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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 November 2009
Steady progress all through the day, more and quieter sleep, food, general repose. I trust now all will go well.
464 A proposal to exchange Gambia for French territory – a move which would have simplified Gold Coast administration.
465 See Vincent, Derby, II, p. 189.
466 The previous night, Carnarvon wrote to Hardy, warning of possible trouble in the Cape, ‘I must bring the matter before the Cabinet tomorrow. It would be of very great advantage [. . .] if another Regiment should be allowed to stop at the Cape, if only for the next three or four months’ (Carnarvon to Hardy, 9 February 1875: CP, TNA, PRO 30/6/12, fo. 33). On 16 February, Carnarvon had appointed Wolseley to act as a special commissioner for six months in Natal (see Carnarvon to Disraeli, 16 February 1875 (copy): CP, BL 60703, fo. 78).
467 The Elementary Education (Compulsory Attendance) Bill was defeated on its second reading in June. In Sandon's Act of 1876, employers were unable to hire youths under ten years of age. Parents were also obliged to ensure that their children received sufficient elementary instruction.
468 Sclater Booth obtained an amendment of the sanitary laws in 1874 to strengthen his department's powers.
469 Princess Alexandra wished to accompany her husband but, as Derby pointed out, ‘whether she goes or not, the P. is sure to run after women’ (Vincent, Derby, II, p. 203).
470 After Froude returned from the Cape in February 1875, Carnarvon concluded that a conference made up of the colonies should be held. Sir Henry Barkly, Governor of Cape Colony, was to be chairman and Froude would be Carnarvon's representative. See Dunn, James Anthony Froude, II, pp. 412–413.
471 Sir James Ferguson (1832–1907), Con. MP for Ayrshire (1854, 1857–1865) and for Manchester North-east (1885–1906), Permanent Under-Secretary at the Home Office (1867–1868), Governor of South Australia (1869–1870) and of New Zealand (1870–1875), Postmaster-General (1891–1892).
472 Odo William Leopold Russell (1829–1884), 1st Baron Ampthill (1881), diplomat, Assistant Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office (1870), ambassador at Berlin (1871–1874).
473 Alexander II met Wilhelm I in Berlin the following day.
474 Thomas François Burgers (1834–1881), President of the Transvaal (1872–1877).
475 At a further interview on 11 May, Carnarvon gave Burgers a copy of his despatch concerning the proposed conference. Burgers, according to Carnarvon, ‘approved of every word and that he would give me every support and assistance in his power’ (Diary, 11 May 1875).
476 Maj.-Gen. Sir Henry Frederick Ponsonby (1825–1895), private secretary to the Queen (1870–1895).
477 Carnarvon's wife, Evelyn, had died on 25 January, as a result of complications following childbirth. The Queen wrote in her journal after the meeting, ‘Saw poor Lord Carnarvon, who was very much affected in speaking of his terrible loss and who looks thin and ill, but is touchingly resigned. He spoke of his wife, a rare character and great love of her home life’ (Queen Victoria, Journal, 9 May 1875: Royal Archives, Z/381).
478 See previous entry.
479 A Royal Commission on the practice of subjecting live animals to experiments for scientific purposes, chaired by Lord Cardwell, was established on 22 June 1875 and reported on 8 January 1876. See E. Hopley, Campaigning against Cruelty: the hundred year history of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (London, 1998), pp. 4–5.
480 Much public criticism had been generated over a recent legal decision that meant that the Brighton Aquarium and other places of public amusement could not be open on Sundays for money. The situation was saved by a government bill that was hastily passed through Parliament.
481 Thomas Salt (1830–1904), banker, Con. MP for Stafford (1859–1865, 1869–1880, 1886–1892), Parliamentary Secretary to the Local Government Board (1876–1880), created Baronet (1899). Salt took a great interest in the Friendly Societies Bill, which reached the Committee and Report stages on 13 May, and received its third reading on 22 July: Hansard, CCXXIV, passim.
482 Sir Henry Barkly (1815–1898), Governor and Commander-in-Chief, British Guiana (1848–1853), Capt.-Gen. and Governor of Jamaica (1853–1856), Governor of Victoria (1856–1863), of Mauritius (1863–1870), and of the Cape of Good Hope (1870–1877).
483 Lieut.-Gen. Sir Arthur Augustus Cunynghame (1812–1884), Commander-in-Chief, Cape Colony, Natal, and St Helena (1874–1878), Lieutenant-Governor of Cape Colony (1877–1878). His vigorous campaigns against the Kaffirs are described in his My Command in South Africa, 1874–78 (London, 1879).
484 See Salisbury to Carnarvon, 29 May 1875: CP, BL 60761, fo. 125. Earlier in 1875 the Gaekwar of Baroda was alleged to have tried to poison the Resident, Colonel Robert Phayre. A commission, consisting of three British and three native members, disagreed, and a not guilty verdict was returned. Lord Northbrook, the Viceroy, nevertheless ordered his deposition, a move which the Cabinet later endorsed. See Mallet, B., Thomas George, Earl of Northbrook (London, 1908), pp. 92–96Google Scholar.
485 Particularly the Vivisection Commission and the Master and Servants Bill (Carnarvon to Cross, 27 May 1875: Cross Papers, BL 51268, fos 99–109).
486 Carnarvon was involved because the itinerary included a visit to Ceylon (Lee, Edward VII, I, p. 377).
487 Sir Henry Bartle Frere (1815–1884), Governor of Bombay (1862–1867), Governor and High Commissioner, Cape Colony (1877–1880).
488 Susanna Stephanie Innes-Ker, wife of 6th Duke of Roxburgh.
489 Joseph Lister (1827–1912), Professor of Clinical Surgery, Edinburgh University (1869–1877), pioneer of antiseptic surgery.
490 Carnarvon subsequently brought forward a bill on 22 May 1876 ‘to prevent Cruel Experiments on Animals’. It received its third reading in June after much opposition. See Carnarvon to Queen Victoria, 21 June 1876: CP, TNL, PRO 30/6/2, fos 298–299.
491 Lady Margaret Herbert (1870–1958), Carnarvon's second daughter from his first marriage.
492 Lady Winifred Anne Herbert (1864–1933), Carnarvon's eldest daughter.
493 Carnarvon's mother reminded him of her children's visit to Windsor many years previously to see the Duchess of Kent: ‘You had all practised so carefully, walking out of the room backwards, that she was exceedingly amused, and specially at your addressing her with a profound bow and “Yes, Your Royal Family.”’ (Henrietta, 3rd Countess of Carnarvon to Carnarvon, 29 June 1875: CP, BL 61044, fos 17–18).
494 The Queen objected particularly to the inclusion in the party of Lord Charles Beresford and Lord Carrington. After a stormy interview with Disraeli in Downing Street, the Prince was eventually allowed to name them in the party of eighteen men accompanying him (see P. Magnus, King Edward the Seventh (Harmondsworth, 1967), pp. 173–174). From the outset, Victoria had given ‘a very unwilling’ consent to the Prince of Wales's visit (Queen Victoria to Disraeli, 17 May 1875: Hughenden Papers, dep. 78/3, fo. 267).
495 Thomas George Baring (1826–1904), 2nd Baron Northbrook (1866), 1st Earl Northbrook (1876), Under-Secretary of State for War (1861, 1868–1872), for India (1861–1864), and for the Home Office (1864–1866), Viceroy and Governor-General of India (1872–1876), First Lord of the Admiralty (1880–1885).
496 Hon. Edward Stanhope (1840–1893), Con. MP for Mid-Lincolnshire (1874–1885) and for Horncastle division (1885–1895), Vice-President, Committee of Council on Education (1885), President of the Board of Trade (1885–1886), Secretary of State for War (1887–1892).
497 Motion to relinquish the prerogative of and power of creating future peers of Ireland: Hansard, CCXXV, 7 July 1875, cols 1210–1213, Cairns, cols 1214–1224. The motion was withdrawn.
498 Sir Joseph Whitworth (1803–1887), Manchester steel manufacturer.
499 ‘The Royal Masonic Institute for Boys’, The Times, 8 July 1875, p. 5.
500 Henry Fawcett (1833–1884), Lib. MP for Brighton (1865–1874) and for Hackney (1874–1884), Postmaster-General (1880–1884), Professor of Political Economy, Cambridge University from 1863.
501 Revd Edward Stuart Talbot (1844–1934), First Warden, Keble College, Oxford (1869–1888), Vicar of Leeds (1889–1895), Bishop of Rochester (1895–1905), Bishop of Southwark (1905–1911), Bishop of Winchester (1911–1923), cousin of Salisbury. His wife, Lavinia (1848–1939), was one of the daughters of George, 4th Baron Lyttelton and Mary Glynne. For a description of the Talbots, see B. Askwith, The Lytteltons: a family chronicle of the nineteenth century (London, 1975), pp. 171–172.
502 George Robert Herbert (1850–1895), 13th Earl of Pembroke (1862), Under-Secretary of State for War (1874–1875), brother-in-law of Talbot.
503 Hansard, CCXXV, 19 July 1875, cols 1637–1640. The supply and transport of Indian and Chinese coolies, and the terms and conditions of their employment in foreign colonies, was a longstanding interest of Carnarvon. A royal commission on the subject was appointed and Carnarvon subsequently issued twenty-seven recommendations to governors on the regulation of such traffic.
504 The Agricultural Holdings Bill, to give legal recognition to tenants’ rights, received the Royal Assent on 13 August.
505 On 24 June 1874, Plimsoll had promoted a Shipping Survey Bill to strengthen the existing legislation, but it was defeated by three votes in the Commons on its second reading in June 1874. It was announced that the Merchant Shipping Bill would not be proceeded with. Plimsoll created a scene in the Commons, using terms such as ‘cheats’ and ‘liars’. For an eye-witness account of the incident, see R.H. Dana, Hospitable England in the Seventies: the diary of a young American, 1875–1876 (London, 1921), pp. 28–29. In order to dampen growing public and political opposition, an Unseaworthy Ships Bill was introduced by the Government in July 1875.
506 Meeting with Charles Gavard, first secretary to the French ambassador, on the proposed exchange of West African territories.
507 The Unseaworthy Ships Bill received its second reading in the Commons that day: Hansard, CCXXVI, 30 July 1875, cols 225–267. It received the Royal Assent on 13 August.
508 John Douglas Campbell Lorne (1845–1914), Lib. MP for Argyllshire (1868–1878), married Queen Victoria's fourth daughter, Princess Louise (1871), Governor-General of Canada (1878–1883).
509 See Carnarvon's detailed memorandum to the Queen on possible health hazards: Carnarvon to Queen Victoria, 27 July 1875: Royal Archives, T/6.
510 Sir Robert Meade (1835–1898), Assistant Under-Secretary at the Colonial Office (1871–1892), Permanent Secretary at the Colonial Office (1892–1896).
511 Sir Joseph Fayrer (1824–1907), Surgeon-General and Professor of Surgery, Medical College, Calcutta (1859–1874). He accompanied the Prince of Wales on the Indian tour.
512 William Parker Charsley (1824–1881), former Principal Medical Officer, Ceylon.
513 Col. Valentine Baker (1827–1887) had recently received a one-year prison sentence for assaulting a young woman in a train. See London Gazette, 2 August 1875.
514 Douglas Galton (1822–1899), Director of Public Works since 1869.
515 Sir Henry Thring (1818–1907), Parliamentary draftsman, counsel to the Treasury (1869), created Baron Thring (1886).
516 On 1 April, Wolseley had replaced the dismissed Benjamin Pine, Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, to restore order in the country.
517 Lady Gwendoline Herbert (1842–1915), Carnarvon's younger sister.
518 That same day Carnarvon told Ponsonby, ‘I am very tired out with London work, and the smell of bad drains at the corner of every street, and an atmosphere from which all the oxygen seems to have been exhausted’ (Carnarvon to Ponsonby, 11 August 1875: CP, TNL, PRO 30/6/2, fo. 19).
519 Revd James Cameron Lees (1834–1913), preacher, Paisley Abbey (1859–1879), chaplain to Queen Victoria (1881–1901).
520 Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (1831–1917), married Princess Helena, third daughter of Queen Victoria (1866).
521 Gregory's financial position was already precarious. This was made worse by the fact that governors of colonies receiving a royal visit were expected to provide hospitality out of their own pockets. For the Prince, Gregory reluctantly purchased carriage horses from Australia and imported wines and cognacs in quantities sufficient ‘to float an ironclad’ (B. Jenkins, Sir William Gregory of Coole: the biography of an Anglo-Irishman (Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, 1986), p. 245).
522 Sir Arthur Birch (1837–1914), Colonial Secretary, Ceylon (1873–1876), Governor of Ceylon from 1876.
523 Francis Knollys (1837–1924), Baron Knollys (1902), 1st Viscount Knollys (1911). Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII (1870–1910), Joint Private Secretary to George V (1910–1913).
524 Heneage Finch (1849–1885), 7th Earl of Aylesford (1871), known as ‘Sporting Joe’, was a personal guest in the Prince's party. In February 1876, while in India, his wife announced that she was eloping with another of the Prince's friends, Lord Blandford. For the subsequent scandalous events, see G. St Aubyn, Queen Victoria: a portrait (London, 1991), pp. 471–473.
525 Canon Robinson Duckworth (1834–1911), Fellow, Trinity College, Oxford (1860–1876), Canon of Westminster Abbey (1875–1911), and friend of Lewis Carroll (he appears as the Duck in Alice in Wonderland).
526 Ponsonby remarked to his wife, ‘Carnarvon is in a funk [. . .] as to whether he should let the Prince go at all’ (Ponsonby to Lady Ponsonby, 15 September 1875: Royal Archives, Add. A36/963).
527 Lady Jennie Churchill (1851–1921), wife of Lord Randolph Churchill, whom she married in 1874.
528 Selina Louisa Bridgeman (1819–1894), wife of Orlando George Charles Bridgeman, 3rd Earl of Bradford.
529 The Circular on Fugitive Slaves was issued by the Admiralty on 31 July. It countermanded previous instructions and stated that slaves on board Royal Navy ships in territorial waters should be given up to their owners if requested.
530 Carnarvon to Disraeli, 5 October 1875: Hughenden Papers, dep. 100/1, fos 18–19. See also Carnarvon to Derby, 4 October 1875: Derby Papers, 920 (DER 15) 16/2/4.
531 Replying from France, Salisbury admitted, ‘I was as much startled as you at the Admiralty circular. I cannot conceive who drafted it’ (Salisbury to Carnarvon, 5 October 1875: CP, BL 60758, fo. 162).
532 See Buckle, Disraeli, V, pp. 364–365.
533 Frederick Greenwood (1830–1909), editor of The Queen (1861–1863), of the Cornhill Magazine (1862–1868), and of the Pall Mall Gazette (1865–1880), founder of the St James's Gazette (1880).
534 Sir Steven Cave (1820–1880), Judge-Advocate-General and Paymaster-General since 1874, resigned because of ill-health in December 1875 and was sent on a special mission to Egypt. Carnarvon told Derby, ‘Cave, I believe [is] the best man in every way. He knows too the office and the subject’ (Carnarvon to Derby, 12 October 1875: Derby Papers, 920 (DER 15) 17/2/5).
535 In the event, Sclater Booth remained at the Local Government Board and Adderley at the Board of Trade until August 1878.
536 Northbrook had written to Salisbury at the India Office on 15 September asking him to lay before the Queen his request to resign his office in the spring of 1876.
537 HMS Vanguard had sunk off Iceland after a collision with HMS Iron Duke on 1 September. A controversial court martial cleared Admiral Tarleton, who was in charge of the squadron, and relieved Lieutenant Evans, who was on watch on HMS Iron Duke at the time of the collision, of responsibility. The Admiralty later reversed the decisions, causing offence to public opinion.
538 Sir John Walter Tarleton (1811–1880), Vice-Admiral (1875), retired 1879.
539 On 18 August, the Royal yacht Alberta, with the Queen on board, collided with a schooner, the Mistletoe, in the Solent, leading to two deaths. An Admiralty court of inquiry had exonerated the Alberta. This incident greatly distressed the Queen. On a visit to Balmoral shortly afterwards, Carnarvon observed, ‘Dined with the Queen who after dinner could talk of little else than the Mistletoe collision’ (Diary, 11 September 1875).
540 Disraeli to Carnarvon, 5 November 1875: CP, BL 60763, fos 108–109.
541 Carnarvon to Disraeli, 5 November 1875: Hughenden Papers, dep. 79/1, fo. 200.
542 James Wheeler Woodford Birch, British Resident, was murdered on 2 November. See Burns, P.L., The Journals of J.W.W. Birch, First British Resident to Perak, 1874–1875 (Kuala Lumpur and London, 1976), pp. 36–37Google Scholar.
543 Relations with China had deteriorated following the assassination in February of Augustus Raymond Margary of the Chinese consulate service and the tardiness of the Chinese government in agreeing to Britain's demand to establish a trade route across China from Burma.
544 Carnarvon wrote to Disraeli on 8 November declining the post (Carnarvon to Disraeli, 8 November 1875: Hughenden Papers, dep. 79/1, fo. 208).
545 Telegram detailing troop movements, Carnarvon to Ponsonby, 10 November 1875: Royal Archives, P24/170. Sir William Jervois (1821–1897), the High Commissioner, had issued a proclamation annexing Perak, contrary to Carnarvon's and the Cabinet's approval: this led to an uprising. On 7 December, a British force attacked a stockade, killing between sixty and eighty people. The commanding officers were Major-General Francis Colborne (1817–1895), commander in Hong Kong and the Straits Settlements, and General Sir John Ross (1829–1905), commander of the Laruf Field Force, Malay Peninsula from 1875.
546 A Highways Bill was introduced in April 1876 but failed in July.
547 The Commander-in-Chief of the Army, the Duke of Cambridge, informed Carnarvon, ‘I wrote to [General Sir Richard] Airey to suggest that Gen. Colborne should be ordered to have command’ (Duke of Cambridge to Carnarvon, 12 November 1875: CP, TNA, PRO 30/6/14, fo. 187). On 12 November, the Cabinet decided to leave Colborne in charge (Carnarvon to Duke of Cambridge, 12 November 1875: Royal Archives, Add. E1/747).
548 Sir Richard John Cartwright (1835–1912), Canadian Finance Minister (1873–1878), acting Prime Minister (1897, 1907).
549 Carnarvon to Jervois, 13 November 1875 (copy): CP, BL 60761, fos 137–138. On the same day, Carnarvon informed the Queen that he had written to Jervois on three successive days for ‘clear and full explanations of his intentions and objects, without a reply’ (Carnarvon to Queen Victoria, 13 November 1875: Royal Archives, P24/175). Salisbury commented, ‘A more unsatisfactory explanation of a war I never read’ (Salisbury to Carnarvon, 13 November 1875: CP, TNL, PRO 30/6/10). Matters were made worse by the breaking of the telegraph wire between Madras and Penang. Carnarvon remarked, ‘It deprives me of all real control over Jervois who will now, I presume carry out his annexation scheme’ (Diary, 15 November 1875).
550 Lady Derby had written two days earlier, ‘I know the secret – but only this evening. Robert told Stanley yesterday. You can't think how well I diplomatised last night to discover if S. knew anything’ (Lady Derby to Carnarvon, 12 November 1875: CP, BL 60765, fo. 98). Disraeli had consulted Salisbury about Northbrook's successor from the outset. Lady Derby asked Disraeli as early as 5 November if there was any truth in the rumour about Northbrook's resignation (Buckle, Disraeli, V, p. 436).
551 Following the meeting, the order was given to increase the force to 3,000 men, including two regiments of Indian troops (Carnarvon to Ponsonby, 16 November 1875: Royal Archives, P 25/1).
552 Ishmael Pasha (1830–1895), Khedive of Egypt (1867), deposed in 1879.
553 The Suez Canal was completed in 1869 by Ferdinand de Lesseps (1805–1894). Of the 400,000 ordinary shares of the canal, the Khedive held almost half. Frederick Greenwood, editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, informed Derby on 15 November that the bankrupt Khedive was about to sell his shares to a French company.
554 Gen. Sir Edward Stanton (1827–1907), agent and Consul-General of Egypt.
555 Carnarvon, as was his practice when decisions had to be made, drew up a memorandum stating the pros and cons of accepting. See ‘Memorandum as to Admiralty’, 17 November 1875: CP, BL 60763, fos 119–121.
556 Sir Henry Thurstan Holland (1825–1914), Con. MP for Midhurst (1874–1885) and for Hampstead (1885–1888), Financial Secretary to the Treasury (1885), Vice-President, Committee of Council on Education (1885–1886), Colonial Secretary (1887–1892), 1st Viscount Knutsford (1895).
557 George Stovin Venables (1810–1888), journalist and barrister. Contributed to the Saturday Review (1855) and The Times (1857–1888).
558 ‘Sir W. Jervois must of course be disapproved for an act which, intentionally or not, is subordinate in the highest degree’ (Carnarvon to Queen Victoria, 24 November 1875: Royal Archives, P25/5).
559 Disraeli triumphantly wrote to the Queen, ‘It is just settled: you have it, Madam. The French Government has been out-generaled’ (Buckle, Disraeli, V, p. 448). Carnarvon wrote at length to Disraeli four days later, urging that the government ‘pause before we make a gratuitous offer to share the advantage we have secured with others’ (Carnarvon to Disraeli, 29 November 1875: Hughenden Papers, dep. 100/1, fo. 124). He also told Heathcote, ‘We firmly believe the value of the move was moral and political rather than financial’ (Carnarvon to Heathcote, 26 November 1875: CP, BL 61074, fo. 4).
560 The telegram was sent by Carnarvon to Disraeli before the Cabinet meeting (Carnarvon to Disraeli, 25 November 1875: CP, BL 60763, fos 122–124).
561 In fact, Ward Hunt remained at the Admiralty until August 1877. Lord Henry Lennox (1821–1886), Disraeli's protégé, proved a failure as First Commissioner of Works and left the Government in August 1876. For an example of Lennox's incompetence, see Lord Redesdale, Memories, 2 vols (London, 1915), II, pp. 683–684.
562 ‘You will have seen this morning that the cat is out of the bag and that the Papers have heard of our financial operation’ (Carnarvon to Hardy, 26 November 1875: CP, TNL, PRO 30/6/12).
563 The Prince and his party left for India on 11 October and landed at Bombay on 8 November. From there he travelled to Goa and Ceylon, reaching Colombo on 1 December.
564 Carnarvon to Salisbury, 30 November 1875 (copy): CP, TNA, PRO 30/6/10, fos 73–74. Parliament had allowed £52,000 to be spent on the Prince's transport and another £60,000 for personal expenditure, including gifts to native rulers.
565 See Northcote to Carnarvon, 18 December 1875: CP, TNA, PRO 30/6/7, fos 107–108.
566 In November, the Cabinet decided to undertake legislation on compulsory education. Richmond, the Lord President, insisted that he should introduce the bill in the Lords. Sandon, his Vice-President, was equally adamant that he should introduce it in the Commons. Disraeli had to intervene and the bill was dropped. To Sandon's satisfaction the bill was accepted by the Cabinet on 2 February 1876. See P. Gordon, ‘Lords President and Vice-Presidents of the Committee of Council on Education: personalities and policies, 1856–1902’, in D. Halpin and P. Walsh (eds), Educational Commonplaces: essays to honour Denis Lawton (London, 2005), pp. 164–167.
567 Carnarvon to Lytton, 16 December 1875: Lytton Papers, Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies, D/Ek c 36/47. Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton (1831–1891), 1st Earl of Lytton (1880), was offered the Viceroyalty on 13 December, after the post had been refused by the Earl of Powis, Manners, and Carnarvon. Lytton accepted on 5 January 1876. Derby doubted the wisdom of the appointment on account of his ‘weak health and a dreamy absent habit of mind’ (Vincent, Derby, II, p. 265).