Part 18 (1/2)
Received from Aberdeen his draft of a remonstrance to Russia, which, it seems, must be sent at last. He has already shown it to the Duke and Peel.
There is no great substantive objection to it; but it is not very carefully written. I shall send it to him tomorrow with many proposed alterations. In the second box came Gaily [Footnote: H. Gaily Knight. Best known for his works on the Normans in Sicily, and Ecclesiastical Architecture in Italy.]
Knight's letter to Aberdeen; which is a poor, flimsy production. A peac.o.c.k's feather in the hilt of a Drawcansir's sword.
_November 5._
Altered, not only verbally, but substantially, Aberdeen's paper, and sent it to him.
Cabinet room. Read a Memorandum by Lord Heytesbury, of a conversation he has had with the Emperor of Russia. The Emperor expects the early downfall of the Porte--and a Revolution in France. Asks if another march to Paris would be possible? Lord Heytesbury saw Nesselrode afterwards and told him what the Emperor had said. Nesselrode said the Emperor always saw things _en noir_. He had a different opinion. He did not think the Porte in immediate danger, nor did he expect a French Revolution.
The other guarantees they talk of are further cessions in Asia, specifically Batoum, or the occupation of Varna, or Silistria, instead of the Princ.i.p.alities. The latter is worse, and the Turks will probably consent to neither. They do not value the Princ.i.p.alities, and they know Europe does.[Footnote: The Princ.i.p.alities, as commanding the lower course of the Danube, were all important to Austria especially. Thus, occupation by Russia, while it would have been felt as a menace to Central Europe, would have left Turkey a compact state beyond the Danube.]
_November 6._
Saw Aberdeen. He is always gloomy about _divisions_. He is afraid of an attack on Foreign Policy. He thinks the two parties will unite in that. He hears there has been some approximation between Lord Grey [Footnote: Lord Grey had been separated from the bulk of the Whig party since their junction with Canning in 1827.] and Lord Holland. At the same time it is said there is a notion of bringing in Lord Grey. I suspect this report to have been fabricated by the Ultra-Tories to annoy the King.
He thinks the Duke is annoyed, more particularly at the King's not treating him well, and at his Government not being well supported.
In fact, however, it is a Government which will not fall, for the King hates the Whigs; the people do not regard them. He may like the Tories, but he knows they cannot make a Government, and the Duke's Administration has four-fifths of the country.
Received a letter from the Duke, telling me he had settled Colonel McDonald's knighthood, and asking me if I should be ready to talk about India on the 13th. I said about Batta certainly; about India I had rather talk first to Lord Melville and him.
Wrote to the d.u.c.h.ess of Kent telling her a Bengal cavalry cadets.h.i.+p was at her disposal for the son of Colonel Harvey.
There is a very interesting letter from an English officer at Adrianople with respect to the state of the Russian army. It has suffered and suffers most dreadfully.
I told Aberdeen if I had seen the account of the conversation between Lord Heytesbury and the Emperor Nicholas before I read his proposed letter, I should have suggested that much stress should have been laid upon the effect the downfall of Turkey would have upon affairs in France.
Polignac seems confident he can stand. He thinks he has the Chambers. The French behave ill in the settlement of the Greek business, and object altogether to our man, Prince Philip of Hesse Homburg. They equally object to Prince Frederick of Orange, and to Prince Leopold, whom Russia would have had willingly. I wonder Aberdeen did not laugh when he was proposed.
They want to settle the thing without a Prince. I suppose they want a Frenchman.
Aberdeen is for settling Greece as a Power into whose lap the broken parts of Turkey may fall. He gives up Euboea. That is, the surrender of Euboea is to be proposed to the Porte, with a frontier limited in other respects, instead of the protocol of March 22.
The Turks who have left the Morea have no indemnity. The Turks who are in the other parts of the new Greece remain. It is altogether a wonderful business. These anti-revolutionary States combining to revolutionise a rebellious province of an unoffending ally!
_November 11._
It seems the French do not like the idea of giving to the Turks the option of an independent State with smaller limits, or of a State under Suzerainete with extended limits, contrary to the treaty, and sending at the same time secret instructions to the Amba.s.sadors to insist upon the _entire_ independence of the new Greek State. The French seem likewise to have been offended at the protocol having been settled between Russia and us, before they were called in to give their opinion. No wonder. Certainly our diplomacy has not succeeded. We have failed in all our objects.
_November 13._
Cabinet. I was first called upon to say my say upon the general Indian question. I observed that the present prospective deficiency was one million a year. That until we could ascertain whether that deficiency could be diminished or done away with we were really not ourselves prepared to come to a decision upon the future government of India; nor would Parliament endure that the China trade should be closed upon the country for twenty years more without first inquiring whether it was necessary. The first question was, 'Can we make such a reduction of expenditure, or effect such an increase in income as to enable the Government of India to go on without any a.s.sistance direct or indirect from England?' If it can, then we have the China trade in our hands. If it cannot, we have to decide whether the necessary a.s.sistance shall be found by means of a continuance of the monopoly or in some other manner.
I stated the increase of two millions in six years in the civil charges of Bengal; that the Court had issued the strongest instructions, and the local Government seemed to have a real intention to curtail expenditure. That I had done something, and should do all I could, investigating every item.
Peel suggested a commission. I said that had occurred to me last year. The Duke, however, objected to a commission as really superseding the Governor- General and being the Government. Another objection certainly is the delay.