Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Henry Reeve, C.B., D.C.L. Part 39

_18th_.--Tremendous snow-storm. 21st. Excessive cold.

_From Mr. E. Cheney_

_Audley Square, January 5th_.--I must apologise for having kept your precious ma.n.u.script [Footnote: The _Greville Memoirs_, second part], so long. The truth is, I left town for a month, and left the volumes carefully locked up, and only finished them on my return. I have read them with the deepest interest, and am truly obliged to you for having procured me so much amus.e.m.e.nt. I think these volumes even surpa.s.sing the last in interest.

I see you have marked several pa.s.sages for omission which I should retain.

I allude particularly to those relating to the French Revolution and the conduct of the Orleans family. It is impossible that any relation of those facts can be made so as to be agreeable to that family; and no omissions could be made that would render the narration palatable to them. Besides, these are Charles Greville's opinions, and not yours; and you are not answerable for them.

His remarks on the state of Ireland and the conduct of the Government are curious, as being exactly those which people are making at this moment.

Gladstone's policy is exactly that of Lord John Russell; but the urgency of action is now still greater, and the outrages committed still more heinous.

Gladstone may apply the words of the poet to himself--'In not forbidding, you command the crime.' Also the Duke of Wellington's opinions on army reform are applicable to the present moment, when such determined attacks are made upon its efficiency. The Duke said, 'We had a d.a.m.ned good army, and they are trying to make it a d.a.m.ned bad one.' Our present patriotic Government, he might say, 'are trying to make it a d.a.m.ned deal worse.'

What would be personally offensive to the Queen should be omitted; but as to his criticisms on public men and their measures, I cannot see why they should be suppressed. The daily newspapers all over England are free to make what comments they please, and I cannot see that a well-informed individual is not ent.i.tled to the same privilege.

His account of his quarrel with Lord G. Bentinck should in justice to him be printed; Lord G. told his own story, and Greville has every right to give his version of it. He certainly intended it, for he read me that part of his journal. The name of the d.u.c.h.ess of ------ should of course be left in blank, but, with this exception, I think the whole might be printed.

There is no private scandal, and public men and their friends should not be thin-skinned, and must learn to bear adverse criticism. The affectation of calling Lord Russell 'John' and 'Johnny' is offensive and tiresome; also, by omitting persons' t.i.tles there is frequently some ambiguity-- 'Grey' may mean Sir George or the Earl, and the context does not always make his meaning clear.

I think a few lines of preface from you explaining your motives for leaving Greville to express his own views and opinions would quite clear you with all reasonable people.

_From M. B. St. Hilaire_ [Footnote: At this time Ministre des Affaires Etrangeres.]

Paris: January 10.

Cher Monsieur Reeve,--I quite understand that the reticence of the Tories is very wise. Office is not tempting, and it is prudent to leave it to those who actually have it. But the situation is very precarious, as Mr.

Gladstone will no doubt soon learn. Meanwhile he has given me powerful a.s.sistance by speaking of arbitration as he has done, supported by the complete and unanimous a.s.sent of the English Cabinet. This may very likely decide the Greeks and Turks to adopt more sensible notions. But the thing is giving me a great deal of trouble...

I hope you may be able to pacify Ireland, but it will be very difficult.

Against such atrocious and persistent determination, force is almost as unavailing as gentleness. If, as we may believe, that is what Cromwell met with, we can understand the excesses into which the barbarity of his age led him; but in two hundred and thirty years we have not gained much. Even emigration has had no good effect. 'Tis a frightful sore; though during the last forty years England has done wonders to cure it.

Much might be said on this subject. I see by the newspapers that you have read before our Academy a most interesting paper on Property in Ireland. If you should print it, I hope you will not forget me. Towards the end of this month I will send you one of my latest works--to wit, a Yellow Book on Greece. It will at least be curious.

Agreez, cher Monsieur Reeve, tous mes voeux de nouvel an pour vous et pour tous ceux qui vous sont chers. Bonne sante.

Votre bien devoue,

B. ST. HILAIRE.

_Paris, January 11th_.--I am greatly obliged for the account of your interview with Musurus Pasha. If the key to this business is in our views on the Conference of Berlin, the house is open, and we have nothing to do but enter. I have written with my own hand three long despatches, showing by a reference to Vattel that the Conference was nothing more than the mediation promised by the XXIVth article of the Treaty of Berlin.

These despatches I have communicated in the first place to Athens and Constantinople, and afterwards to all the foreign amba.s.sadors here, as well as to Essad Pasha and to Bralas Armeni.

If there is one thing certain, it is that the Conference of Berlin neither did nor could do anything but mediate; it merely gave advice; it did not deliver judgement to be enforced. I am doing what I can to convince the Greeks of this all-important fact, but hitherto without much success. I have even gone farther, and have pointed out to them in these despatches the limits within which arbitration will probably have to confine itself.

As I am only one out of six, I can do no more, and even this was perhaps too much. The Porte and Greece cannot help knowing all this. The public also will know it by the end of the present month, when I shall publish the despatches in the yellow book which I am preparing, and which I will send to you.

The state of Ireland appears to us here to be truly dreadful. We do not see how such crimes can be tolerated.

_From Mr. E. Cheney_

_January 13th_.--I see no reason why this sequel [of the 'Greville Memoirs'] should not be published whenever it is convenient, but of this you only can be judge. There is very little private scandal, and that little should of course be omitted.

The Queen should always be spared; but as to Lord J. Russell and Lord Palmerston, they are public men, and their public conduct requires no reserve in the discussion of it;--the Queen herself, in her own Journals, speaks of them and of Gladstone in terms that prove how little reserve she thought necessary. It is amazing to me that a man who lived so much in the world [as Greville], and who had great curiosity and a taste for gossip, should so carefully have avoided all scandal.

The criticism that was sometimes made on the former volumes reminds me rather of the note on the quiz on Crabbe in the 'Rejected Addresses':--'The author is well aware how ill it becomes his clerical profession to give any pain, however slight, to any individual, however foolish or wicked.' Pain must be given, and offence will be taken; but you will do what is right and must be indifferent. I think these last volumes even more amusing than the first, and the discussions about Ireland are of peculiar interest at this moment--I am very glad that these precious volumes are again in your hands.

I felt quite uneasy whilst they were in mine.

_From the Comte de Paris_

Chateau d'Eu, le 2 fevrier.

Mon cher Monsieur Reeve,--Nous ne pouvions douter, ma femme et moi, de la part que vous et Madame Reeve prendriez au malheur si cruel et si inattendu qui vient de nous frapper. Vous aviez vu ici le bel enfant que Dieu nous avait envoye il y a dix mois [Footnote: _Ante, p. 275_] et dont la naissance nous avait cause une si grande joie. Il etait si fort et si bien portant que jusqu'a la veille de sa mort nous n'avions pas eu un instant d'inquietude. Vous comprenez done bien notre douleur. Je ne doute pas que Mademoiselle votre fille ne s'y a.s.socie, car nous connaissons et nous apprecions les sentiments dont vous nous avez donne, tons les trois, tant de preuves.

Ma femme, qui depuis dix ans a perdu trois soeurs, deux freres, et deux fils, est, comme vous le pensez, bien accablee; mais les enfants qui lui restent l'obligeront heureus.e.m.e.nt a reprendre a la vie. Ne voulant plus apres notre malheur laisser derriere elle notre derniere fille, la pet.i.te Isabelle, et ne pouvant l'emmener en Espagne dans cette rude saison, elle a remis ce voyage a l'automne prochain, et s'est decidee a ne pas quitter le chateau d'Eu, ou l'hiver a ete rude. Mais si nous avons eu le froid et la neige, l'Andalousie n'a pas ete epargnee par la tempete, et les inondations y sont terribles.

Je termine en vous priant de croire aux sentiments bien sinceres de Votre affectionne,

LOUIS-PHILIPPE D'ORLeANS.

During the preceding autumn the state of Ireland had been exceptionally bad. There were many who believed that the attempt was being made, by a cold-blooded calculation, to work on the sentimental instincts of Mr.

Gladstone's character. The verb 'to boycott' had been introduced into the English language; murders and agrarian outrages had been frequent; but witnesses and juries were so terrorised, that prosecution was found to be difficult and conviction impossible. In charging the grand jury at Galway on December 10th, the judge had commented on the fact that, out of 698 criminal offences committed in Connaught during the four months, thirty-nine only were for trial, no sufficient evidence as to the other 659 being obtainable. On November 2nd, fourteen members of the Land League--including five members of Parliament--were arrested and committed for trial on the charge of inciting to crime. The facts were matter of public notoriety, but the jury refused to convict, and the prisoners were discharged. The Government was compelled to act; and on January 24th Mr.

Forster moved for leave to bring in a bill for the better protection of person and property in Ireland. After an unprecedented obstruction on the part of the Irish members, and after a continuous sitting of forty-one hours, the Speaker summarily closed the debate, and the bill, commonly known as the Coercion Bill, pa.s.sed the first reading on February 2nd. On the 3rd, twenty-seven of the Irish members were suspended; and the bill, having pa.s.sed through the succeeding stages, finally became law on March 2nd.

_From M. B. St.-Hilaire_

_Paris, February 6th_.--I am happy in your approval, and permit me to add that I am proud of it. I know the value and sincerity of your judgements.

You have a long experience of politics, and every reason not to be deceived even by the most obscure complications. There was certainly an intrigue on foot against the Cabinet, but I believe a stop has been put to it for some time to come, and we shall now probably have all the trouble of the general election, which will be very advantageous for the republic; but, from a personal point of view, I am anything but charmed with the prospect, finding myself chained up for several months. Nothing could be more vexatious, though I put as good a face on it as I can.

We do not understand here how a political a.s.sembly can endure what your Parliament has put up with. Thanks to Mr. Gladstone, the Speaker is now armed with sufficient power, and I take for granted he will know how to use it. But Ireland, terrible Ireland, is always there. If an insurrection break out, it will be necessary to have recourse to repressive measures, more or less similar to those of Cromwell. I do not believe that there would be many in Europe to blame you. How can you do otherwise? Of their own free will, the Irish sink to the level of brute beasts, which are to be tamed only by force.

The next letter, and many others following it, from M. Barthelemy St.-Hilaire, refer to the action of France in regard to Tunis, as to which there was a strong feeling in England both then and since. France, it may be admitted, had grievances; whether she would have taken the steps she did for their settlement if the English Government had been stronger in its foreign policy may very well be doubted.

For many years, almost since the first establishment of the French in Algeria, there had been differences between France and Tunis, over which the French pretended a protectorate which neither Tunis nor Constantinople would allow. There had been also many commercial difficulties--some honest, some dishonest; but what led to the acute stage which these difficulties and differences a.s.sumed in 1881 was the purchase, in 1880, by the Societe Ma.r.s.eillaise, for 100,000 , of a large tract of land known as the Enfida--subject, it had been stipulated, 'to the provisions of the local law.' But the purchase was no sooner publicly declared than its legality was disputed; a Maltese--therefore an English subject--named Levy claiming that by the local law he had a right of pre-emption and was prepared to buy. This right the French Government denied, and alleged that the intending purchasers were really Italians--private or official--Levy being only a man of straw put forward to strengthen their case by the English name. Lord Granville, the then Foreign Secretary, instructed the English Consul at Tunis that it was an affair of Tunis law, and that he was not to interfere beyond seeing that the English subject got what the law ent.i.tled him to. The French Government, however--of which M. St.-Hilaire was the exponent--refused to be bound by Tunis law, and on May 1st landed 10,000 soldiers, and took military possession of Tunis, disclaiming all idea of being at war with Tunis, but being obliged--they said--to defend and maintain their just rights. They were neither going to annex Tunis nor to rebuild Carthage.

_From M. B. St.-Hilaire_

_Paris, February 25th_.--I should be quite as deeply vexed as you if any coolness should arise between England and France. I am doing everything in my power to maintain and even strengthen the good relations. I am happy to say we have a better understanding than ever in Egypt; but at Tunis matters are not so favourable, and I fear that the English Cabinet has been too hasty in taking under its protection a person who is but little deserving of it. I hope to show this very plainly. The Ma.r.s.eilles Company which we defend is quite _en regle_, in every respect, and what M. Levy is aiming at against it is simply a forcible spoliation by means of an intrigue hatched by the princ.i.p.al members of the Tunis Government, [Footnote: It is quite possible that this was true, but it was merely an a.s.sertion based on the one-sided declaration of the Ma.r.s.eilles Company and its agents.] with the prime minister at their head. And whatever difference of opinion there may be, Lord Granville, of his own accord, said to M. Challemel-Lacour that in this there was no cause of quarrel between the two countries. That is my opinion also, and I hope to bring the English Cabinet to it; but it is not for us to sacrifice the Ma.r.s.eilles Company, by subjecting it to tribunals whose hostile decision is known beforehand. The whole trouble has been caused by the Italians, who have started and are prosecuting this intrigue, at the very moment in which they are asking us for a loan of six hundred and fifty millions.

The speech of M. Gambetta was eloquent, and above all dramatic, but not convincing; and it is really very difficult to believe that he knew nothing of the Thoma.s.sin mission till after it had failed. I have no knowledge of what pa.s.sed between M. de Freycinet and M. Gambetta; but it is certain that for the last five months Gambetta has made no attempt to control me and my policy. He affects to show his sympathy and approval whenever he meets me, and notably so last Monday. At the same time, his newspapers attack me in every way they can, whilst he, verbally, disavows them, as he did for M.

Proust and M. Reinach. This double game does not tell in Gambetta's favour; he has lost much during the last two months, and if the _scrutin de liste_ is not pa.s.sed, his influence will be greatly diminished. In short, he is playing a very equivocal part, which is injurious both to himself and to this republic. What saves him are attacks of the kind which M. de Broglie ineffectually made yesterday in the Senate....

Of current and social events the Journal notes:--

_March 5th._--Visit to Battle Abbey. Duke and d.u.c.h.ess of Somerset there.

Ed. Stanhope, Arthur Balfour, H. Brougham, Lord Strathnairn.