Part 26 (1/2)

The Duke thinks my letter does not signify one pin. The simile of the elephants evidently means no more than that an indiscreet judge was placed between two discreet ones.

The Duke told me he had offered a Lords.h.i.+p of the Treasury to Ashley, who had declined it. He then told him to make himself master of the Batta question. Ashley said he had not seen the papers. He said, let him see the papers. I told him I had sent them the moment I got them to him, and he had desired me to send them to the Cabinet room, which I did. When they were taken from the Cabinet room they went to the India Board, and Ashley might have seen them. I had never kept any papers from him. We then talked about the speech to be made in moving the committee. The Duke seems inclined to have little said. Peel seems disposed to say little; but he knows little. I think they are wrong. I am sure it is necessary to correct the erroneous notions which have been propagated with respect to the trade. They will otherwise acquire so great a head it will be impossible to beat them back.

However, this we are to talk over with Peel tomorrow.

General King, who voted against the address on Thursday, is turned out by the King himself; the Duke having only mentioned the fact. I dare say the King may be alarmed by the spirit shown by the House of Commons.

The suicide of . . . . on account of his wife's seduction by the Duke of c.u.mberland, will drive the Duke of c.u.mberland out of the field.

_February 9._

Called on the Duke. He advised a very narrowed statement in moving for the committee. I rather doubt his judgment upon this point. I fear the opinion of the country will become settled, and that when the strength of our case is brought forward it will be found unequal to the driving back of the stream. However, I made a speech as he desired. Lord Lansdowne said a few words.

Lord Durham then questioned me as to the authenticity of my letter to Sir J. Malcolm. I acknowledged it was substantially correct, and declared I could not have entertained any other sentiments without a dereliction of duty. He expressed disapprobation, considering the letter as evincing a determination to control the independence of judges. The Duke replied--then Lord Melville--then Lord Holland--I last. I declared that, as my father's son, I was the last man capable of harbouring a thought against the independence of judges; but I would resist their usurpation, more especially when they usurped powers withheld from them by Parliament as dangerous to the peace of India and to the stability of the British power.

I said India could not bear the collision of the Supreme Court and the Local Government. If we did not support the Government we should lose India.

I was determined to maintain the integrity, the dignity, the authority, and the unapproachable power of the Local Government, and especially to support a man who, at that distance from England, acting in the faithful discharge of his public duty, incurred the highest responsibility and the greatest personal risk in defence of what he considered essential to the stability of the British power in India. I believe I did well. They all told me I should hear no more of it.

_February 10._

Saw Bankes. He says the House of Commons is loose indeed; but he thinks Ministers will have a majority on the East Retford business. The worst of it is that those who ought to be the friends of Government will not stay out a debate. Last night Peel and Goulburn were left with a decided minority, but the House was counted out.

Saw Hardinge. He seems to think there is no great danger, and he thinks the House is in so loose a state that the accession of an individual or two would not draw others; that Brougham may be quieted, and that the others do not much signify.

In the meantime Abercromby has been made Chief Baron of Scotland. Another Whig gone. A very valuable intimation to those who remain.

Lord Lansdowne brings in Zachary Macaulay, son of the old saint. [Footnote: The late Lord Macaulay. He is erroneously described by his father's Christian name.] They say a very clever man indeed, at least as a writer.

Hardinge told me the Duke told Mrs. Arbuthnot I spoke very well last night.

At dinner the Chancellor and Sir George Murray congratulated me on what had taken place.

After the Cabinet dinner, much talk and nothing settled. The motion of Sir J. Graham will, I think, be amended--and easily. There is a disposition, very properly, not to give Portuguese papers. As to the Lord Holland's motion on Friday no decision is come to.

Gave the Duke the pet.i.tion of the Bengal half-castes.

Mr. Jenkins, who was for many years resident at Nagpore, called upon me and offered himself as successor to Sir J. Malcolm. He said the Chairs were disposed to him, if the Government had no objection. I said I was aware of the services he had rendered, but that there were many distinguished servants of the Company, and likewise persons of ability who had not been in India, whose several qualifications must be considered. It was further a point upon which I must of course communicate with the Duke of Wellington.

The man is a person of dry cold manner, not prepossessing.

I am disposed to think Mr. Chaplin the best Indian for the situation.

_February 11._

I think Polignac's Ministry must fall, and really, as regards himself, I cannot feel regret, as he is the greatest liar that has exercised diplomatist functions for a long time. I had thought better of him. If their expedition ever sails for Algiers they will find what it costs to send an expedition over sea. I think, however, they will succeed, and, if they do, they will keep Algiers.

Sir R. Gordon entertains a very different opinion from that expressed by Aberdeen as to the future fate of the Ottoman Empire. He thinks the events of the late war prove little, and that the Sultan has learnt a lesson which will induce him to treat his rayas better--that the war once over, all men will return to their duty. However, he gives no good reasons for his opinion. He states very fairly the difficulty of his own position. He says he has. .h.i.therto believed it was the intention of his Government to support Turkey. He has therefore had influence, because where he has advised concession the Turks have understood we meant it should not be hurtful to them--but now, how can he advise the Turks to yield to what is asked, when he knows the Government think that the more is taken from Turkey, the more is saved from Russia? Sir R. Gordon says his colleagues are by no means of opinion that the Ottoman Empire is falling, and that France allows their officers to go in numbers to serve with the Turkish troops.