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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 November 2009
In the evening talked with Lowe80 as to the Reform Bill.81 He spoke of the Whigs as a party with bitterness and of the Govt. with the determination of destroying them if possible somehow. “If your party” he said “are only true the Govt. have not a chance”. Anyhow he and some who act with him on his side of the House are decided to vote against the 2nd. reading.82 He asked me to give him any information I could during the next few days.
80 Robert Lowe (1811–1892), 1st Viscount Sherbrooke (1880), Lib. MP for Kidderminster (1852–1859), for Calne (1859–1868), and for London University (1868–1880), Vice-President, Committee of Council on Education (1859–1861), Chancellor of the Exchequer (1868–1873), Home Secretary (1873–1874).
81 For Lowe's manoeuvring at this time, see Winter, J., Robert Lowe (Toronto, 1976), pp. 217–218Google Scholar.
82 Gladstone, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced that a Reform Bill for England and Wales was to be introduced on 12 March: Hansard, CLXXXI, 5 March 1866, col. 1503.
83 John Thadeus Delane (1817–1879), editor of The Times (1841–1877), wrote to Bernal Osborne, ‘Nobody in the Cabinet except Lord Russell and Gladstone have the least hope or desire of carrying the Reform Bill’ (A.I.D. Dasent, John Thadeus Delane, Editor of “The Times”: his life and correspondence, 2 vols (London, 1908), II, p. 166).
84 John Alexander Thynne (1831–1896), 4th Marquess of Bath (1837). Ambassador to Lisbon (1858) and Vienna (1867).
85 Possibly Henry Edwards (1812–1886), Con. MP for Halifax (1847–1852) and for Beverley (1859–1868), who favoured a reduction in taxes for the working classes.
86 Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox (1819–1903), 6th Duke of Richmond (1860). President of the Poor Law Board (1859), President of the Board of Trade (1867–1869), Lord President of the Council (1874–1880).
87 Charles Cecil John Manners (1815–1888), 6th Duke of Rutland (1857). Con. MP for Stamford (1837–1852) and for North Leicestershire (1852–1857).
88 Alexander Dundas Ross Baillie-Cochrane (1816–1890), 1st Baron Lamington (1880), Con. MP for Isle of Wight (1870–1880).
89 ‘Lord Derby and Disraeli from their side are, I think, doing everything they can to wreck the ship’ (Carnarvon to Sir William Heathcote, 6 March 1866: CP, BL 61070, fo. 150).
90 Lord Francis Charles Douglas Elcho (1818–1914), 10th Earl of Wemyss (1883), Con. MP for Haddingtonshire (1847–1883). Elcho informed Lowe that day, ‘I heard an alarming piece of intelligence last night. The weak and excellent Walpole considers himself pledged to a £6 rating and a £20 in the counties [. . .]. Horsman told me at dinner that he had heard Walpole was shaky. You must look after him’ (Elcho to Lowe, 6 March 1866: Wemyss Papers, Letter 15, fo. 27).
91 John Evelyn Denison (1800–1873), Speaker, House of Commons (1857–1872), 1st Viscount Ossington (1872).
92 The bill was introduced on 1 July 1859, but defeated before its second reading.
93 Parliamentary Oaths Amendment Bill, introduced by Russell in the Commons on 6 April. The bill abolished all distinctions between religious creeds in the House of Commons; it received the Royal Assent on 30 April (Hansard, CLXXXII, 6 April 1866, cols 1322–1355).
94 Sir Stafford Northcote (1818–1887), 1st Earl of Iddesleigh (1885). Con. President of the Board of Trade (1866), Secretary of State for India (1867), Chancellor of the Exchequer (1874–1880), Leader of the House (1876), Leader of the Opposition (1880–1885), First Lord of the Treasury (1885–1886), Foreign Secretary (1886).
95 Lowe had written to Carnarvon on 8 March urging the meeting: ‘Let us defeat the Bill and leave the future prospects of the Government to take care of themselves’ (Lowe to Carnarvon, 8 March 1866: CP, BL 61070, fo. 55).
96 Richard Grosvenor (1795–1869), 2nd Marquess of Westminster (1845), and Hugh Lupus Grosvenor (1825–1899), Lib. MP for Chester (1847–1869), created 1st Duke of Westminster (1874).
97 ‘Intentionally deceitful’ (Latin).
98 Gen. Jonathan Peel (1799–1879), Con. MP for Norwich (1826–1831) and for Huntingdon (1831–1868), Secretary of State for War (1858, 1866–1867).
99 Edward Horsman (1807–1876), Whig MP for Cockermouth (1836–1852), for Stroud (1853–1868), and for Liskeard (1869–1876), Chief Secretary for Ireland (1855–1857). One of the founders, with Lowe, of the Cave of Adullam, in protest against the Reform Bill of 1866.
100 Henry George Vane (1803–1891), 4th Duke of Cleveland (1864); Henry Charles Petty-Fitzmaurice (1845–1927), 5th Marquess of Lansdowne (1866), Under-Secretary of State for India (1880), Governor-General of Canada (1883–1888), Viceroy of India (1888–1894), Secretary of State for War (1895–1900), Foreign Secretary (1900–1905).
101 Thomas Edward Taylor (1811–1883), Con. Chief Whip (1859–1868).
102 10 St James's Square, Derby's London house.
103 Thomas George Anson (1826–1892), 2nd Earl of Lichfield (1854).
104 i.e. Hugh Lupus Grosvenor.
105 Hansard, CLXXXII, 12 March 1866, cols 87–90. ‘Carnarvon called and left a line to say he wished to see me’, wrote Elcho to Lowe, ‘and the sooner the better. I accordingly went to him tonight and had a long talk over the words more as suggested by you. The result is that it may be not only necessary but very desirable. Still it should be made to depend on Grosvenor's resolve as if he asserts it will not be necessary and had better be left alone. Carnarvon is therefore to ask Lord Ellenborough not to give notice. That, if the move is rendered necessary can be done later in the week’ (Elcho to Lowe, 20 March 1866: Wemyss Papers, Letter 20, p. 36). Lowe told Carnarvon, ‘I believe we shall get Grosvenor and if so I think we are safe’ (Lowe to Carnarvon, 20 March 1866: CP, BL 60831, fo. 8).
106 Anthony Ashley-Cooper (1801–1885), 7th Earl of Shaftesbury (1851), social reformer. Held junior offices under Wellington and Peel, but joined the Whig Party in 1847.
107 Shaftesbury had been disillusioned with the Liberal ministry since Palmerston's death (see B.A.M. Finlayson, The Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury, 1801–1885 (London, 1981), p. 468).
108 See also Northcote's diary entry for his version of the meeting (A. Lang, Life, Letters and Diaries of Sir Stafford Northcote, First Earl of Iddesleigh, 2 vols (Edinburgh and London, 1890), I, pp. 256–258).
109 Francis Charles Lawley (1825–1901), journalist and former private secretary to Gladstone, worked for the Daily Telegraph from 1865. See leaders in that paper, 22 March 1866, p. 6, and 23 March 1866, p. 4.
110 The date should probably be Tuesday 17 April.
111 Henry Frederick Beaumont (1835–1892), Lib. MP for West Riding of Yorkshire South (1865–1874) and for Colne Valley (1885–1892).
112 The second reading of the Reform Bill was introduced on 12 April.
113 Henry Arthur Herbert (1815–1866), Lib. MP for Co. Kerry (1847–1866), Chief Secretary for Ireland (1857–1858).
114 Daniel O'Donoghue (1833–1889), MP for Tipperary (1857–1865) and for Tralee (1865–1885), founder of O'Donoghue Party.
115 For Stanley's recollection of this meeting see Vincent, Derby, I, p. 24.
116 The Government had been challenged by the Opposition to postpone the second reading of the Reform Bill. After eight days’ debate, the amendment was defeated by five votes, 318 to 313 (Hansard, CLXXXVIII, 27 April 1866, cols 152–155). Much weakened, the Government remained in office.
117 Hugh Culling Eardley Childers (1827–1896), Lib. MP for Pontefract (1859–1885) and for Edinburgh South (1886–1892), First Lord of the Admiralty (1868–1871); Sir James Emerson Tennent (1804–1869), Permanent Secretary, Poor Law Board (1852), Permanent Secretary, Board of Trade (1852–1867).
118 Grey wrote to Russell the following day, ‘The Queen showed me your letter to her written after yesterday's Cabinet. The only way in which we have any chance of success in carrying the Reform Bill and the only way in which we can bring the question before the House is by placing the matter before the House in a complete form’ (G.P. Gooch, The Later Correspondence of Lord John Russell, 1840–1878, 2 vols (London, 1925), II, pp. 345–346).
119 The previous day, Elcho had hoped to arrange a meeting between Carnarvon and leading members of the Cave, ‘which I hope may lead to a satisfactory settlement of the Reform question next year. I assume that we are thinking of accepting an £8.00 compromise with a view to what is called getting the question out of the way in the present session’ (Elcho to Carnarvon, 5 May 1866: CP, BL 60831, fos 14–15). When Elcho saw Hugh Grosvenor later the same day, the former considered it best ‘not to go to your house, as he has declined a Conference with Bouverie and his friends’ (ibid., fos 18–19).
120 Sir John Somerset Pakington (1799–1880), baronet (1846), 1st Baron Hampton (1874). Con. MP for Droitwich (1837–1874), Secretary of State for War (1852) and for the Colonies (1858–1859), First Lord of the Admiralty (1866).
121 Edward Pleydell-Bouverie (1818–1889), Lib. MP for Kilmarnock (1844–1874), President of the Poor Law Board (1855–1858).
122 Samuel Whitbread (1830–1915), Lib. MP for Bedford (1852–1895), Lord of the Admiralty (1859–1863).
123 Carnarvon set out his views in a lengthy memorandum to Derby: Carnarvon to Derby, 7 May 1866: Derby Papers, 920 DER (14) 163/5A.
124 Hugh MacCalmont Cairns (1819–1885), Baron Cairns of Garmoyle (1867), 1st Earl Cairns (1878). Con. MP for Belfast (1852–1854), Solicitor-General (1858–1859), Lord Justice of Appeal (1866–1868), Lord Chancellor (1868, 1874–1880).
125 Charles Bowyer Adderley (1814–1905), 1st Baron Norton (1878). Con. MP for Staffordshire North (1848–1871), Vice-President, Committee of Council on Education (1858), Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies (1866), President of the Board of Trade (1874–1878).
126 Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy (1814–1906), Viscount Cranbrook of Hemsted (1878), 1st Earl of Cranbrook (1892). President of the Poor Law Board (1866–1867), Secretary of State for the Home Office (1867–1868), for the War Office (1874–1878), and for India (1878–1880), Lord President of the Council (1885–1886, 1886–1892).
127 ‘I feel afraid’, wrote Carnarvon, ‘that an acceptance of the government plan would be our ruin as a party’ (Carnarvon to Derby, 10 May 1866: Derby Papers, 920 DER (14) 163/5A).
128 So–called ‘Black Friday’, with the collapse of the bankers Overend and Gurney.
129 Elcho noted, ‘The situation is upon the whole not unsatisfactory. There has been amongst the Conservative members a danger of a selfish split between Town and Country each threatening to make its own terms with the enemy if occasion required it. This is, I hope and believe, at an end’ (Elcho to Carnarvon, 11 May 1866: CP, BL 60831, fo. 24).
130 Army and Navy Gazette, founded in 1860 by William Howard Russell (1820–1907), war correspondent for The Times (1854–1871).
131 William Henry Smith (1825–1891), Con. MP for Westminster (1868–1885) and for Strand (1885–1891). Financial Secretary to the Treasury (1874–1877), First Lord of the Admiralty (1877–1880), Secretary of State for War (1885–1886), Chief Secretary for Ireland (1886), First Lord of the Treasury and Leader of the House of Commons (1887).
132 George Cubitt (1828–1917), Con. MP for Surrey West (1860–1885) and for Epsom (1885–1892), 1st Baron Ashcombe (1892).
133 John Passmore Edwards (1823–1911), newspaper proprietor and editor of the Echo, and philanthropist. Lib. MP for Salisbury (1880–1885).
134 Dudley Baxter (1827–1875), member of the firm of solicitors Baxter, Rose, Norton & Co, Westminster, parliamentary lawyers since 1860. See H.J. Hanham, Elections and Party Management: politics in the time of Disraeli and Gladstone (Hassocks, Sussex, 1978), pp. 357–358.
135 Markham Spofforth (1825–1907), principal Conservative agent for twenty years.
136 Laura Thistlethwayte, who lived with her husband in Grosvenor Square, and had been well-known in the demi-monde. Gladstone had met her after she experienced a religious conversion to a non-denominational ethical Christianity. She played an important part in Gladstone's emotional explosion in the autumn of 1869, when he was Prime Minister. See H.C.G. Matthew, Gladstone, 1809–1874 (Oxford, 1986), pp. 157–158.
137 Earlier in the year, Irish Fenians in the United States had made abortive attempts to invade Canada.
138 Charles Stanley Monck (1819–1894), 1st Baron Monck (1866), Governor-General of Canada (1861–1868), had commuted the sentences after no further Fenian attacks materialized. See W.L. Morton, The Critical Years: the union of British North America 1857–1873 (Toronto, 1964), p. 202.
139 Carnarvon wrote two days before, ‘I have nothing to communicate with regard to the Delegates now in England except that they are growing very impatient at the delay of their Canadian colleagues. I feel that in truth they are subject to great inconvenience both on public and personal grounds’ (Carnarvon to Sir W.F. Williams, 15 September 1866: Williams Papers).
140 Walter Bagehot (1826–1877), economist and journalist, editor of The Economist (1860–1877), author of The English Constitution (1867).
141 Disraeli and the 2nd Marquess of Salisbury had arrived at Highclere the previous day.
142 Henry Longueville Mansel (1820–1871), formerly Carnarvon's tutor at Oxford. Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Oxford University (1866–1868), appointed Dean of St Paul's (1868), a post he had requested after the death of Revd George Pellew, which occurred on 13 October.
143 Evelyn, Carnarvon's first wife (1834–1875), daughter of George Stanhope, 6th Earl of Chesterfield.
144 Gen. Charles Grey to Derby, 28 October 1866 (copy): Gen. Grey Papers, Grey III/3.
145 Henry, 3rd Earl Grey had sent the memorandum to Gen. Charles Grey, his younger brother, former private secretary to the Prince Consort and subsequently to the Queen, at Balmoral. The memorandum was given to Northcote for the consideration of the Cabinet. ‘I fear’, he wrote, ‘that if adopted it will be with changes by no means calculated to ensure chances of success’ (Journal, ‘1866 to end of the year’: Grey Papers, C3/22).
146 For details, see W.D. Jones, Lord Derby and Victorian Conservatism (Oxford, 1956), p. 299.
147 Lord John Manners (1818–1906), 7th Duke of Rutland (1888). Commissioner of Works and Buildings (1852, 1858–1859, 1866–1868), Postmaster-General (1874–1880), Chancellor, Duchy of Lancaster (1886–1892).
148 Sir William Bovill (1814–1873), Con. MP for Guildford (1857–1866), Solicitor-General (1866), Chief Justice of Common Pleas (1866–1873).
149 A Fenian force of 600 crossed from the United States to Canada. The leaders were captured and two of them, Lynch and McMahon, sentenced to death for high treason.
150 Report of the Aborigines’ Protection Society deputation to the Earl of Carnarvon, The Times, 14 November 1866, p. 7.
151 William Henry Seward (1801–1872), US Secretary of State (1861–1869).
152 Sir Frederick William Bruce (1814–1867), British diplomat, envoy to Washington (1865–1867).
153 Richard Southwell Bourke (1822–1872), Lord Naas (1849), 6th Earl of Mayo (1867), Chief Secretary, Ireland (1852, 1858–1859, 1866–1868), Viceroy of India (1869–1872).
154 Carnarvon had complained to Disraeli of the impossible burden of combining the role of under-secretary and legal advisor, and had suggested that Bernard should fill the latter role: Carnarvon to Disraeli, 9 October 1866: Hughenden Papers, dep. 100/1, fo. 15.
155 Montague Bernard (1820–1882), Professor of International Law and Diplomacy, Oxford University since 1858.
156 Sir Richard Mayne (1796–1868), Chief Commissioner, Metropolitan Police since 1850.
157 Gen. Grey to Carnarvon, 15 November 1866: CP, TNA, PRO 30/6/44, fo. 72.
158 Carnarvon to Queen Victoria, 16 November 1866: Royal Archives, P23/43.
159 In the event, only a little over 20,000 people turned out for the demonstration. It was held in the grounds of Beaufort House, Kensington. For a full report, see the Annual Register 1866 (1867), pp. 188–191.
160 Despatch for Lord Monck on Fenian convicts submitted to the Queen for approval, 21 November 1866 (Carnarvon to Queen Victoria: Royal Archives, P23/47; see also Carnarvon to Monck, 23 November 1866: Monck Papers, 27021 (3)).
161 George William, Duke of Cambridge (1819–1904), Field Marshal (1862), General Commanding-in-Chief (1856–1895).
162 A long-standing dispute between the United States and Great Britain was the claim that, during the American Civil War, Britain had built two ships for the southern states – the Alabama and the Orestes –which had subsequently been used for attacking and destroying American shipping. The matter was not resolved until 1871, when arbitrators decided against Great Britain and awarded substantial damages.
163 United States, British and American Claims. Motion for Returns. Hansard, CLXXIII, 16 February 1864, cols 618–627.
164 The conference with the Canadian delegates had opened on 4 December at the Westminster Palace Hotel, with Carnarvon in the chair. Three of the leading delegates – Macdonald, Cartier, and Galt – travelled to Highclere on 11 December for relaxation and further drafting of the British American Bill. They returned to London the following day (see D. Creighton, John A. Macdonald: the young politician, 2 vols (Toronto, 1952), I, p. 453).
165 Joseph Howe (1804–1873), the Nova Scotian delegate, a passionate opponent of Confederation.
166 William Annand (1808–1887), Minister, Nova Scotia Legislative Council, Prime Minister (1871). Opposed to British North American union.
167 Sir John Alexander Macdonald (1815–1891), Attorney-General, Upper Canada (1854), Premier (1857), First Premier of the Dominion (1867), Leader of the House of Assembly (1856–1891).
168 Cardwell, Carnarvon's predecessor in office, on the subject of imperial defence.
169 Mary Catherine, Marchioness of Salisbury (1824–1900), who married the 15th Earl of Derby in 1870, had met Lowe two years previously at Highclere. He was subsequently greatly influenced by her views. See Winter, Robert Lowe, p. 231.
170 Lady Dorothy Nevill (1826–1913), society hostess.