The result is very uncertain; at present the power is likely to rest in the Army, to whose memory of victories and defeats the President has so strongly appealed.
Footnote 30: Lord Normanby, having applied for instructions as to his future conduct, was desired to make no change in his relations with the French Government, and to abstain from even the appearance of interference in her internal affairs. Having made a communication to this effect to M. Turgot, the latter replied that M. Walewski had notified to him that Lord Palmerston had already expressed to him his "entire approbation of the act of the President," and his "conviction that he could not have acted otherwise."
LOUIS NAPOLEON
Laeken,5th December 1851.
My dearest Victoria,—Receive my best thanks for your dear gracious letter of the 2nd, the date of the battle of Austerlitz, and thecoup d'étatat Paris. What do you say to it?
As yet one cannot form an opinion, but I am inclined to think that Louis Bonaparte will succeed. The country is tired and wish quiet, and if they get it by thiscoup d'étatthey will have no objection, and letle Gouvernement Parlementaire et Constitutionnelgo to sleep for a while.
I suspect that the great Continental powers will see a military Government at Paris with pleasure; they go rather far in their hatred of everything Parliamentary. The President takes a little of Napoleon already. I understand that he expressed himself displeased, as if I had too much supported the Orleans Family. I render perfect justice to the President, that hitherto he has not plagued us; but we have also abstained from all interference. I think that Hélène has been imprudent; besides, it is difficult for the poor Family to avoid to speak on these subjects or to express themselves with mildness.
If something like an Empire establishes itself, perhaps we shall for a time have much to suffer, as thegloire françaiseinvariably looks to the old frontiers. My hope is that they will necessarily have much to do at home, for a time, as parties will run high.... Your devoted Uncle,
Leopold R.
Osborne,6th December 1851.
The Queen has to acknowledge Lord John Russell's letter of yesterday. She is glad to hear that the Cabinet occupy themselves assiduously with the Reform Question, but hopes that they will not come to a final decision without having first ascertained how the proposed plan will operate when practically applied to the present state of the Franchise and Suffrage. The Queen is very anxious to arrive at a definite opinion on this subject herself.
The Queen sees from the Manchester Speeches that theBallotis to be made the stalking-horse of the Radicals.
LORD PALMERSTON'S LETTERS
Paris,7th December 1851.
My dear Charles,—I have an opportunity of writing to younotthrough the Foreign Office, which I shall take advantage of, as at present the Post is not to be trusted, and I am afraid I do not think the Office is either.
Palmerston has taken lately to writing in the most extraordinary manner to Normanby.31I think he wants to fix a quarrel with him, which you may be sure Normanby will avoid at present, as it would have the worst possible effect; but I do not understand it at all, and I wish you could in any way explain what it means. Palmerston seems very angry because Normanby does not unqualifyingly approve of this step here, and the results; the whole thing is so completely acoup d'état, and all the proceedings are so contrary to and devoid of law and justice and security, that even the most violent Tory would be staggered by them. (For instance, to-dayallthe English papers, even Normanby's, are stopped and prohibited; they will of course allow Normanby's to come, but it is to be under an envelope), and yet Palmerston, who quarrels with all Europe about a political adventurer like Kossuth, because he was defending the liberties and constitution of his country, now tries to quarrel with Normanby, and really writes in the most impertinent manner, because Normanby's despatches are not sufficiently in praise of Louis Napoleon and hiscoup d'état. There must be somedessous des cartesthat we are not aware of. Normanby has always said, having been undertaken, the only thing now is to hope and pray it may be successful; but that is another thing to approving the way it was begun, or the way it has been carried out. The bloodshed has been dreadful and indiscriminate, no quarter was shown, and when an insurgent took refuge in a house, the soldiers killed every one in the house, whether engaged in theémeuteor not.... It is very doubtful whether Normanby will be able to go on with [Palmerston] if this sort of thing continues, for he talks of "I hear this" and "I am told that," with reference to Normanby's conduct here, which no man in his position can stand, as, if Palmerston takes theon-ditsof others, and not Normanby's own accounts, there is an end of confidence; but I must say his last letter appears to me a sort of exuberance of anger, which spends itself onmany subjects rather than the one which first caused it, and therefore I suspect he has received some rap on the knuckles at home, which he resents here, or on the first person who is not of the same opinion as himself; but it is a curious anomaly that he should quarrel with Normanby in support of arbitrary and absolute Government. All is quiet here now, and will, I hope, continue so till the Elections, when I suppose we may have some moreémeutes....
They have been told at the Clubs that they may meet, but they are not to talk politics. In short, I do not suppose that despotism ever reached such a pitch.... You may suppose what the French feel; it serves them all quite right, but that does not prevent one's feeling indignant at it. And this is what Palmerston is now supporting without restriction. We are entirely without any other news from England from any one. Would you not send me or Normanby a letter through Rothschild? I am rather anxious to know whether this is a general feeling in England; it could not be, if they know all that had happened here. Mind, I can quite understand the policy of keeping well with Louis Napoleon, and Normanby is so, and has never expressed to any one a hostile opinion except in his despatches and private letters to Palmerston.... I shall send this by a private hand, not to run the risk of its being read. Ever yours affectionately,
M. Normanby.
Footnote 31:On the 6th, Lord Palmerston wrote to Lord Normanby the strange letter printed by Mr Evelyn Ashley in theLife, censuring Lord Normanby's supposed hostility to the French President; Lord Normanby in reply defended his attitude, and asked for an explicit statement as to the Foreign Secretary's approval or otherwise of the conduct and policy of the President.
AFFAIRS IN FRANCE
Osborne,9th December 1851.
Dearest Uncle,—Your kind letter of the 5th reached me on Sunday morning. Much blood has been shed since you wrote....
What you say about arbitrary and military Government in France is very true, and I daresay will do for a time; but I do not knowhowLouis Napoleon is to proceed, or how he will get over the anger and enmity of those he imprisoned. Still, I see that the Legitimists have all given in their adhesion. Every one in France and elsewheremust wishorder, and many therefore rally round the President.
A most extraordinary report was mentioned to me yesterday, which, however, I never could believe, and which is besidesphysically impossible, from the illness of the one and the absence of the other, viz. that Joinville and Aumale had gone or were going to Lille to put themselves at the head of the troops,32which would be a terrible and a very unwise thing. It would be very awkward foryoutoo.
I must now conclude, hoping soon to hear from you. You should urge the poor Orleans family to be very prudent in what they say about passing events, as I believe Louis Napoleon is verysoreon the subject, and matters might get still worse. Ever your devoted Niece,
Victoria R.
Footnote 32: Mr Borthwick, of theMorning Post, had so stated to Lord Palmerston on the authority of General de Rumigny; seven years later Palmerston wrote the Memorandum on the subject printed in hisLife.
PALMERSTON AND NORMANBY
Paris,9th December 1851.
My dearest Charles,—I had written a long letter to the Queen, and upon second thoughts I have burnt it, because events have now become so serious between Normanby and Palmerston that I do not think that I should be the person to inform Her Majesty of it, in case anything was to be said upon the subject in Parliament. And yet as the affront has been given in Palmerston's private letters, I feel sure she does not know it. You have all probably seen Normanby's public despatches, in which, though as an Englishman he deprecates and deplores the means employed and the pledges broken—in short, the unconstitutional illegality of the wholecoup d'état—yet he always says, seeing now no other refuge from Rouge ascendency, he hopes it may succeed. One would have supposed, from the whole tenor of his policy, from his Radical tendencies, and all that he has been doing lately, that Palmerston would have been the last person to approve of thiscoup d'état. Not a bit! He turns upon Normanby in the most flippant manner; almost accuses him of a concealed knowledge of an Orleanist plot—never whispered here, nor I believe, even imagined by the Government of Paris, who would have been too glad to seize upon it as an excuse; says he compromises the relations of the country by his evident disapproval of Louis Napoleon—in short, it is a letter that Morny might have written, and that it is quite impossible for Normanby to bear. The curious thing is that it is a letter or rather letters that would completely ruin Palmerston withhisParty. He treats all the acts of the wholesale cruelties of the troops as a joke—in short, it is the letter of a man half mad, I think, for to quarrel with Normanby on this subject is cutting his own throat.... He has written also to Lord John. Louis Napoleon knows perfectly well that Normanby cannot approve the means he has taken; he talks to him confidentially, and treats him as an honest, upright man, and he never showed him more attention, or friendship even than last night when wewere at the Elysée, though Normanby said not one word in approval....
LORD PALMERSTON'S INSTRUCTIONS
There is another question upon which Normanby has a right to complain, which is, that two days before Palmerston sent his instructions here, he expressed to Walewski his complete approval of the step taken by Louis Napoleon, which was transmitted by Walewski in a despatch to Turgot, and read by him to many members of the Corps Diplomatique a day before Normanby heard a word from Palmerston. You will perhaps think that there is not enough in all this to authorise the grave step Normanby has taken, but the whole tone of his letters shows such a want of confidence, is so impertinent—talk of "we hear this," and "we are told that,"—bringing a sort of anonymous gossip against a man of Normanby's character and standing, that respect for himself obliges Normanby to take it up seriously.... In the meantime our Press in England is, as usual,tooviolent against Louis Napoleon.Wehave no friends or true allies left, thanks to the policy of Lord Palmerston; as soon as the peace of the country is restored the Armymustbe employed; it is the course of a Military Government; as much as an absolute Government is destroyed by the people, and the democracy again, when fallen into anarchy, is followed by Military Government. Louis Napoleon must maintain his position by acts: they will find out that Belgium should belong to France, or Alsace, or Antwerp, or something or other that England will not be able to allow, and then how are we prepared for the consequences?...
LORD PALMERSTON'S APPROVAL
The more I think of Palmerston's letters, the less I can understand them; every sentence is in direct contradiction to his acts and words. He ridicules the idea of the Constitution; turns to scorn the idea of anything being due to the Members of the Assembly; laughs and jokes at the Club being fired into, though the English people in it were within an ace of being murdered by the soldiers; says that Normanby is pathetic over a broken looking-glass,34forgetting that the same bullet grazed the hand of an Englishman, "a Roman citizen!" who was between the window and the glass—in short, as I said before, he is quite incomprehensible, except, as I cannot help thinking,he read the private letter Normanby wrote to the Duke of Bedford upon the Kossuth business, wishing to take his advice a little upon a grave question, but which did not actually interfere with his position here. This would account for his extreme irritation....
All at present is quiet in Paris. There are Socialist risings in many parts of the country, but all these will do the President good, and strengthen his hands, for even the people who have been treated with indignity will pardon him if their châteaux are saved from an infuriated and brutal peasantry. The President told Normanby last night that the accounts of the cruelties and attacks in parts of the country were very serious, but he hoped they would soon be put down....
M. Normanby.35
Footnote 33:Submitted to the Queen by Colonel Phipps.
Footnote 34: The tone of Lord Palmerston's private letters to Lord Normanby at this time is best illustrated by the following extract:—
"Your despatches since the event of Tuesday have been all hostile to Louis Napoleon, with very little information as to events. One of them consisted of a dissertation about Kossuth, which would have made a good article in theTimesa fortnight ago: and another dwells chiefly on a looking-glass broken in a Club-house; and you are pathetic about a piece of broken plaster brought down from a ceiling by musket-shots during the street fights. Now we know that the Diplomatic Agents of Austria and Russia called on the President immediately after his measure on Tuesday morning, and have been profuse in their expressions of approval of his conduct."
Footnote 35: Lady Normanby wrote later:—
"I told you yesterday the President had no faith in him (Palmerston). The Treaty signed with Buenos Ayres, the Greek business, and the reception of Kossuth had long destroyed his confidence in Palmerston, and I believe he hates him and sees through his present adulations...."
Osborne,13th December 1851.
The Queen sends the enclosed despatch from Lord Normanby to Lord John Russell, from which it appears that the French Governmentpretend to have receivedthe entire approval of the latecoup d'étatby the British Government, as conveyed by Lord Palmerston to Count Walewski. The Queen cannot believe in the truth of the assertion, as such an approval given by Lord Palmerston would have been in completecontradictionto the line of strict neutrality and passiveness which the Queen had expressed her desire to see followed with regard to the late convulsion at Paris, and which was approved by the Cabinet, as stated in Lord John Russell's letter of the 6th inst. Does Lord John know anything about the alleged approval, which, if true, wouldagainexpose the honesty and dignity of the Queen's Government in the eyes of the world?36
Footnote 36: On the 15th, Lord Normanby wrote to Lord Palmerston that he must now assume M. Walewski's report to be correct, and observed that if the Foreign Secretary held one language in Downing Street and prescribed another course to the British Ambassador, the latter must be awkwardly circumstanced. Lord Palmerston (in a letter not shown to the Queen or the Cabinet) replied that he had said nothing inconsistent with his instructions to Lord Normanby, that the President's action was for the French nation to judge of, but that in his view that action made for the maintenance of social order in France.
Osborne,13th December 1851.
My beloved Uncle,—These lines are to express myvery warmestwishes formany, many happyreturns of your dearbirthday, and foreveryearthly blessing youcandesire. How I wish you could spend ithere, or we with you! I venture to send you some trifles which will recall the Exhibition in which you took so much interest. The continuation of the work I send you, I shall forward as it comes out.
As I wrote so lately, and shall do so on Tuesday, I will not touch on politics—with one exception—that I think it of high importance that the Orleans should clear themselves ofallsuspicion of aplot, whichsome people, I am sure, wish to make itappeartheyareinvolved in; and that public contradiction should be given to the foolish report,muchcreditedhere, that Joinville has gone to Lille, or to some part of France, to head the Troops. Everyourdevoted Niece and Child,
Victoria R.
How you willagainmiss your departed Angel!
LORD PALMERSTON'S EXPLANATION
Woburn Abbey,18th December 1851.
Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He received from Lord Palmerston yesterday an explanation of his declaration of opinion to Mr Walewski, which Lord John Russell regrets to state was quite unsatisfactory.
He thought himself compelled to write to Lord Palmerston in the most decisive terms.
Lord Palmerston requested that his letter might be returned to be copied.
The whole correspondence shall be submitted to your Majesty.
Your Majesty will find in the box a despatch of Lord Normanby of the 15th, and an answer of Lord Palmerston of the 16th,37which has been sent without your Majesty's sanction, or the knowledge of Lord John Russell.
Footnote 37: The letters are given in full in Ashley'sLife of Lord Palmerston, vol. i. chap. vii., were Lord Palmerston's explanation of the 16th, in answer to the Premier's letter of the 14th, will also be found.
Laeken,19th December 1851.
My dearest Victoria,—Receive my warmest and best thanks for your truly kind and gracious recollection of my old birthday, and your amiable presents.
Our angelic Louise had quiteun cultefor that day, and twohave already passed since the best and noblest of hearts beats no longer amongst us. When one sees the haste and ardour of earthly pursuits, and how all this is often disposed of, and when one sees that even the greatest success always ends with the grave, one is tempted to wonder that the human race should follow so restlessly bubbles often disappearing just when reached, and always being a source of never-ending anxiety. France gives, these sixty years, the proof of the truth of what I say, always believing itself at the highest point of perfection and changing it a few weeks afterwards.
A military Government in France, if it really gets established, must become dangerous for Europe. I hope that at least at its beginning it will have enough to do in France, and that we may get time to prepare. England will do well not to fall asleep, but to keep up its old energy and courage....Your truly devoted Uncle,
Leopold R.
DISMISSAL OF LORD PALMERSTON
Osborne,19th December 1851.
The Queen has received several communications from Lord John Russell, but has not answered them, as she expected daily to hear of Lord Palmerston's answer. As Lord John Russell in his letter of yesterday's date promises to send her his correspondence with Lord Palmerston, she refrains from expressing a decided opinion until she has had an opportunity of perusing it; but Lord John will readily conceive what must be her feelings in seeing matters go from bad to worse with respect to Lord Palmerston's conduct!
LORD GRANVILLE
Woburn Abbey,19th December 1851.
Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has the honour to submit to your Majesty a correspondence with Viscount Palmerston, which terminates with a letter of this day's date.
Lord John Russell has now to advise your Majesty that Lord Palmerston should be informed that your Majesty is ready to accept the Seals of Office, and to place them in other hands.
Lord John Russell has summoned a Cabinet for Monday.
They may be of opinion that they cannot continue a Government.
But that is not Lord John Russell's opinion; and shouldthey agree with him, he will proceed without delay to recommend a successor to your Majesty.
The Earl Granville appears to him the person best calculated for that post, but the Cabinet may be of opinion that more experience is required.
Windsor Castle,20th December 1851.
The Queen found on her arrival here Lord John Russell's letter, enclosing his correspondence with Lord Palmerston, which she has perused with that care and attention which the importance and gravity of the subject of it demanded. The Queen has now to express to Lord John Russell her readiness to follow his advice, and her acceptance of the resignation of Lord Palmerston. She will be prepared to see Lord John after the Cabinet on Monday, as he proposes.
Windsor Castle,20th December 1851.
With respect to a successor to Lord Palmerston, the Queen must state, that after the sad experience which she has just had of the difficulties, annoyances, and dangers to which the Sovereign may be exposed by the personal character and qualities of the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, she must reserve to herself the unfettered right to approve or disapprove the choice of a Minister for this Office.
Lord Granville, whom Lord John Russell designates as the person best calculated for that post, would meet with her entire approval. The possible opinion of the Cabinet that more experience was required does not weigh much with the Queen. From her knowledge of Lord Granville's character, she is inclined to see no such disadvantage in the circumstance that he has not yet had practice in managing Foreign Affairs, as he will be the more ready to lean upon the advice and judgment of the Prime Minister where he may have diffidence in his own, and thereby will add strength to the Cabinet by maintaining unity in thought and action. The Queen hopes Lord John Russell will not omit to let her have copies of his correspondence with Lord Palmerston, as he has promised her.38
Footnote 38: On the same day the Prince wrote to the Premier that the Queen was much relieved. She had contemplated dismissing Lord Palmerston herself, but naturally shrank from using the power of the Crown, as her action would have been criticised without the possibility of making a public defence; in his view the Cabinet was rather strengthened than otherwise by Palmerston's departure, and public sympathy would not be with him. The rest of the letter is published inThe Life of the Prince Consort.
Windsor Castle,21st December 1851.
The Queen has received Lord John Russell's letter of to-day. She is not the least afraid of Lord Granville's not possessing sufficient public confidence for him to undertake the Foreign Affairs. He is very popular with the House of Lords, with the Free Traders, and the Peace party, and all that the Continent knows of him is in his favour; he had great success at Paris last summer, and his never having had an opportunity of damaging his character by having been mixed up in diplomatic intrigues is an immense advantage to him in obtaining the confidence of those with whom he is to negotiate.
THE QUEEN AND PALMERSTON
Windsor Castle,23rd December 1851.
My dearest Uncle,—I have the greatest pleasure in announcing to you a piece of news which I know will give you as much satisfaction and relief as it does to us, and will do to thewholeof the world.Lord Palmerstonisno longer Foreign Secretary—and Lord Granville is already named his successor!! He had become of late really quite reckless, and in spite of the serious admonition and caution he received only on the 29th of November, and again at the beginning of December, hetellsWalewski thathe entirelyapproves Louis Napoleon'scoup d'état, when he had written to Lord Normanby by my and the Cabinet's desire that he (Lord Normanby) was to continue his diplomatic intercourse with the French Government, but toremainperfectly passive and givenoopinion. Walewski wrote Palmerston's opinion (entirely contrary to what the Government had ordered) to M. Turgot, and when Normanby came with his instructions, Turgot told him what Palmerston had said. Upon this Lord John asked Palmerston to give an explanation—which, after the delay of a week, he answered in such an unsatisfactory way that Lord John wrote to him thathe could no longer remain Foreign Secretary, for that perpetual misunderstanding and breaches of decorum were taking place which endangered the country. Lord Palmerston answered instantly that he would give up the Seals the moment his successor was named! Certain as we all felt that he could not have continued long in his place, we were quite taken by surprise when we learnt of thedénouement.... Lord Granville will, I think, do extremely well, and his extreme honestyand trustworthiness will make himinvaluableto us, and to the Government and to Europe.
I send some prints, etc., for the children for Christmas. Ever your devoted Niece,
Victoria R.
MEETING OF THE CABINET
Windsor Castle,23rd December 1851.
Lord John Russell arrived here at six o'clock yesterday evening immediately from the Cabinet, and reported that the Cabinet had, without a dissenting voice, condemned Lord Palmerston's conduct, and approved of the steps taken by Lord John Russell, which was a great relief to him. Lord Lansdowne, to whom he had first written on the subject, had frightened him by answering that it was not possible to avoid the rupture with Lord Palmerston, but that he thought the Government would after this not be able to go on. When, however, this question was discussed in Cabinet, and Lord John had stated that he thought the Office could be well filled, they all agreed in the propriety of going on. The Members of the Cabinet were so unable to understand Lord Palmerston's motives for his conduct during these last months, that Mr. Fox Maule started an idea which once occurred to Lord John himself (as he said), viz. that he must have had the design to bring on a rupture! Lord Minto, who was absent from the Cabinet, expressed himself in a letter to Lord John very strongly about Lord Palmerston'sreckless conduct, which would yet undo the country.
LORD CLARENDON
Lord John, after having received the concurrence of the Cabinet on the question of Lord Palmerston's dismissal, stated that Lord Granville was the person whom he would like best to see fill his office, and he knew this to be the feeling of the Queen also. The Cabinet quite agreed in Lord Granville's fitness, but Sir George Grey stated it as his opinion that it ought first to be offered to Lord Clarendon, who has always been pointed out by the public as the proper person to succeed Lord Palmerston, and that, if he were passed over, the whole matter would have the appearance of a Cabinet intrigue in favour of one colleague against another. The whole of the Cabinet sided with this opinion, and Lord John Russell now proposed to the Queen that an offer should in the first instance be made to Lord Clarendon.
The Queen protested against the Cabinet's taking upon itself the appointment of its own Members, which rested entirely with the Prime Minister and the Sovereign, under whoseapproval the former constructed his Government.... Lord John replied that he thought Lord Clarendon would not accept the offer, and therefore there would be little danger in satisfying the desires of the Cabinet. He had written to Lord Clarendon a cautioning letter from Woburn, apprising him of some serious crisis, of which he would soon hear, and speaking of his former wish to exchange the Lord-Lieutenancy for some other Office. Lord Clarendon at once perceived the drift of the hint, and wrote to the Duke of Bedford what he said he did not wish to write to his brother John, that, if it was that Palmerston was going, andhewere thought of as a successor, nothing would be so disagreeable to him, as the whole change would be put down as an intrigue of his, whom Lord Palmerston had always accused of wishing to supplant him; that if, however, the service of the country required it, he had the courage to face all personal obloquy....
Lord John owned that Sir George Grey's chief desire was to see Lord Clarendon removed from Ireland, having been there so long; the Cabinet would wish to see the Duke of Newcastle join the Government as Lord-Lieutenant, which he might be induced to do. The Queen having mentioned Lord Clarendon as most fit to succeed Lord Lansdowne one day as President of the Council and leader in the House of Lords, Lord John said that Lord Clarendon had particularly begged not to have the position offered him, for which he did not feel fit. Lord John would like him as Ambassador at Paris, and thought Lord Clarendon would like this himself; but it was difficult to know what to do with Lord Normanby.
In the course of the conversation, Lord John congratulated the Queen upon the change having been accomplished without her personal intervention, which might have exposed her to the animosity of Lord Palmerston's admirers, whilst she would have been precluded from making any public defence. I reminded Lord John that, as such was the disadvantage of the regal position, it behoved the Queen doubly to watch, lest she be put into the same dilemma with a new Minister, whose conduct she could not approve of. Lord Clarendon's appointment would be doubly galling to Lord Palmerston, whom Lord John might not wish to irritate further, a consideration which Lord John said he had also pressed upon the Cabinet. Upon a remark from Lord John as to Lord Granville's youth, the Queen replied: "Lord Canning, whom Lord Stanley had intended to make his Foreign Secretary, was not older...."
The conference ended by Lord John's promise to write to Lord Clarendon as the Queen had desired ... but that he didnot wish to make the offer to Lord Granville till he had Lord Clarendon's answer. Lord Granville had been told not to attend the last Cabinet; Lord Palmerston had naturally stayed away.
I went up to Town at half-past seven to the Westminster Play, and took Lord John in my train to Richmond. We had some further conversation in the carriage, in which I asked Lord John whether it was true that Lord Palmerston had got us likewise into a quarrel with America by our ships firing at Panama upon an American merchantman; he said neither he nor Sir Francis Baring had received any news, but Sir Francis had been quite relieved by Lord Palmerston's quitting, as he could not be sure a moment that his Fleets were not brought into some scrape!
On my expressing my conviction that Lord Palmerston could not be very formidable to the Government, Lord John said: "I hope it will not come true what Lord Derby (then Lord Stanley) said after the last Ministerial crisis, when Lord John quizzed him at not having been able to get a Foreign Secretary—'Next time I shall have Lord Palmerston.'!"
Albert.
COUNT WALEWSKI
Downing Street,23rd December 1851.
Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He has just seen Count Walewski; he told him that he had an important piece of intelligence to give him; that your Majesty had been pleased to make a change in the Foreign Office, and to direct Lord Palmerston to give up the Seals.
He wished to give this intelligence that he might accompany it with an intimation that the policy towards France would continue to be of the most friendly character, and that there was nothing the Government more desired than to see a stable and settled Government in France; that they had every wish for the stability of the present French Government. Count Walewski said he had received various assurances of opinion from Lord Palmerston, which he supposed were adopted by Lord John Russell, and subsisted in force.
Lord John Russell said: "Not exactly; it is a principle of the English Government not to interfere in any way with the internal affairs of other countries; whether France chooses to be a Republic or a Monarchy, provided it be not a Social Republic, we wish to express no opinion; we are what we call in England a sheet of white paper in this respect; all we desireis the happiness and welfare of France." Count Walewski said it was of importance to the stability of the President that he should have a large majority; he would then give a Constitution.
Lord John Russell said each nation must suit itself in this respect; we have perhaps been in error in thinking our Constitution could be generally adopted; some nations it may suit, others may find it unfitted for them.
LORD GRANVILLE APPOINTED
Windsor Castle,23rd December 1851.
The Queen has just received Lord John Russell's letters, and is much rejoiced that this important affair has been finally so satisfactorily settled.
The Queen returns Lord Clarendon's letter, which she thinks a very good one.39The Queen hopes Count Walewski will have been satisfied, which she thinks he ought to be. The Queen will receive Lord Palmerston to deliver up the Seals, and Lord Granville to receive them, on Friday at half-past two.
Footnote 39: Lord Clarendon, in answer to Lord John Russell, expressed great reluctance to undertake the charge of the Foreign Office, on the ground that Palmerston, always suspicions of him, would insist that he had deliberately undermined his position: while Lord Granville would be popular with the Court and country.
Downing Street,24th December 1851.
Lord John Russell submits a private note of Lord Palmerston,40which only shows how unconscious he was of all that the rest of the world perceived.
Footnote 40: In this letter, Lord Palmerston denied the "charge of violations of prudence and decorum," adding, "I have to observe that that charge is refuted by the offer which you made of the Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland, because I apprehend that to be an office for the due performance of the duties of which prudence and decorum cannot well be dispensed with."
Windsor Castle,25th December 1861.
The Queen has received Lord John Russell's letters, and she returns the enclosures.
The articles in theTimesare very good; the other papers seem quite puzzled, and unable to comprehend what has caused Lord Palmerston's removal from office. Lord Palmerston's letter is very characteristic; he certainly has the best of the argument, and great care ought to be taken in bestowingany praise on him, as he always takes advantage of it to turn against those who meant it merely to soothe him. The Queen thought that there must be a Council for the swearing in of the new Secretary of State.
LORD GRANVILLE
Windsor Castle,27th December 1851.
Yesterday the Council was held, at which the change of Seals was to take place. We waited for one hour and a half, but Lord Palmerston did not appear; his Seals had been sent from the Foreign Office to Lord John Russell!
Lord John told us he had written to Lord Palmerston, announcing him the appointment of Lord Granville, and added that in his long political life he had not passed a week which had been so painful to him. Lord Palmerston's answer was couched in these terms: "Of course you will believe that I feel that just indignation at the whole proceeding which it must produce."
Lord Lansdowne seemed anxious particularly on account of the clear symptoms appearing from the papers that both Radicals and Protectionists are bidding for Lord Palmerston.
Lord Granville was very much overcome when he had his audience to thank for his appointment, but seemed full of courage and good-will. He said it would be as easy to him to avoid Lord Palmerston's faults as difficult to imitate his good qualities, promised to endeavour to establish a more decent usage between the Governments in their mutual communications, by setting the good example himself, and insisting upon the same on the part of the others; promised not to have anything to do with the newspapers; to give evening parties, just as Lord Palmerston had done, to which a good deal of his influence was to be attributed. He said a Member of Parliament just returned from the Continent had told him that an Englishman could hardly show himself without becoming aware of the hatred they were held in; the only chance one had to avoid being insulted was to sayCivis Romanus non sum.
Lord Granville had been Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs under Lord Palmerston for three years from 1837-40, but, as he expressed himself, rather the sandwich between his principal and the clerks. Lord Palmerston had in these three years hardly once spoken to him upon any of the subjects he had to treat.
Albert.