Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Henry Reeve, C.B., D.C.L. Part 35

_February 7th_.--Dinner at Dicey's, to meet Mr. Welch, the U.S. minister.

John Bright, Hayward, Chandos Leigh, Mme. Van de Weyer there.

_8th_.--To Foxholes, for three days only.

_13th_.--The fleet went up the Sea of Marmora, the Russians having approached Constantinople.

_28th_.--Marriage of Ellinor Locker to Lionel Tennyson in Westminster Abbey. All the literary world there. Imposing aspect of Alfred Tennyson, who looked round the Abbey as if he felt the Immortals were his compeers.

The Journal mentions:--

_March 28th_.--Lord Derby resigned the Foreign Office.

_From Lord Derby_

_March 29th_.--What has happened is disagreeable, as all political separations are; but it did not seem to me that there was any choice. As to discussion in Parliament, I suppose I cannot altogether help myself; but it will be a business unwillingly gone into, and not at all unless there seems some chance of being of use.

And the Journal:--

_April 3rd_.--Dinner at Longman's. Froude, Trevelyan, Walpoles, Quain. This was the last of the pleasant literary dinners which Longman used to give.

_4th_.--Great sale of the Novar collection. Fetched over 70,000. Kirkman Hodgson gave 20,000. for three Turners.

_April 13th_.--To Foxholes.

From Lord Lytton [Footnote: Governor-General of India.]

Government House, Simla, April 29th.

My dear Mr. Reeve,--I think you in nowise overestimate the value of Meadows Taylor's life and work in India, and I cordially recognise the exceptional claims of the two ladies, on whose behalf you have written to me, to the grant which I regret to hear they require. Their case is rather a difficult one to deal with, owing to the fact that nearly the whole work of Meadows Taylor's life was performed, not in the service of the Government of India, but in that of the Nizam's Government; and we are precluded, by rules as inflexible as the laws of the Medes and Persians, from granting public money to the distressed survivors of our own public servants on purely compa.s.sionate grounds. In my own opinion, however, the claim of these ladies may be fairly admitted on other grounds furnished by their father's eminence, not only as a literary man, but also as an administrator, and the fact that his work, though not performed in the service of the Government of India, has been, and is, in various ways, unquestionably beneficial to India. I am glad to say that I have obtained the concurrence of my council in this view of the case, and we propose to grant 100. a year to each of these ladies from the Indian revenues. Our proposal, however, cannot be acted on without the sanction of the Secretary of State, to whom it will probably be submitted by this mail; and, as it is of a financial character, I think Lord Staplehurst [Footnote: Viscount Cranbrook is meant. The patent of his peerage was not dated till May 4th; but it had been previously understood, and telegraphed to India, that he would take his t.i.tle from Staplehurst.] cannot deal with it except through his council. It is therefore fortunate that you have secured their suffrages, for at present it seems to be the invariable practice of the 'wise men of the East' at the India Office to reject every proposal, however trivial or however important, which emanates from the Government of India.

Yours, my dear Mr. Reeve, very faithfully,

LYTTON.

_Endorsed_--The pension was granted on June 30th.

_From the Comte de Paris_ Chateau d'Eu, May 11th.

... I am glad to see that the hope of peace is stronger. A war between England and Russia would be the greatest catastrophe that could fall upon the world at present; it would be the cause of incalculable ruin everywhere. Since the wars of 1866 and 1870 the maintenance of the peace of Europe depends solely upon the relations between England and Russia. To France the preservation of peace is of the deepest interest, for the day it is broken she may expect to see her own frontiers threatened by Germany, either directly or by the moral subjection of Holland, Switzerland, and Belgium. We wish no evil either to England or to Russia; but, above all things, we wish that these two Powers should live in harmony.

Here the Journal has:--

_May 13th_.--Returned to town.

_May 28th_.--Gladstone dined at The Club. Six present; interesting.

_June 3rd_.--Excursion to Greenwich to see the telegraph works. Great dinner at the s.h.i.+p afterwards.

_8th_.--All to Norwich, to stay with Dean Goulburn at the Deanery. I had scarcely been there for fifty years. Dr. Jessop, Canon Heaviside, and Canon Robinson to dinner--very pleasant.

_9th_.--Communion in Norwich Cathedral. 10th, drove to Costessy (Lord Stafford's); 11th, to Spixworth; 12th, to Ely, on a visit to Dean Merivale; 13th, to Peterborough; 14th, back to town.

_June_.--Very hot weather. 26th, dinner of the Antiquaries at Lord Carnarvon's.

_July 5th_.--Lady Northcote's garden party. Helen Blackett there, looking ill. I never saw her again. [Footnote: See _post_. p. 265.]

_July 13th_.--To Foxholes. Gout prevented me from going to Paris, where the exhibition was going on, and to La Celle.

_To Mr. T. Longman_

_Foxholes, July 15th_.--I send just a line to say that _no part_ of the article on 'The Const.i.tution and the Crown' is written by me. I thought it due to the writer to leave it untouched, and I don't think it is too severe.

The article in the 'Quarterly' was certainly not written by Dr. Smith, and I have reason to know that he is a good deal ashamed of it. n.o.body seems to know who wrote it. I do not expect they will reply upon us; but nothing is more beneficial to the two Reviews than a little controversy, especially when serious principles are concerned. This question is precisely the _crux_ or test of Whig and Tory principles; it is the old fight of parliamentary power against prerogative. There has not been in England, for a hundred years, a minister so indifferent to Parliament and so subservient to the Court as Lord Beaconsfield.

_Foxholes, July 16th_.--Dizzy's fireworks will soon burn out; and when people come to reflect on these transactions, and their consequences, they will be found to be some of the most questionable in modern English history. He has the merit of presenting a bold front to Europe and of avoiding war; but the cost will be great and the ulterior consequences formidable. I suppose they are going to give him a Roman triumph this afternoon from Charing Cross to Downing Street.

Sed quid Turba Remi?...

...... Idem populus...

... hac ipsa Sejanum diceret hora Augustum.

To my old eyes all this is a sham--a scene out of 'Tancred' and 'Lothair.'

Depend upon it, the article on the 'Const.i.tution and the Crown' will be read.

_Foxholes, August 10th_.--I never in my life read a better article than this of Froude on Copyright. It is incomparably good in force of argument, vigour of style, point, and truth, and, I think, will go far to settle the a.s.sailants of copyright. I confess I enjoy the smas.h.i.+ng of the sages of the Board of Trade and old Trevelyan. They will see that if they attack literature, literature is able to defend itself.

_From Mr. T. Longman_

_Farnborough Hill, August 14th_.--... I entirely agree with you in the excellence of Froude's article [on Copyright]. ... I see that he thinks that copyright may be in danger, and that the tendency of writing will flow into periodical literature. That I know has long been XIXth Century Knowles's opinion. He says he cares nothing for any copyright, and never asks for it. Like the 'Times,' he does not, in fact, need it. His writers are highly paid, and he and they are satisfied.

_To Mr. T Longman_

_Foxholes, August 15th_.--... No doubt any restriction of copyright in permanent works would have the effect of inducing literary men to write more and more in periodicals, which are not permanent but well paid. This argument is very important. I am not sure that Froude has laid sufficient stress upon it. Good and solid literature already suffers considerably from the fact that fugitive literature is far better paid, and that a literary man can rarely afford to write a large and substantial book requiring years of labour. Herbert Spencer's evidence is very interesting; but few men have the courage to risk their all in labouring for the future.

I shall make Froude's article the first in the next number, as I think it will attract great attention.

_August 24th_.--Froude's article will make nearly fifty pages of the Review, which is more than I like; but I don't know what to leave out, it is all so good and amusing to literary people, so I think we must swallow it whole.

A note from the Journal:--

_August 23rd_.--Visit to Highclere (Lord Carnarvon's). A good deal of gout in October. To Farnborough on the 30th. Back to town on November 4th.

_To Mr. T. Longman_

_Foxholes, October 10th_.--I see the 'Quarterly' announces an article on my 'Petrarch.' Unless Smith is the falsest of men, it will be a civil article, for he was enthusiastic in his praises of the book to me personally. But I shall not be surprised if it is another flourish of Hayward's stiletto.

_October 19th_.--The article in the 'Quarterly' on my 'Petrarch' is very courteous, and certainly _not_ by Abraham.

_C. O., December 2nd_.--This day's post brings me the melancholy intelligence that our friend Kirkman is so ill he is not expected to survive, and that dear old Mrs. Grote is in much the same condition. To me, by far the most painful part of advancing years is the loss of those who made life delightful. It is the only thing I regret. These friends.h.i.+ps of forty or fifty years are quite irreparable.