Part 15 (1/2)

The worst crisis caood authority that the round, and seemed likely to persuade the Emperor William to force on a second war, expressly to prevent France recovering its strength In general the credit for checking this sinister lish influences played a large part in the ed to catch the Crown Prince on his way south to Italy and had a long talk with him in the railway train The Crown Prince was known to be a true lover of peace, but capable of being hoodwinked by Biser was real (and he trusted Morier as he trusted no Gere), he returned to Berlin and threw all his weight into the scale of peace Queen Victoria also wrote froainst them, the Gerression

A new period opened in his life when he left German courts, never to return officially, and becaation at the Portuguese Court His five years spent at Lisbon cannot be counted as one of his e settlement of African affairs', which Lord Granville tells us that Morier had suggested to his predecessors in Whitehall For the big sche at home, either in political or coland hardly needed aability Of necessity his work consisted often in tedious investigation of clailish from money losses or frouese police Of the diplomatic questions which arosecould be done, even in relo-Russian relations by a minister who had friends in so many European capitals The politics of Pio Nono and the Papal Curia often find an echo in his correspondence Here, too, as elsewhere, the intrigues of Gerh to discriminate between the deliberate policy of Bismarck and the manoeuvres of those whom he 'allowed to do what they liked and say what they liked--or rather to do what they thought _he_ would like done, and say what they thought _he_ would like said--and then suddenly sent therace on the e like this Morier's letters show that he could distinguish between a lion and his jackals, between 'policy' and 'intrigue'

Had it not been for Geruese politicians would perhaps have been free from the fears which loomed darkest on their horizon--the fears of an 'Iberian policy' which Spain was supposed to be pursuing In reality the leadingloose the superior Spanish ar to forle state Morier, at any rate, ht of her power against such treatment of her oldest ally But alar, and Morier, in a letter written in 1876, cohost-stories to one another who have got frightened at the sound of their own voices, andof a ions on the march'

To Morier it seemed that the important part of his work concerned South Africa, in which, at the tial and Great Britain were the European powers most interested It was in 1877 that Sir Theophilus Shepstone annexed the Transvaal, andas if this oa Bay Morier himself was as far as possible froh-shod over a weaker neighbour In fact, he pleaded strongly for British approval of the pride which Portugal felt in her traditions and of her desire to cling to what she had preserved from the past Once break this down, he said, and we should see Portuguese doht not always prove to be the highest bidder Friendly co-operation, joint development of railways, and coee part even of his holidays in England in working out the details of such treaties

He studied the people aently towards reforms, whether of the slave-trade or other abuses, on lines which could win their syn Office to abstain from too many lectures, and to uese showed proruel', he says in 1878, 'enerous wine, or all intiain in 1880, he asks for a KCMG to be awarded to a Governor-General of Mozalish wishes in checking the slave-trade 'Perpetual adar plulected when our philanthropy outruns our discretion

When Morier was proeniality to lighten the burden of his task No seasoned diploh the political stage was bigger, it was often filled by actors as petty and grasping as those of Lisbon The distribution to their own friends of the 'loaves and fishes' was, as Morier says, the one steady aim of all aspirants to power; and measures of reform, much needed in education, in commerce, in laere doomed to sterility by the factiousness of the men who should have carried them out In the absence of principles Morier had to study the strife of parties, and his correspondence gives us lively pictures of the eloquent Castelar, the cha Romero y Robledo, at once the ues, and the cold, egotistic Liberal leader Sagasta, whose shrewdness in the manipulation of votes had always to be reckoned with The constitution given in 1876 had entirely failed to establish Parliament on a democratic basis For this the bureaucracy was responsible The Home Office abused its powers shamelessly, and by the votes of its functionaries, and of those who hoped to receive its favours, it could always secure a big majority for the Government of the moment For the three years which Morier spent at Madrid, he recounts surprising instances of the reversal of electoral verdicts within a short space of ti was popular and deserved to be so, for his personal qualities of courage, intelligence, and public spirit; but his position was never secure There was a bad tradition by which at intervals the army asserted its power and upset the constitution Soeneral issued a _pronunciamiento_, the troops revolted, and the Central Govern no effective force and no ave way Parliaain; the same eloquent but eed

But before now a spark from Spain had set the Continent ablaze The past had bequeathed soht cause explosions elsewhere, and it ell to know the character of those who had the key to the powder azine More than once Morier was approached on the delicate question of the adypt, where so n interests were involved, and where Great Britain suffered, in the 'eighties, froht easily find an opening for her aht advance the plea that the Suez Canal was the direct route to her colonies in the Philippines Ger Spanish pretensions; but, to the British, Spain with its illiberal spirit scarcely seemed likely to prove a helpful felloorker Morier had to try to convince Spanish ministers that Great Britain was their truer friend while refusing them what they asked for; and in such interviews he had to know histo their prejudices or their patriotislish tenure of Gibraltar was also a perpetual offence to Spanish pride Irresponsible journalists loved to expatiate on it when they had no more spicy subject to handle On this, as on all questions affecting prestige only, Morier was tactful and patient When they should coe of practical politics, he could take a different tone

But he knew thatin Morocco, where the weakness of the Sultan's rule was te European powers to intervene, and he laboured to oodwill not only between his own country and Spain, but also between Spain and France The coood Europeans' was pre-eminently untrue in his case He realized that the interests of all were bound up together, and used his influence, which soon became considerable, to re fully aware that at Berlin there was another active intelligence working by hidden channels to keep open every festering sore

Morier was fertile in expedients when ministers consulted hi Alfonso's tour in 1883 Before the King started, the newspapers had been writing of it as a 'visit to Berlin', though it was intended to be a compliment to the heads of various states To allay the sensitiveness of the French, Morier suggested to the Foreign Secretary that the King shouldto the ineptitude of President Grevy, this suggestion was rendered i did visit Paris, after a sojourn at Berlin, where he received the usual coiacity was justified The King was greeted with cries of 'a bas le Colonel d'Uhlans', and was hissed as he passed along the streets; only his personal tact and restraint saved the two Governive a lesson in deportment to his hosts and also to satisfy the resentful pride of his fellow-countrymen The whole episode sho individuals can control events when the s and diplomats may still be the best mechanics to handle the complicated machinery on which peace or war depends Alfonso XII died in November 1885, soon after Morier's departure for another post, but not before he had testified to the high esteem in which our Minister had been held in Spain

Froht have passed to Berlin The British Government had only one man fit to replace Lord Ampthill (Lord Odo Russell), who died in 1884 Inquiries were reat knowledge at the centre of European gravity, but Bismarck made it quite clear that such an appointn It was believed by a friend and admirer of both men that, if Bismarck and Morier could have co would have followed; but nanimity towards an old enemy, or one whom he had ever believed to be such, was not a Bismarckian trait, and it is more probable that all Morier's efforts would have been thwarted by nity

Instead he was sent to St Petersburg, where he took up his duties as Aer problems

The affray at Penjdeh, when the Russians attacked an Afgh[=a]n outpost and forcibly occupied the ground, had, after convulsing Europe, been settled by Mr Gladstone's Govern did not subside for some years, but for the moment Asiatic questions were not so serious as the conflict of interests in the Balkan peninsula The principality of Bulgaria created by the Congress of Berlin was the focus of the 'Eastern question'--that is, the question whether Russia, Austria, or a united Europe led by the Western powers, was to preside over the dissolution of Turkey Bulgaria certainly owed its existence to Russian bayonets; in her cause Russian lives had been freely given; and this for than the effect of Mr

Gladstone's speeches, to which English sentiarians have often shown an obstinate tendency to go their oay, and their politicians were loath to be kept in Russian leading-strings Their last act, in 1885, had been to annex the Turkish province of Eastern Rou the consent of the Tsar At the moment they could safely flout the Sultan of Turkey, their nominal suzerain; but diplonore the Treaty of Berlin and the wishes of their Russian protector The path was full of pitfalls The Austrian Governreat Slavonic rival; English statesmen were too anxious to hus; Russian agents on the spot committed indiscretions; Russian opinion at hoement elsewhere, and the air was full of rue may be seen to pass, in the lively letters which Morier sent hoaria, of whom only two deserve , member of a family which enjoyed Queen Victoria's special favour, had been put forward at the Berlin Congress, and justified his choice in 1885 by repelling the Serbian Ar a victory at Slivnitza He had won the attachment of his subjects but had incurred the hatred of the Tsar, and the tone of his speeches in 1886 offended Russian sentiues and violence, he abandoned the contest and abdicated The second is Ferdinand of Coburg, whose tortuous career, begun in 1887, only ended with the collapse of the Central Powers in 1918 He was put forward by Austria and supported by Staarian nize him, and it was not till 1896 that he ca of Prince Lobanoff, and made public submission to the Tsar But, first and last, he was only an astute adventurer of no little vanity and of colossal egotism, and such sympathies as he had for others beside hiary, where he owned landed property, and had served in the ar to orthodox Russia as a Roman Catholic, and in Morier's letters we see clearly the mistrust and contempt which Russians felt for him

With an autocrat like Alexander III, secretive and obstinate, these personal questions becaht anticipate his wishes, Russian regi, and Europe e of the precipice

Morier's own attitude can best be judged froed with Sir William White, our able ambassador to the Porte, as frankly anti-Russian in his views At first he put his trust in strict observance of the Treaty of Berlin, and wished that Prince Alexander would consent to restore the _status quo ante_ (ie before the change in Eastern Rouh a stout upholder of treaties, he admitted as a second basis for settlement 'les voeux des populations', on which the modern practice of plebiscites is founded

The peasants of Eastern Rouiance from the Sultan to the Prince Also the successes achieved by Prince Alexander in so soon welding together Bulgaria and Eastern Rou the situation In fact, Morier's position was nearer to that of 1919 than to the old traditions in vogue a century earlier, and would colish Liberals But, as an auided by expediency rather than by sentiment These interests, he was convinced, were more vitally affected in Central Asia than in the Balkans He believed that, if British statesaria, the advance of Russian outposts towards India ether all along the line But, to effect this, national jealousiesestablished Morier had to interpret at St

Petersburg speeches of English politicians, which often sounded more offensive there than in London: he also had to watch and report to London the unofficial doings and sayings of the aggressive Pan-Slavist party, who n policy was in the hands of de Giers, an enlightened, pacific e to face his master's prejudices and had little authority over many of his own subordinates

De Nelidoff, at Constantinople, dared even to ainst the policy of his chief Still less was de Giers able to control the strong Pan-Slavist influences which ruled in the Church, the Ho portraits of Pobedonostsev, the bigoted procurator of the Holy Synod, of Tolstoy the reactionary Minister of the Interior, of Katkoff the truculent editor of the _Moscow Gazette_ These were the most notable of the men who flouted the authority, thwarted the work, and undermined the position of the Tsar's no the attitude of the Tsar himself

Yet Morier was bound by his own honesty and by the traditions of British diplomacy to do business with de Giers alone, to receive the assurances of one as being betrayed by his own ambassadors, to make his protests to one who could not effectively rerievances His difficulty was increased by de Giers's round he has a reibly and sing a large proportion of his words' Morier was often conscious that he was building on sand; but in quiet weather it was possible to stem the flood for a while even with dikes of sand

Perhaps a little later the tide of Balkan troubles ht be past In Russia, where so much was incalculable, it ise to make the most of such help as presented itself Meanwhile the Russian Ambassador in London, Baron de Staal, co-operated as loyally with Lord Salisbury as Morier with de Giers; and thanks to their diploree fires of Anglo-Russian antagonisaria

But this happy result was not attained till after Asiatic probleiven rise to serious alarms The worst moment was in July 1886, when the Tsar suddenly proclaimed, contrary to the Treaty of Berlin, that the port of Batun trade His point of vieas characteristic His father had, autocratically, expressed in 1878 his intention to open the port; this had been done, and it had proved in practice a failure; as a purely administrative act, he (Alexander III) now declared the port closed, _et tout etait dit_ But naturally foreign merchants resented the injury to their trade, and insisted on the sanctity of treaties The Berlin Government, as usual, left to Great Britain all the odiu a protest, and the other Continental poere equally silent Morier asserted the British case so strongly that he roused even de Giers to vehe, he advised his Government to cut the loss and to avoid further bitterness He rearia, where the British point of view had prevailed, and that they must not expect her to submit to a second diplomatic defeat Besides, a quarrel between Russia and Great Britain would only benefit a third party, ready enough to avail himself of it

Harreat, and feeling was not improved by Russian activity at Sebastopol, where the Pan-Slavists were acclai the new birth of the Black Sea fleet The death of Katkoff in 1887, and of Tolstoy in 1889, with the advent of thened de Giers's hands; and during his later years, though he often needed great vigilance and tact, Morier was not troubled by any crisis so severe

The Grand Cross of the Bath, which he received in 1887, was a fitting reward for the services he had rendered to England and to Europe in this anxious time He never lost heart or despaired of a peaceful solution

At botto adventures--was, in fact, still suffering from lassitude after the war of 1878, 'like an electric eel which, having in one great shock given off all its electricity, burrows in theless than to coanic tissue'

Apart froovern him plenty to do A few instances will illustrate the variety of the applications which reached the Embassy Captain Beaufort requests a special permit to visit Kars and its fauide to help him in an ascent of Mount Ararat Father Perry, SJ (the Jesuits were specially obnoxious to the Holy Synod), wishes to observe a solar eclipse only visible in Russia Another traveller, Mr Fairman, is su the police unduly brisk for the y; but, not content with this, the Englishman now thinks himself entitled to a personal audience with the Tsar and the gift of soestion draws a curt reply from the enuine explorer, whether it was Mr de Windt in Trans-Caucasia or Captain Wiggins in the Kara Sea To the latter, in his efforts to establish trade between Great Britain and Siberia by the Yenisei river, Morier lent most valuable aid, and he is proud to report the concessions which he won for our merchants in a new field of commerce

Meanwhile he found occasion to cultivate friendshi+ps with Russians and foreign diplomats of all kinds Of thesketches to his superiors in Whitehall, Vischnegradsky, the 'wizard of finance', who raised the value of the rouble 30 per cent, becaure, Witte, his rival and successor, tried to discredit him, Morier vindicated armth the honesty and patriotisn Office was of a different kind, witty, volatile, audaciously outspoken, more like a character in Thackeray's novels Pobedonostsev, the Procurator of the Holy Synod, reoted Churchman, the terror of the Jews, had been a friend of Dean Stanley, and was still fond of English literature and English theology

Still n visitors of high station--of the Duke of Orleans playing truant without the knowledge of his parents and being snubbed by his Grand Ducal relatives; of Dal[=i]p Singh touring the provinces with a disreputable entourage and trying to make trouble for the British at Moscow; of the Prince of Montenegro and his beautiful daughters, who-limbed and comely, the true type of the mothers of heroes in the Homeric sense'