Cavaignac having 1,448,302 votes. From this moment the Prince becomes one of the most important personages in the political world, and virtually the master of the French nation.]

83[It was not Austria, but Naples, which had reason to complain of Lord Palmerston. He had allowed stores to be sent from Woolwich to the Sicilian insurgents, and for this breach of neutrality Lord John Russell insisted that an apology should be made to the King of Naples, and it was made. The transaction was first discovered and disclosed by the 'Times' newspaper. Till then Lord John Russell knew nothing of it.]

84[A Bill for the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland for a period of six months had been passed in the previous summer. It now became necessary to renew it, and it was originally intended to renew it for twelve months, as Lord Clarendon, the Lord-Lieutenant, thought it expedient to do.]

85[Mr. Trevelyan, afterwards Sir Charles Trevelyan, Bart. and K.C.B., was at this time Secretary of the Treasury.]

86[Henry Baillie, Esq., of Redcastle, was then Member for Inverness-shire, and a considerable West Indian proprietor. He was assisted in organising this attack on the Colonial Department by Mr. Matthew Higgins, better known as 'Jacob Omnium,' a man of great wit and intelligence.]

87[Viscount Torrington was Governor of Ceylon during a formidable insurrection which had occurred in that island in the preceding year. He was violently attacked for the measures he had taken to suppress it, but he eventually defended himself, on his return to England, with complete success. Lord Torrington died in 1884.]

88[It is curious that Mr. Greville should not have remembered and stated exactly how this affair of the Sicilian arms transpired. Mr. Delane knew Hood, the arms contractor—a man who used to hunt with the Old Surrey Hounds—and by mere accident learnt from Hood all this story. The 'Times' perceived the importance of it, and soon afterwards charged the Government with having connived at a supply of arms from the Queen's stores to the Sicilian insurgents. No notice was taken of this first charge. It was therefore repeated in stronger language. Upon this, Lord John Russell (who knew nothing of the matter) took it up, said he must enquire into it, and that the charge must be contradicted or the practice stopped. On enquiry, he found it was all perfectly true, and then it was that he compelled Lord Palmerston, sorely against his will, to make a formal official apology to the King of Naples, the man whom he most hated and despised in the whole world.]

89[Hudson had made a large fortune in railway contracts and speculations, which he afterwards lost. He was known as the 'Railway King,' and had been the object of a most servile and contemptible homage in the days of his prosperity.]

90[The battle of Chillianwallah, one of the most sanguinary and least successful actions ever fought by the British in India, took place on January 13. Lord Gough, the Commander-in-Chief, was severely blamed for his rash and headstrong tactics on this occasion. Sir William Gomm had just been appointed to succeed Gough, but he was believed to be equally incompetent. The state of India demanded a far stronger hand, and it was found in Sir Charles Napier. Lord Gough, however, defeated the Sikhs shortly afterwards in a second battle at Gujerat.]

91[Sir John Cam Hobhouse was then President of the Board of Control.]

92[Mr. Greville removed at this time from the house he had occupied, No. 40, Grosvenor Place, to a suite of rooms in Lord Granville's house in Bruton Street, in which he passed the remainder of his life.]

93[The Right Hon. Edward John Stanley was called up to the House of Lords on May 12, 1848, by the title of Baron Eddisbury. He succeeded his father as second Baron Stanley of Alderley in 1850. Lord Eddisbury was at this time Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.]

94[Then Governor-General of India.]

95[The Hon. Edward Twistleton had held the office of Chief Poor Law Commissioner in Ireland, but had recently resigned.]

96[Marshal Radetzky defeated the Sardinian army at Novara on March 23, 1849. This event was followed by the abdication of Charles Albert, and deferred the emancipation of Italy for ten years. The Piedmontese were unquestionably the assailants in this campaign, hence it was thought that they were justly punished for their presumption. Lord Palmerston was constant in his hatred of the Austrians and his attachment to the cause of Italy.]

97[It will be remembered that Lord Clarendon was at this time Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. He attached the greatest importance to the opinion and co-operation of Sir Robert Peel.]

98[The measure which Lord Clarendon had in view, and was anxious to carry, was a Bill to facilitate the sale of encumbered estates in Ireland, which was ultimately adopted and carried by the Government by the creation of the Land Court. In the course of the thirty ensuing years, land to the amount of more than fifty millions was sold under the direction of this Court, and the encumbrances cleared off.]

99[The second reading of the Bill for the repeal of the Navigation Laws was carried in the House of Lords on May 8 by a majority of 10.]

100[Afterwards the Rt. Hon. Sir Frederic Peel, K.C.M.G., Under-Secretary for the Colonies, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and a Railway Commissioner. He entered Parliament as member for Leominster in February 1849.]

101[Lord Canning had been Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs.]

102[The present castle of Balmoral was not then built. The residence was at this time simply that of a Scotch laird.]

103[This was the celebrated despatch with reference to the marriage of the Queen of Spain, in which Lord Palmerston named the Coburg Prince as one of the candidates for her hand.]

104[Sir Herbert Jenner, then Dean of the Arches, had given judgement against Mr. Gorham, who was the promoter of the 'Duplex Querela' for institution to the living of Brampford Speke, which was the commencement of these celebrated proceedings.]

105[Dr. Sumner was then Archbishop of Canterbury; Dr. Musgrave, Archbishop of York; Dr. Blomfield, Bishop of London.]

106[Parliament was opened by Commission on January 31. A Protectionist amendment to the Address was defeated in the House of Lords by 152 to 103, and in the House of Commons by 311 to 192.]

107[In consequence of thehiatusin these Journals from September to January, no mention has yet been made of the demands on the Greek Government in favour of Don Pacifico, a Gibraltar Jew, by order of Lord Palmerston, but they led to very serious consequences. On January 18, 1850, Admiral Parker proclaimed a blockade of the Piræus, the Greek Government having refused to acknowledge the British claims. On February 5, France offered her good offices as a mediator; but this, as will be seen, did not settle the question.]

108[A Select Committee of the House of Commons had been appointed to enquire into the grievances alleged to exist in Ceylon, especially with reference to the means taken by the Governor to quell the recent insurrection in that island, and an understanding had been arrived at in the preceding Session, that certain witnesses should be brought over from Ceylon on the reappointment of the Committee. These witnesses were not forthcoming, and condemnatory motions were made by Mr. Hume, Mr. Disraeli, and Mr. Bright, but rejected by the House of Commons.]

109[In October 1849, Lord Clarendon, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, dismissed from the Commission of the Peace Lord Roden and the other Orange magistrates implicated in the fray which took place at Dolly's Brae on July 12, 1849. Lord Stanley brought the whole subject forward in the House of Lords on February 18, and Lord Clarendon defended his measures in person.]

110[On February 19 Mr. Disraeli moved for a Committee to revise and amend the Poor Laws for the purpose of affording relief to the agricultural classes. Mr. Gladstone voted for the motion, though it became virtually a Protectionist demonstration. The resolution was defeated by 273 to 253—only 20 majority for Government.]

111[This was a Note in which the Russian Government protested against the abuse of the maritime power of England to coerce small and unresisting States.]

112[The maintenance of a costly squadron on the coast of Africa for the suppression of the slave trade had become very unpopular, even with the Liberal Party. Mr. Hutt moved an Address for the purpose of relieving the country from that obligation, but his resolution was negatived by 232 to 154.]

113[Ministers were defeated on April 15 on their Stamp Bill by a majority of 164 to 135.]

114[M. Drouyn de Lhuys was then French Ambassador in London. Baron Gros had been sent to Athens to mediate, but had failed. The irritation of the French Government at the measures taken at Athens became so great that General Lahitte, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, recalled M. Drouyn de Lhuys from London shortly afterwards, as will be seen below.]

115[Lord Campbell succeeded Lord Denman as Lord Chief Justice of England on March 5, 1850. This was one of his first important decisions in the Court over which he continued to rule with consummate ability and success.]

116[An unlucky prediction! As it seems that this wild scheme was communicated to me, I must be allowed to add that I never for an instant entertained or encouraged so preposterous a proposal, having known Prince Louis Napoleon far too well to suppose that he would relinquish the prize which was already within his grasp.—H. R.]

117[General Lahitte was then French Minister for Foreign Affairs. Sir Thomas Wyse was the British Minister at Athens, who conducted the negotiations there, and regulated the coercive measures of Admiral Parker's squadron.]

118[The present Earl of Derby, 1885.]

119[The resignation of the Great Seal by Lord Chancellor Cottenham was announced on May 28—the Seal to be put in Commission.]

120[This refers to the arrangements concluded in London between the Great Powers for the maintenance of the integrity of the Danish dominions, which were afterwards so shamefully violated and abandoned.]

121[On June 17 Lord Stanley made his motion in the House of Lords censuring the Government for their coercive measures against the commerce and people of Greece, in a speech of extraordinary eloquence and power. The debate lasted all night. As morning dawned the division resulted in a majority of 37 against Ministers.]

122[Mr. Roebuck moved a resolution applauding the principles which have hitherto regulated the foreign policy of the Government, to countervail the recent vote of the Lords. A great and memorable debate followed, in which Lord Palmerston delivered his ablest speech, and Sir Robert Peel his last. The debate ended by a Ministerial majority of 46, so that, for the time, the supporters of Lord Palmerston were completely victorious; yet in that majority a large number of votes were given by those who most condemned his high-handed proceedings.]

123[In spite of the triumph Lord Palmerston had obtained in the House of Commons, the evils of his arbitrary mode of conducting-foreign affairs continued to excite the anxiety of his colleagues and something more than the distrust of the Court, and an attempt was made, with the concurrence of Lord John Russell, the Duke of Bedford, Lord Lansdowne, and Lord Clarendon, to induce him to take some other office in the Government, which, of course, he declined to do. The details of this negotiation cannot now be published, but they were the premonitory symptoms of the storm which wrested the Foreign Office from the hands of Lord Palmerston in the following year.]

124[It may here be noted that the Minute of the Queen, in which Her Majesty laid down the rules which ought to govern the conduct of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and intimated that a departure from them 'must be considered as failing in sincerity towards the Crown, and justly to be visited by the exercise of her constitutional right of dismissing that Minister,' bore date August 12, 1850, and was communicated to Lord Palmerston by Lord John Russell at this time, within a few weeks of the termination of the debate on the foreign policy of the Government.]

125[The German question relates to the proceedings which had arisen out of the Frankfort Convention, the Schleswig-Holstein quarrel, and the dispute in Hesse, which nearly led to war. Lord Palmerston was strongly opposed to the views taken by the Court on these German questions.]

126[H.R.H. Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, youngest surviving son of George III., died in July 1850, and was succeeded by his son, Prince George of Cambridge. A question arose as to his precedence; but H.R.H. sits in the House of Lords as fourth Peer of the Blood Royal, the Duke of Cumberland not having taken the seat to which he has an hereditary right.]

127[Upon the death of William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne, his brother, Frederic Lamb, previously created Lord Beauvale, succeeded to the Melbourne title and to the Brocket and other estates. Lord Beauvale had married at Vienna, where he was British Minister, Mdlle. de Maltzahn, daughter of the Prussian Minister at that Court. Mr. Greville was much more intimate with Frederic, than he had ever been with William, Lamb, and he continued, during the remainder of Lord Beauvale's life, to be a frequent guest at Brocket. He generally called his friend by his former name or title, though he was, in fact, Viscount Melbourne after his brother's death.]

128[This letter is reprinted in the Appendix to the present volume.]

129[Mr. Green was Professor of Anatomy in the Royal Academy of Arts—a very eloquent and remarkable man, though but little known by the public. He had been the most intimate friend of the poet Coleridge in his later years, and published a work on the philosophical opinions of Coleridge after his death.]

130[It was on the 22nd of February that Lord John Russell moved the postponement of the Committee of Ways and Means, which implied his intention to resign, though it was not generally understood to have that meaning. An interesting and accurate account of this transaction is to be found in a letter from Lord Canning to Lord Malmesbury in the first volume of Lord Malmesbury's Journal, p. 274.]

131[Lord Malmesbury gives an account of the failure of Lord Stanley to form a Government in his Journals (vol. i. p. 278), which was mainly due to the timid conduct of Mr. Henley and Mr. Herries. Mr. Disraeli did not conceal his anger at the want of courage and interest shown by those persons. They may, however, have had better reasons for refusing to join a Protectionist Cabinet.]

132[Lord Stanley said of this speech of Graham's that it was very bitter but very telling; and it convinced him that the Tories had nothing to hope for from the leading Peelites but opposition.]

133[The details of this negotiation between the Whigs, Lord Aberdeen and Sir James Graham, have been published in an article on the 'Correspondence of Lord Aberdeen,' which appeared in the 'Edinburgh Review' for October 1883. The insurmountable objections of the Peelites to the Anti-Papal Bill was the deciding cause of the failure; but the transaction is interesting, because it was the forerunner of the Coalition ultimately formed between the Whigs and the Peelites in 1852.]

134[In the negotiations with the Peelites, Lord John Russell had offered to reduce the provisions of the 'Ecclesiastical Titles Bill' to a minimum, and to omit the preamble. It was impossible for him, after what had passed, to withdraw it altogether.]

135[It is a remarkable proof of the candid and dispassionate spirit of the Queen, that the three men who, at different times and for different reasons, were notoriously the objects of her distrust and aversion, subsequently obtained, as First Ministers of the Crown, her entire confidence. Sir Robert Peel was no favourite at the time of his abortive attempt to succeed Lord Melbourne in 1839. Lord Palmerston was entirely at variance with the Court whilst he held the seals of the Foreign Office. And Mr. Disraeli was supposed to be especially disliked. Yet in the higher office of Prime Minister each of these statesmen enjoyed the confidence and approval of the Sovereign, and carried on the Government with success for several years. None, certainly, ever received higher marks of favour and distinction than have been bestowed, in life and in death, on Sir Robert Peel and Lord Beaconsfield.]

136[The provisions of the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill were considerably curtailed, when Sir George Grey moved the next stage of the proceedings on this measure.]

137[George Turner, Esq., Q.C., afterwards one of the Lords Justices in Equity.]

138[On April 11 Mr. Disraeli moved resolutions in favour of the owners and occupiers of land, which were negatived by 263 to 250 votes.]

139[A motion of Mr. Hume, limiting the Income Tax to one year, was carried against the Government by 244 to 230.]

140[On November 18, a deputation from Finsbury and Islington waited upon Lord Palmerston to congratulate him on the liberation of Kossuth. Lord Palmerston took the opportunity of expressing his strong sympathy and that of the British nation with the Hungarian cause.]

141[This transaction, which was little known at the time and is now forgotten, derives importance from the events which followed, and which led to Lord Palmerston's expulsion from the Cabinet. The proximate cause of that rupture was his unauthorised approval of thecoup d'étatin France on December 2. But that incident was only the crowning incident of a long series of disputes recorded in these pages, which had rendered Lord Palmerston's autocracy in the Foreign Office alike intolerable to the Court and to his colleagues.]

142[It was supposed that the Austrian Government had resented the reception by Lord Palmerston of Kossuth and the Hungarian refugees. But more serious matters were impending.]

143Flahault told me this, and that Walewski ought not to have asked any opinion of Palmerston.

144[The Marquis of Normanby formally resigned the office of Ambassador to France on February 21, 1852, and one of the first acts of Lord Granville as Foreign Secretary was to appoint the second Lord Cowley in his place. The first Lord Cowley, who had been Ambassador at Paris in the reign of Louis Philippe, died in April 1847.]

145[M. Thiers had been compelled to leave France after thecoup d'état, having been kept in arrest but a few days. He repaired first to Brussels, and afterwards to London, where he remained for some time.]

146[Parliament was opened by the Queen in person on February 3rd, when full explanations were given by Lord John Russell and Lord Palmerston of the transactions related in the preceding pages.]

147[On February 16, Lord John brought in a Militia Bill, to which Palmerston, who was burning with a desire to revenge himself for his dismissal, moved an amendment, which he carried against the Government by a majority of nine. On this John Russell resigned, and Lord Derby was sent for. The resignation of the Russell Government was announced to both Houses on the 23rd, and Lord Derby's first exposition of policy as Prime Minister was made on February 27.]

148[Mr. Walpole, the Home Secretary in Lord Derby's Administration, had announced that he should move on bringing up the Militia Bill the insertion of a clause, 'That any person who shall serve in the Militia for two years shall be entitled to a vote in the county in which he resides.' This proposal excited a good deal of ridicule, and was subsequently withdrawn. The Militia Bill passed the House of Commons on June 7th, and the House of Lords on the 21st of the same month.]

149The second reading was carried by 355 to 165.

150[The Cabinet composed by the Earl of Derby in 1852 consisted of—Earl of DerbyFirst Lord of the Treasury.Lord St. LeonardsLord Chancellor.Mr. DisraeliChancellor of the Exchequer.Earl of LonsdaleLord President of the Council.Marquis of SalisburyLord Privy Seal.Earl of MalmesburyForeign Secretary of State.Sir John PakingtonColonial Secretary of State.Mr. Spencer WalpoleHome Secretary of State.Earl of HardwickeFirst Lord of the Admiralty.Mr. HerriesPresident of the Board of Control.Lord John MannersFirst Commissioner of Works.]

150[The Cabinet composed by the Earl of Derby in 1852 consisted of—

151[The Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed on May 10 to transfer the four vacant seats for Sudbury and St. Albans to the West Riding of Yorkshire and the Southern Division of Lancashire. Mr. Gladstone moved the previous question, which was carried by 234 to 148.]

152[The strong anti-Catholic feeling which had been excited by the measure of the Pope for the establishment of a Roman Catholic hierarchy in England in 1850, was kept alive by the Tories and directed against the more recent provision made by Sir Robert Peel for the College of Maynooth.]

153[Parliament was prorogued on July 1, and dissolved immediately afterwards.]

154Curious that this scheme was eventually realised, not under Lord Lansdowne, but under Lord Aberdeen.

155[It was Lord Blessington who induced Alfred D'Orsay, then a very young man, to throw up his commission in the Guards of the King of France (for which the French never forgave him), and to become a member of the Blessington family. This was done with a formal promise to the Count's family that he should be provided for, and a marriage was accordingly brought about between him and the only daughter and heiress of Lord Blessington by his first marriage, which turned out very ill.]

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