Volume II Part 27 (2/2)
Macaulay ht, and Peel spoke the third It was not possible to make ahimself in a very uncoood one, and acknowledging that his situation was altogether different from what it had been, he contrived to transfer to hiht and authority which he previously held as the organ and head of a great and powerful party He pronounced an eulogium of Stanley, declared that his confidence in Governmented, but that he would support them if they would support law and order The Governh I think not without a secretthat they are likely to befrom the whole is that the Radicals all opposed the Government, while Peel supported them; so that we may hope that a complete line of separation is drawn between the two former, and that the Government will really and boldly take the Conservative side On the whole, perhaps, this bout may be deemed satisfactory
February 14th, 1833 {p354}
[Page Head: CHARACTER OF PEEL]
The night before last Althorp brought forward his plan of Irish Church Reform, with complete success He did it well, and Stanley made a very brilliant speech The House received it with allis and Goulburn, and Peel, in a very feeble speech, which scarcely deserves the nareat service to the Government
O'Connell lauded the ue off with vexation the nextdone so, after he had slept upon it It was clear that Peel, who is courting the House, and exerting all his dexterity to bringfor hi, ive him time to determine on his best course, and did not commit hiious superiority over everybody in the House was so evident, his talent for debate and thorough knowledge of Parliaained by twenty years of experience, so co, that he must draw a himself with the House and the country He, in fact, means to open a house to all comers, and make himself necessary and indispensable Under that placid exterior he conceals, I believe, a boundless ambition, and hatred and jealousy lurk under his professions of esteem and political attach in it so ood and evil, that it is difficult to strike an accurate balance between the two, and the acts of his political life are of a corresponding description, of questionable utility and reat ability It is very sure that he has been the instruood, or of enormous evil, and apparently more of the latter He came into life the child and cha ti to pieces; and if the perils which are produced by its fall are great, they are mainly attributable to the acity, in a wrong estionist pohich he had to contend The leading principles of his political conduct have been constantly erroneous, and his dexterity and ability in supporting them have only made the consequences of his errorscourse of Peel's life, and enquire what have been the great political measures hich his name is particularly connected, we shall find, first, the return to cash payrees was a fatal h it would not be fair to visit him with extraordinary censure for a reat financial authorities; secondly, opposition to Reforious emancipation of every kind, the maintenance of the exclusive system, and support, untouched and unconnected, of the Church, both English and Irish His resistance to alterations on these heads was conducted with great ability, and for a long ti to uphold a syste ie, he found himself in a state of no small perplexity between his old connections and his ed propensities Still he was chained down by the for beaten froive way, but never did so till rather too late for his own credit and , therefore, the reputation he has acquired, the hold he has had of office, and is probably destined to have again, his political life has been a considerable failure, though not such an one as to render it more probable than not that his future life will be a failure too He has hitherto been encueable party Time has disposed of the first, and he is divorced froreat experience and talents have a fair field to act upon, he may yet, in spite of his selfish and unauished and successful Minister
CHAPTER XX
Appoint to the Russian Embassy-- Cause of the Refusal--Slavery in the West Indies--The Reforton's View of Affairs--The Coercion Bill--The Privy Council Bill--Lord Durham made an Earl--Mr
Stanley Secretary for the Colonies--The Russians go to the assistance of the Porte--Lord Goderich has the Privy Seal, an Earldom, and the Garter--Embarrassments of the Government--The Appeal of Drax _v_ Grosvenor at the Privy Council--Hobhouse defeated in Westro Emancipation--The Russians on the Bosphorus--Mr Littleton Chief Secretary for Ireland--Respect shown to the Duke of Wellington--Moral of a 'Book on the Derby'--The Oaks--A Betting Incident--Ascot-- Governn Policy--Vote of Confidence in the Coton as Leader of Opposition--West India Affairs--Irish Church Bill-- Appropriation Clause--A Fancy Bazaar--The King writes to the Bishops--Local Court Bill--Mirabeau
February 16th, 1833 {p357}
Madaave me an account (the day before yesterday) of the quarrel between the two Courts about Stratford Canning When the present Ministry came in, Nesselrode wrote to Madaht be left there--'Conservez-nous Heytesbury' She asked Palmerston and Lord Grey, and they both promised her he should stay Some time after he asked to be recalled She wrote word to Nesselrode, and told hi would succeed hi; he is a most impracticable man, _soupconneux, pointilleux, defiant_;' that he had been personally uncivil to the Emperor when he was Grand Duke; in short the plain truth was they would not receive him, and it was therefore desirable somebody, anybody, else should be sent She told this to Pal should not be nao, when to her astonish to St Petersburg She reagerew bitter; Pal was one day to her horror gazetted As ht have been expected, Nesselrode positively refused to receive him
Durham, who in the meantime had been to Russia and _bien coo there, trusting he had sufficient influence to prevent it; and since he has been at hos he has been most violent and bitter about, because Palmerston will not retract this no in this instance his oant of power However, as there have been no discussions on it lately, the Princess still hopes it may blow over, and that so At all events it appears aupon a Court a n and his Minister, and not the best way of preserving hares She says, however (and with all her anger she is no bad judge), that Palmerston 'est un tres-petit esprit--lourd, obstine,' &c, and she is astonished how Lady C with her _finesse_ can be so taken with him
Lady Cowper has since told me that Madame de Lieven has been to blame in all this business, that Palmerston was provoked with her interference, that her teht to carry it with a high hand, having been used to have her oay, and that he had thought both _she_ and her _Court_ wanted to be taken down a peg; that she had told Nesselrode she could prevent this appoint, she had appealed to Grey against Palreat clary, and deterht had ht, and had reeable to hie Head: LORD GREY'S COERCION BILL]
Last night Lord Grey introduced his coercive h there are soh the House of Cooes of course; and what next? The , itActs, suspension of Habeas Corpus, martial law, and one or two other little hards and sharps[1]
[1] [In the debate on the Address O'Connell had denounced the coercive measures announced in the Speech from the Throne as 'brutal, bloody, and unconstitutional' But the state of Ireland was so dreadful that it demanded and justified the severest remedies Lord Grey stated in the House of Lords that between January 1st and December 31st 9,000 crilaries 401, burnings 568, and so on The Bill gave the Lord-Lieutenant power to proclaim disturbed districts, to substitute courts-martial for the ordinary courts of justice, to prohibit s, and to punish the distributors of seditious papers Such were the pohich Lord Wellesley described as more forreater part of them were never exercised The Act produced the desired effect In a year Ireland was pacified; and the abandonment of several of the most important clauses in the Act (contrary to Lord Grey's wishes) was the cause which led to the dissolution of the Ministry in the month of June 1834]
London, February 22nd, 1833 {p359}
Dined yesterday with Fortunatus Dwarris, as counsel to the Board of Health; one of those dinners that people in that class of society put theuests in as great an agony to partake of There were Goulburn, Serjeant ditto and his wife, Stephen, &c Goulburn_a propos_ of slavery A slave ran away froland He (the man) called at his house when he was not at home, and Goulburn never could afterwards find out where he was He re his livelihood by some means, till after some years he returned to Jamaica and to the estate, and desired to be ereat apostles of ened a profession worth 3,000 a year at the Bar for a place of 1,500 in the Colonial Office, principally in order to advance that object, owned that he had never known so great a problem nor so difficult a question to settle His notion is that compulsory labour may be substituted for slavery, and in some colonies (the new ones, as they are called--Demerara, &c) he thinks it will not be difficult; in Jamaica he is doubtful, and admits that if this does not answer the slaves will relapse into barbarism, nor is he at all clear that _any_ disorders and evils may not be produced by the effect of desperation on one side and disappointo on, but fully adht of the proprietors to ample coive it
If the sentiments of justice and benevolence hich he is actuated were coacity and resource which he possesses were likely to be applied to the practical operation of the scheated and avoided; but this is very far from the case, and the evils will, in all probability, ood which hu; nor is it possible to view the settlees are settle that it will only produce soreat interest to be overturned or e to be accoislation has been whetted and is insatiable; theup like dom, the bellowers, the chatterers, the knaves, and the dupes, who make such an universal hubbub, must be fed with fresh victims and sacrifices The Catholic question was speedily followed by Refor
[Page Head: ASPECT OF THE NEW HOUSE OF COMMONS]
In thefor a fortnight or so, and begins tothat strikes one is its inferiority in point of co Houses of Commons, and the presumption, impertinence, and self-sufficiency of the new members Formerly new members appeared with some modesty and diffidence, and with some appearance of respect for the assembly into which they were admitted; these fellows behave theht riot in all the insolence of victory There exists no _party_ but that of the Government; the Irish act in a body under O'Connell to the number of about forty; the Radicals are scattered up and doithout a leader, numerous, restless, turbulent, and bold--Hume, Cobbett, and a ham, Major Beauclerck, &c ()--bent upon doing all the mischief they can and incessantly active; the Tories without a head, frightened, angry, and sulky; Peel without a party, prudent, cautious, and dexterous, playing a deep waiting gas of these various elements of party, rather than parties, uine; the Whigs uneasy; the Tories desponding;to no party, but support Governh to justify alarm, for the Government has evidently no power over the House of Coh it is probable that they will scra any serious defeat, or being reduced to the necessity of any great sacrifice or compromise, they are conscious of their oant of authority and of that sort of command without which no Government has been hitherto deemed secure The evil of this is that we are now reduced to the alternative of Lord Grey's Governreat measure, he must either abandon the country to its fate, or consent to carry on the Government upon the condition of a virtual transfer of the executive power to the House of Coame is up, for this House, like animals who have once tasted blood, if it ever exercises such a power as this, and finds a Minister consenting to hold office on such terms, will never rest till it has acquired all the authority of the Long Parliament and reduced that of the Crown to a mere cypher It is curious, by-the-bye, that the exa Parlias of the House at twelve o'clock for the hearing of petitions
February 27th, 1833 {p362}