Lady John Russell Part 27

_Lady John to Lord John Russell_

PEMBROKE LODGE, _October_ 11, 1860

I found two letters from you here.... So you are fairly on your journey and safe so far. And here I am with my large detachment, all well and merry, and all at dear beloved home again after our wanderings. I am so thankful, and I hope to be still more so in five days, when I am no longer doomed to sing "There's nae luck about the house," as I have done daily for three weeks.... That you should have killed a wild boar is all but incredible, and makes me expect to see you with a long moustache and green _f.a.ger_ costume.

In April, 1861, Lord John's second daughter, Victoria, married Mr.

Villiers, son of the Bishop of Durham. Lady John wrote some verses to her on her marriage which are published in Walpole's "Life of Lord John Russell."

In May the Duke of Bedford died. The Duke had been Lord John's close friend, and had often advised him at the beginning of his career. He was one of those influential n.o.blemen who watch politics with unflagging interest, but without the smallest desire to take an active part in them.

It was his pride and pleasure to know the ins and outs of a situation perhaps even better than some of the princ.i.p.al actors in it, and his judgment was always at his brother's service. On his death Lord John inherited the Ardsalla estate in Ireland. The loss of his brother precipitated perhaps an intention he had considered for some time of saving his strength by accepting a peerage, and exchanging the strenuous life of the House of Commons for the lighter work of the House of Lords. The exchange was effected in July, when Lord John became Earl Russell.

"Very dismal about the peerage," writes Lady John in her diary, "and seeing only the sad side of it.... John made a fine speech on Sardinia, perhaps his last in the House of Commons."

_Lady Minto [55] to Lady John Russell_

_July_ 20, 1861

...It is impossible not to feel _very sad_ in parting with a name which has so long been the rallying point of the Liberal party, the watchword of all those who in our day have fought the good fight, and, whatever name he may bear, it will never carry to English ears the same sound as "Lord John." People older than ourselves had looked to it with hope; and in our time, whenever Liberty has been in danger, or truth or justice or the national honour has been attacked, the first question which rose to men's lips was, "What will Lord John do?"....I remember his first speech on the China War in 1856. How empty the House was when he rose, how rapidly it filled to overflowing; then the intense silence which followed the rush, and lastly the overpowering cheers from all sides as he went on. To leave the scene where he has so long wielded at will the, alas! _not fierce_ "democracie" (and it will be milder still without him!) must require immense self-control and self-denial.

[55] Formerly Lady Melgund. Her husband had now succeeded his father as third Earl of Minto.

_Lord John Russell to Lady Minto_

LONDON, _July_ 23, 1861

MY DEAREST NINA,--It seems very bad of us not to have explained duly and deliberately that I have the project resolved upon and decided of accepting a peerage. But there have been many changes in my mind before the final leap was resolved upon. Forty-seven years of the House of Commons are enough for any man, and imply a degree of wear and tear which those who read the speeches listlessly at the breakfast table have little conception of. A reply which is to go to Paris, Petersburg, Turin, and Was.h.i.+ngton requires much presence of mind, and often much previous thought, work, etc. A calmer atmosphere will suit better my old age, but I could not leave my companions on the Treasury Bench while any change was impending, and if I were to wait till 1862 I might again find the s.h.i.+p in a storm, and be loath to take to the boat. About a t.i.tle for Johnny there is still some doubt, but I shall be Earl Russell, and make little change in the signature of

Your affectionate brother,

J. RUSSELL

In August Lord and Lady Russell and their children went to Abergeldie Castle, which had been lent to them for several successive autumns. Their free and happy life in the Highlands was delightful to them all. In October Lady Russell writes: "Left our beautiful Highland home.... Very very thankful for all our happy Abergeldie days."

In the April of this year the American Civil War had broken out, and the Ministry had been obliged to decide the question whether England should recognize the Southerners as "belligerents" or accept the Northern view of them as "rebels." The touchiness of the Northerners, and the fact that in England many people sympathized loudly with the South, made it difficult for the Ministry to maintain the att.i.tude of neutrality, which, while recognizing the Southern Confederacy as a belligerent Power, they had officially declared in May. In November two Commissioners, sent by the Confederacy to put the case of the South before the Courts of Europe, were forcibly seized on board the _Trent_, an English, and therefore a neutral, vessel. This was a breach of international law, and the resentment it provoked in England was increased by the truculent att.i.tude of the North in the face of our demand for the restoration of the Commissioners. The Congress, instead of apologizing, proceeded to pa.s.s a vote of thanks to Captain Wilks for having intercepted the _Trent_.

_Lady Russell to Lady Dunfermline_ [56]

PEMBROKE LODGE, _December_ 13, 1861

When the account of the seizure of the Southern Commissioners first reached us I was afraid of the effect on John's health and spirits, as you may well believe; but, as you say, he could not but feel that there had been no fault on our side, that not a word had been spoken, not a deed done by him but what showed the friendliest feeling to the United States, and the strongest wish to remain at peace with them. I wish the newspapers were blameless; but there was a sneering, exulting tone in many of them after the military disasters of the North which was likely to irritate. Mr. Motley said long ago that the _Times_ would, if possible, work up a war between the two countries, and though I can't speak from my own knowledge, as I have seldom looked at its articles, I have no doubt from what John and others say that he was right.... There can be no doubt that we have done deeds very like that of Captain Wilks--not exactly like, because no two cases ever are so--but I wish we had not done them, and I suppose and hope we shall admit they were very wrong. It is all terrible and awful, and I hope and pray war may be averted--and whatever may have been the first natural burst of indignation in this country, I believe it would be ready to execrate the Ministry if all right and honourable means were not taken to prevent so fearful a calamity.

[56] Her husband, Mr. Ralph Abercromby, was now Lord Dunfermline.

_December_ 19, 1861

John to town to see Mr. Adams [57].... John's interview with Mr.

Adams encouraging. Mr. Adams showed him a dispatch from Mr. Seward declaring Government to be quite uncommitted as to opinion on seizure of Commissioners.

[57] American Minister in London.

In December the Prince Consort died. Almost his last public act was to modify the dispatch sent in reply to the vote in Congress, so that it offered the North an opportunity of relaxing with dignity their uncompromising att.i.tude.

_Lady Russell to Lady Charlotte Portal_

PEMBROKE LODGE, _December_ 24, 1861

I know you, like everybody, must have been thinking much of our poor desolate Queen. Her anguish, her loneliness of heart on that pinnacle of human greatness, must weigh on all who have known how happy she was; but to us who have often seen that lost happiness, it is almost like a grief of our own. I don't believe I have ever seen her take his arm without the thought crossing my mind: "There is the real blessing of your life--that which alone makes you as happy a woman as others in spite of your crown." Everybody must have been full of dread of the effect upon her, but she has borne up n.o.bly--or rather, she has bowed humbly to G.o.d's will, and takes comfort in her children. It must be soothing to her that his rare worth is now fully acknowledged and gratefully felt by the whole nation.

_January_ 7, 1862

John to town at twelve, back at half-past six; dispatches and letters from Lord Lyons of December 26th discouraging, cabinet still considering our demands. Surrender possible, but in Lord Lyons's opinion very unlikely.

_January_ 8, 1862

Telegram to John at 6 p.m. Commissioners surrendered! Thank G.o.d.

General rejoicing in the House.

_Lady Russell to Lady Dunfermline_

PEMBROKE LODGE, _January_ 13, 1862

Well, what do you say to our American triumph? It ought to go far to cure you all. It is long since any political event has given me, my particular self, such unmixed pleasure. For my country, for my husband, and for the other country too, with all its sins, I rejoice with all my heart and soul. John is delighted. He was very anxious up to the last moment.

...We "Plodgians" were all so delighted that it has been a surprise to us to hear of the very tempered joy, or rather the ill-concealed disappointment, of _London society_; but John says London society is always wrong, and I believe the country to be all right.

_Lady Russell to Lady Dunfermline_

LONDON, _February_ 10, 1863

You ask me about Kinglake's book--everybody except ourselves is reading or has read it.... With regard to the sleepy Cabinet dinner at Pembroke Lodge he has from what we hear fallen into great inaccuracy.... John says that the despatch, having been circulated in the Cabinet before that dinner, was already well known to them all. As far as he remembers none but Sir William Molesworth went to sleep. I remember perfectly how several of them told me afterwards about Sir William sleeping and falling from his chair, and we have often laughed about it, but I do not remember being told of anybody else going to sleep. I suppose I shall read the book, but I cannot tell you how I shrink from anything that must recall and make one live over again those terrible months of vacillation and weakness, the consequence of a Coalition Cabinet, which "drifted" us into a most terrible war--a war from which consistency and firmness would have saved us. A thoroughly Aberdeen Ministry would have maintained peace. A thoroughly Russell or Palmerston Ministry would have maintained peace and honour too.

_Lord Russell to Lady Minto_

PEMBROKE LODGE, _July_ 9, 1863

Parliament is coming to an end, most people being tired of talking and everybody of listening.... Lord Chelmsford says in honour of the House of Lords: "The Commons have a great deal to do and they don't do it--the Lords have nothing to do and they do it."

In 1863 relations between England and America were again strained. English vessels were perpetually running the blockade to bring cotton to England and goods to the Southern ports--a risky but highly profitable business.

They were often captured by Northern cruisers and forfeited. There were complaints on our side that the Federal courts were not always careful to distinguish in their decisions between cases of deliberate blockade-running and legitimate trading with ports beyond the Southern frontier. The North, besides blockade-running, had a further cause of complaint. The Confederates were getting cruisers built for them in neutral ports. The most famous case of the kind was that of the _Alabama_, which was built in the Mersey. The English Government had information of its destination, but failed to prevent it sailing--a failure which eventually cost us an indemnity of 3,000,000. The speech referred to in the following letter was made in the midst of these troubles. It was a defence of England's good faith in the matter of the _Alabama_ and an a.s.sertion that Americans should be left to settle their own difficulties without European mediation. At this time the French Government and a strong party in England were in favour of European intervention. By securing the independence of the South, they hoped to diminish the power of the United States in the future. Such an idea could only be entertained while the struggle between North and South seemed evenly balanced. The next year showed the hopelessness of such a project and vindicated the wisdom of the English Government in having refused to attempt to divide America into two independent Powers.

_Mr. William Vernon Harcourt (later Sir William) to Lady Russell_