A Political Diary, 1828-1830 Part 55

_October 21._

Read in the newspaper the King of the Netherlands' speech. It is querulous and angry. I really thought the Proclamation _extraordinary_ of the Prince of Orange a forgery; but it is genuine, and he throws off all connection with Holland, declaring the independence of Belgium, and placing himself practically at the head of the Rebellion!

On Monday night at a dance at the Lodge, Hardinge saw accidentally in an evening newspaper, shown to him for another purpose, the advertis.e.m.e.nt of the Anti-Union a.s.sociation, and by seven o'clock the next morning the Lord Lieutenant's Proclamation prohibiting it was placarded in the streets. This is decision. There was no riot. Persons in general were satisfied the act was right. O'Connell is alarmed. The Duke of Leinster is ready to sign a declaration in favour of the Union. All is safe in Ireland with Hardinge's prompt.i.tude. I wish he could remain and not come over to Parliament.

_October 22._

Saw Campbell, who was very nervous and anxious, and I at night wrote a letter to Lord Hill in favour of his son--more, I admit, from a father's feelings than from a conviction of being right.

It seems the Lord Lieutenant not having been near Dublin when the Proclamation was issued by Hardinge, he must have had a blank Proclamation in his pocket, and have issued it without the opinion of the law officers.

He has good debatable Parliamentary grounds of defence; but he has trodden upon the margin of the law. Not the worse for that in these times, when it is most important that every one should see the Government are vigilant and determined.

Valdez, who entered Spain with a few hundred men, has been smashed at once.

At the Cabinet we had a long discussion respecting the Regency question.

Aberdeen started the objection that the proposed measure was destructive of the principle that the King could not die. On the other hand it was contended that we maintained that principle. We made a Regent for _a King_.

We acknowledged _a King_; but we deferred taking the oath of allegiance till we knew who he was. The difficulties attending the _unkinging_ of a Sovereign on the birth of a Prince nearer to the present King seem greater than any attending the measure proposed. It was ultimately determined that the Chancellor should consult the judges and the law officers.

_October 23._

Cabinet. Twenty-six magistrates at Canterbury sentenced to three days'

imprisonment thres.h.i.+ng machine breakers, who pleaded guilty! Such has been the terror struck into them! Sir E. Knatchbull was in the chair.

We went through the speech--not deciding absolutely upon the words; but generally upon the substance.

Then arose a conversation as to the Regency which, in this last hour, is thought a point of importance. The Chancellor seems alarmed and unwilling to move the suspension of the rights of the presumptive heir until the non- existence of an heir apparent be ascertained, without the opinion of the judges. It is admitted there is no written opinion to guide us. The a.n.a.logy of property is in favour of the heir presumptive; that of peerage in favour of the heir apparent _in utero_.

_October 24._

Cabinet at 4. Read two letters from Hardinge. By his account all the men of property will support the Government and the Union.

The press is coming round--_bought_. A Mr. Conway, an able writer, is furious against O'Connell, and, upon the whole, the Press is on our side.

Hardinge dilates with delight upon his military preparations and plans of defence, and seemingly will be disappointed if he cannot put them into execution.

The Belgian Ministers resigned after the Prince of Orange's Proclamation.

He is left without advisers. He has endeavoured to get Sir Charles Bagot to join him, and Grasioff. He sends for Cartwright. He seems much embarra.s.sed.

In fact he is in heart a Belgian, and would sacrifice everything to be King of Belgium. He never knew the Dutch, and not unnaturally likes the Belgians better. They are indignant at his conduct in Holland, and with reason. He seems to intend to rule the Dutch by means of the Belgians. This he cannot do.

The Duke of Wellington always thought him a silly fellow.

The Provisional Government is going to send some mission here.

We had a long talk about the Regency. Really it does us little credit to begin now, within ten days of the meeting of Parliament, to consider that question seriously.

The Chief Justices will be asked whether, supposing the Queen to be pregnant at the death of the King, the next living heir would succeed? How in the event of the birth of a child the _de facto_ Sovereign is to be put aside? And what should be done if the Queen only may be with child? The difficulty consists in the oath of allegiance, which must be altered and made conditional. But what a curious position the Queen Victoria would be placed in, if a baby were to oust her after eight months of reign!

I think the course adopted will be this--to make an oath of allegiance conditional, saving the rights of a child to be born; to appoint the Regent who would be named for the Princess Victoria, with the provision that on the birth of a child the child's mother shall be Regent.

_October 25._

Cabinet at 4. Peel read letters he had received from Mr. Foster, the magistrate of Manchester, Mr. Hulton, of Hulton, and a manufacturer whose name I forget. They all give an alarming account of the state of Manchester. The colliers have turned out in some districts, and where they have turned out the mills are necessarily stopped. This has thrown numbers out of employment. These colliers can earn 10_s_. a day; that is, as much as many clergymen. The spinners can earn 5_s_. a day. Yet they turn out.

This seems to be a manoeuvre like that of Lafitte when he refused to discount bills. To stop the supply of coal is to throw all mills out of work, and every one out of employment. The question is, Shall the masters resist? If they do, there will be an early collision. If they do not, they may defer it, but not long. Concession was counselled six weeks ago, on the ground that, after the events in Belgium and in France, collision was dangerous; and this even by bold men. It seems there are 3,000 infantry, 3 guns, and about 600 or 800 cavalry near Manchester. Perhaps some howitzers may be sent, but more force there is not. Peel at the Cabinet wrote a letter to Mr. Taylor, saying that under ordinary circ.u.mstances he should have counselled resistance or rather non-concession; but now it was a doubtful question whether a collision at Manchester would not lead to collision in many other places, and was our force sufficient? He was desired to see Mr. Hulton, Sir E. Bouverie, and others, and to consider what could be done, particularly whether Volunteer Corps could be formed.

The delegates who went to Mr. Chappell seem to be amenable to the law and get-at-able. This will be done.

The law officers came in and were asked as to the power of the Crown to permit the formation of Volunteer Corps. They were desired to consider the point. By the Act of 1794 there seems to be no doubt about it.

Hardinge is arrived. He has been calling out O'Connell. I am sorry for it, for O'Connell had declared he would not fight. O'Connell had called him the Duke's aide-de-camp. So far it does good, that it lowers O'Connell still more, and destroys the value of anything he might say against Hardinge.

_October 26._

Called on Hardinge. He says the accounts from Manchester to-day are worse.

In the House Lord Hill showed me a letter (from Sir E. Bouverie, I think), giving a very alarming account--30,000 out of work, and apprehension of early collision.

Parliament opened. Took the oaths. Office. Lord Dalhousie was so ill on June 4 that I have no idea of his being now Commander-in-Chief in India.

Received a summons to a Cabinet at four _precisely_, and went to the Foreign Office; but n.o.body came. I think it must have been summoned to meet at Peel's house. The times are so critical that I should be sorry to lose a Cabinet. I could not find out that any summonses had been sent from the Foreign Office. There was a crowd of people in Downing Street, who had, I dare say, followed the Duke from the House of Lords. There were a good many about the House. All quite quiet.

_October 27._

_Levee_ at two. Addresses from the Church of Scotland, and the Lord Mayor and Corporation of Dublin. Dr. Chalmers was with the Church of Scotland.

The Recorder of Dublin, Mr. Shaw, who is member for Dublin, made a speech before he read the address--a thing quite unprecedented, and which might be very inconvenient. The speech itself was innocent. The _levee_ by no means full.

Peel had an audience of the King, and in half an hour the King slept twenty minutes. He says he never knew any man so much altered in three months. His somnolency increases. He slept during an interview with Aberdeen yesterday.

When the Duke saw him he was alive enough.

Cabinet. Prince at the Chancellor's. Some conversation respecting the burnings in Kent. Peel thinks they were effected by a chemical process, by some substance deposited hours before, and igniting when the perpetrators are far off. The persons who met Lord Winchilsea expressed detestation of the burnings, and went away to break thres.h.i.+ng machines, but a man who committed persons for breaking thres.h.i.+ng machines had his ricks burnt; another suffered the same thing who defended his thres.h.i.+ng machines. I believe the two offences to be committed by the same persons. The magistrates are supine and terror-struck; but they have no police, no military. Sir E. Knatchbull doubts whether they would arm as yeomen. Peel does not seem to me to view with sufficient alarm the effect these burnings will produce upon men's minds, and the example of impunity. Nothing was said about Manchester. All seemed to think less seriously of our dangers than they did some days back.

The law officers mean to give in their report on the case put to them to- morrow. They will say it is not provided for. The Chancellor has the judges at dinner on Friday, and he will then obtain theirs.

_October 28._

Captain Harvey of the 4th Dragoons called by the King's desire to say the King of Persia told him when he was at Teheran that he was hurt at not receiving a letter from the King. I told Captain Harvey the King had announced his accession to the Shah of Persia as he had to other sovereigns. Captain Harvey was interpreter to his regiment. It seemed to me that he rather wished to command the Persian troops. He is brother to the tutor to Prince George of Cambridge. He is a very gentlemanlike man.

The French insist on having the conferences respecting the settlement of Belgium at Paris, if there are to be any regular conferences. They cannot permit Talleyrand to act for them. The French would be jealous of him, &c.

We had wished to have the conferences here for the very reason that we thought Talleyrand would do his utmost to have the credit of preserving peace. I see there will be no Congress. The French think that, if they stand still, the fruit will fall into their mouths. The folly of the Prince of Orange will ruin his party in Belgium. The ambition of the Belgians will induce them to attempt to form a separate State, which after much disorder will be found impracticable; and as they will not become Dutch, they _will_ become French. Then we shall have a war, and present forbearance only postpones it. All the Volunteers who are acting in Belgium are French. All the forces in the field are commanded by Frenchmen. French money is employed. The French are really now carrying on the war covertly.

Russia is paralysed by the devastating progress of the cholera morbus which has reached Moscow. The Emperor is gone to Moscow to establish order and obedience, for the civil and military authorities are quarrelling, and the troops are unwilling to form the cordon. All cordons I believe to be fruitless. It would be as wise to form a cordon against the wind. The disease advances, however, along the high roads and navigable rivers. It is the most extraordinary plague we have had.

Prussia cannot act for fear of disorders at home, and Austria is literally the only power to which war is possible. The French dare not go to war for fear of a Republic.