Volume Ii Part 23 (1/2)
”Malmesbury will, I hear, go to Ireland, and he will _do_ there.
There is not a people in the world who can vie with the Irish in their indifference to _real_ benefits, and their intense delight in _mock_ ones! When will you Saxons learn how to govern Ireland? When you want a treaty with King Hoolamaldla in Africa, you approach him not with a tariff and a code of reduced duties, but with strings of beads, bell-wire, and bra.s.s b.u.t.tons, and why won't you see that Ireland can be had by something cheaper than Acts of Parliament!
”And my old friend Whiteside is to [be] Chief-Justice if Baron Lendrick (I mean Lefroy) will consent to retire! It is a grand comment on our judicial system, that when a man is too old for public life he is always young enough for the Bench.
”They once thought of putting me forward for Trinity Col. If I were ten years younger and ten pounds richer, I'd like to try my chance. I think I could do the light-comedy line in the House better than Bernai Osborne, and I'd like to _say_, before I die, some of the things that I now can only write.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
”Villa Morelli, Florence, _July_ 2,1866.
”This Italian defeat was even worse than we thought it: the loss of men was tremendous, and a great number of officers were killed. Of course there are all sorts of stories of treason, treachery, &c,--nothing Italian ever happens without these; but I believe the whole mishap was bad generals.h.i.+p, a rash over-confidence, and a proportionate contempt for the Austrians, whom they believed to be all inferior troops, the best being sent to the north under Benedek.
”You are not likely to have any very accurate information in England, as La Marmora positively refuses to permit newspaper writers to accompany the army; and Hardman, though known to him, fares no better than the rest.
”I have learned, from what I know to be a good source of information, that the French mean to come in at once if the next battle be unfavourable to the Italians. This is the worst thing that can happen.
It seals the va.s.salage of this people to France, and places the question of Rome and the Pope for ever out of Italian hands and in those of their 'magnanimous ally,' whom may G.o.d confound! Ricasoli sees this plainly enough; but what can he do, or where turn him for aid?
”And so Lord Stanley's in F. O.! I suspect he knows very little of the Continent,--but it matters little. The limits of 'English policy' are fixed by the homilies of the Church, and we are to hope and pray, &c., and to get any one who likes it to believe it signifies what we do.
We hear here of a great Prussian victory over Benedek: I hope it's not true. These Prussians, in their boastful audacity, coa.r.s.e pretension, and vulgar self-sufficiency, are the Yankees of Europe, and, if they have a success, will be unendurable.
”I am sorry for the fate of the 'Reform' O'Dowd. I have begun one about the war here, and agree with you it is a theme to be _grave_ upon.
Indeed, I think any unseasonable levity would utterly spoil the spirit of these papers, and being separated, as they are, under various headings, it is always easy to give the proper tint and colour to each.
”Lowe ought to have the Colonies, not Lytton. _He_ knows the subject well, and has infinitely more House of Commons stuff in him than the bewigged old dandy of Knebworth. If Lord Derby gives all the 'plums' to the Tories, the Administration will fall; and Naas, as Irish Secretary, is another blunder. Where are the '_under_' Sees, to be found? I fear that the Cabinet, like the army, will be a failure for want of non-commissioned officers. Serjeant Fitzgerald is not in the House, and a great loss he is. Gregory would not ill replace him, and the opportunity to filch votes from the other side by office should not be lost sight of. It can be done _now_. It will be impossible later on.
”Of all the things the Party want, there is nothing they need like a press. I think that the advocacy of 'The Standard' would actually put Heaven in jeopardy, and 'The Herald' seems a cross between Ca.s.sandra and Moore's Prophetic Almanac.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
”Villa Morelli, Florence, _July_ 12, 1866.
”I am rather eagerly--half-impatiently--looking out for O'D. in proof, and some tidings from yourself in criticism. I have gone over 'Sir B.,'
and send it off corrected by this post. I more than suspect that I think it better than you do, or rather, that I think it is better than some parts you approved more of; but it's no new error of mine to find good in things of my writing that n.o.body but myself has ever discovered. With respect to the present part, I think probably it is too long for one paper, and might advantageously stop at chap, xx., leaving the 'Starlight' to begin Sept. No.
”If you agree with me, it will save me writing so much in this great heat (the thermometer is now 94 in my room), and I shall be free to watch the war notes.
”I want money, but don't cross your bill to Magnay for two reasons. I _might_ get better exchange elsewhere; and second, I have overdrawn him d.a.m.nably, and he might be indelicate enough to expect payment.
”I hope the Party mean to do somewhat for me. It's an infernal shame to see Earle in the list and me--nowhere. For thirty years I have done them good service in novels and other ways, and they have given me what an under butler might hesitate over accepting.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
”Villa Morelli, Florence, _July_ 16, 1866.
”I send you by this post the corrected proof of O'D. and a portion to add to the war notes. It's ticklish work prophesying nowadays; but so far as I can see, the imbroglio with France promises to become serious.