The Greville Memoirs Volume II Part 3

CHAPTER XII.

The Belgian Revolution--The Duke of Wellington and Canning--The King's Plate--Gloomy Forebodings--Retreat of the Prince of Orange--Prince Talleyrand--Position of the Government--Death of Huskisson--His Character--The Duke of Wellington and Peel-- Meeting of Parliament--The Duke's Declaration--The King's Visit to the City abandoned--Disturbances in London--d.u.c.h.esse de Dino--The Cholera--Southey, Henry Taylor, John Stuart Mill-- Dinner at Talleyrand's--The Duke of Wellington resigns--Mr.

Bathurst made Junior Clerk of the Council--Lord Spencer and Lord Grey sent for--Formation of Lord Grey's Administration-- Discontent of Brougham--Brougham takes the Great Seal-- Character of the New Ministers--Prospects of the Opposition-- Disturbances in Suss.e.x and Hamps.h.i.+re--Lord Grey and Lord Brougham--Lord Sefton's Dinner--The New Ministers sworn at a Council.

Stoke, August 31st, 1830 {p.040}

On Sunday I met Prince Esterhazy[1] in Oxford Street with a face a yard long. He turned back with me, and told me that there had been disturbances at Brussels, but that they had been put down by the gendarmerie. He was mightily alarmed, but said that his Government would recognise the French King directly, and in return for such general and prompt recognition as he was receiving he must restrain France from countenancing revolutions in other countries, and that, indeed, he had lost no time in declaring his intention to abstain from any meddling. In the evening Vaudreuil told me the same thing, and that he had received a despatch from M. Mole desiring him to refuse pa.s.sports to the Spaniards who wanted, on the strength of the French Revolution, to go and foment the discontents in Spain, and to all other foreigners who, being dissatisfied with their own Governments, could not obtain pa.s.sports from their own Ministers.

Yesterday morning, however, it appeared that the affair at Brussels was much more serious than Esterhazy had given me to understand; and, as far as can be judged from the unofficial statements which we have, it appears likely that Belgium will separate from Holland altogether, it being very doubtful whether the Belgian troops will support the King's Government.

[1] [Prince Paul Esterhazy, Austrian Amba.s.sador at the Court of St. James for many years.]

Madame de Falck is just come, but brings no news. Falck[2] has heard nothing. He left Holland before the outbreak. In the event of such a revolution, it remains to be seen what part Prussia will take, and, if she marches an army to reduce Belgium to obedience, whether the Belgians will not make overtures to France, and in that case whether King Louis Philippe will be able to restrain the French from seizing such a golden opportunity of regaining their former frontier; and if they accept the offer, whether a general war in Europe will not ensue.

[2] [Baron Falck, Dutch Minister at the Court of St.

James.]

[Page Head: WELLINGTON'S FOREIGN POLICY.]

In these difficult circ.u.mstances, and in the midst of possibilities so tremendous, it is awful to reflect upon the very moderate portion of wisdom and sagacity which is allotted to those by whom our affairs are managed. I am by no means easy as to the Duke of Wellington's sufficiency to meet such difficulties; the habits of his mind are not those of patient investigation, profound knowledge of human nature, and cool, discriminating sagacity. He is exceedingly quick of apprehension, but deceived by his own quickness into thinking he knows more than he does. He has amazing confidence in himself, which is fostered by the deference of those around him and the long experience of his military successes. He is upon ordinary occasions right-headed and sensible, but he is beset by weaknesses and pa.s.sions which must, and continually do, blind his judgment. Above all he wants that suavity of manner, that watchfulness of observation, that power of taking great and enlarged views of events and characters, and of weighing opposite interests and probabilities, which are essentially necessary in circ.u.mstances so delicate, and in which one false step, any hasty measure, or even incautious expression, may be attended with consequences of immense importance. I feel justified in this view of his political fitness by contemplating the whole course of his career, and the signal failure which has marked all his foreign policy. If Canning were now alive we might hope to steer through these difficulties, but if he had lived we should probably never have been in them. He was the only statesman who had sagacity to enter into and comprehend the spirit of the times, and to put himself at the head of that movement which was no longer to be arrested. The march of Liberalism (as it is called) would not be stopped, and this he knew, and he resolved to govern and lead instead of opposing it. The idiots who so rejoiced at the removal of this master mind (which alone could have saved them from the effects of their own folly) thought to stem the torrent in its course, and it has overwhelmed them. It is unquestionable that the Duke has too much partic.i.p.ated in their sentiments and pa.s.sions, and, though he never mixed himself with their proceedings, regarded them with a favourable eye, nor does he ever seem to have been aware of the immensity of the peril which they were incurring. The urgency of the danger will unquestionably increase the impatience of those who already think the present Government incapable of carrying on the public business, and now that we are placed in a situation the most intricate (since the French Revolution) it is by no means agreeable to think that such enormous interests are at the mercy of the Duke's awkward squad.

Sefton gave me an account of the dinner in St. George's Hall on the King's birthday, which was magnificent--excellent and well served. Bridge[3] came down with the plate, and was hid during the dinner behind the great wine-cooler, which weighs 7,000 ounces, and he told Sefton afterwards that the plate in the room was worth 200,000. There is another service of gold plate, which was not used at all. The King has made it all over to the Crown.

All this plate was ordered by the late King, and never used; his delight was ordering what the public had to pay for.

[3] [Of the house of Rundell and Bridge, the great silversmiths and jewellers of the day.]

September 9th, 1830 {p.043}

[Page Head: GLOOMY FOREBODINGS.]

Came from Stoke the day after the Egham races, and went to Brocket Hall on Sat.u.r.day last; returned the day before yesterday. Nothing can exceed the interest, the excitement, the consternation which prevail here. On Sat.u.r.day last the funds suddenly fell near three per cent.; no cause apparent, a thousand reports, and a panic on the Stock Exchange. At last on Monday it appeared that the Emperor of Russia had, on the first intelligence of the revolution in France, prohibited the tricoloured c.o.c.kade and ordered all Russian subjects to quit France. As we went down on Sat.u.r.day Henry told me that there had been alarming accounts from the manufacturing districts of a disposition to rise on the part of the workmen, which had kept Lord Hill in town; and this I fancied was the cause of the fall, but it was the Russian business. They have since, however, rallied to nearly what they were before. At Brocket I had a long conversation with my brother-in-law,[4] who is never very communicative or talkative, but he takes a gloomy view of everything, not a little perhaps tinctured by the impending ruin which he foresees to his own property from the Liverpool Railroad, which is to be opened with great ceremony on the 15th; moreover he thinks the Government so weak that it cannot stand, and expects the Duke will be compelled to resign. He has already offered him his place, to dispose of in any way that may be useful to him. I said that I thought one of the Duke's greatest misfortunes was his having no wise head to consult with in all emergencies; this he said was very true, for there was n.o.body who would even speak to him about anything; that Peel, who was the man who might naturally be expected to put himself forward, never would; and that repeatedly he had got him (Francis) to go to or write to the Duke about some matter or other on which it was necessary to refer to him. In the business of Huskisson, Huskisson himself was most anxious to have it made up, and wished Peel to speak to the Duke; but Peel would not stir, nor would Dudley, and it ended in Francis' being charged with the negotiation, the result of which everybody knows.

[4] [Lord Francis Egerton, afterwards First Earl of Ellesmere, proprietor of the Bridgewater Estates and Ca.n.a.l, which was threatened by the compet.i.tion of the newly-made Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Lord Francis held the office of Secretary at War in 1830 for a very short time, having previously been Irish Secretary when Lord Anglesey was Lord Lieutenant.]

In the meantime the affairs of Belgium are in a very critical state; the Prince of Orange has entirely failed in reducing the malcontents to submission, and after pa.s.sing two or three days at or near Brussels in fruitless negotiation and the interchange of proud civilities, he was obliged to retire and carry back to the King a proposal that Belgium and Holland should be separated and a Federal Union established between them. Last night, however, a proclamation of the King appeared, well drawn up, and couched in firm, temperate, and sensible language, in which he declares that he will do all that the circ.u.mstances of the case may render necessary, but that all shall be referred to the States-General, and they shall decide upon the measures to be adopted. This will probably excite great discontent, and it is at least doubtful whether the Belgian Deputies will consent to go to the Hague at all. My belief is that this proclamation is the result of encouragement from Prussia.

The night before last I had a letter from the Duc de Dalberg with a very sensible view of the state of France and of affairs generally in Europe, auguring well of the stability of the present Government, provided the other Powers of Europe do nothing to disturb the general tranquillity. I never was so astonished as when I read in the newspaper of the appointment of Talleyrand to be Amba.s.sador here. He must be nearer eighty than seventy, and though his faculties are said to be as bright as ever (which I doubt), his infirmities are so great that it is inconceivable he should think of leaving his own home, and above all for another country, where public representation is unavoidable. Dalberg told me that several of the Ministers are going out--Guizot, Marshal Gerard, and Baron Louis, the two latter _accables_ with the _travail_, and the first unused to and unfit for official business;[5] Louis is seventy-three.

[5] [A curious estimate, taken at the time, of the man who for the next eighteen years had a larger share of official life and business than any other Frenchman.]

[Page Head: BAD PROSPECTS OF THE SESSION.]

In the meantime the Duke does nothing here towards strengthening his Government, and he will probably meet Parliament as he is.

There are some circ.u.mstances in his favour, and I think it possible he may still extricate himself from his difficulties.

There is unquestionably a notion amongst many persons (of the aristocracy) that he is the only man to rely upon for governing this country in the midst of difficulties. It is hard to say upon what this feeling (for it is more of a feeling than an opinion) is founded; not certainly upon any experience of his abilities for Government either as to principles or the details of particular branches of business, or his profound, dispa.s.sionate, and statesmanlike sagacity, but upon certain vague predilections, and the confidence which he has infused into others by his own firm, manly, and even dictatorial character, and the recollection of his military exploits and splendid career, which have not yet lost their power over the minds of men, and to this must be added his great influence over the late and present sovereigns.

The short session which will begin on the 28th of October will be occupied with the Regency and Civil List, and it is probable that both those matters will be produced in a form to give general satisfaction; that will be strength as far as it goes. The Tories are alarmed at the general aspect of affairs, and I doubt whether they will not forget their ancient grievances and antipathies, and, if they do not support the Government, abstain at least from any violent opposition, the result of which could only be to let in the Whigs, of whose principles they have the greatest apprehensions. I can perfectly understand that there may be many men who, wis.h.i.+ng sincerely to see a stronger Government formed, may think that any change at this moment which may present to Europe a spectacle of disunion and weakness here would be a greater evil than the temporary toleration of such Ministers as ours; and if the Duke does find such a disposition, and profits by it dexterously and temperately, he may float through the next session, and at the end of it negotiate with other parties on more advantageous terms than he possibly could do now, when all his concessions would appear to be extorted by force or by the urgent difficulties of his position.

September 10th, 1830 {p.046}

The Duke is very much disturbed about the state of affairs, thinks ill of France and generally of the state of Europe. I think the alarmists are increasing everywhere, and the signs of the times are certainly portentous; still I doubt there being any great desire of change among the ma.s.s of the people of England, and prudent and dexterous heads (if there be any such) may still steer on through the storm. If Canning were alive I believe he would have been fully equal to the emergency if he was not thwarted by the pa.s.sions, prejudices, and follies of others; but if he had lived we should not have had the Catholic question settled, and what a state we should be in now if that were added to the rest!

September 14th, 1830 {p.046}

Last Sat.u.r.day to Panshanger; returned yesterday with Melbourne, George Lamb, and the Ashleys. George said there would be a violent Opposition in the approaching session. William[6] told me he thought Huskisson was the greatest practical statesman he had known, the one who united theory with practice the most, but owned he was not popular and not thought honest; that his remaining in with the Duke when G.o.derich's Ministry was dissolved was a fatal error, which he could never repair.

[6] [William Lamb, second Lord Melbourne, afterwards Prime Minister.]

I found Sefton in town last night, and went to the play with him.

He has had a letter from Brougham, who told him he should go to the Liverpool dinner and attack the Duke of Wellington; that it was the only opportunity he should ever have in his life of meeting him face to face, and he then proceeded to relate all that he should say. Sefton wrote him word that if he said half what he intended the chairman would order him to be turned out of the room. He won't go, I am persuaded.

Newark, September 18th, 1830 {p.047}

[Page Head: DEATH OF MR. HUSKISSON.]

Went back to Panshanger last Tuesday; found there Madame de Lieven, Melbourne, and the Hollands and Allen. Lord Holland was very agreeable, as he always is, and told many anecdotes of George Selwyn, Lafayette, and others. I saw them arrive in a coach-and-four and chaise-and-pair--two footmen, a page, and two maids. He said (what is true) that there is hardly such a thing in the world as a good house or a good epitaph, and yet mankind have been employed in building the former and writing the latter since the beginning almost. Came to town on Thursday, and in the afternoon heard the news of Huskisson's horrible accident, and yesterday morning got a letter from Henry with the details, which are pretty correctly given in the 'Times' newspaper. It is a very odd thing, but I had for days before a strong presentiment that some terrible accident would occur at this ceremony, and I told Lady Cowper so, and several other people. Nothing could exceed the horror of the few people in London at this event, or the despair of those who looked up to him politically. It seems to have happened in this way:--While the Duke's car was stopping to take in water, the people alighted and walked about the railroad; when suddenly another car, which was running on the adjoining level, came up. Everybody scrambled out of the way, and those who could got again into the first car. This Huskisson attempted to do, but he was slow and awkward; as he was getting in some part of the machinery of the other car struck the door of his, by which he was knocked down. He was taken up, and conveyed by Wilton[7] and Mrs. Huskisson (who must have seen the accident happen) to the house of Mr. Blackburne, eight miles from Heaton.

Wilton saved his life for a few hours by knowing how to tie up the artery; amputation was not possible, and he expired at ten o'clock that night. Wilton, Lord Granville, and Littleton were with him to the last. Mrs. Huskisson behaved with great courage.

The Duke of Wellington was deeply affected, and it was with the greatest difficulty he could be induced to proceed upon the progress to Manchester, and at last he only yielded to the most pressing solicitations of the directors and others, and to a strong remonstrance that the mob might be dangerous if he did not appear. It is impossible to figure to one's self any event which could produce a greater sensation or be more striking to the imagination than this, happening at such a time and under such circ.u.mstances: the eminence of the man, the sudden conversion of a scene of gaiety and splendour into one of horror and dismay; the countless mult.i.tudes present, and the effect upon them--crushed to death in sight of his wife and at the feet (as it was) of his great political rival--all calculated to produce a deep and awful impression. The death of Huskisson cannot fail to have an important effect upon political events; it puts an end to his party as a party, but it leaves the survivors at liberty to join either the Opposition or the Government, while during his life there were great difficulties to their doing either, in consequence of the antipathy which many of the Whigs had to him on one side and the Duke of Wellington on the other. There is no use, however, in speculating on what will happen, which a very short time will show.

[7] [Thomas Grosvenor Egerton, second Earl of Wilton.]

Agar Ellis told me yesterday morning that he had received a letter from Brougham a day or two ago, in which he said that he was going to Liverpool, and hoped there to sign a treaty with Huskisson, so that it is probable they would have joined to oppose the Government. As to the Duke of Wellington, a fatality attends him, and it is perilous to cross his path. There were perhaps 500,000 people present on this occasion, and probably not a soul besides hurt. One man only is killed, and that man is his most dangerous political opponent, the one from whom he had most to fear. It is the more remarkable because these great people are generally taken such care of, and put out of the chance of accidents. Canning had scarcely reached the zenith of his power when he was swept away, and the field was left open to the Duke, and no sooner is he reduced to a state of danger and difficulty than the ablest of his adversaries is removed by a chance beyond all power of calculation.

[Page Head: CHARACTER OF HUSKISSON.]

Huskisson was about sixty years old, tall, slouching, and ign.o.ble-looking. In society he was extremely agreeable, without much animation, generally cheerful, with a great deal of humour, information, and anecdote, gentlemanlike, una.s.suming, slow in speech, and with a downcast look, as if he avoided meeting anybody's gaze. I have said what Melbourne thought of him, and that was the opinion of his party. It is probably true that there is no man in Parliament, or perhaps out of it, so well versed in finance, commerce, trade, and colonial matters, and that he is therefore a very great and irreparable loss. It is nevertheless remarkable that it is only within the last five or six years that he acquired the great reputation which he latterly enjoyed. I do not think he was looked upon as more than a second-rate man till his speeches on the silk trade and the s.h.i.+pping interest; but when he became President of the Board of Trade he devoted himself with indefatigable application to the maturing and reducing to practice those commercial improvements with which his name is a.s.sociated, and to which he owes all his glory and most of his unpopularity. It is equally true that all the ablest men in the country coincide with him, and that the ma.s.s of the community are persuaded that his plans are mischievous to the last degree. The man whom he consulted through the whole course of his labours and enquiries was Hume,[8] who is now in the Board of Trade, and whose vast experience and knowledge were of incalculable service to him. Great as his abilities unquestionably were, it is impossible to admire his judgment, which seems repeatedly to have failed him, particularly in his joining the Duke's Government on G.o.derich's resignation, which was a capital error, his speech afterwards at Liverpool and his subsequent quarrel with the Duke.

In all these cases he acted with the greatest imprudence, and he certainly contrived, without exposing himself to any specific charge, to be looked upon as a statesman of questionable honour and integrity; and of this his friends as well as his enemies were aware. As a speaker in the House of Commons he was luminous upon his own subject, but he had no pretensions to eloquence; his voice was feeble and his manner ungraceful; however, he was (unfortunately) one of the first men in the House, and was listened to with attention upon any subject. He left no children.

Mrs. Huskisson has a pension of 1,200 a year. The accounts from Paris improve, inasmuch as there seems a better prospect than there has been lately of tranquillity in the country. Sneyd writes word that there is little doubt but that the Duc de Bourbon was a.s.sa.s.sinated.[9]

[8] [John Deacon Hume, the a.s.sistant Joint Secretary of the Board of Trade.]

[9] [The Duc de Bourbon-Conde was found hanging in his bedroom. Suspicion pointed to Madame de Fencheres, his mistress, as privy to the cause of his death, which however, was never clearly ascertained. The Duke had made an ample provision for Madame de Fencheres in his will, but the bulk of his vast property, including Chantilly, was bequeathed to the Duc d'Aumale, fourth son of King Louis Philippe. The Duc de Bourbon was the father of the unfortunate Duc d'Enghien.]

Last night to Brockett Hall, where I slept and came on here to-day. The King has paid me 300 for Goodison, the late Duke's jockey, which settles all he owed at Newmarket, and was a very good-natured act.

George Seymour is made Master of the Robes, and gives up his place[10] in the House of Lords, so Jersey[11] within two months has got an enormous place to give away.

[10] He did not give it up; wanted Jersey to appoint his brother Frederick, which he refused to do; so the other remained.--_November 15th._

[11] [Lord Jersey was Lord Chamberlain of the Household at the time.]

Chatsworth, September 27th, 1830 {p.050}