Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Henry Reeve, C.B., D.C.L. Part 27

_Hinton St. George, January 12th._--I am glad to find that you have returned in safety from Paris with your oratorical honours [Footnote: Of the French speech in Paris on the 8th.] rich upon you. I do not think that even Cicero ventured on making an oration in Greek, in Athens; but you have charmed fastidious Paris with your pure accent and your cla.s.sic French. I was in despair when I found your eloquence imputed to another name; but I heard the error was so generally corrected that you may count on your fame descending unchallenged to posterity.

I should agree with you that Franco was to be despaired of, if France were to be considered as subject to ordinary rules. But she is, and has ever been, so anomalous, that ordinary moral reasoning from history is wholly inapplicable to her. At present, one would think she had reached the lowest depth of moral degradation. She might be usefully touched to the quick, if she could only believe that she is becoming ridiculous in the eyes of Europe.

Not that _we_ can expect a much better fate. When the Treaty of Was.h.i.+ngton was published, I strove to awaken in the minds of several leading men a full sense of its folly, and of the calamitous consequences that would be sure to follow from such an act of foolish, gratuitous submission; but I made no impression; not even as to the absurdity of introducing new and ill-considered rules, and giving them a retrospective operation. I succeeded with no one. I therefore concluded I must be in the wrong. Now, however, the American indictment bears testimony to the accuracy of my forebodings. I entreated Lord Granville not to permit the arbitration to go on upon such a basis, which it was never intended that the reference should cover or include. It is a fraudulent attempt to extend the reference most unwarrantably; and if the arbitration is permitted to proceed on such a claim, the consequences will be most disastrous. It is a sad spectacle to see a once gallant and high-spirited nation submitting tamely to be thus bullied. If not firmly protested against, and resisted _in limine_, you will have an award which England will repudiate with indignation; and war, the fear of which has made us submit to these indignities, will be sure to follow.

The relative att.i.tudes of England and the United States in 1896 and 1897 have not materially differed from those of 1872. The policy which has been persistently followed by this country has not yet resulted in war, but it seems to many now, as it did to Lord Westbury then, extremely likely to do so. Peace between two such countries can only be a.s.sured when it rests on mutual respect and a community of interests. We may persuade ourselves that, in the main, our true interests are identical; but the recent diplomatic correspondence from the States does not tell of much respect.

But as to the point at issue in 1872, Reeve wrote in reply to Lord Westbury, about January 15th:--

I agree very much with what you say of the Treaty of Was.h.i.+ngton, and have never been able to prevail on myself to say a word in its favour. The result is that the fate and honour of this country are placed in the hands of a Swiss and a Brazilian referee, neither of whom knows a word of the English language! Lord Lyons told me so last week in Paris.

The Journal notes:--

_January 22nd_.--Visit to the Archbishop of Canterbury at Addington--pleasant; but in going up from Croydon on the 23rd, I was nearly killed by a runaway _hea.r.s.e_, which struck my cab and knocked it over. I was not hurt, but two accidents in a year made me nervous. [Footnote: See ante, p. 201.]

_From Mr. H. F. Chorley_

18 Eaton Place West, February 8th.

My dear Reeve,--I send you what I have done _in re_ Hawthorne. I offer a character rather than a review, proved by extracts; since had I gone on _in extenso_ I don't know where I should have stopped. Nothing but my strong wish to get my subject before the public could have made me carry out my article, poor as it is, seeing that I have written it half a leaf at a time, and with a weak, weary hand, the end of which will not impossibly be palsy. But I think as a character, when duly corrected, my work may not come out amiss. Ever yours faithfully, HENRY F. CHORLEY.

_Endorsed_--Chorley's last note. He died about a week afterwards [suddenly on February 16th. The article had apparently not been finished, and was not published].

From the Journal:--

_January 24th_.--Went to see the Sandhursts at Brighton, but gout came on worse, and I was ill for some weeks. I presided at The Club, however, on the 27th, the Thanksgiving Day for the recovery of the Prince of Wales, and proposed his health.

_March 14th_.--I published a collection of my articles on French history and affairs under the t.i.tle of 'Royal and Republican France.'

_From Lord Derby_

23 _St. James's Square, March 15th_.--Many thanks for your book on France.

Most of the articles were familiar to me, but all will bear reading again.

You here show up the weakness of French public life and the faults of French parties as no one else has done; and I do not recollect to have seen anywhere else pointed out the intimate connexion between the social state of modern France--with every old tradition destroyed, and the continuance of a family, as we understand the word here, rendered impossible--and the political condition, in which every public man is either fighting for his own personal interest and nothing else, or for the triumph of his particular theory of politics, which, if successful, is to be enforced despotically by all the power of a centralised administration. I have never thought so badly of the French future as now--no energy except among the Reds, no power of united action; general apathy even as to the present, and utter indifference to the future.

The Journal continues:--

_March 31st_.--Came down to Bournemouth for the first time with Hopie and the horses.

_April 8th_.--Rode to Hengistbury Head and saw for the first time the Southbourne estate. Dined with Lord Cairns. Back to town on the 9th.

_17th_.--Dined at Lord Derby's. Sat next Lady Clanricarde, who, _a propos_ of Sir H. Holland's 'Past Life,' talked about her father [Footnote: George Canning, _d_. 1827.] and his last illness. She said that in truth Holland saw Canning very little at Chiswick, and that it was Sir Matthew Tierney who really attended him; and then she told me the following story of Tierney:--News came from Clumber that the Duke of Newcastle was dangerously ill with typhus fever. Tierney was sent down as fast as post-horses could carry him. It was about 1823, in the pre-railway days; and when he arrived he was informed that the Duke had been dead about two hours. Shocked at this intelligence, he desired to see the corpse, which was already laid out. At his first glance he thought he was dead. At the second he doubted it. At the third he cried out, 'Bring me up a bucket of brandy!' They tore the clothes off the body and swathed it in a sheet imbibed with brandy, and then resorted to friction with brandy. In rather more than an hour symptoms of life began to manifest themselves, and in two hours the Duke was able to swallow. He recovered, and lived twenty-five years afterwards. Certainly this triumph over death beats even Dr. Gull's nursing of the Prince of Wales. It is the myth of Hercules and Alcestis.

_May 4th_.--Visit to Drummond Wolff at Bos...o...b... A further look at Southbourne. I chose the site I afterwards purchased.

_8th_.--The King of the Belgians presided at the Literary Fund dinner.

Disraeli made a capital speech.

_18th_.--Visit to Mrs. Grote at Sheire. Called at Albury. Many London dinners.

The Bennett case was heard at this time by the Judicial Committee. Long deliberation on the judgement at the Chancellor's on June 1st. It was delivered on June 8th. [Footnote: See 'The Bennett Judgement' in _Edinburgh Review_, October 1872.]

_From Lord Westbury_

_June 1st_,--I am going to Oxford, and fear I may be late at the committee.

There are very important subjects in which we wish to examine you; especially the danger, if not the illegality, of attempting by new legislation to create a new Appellate Jurisdiction for the Colonies.

_From Mr. E. Twisleton_

3 Rutland Gate, June 6th

Dear Reeve,--I send you herewith Francis's translation of Pinto on Credit, together with the original French work of Pinto. The attack on Pombal is in Francis's concluding observations. Some of the notes are very interesting, as ill.u.s.trating the feeling of national superiority among the English, and of national depression among the French, between 1763 and the American War of Independence--see pp. 52, 66, 166. My impression is that the French felt more humiliated during that period than during an equal number of years after 1814. The loss of Canada and their expulsion from America wounded their national feelings of pride _then_ nearly as much as the loss of Alsace and part of Lorraine wounds those feelings now. A hundred years ago there were very exaggerated ideas, both in England and in France, as to the strength which a nation derived from colonies.

Yours very truly,

EDWARD TWISLETON.

P.S.--In Francis's Fragment of Autobiography he speaks of this translation as his own; and says that upon accepting his appointment to India he surrendered all his papers to Stephen Baggs, 'in whose name the translation had been published.' See 'Memoir of Sir P.F.' vol. i. p. 366.

The Journal notes:--

_June 28th_.--a.s.sembly at Grosvenor House. July 2nd, a.s.sembly at Lansdowne House. July 3rd, Queen's ball--a very brilliant season.

_From Lady Smith_

Lowestoft, July 9th.

Dear Mr. Reeve,--In one of your friendly letters to me, after the decease of our valued friend Emily Taylor, you kindly hinted that you would occasionally favour me with a note; but, knowing the demands upon your pen, I should not have reminded you of this kindness but for an incident which occurred last evening when my niece, Ina Reeve, came in to me, saying she had read such a severe and bitter review of your late publication as quite surprised her. As she brought the 'Sat.u.r.day Review' with her, she read it to me, and perhaps, dear friend, you may have read it, and perhaps guess its author. To me it seems he is not so angry with your books as with yourself. Mr. Reeve floats uppermost in almost every line, and 'tis you he hates. I perceive he cannot endure you, and makes use of your books only to insult you. I hope you will take care how you come in his way, for I am sure he will do you a mischief. Beware of the evil eye! He talks of your ignorance of the New Testament. I could not help thinking how little he is acquainted with its spirit.

I also read with much concern of the treatment by Mr. Ayrton of that admirable Curator at the Kew Gardens--Dr. Hooker. Cruel it will be to science and the public if he is driven from the position he is so competent to fill with good results.

I have read at present only a part of your first volume, which I much enjoyed. Sir James was in Paris about two or three years before the Great Revolution began, but the fermentation was beginning. 'Tis time to relieve you from my imperfect writing, for my sight is not very perfect, and by candlelight I can neither see to read or write. About two months go I completed my ninety-ninth year; but I have health and a new source of happiness in my nephew James and his dear daughter, who are come to reside at Lowestoft. _She_ is a daily friend to me, a second self; as our taste in literature, in poetry, and in morals agree. Only think, the Dean of Norwich sent me his defence of St. Athanasius' Creed!

I am your dear friend,

P. SMITH.

The next entry in the Journal introduces us to the place--a site on the Southbourne estate already spoken of--where, two years afterwards, Reeve built the house in which so much of the last twenty years of his life was pa.s.sed. It will be seen that for some time he hesitated between this and the neighbourhood of Ascot where, in the autumn, he inherited a small property.

_July 13th_.--To Christchurch, with Parker and c.o.c.kerell, [Footnote: Frederick Pepys c.o.c.kerell, one of a family of distinguished architects, and himself of a high reputation. He died at the age of 45, in 1878.] about the house at Foxholes.

_17th_.--Dined at Duke of Argyll's. 20th, three days at Strawberry Hill.

27th, party at Aldermaston: Otway, Layards, H. Bruce.

Having taken Loch Gair House for the season, went there by Greenock on August 2nd. I paid about twelve guineas a week. [Loch Gair--wrote Mrs.

Reeve--is a tiny, land-locked bay on the west sh.o.r.e of Loch Fyne. Park-like grounds, with a pretty burn rus.h.i.+ng down, skirt this loch. There is a small kitchen garden, and a dairy of six cows. The best fis.h.i.+ng is in Loch Clasken, about a mile and a half west. There is a boat on the loch. The house is a square structure, three stories high, and with underground larders, dairy, &c. and attics for servants, so that there is ample accommodation. I think Henry will enjoy the serene beauty of the place, the balmy air and fragrant odours, and idleness, delicious because earned by hard work.]

The Penders being at Minard, we had the benefit of their society and his yacht. Roland Richardson, Frank Hawkins, Mr. Dempster, the Worsleys, Edmund Wallace, Fairfax Taylor, Sir A. Grant, the Colebrookes, came to stay with us; and Colvile. The Derbys and Sir W. Thomson, [Footnote: Now Lord Kelvin.] Rawlinson, Ma.s.sey, C. Villiers and the Lowes, staying at Minard.