Earl of Edward Law Ellenborough

“ The Emperor is gone to Moscow to establish order and obedience, for the civil and military authorities are quarrelling, and the troops are unwilling to form the cordon. All cordons I believe to be fruitless. It would be as wise to form a cordon against the wind. The disease advances, however, along the high roads and navigable rivers. It is the most extraordinary plague we have had.
Prussia cannot act for fear of disorders at home, and Austria is literally the only power to which war is possible. The French dare not go to war for fear of a Republic. ”

“ O'Connell published yesterday an argument on his right to sit in the House of Commons in the shape of a letter to the members. At first Lord Grey thought it unanswerable (as founded on the provisions of the Relief Bill) ; but at night he told me he had looked into the Bill and found it certainly excluded him. A large portion of the letter is quite absurd, that in which he assumes a right to have his claim decided in a court of law. Parliament alone is by common law the court in which the privileges of its own members can be decided. ”

“ It seems the French do not like the idea of giving to the Turks the option of an independent State with smaller limits, or of a State under Suzeraineté with extended limits, contrary to the treaty, and sending at the same time secret instructions to the Ambassadors to insist upon the entire independence of the new Greek State. The French seem likewise to have been offended at the protocol having been settled between Russia and us, before they were called in to give their opinion. No wonder. Certainly our diplomacy has not succeeded. We have failed in all our objects. ”

“ The Duke objects to any removal of the seat of government to the upper provinces. It would there be exposed to the sudden inroads of cavalry. In India a cloud of cavalry rises like a squall in the Mediterranean. At Calcutta the Government, protected by the rivers, is safe, and always accessible from England. ”

“ This we do not, if we permit a frequent change of the Executive; if we diminish the power of the Crown while in the hands of a Regency. We want to give stability to the Government, and this can only be given by making the Queen Regent. If we do that we provide, as far as human wisdom can, for a stable Government of seven years.
We can in no case name any other person than the Queen, because she may become pregnant, and in that event it would be monstrous to make the Duchess of Kent Regent. All we can do, then, is to give the King the option of choosing the Queen or the Duchess of Kent. ”

“ It was this disobedience which was the chief source of increased expenditure. It arose in a great measure from the unequal hand which had been held over them—the indulgence of the Court of Directors—and the great delays in the communication with India arising out of the system of correspondence. I had endeavoured to remedy that, and hoped to get an answer to letters within the year. It was now two years and a half. I had likewise endeavoured to make arrangements for steam communication by the Red Sea. I hoped to be able to send a letter to Bombay in sixty days. ”

“ Without a guarantee we may succeed in bringing the great States to an understanding that the distribution of the Turkish territories, in the event of the falling to pieces of that State, must be a subject for the decision of a Congress.
Austria has expressed herself very frankly. She is ready to do anything. She sees the danger and desires to know our view of it. The real view of France does not seem to be very different; but there is no dependence to be placed upon a Government trembling for its life. ”

“ I should say from all I have read to-day that if France should make an aggressive movement all Europe would be united against her as in 1813; but if she remain quiet within her own frontier no Power will wish to molest her.
It is satisfactory to observe the increased prudence and reasonableness of the great States; their general union, and the deference which in the hour of danger they all show to the opinion of England.
There are some apprehensions, I hear, of riots at Manchester. There is no cause for them. All men can get work. ”

“ Holland ready to march upon Brussels.
I shall not be satisfied unless some of the Bruxellois are hanged for pillage.
The answers of the King seem to have been firm and judicious.
It is impossible not to admire the constancy of the troops, who bivouacked for eight days in the park.
The French Government seems too weak or too timid to prevent outrage in Paris. The printers' devils will have no machinery for printing! It is entertaining to see those who make all revolutions suffer by them. ”

“ If this Revolution takes the line of union with France, war is almost inevitable. It may be only for a more popular form of Government, but what the people of the Netherlands desire is annexation to a great State. They are ashamed of being Dutch.
Most fortunately all our manufacturers are in full employment, and the harvest is abundant. The peace and constitution of England have depended upon fine weather.
Clare, from whom I heard to-day, tells me Lord Wellesley assures him there is to be a Revolution in Spain, and named the day. The nobles are supposed to be at the head of it. ”

“ I have always been for getting out of the treaty. We have been dragged along very unwillingly—we have been subjected to much humiliation. We seem to me to have gained nothing by all our compliances. We have been led on from the violation of one principle to that of another. Our position has discouraged Turkey. We have been made the tools of Russia, and have been duped with our eyes open. ”

“ I spoke of course of the wish entertained by the Ministers that a Society might prosper the interests of which were so much connected with those of the Established Church—of their determination in their several departments to further its objects. It was the duty of us all as Christians, but more peculiarly that of the Ministers, to advance objects intimately connected with the individual happiness of the people and with the stability of the State. ”

“ At dinner at Lord Rosslyn's the Duke said the French Government could not go on as it was. The chief of the National Guard necessarily commanded everything. The National Guard might become janissaries. I think the Government may go on as it is in form, but it will vary in substance from day to day. Management, a little good fortune, and a few examples of determination may make it a fair Government; a single error may produce anarchy.
The Duke gave an excellent account of the feeling at Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham. ”

“ I accede to the principle; but I doubt whether taxes on consumption do really press more heavily on the poor man than an income tax. What he has to look to is not the actual price of the article he wants, but the proportion which his wages bear to that price. It matters little to him what the price of candles may be, if he has not money wherewith to purchase them. ”

“ It seemed to me that the members of the House of Commons were all in favour of the income tax; all the Peers against it. The Duke was strongly against it. He apprehended the reduction of establishments, and particularly the pressure of the tax on men of 1,200 pounds a year, and under.
If I imposed the income tax, I would make it the means of a thorough reconciliation between the higher and lower classes. In this manner only would it be effectual and make a strong Government.
I object greatly to Goulburn's deductions from the old income tax. He excepts occupiers ”

“ I should say things looked ill everywhere, and unless we can make the Emperor of Russia fear a convulsion in France, and determine to recede from some of his stipulations with Turkey to satisfy the rest of Europe, we shall have war, and war under the most unfavourable circumstances—that is, if Austria be not as pusillanimous as she may be weak, for she ought never to consent to the establishment of the Russians on the Danube. ”

“ My reason for thinking the officers of Government should be permitted to be concerned in the press is this, that if none but those who are unconnected with the Government, and who, according to the existing system, cannot be connected with it, manage the press, the probability is that everything will be said against the Government and nothing for it. ”

“ The French seem heartily sick of Algiers. It costs a great deal of money. Tropical products will not grow there. The climate does not suit the French troops, who have besides a most extraordinary maladie de pays. They must send 15,000 men more there to maintain it, as now they have no more than the town. They are willing to give it up to the Sultan if he will renounce tribute, &c.
I never considered the acquisition of importance to France. I always felt we might vex the French to death by the use of a little money which would at any time have brought forward all the Arabs from the desert. ”

“ Read the collection respecting the health of the King's troops. It is incredible to me that so many things should remain to be done—nothing seems to have been done that ought to have been done. I fear our finances make the building of new barracks impossible at present. We could not build proper barracks for all the European troops in India much under a million. Still much may be done for their health. ”

“ I rode home with the Duke, who spoke of Lord Londonderry as a madman. He said Peel had not taken a sufficiently high line. He did not like the position he stood in in the House of Commons. The Duke said no Government was ever beaten by its enemies, but many have been by their friends. ”

“ The Duke showed me a draft letter he had written for Aberdeen to Lord Stuart, informing the French Government that the King of the Netherlands had required the assistance of his allies to re-establish his authority in Belgium. That it was as much the interest of France as of other Powers to put down a revolution not carried on by the higher or the middle, but by the lowest classes of the people. That we were desirous of concerting with France, as one of the contracting parties to the Treaty of Vienna, what course should be now adopted. ”

“ It seems there is a great hitch about Prince Leopold's nomination as Prince Sovereign of Greece. The French have now proposed it. We desire it. Russia acquiesces. We have always declared we did not care who was Prince Sovereign of Greece, but we were resolved never to acknowledge as such a man in whom we had not confidence. Some time ago the King of Prussia applied through the Grand Duke of Mecklenburgh to the King for his vote in favour of Prince Charles of Mecklenburgh, the brother of the late Queen of Prussia and of the Duchess of Cumberland. ”

“ The Duke of Brunswick does not much like abdicating. The Duke of Wellington thought he had brought him to make his brother Governor-General for his life, retaining the succession for his children. However, Aberdeen seems to have blundered him back again. He is to go to see the King on Saturday. The King desired he might come early, that he might not be obliged to have him to dinner, and he desired Aberdeen would remain in the room.
Pozzo thinks the French Government is gaining strength; but they are very inefficient in preventing armed men from assembling on the frontiers of Spain. ”

“ William Bankes, whose father did us most mischief on Monday, and who did not vote with us, came to ask the Chancellor for a living to-day!
Lord Grey was much agitated when he was with the King, and has expressed himself as very much struck by the strong terms in which the King declared his approbation of his late Ministers.
My fear is that the Whigs will not be able to form a Government. It is of much importance to the country that their incompetence should be exhibited, and the fallacy of the grounds upon which they have been attempting to obtain popular favour. ”

“ The French think that, if they stand still, the fruit will fall into their mouths. The folly of the Prince of Orange will ruin his party in Belgium. The ambition of the Belgians will induce them to attempt to form a separate State, which after much disorder will be found impracticable; and as they will not become Dutch, they will become French. Then we shall have a war, and present forbearance only postpones it. All the Volunteers who are acting in Belgium are French. All the forces in the field are commanded by Frenchmen. French money is employed. ”