Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Henry Reeve, C.B., D.C.L. Part 7

_62 Rutland Gate, March 1st_.--Never was a session opened with so little interest. I believe it is quite true that the Tories are resolved to _menager_ Palmerston as much as possible, and to enter into no hostile combinations against him with the Radicals. In fact, Palmerston is gaining ground with the Conservatives, and losing it with some sections of the Liberals. He has exasperated the Irish Catholics to the last degree; and for my own part, I think his language and conduct about Mr. Turnbull's resignation highly discreditable. It is another specimen of the unhappy influence of Shaftesbury's ignorance and bigotry. However, the practical result is that the Government have lost Cork by a large majority, and that at the next election there will hardly be a ministerial candidate returned in Ireland.

It is impossible not to see that the general tendency of the public mind in this country is rather towards conservatism than reform. Even the reformers are compelled to haul down their bill; and if the Tories had better men to fill the offices, I think they would, in two or three years, have a fair chance of regaining power and keeping it.

At the present moment, the bishops seem to be the most eager combatants; in France they are denouncing the Emperor [Footnote: In January 1860 Reeve was told in Paris that the Pope spoke of him as the beast of the Apocalypse.]

as Pontius Pilate; in England they are thirsting for the blood of a few heterodox parsons. Nothing is talked of here but 'Essays and Reviews.' In my humble opinion they by no means deserve the importance attached to them, either in point of style or in point of substance.

Keep my secret, but I have in preparation a regular mine under Eton College. There has been of late a good deal of discussion about it, with very little knowledge. Fortunately, I have lighted upon the evidence taken by you before your celebrated committee in 1818, all which is still quite applicable. Eton is very little improved, and the depredations of the Fellows go on with shameless audacity. I mention this to you because your committee has been of so much use to us; but I wish to keep the thing very quiet till the next number of the 'Review' makes its appearance.

_From Lord Brougham_

_Cannes, March 4th_.--It is very odd that for two or three days I had been reading and discussing with one or two Eton men here the subject on which you propose to do infinite service, but of course I shall not even drop the most remote allusion to your plan. The conduct at Eton is perfectly scandalous; our two boys never cost less than 200 . a year while they were there; and I believe the case is understated, and not overstated, in the 'Cornhill Magazine,' and other places. One of the men who spoke to me about it said it was no fault of mine, but of Eldon, that it had not all been set right forty years ago--alluding to the Education Commission to which you refer. I recollect being reluctantly forced to insert the exemption in the Act and in the commission of inquiry. He had opposed the whole bill, and we defeated him in the Lords when he attempted to throw it out--a very extraordinary event in those days. But Rosslyn, Holland, and others who had charge of the bill, were apprehensive of being beaten on a further stage if we held out on the exemptions. In 1819 (the year after) I endeavoured to remove the exemptions in the Extensions Act to all charities, and this gave rise to Peel's very shabby attack on the whole inquiry when I was very unwell, and wholly unprepared, and to my defence in the speech which I have often said I could not now make if I would, and would not if I could. I venture to refer to it, however, as the most remarkable I ever made in all respects.

When you have sprung your mine, I hope and trust the 'Quarterly' will follow your example. If Elwin was still in command I feel confident he would, for he has always joined against Eldon & Co. I highly approve your keeping it quite secret on every account.

Here the Journal has:--

_April 9th_.--I was elected a member of 'The Club,' in place of Lord Aberdeen--proposed by Lord Stanhope; the greatest social distinction I ever received.

This was the literary club founded in 1764 by Reynolds and Johnson, which, in the course of years, had dropped all extraneous t.i.tle, and become simply The Club. 'It still continues the most famous of the dining societies of London, and in the 133 years of its existence has perhaps seen at its tables more men of note than any other society.'[Footnote: _Edinburgh Review_, April 1897, p. 291.] Gibbon, who became a member of it in 1774, had suggested the form in which a new member was to be apprised of the distinction conferred on him. This has continued in use to the present day, and on April 9th, 1861, a copy of it was sent to Reeve, signed by the president of the evening:--

Sir,--I have the pleasure to inform you that you have this evening had the honour of being elected a member of The Club.

I am, Sir,

Your obedient servant,

GEORGE RICHMOND.

This was followed, a week later, by another letter from the same writer:--

10 York Street, Portman Square, April 16th.

My dear Mr. Reeve,--I have just returned to town and found your note of the 10th inst., and I lose not a minute in writing to say that the election which I had so much pleasure in announcing to you, I announced as president for the night, and in the form of words prescribed by Gibbon. The moment I had written it I began a note to you in my own proper person, but I did not know whether it would be quite regular to send it, and I had to leave town on the following morning. The 'Sir,' and 'I am, Sir,' which anything but express what I feel, I most gladly exchange now, if you will allow it, for a very different greeting, and I beg to remain, my dear Mr. Reeve,

Very faithfully yours,

GEORGE RICHMOND.

The Bishop of London was elected on the same night with you, and it may interest you to know that the members present were:--

Lord Lansdowne.

Lord Clarendon.

Sir H. Holland.

Sir David Dundas.

The Dean of St. Paul's.

Sir Charles Eastlake.

Lord Stanley.

Lord Cranworth.

Lord Stanhope.

Duke of Argyll.

_To Madame de Tocqueville_

62 Rutland Gate, April 17th.

My dear Madame de Tocqueville,--I have just published, in the 'Edinburgh Review,' a short notice of that book and that life which are to you the dearest things in the world, and to all of us, his friends, among the dearest. A few separate copies have been struck off, and I send one to you by this post, which will, I hope, reach you with this letter. It was a matter of sincere regret to me that I found it impossible to execute my intention of translating the two volumes, [Footnote: Oeuvres et Correspondance inedites d'Alexis de Tocqueville, publiees et precedees d'une notice par Gustave de Beaumont.] partly because I found that I was too prominently noticed in them, and partly because our friends, the Seniors, were much bent on the undertaking. I therefore relinquished it in their favour. But I always intended to express in my own manner my deep affection for the memory of your husband, and my estimate of his genius as a man of letters and a statesman. This I have attempted to do in this article, and though I am sensible that it falls far short of the subject of it, yet you will discover in it traces and reminiscences of that which was one of the greatest happinesses and honours of my life--our mutual friends.h.i.+p.

_From Lord Brougham_

_Cannes, April 24th_.--I have read the Eton article with great satisfaction, and I really think it must have the best effect. But Ker, to whom I lent my copy of the number, is not quite satisfied; but he takes extreme views. He also thinks you have not ascribed enough to the Education Committee of 1818, or rather to the effect of our being thwarted by Eldon, Peel, &c. But he was very deep in that controversy at the time, having defended the committee in a pamphlet, and I believe also in the 'Edinburgh Review,' and may be apt, therefore, to take an exaggerated view of the subject.

I am still cruelly hurt at the Newton monument being for ever cus.h.i.+oned. If Elwin had remained editor of the 'Quarterly' it would have been taken up, and on right grounds. Indeed, a learned professor had actually prepared a scientific and popular article on the subject; but Elwin retired, and the 'Quarterly Review' will now do nothing. Altogether I believe there never will be a monument to the greatest man that England ever had, or will have.

I am anxious to read the rest of the number, but have only just got it, and I sent it to Ker after I had read the Eton; and I am unwilling to delay thanking you for that.

The Journal notes:--

Went down to Weymouth alone for a few days in May, Read Buckle's second volume on the way.

_June 17th_.--Dinner at Lansdowne House to the Comte de Paris and the Due de Chartres; Elgins, Holfords, Bishop of Oxford, Grotes, &c.

_From Lord Clarendon_

_G. G., June 28th_.--I did not expect that any answer to the Eton article would be attempted, for it was unanswerable; the facts were real facts, and the moderation with which they were stated made them all the more telling.

The commission is the proper corollary to it; and so many parents of ill-educated boys appear to think.

_To Mr. G. Dempster_

_62 Rutland Gate, August 5th_.--In spite of Sir H. Holland's drugs, I see my fate is sealed; and as I cannot even now put on a shoe, it is vain to hope that I shall be able to walk for some time; and, indeed, to avoid relapses, I must undergo a regular cure of Vichy water. Therefore, with extreme regret, I make up my mind to turn my face south, instead of north, as soon as I can move.... I fear that, having lost the present month, there is little hope of our reaching Scotland at all this year.

Accordingly, the Journal has:--

Bad fit of gout in July and August. Went to Vichy on August 10th. The heat was extreme, and the waters made me worse. Thence to Clermont, Pontgibaud, Gergovia. Home on the 31st.

_September 1st_.--To Torry Hill [Lord Kingsdown's]--first time; shot there.

Farnborough; Atherstone; Torry Hill again on the 21st. Stetchworth-good shooting.

_From Lord Clarendon_

_Harpton Court, September 22nd_.--I would have gladly escaped the Prussian mission,[Footnote: For the coronation of the King.] which is not much to my taste, but the Queen insisted, and the Viscount [Footnote: Lord Palmerston.] and the Earl [Footnote: Lord John, created Earl Russell on July 30th, 1861.] attached political importance to it, so I yielded, and Lady C. and Constance and Emily are, also on royal recommendation, to accompany me. The two latter are of an age to like a lark, which is more than their respected parents do. I need not say that my hope of doing any good by a flying visit in the midst of a carousal is exceedingly small; but I know the King well, and shall have no difficulty in telling him what I believe to be the truth concerning his interests.

I am sorry to hear that you have been worried by gout, and that Vichy did you no good. I am inclined to speak well of Wiesbaden, for the glorious weather I had there (94 in the shade always) made the waters effective, and somehow I felt younger; but that pleasant sensation is now rather on the decline.

_From M. Guizot_

Val Richer, 7 Octobre.

My dear Sir,--Votre tante, Madame Austin, qui est ici depuis quinze jours, a fait hier, en se promenant dans une pet.i.te voiture trainee par un ane, et qu'elle menait elle-meme, une chute dans laquelle elle s'est fait, au coude du bras droit, une luxation qui nous a fait craindre d'abord une fracture grave. Mon medecin de Lisieux, que j'ai envoye chercher sur le champ, a reduit la luxation, c'est-a-dire ramene les os du coude dans leur emboitement naturel. Pet.i.te operation fort douloureuse, mais simple et sans gravite au fond. Madame Austin en sera quitte pour deux ou trois semaines de repos et d'immobilite absolue de son bras, qui est contenu dans des eclisses. Au premier moment, elle a ete fort ebranlee par cet accident.