Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Henry Reeve, C.B., D.C.L. Part 4

Supposing this to be true--as Reeve certainly believed it to be--it was only paying off Prussia in her own coin; for at least under Frederick II.--the Prussian agents had shown a remarkable skill in obtaining secret intelligence, either by purchase or by theft. In one case, in 1755, ten important papers and the key of the cipher were stolen from the Count de Broglie, the French amba.s.sador, by his colleague and intimate friend, Count Maltzahn, the Prussian amba.s.sador, who obtained access to his rooms in his absence. 'There is no doubt,' wrote De Broglie, 'that we are indebted for this to the King of Prussia. I am quite sure that Maltzahn would not have done it without an express order.' [Footnote: Le Secret du Roi, par le Duc de Broglie, tom. i., p. 131]

_From Mr. C. C. Greville

January 15._--I am very glad to hear that Fould has responded with such alacrity, and I shall be most anxious to hear from you again after your interview and dinner with him. I told him in my letter that you had been acquainted with the Emperor when he resided in England, and I hope he will report your arrival to H.M., and that you will be summoned to the imperial presence; it would be very interesting to have a conversation with the great man himself, and you might enlighten his mind, and correct some of the erroneous impressions he is likely to have formed from Cobden's conversation.

So far as I understand the line taken by our Cabinet, they are acting properly enough. I suppose France will want our support for the annexation of Savoy, and Palmerston will be for giving that, or doing anything else to obtain the transference of the revolted states and provinces to Piedmont; the aggrandis.e.m.e.nt of Sardinia and the humiliation of Austria being his darling objects, for which he will sacrifice every other consideration, unless he is kept in check, and baffled by the majority of the Cabinet. In the beginning of this week there was very near being a split amongst them, which might have broken up the Government; but I conclude matters were adjusted, though I do not know exactly how. P., J. R., and Gladstone go together, and are for going much further in Italian affairs than the majority of the Cabinet will consent to; and, as the latter know very well that their views will be supported by public opinion, I trust they will get the better of this triple alliance. As Austria appears to have admitted her inability to draw the sword again, the Pope seems to be left without any resource; but it does not follow that Austria will consent to such an aggrandis.e.m.e.nt of the King of Sardinia as France may be willing to consent to, and, as we shall, I suppose, earnestly advocate. She would probably more easily consent to the promotion of a new North Italian kingdom; and I much doubt if Tuscany really wishes for annexation to Piedmont. She would probably much prefer the promotion of a fresh state, of which Florence would be the capital, and Tuscany the most influential member. How impossible it is to form any opinion as to the tortuous, ever-s.h.i.+fting policy of L. N.! The only thing we ought never to lose sight of is to keep quite clear of him, and to be always on our guard. If the natural limits of France are to be extended again to the Alps, how long will it be before they are extended to the Rhine also?

I went to see Mrs. Austin yesterday, and found her very well and in very fair spirits; very anxious to talk about him, and much gratified at the letters she has received from various friends, bearing testimony to his great merits and high qualities, particularly one from Sir William Erle.

Brougham is writing a notice of him for the 'Law Magazine.' She seems very unsettled in her plans, and says she changes her mind continually. Lady Gordon is better, and Mrs. Austin is going to Ventnor, to her, in a short time. She means to be much occupied with the papers he has left, which appear to be all about law, and it is very doubtful whether they will, if published, be very interesting to the world in general.

The Journal notes:--

We returned to London on January 23rd. Parliament opened next day. London dinners began. Dined at Thackeray's, Milman's, Galton's, Lansdowne House.

_From Lord Clarendon_

_The Grove, February 2nd._--I am much obliged to you for De la Rive's _brochure_ [Footnote: Le Droit de la Suisse, by William de la Rive, son of the celebrated physicist, Auguste] which is written with great force and spirit; he makes out an excellent European case for the slice of Savoy he claims for Switzerland, and he manages to gives an agreeable impression of those unpleasant people, the Swiss. It is a valuable work at this moment; for the annexation of Savoy to France is a serious affair, not only because it makes Italy French, but because it is the first step towards the _remaniement de la carte_.

When we made our first convention with France, on going to war together with Russia, I thought it would be prudent to put in a clause that neither Power should get any benefit for itself from the war. The Emperor accepted the proposal cheerfully; said it was a grand precedent, &c. &c.; but when I read over the convention with Walewski, prior to signature, the clause was omitted, and I had it restored. In the case of Savoy, we must admit that our policy makes objection on our part not only difficult but absurd. We have been telling the Italians that they were justified in expelling their rulers and electing a new sovereign, and that treaties could not be pleaded against accomplished facts; and how can we remonstrate against the annexation of Savoy to France, if V. Emanuel releases the Savoyards from their allegiance, and they elect L. Nap. for their sovereign?

_To Lord Brougham_

62 _Rutland Gate, March 5th._ Since my visit to Paris I have never had a doubt that Louis Napoleon was pursuing, and pursuing actively, a scheme for the annexation of Savoy, and that nothing which this country can say--for doing is out of the question--will have any effect in preventing it. The King of Sardinia is the dog and the shadow. He drops his bone to clutch a phantom of Italian empire, which will dissolve as he approaches it. The most amusing part of it is that the policy of his imprudent friends here (J. R. and so on) has urged him on to pursue the shadow without remembering what it would cost in substance.

The Reform Bill is considered so very mild a production that I begin, for the first time, to think it will pa.s.s. Even the Tories could conceive nothing so moderate, and they had better close with the bargain. I have no doubt it will be rather favourable to the Conservatives than to the Radicals. For example, where there are to be three seats, in the large towns, the Conservative minority will probably carry one out of the three.

_March 14th._--Your volume of scientific tracts arrived just after I had sent off my last letter. I am very much indebted to you for it, and I shall probably have occasion to refer to your learned paper on the cells of bees in the review I am going to publish of Mr. Darwin's book. As for Newton, I should be glad to give my vote in favour of a monument whenever a suitable opportunity occurs. It is very embarra.s.sing to know where to place monuments to men ill.u.s.trious in letters and science. Westminster Abbey is crowded, and can take no more statues. We are going to put up a mural monument to Hallam there; and, by the way, if you had been in England, you were invited to be on the committee; I still hope you will give your name.

Events have taken a prodigiously lucky turn for the Government, and I think it is long since we had any administration so strong as Lord Palmerston now is. Gladstone's triumph is complete on all points, and people are so weary of J. R. and his Reform Bill that I think all parties are ready to swallow this last dose, _de guerre la.s.se_. Then will follow the dissolution in the autumn, and we may expect a strong Liberal majority.

The affair of Savoy will pa.s.s off quietly enough if he leaves the neutralised territories to Switzerland; but if not, it will become serious enough, for it is expressly provided by the final act of the Congress of Vienna that, if Sardinia evacuates those districts, no other Power but Switzerland shall move troops into them, and this arrangement was subsequently confirmed by a very formal declaration of all the Powers....

Mrs. Austin is making arrangements for a new edition of her husband's lectures, with considerable additions.

The Journal has here:--

_March 15th._--Dinner at home. The Due d'Aumale, Lavradio, Lady Stanhope, Lady Molesworth, Lady William and Arthur Russell, Lord Kingsdown, the Lord Advocate, Professor Owen, Colonel Hamilton, and Colonel Greathed.

_From Lord Clarendon_

_[Sunday] March 18th._--If you happen to be pa.s.sing Grosvenor Crescent way on Tuesday or Wednesday, about twelve o'clock, will you look in upon me, and we will have a talk about the awful fix in which Europe in general and England in particular are now placed?

By reason of his connexion with Geneva, Reeve had all along necessarily felt the keenest interest in the negotiations between France and Sardinia, which he had discussed in an article on 'France, Savoy, and Switzerland'

for the April number of the 'Edinburgh Review.' He had possibly already intended to visit the 'debateable land' as soon as the Review was sent to press, or very possibly the advisability of doing so was suggested in this interview with Lord Clarendon. At any rate, on April 4th he started for Paris, and, after seeing his friend Pourtales, went on to Geneva in company with Sir Robert and Lady Emily Peel. By the 12th he was back in Paris, where, on the 15th, he had long interviews with Fould and Thouvenel, the minister of foreign affairs, the minutes of which he wrote out at considerable length, and two days afterwards read them to Lord Palmerston.

He reported to Palmerston that Thouvenel was willing to make 'a reasonable adjustment of the Swiss frontier,' which he believed meant 'an extension of the Swiss territory to the Fort de l'Ecluse and Saleve.' Palmerston, however, refused the overture, saying, 'We shall shame them out of it.'

'So,' added Reeve, in relating the affair, 'neither he nor the Swiss got anything at all.'

_From Lord Brougham_

_Cannes, April 20th._--I hope my account of J. Austin will appear in the 'Law Magazine and Review.' It is written _con amore_, though very far from such an article as I could have wished to make it. The letter of Mrs.

Austin was invaluable, and I inserted her very words in more instances than one; but your mention of the effect produced by the publication now out of print was still more valuable. I only trust that it may all be printed correctly, for it must be too late for me to have proofs.

The roguery of L. N. and Cavour exceeds all belief; but they have cheated one another, and have probably overreached themselves. The _lies_ they tell about the Nice vote are unheard of even in the time of Napoleon I. We believe here that thousands of Piedmontese having no residence were sent to vote. However, there is a real majority, though nothing like the unanimity pretended. In Savoy there is entire unanimity. I suppose Normanby believes the Tuscans have not voted for their annexation; but he believes whatever anybody writes to him from Florence.

_To Lord Brougham_

_C. O., May 16th._--I cannot remember any pa.s.sage in Macaulay's writings which can be called an attack on Henry V. In the Introduction to the 'History of England' there is a pa.s.sage in which he speaks of the French wars of the English kings, and speculates on the results which might have ensued if the conquests of Henry V. had not been lost by Henry VI. Perhaps this is what Lord Glenelg meant; but I am writing from the office, where I have not the books to refer to.

I don't know what sort of monument the Lord Chief Baron proposes to erect.

To put Macaulay on a level with Newton and Bacon would be absurd. His mind was essentially what the geologists would call 'a tertiary formation;'

theirs were 'protogenic.' But I think some monument to Macaulay may very fitly be placed in Trinity Chapel. We meet on Tuesday to consider what is to be done for Hallam in Westminster Abbey; but there will certainly be no statue, probably a slab and bust only.

I hope you are coming up for the debate in the Lords on Monday,[Footnote: On the repeal of the paper duty, a Government measure, which was rejected by the Lords.] which will be one of great interest. I cannot think there is anything solid in the so-called const.i.tutional objection--which is to be urged on behalf of the Government--to the interference of the House of Lords with a bill of this nature.

_From Lord Clarendon_

_Grosvenor Crescent, May 16th._--Many thanks for your letter and opinion of Aix-la-Chapelle waters, which seem exactly to fit my case, but I should be very reluctant to go there just now, as the inconvenience of it would be great. I shall try change of air next week, and, if that won't do, why _alors, comme alors,_ as the life I am now leading is intolerable. The gout came again very sharply last night, but not, I am sure, owing to your most agreeable dinner, which could only do good. I have not pa.s.sed three such pleasant hours for a long while.

I have seen one or two peers to-day sorely puzzled as to the vote they shall give on Monday. My only doubt is about the damage it may do the House of Lords; and I can't quite go Lyndhurst's [Footnote: In a closely reasoned speech, rightly considered remarkable from a man of eighty-eight, Lord Lyndhurst maintained that it was no unusual thing for the Lords to veto bills for repealing taxes as well as bills for inflicting them, and quoted numerous precedents. The bill was thrown out by 193 to 104.] length, who says that if there is no precedent it is high time, and the proper opportunity, to make one.

The Journal here records:--

Mr. Greville resigned the clerks.h.i.+p of the council in May; as Mr. Bathurst could not carry on the business, he had to resign too [Footnote: This is written on the blank page of the 'Chronology,' apparently from memory, and the dates are somewhat confused. Greville resigned in May 1859. It was then settled that there should be but one clerk; Bathurst acted by himself for a twelvemonth, and resigned in May 1860.]. It was settled that there should be but one clerk of the council. Lord Granville, I believe, wished to appoint me, but some obstacle stood in the way. I never exactly knew what; but if it was the Court, it is singular that I should have been so well received at Balmoral. What I desired was that the registrars.h.i.+p of the P.

C. should become the second clerks.h.i.+p of the council, I offering to do my share of the general business; but this they declined. On June 9th Arthur Helps was appointed clerk of the council. I felt great irritation at the manner in which I had been treated; but it certainly turned out very well for me in the end, as I continued to hold an easier office, and eventually obtained the same income, without the annoyance of attending the Court at Balmoral, or Osborne, or elsewhere.

On May 15th we had to dinner Lord Clarendon, Prince Dolgoroukow (the one who wrote the book [Footnote: _La Verite sur la Russie_, 1860. Cf.

_Edinburgh Review_, July 1860, p. 175.] on Russia), Lord Stanley, Sir R.

and Lady E. Peel, Hodgson, and Cornewall Legh.

On August 4th we made an expedition from Farnborough, with the Longmans, to Selborne. Lunch with T. Bell. [Footnote: The editor of White's _Selborne_]

Walked to the Lithe and the Hanger. A charming day.

_From Lord Brougham_

_Brougham, August 5th._--I have been reading the last 'E. R.,' which is a most excellent number. The ballot article [Footnote: 'Secret Voting and Parliamentary Reform.'] is admirable, and will prove useful. I may send you a few remarks on the G. Rose article. [Footnote: 'Diaries and Correspondence of George Rose.'] But I am delighted with the showing up of Miss a.s.sing, [Footnote: 'Correspondence of Humboldt and Varnhagen von Ense.' In editing this, Miss a.s.sing had shown--according to the _Review_--a singular want of taste and discretion.] only I don't think it is as much as she deserves.

_To Lord Brougham_

_C. O., August 7th._--I have been making short country visits at several places near London since the termination of my Judicial Committee labours, or I should certainly have called to see you before you left Grafton Street. Now I am starting on Sat.u.r.day next for Aix-la-Chapelle, where I propose to take a few baths. I return on the 25th, and shall proceed to Aberdeens.h.i.+re at the end of the month....

The victory of the Government last night was very decisive;[Footnote: On the motion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the reduction of the duty on paper.] and I am heartily glad of it, for the protectionist cry of the paper-makers took one back before the Deluge.

I saw Mrs. Austin yesterday at Weybridge, and was glad to find her so well.

She desired to be remembered to you. She is very busy with J. Austin's MSS.; but, in fact, they are in perfect order, and might be sent at once to the press.

And then the Journal--

Later in August went to Aix. I went over to Bonn to see Bunsen, who was dying, but full of enthusiasm for Italy. Came home on August 27th.