Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Henry Reeve, C.B., D.C.L. Part 40

_11th._--Dinner at home for General Roberts: but he had been ordered off to the Transvaal.

_13th._--Emperor of Russia (Alexander II.) murdered.

_16th._--Tennyson gave an evening party in Eaton Square.

_April 7th._--To Foxholes. Cold: gouty. Lady Colvile came.

_20th._--My cousin, John Taylor, died.

_26th._--Lord Beaconsfield's funeral.

Of this last, he received the following account from Mr. T. Norton Longman:--

_April 28th._--The sad ceremony I had the honour of attending the day before yesterday will for ever live in the memory of all who were present.

Nothing could have been more simple in its character, nothing more striking in its solemnity, and nothing more in strict accordance with his wishes.

I may well say I shall not forget so great an occasion, not only from the fact that the ceremony was the burial of a great man, but from the very select band of followers I had the privilege of joining. There were only 120 invitations sent out, and all these were not made use of. I travelled down in a saloon carriage with Drs. Quain, Bruce, Lord Lytton, Lord Alington, Count Munster, with all of whom I had very pleasant conversation.

Sir William Harcourt, Lord Rosebery, the Danish Minister, and another amba.s.sador were also in the carriage; so I had plenty of good company.

I had a little conversation with poor Lord Rowton, and thanked him for thinking of me. 'Not at all,' he said; 'I am quite sure it would be _his_ wish that you should be here to-day.' This was, to say the least of it, gratifying. The persons who appeared to be most touched were poor Bruce and Lord Henry Lennox. On our return to the Manor about fifty of us went into the drawing-room to hear the will read, and a very interesting doc.u.ment it proved to be. It is perfectly clear Lord Beaconsfield contemplated a great deal of publication. After the reading was finished and those present had mostly left the room, I waited behind a little for the three Princes to move first; and, much to my surprise, the Duke of Connaught turned round and shook me by the hand. This little incident makes it all a peculiarly interesting and eventful day. We all returned to town together (I mean the Princes and the guests); and I think I may safely say that a train never arrived at Paddington Station with a more distinguished company on board.

As I walked up from the church I could not help thinking that the last time I walked up that hill I had poor Lord B. on my arm. The demand for 'Endymion' is very great, and in fact the demand for all his novels is greater than we can meet. We are printing night and day to try and keep the trade supplied.

_From M. B. St.-Hilaire_

_Paris, 27 avril_. Il y a bien des jours que je voulais vous ecrire, et ce long silence me faisait craindre que vous ne fussiez malade, comme vous l'etiez en effet; mais je me disais aussi que les vacances de Paques vous ameneraient sans doute a Paris. J'espere que le printemps vous guerira completement de cet acces; et que vous serez delivre de ce mal si douloureux, des que la chaleur nous sera revenue. Ici, nous avons un temps des plus maussades.

I have done everything in my power to keep clear of this Tunis business; but the Khroumirs' affair has filled the cup to overflowing, and we are obliged to resort to force. I shall finish the business off as quickly as I can, and as we have no idea of annexation, all that we want is a treaty with the Bey, giving a lasting guarantee for the security of our frontier and our interests. I believe that even in Italy people are beginning to understand or to admit the necessity which is pressing on us; but they will owe us a grudge, and later on will resent it, if they can. For the present, the loan of six hundred and fifty millions paralyses their wrath. We are no more going to refound Carthage than Italy is going to re-establish the Roman Empire.

The death of Lord Beaconsfield is a great blow for England. I have noticed, not without some surprise, that I am of the same age as he was.

I have reason to believe that Lord Dufferin is quite of your opinion about Russia, and thinks that the most truly sick man is not at Constantinople.

He may be right. Meanwhile the Conference will fail. I happen to know that three of us will refuse--England, Italy, and France. Austria would like to do the same.

People are speaking no more of the _scrutin de liste_ than if the question did not exist. It was in fact altogether artificial; but the talk will begin again with the meeting of the Chamber. The _scrutin d'arrondiss.e.m.e.nt_ appears to gain ground. Its success is much to be desired; for if it is rejected, we shall pretty quickly find ourselves in a critical position.

_May 16th_.--Your letter is gloomy indeed, and should your forebodings be realised you may be sure that I should be as grieved as yourself. All my life, and now as much as ever, I have looked upon the alliance of France and England as infinitely desirable for both; and if I were so unfortunate as to cause a breach between the two countries, it would be very much against my will, and without my knowledge. Tunis cannot be a source of discord between us, and I hope that public opinion, over-excited at present, will return to a more calm and just appreciation of the case. We have declared to Europe that we wish for no annexations or conquests, and will attempt none; we have quite enough with the two million five hundred thousand Mussulmans in Algeria; it would be madness to add fifteen or sixteen hundred thousand more to them, and a hundred and fifty leagues to our frontier. For Algeria thus extended we should require an army of 100,000 men, who would be much missed in case of any complication in Europe. All that we want in Tunis is a power which will not be hostile to us, and continually threaten our African possessions. We shall only occupy Biserta and the other places as long as appears necessary; but we will not make a port of it; for that, as Sir Charles Dilke has said, would involve a cost of some 200 millions. I have just sent Lord Lyons a despatch upon that special subject, which will appear in the next Blue Book.

Tunis will never belong to France; she does not want it; but should it belong to Italy, who already owns Sicily, the pa.s.sage to Malta might be made difficult. I know that England has not much to fear from Italy; but circ.u.mstances may change; and the grat.i.tude she shows towards us now proves how much she will have for other benefactors. I cannot understand how my despatch of May 9th can have been interpreted as the announcement of our taking possession. In form and intention it was quite the contrary. Our actions will show that we only speak the truth. Neither can I admit that even the conquest of Tunis can ever equal in importance the taking of Constantinople by the Russians, which in my eyes will be the greatest event of modern times, as the taking of it by the Turks in 1453 was an important event in the fifteenth century.

As to the Treaty of Commerce, I am doing all in my power to facilitate the negotiations. I suppose that public opinion in England is at present princ.i.p.ally occupied with this; and that, if it is satisfactorily arranged, Tunis will very soon be forgotten. A thousand more interests are engaged in the agreement on a specific tariff than could ever be involved in this unfortunate Regency.

But I content myself with saying with the poet--_Di avertant omen_; and I desire that England may be as well disposed towards us as we are towards her.

_May 23rd_.--I knew of the correspondence between Lord Salisbury and Mr.

Waddington long ago. I should never have thought myself authorised to publish it; but I will take it from the Blue Book and publish it in the Yellow Book. It is quite allowable.

My declarations of our intentions in Tunis are the exact truth. Annexation would be an act of folly. We have quite enough with three million Mussulmans in Algeria without adding another two million in Tunis, and another hundred and fifty leagues to the length of our frontier, which already reaches from Nemours to La Calle. In doing good to the Regency we are serving ourselves, and we only ask one thing in return--that it should be as well disposed to us as we are towards it. But it is not easy to establish the good terms which would be so profitable to all. England ought to be very well pleased that both sides of the pa.s.sage to Malta are not in the hands of the same Power, which would be the case if Italy, who already possesses Sicily, had possession of Tunis on the other side. Geography demonstrates the fact. As to us, we wish to do nothing at Biserta. Our port is necessarily at Algiers in the centre of our possessions.

Like you, I deplore the _scrutin de liste_. It will give rise to formidable difficulties in the near future. I am an optimist by nature, but that future seems to me very dark. I do all I can to prevent it by foretelling it to everyone; but I only play the part of Ca.s.sandra. In the Council, M. Ferry and myself were the only ones who supported the _scrutin d'arrondiss.e.m.e.nt_.

_July 9th_.--I did not think that the Tunis affair was concluded by the treaty of May 12th; that is the first stage if you like; but it was rather difficult. The difficulties which arise are very simple consequences; we will put down rebellion, but this will not incite us to conquest, which we do not want. The interests of the English, and those of other nations, would not suffer by our preponderance; and unless all the advantages of civilisation are ignored, it is certainly better to treat with the French than with the Moors. Europe will soon see [Footnote: Europe has seen; though not quite in the sense that St.-Hilaire wished to convey.] that our promises are not vain, and that we have only good intentions towards Tunis.

We wish for nothing but the security of our great African colony.

The commercial negotiations have been transferred to Paris, at the request of the English Cabinet, which had at first expressed a wish that they should take place in London. This seems to me to imply the very opposite of a rupture, which, for our part, I can answer for it, we ardently desire to avoid. We only wish for an equitable treaty, and this I hope we shall manage....

Est-ce qu'on ne vous verra pas durant les vacances? Mistress Ross est pa.s.see par Paris il y a huit ou dix jours; elle est venue me voir un instant; elle m'a paru tres bien portante. Bonne sante et bien des amities.

_July 22nd_.--I a.s.sure you that should any rupture take place between England and France, it will be very much in spite of all my efforts to preserve harmony between two great nations. The English alliance is, in my opinion, the right one for France; for many reasons, with which you are as familiar as myself, it is the one which should take precedence of all others. I do not by any means disdain other alliances, but the English is the first, the most important, and, I may add, the most natural. It was sincerely desired under Louis Philippe, in spite of a few pa.s.sing clouds.

Under Napoleon III. they were, in reality, strongly inclined to break it, notwithstanding the Crimean war. To-day we are anxious for an agreement with England, if both sides will consent to reciprocal concessions.

I am deeply grieved--surprised too--at the death of Dean Stanley. Sixty-two is too early to die, and nothing seemed to foretell his premature end. He pa.s.sed through Paris, scarcely two months ago, and came to see me at the Ministere.

Like yourself, I should be happy to escape, but my chain is too short; and whilst I am minister I shall not go the length of a day's journey away. We must be at the command of circ.u.mstances, since they are not at ours, and the shortest absence is enough to spoil many things. But I shall be happy on the day when I can break my bonds, and return to philosophy.

_July 27th_.--I hope that my answer to the Duc de Broglie the day before yesterday will convince England of the value I set upon our good intelligence, and of the open honesty of French policy. I hope, too, that my declarations may appease Italy and Turkey. I have done my best, and if I do not succeed it will not be my fault.

Our treaty of commerce is my chief source of anxiety, and for my part I am trying to avoid a rupture. But there are the resolutions of the two Chambers which cripple the negotiators and above all our minister of commerce. These are impa.s.sable limits to the best will. The negotiations will doubtless begin again in Paris, in about a fortnight, but it is not yet certain. The incident you point out is very curious, and England becoming Protectionist, and England becoming Protectionist again under Mr.

Gladstone, would be an astonis.h.i.+ng spectacle....

Je ne savais pas que l'ile de Man fut 'le royaume des chats sans queue.'

The Journal meantime notes:--

_June 3rd_.--To Foxholes: beautiful weather; 13th, back to town. More dinners.

_30th_.--To Drury Lane to see the German company act 'Julius Caesar.'

_July 2nd_.--Dinner at Walpole's to meet Archbishop Tait, Arthur Stanley, Lord Coleridge, Lord Eustace Cecil.

_6th_.--Arthur Stanley's garden party at the Abbey. Lord Carnarvon's dinner to the Antiquaries. [Footnote: Lord Carnarvon was president of the Society of Antiquaries, of which Reeve was, at this time, a vice-president.]

_July 13th_.--Breakfast of Philobiblon at Lord Crawford's. Large garden party at Holland House. Great heat.

_16th_.--To Foxholes and back. 18th, Arthur Stanley died.

_July 23rd_.--From London to Government House, Isle of Man, on a visit to the Henry Lochs--eleven hours.

_25th_.--To Peel Castle with Loch and Coleridge; thence to Castletown.

27th, Ramsay.

_July 29th_.--To Barrow in Furness. Furness Abbey. [Thence to Scotland--Ormiston, Novar, Perth, Abington, &c.]

_August 24th_.--Back at Foxholes.

_From Archbishop Tait_

August 16th.

My dear Reeve,--It seems to me that a most important service might be done if a good article was published in the 'Edinburgh' on the pernicious periodical literature which spreads low Radicalism and second-hand sc.r.a.ps of infidelity amongst the labouring cla.s.ses, both of town and country. My friend Mr. Benham lately gave a lecture at Birmingham on the literature of this or a kindred style, written for boys--'Police News' and the like. We do little for the people if we only educate them to read and rejoice in this trash. Ever yours,