DEATH OF THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE
Buckingham Palace,9th July 1850.
My Dearest Uncle,—We live in the midst of sorrow and death! My poor good Uncle Cambridge breathed his last, without a struggle, at a few minutes before ten last night. I still saw him yesterday morning at one, but hedid not see me, and to-day I saw him lifeless and cold. The poor Duchess and the poor children are very touching in their grief, and poor Augusta,29who arrived justfive hours too late, is quite heartbroken. The end was most peaceful; there was no disease; only a gastric fever, which came on four weeks ago, from over-exertion, and cold, and which he neglected for the first week, carried him off.
The good Prince of Prussia you will have been pleased to talk to and see. Having lived with him for a fortnight on a very intimate footing, we have been able to appreciate hisrealworth fully; he is so honest and frank, and so steady of purpose and courageous.
Poor dear Peel is to be buried to-day. The sorrow and grief at his death are most touching, and the country mourns over him as over a father. Every one seems to have lost a personal friend.
As I have much to write, you will forgive me ending here. You will be glad to hear that poor Aunt Gloucester is wonderfully calm and resigned. My poor dear Albert, who had been so fresh and well when we came back, looks so pale and fagged again. He has felt, and feels, Sir Robert's lossdreadfully. He feels he has lost a second father.
May God bless and protect you all, you dear ones! Ever your devoted Niece,
Victoria R.
Footnote 29: Seeante,vol. i. p. 437.
Osborne,19th July 1850.
Before this draft to Lord Bloomfield about Greece is sent, it would be well to consider whether Lord Palmerston is justified in calling the Minister of the Interior of Greece "a notorious defaulter to the amount of 200,000 drachms,"30and should he be so, whether it is a proper thing for the Queen's Foreign Secretary to say in a public despatch!
Footnote 30: The Convention of the 18th of April (seeante, p. 242, note 1) had decided that £8500 should be distributed among the claimants, and that Don Pacifico's special claim against Portugal should be referred to arbitration. Ultimately he was awarded only an insignificant sum.
THE FOREIGN OFFICE
Osborne,28th July 1850.
The Queen will have much pleasure in seeing the Duke and Duchess of Bedford here next Saturday, and we have invited them. She will be quite ready to hear the Duke's opinions on the Foreign Office. Lord John may be sure that she fully admits the great difficulties in the way of the projected alteration, but she, on the other hand, feels the duty she owes to the country and to herself, not to allow a man in whom she can have no confidence, who has conducted himself inanything buta straightforward and proper manner to herself, to remain in the Foreign Office, and thereby to expose herself to insults from other nations, and the country to the constant risk of serious and alarming complications. The Queen considers these reasons as much graver than the other difficulties. Each time that we were in a difficulty, the Government seemed to be determined to move Lord Palmerston, and as soon as these difficulties were got over, those which present themselves in the carrying out of this removal appeared of so great a magnitude as to cause its relinquishment. There is no chance of Lord Palmerston reforming himself in his sixty-seventh year, and after having considered his last escape as a triumph.... The Queen is personally convinced that Lord Palmerston at this moment is secretly planning an armed Russian intervention in Schleswig, which may produce a renewal of revolutions in Germany, and possibly a general war.
The Queen only adduces this as an instance that there is no question of delicacy and danger in which Lord Palmerston will not arbitrarily and without reference to his colleagues or Sovereign engage this country.
Osborne,29 Juillet 1850.
Sire et mon bon Frère,—La lettre dont votre Majesté a bien voulu m'honorer m'a causé un bien vif plaisir comme témoignage que votre Majesté a su apprécier les sentiments d'amitié pour vous et le désir d'agir avec impartialité qui m'ont animée ainsi que mon Gouvernement pendant tout le cours des longues négociations qui out précédé la signature de la Paix avec l'Allemagne. Votre Majesté peut aisément comprendre aussi combien je dois regretter le renouvellement de la guerre avec le Schleswig qui ne pourra avoir d'autre résultat que l'accroissement de l'animosité et l'affaiblissement des deuxnobles peuples sur lesquels vous régnez. Dieu veuille que cette dernière lutte se termine pourtant dans une réconciliation solide, basée sur la reconnaissance des droits et des obligations des deux côtés. Je me trouve poussée à vous soumettre ici, Sire, une prière pour un Prince qui s'est malheureusement trouvé en conflit avec votre Majesté, mais pour lequel les liens de parenté me portent à plaider, le Duc de Holstein-Augustenburg. Je suis persuadée que la magnanimité de votre Majesté lui rendra ses biens particuliers, qu'elle a jugé nécessaire de lui ôter pendant la guerre de 1848, ce que je reconnaîtrais bien comme une preuve d'amitié de la part de votre Majesté envers moi.
En faisant des vœux, pour son bonbeur et en exprimant le désir du Prince, mon Epoux, d'être mis aux pieds de votre Majesté, je suis, Sire et mon bon Frère, de votre Majesté la bonne Sœur,
Victoria R.
DENMARK AND SCHLESWIG
Osborne,31st July 1850.
The Queen must draw Lord John Russell's attention to the accompanying draft31with regard to Schleswig, which is evidently intended to lay the ground for future foreign armed intervention. This is to be justified by considering the assistance which the Stadthalterschaft of Holstein may be tempted to give to their Schleswig brethren "as an invasion of Schleswig by a German force."
Lord John seems himself to have placed a "?" against that passage. This is, after two years' negotiation and mediation,begging the questionat issue. The whole war—Revolution, mediation, etc., etc.—rested upon the question whether Schleswig was part of Holstein (though not of the German Confederation), or part of Denmark and not of Holstein.
Footnote 31: In this draft, Lord Palmerston was remonstrating with the Prussian Government against the orders given by the Holstein Statthalters to their army to invade Schleswig, after the signature of the peace between Prussia and Denmark.
Osborne,31st July 1850.
The Queen has considered Lord Seymour's memorandum upon the Rangership of the Parks in London, but cannot say that it has convinced her of the expediency of its abolition. There is nothing in the management of these parks by the Woods and Forests which does not equally apply to all the others, asGreenwich, Hampton Court, Richmond, etc. There is certainly a degree of inconvenience in the divided authority, but this is amply compensated by the advantage to the Crown, in appearance at least, to keep up an authority emanating personally from the Sovereign, and unconnected with a Government Department which is directly answerable to the House of Commons. The last debate upon Hyde Park has, moreover, shown that it will not be safe not to remind the public of the fact that the parks are Royal property. As the Ranger has no power over money, the management will always remain with the Office of Woods.
SIR CHARLES NAPIER RESIGNS
London,3rd August 1850.
Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He regrets to be under the necessity of submitting to your Majesty the enclosed letter from General Sir Charles Napier, G.C.B., in which he tenders his resignation of the office of Commander-in-Chief of your Majesty's Forces in the East Indies.32
Upon the receipt of this paper Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington considered it to be his duty to peruse all the papers submitted by Sir Charles Napier; to survey the transaction which had occasioned the censure of the Governor-General in Council complained of by Sir Charles Napier; to require from the India House all the information which could throw light upon the conduct complained of, as well as upon the motives alleged for it; the reasons given on account of which it was stated to be necessary.
He has stated in a minute, a memorandum of which he submits the copy to your Majesty, his views and opinions upon the whole subject, and the result which he submits to your Majesty is that he considers it his duty humbly to submit to your Majesty that your Majesty should be graciously pleased to accept the resignation of General Sir Charles Napier thus tendered.
Before he should submit this recommendation to your Majesty in relation to an office of such high reputation in so high and important a station, Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington considered it his duty to submit his views to your Majesty's servants, who have expressed their concurrence in his opinion.
It is probable that the President of the Board of Control willlay before your Majesty the papers transmitted to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors, by the Governor-General in Council, which are adverted to in the paper drawn up by the Duke, and of which the substance alone is stated.
All of which is humbly submitted to your Majesty by your Majesty's most dutiful Subject and most devoted Servant,
Wellington.
Footnote 32: This was in consequence of Sir Charles Napier's action in exercising powers belonging to the Supreme Council, on the occasion of a mutiny of a regiment of the Native Army.
PALMERSTON'S CONDUCT OF AFFAIRS
Osborne,5th August 1850.
Lord John Russell having lately stated that Lord Clarendon, who had always been most eager to see Lord Palmerston moved, had lately expressed to him his opinion that it would be most dangerous and impolitic to do so under present circumstances, we thought it right to see Lord Clarendon here.... In conversation with me, Lord Clarendon spoke in his old strain of Lord Palmerston, but very strongly also of the danger of turning him out and making him the leader of the Radicals, who were anxiously waiting for that, were much dissatisfied with Lord John Russell, and free from control by the death of Sir Robert Peel. I said that if everything was done with Lord Palmerston's consent there would be no danger, to which Lord Clarendon assented, but doubted that he would consent to giving up what was his hobby. He added, nobody but Lord John could carry on the Foreign Affairs, but he ought not to leave the House of Commons under present circumstances, where he was now the only authority left.
A POSSIBLE RE-ARRANGEMENT
We saw the Duke of Bedford yesterday, whom Lord John had wished us to invite. He is very unhappy about the present state of affairs, frightened about things going on as at present, when Lord John can exercise no control over Lord Palmerston, and the Queen is exposed year after year to the same annoyances and dangers arising from Lord Palmerston's mode of conducting the affairs; but on the other hand, equally frightened at turning him loose. The Duke was aware of all that had passed between us and Lord John, and ready to do anythinghecould to bring matters to a satisfactory solution, but thought his brother would not like to leave the House of Commons now. He had very much changed his opinion on that head latterly, and the more so as he thought something ought to be done next year with the franchise, which he alone could carry through. On my questioning whether it was impossible to persuade him to take the Foreign Office and stay in the Lower House, with a first-rate under-secretary, at least for a time, the Dukethought he might perhaps temporarily, as he felt he owed to the Queen the solution of the difficulty, but expressed again his fears of Lord Palmerston's opposition. I replied that if Lord John would make up his mind to take the Foreign Office, and to stay in the House of Commons, I saw no danger, as Lord John would be able to maintain himself successfully, and Lord Palmerston would not like to be in opposition to him, whilst he would become most formidable to anybody who was togainonly the leadership in the House; moreover, Lord John, having done so much for Lord Palmerston, could expect and demand a return of sacrifice, and a variety of posts might be offered to him—the Presidency of the Council, the office of Home Secretary, or Secretary for the Colonies, Chancellor of the Exchequer, etc., etc., which places I was sure any member of the Cabinet would vacate for him. The Duke of Bedford added the Lieutenancy of Ireland, as Lord Clarendon had told him he was ready to give it up for the purpose, but only underonecondition, viz. that of not having to succeed to Lord Palmerston at the Foreign Office. Observing our surprise at this declaration, the Duke added that Lord Clarendon acted most considerately, that he was ready to have no office at all, and would support the Government independently in the House of Lords if this were to facilitate arrangements. The Queen rejoined that a peerage was of course also at Lord John's disposal for Lord Palmerston. We then agreed that Lord Granville would be the best person to become Lord John's Under-Secretary of State, a man highly popular, pleasing, conciliatory, well versed in Foreign Affairs, and most industrious; trained under Lord John, he could at any time leave him the office altogether, if Lord John should find it too much for himself. Lord Granville had a higher office now, that of Vice-President of the Board of Trade and Paymaster-General, but would be sure to feel the importance of taking a lower office under such circumstances and with such contingencies likely to depend upon it. I have seen a great deal of him latterly, as he is the only working man on the Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, and have found him most able, good-natured, and laborious. The Duke liked the proposal very much, and is going to communicate all that passed between us to Lord John on Tuesday.
Albert.
PALMERSTON'S POSITION
Osborne,8th August 1850.
Lord John Russell came down here yesterday in order to report to the Queen what had passed between him and LordPalmerston the day before, on whom he had called in order to have an explanation on the Foreign Affairs.
Lord John reminded him of former communications, but admitted that circumstances were much changed by the recent debates in both Houses of Parliament; still, it was necessary to come to an understanding of the position. Thepolicypursued with regard to the Foreign Affairs had been right and such as had the approval of Lord John himself, the Cabinet generally, and he believed the greater part of the country. But the manner in which it had been executed had been unfortunate, led to irritation and hostility; although peace had actually been preserved, and England stood in a position requiring no territorial aggrandisement or advantage of any kind, yet all Governments and Powers, not only Russia and Austria, but also France and the liberal states, had become decidedly hostile to us, and our intercourse was not such as was desirable. Lord John could instance many cases in which they had been unnecessarily slighted and provoked by Lord Palmerston, like M. Drouyn de Lhuys in the Greek affair. Lord Palmerston's conduct towards the Queen had been disrespectful and wanting in due attention and deference to her, and had been much complained of.
In consequence of all this Lord John had before proposed to Her Majesty that the Foreign Affairs should be entrusted to Lord Minto, he himself should go to the House of Lords, and Lord Palmerston should have the lead in the House of Commons. The Queen had, however, objected to this arrangement, [thinking] the lead in the Lower House to be more properly given to Sir George Grey, who had as Home Secretary conducted all internal business in the House. Now had come Sir R. Peel's death, which made it impossible for Lord John to leave the House of Commons without endangering the position of Government and of the parties in the House.
PALMERSTON'S JUSTIFICATION
Lord Palmerston was much pleased to hear of Lord John's intention to stay in the House of Commons, said all was changed now; there had been a great conspiracy against him, he had been accused in Parliament, put on his trial and acquitted. The acquittal had produced the greatest enthusiasm for him in the country, and he was now supported by a strong party; he owned, however, that his success had been chiefly owing to the handsome manner in which Lord John and his colleagues had supported him in the debate. That he should incur the momentary enmity of those states whose interests and plans he might have to cross was quite natural; he had never intended any disrespect to the Queen, and if he had been guilty of any he was quite unconscious of it and sorry for it.
Lord John reminded him that although the Government had got a majority in the House of Commons in the Foreign debate, it was not to be forgotten that the fate of the Government had been staked upon it, and that many people voted on that account who would not have supported the Foreign policy; that it was remarkable that all those who had the strongest reason to be anxious for the continuance of the Government, but who could not avoidspeaking, were obliged to speak and vote against the Government. Sir R. Peel's speech was a most remarkable instance of this.
Lord Palmerston saw in Sir Robert's speech nothing but a reluctant effort to defend Lord Aberdeen, whom he was bound to defend. If he (Lord Palmerston) were to leave the Foreign Office, there must be a ground for it, such as his having to take the lead in the House of Commons, which was evidently impossible with the conduct of Foreign Department at the same time. (It had killed Mr Canning, and after that failure nobody ought to attempt it.) But without such a ground it would be loss of character to him, which he could not be expected to submit to. There was not even the excuse of wishing to avoid a difficulty with a foreign country, as all was smooth now. Those who had wished to injure him had been beat, and now it would be giving them a triumph after all. If the Queen or the Cabinet were dissatisfied with his management of the Foreign Affairs, they had a right to demand his resignation, and he would give it, but they could not ask him to lower himself in public estimation. Lord John answered that his resignation would lead to a further split of parties: there were parties already enough in the House, and it was essential that at least the Whig party should be kept together, to which Lord Palmerston assented. He (Lord Palmerston) then repeated his complaints against that plot which had been got up in this country against him, and urged on by foreigners, complained particularly of Lord Clarendon, Mr Greville of the Privy Council, Mr Reeve, ditto, and their attacks upon him in theTimes, and of Mr Delane, the Editor of theTimes, of Guizot, Princess Lieven, etc., etc., etc. However, they had been convinced that they could not upset him, and Mr Reeve had declared to him that he had been making open and honourable (?!!) war upon him; now he would make a lasting peace. With Russia and France he (Lord Palmerston) had just been signing the Danish Protocol, showing that they were on the best terms together.
Lord John felt he could not press the matter further under these circumstances, but he seemed much provoked at the result of his conversation. We expressed our surprise that he hadnot made Lord Palmerston any offer of any kind. Lord John replied he had not been sure what he could have offered him....
Albert.
DUTIES OF THE FOREIGN SECRETARY
Osborne,12th August 1850.
With reference to the conversation about Lord Palmerston which the Queen had with Lord John Russell the other day, and Lord Palmerston's disavowal that he ever intended any disrespect to her by the various neglects of which she has had so long and so often to complain, she thinks it right, in orderto prevent any mistakefor thefuture, shortly to explainwhat it is she expects from her Foreign Secretary. She requires: (1) That he will distinctly state what he proposes in a given case, in order that the Queen may know as distinctly towhatshe has given her Royal sanction; (2) Havingonce givenher sanction to a measure, that it be not arbitrarily altered or modified by the Minister; such an act she must consider as failing in sincerity towards the Crown, and justly to be visited by the exercise of her Constitutional right of dismissing that Minister. She expects to be kept informed of what passes between him and the Foreign Ministers before important decisions are taken, based upon that intercourse; to receive the Foreign Despatches in good time, and to have the drafts for her approval sent to her in sufficient time to make herself acquainted with their contents before they must be sent off. The Queen thinks it best that Lord John Russell should show this letter to Lord Palmerston.
Footnote 33: Compare the memorandum suggested by Baron Stockmar,ante, p. 238. This letter was, after much forbearance, written in the hope of bringing Lord Palmerston to a proper understanding of his relation to the Sovereign. Even when the catastrophe came, and its tenor had to be communicated by the Premier to Parliament, the Preamble was generously omitted; but in consequence of its description by Lord Palmerston, in a letter published by Mr Ashley, as anangrymemorandum, it was printed in full inThe Life of the Prince Consort.
Foreign Office,13th August 1850.
My dear John Russell,—I have taken a copy of this memorandum of the Queen and will not fail to attend to the directions which it contains. With regard to the sending of despatches to the Queen, they have sometimes been delayed longer than should have been the case, in consequence of my having been prevented by great pressure of business, and by the many interruptions of interviews, etc., to which I amliable, from reading and sending them back into the Office so soon as I could have wished. But I will give orders that the old practice shall be reverted to, of making copies of all important despatches as soon as they reach the Office, so that there may be no delay in sending the despatches to the Queen; this practice was gradually left off as the business of the Office increased, and if it shall require an additional clerk or two you must be liberal and allow me that assistance.—Yours sincerely,
Palmerston.
DEATH OF LOUIS PHILIPPE
Claremont,26 Août 1850.
Madame ma chère Cousine,—La main de Dieu vient de s'appesantir sur nous. Le Roi notre Père n'est plus.34Après avoir reçu hier avec calme et résignation les secours de la religion, il s'est éteint ce matin à huit heures au milieu de nous tous. Vous le connaissiez ma chère Cousine, vous savez tout ce que nous perdons, vous comprendrez donc l'inexprimable douleur dans laquelle nous sommes plongés; vous la partagerez même je le sais!
La Reine brisée, malgré son courage, ne trouve de soulagement que dans une retraite absolue où ne voyant personne elle puisse laisser cours à sa douleur.
Veuillez faire part à Albert de notre malheur et recevoir ici, ma chère Cousine, l'hommage des sentiments de respect et d'attachement, de votre bien affectionné Cousin,
Louis d'Orléans.
Footnote 34: King Louis Philippe was in his seventy-seventh year when he died: his widow, Queen Marie Amélie, lived till 1866, when she died at the age of eighty-four.
Osborne,26th August 1850.
The Queen wishes Lord Palmerston to give directions for a Court mourning according to those which are usual for an abdicated King. She likewise wishes that every assistance should be given, and every attention shown to the afflicted Royal Family, who have been so severely tried during the last two years, on the melancholy occasion of the poor King of the French's death.
The Queen starts for Scotland to-morrow.
Laeken,30 August 1850.
... I have offered to the poor Queen of the French to remain at Claremont andd'en disposeras long as Heaven does not dispose of myself. She, of course, dislikes the place, but will keep the family with her at least for some time.
Taymouth Castle,5th September 1850.
Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and was happy to receive your Majesty's gracious letter, which reached him the night before last.
The proofs of attachment to your Majesty, which are everywhere exhibited, are the more gratifying as they are entirely spontaneous.
It is fit and becoming that your Majesty should inhabit the royal Palace of Holyrood, and this circumstance gives great satisfaction throughout Scotland.
Lord John Russell is glad to learn that the family of the late King of the French will continue to reside in England.
The reflection naturally occurs, if Napoleon and Louis Philippe were unable to consolidate a dynasty in France, who will ever be able to do it? The prospect is a succession of fruitless attempts at civil Government till a General assumes the command, and governs by military force.
THE POET LAUREATE
Dunkeld,7th September 1850.
... Lord John Russell has had the honour of receiving at Taymouth a letter from the Prince. He agrees that the office of Poet Laureate ought to be filled up. There are three or four authors of nearly equal merit, such as Henry Taylor, Sheridan Knowles, Professor Wilson, and Mr Tennyson, who are qualified for the office.
Ostend,7th October 1850.
My dearest Victoria,—I write a few words only to tell you how our dear patient is.35Yesterday was a most perilous,truly dreadful day; our dear angelic Louise was so fainting that Madame d'Hulst, who was with her, felt the greatest alarm. She afterwards was better, and her mother, Clém, Joinville, and Aumale having arrived, she saw them with more composure than could have been expected. Still, she would in fact wish to be left quiet and alone with me, and we try to manage things as much as possible so that their visit does not tire her too much.
Her courage and strength of mind are most heart-breaking when one thinks of the danger in which she is, and her dear and angelic soul seems even to shine more brightly at this moment of such great and imminent danger. I am in a dreadful state when I am with her. She is so contented, so cheerful, that the possibilities of danger appear to me impossible; but the physicians are very much alarmed, without thinking the state absolutely hopeless. That one should write such things about a life so precious, and one in fact still so young, and whose angelic soul is so strong! You will feel with me as you love her so dearly. God bless you and preserve you from heart-breaking sufferings like mine. Ever, my dearest Victoria, your devoted Uncle,
Leopold R.
Footnote 35: The Queen of the Belgians died on the 11th of October, at the age of thirty-eight.
GENERAL HAYNAU
Broadlands,8th October 1850.
Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has had the honour to receive your Majesty's communication of the 4th instant, expressing your Majesty's wish that an alteration should be made in his answer to Baron Koller's36note of the 5th of September, on the subject of the attack made upon General Haynau;37but Viscount Palmerston begs to state that when Baron Koller was at this place about ten days ago, he expressed so much annoyance at the delay which had already taken place in regard to the answer to his note of the 5th September, and he requested so earnestly that he might immediately have the reply, that Viscount Palmerston could do no otherwise than send him the answer at once, and Baron Koller despatched it the next day to Vienna.
Viscount Palmerston had put the last paragraph into the answer, because he could scarcely have reconciled it to his ownfeelings and to his sense of public responsibility to have put his name to a note which might be liable to be called for by Parliament, without expressing in it, at least as his own personal opinion, a sense of the want of propriety evinced by General Haynau in coming to England at the present moment.38
The state of public feeling in this country about General Haynau and his proceedings in Italy and Hungary was perfectly well known; and his coming here so soon after those events, without necessity or obligation to do so, was liable to be looked upon as a bravado, and as a challenge to an expression of public opinion.
Baron Koller indeed told Viscount Palmerston that Prince Metternich and Baron Neumann had at Brussels strongly dissuaded General Haynau from coming on to England; and that he (Baron Koller) had after his arrival earnestly entreated him to cut off those long moustachios which rendered him so liable to be identified.
With regard to the transaction itself, there is no justifying a breach of the law, nor an attack by a large number of people upon one or two individuals who cannot resist such superior force; and though in the present case, according to Baron Koller's account, the chief injury sustained by General Haynau consisted in the tearing of his coat, the loss of a cane, and some severe bruises on his left arm, and though four or five policemen proved to be sufficient protection, yet a mob who begin by insult lead each other on to outrage; and there is no saying to what extremes they might have proceeded if they had not been checked.
Such occurrences, however, have taken place before; and to go no further back than the last summer, the attacks on Lord Talbot at the Stafford meeting, and on Mr Bankes, Mr Sturt, and others at the Dorchester meeting, when a man was killed, were still more violent outrages, and originated simply in differences of political opinion; whereas in this case the brewers' men were expressing their feeling at what they considered inhuman conduct on the part of General Haynau.
The people of this country are remarkable for their hospitable reception of foreigners, and for their forgetfulness of past animosities. Napoleon Bonaparte, the greatest enemy that England ever had, was treated while at Plymouth with respect, and with commiseration while at St Helena. Marshal Soult, who had fought in many battles against the English, was received with generous acclamation when he came here as Special Ambassador. The King of the French, Mons. Guizot,and Prince Metternich, though all of them great antagonists of English policy and English interests, were treated in this country with courtesy and kindness. But General Haynau was looked upon as a great moral criminal; and the feeling in regard to him was of the same nature as that which was manifested towards Tawell39and the Mannings,40with this only difference, that General Haynau's bad deeds were committed upon a far larger scale, and upon a far larger number of victims. But Viscount Palmerston can assure your Majesty that those feelings of just and honourable indignation have not been confined to England, for he had good reason to know that General Haynau's ferocious and unmanly treatment of the unfortunate inhabitants of Brescia and of other towns and places in Italy, his savage proclamations to the people of Pesth, and his barbarous acts in Hungary excited almost as much disgust in Austria as in England, and that the nickname of "General Hyæna" was given to him at Vienna long before it was applied to him in London.
Footnote 36:The Austrian Ambassador.
Footnote 37:General Haynau had earned in the Hungarian War an odious reputation as a flogger of women. When visiting the brewery of Barclay & Perkins, the draymen mobbed and assaulted him; he had to fly from them, and take refuge in a neighbouring house. Lord Palmerston had to send an official letter of apology to the Austrian Government, which, as originally despatched, without waiting for the Queen's approval, contained a paragraph offensive to Austria.
Footnote 38:See Lord Palmerston's letter to Sir G. Grey, Ashley'sLife of Lord Palmerston, vol. i. chap. vi.
Footnote 39: Executed for the Salt Hill murder.
Footnote 40: Marie Manning (an ex-lady's maid, whose career is said to have suggested Hortense inBleak Houseto Dickens) was executed with her husband, in 1849, for the murder of a guest. She wore black satin on the scaffold, a material which consequently became unpopular for some time.
THE DRAFT DESPATCHED
Buckingham Palace,11th October 1850.
The Queen having written to Lord Palmerston in conformity with Lord John Russell's suggestion respecting the draft to Baron Koller, now encloses Lord Palmerston's answer, which she received at Edinburgh yesterday evening. Lord John will see that Lord Palmerston has not onlysentthe draft, but passes over in silence her injunction to have a corrected copy given to Baron Koller, and adds a vituperation against General Haynau, which clearly shows that he is not sorry for what has happened, and makes a merit of sympathising with the draymen at the brewery and the Chartist Demonstrations....
The Queen encloses likewise a copy of her letter to Lord Palmerston, and hopes Lord John will write to him.41
Footnote 41: Lord John insisted on the note being withdrawn, and another substituted with the offensive passage omitted. After threatening resignation, Lord Palmerston somewhat tamely consented.
Lord John Russell wrote to the Prince Albert that he would be "somewhat amused, if not surprised, at the sudden and amicable termination of the dispute regarding the letter to Baron Koller. The same course may be adopted with advantage if a despatch is ever again sent which has been objected to, and to which the Queen's sanction has not been given." See the Queen's letter of the 19th of October.
LORD PALMERSTON CENSURED
Buckingham Palace,12th October 1850.
The Queen has received Lord Palmerston's letter respecting the draft to Baron Koller. She cannot suppose that Baron Koller addressed his note to Lord Palmerston in order to receive in answer an expression of hisown personal opinion; and if Lord Palmerston could not reconcile it to his own feelings to express the regret of the Queen's Government at the brutal attack and wanton outrage committed by a ferocious mob on a distinguished foreigner of past seventy years of age, who was quietly visiting a private establishment in this metropolis, without addinghis censure of the want of proprietyevinced by General Haynau in coming to England—he might have done so in a private letter, where his personal feelings could not be mistaken for the opinion of the Queen and her Government. She must repeat her request that Lord Palmerston will rectify this.
The Queen can as little approve of the introduction of Lynch Law in this country as of theviolentvituperations with which Lord Palmerston accuses and condemns public men in other countries, acting in most difficult circumstances and under heavy responsibility, without having the means of obtaining correct information or of sifting evidence.
Osborne,16th October 1850.
The Queen is glad to hear from Lord Palmerston that he has given no countenance to the French and Russian proposal at the suggestion of Denmark, that England, France, and Russia should, after having signed the Protocol in favour of Denmark, now go further and send their armies to aid her in her contest with Holstein.42The Queen does not expect any good result from Lord Palmerston's counter proposal to urge Prussia and Austria to compel the Holsteiners to lay down their arms. The mediating power ought rather to make Denmark feel that it requires more than a cessation of hostilities, a plan of reconciliation, and a solution of the questions in dispute, before she can hope permanently to establish peace.The mediating power itself, however, should strive to arrive at some opinion on the matter in dispute, based, not onits ownsupposed interests, as the Protocol is, but on an anxious, careful, and impartial investigation of the rights and pretensions of the disputing parties; and if it finds it impossible to arrive at such an opinion, to fix upon some impartial tribunal capable of doing so, to which the dispute could be submitted for decision. Common principles of morality would point out such a course, and what is morally right only can be politically wise.
Footnote 42: A strenuous attempt was being made by the Danish Government to bring pressure to bear on Austria and Prussia, to put down the nationalist movement in the Duchies, either by active intervention, or by reassembling the Conference which had negotiated the Treaty of Berlin. Lord Palmerston discountenanced both alternatives, but wrote to the Queen that he and the representatives of France, Russia, and Denmark thought that Austria and Prussia should be urged to take all feasible steps to put an end to the hostilities.