Volume 1 — CHAPTER IV (continued 2)

I am very much pained by what has happened about Eneas and Rahming, as well as about McHugh, and am utterly unable to devise any satisfactory explanation to send home.

To add to his troubles the health of Lord Lyons again began to give way under the strain, and as the following letter shows, his staff was insufficient for the work.

Lord Lyons to Mr. Hammond.

Washington, June 14, 1864.

We cannot get on without more hands in the Chancery here. I could not refuse to let Heneage go, on the death of his father, but he was ill to be spared.

One really first-rate second secretary and two ordinary working second or third secretaries should come out at once if the work is to be done. It has doubled since last year. We ordered an immense register which we calculated would last through the year, having made ample allowance as we thought for the usual progressive increase of correspondence. We are already obliged to order another of the same size.

For my own part I am worn out altogether.

Although never prone to spare himself or to exaggerate, such phrases as: 'I am worked to death here,' and 'I am worn out by the heat and the work,' occur in letters to other correspondents, and in order to prevent a complete breakdown he was directed by Lord Russell to proceed to Canada to confer with Lord Monck as to the defence of the Dominion.

Lord Russell to Lord Lyons.

July 23, 1864.

I think it will be useful that you should go to Canada soon. If, as you think, the Americans may take a sudden resolution to attack us, it will be important to consider how and when we can best defend ourselves. I should be very glad that with this view you should consult Lord Monck, and also that you should, if possible, see Sir James Hope, who might come up the St. Lawrence to meet you at Quebec. The defence of Quebec both by land and sea is one of the most important points for the consideration of the Cabinet. It is also of great importance to ascertain what the Canadian Government are prepared to do for themselves.

If, as is probable, Grant will not succeed in reaching Richmond and is obliged to retire, the American Government may not be willing to add to the number of their enemies, especially as the Emperor of Mexico may have the assistance of French troops, and may hold an unfriendly position to the Northern, and a friendly attitude to the Southern States. I shall be glad to send a civil or military agent or commissioner to the Confederate States, and think of sending him by Mexico and Texas. It would be by no means a recognition, but would be useful as regards our interests in the Southern States.

Lord Russell never seems to have thoroughly believed in the ultimate success of the North, and frequently expressed the opinion that, as the re-establishment of the Union was impossible, it would be well to come to terms with the South, but he could scarcely have been expected to foresee that the day would come when the United States Government would order the Emperor Napoleon out of Mexico.

As regards the mission to Canada, Lord Lyons pointed out that whereas it was very desirable that he should confer with the Governor-General on many questions, amongst others, the 'wholesale system of seducing, entrapping and kidnapping recruits for the United States Army from Canada,' yet that his own opinion on the naval and military questions concerning the defence of that country was worth nothing at all. His general impression, however, was that the Dominion was altogether indefensible, unless the Canadians were prepared to make such a stand and such sacrifices as the Southerners had done. Whether he ever made any recommendations, as the result of his visit, or whether, if they were ever made, any attention was paid to them does not appear, but there is reason to believe that the British Government eventually nerved itself to spend the stupendous sum of £50,000 on Canadian defence.

The Canadian visit was undertaken very reluctantly, in spite of weariness and ill health, partly on account of the press of work, and partly because it would be necessary to leave as Chargé d'Affaires a Secretary of Legation (Mr. Burnley), who had only just arrived in the country, and of whose abilities and judgment he was completely ignorant. Consequently he took the precaution of asking the Foreign Office to intimate clearly that, whether outside American territory or not, he should still be considered the superior authority in the Legation, and that if he deemed it necessary to give an instruction, it must be obeyed. This stipulation was not intended as a reflection upon Mr. Burnley, who indeed showed himself perfectly competent, but was merely an instance of that extreme caution which never left anything to chance.

At the end of August he was suffering so much from the excessive heat of Washington and from nervous prostration that he no longer felt able to discharge his duties satisfactorily, and set out for Canada much against his will, remaining there until October. The change of air, however, effected little improvement, and letters to friends announcing his return complain of ill health and low spirits. While on the journey back, he met at dinner, at New York, by a singular coincidence, General Dix, on the night when the news of the St. Albans raid arrived. During the dinner the latter received a telegram stating that a band of Confederate desperadoes had made a raid from Canada upon a place called St. Albans, raided some banks and committed some murders. General Dix said that he had sent orders to the military officers in the neighbourhood to take measures for apprehending the raiders, and that he had directed these officers to use their best endeavours to seize them on American territory, but that rather than allow them to escape, they were to be pursued beyond the frontier, such action being, in his opinion, justifiable under International Law. Upon being asked whether he had given this order on his own authority or under instructions from Washington, the General admitted that he had acted on his own responsibility. This was clearly one of the most alarming incidents that had yet occurred, and had General Dix's orders been carried out, there must inevitably have been war between England and the United States. Fortunately, however, the American Government disavowed General Dix's ill-advised orders, and the prompt action of the Canadian authorities contributed towards a peaceful solution. The raiders were seized and made to give up their booty; police were stationed along the frontier, the volunteers were called out, and effective steps taken to prevent similar occurrences in the future.

The settlement of this affair must have been one of Lord Lyons's last transactions with the American Government, for upon his return to Washington his health rapidly grew worse, and as scarcely any letters from him are to be found between the end of October and the middle of December it is to be presumed that he was so incapacitated that the work devolved upon Mr. Burnley. Early in November he was forced to apply for leave, which was granted in December.

Lord Lyons to Lord Russell.

Washington, Dec. 5, 1864.

I am truly obliged to you for so promptly sending me leave to come home. When I wrote to you on the 1st of last month to ask for it, I hardly expected to have such urgent need of it as I have now, but a few days afterwards I became so ill as to be utterly unable to do any work. I have not made any satisfactory progress towards a recovery, and am scarcely in a state to travel. There seems however to be no prospect of my getting any better while I stay here, and I shall therefore, if possible, set out for New York to-morrow, in the hope of being able to embark there for England on the 14th.

I am told that the American papers have stated that I have been dangerously ill with typhoid fever. I have had no fever at all. My principal malady is a nervous headache.

In letters to other correspondents he explained that being quite unable to work he considered himself simply an impediment to the transaction of public business, and was going away simply on leave of absence. During the last few days of his stay in America he was too unwell to write, or even, as he explained to Mr. Seward, equal to a conversation, and it was doubtful whether he would be well enough to travel. Accompanied, however, by Mr. Sheffield, he embarked at New York and arrived in London during the closing days of December.

The fact was that he had completely broken down under the continuous strain of the last four years, and in view of the circumstances it was not surprising. Some idea of the work at Washington may be gathered from the following official figures.

Despatches and Letters sent to and from Her Majesty's Legation at Washington during the year 1864.

Foreign Office to Lord Lyons 966 From Lord Lyons 653

United States Government " " 1816 " " 2782

Consuls " " 1155 " " 1390

Naval and Colonial

Departments " " 311 " " 360

Miscellaneous " " 2242 " " 3141

—— ——

6490 8326

To these figures must be added a number of lithographs and other answers for which forms had been devised and which therefore were not registered, nor does it seem probable that Lord Lyons's numerous private letters to the Secretary of State and other correspondents are included; whilst there is no mention of telegrams.

It would really not be much of an exaggeration to assert that, unless absent or incapacitated by illness, nearly every one of these thousands of documents was either originated by or submitted to the British Minister. The late Sir Edward Malet in his book 'Shifting Scenes,' has borne witness to the indefatigable industry of his chief. 'At Washington any quantity of letters arrived daily asking every imaginable question, and often making untenable complaints. They were all opened by Lord Lyons, who made a pencil note upon them indicating the tenor of the answer to be sent, and returned them to the Chancery. Draft answers were then written, which were again sent up to Lord Lyons with the letters. He would nearly always alter the wording. Then he put an "L" at the bottom, and returned them to be written out for signature. In this way not a letter issued from the Legation which had not been approved by the chief. It was a most valuable safeguard, for you can never be sure what a young man may say when he gets a pen into his hand. It is the moment when the evil spirit of the Jack-in-office, unless he be entirely exempt from it, which is very rare, gets the better of him, and prompts him to make some epigrammatic or cutting reply. I learned no more valuable lesson while working under Lord Lyons than that every letter received must be answered, and that the answer must be staid in form and well considered in substance, whatever might be the ignorance, the petulance, or the extravagance of the writer to whose letter you were replying.' It may be added that he rigidly adhered to this practice throughout his official career, and that there must be many members of the Diplomatic Service now living who would corroborate the opinion expressed by Sir Edward Malet.

From the same source we learn the usual routine of the Chancery during the Civil War. The secretaries and attachés had to be at their desks at 9 a.m. They worked continuously without a luncheon interval until past 7 p.m., then adjourned to Willard's Hotel to indulge in the pernicious local habit of swallowing cocktails, dined at 8, and were frequently obliged to return to the Chancery afterwards and work till midnight or even later. There is no reason whatever to suppose that Sir Edward Malet indulged in any exaggeration, and it is therefore not surprising either that the junior members of the Legation occasionally broke down or that many of them were desirous of being appointed to some less exacting post than Washington. In spite, however, of the disadvantageous circumstances under which Sir Edward Malet passed his time at Washington, it is worthy of note that he considered that every one in the British Diplomatic Service should rejoice if he had the chance of going there, and he bore emphatic testimony that, according to his experience, English people were treated with extraordinary courtesy and hospitality however high political feeling may have run.

Lord Lyons, upon arriving in England, found a home provided for him at Arundel by his sister, the widowed Duchess of Norfolk, to whom he was deeply attached, and it was hoped that the rest and retired life would restore him sufficiently to enable him to resume his post at Washington. He made, however, little progress towards recovery, and for some time was almost incapable of either physical or mental exertion; in fact, so unsatisfactory was his condition, and so remote appeared the probability of his being able to resume his duties, that, in the spring of 1865, it became necessary for him to resign his post and to retire temporarily if not permanently from the service. A letter to Mr. Stuart, a former member of his staff, explains the circumstances of his retirement.

Lord Lyons to Mr. Stuart.

Norfolk House, March 16, 1865.

I am very much obliged by your kind letter inquiring for me. You will have seen that I have gone out of the service altogether and have become a gentleman at large without pay or pension. My health did not admit of my fixing a time for going back, and the Cabinet became nervous about leaving Washington without a Minister in these critical times. I confess I do not feel so much relief or even pleasure as might have been expected, and I seriously thought of offering to go back immediately when I heard of the decision of the Cabinet. But my own feelings as to health and still more the opinions of the doctors deterred me. I have certainly got a great deal better, but I seem to stick at a certain point. I can go about without inconvenience, but still a small thing brings on a headache. The old Legation at Washington is completely broken up. Malet goes to Lisbon, Sheffield to Frankfort and Kennedy and Seymour to Vienna. I to a certain extent enjoy being in England, but I am not well enough nor quite sufficiently satisfied with the wind up of my Washington Mission, to enjoy myself thoroughly. Lord Russell has been extremely kind to me, and so indeed has every one here, but neither I nor they can do much for my benefit while my health is in its present state.

You seem to be doing well as usual in your present post, and you are, I trust, flourishing in all respects.

In a letter to Mr. Seward expressing his regret at being prevented from thanking President Lincoln in person for the unvarying kindness and consideration shown to him during the last four eventful years the following passage occurs:—

You will find Sir Frederick Bruce (his successor at Washington) as anxious as I was to act in concert with you for the maintenance of peace and good will, and you will, I am sure, be glad to form with him the confidential and intimate relations which did so much, in my case, to make my task easy and agreeable. The friendly and unconstrained terms on which we were produced so much good, that I am most anxious that my successor's intercourse with you should be placed at once on the same footing.

Mr. Seward to Lord Lyons.

Washington, March 20, 1865.

I accept your farewell with sincere sorrow. But I reconcile myself to it because it is a condition of restoration of your health. All of my family commend me to tender you assurances of sympathy.

I have never desponded of my country, of emancipation of her slaves and of her resumption of her position as an agent of peace, progress and civilization—interests which I never fail to believe are common with all branches of the British family. So I have had no doubt that when this dreadful war shall be ended, the United States and Great Britain would be reconciled and become better friends than ever.

I have thought that you are entitled to share in these great successes, as you have taken so great a part of the trials of the war. But God disposes. I feel sure that if I never find time to go abroad again, you with recovered health will come here to see the reign of peace and order. So I shall not dwell upon our parting as a final one.

It is satisfactory to realize that these two men, between whom so many encounters had taken place, parted on terms of friendship and mutual esteem. Each, in fact, had been able to appreciate the good qualities of the other, and in subsequent communications with his own Government, Lord Lyons frequently expressed the hope that Mr. Seward would continue to be responsible for the foreign policy of the American Government.

The official acknowledgment of Lord Lyons's services at Washington was couched in warmer terms than is usually the case.

Lord Russell to Lord Lyons.

Foreign Office, March 25, 1865.

As your successor, Sir Frederick Bruce, is to take his departure this day from the shores of England, I take this opportunity to testify to your Lordship the sense which Her Majesty's Government entertain of your invaluable services as Her Majesty's Representative at Washington.

The return which I enclose of the number of despatches and letters received by Her Majesty's Mission to the United States during the years 1864 gives some notion of the amount of labour which has been undergone by Your Lordship, the Secretary of Legation and other members of the Mission.

But the prudence, the moderation, the good temper, the discrimination and the just regard to a friendly Government shown by Your Lordship during the trying period which has elapsed while Your Lordship was charged with the most honourable, but at the same time, the most difficult duties with which any diplomatic agent can be entrusted, these are incapable of any remuneration and cannot be estimated by any measurement.

It is to be hoped that the previous pages have, to some extent, demonstrated that Lord Russell's language was not that of hyperbole, and that the value of Lord Lyons's unobtrusive services was not over-estimated. It was the good fortune of this country to be represented during a protracted and dangerous crisis by a man who, distinguished by exceptional prudence, tact, judgment, and sincerity, added to these qualities a most minute knowledge of his own duties accompanied with indefatigable industry. It is not too much to say that any one wanting in these qualities would have found it impossible to prevent the calamity of war between England and the United States, and the diplomatist who successfully avoids a catastrophe of this nature and at the same time protects the interests of his country is as deserving of gratitude as the successful commander who appears upon the scene when diplomacy had failed.

One little detail characteristic of the man is worth noting. He used to state, in after life, with much apparent satisfaction, that during his five years' residence in the United States, he had never 'taken a drink, or made a speech.'