Volume 2 — JOURNAL OF ELIZABETH LADY HOLLAND (continued 3)

SANS SOUCI

Close by the windows of Frederick’s private apartments are the monuments of his dogs—large flat stones with their names simply inscribed upon them. Near is a space he allotted to himself, as he desired to be interred amidst these barking favourites; but his successor wisely disobeyed the injunction, and gave the atheistical Monarch Christian burial. Marsh was furious. I thought the profanation of giving the form of tombstone was the provocation, or the marked contempt of sacred rites in desiring to be buried in the centre of his dogs, but I suspect his anger proceeded from some other cause, his marked preference for those animals above his fellow creatures.

Wednesday, 6th August.—Road to Berlin excellent; arrived to dinner at ½ past one. When I was there four years ago I only stayed a couple of days, but barely sufficient to see the public buildings. Ld. Carysfort,[145] the English Minister, and family were just arrived. It is a new career for him, and one he enters into to repair the derangement of a small fortune and owes to the interest of his wife, who is Ld. Grenville’s sister. Mr. Garlike, poor Spencer’s friend, had been Chargé d’Affaires. He is a mild, gentlemanlike man; he remains on as Secretary to the Legation. Ld. H. had formerly been a good deal in the Berlin society, particularly at Prince Ferdinand’s,[146] to whom he made himself known, and we went there one evening to supper. The Pss. is very talkative, and seems cross and clever.

I sent my card to Ly. C. as wife to the protector of the English, a respect usual and due to the office; she did not return hers. It seemed an unnecessary rudeness, but I presume she did as I did, viz., what we each thought right to be done. Ld. C. invited the gentlemen to dinner; Ld. H. refused civilly. I was confined to my bed and to the house for a few days with a sharp fever and sore throat, ill enough to take James’s powders and bark. I went to the German play, not a word of which could I comprehend.

By mere accident we were introduced to their Prussian Majesties[147] in the gardens of Charlottenburg. Ld. H. and Duncannon had missed their presentation to the King by coming too late. He was going into Silesia, and another day had not been fixed. I did not dream of being presented to the Queen. However, during our walk we saw her glide like a nymph, with a child in each hand, along the Terrace; soon after Mde. de Voss, her Gde. Maîtresse, came and spoke to me and asked our names, which as soon as she heard she offered to introduce us to the Queen. We accordingly had the pleasure of seeing a most lovely woman; her figure is the finest I ever saw, her manner very affable and easy. She told me she was sorry we were going away from Berlin, but invited us back in three weeks to the reviews. The King came up to us; he is a fine, stout, soldier-like looking man. They are extremely attached to each other; it was unlike Royal marriages, but was a union of love. She is a Pss. of Mecklenburg. The children played and kissed Charles, who seemed to abate his usual shyness in their favour.

At the Pss. Ferdinand’s at Bellevue I made acquaintance with Mde. du Néal, whom I liked extremely. We had some thoughts of going to Rheinsberg, the residence of Prince Henry;[148] she fortified us in the idea, and offered letters to her two nieces, who compose part of his Court. Mr. Bruce, Ld. Elgin’s brother, lodged in our hotel; he is going back to India by way of Constantinople, where he means to visit his brother; he dined with us. Ld. H. invited him out of good nature, from hearing he was solitary and unacquainted with the society of Berlin. Baron Schack, a gens d’armes [sic], to whom we had been civil in London, was at Berlin; he was too much occupied with love, gambling, and military duties to be of much service to us.

RHEINSBERG

Determined to go to Rheinsberg. Set off at 12 o’clock at night on Wednesday, 17th August. Left Charles and Drew: they were to go to Potsdam. We were to join them there. Ld. Duncannon and myself went in the open carriage; Ld. H., Marsh, and Hortense in the chaise; ye coach and three servants left with Drew and Charles.

As soon as we reached Rheinsberg on Thursday eve. we went to the inn, and sent out letters to the ladies and Count Brühl, one of the Chamberlains. They were all at the spectacle, but the gentlemen came out and invited us from the Prince to lodge in his château and to join him at the play. The latter was rather inconvenient as we had no clothes with us (the other carriage being behind), besides that we had travelled all night, and were dinnerless. Those difficulties were soon settled, and we got in time to see the Petite Pièce.

The Prince is one of the most remarkable men in Germany; he distinguished himself in his brother’s wars as a consummate general, and may boast of having done that which is almost unparalleled, of having put a French army to flight; at Rosbach they fled before him. He is 75 years old, and possesses a strength and vivacity of intellect equal to what he formerly enjoyed. He is a Frenchman in his heart, he abhors everything German; cannot speak it. He has a delightful French comedy; his troupe of comedians is really good, the theatre remarkably pretty. I never passed five days more delightfully than under his hospitable roof.

The ladies we found clever, handsome, accomplished, and witty, and endowed with some qualities so rare and captivating that they inspired a sincere attachment. Mde. de la Rocheaimon is so perfectly pleasing, good-hearted, sensible, and amiable, that I never yet saw the person before whom I wished to have been my sister. I should like to pass many of my future days in her society. Her cousin, Mde. Peneval, is witty and highly accomplished; she is more spirituelle than the other, and the other is merrier. She is the widow of a French officer, who was attached to the service of P. Henry; upon his death she was penniless with three children. The Prince continues her husband’s pension, lodging, etc.; the more kind, as she is, as she says, ‘La première femme qui ait trouvé grâce auprès de lui.’ His weakness does not lie in his love for the female sex.

We supped in a Chinese temple in the garden. It was illuminated, and we had some excellent French horns playing in the wood; it was delicious. The next morning we breakfasted by the lake; I bathed in it. The Prince, and indeed the whole party, did every earthly thing they could imagine would please us; I never experienced such warm-hearted, zealous, unaffected desire of obliging as they manifested towards us. He gave us extra plays, and, in short, did the utmost of his power to convince us how much he was pleased at our visit. Rheinsberg is the place where Frederick II. wrote his Anti-Machiavel, and where he lived during the latter end of his father’s life.

AN UNNECESSARY ALARM

Drew grew uncomfortable at staying alone at Potsdam, and employed a certain but alarming method of abridging our pleasure; he said Charles was ill. We set off on Tuesday morning, perfectly persuaded we should find the dear boy, if not quite well, yet at the worst only slightly ill, but we would not risk the possibility of his being really ill, so we went. We travelled all night and reached Potsdam at seven o’clock on Wednesday. Found Charles feverish, but not worse than he has been fifty times since his birth.

They left Potsdam two days later, passing through a dreary country to Wittenberg and on to Torgau. From thence to Leipsic and Dresden.

We quitted Dresden on Thursday, the 18th of September; dined early before we set off and got in two hours and a half to Meissen. During the night Elliot[149] sent us an estafette with our English letters, among them one from Mr. Moore to tell us the application for leave for us to pass through France was referred from the Duke of Portland’s office to Ld. Grenville’s; one from Mr. Fawkener saying that there were obstacles, but he hoped they might be removed.[150]

They left next day for Weimar.

We arrived at Weimar between one and two. We passed the Dowager Duchess’s palace, which stands to the left of the road. I had a letter to D. Dss.,[151] but my low spirits about my eyes determined us to go on as fast as we could to Cassel, there to wait the decision whether to go by Cuxhaven home or by Calais. Dined; drove to Moutier’s establishment at Bellevue. Since the Jacobinism has prevailed so universally in the German Universities, young men go to this sort of private Academy. We drove about and walked in the English garden, which was made under the inspection of the famous Goethe, author of Werther, and Prime Minister of this Duchy. Mr. Lawrence[152] called in the evening; he is a whimsical young man, who has written several strange things, but not wholly without talent. Ld. H. sent a letter to Wieland to solicit his acquaintance, but he was in the country.

OBLIGING OFFICIALS

On arrival at Cassel Holland and Marsh called upon the French Minister, le citoyen Rivale, who was remarkably civil, and gave the passport from Bournonville. The passport is made out in the most marked and obliging manner, everything troublesome omitted, no time limited, no descriptions of our persons, and the route left blank for us to fill up to Paris if we choose. The Secretary of Legation, Senurier, was very good-natured to me. I had heard stories of robberies committed by deserters beyond the French frontier but within their line of demarcation, which rather alarmed me, and made me wish to have an escort if possible. He accordingly gave a letter to any commander we might find before Coblentz. Mr. Lorentz, the banker, very useful and civil: he dined with us, managed about money, as it is illegal to draw upon England from French territory.

They started again on the 26th, and reached Weilburg on the 28th. ‘I saw French proclamations posted up in the villages, signed Augereau.’ They slept that night at Montabaur.

We got off early on ye 29th. Woods to Coblentz. Met a French general, escorted by cavalry. Wood chiefly copse, country much inferior in beauty to that we quitted. Ehrenbreitstein repairing; the village under the fortress quite ruined, churches and convents unroofed and demolished, but the peasants are active in repairing their habitations. Ld. H. showed his passport and had a pass given for persons and horses to cross the Rhine. Crossed in the pont-volant: all of us and our baggage stopped at the Custom House. I went to the inn with Charles. Ld. H. went to the banker; some difficulty in arranging about money for Bruxelles. Mr. Lorentz rather in fault. Ld. H. showed passport in the evening to the Préfet, Boucqueau, who was remarkably well-bred and civil. Banker’s name Botsgeissen; married to a Leeds woman. The Electoral Palace in the town is converted into a hospital. The inhabitants pay great contributions; it falls hardest on landholders. The German play driven out by a French troupe, who have established a French spectacle. The establishment of juries seemingly popular. Heard of a famous robber towards Trêves, who maintained banditti, bribed peasants, and gave passports, and who is particularly inveterate against the Jews. Country cultivated, and provisions, at least bread, very cheap. Very different accounts of the French, but all agreeing in the improvement since Bonaparte, and in wishes for peace. The people are allowed great freedom of speech; they paid more for having given an asylum to the emigrants, which seemed very unjust upon them. All religion tolerated and none interfered with; monks as usual, but I saw none. The inn excellent, quite new; not the same as the one I used to go to....

I laughed heartily at the sight of a monk with a French cockade in his hat. To the left, about a mile from Bonn, there is a fine castle upon an eminence. The modern châteaux of the nobility are deserted, and many totally destroyed from being unroofed and gutted. The Elector’s country palace was magnificent; it is now converted into a hospital. Bonn is a clean, well-built town, the Palace immense, now inhabited in parts by officers and magistrates, but chiefly falling to decay. The Tree of Liberty decorated with the tricolour flag. I was surprised instead of finding the old inn, which was very good, to find a new one just built upon a most magnificent scale. The road from Coblentz to Bonn is good; from Bonn to Cologne sandy and deep, country flat, but rich and well cultivated.

A mile or two before Cologne a bend of the river extremely beautiful. Wrote our names at the gates; one of the guard was a drunken Irishman, who with the rest of the vagrant scum of Europe composed the Polish legion. Cologne is a large, gloomy town, overrun with monks and beggars. The inn was excellent; it had just been repaired and newly furnished. We were surprised that, considering the interruption there must have been to travelling, accommodations and post horses should have been so good and abundant. We went to the play, which was bad enough, but like all foreign theatres well attended. The gendarmes and hussars very handsome; we agreed that the French officers were better looking than formerly. The reason, I suppose, is that under the ancien régime the officers were chiefly noble; now a man is taken out of the ranks and dubbed General....

STEPHEN’S DEATH

Sunday, Jan. 25, 1801, Staines Inn.—The complaint in my eyes and alarm about my poor child prevented me from enjoying myself during the last two months of my foreign excursion. After passing many watchful nights, and latterly for 8 together, by the side of my dear boy, he was snatched from me, alas, for ever.[153] He died on the day devoted to mirth, his dear father’s birthday. On ye 22nd early, we quitted H. H., and took up our residence at Ld. B.’s in Cavendish Square during their absence at Chatsworth. I was broken-hearted and dispirited for many weeks.

Soon after, Charles caught the measles, and luckily for my peace of mind had them most favourably. His little endearing qualities, and Ld. H.’s affection, the kindness of friends, and the hope of having more children, have to a degree soothed my feelings, but oh! my God, what anguish can equal the pang a mother feels who sees her infant struggling against death. What I have endured worlds should not bribe me to undergo again. Beauclerk, as soon as he heard of our distress, came to town to see us, and with real heartfelt interest entered into our sorrows. Mrs. Smith showed herself affectionate and tender: and the D. of Bedford continued in town, and stayed as much with us as possible; indeed, day after day he devoted to being in our company. We had taken a mere nutshell, a pied-à-terre, in Stratton Street; my spirits have been so low that the small and varying society that I got of evenings from those that drop in amuses and cheers me. I write at this moment at Staines, where I am with Charles and Ld. H., partly that the first may be shown to his uncle, and partly that Ld. H. may see his uncle, and endeavour, with Grey, to prevail upon him to resume his parliamentary functions.

Stratton Street, 30th Jan., 1801.—A rumpus in the Cabinet, supposed about the Catholics. The opening of the Imperial Parliament[154] has been delayed already three times, and the day for which it is fixed at present is not the one it will, according to all expectation, meet upon. Various reasons are assigned for the delay, and the wise-heads are full of strange and curious speculations upon the occasion. Some imagine Ministers are negotiating, not to obtain peace, but to get a reply from Bonaparte declaring his intention of maintaining the demand of the Northern Confederacy with respect to neutral bottoms, by which they will succeed in making the Northern war popular with the country. Others, that great concessions have been made to Russia to withdraw her from the confederacy, even to the sacrifice of Hanover. Others, that the King is more in want of Dr. Willis[155] than of his Lords Temporal and Spiritual assembled in High Parliament.

It is a curious circumstance to reflect upon, that in the course of a very few years France, whom we expected to crush and entered into a league against with half the powers of Europe, should now have so completely turned the tables upon us as to head triumphantly the most formidable combination that was ever undertaken. If the King of Prussia marches to Hamburg (which unquestionably is his object), and the French compel the Portuguese to renounce our alliance, we shall not have a friendly port from the North Pole to Africa.

SECESSION ABANDONED

Opposition mean to attend actively this session. Grey has renounced the errors of secession, and tho’ Fox still hangs back, I think a few strong divisions will be irresistible and make him return to the career in which he has outstripped every competitor. Ld. Darnley has attached himself with warmth to Opposition, and intends to bring on a motion upon the State of the Nation. To-day has brought another convert, Ld. Fitzwilliam,[156] who has expressed a wish of moving the amendment, one very hostile to Ministers and, strange to say, full of pacific wishes. His respectability, high name, and integrity of character carries great weight, and will add much to the slender forces of a disjointed, disbanded Opposition. The D. of Bedford pledges himself to nothing, but his inclination leads him to attend and would conquer, but for Ld. Lauderdale’s jokes, who is always telling him he delights in making a long prose to the House of Lords, for which he never indulges himself on any question but on those that would make Cicero or Fox prose, scarcity, poor laws, enclosures, etc., etc.

Ld. Wycombe, who obtained passports to go through France in his way to Florence to get witnesses, was at Paris during the explosion of the infernal car, and within 220 paces of it at the moment of its blowing up.[157]

11th Feb., 1801. Stratton Street.—During the Rebellion in Ireland made by the United Irishmen, it used to be the phrase, when a disturbance broke out in a town, to say, ‘They have got the Union among them.’ That cant saying might now be applied to a higher sphere, as since the Union of the Kingdoms the Cabinet has been divided, and at this juncture broken up. Reports and opinions are so different and various that I can collect nothing that gives me a very distinct idea. At present all that can be depended upon is that Pitt, Grenville, Dundas, Windham, Lds. Camden and Spencer, have resigned their places, and are virtually out of office, altho’ the former remains in until he has made the loan and opened the Budget. The occasion of this extraordinary breaking up of the Administration is the King’s peremptory refusal of assenting to the Emancipation of the Catholics, a measure Ministers consider themselves as pledged to, and a promise of which was one of ye instruments of conciliation to all parties to obtain the Union.

PITT’S RESIGNATION

It now appears that the King was all along against the Union, foreseeing that this question would be the price of it. It appears incredible that Ministers should esteem themselves so irrevocably bound to the Catholics, when the opinion of the King has uniformly been against complying with that measure, which they must have known at the time they held out the promise to the Irish. The King believes, and the belief so inculcated is sedulously maintained in his mind by the Bishops (especially by ye Archbishop of Canterbury and Dr. Stuart,[158] the Primate of Ireland), that any such relaxation towards the Catholics is incompatible with his Coronation oath. It was owing to these differences that the meeting of Parlt. was delayed on account of the tenor of the Speech. Pitt wanted it to breathe toleration and indulgence in the true spirit of amity; the King absolutely rejected all such promises. During the week in which the Speech was adjusting, there were many rumours of a change of Administration; indeed, one day they were so current that I believed enough to be tempted to send to Lansdown House to ascertain whether its noble owner had been sent for from Bath. Several tradesmen distributed their commodities gratis, so great was the joy; but on the Saturday previous to the meeting of Parlt. all was supposed to be amicably settled owing to the interposition of the Speaker, who was closeted with the King several hours during the Queen’s concert. However this honourable friend was occupied in a different negotiation than that designed for him by his munificent patron and employer—in one no less surprising and despicable than of tripping up his heels and offering his services to replace him. This huge and monstrous act of ingratitude was known publicly last Saturday, and Pitt on Monday, in his place, announced his resignation, and Ld. Grenville last night in the House of Lords spoke to the same effect. Nothing is yet known certainly as to the new Ministry; many of the places cannot be filled, and the opinion is they cannot hold together a month. Ld. Carlisle refused; at least he was sounded. Ld. Macartney refused. Jekyll said an Administration, formed out of the dregs of the old one and leaving Pitt out, was like getting up The Beggar’s Opera without the character of Macheath.

14th Feb., 1801.—Yesterday was a political fast ordered by Parliament during the continuance of the war. Jekyll wrote ex tempore:—

(British added by Lewis to make the metre.)

Some person asked Jekyll why he did not put the Administration into verse, upon which he said it was already inverse.

Feb. 26, 1801.—The first laugh over, people begin to think this Administration may last, and if they commence a negotiation they will even become popular. Pitt, however, is regretted, and there are those who think the whole a juggle, that he is, in fact, Minister behind the curtain; but these are refinements. He certainly solicits persons to take office, and his own friends to hold those they have; but this is but a shallow artifice to prevent the odious cry of his deserting the King. The new Ministers like to let it appear that Pitt is cordial to them, and account for the resignations by saying those who resign are chiefly of Canning’s faction, and that Pitt has reprimanded Canning for his intemperate language.

Lady Buckingham[159] (the Marchioness), the first drawing room after these changes, went to give thanks for her peerage (Baroness Nugent, with remainder to her second son); she is a bigoted Catholic, and gave great scandal during her husband’s government in Ireland by attending the R. C. Chapel openly. When she stood in the circle to be spoken to, the King came up to her and began a conversation, in the midst of which she turned upon her heel and said aloud to the person next to her, ‘I think I have treated him coldly enough.’ His Majesty heard her, and in an irritated tone said, ‘I don’t mind women’s politics.’ Those who are for Catholic Emancipation affect to believe that the discontents upon its rejection will break out, and an invasion from France will be successful.

This opinion produced a bon mot from a man who never made one before. A person asked Lord Brome[160] who was to succeed his father (Ld. Cornwallis) in Ireland. ‘Most probably Bonaparte,’ replied the youth.

Lady Clare began abusing Ld. Cornwallis furiously before the Duchess of Gordon, who coolly answered that she ‘had never heard him abused but for two things, one was the not putting the town of Seringapatam to the sword, the other, that in Ireland he never whipped nor tortured.’ The retort was keen, as Lord Clare[161] made a speech in favour of the enormities committed by the Orangemen, which is called and known by the name of ‘The torture speech.’

THE KING’S ILLNESS

8th March, 1801.—The King is recovering as fast as he can, say the courtiers; Pitt’s people cautiously say he may amend, but it must be slowly; Opposition declare he is as mad as the winds. Upon the first signal of madness the Prince notified to Ld. Fitzwilliam that circumstances were similar to those in ’88–’89 and that it was his intention to consult those who had been his friends at that period, and he wished Ld. F. to discuss it over with those with whom he had acted at that period. Ld. F., rather precipitately, sent off an express to St. Anne’s to fetch up Fox, who came early the next morning. Ld. Moira saw Grey and the D. of Bedford (separately) and proposed to each the formation of an Administration in case of a Regency, without either Fox or Pitt. This they declined, and unequivocally declared they would never take office unless Fox was the efficient man in the Cabinet. Ld. Moira had a private interview afterwards with Fox, in which nothing very material passed. The Chancellor begged to see Fox that they might refer back to their joint proceedings in ’88: Fox was astonished at the C.’s want of memory. He did not think his forgetfulness was wilful. In the course of their meeting, Loughborough gave him to understand that he was authorised to express Pitt’s wishes for an accommodation in private, and his disposition to adjust their differences of opinion upon the question of right, but Fox declined the interview on hearing the arguments, adding that the House of Commons was the proper place for political opponents to debate in.

Pitt is still Minister. The King’s illness occurred on Saturday, and the patent to admit Addington was to have been signed on Thursday: thus Addington has given up an immense place of £7000 pr. ann., and undergone the expense of his election, for the bare honour of having been thought worthy of His Majesty’s confidence.[162] Windham says he is one of the gentlemen who are shut in. Those only who are fairly out are Lord Spencer and Ld. Grenville.

The first act of Ld. St. Vincent’s Administration[163] was a pretty hard rap at Ld. Spencer’s; he gave the command of the Channel fleet to Ad. Cornwallis,[164] a man whom Ld. S. had brought to a Court martial and in a manner laid aside and disgraced.

Ly. Spencer[165] cannot reconcile herself to the insignificance of being out of power; she is carrying on an intrigue with Mrs. Fitzherbert thro’ Jack Payne to reinstate Mr. Pitt, by making him acceptable to the Prince. Ly. S. is the greatest prude alive, and yet because it is her interest she passes many hours daily with Mrs. F.[166] The latter is rancorous against Fox; she has never pardoned his compliance with the Prince’s orders in the last Regency, when he declared that no marriage had taken place between them.

9th March.—A person said to the Duchess of Gordon that Pitt, now he was out of office, would have leisure to amuse himself and indulge in his favourite recreations. Among the latter Pope Joan was named. ‘Aye,’ said the Dss., ‘I wish he would think more of Joan and less of the Pope’—more of the ladies and less of the Catholics.

MR. GEORGE PONSONBY

George Ponsonby, distinguished in Ireland as a pleader and orator, has carried the election for the County of Wicklow. During the poll a man upon the hustings assigned for reason of his voting against him that common report said he had been connected with the United Irishmen. ‘Common report is known to be a liar,’ said Ponsonby, ‘and so, I think, are its trumpeters.’ More is expected from him in the Imperial Parlt., than from all the Irish put together; his talents are supposed to be well adapted to the English style of debate, and his language good without being too florid, the common defect of Irish eloquence. He is cautious, and will not hastily risk impairing the reputation he has already acquired. Mr. Fox has not the highest opinion of his political honesty, but Grey, who loves with fervour every person connected with him, is jealous at the suspicion.[167] We must wait to see how opportunity may tempt and time mature his propensities.

Horne Tooke has at length got into Parlt. for the rotten borough of Old Sarum, through the patronage of Lord Camelford. Ld. Temple has given notice of a motion to investigate into his eligibility; the question is whether he can sit in Parlt. after having taken priest’s orders. He has already spoken frequently, but his wit suits the mob at the hustings better than the genteel mob of Parlt. He is too fond of talking of himself, and his jokes are trite. He made formerly a very satirical good joke in a toast, and it was so well disguised that what is very Jacobinical appears extremely loyal—‘The brave followers of the Duke of York,’ meaning the French, who pursued him when his army was put to flight in Holland. It will be a good expulsion for ye Opposition, as he is very mischievous, and would overset any little popularity they might acquire if they could conduct themselves with tolerable prudence.

11th March.—Lord Morpeth is to be married in a few days to Lady Georgina Cavendish, a suitable match in every respect. Without possessing great beauty she has many charms, and is so well disposed that il a beau jeu before him, if he will renounce le gros jeu, but it unfortunately happens that love only suspends that passion when it has taken deep root. However, he has so good an understanding and such right feelings, that what a man can do to conquer a vicious habit he will do.

A MOTHER’S SORROWS

The loss of my child sits heavily upon me, my heart is oftentimes overflowing, and my health very much impaired. The system that Sr. Walter Farquhar[168] has put me upon is calculated to rouse my constitution, but grief and a certain natural morbid tendency may baffle all his endeavours. My Charles is delicate, and has frequent and severe attacks: anxiety for him and regrets for my poor Ste. make the hours of reflection and solitude pass sorrowfully over. There is a sensation in a mother’s breast at the loss of an infant that partakes of the feeling of instinct. It is a species of savage despair. Alas! to lose my pretty infant, just beginning to prattle his little innocent wishes, and imagination so busily aids my grief by tracing what he might have been. In those dreary nights whilst I sat watching his disturbed sleep, I knelt down and poured out to God a fervent prayer for his recovery, and swore that if he were spared me the remainder of my life should be devoted to the exercise of religious duties; that I should believe in the mercy of a God who could listen to and alleviate my woe. Had he lived I should have been a pious enthusiast. I have no superstition in my nature, but from what I then felt it is obvious how the mind may be worked upon when weakened and perplexed by contending passions of fear, hope, and terror.

Ah! my child, perhaps if I had not left you in the summer, but stayed and watched with maternal care all your little ailments, I might have had you still; but the disease was inveterate. He was opened, and his fatal malady ascertained—two tubercles upon his lung, and a pint of water upon his chest. The surgeon and medical men who attended thought the disease was inherent, and that nothing could have saved him, but even in the most inveterate hereditary diseases life is prolonged to a very advanced period by care. But it is over, and regret is now superfluous.

An interesting play, taken from the French, is now acting with success at Drury Lane.[169] The story is of a deaf and dumb boy found in the streets of Paris, who became from his infirmities a pupil of the celebrated Abbé d’Epée, who discovers great intelligence in the boy, and from various circumstances suspects he is of high origin, but abandoned from motives of interest by his family. This he infers from his distress at the meanness of his clothes, his expressions of delight at seeing a Chief Magistrate, whom he gives his patron to understand resembles in dress one who used to caress him. From a variety of incidents the Abbé at length traces that he is the orphan of a great magistrate, defrauded of his rights by a false guardian. I only mention the piece to show the spirit of the times.

The first night it was played, Theodore, the orphan, to show his talents, is asked to give his opinion who is the greatest genius France has produced. He replied, in writing, ‘For science, D’Alembert, wit, Voltaire, sentiment, Rousseau.’ This was deemed Jacobinical, and it is now strangely transposed, ‘For science, Pascal, wit, Boileau, and sentiment, Montesquieu.’ This is absurd, but, much as it is so, the fury of the times is very much abated within these few years, or rather year.

LADY OXFORD

Lady Oxford passed a few days here with her daughter and sisters, and by a harmless supercherie she contrived that Sir Francis Burdett should be invited, a scheme I disliked, as she is so gentle and good that it pains me to see her a prey to him. Knight was here also. To use a vulgar phrase, he has corrupted her mind by filling her head with innumerable vain conceits, and teaching her to exclaim against institutions, especially that of marriage, to which she says she has been a helpless victim. If I were to see much of her she might perhaps be benefited, for as nobody can do more mischief to a woman than a woman, so perhaps might one reverse the maxim and say nobody can do more good. A little mild reproof and disapprobation of some of her doctrines might possibly rescue her from the gulf.

Soon after Fox’s arrival in March (as mentioned already somewhere in these scrawls) a negotiation was set on foot to bring together all the opposers of Governt. to procure a degree of concert in their proceedings. Tierney was instrumental in getting Ld. Moira and Ld. Lansdown together. Soon after, a numerous meeting at the house of the former was held, where Fox, D. of Bedford, Grey, and others all came to an agreement as to their mode of acting in case of a Regency. The King recovered unexpectedly and rapidly, and the zealous Patriots dispersed.

Ld. Moira is offended, and thinks himself ill-used by the desertion of his new allies, who, immediately upon the chance of getting into power becoming more distant, each fled and followed his own devices. Tierney also is discontented, and declares himself no longer a party man, wishing it universally to be understood that he will not consider Fox as his leader.

Previous to the King’s illness I was witness to rather an unpleasant scene at my own house between him and Grey, where the D. of Bedford was the moderator. The immediate cause of the dispute was that Sheridan most unjustifiably repeated and added unto a conversation held over a table when most of the hearers and talkers were drunk. The origin of the quarrel, however, was more remote. Tierney came into Parlt. entirely by his own talents, neither owed his election or his success in the Committee to the interference of any of his political friends. Shortly after his becoming permanently seated, secession began to be rumoured; he had spoken several times, but had not then much distinguished himself. Fox still attending of course made him diffident of putting himself too forward, nor probably had he acquired the facility of speaking or weight enough to claim the notice of the House. At a meeting held in Mr. Fox’s house upon the measure of seceding, he offered to resign his seat, adding that he felt it incompatible with his duty as a member of the H. of Commons to represent a body of people without fulfilling actively his engagements towards them; and submitted to the will of Fox what he should do. (Ye D. of Bedford, who was afterwards displeased with Tierney for his attendance, saying it spoilt the effect of secession, affects ignorance of this proposal of Tierney, but Fox himself, Fitzpatrick, and others, but especially the first, say that Tierney behaved well, because he behaved frankly.) Fox could not, and did not exact his renunciation of his seat, and he remained near three sessions alone, unassisted, and unsupported, Sheridan alone of the Foxites ever attending, and his attendance was as much directed against Tierney as it was against Pitt.

TIERNEY AND GREY

This solitary opposition was of infinite use to T. as an orator and as a public man; the daily use of his tongue taught him readily to debate, and his diligence, ability, and plainness acquired him the respect and confidence of the country. Successful as he was, he wanted aid; he knew the aristocratical temper of the House was such that the obscurity of his family would retard his progress, but that assisted by Grey he could be high and well propped. Grey was a fit subject to work upon; of an active, restless, unsatisfied temper, of boundless ambition, he found himself a prey to melancholy in calm retirement. Chance threw them together in the neighbourhood of Ham. Tierney did not fail of encouraging his disposition to return, and strove to combat his feelings of remorse about Fox, who had merely in compliance to Grey and ye Duke of Bedford, adopted the measure of secession, a measure notoriously against his own judgment.[170] In short, Grey resumed his post in Parlt. Things went on smoothly, Grey made some capital speeches, the divisions of Ministers fell off, but Opposition gained nothing. Some of Fox’s old friends, the staunch ones (such as Coke, Ld. J. Townshend, and a few others), were offended at being written to to attend, replying that no good could be done if Fox abstained from coming, and that without his presence they would not attend. Grey, always fickle, and generally desponding, grew soured; he saw Fox, and at length persuaded him to come up upon his motion upon the State of the Nation. Tierney, when he knew Fox was coming, expressed himself strongly upon the absurdity of Grey’s going down to St. Anne’s to get sense, and imprudently enough at the Friday Club declared his intention of keeping away on the day of the debate, unless Fox gave a pledge of his future attendance.

This was the conversation reported by Sheridan to Grey, and brought forth a burst of rage and indignation from Grey against Tierney. The expressions used on both sides were alarmingly strong. Upon T. saying he should withdraw himself, if Fox was to come down occasionally and Grey was not generally understood to be the leader, G. accused T. of deceiving him by betraying him into attending by promises of support. In short, the explanations and accusations were sharp and bitter on both sides.

The King’s illness put a stop to the question; the motion was put off from day to day, and Fox came, grew eager, and coalesced with Moira, as has been mentioned elsewhere. The King’s recovery, like magic, drove the whole set back to their hiding-places. Some fancied that Fox would have continued in town but for Mrs. A. and the expense of a house; upon which it was suggested to Ld. Hd. to hire one for him. This with his usual alacrity to serve his uncle, he did without hesitation, announced it to him by letter, and received the following reply.[171]

April 28, 1801.—When Tierney heard of his determination against coming, except to Tooke’s business, he told Grey peremptorily that he should adhere to Ld. Moira and the neutrals. The assurance of attending Horne Tooke’s question has not added to his popularity. In short, all are offended with him.

A FOOLISH PROTEST

Holland House: April 30th, 1801.

Dissentient.

We deprecate and protest against this Measure because, as far as it may be carried into execution, it tends to dissolve the allegiance of the subject. A country over which Martial Law is exercised may be crushed or subdued, but it is not governed, much less is it practical. Allegiance is not more a duty on one side than protection on ye other; the character of subjects and of enemies cannot exist together. A military force can exercise nothing but the dominion of the sword. With respect to the people there is no government. We, therefore, conceive it to be our bounden duty, in our endeavours to preserve the Governt. of the United Kingdom, not to lose sight of those advantages which alone render it worth preserving.

Thanet

Albemarle

Holland

King.

This protest was entered against the Martial Law Bill for Ireland. The composition is Francis’s, whose brevity and terseness make the performance nonsense.[172] Mr. Pitt remarked that the sentence which asserts the incompatibility of the character of subject and enemy is the precise definition of a traitor.

This foolish Protest made a great deal of noise; Ld. Clare moved the expunging it on account of its treasonable and seditious tendency, which was opposed by 17 peers, some of very respectable characters. I quarrelled with Francis, and would not make peace with him. His explanation was worse than the original offence; he declared that he disapproved of the sentiments, and feared the making them public would get the protesters into a scrape. Then why abet and assist what you think mischievous and of bad consequence to your friends?

Ld. Wycombe returned about a fortnight since from Paris, and tho’ he will not see me, he has entrusted his journal for my inspection.

‘Paris, which I had known under so many different circumstances, and which I had originally known in times so very opposite to these. It is an observation of Thucydides that, in the country of which he was a native and of which he wrote, the traveller could not take a step without treading on historic ground. With equal truth may it be said that it is impossible to traverse Paris, without at each step being reminded of occurrences which are destined to become the materials of future history: occurrences which are the more striking, inasmuch as they have not been received by us on the faith of tradition obscured by the lapse of ages or gathered from the Annals of our ancestors, but have taken place within our own memories, have involved the fall of persons we ourselves have known, have overwhelmed institutions with which we have been personally conversant, and have already materially affected the destinies of the generation to which we belong.’

‘The most eloquent discourse cannot half so well illustrate the character of human passion, the vicissitudes of human fortune, the vanity of human pursuits, and the instability of human things, as the aspect of this metropolis.’

THE INFERNAL MACHINE

‘When we were within a few steps of the Théâtre de la République we were surprised by an explosion resembling the report of a cannon.[173] On stepping out of the carriage I perceived a column of smoke making its way over the tops of the houses. In an instant the rattling of cavalry announced the approach of the First Consul, who drove by us with rapidity. We entered the theatre lost in conjecture as to the probable cause of so strange and sinister an incident. We had but little disposition to attend to the business of the drama, which was presently put a stop to by the account of that heinous atrocity which exhibits such a melancholy instance of the most deliberate depravity, and which had so nearly terminated the transcendent career of that illustrious man, whose fame will be more durable than the Pyramids he has visited, whose life is consumed in a succession of dangers, whose preservation should be dear not only to all good citizens, but to all good men, whose fortunes may be deemed inseparable from the fortunes of the Republic. The actor who came forward upon this occasion made the audience acquainted neither with extent or particulars of the misfortune which made it indecent to proceed. The theatre was immediately evacuated; guards were seen moving in various directions, and the measures of precaution were taken with a degree of calmness, quickness, precision, and intelligence which served to give me some idea of the perfection of the military system.

‘No one was able to tell what was the number of persons who had been killed and wounded; but it was understood that the disaster had originated in an attempt to destroy the First Consul in his way to the Opera. At the portico of the Opera, I heard that the performance was going on without interruption, and that Bonaparte, unmoved, was partaking of the entertainment, which was an Oratorio,[174] as if nothing unusual had happened. The next morning heard a few particulars; some of the manner in which the Chief Consul had conducted himself. He appears to have expressed a conviction that in his situation and at a period like the present, such an occurrence was not to be considered as being justly matter of surprise. He told those who had an opportunity of seeing him that when, a short time before, his life had been conspired against, he felt no particular solicitude in relation to the punishment of a crime which seemed to have him only for its object; but that now when the blow which was levelled at himself had fallen upon others, when the safety of a part of the population of the capital had been actually endangered, and when several individuals had become the innocent victims of so great an atrocity, he should not hesitate to demand a law authorising the immediate trial of those who might prove implicated in its guilt. That as to what regarded himself personally, he should die with as much glory at the head of the Legislature as he could do at the head of one of the armies of the Republic. To the Prefect of the Police[175] he expressed his dissatisfaction with an asperity which sufficiently proved that he imputed a defect of vigilance to that department.’...

A REVIEW

‘Went to the Review. In front of the Thuilleries were drawn up the Grenadiers of the Consular Guard, who had followed Bonaparte to Marengo, and had from their conduct in that memorable battle been compared by Berthier to a redoubt of granite. On ye remaining sides of the square were drawn up other troops. In the centre of the place were stationed the officers of the État Major on horseback, whose uniforms and accoutrements were splendid to the greatest degree. A beautiful cream-coloured Spanish horse, adorned with crimson velvet, magnificently embroidered in gold, was held in readiness for Bonaparte. A sudden burst of martial music, issuing from a profusion of instruments, proclaimed his descent from the Palace. He wears no plume. He is distinguished by the quietness of his deportment, the pensiveness of his aspect, and by the paleness of his countenance, which thought and watchfulness have worn. He was attended by his Mameluke. Mounted on his docile charger, he galloped thro’ the ranks. The air resounded with acclamations of applause, to which he seemed insensible. His attention was confined to the troops. When he passed the colours he saluted with a singular propriety of manner. After having rapidly inspected the difft. corps, he rode to the centre of the ground, where he prescribed the evolutions of the day, which took up very little time. Nothing can exceed the precision and intelligence with which the whole manœuvre is conducted. I particularly remarked the fine appearance of the Pioneers, who, as well as the Grenadiers, seem to be picked men. The flying Artillery is much to be admired, but the horses of the Dragoons, altho’ active, were inferior in beauty to those which are commonly purchased for the English Cavalry.’...

‘One of the party had been in the society of the First Consul, where General Lannes was present, subsequent to the villainous attempt made in the Rue Nicaise. B. observed that when the circumstance took place he was a great way off in imagination, that the explosion had been heard by him without reflection, and that he was first excited to attend by Lannes, who was with him. General Lannes explained by saying that he thought at the time, by the breaking of the glasses, that musketry might be firing at them. ‘Lannes,’ said B., ‘you are not of the Institute; if you were, you would have known that it was the air contained within my carriage which broke the windows of it.’

On 16th May, 1801, I dined at Mrs. Sharp’s, in the City, on Irish Hill, to meet Horne Tooke. He was ill, and in all probability would not have kept his engagement, had he not been aware that the dinner was expressly made to give me an opportunity of seeing him, and wise as he is, he is not free from the frailty of the weak (and oftentimes of the wise, as in this instance), in possessing a considerable portion of vanity, for he was gratified at knowing he was sought as a sight. He is an infirm, exhausted old man, with a mild, placid countenance, a small penetrating eye, and a flat, broad forehead. His manners are those of a remarkably high-bred, old-fashioned man of quality; his sentences are precise, clear, and short. His language obsolete and affectedly so, but often productive of a happy and singular effect, witty and brief. He so evidently laboured under the pressure of bodily pain that he only flashed, but from those scintillations I could easily perceive what he must have been in his days of vigour, when his mind, unfettered by physical infirmity, could give itself full scope. His praises of Mr. Fox were extravagant. He said: ‘God Almighty has made that man to show his omnipotence.’ He said to Ld. H.: ‘You see, my Lord, how your uncle has kicked me in the dirt!’ The answer was puzzling, as it was difficult to know to what he alluded, but he explained by adding: ‘He makes me despise myself. He, whom I have abused from the commencement of his political life, has been the first and only person who stood manfully forth in my defence.’[176]

17th Nov., 1801.—Indisposition and indolence have combined to prevent my either writing, reading, or thinking for three several months back—after our return from Worthing. We stayed here about a month, during which period we went to Ld. King’s at Ockham, to Roehampton, and dined at Chiswick, and at Dss. of Leinster’s at Wimbledon. Went to Brighthelmstone, September 15th; stayed there till October 21st. During that interval passed 6 days at Ld. Robert Spencer’s at Woolbeding. I called at Goodwood, D. of Richmond’s, on our way back to Brighton; returned here October 22nd. Sleep occasionally at a house we have taken in Albemarle Street for the play-nights and the late nights in H. of Lords.

MINISTERIAL NEGOTIATIONS

Peace has been made. Pitt continues supporting Ministers; the Grenvilles are in open opposition.[177] A negotiation has just broken off between Grey and Ld. St. Vincent, the purport of which was to bring in G., the Duke of Bedford, and Ld. Moira into the Cabinet. Grey gave up Fox with a quibble; the others excluded Sheridan, Lauderdale, and Lansdown; insisted upon maintaining Ld. Clare in Ireland, and Ld. Hardwick. G. said, if he is kept, we must have a Ld.-Lt.; they would not agree. Ld. Moira objected to D. of Portland; King could not be made to give him up. The arrangement, when they came to terms, could not take place. G. used the D. of B.’s name further than he was warranted, I suspect. It is all over now; only Tierney remains with Addington.

Fox was given up shamefully. For if ever one man was bound to follow the bad and good fortunes of another, it is surely Grey, whose vehement and rash judgment drove the other out of the high post he occupied; and yet he is the first to negotiate and give him up. Fie, fie, for such patriots, when they are not true to their friends as private men. However, Grey is perfectly honest, only violent and irresolute, and easily swayed by sudden impressions. Pelham[178] is Secretary of State for the Home Department: he is married to Lady Mary Osborne, the Duke of Leeds’s sister, an amiable person, who will no doubt make him happy.

H. House, 18th Nov., 1801.—General Fitzpatrick told us yesterday of a curious circumstance about a copy of Gibbon’s works, which belonged to Mr. Fox. As a marginal note Fox wrote in the beginning of the book, ‘This gentleman, on such a day, told me that the country could not be saved unless the heads of three or four of the Cabinet Ministers were laid upon the table of the House of Commons. On such a day, about a week after he delivered that opinion, he was made a Lord of Trade by those very men.’ Topham Beauclerk, who was a friend of Gibbon’s, offered him anything for the book, saying: ‘I must soon die, and my books will be sold after my death by public auction, so Gibbon’s shabbiness will be notorious and perpetuated.’ Some time after, an execution was put into Mr. Fox’s house, and his goods were seized, but, having been assigned over to Mr. Moore, their seizure was resisted. There was, in consequence, a trial in the Court of King’s Bench, and one of the opposite counsel handed up this very book to Ld. Loughborough, to prove to him that Mr. Fox must have considered the book as his own, and not as Mr. Moore’s, by the marginal notes, and that if necessary they should be read in court. Ld. L., who was a more cautious friend than Topham Beauclerk, gave the book back, saying it was unnecessary to read them to the court. Ye General was a party to the bond, and was in court himself when this passed.

Some months, passed in anxiety and grief, have elapsed since I even thought of this Journal. The winter had nearly proved fatal to Charles. Illnesses and relapses succeeded each other so rapidly, that his strength was almost exhausted, and in February we almost ceased expecting that he could recover. He did, but to avoid the danger of a return, we are to pass the ensuing winter in a warm climate.

DUKE OF BEDFORD’S DEATH

The death of the D. of Bedford followed. What did not that calamity cost me! In him I lost the truest and best friend I possessed. His society was amongst the greatest of my pleasures. I loved and respected him, and was proud to see intimately the man on whom the eyes of the public were turned with approbation and confidence. He died as he had lived, an example to all who saw him. At the close of a medical consultation about Charles, on ye 28th of Feb., Dr. Vaughan wished me joy of the success of the operation which had been performed the eve. before upon the D. of B. Frightened at this I asked an explanation, and heard from Mr. Knight, the surgeon (who was here for Charles), the nature of the disease.

We left H. H. on the 8th of July (1802), with the following persons belonging to us, ourselves, Charles, Henry Edward,[179] Mr. Allen, Mr. Howard, and little Marsh, for Paris.

We had apartments taken for us some time before we came; they are very spacious and convenient, the whole rez-de-chaussée of the Hotel Beauveau, Faubourg St. Honoré. The next day we went to Maret,[180] the Minister, to see the parade. The Carrousel has been considerably extended, and 15,000 troops can manœuvre in it. The explosion of the infernal machine, by destroying some houses, rendered it more easy to enlarge the court. The Brazen Horses from Venice are placed upon the Grille which runs across the Carrousel; they stand separate, and produce a very poor effect.[181]

Nothing can be more splendid than the uniforms of the officers, and the housings of the horses. The Consul rides a fine white Arabian. He is known amidst his officers by the plainness of his dress and unlaced black hat. The corps of Mamelukes appeared for the first time; their sudden and uncombined evolutions give a wildness to their appearance that shows a little what they must be when attacking in reality. The town was illuminated in the evening, and as carriages were prohibited in the streets, we walked, and saw everything with the greatest ease and facility. There were public dinners given by the Government to some hundreds of the soldiers at each public garden.

When I first came, I saw much of Madame de Coigny, but latterly less; she is inquisitive and talkative.

On the 15th of Fructidor, Mr. Fox was presented to Bonaparte, who seems to have studied how to receive him in a distinguished manner. He addressed him in a speech evidently got by heart and of course highly complimentary. The purport was that he was the greatest man of one of the greatest countries, and that his voice had always been exerted on the side of humanity and justice, and that to its influence the world owed the blessings of peace.

ST. CLOUD

On Saturday, the 21st August, 1802, we went with the General,[182] Ld. Robert,[183] and Frederick,[184] and we took Charles to St. Cloud. It was a palace belonging formerly to the Dukes of Orleans, but poor Marie Antoinette liked it, and is accused of having exerted her royal influence to compel the late Duke to sell it, which he did most reluctantly. She was so partial to its beauties that she was profuse in her expense to decorate it. In each taste the First Consul imitates her, as he is so impatient to take possession that the surveyors are obliged to make the men work all night; and he likes it so much that no expense is spared to render it a fit residence for the Sovereign of France. The gallery remains as it was finished by Gaston, Duke of Orleans, Louis XIII’s brother; only on the panels some of the plunder of Italy, which was in the Museum of the Louvre, has been placed, much to their disadvantage, as the gaudy ceiling and rich gilding kills the colouring of the pictures. They are capital; some of my old acquaintances out of the Palais Pitti. The apartments that are fitted up are done in le goût sévère, which, in other words, means a dark and dingy style. The walls are hung with cloth, and draperies of cloth edged with magnificent deep parti-coloured fringes are festooned over it. The colours being generally dark green and brown produce a solemn effect, and the whole has a sombre military appearance; the rods of the curtains are finely polished spears. Where the Queen’s apartments have been preserved, I admire them far beyond those in the goût sévère, and prefer bright gilding to the heavy mahogany, and a well-stuffed sofa to a small, hard one. In short, the exchange is a bad one, les ris et les amours please me, broad cloth and sphinxes do not. The Library is very pretty, and the books placed in very appropriate cases, plain and simple, but at the same time rich and decorated. The gardens are insignificant, but if the Consul continues to like living there, I doubt not he will find means to extend them, tho’ as yet I only look upon St. Cloud as a halt on the road to Versailles.

On Sunday, ye next day, we went with a large party to Versailles, where we expected to see the Eaux play, but we had been misled. We dined at Le petit Trianon, formerly a favourite little palace of the Queen’s, with a garden à l’Anglaise; but what I did admire indeed is Le grand Trianon, a most noble palace. The centre, instead of a corps-de-logis, is a peristyle composed of a double row of large marble columns; the front to the garden is very large and grand, only a rez-de-chaussée. The garden is thoroughly in the French style, broad and spacious walks, fountains, alleys, cabinets de verdure; in short, just what a garden should be near a large house.

We went from thence to Versailles. What a change from former days! We walked along the Terrace, and so to the Orangerie, where there are trees in tubs as large as any I ever saw growing either at Nice or Naples in the common ground. One old tree they call François Premier, and they add that it is 400 years old. It is satisfactorily proved by a procès verbal that it belonged to the Constable of Bourbon, and was confiscated with the rest of his property, and so came to François I. Our party was numerous: Mr. and Mrs. Fox, Ld. Robert, the General, Mr. Allen, Frederick Ponsonby, Miss Adair, Heathcote, St. John, Trotter,[185] Smith (the Petrarch of Carolina’s brother), Green.

The following is a list of those who dined with us at Paris in July, August, and part of September, 1802.

LA FAYETTE

La Fayette, who is indebted to Bonaparte for his liberty, has, since his return to his native country, resided chiefly upon the small estate the Revolution has not deprived him of at La Grange. Bonaparte affected to consult the nation whether he should be Consul for life; was answered by La Fayette, who wrote a gentle but able remonstrance upon the subject. Bonaparte was little enough, when an army promotion took place, to pass over La Fayette’s son and nephew; he has, however, promoted them since. His son was educated in Washington’s house, appears very amiable; he was just married.[186]

Andréossy[187] is the son of an obscure man of Italian origin, employed by Riquet in the Languedoc Canal. He was born at Castelnaudary, educated at Sorèze, and served under the ancien régime as an engineer. He made some campaigns in Italy, went to Egypt, was there employed upon an expedition to ye Lake Menzalah, and returned in the vessel which brought the First Consul to France. He has since been named to ye Embassy of England. He lived very much with us. He is a plain Militaire in his manner, and if he offends it will be unintentional, as he is disposed to maintain peace and amity between the two countries.

Caffarelli,[188] brother of a general of the same name killed before Acre. He is a fellow townsman and school companion of Andréossy, and like him descended from an Italian family brought by Riquet to work at the Canal. He is a remarkably displeasing person in his manner, a sycophant and court echo of the ante-chamber of Bonaparte; from love of order and morality always proclaiming that the First Consul and his wife sleep in the same bed, and that the domestic virtues of a warrior are more important than his heroic deeds. In short, from him one collects the disgusting cant which is to be employed by the present Governt. as a counterpoise to the wild extravagant opinions of atheism and immorality set afloat under the first constitution of the Republic.

Valence,[189] a general who served in the first campaigns under Dumouriez, a good-humoured, boasting, bluff Papa.

Mde. de V., daughter of Mde. de Sillery, a beauty on the wane, pleasing and clever.

Abbé St. Fard, a son of the Duke of Orleans, father to the unfortunate Égalité; remarkably obliging, and, tho’ not distinguished for talents, very popular, and a person one cannot but like.

Duc de Duras,[190] a ci-devant Duc returned, but not reconciled to the changes in his country.

LALLY TOLLENDAL

Lally Tollendal,[191] the epitome of sentiment. By some inconceivable freak imagined himself to be the son of Count Lally, executed for the surrender of Pondicherry. Whilst at college he heard the story; his birth was obscure and even mysterious. A flight into the region of fancy made him imagine himself the son of the state culprit (but not till after his execution); he then pleaded for him. He is returned to France after an absence of many years, but, like many who were distinguished at first, he returns but to see his insignificance and the indifference of the Governt. to these, many of whom conceived themselves to be of the utmost importance.

Psse. d’Hesnin [sic], an excellent woman, formerly about the Queen, attached for many years to Lally.

Mde. Flahaut.[192] A volume would not suffice. An agreeable adventuress, who after failing in various projects, both upon English and French, at last has closed her tempestuous career by marrying Souza, ye Portuguese Minister. She has written some pretty novels; her conversation consists more in a narrative of the good things she has said than in those she actually does say. Her son, a fine, open young man. He is handsome and uncommonly engaging in his manners and countenance.

Girardin,[193] an élève of Jean Jacques, and proprietor of Ermenonville. He was eager in the beginning of Revolution; emigrated for a short time; is now a Tribune, and intimate friend of Joseph Bonaparte’s. He is not an Emile, but good-natured. His love of independence and the naked truth for the sake of truth will never expose him to the straits a patriot must undergo. He will shift in time.

Gallois,[194] a Tribune, uncommonly interesting in his manner, with a countenance that proclaims his talents and gentle, amiable heart.

Abbé Morellet,[195] an old économiste. Sprightly, altho’ he is turned of eighty.

Molé,[196] a descendant of the great President of that name. We knew him well in England; a mild, gentlemanlike young man, very unlike a young Frenchman.

Chevalier Acerbi,[197] an Italian Cisalpine. He travelled to North Cape, and has published two 4to. vols. of his journey; a clever man, great facility of languages.

Le Chevalier de la Bintinaye, nephew of the ci-devant Archbishop of Bordeaux.

Marquise de Coigny, celebrated for her wit. Her daughter, a charming girl.

M. DE NARBONNE

Narbonne.[198] The scandalous chronicles of the old Court report that he is the son of Mde. Adélaïde of France. He is strikingly like the Bourbons, but depraved as were the manners, it is too repugnant to nature to credit the whole story. His conversation is brilliant, full of lively sallies, and, upon the whole, he is one of the most agreeable persons in society I ever met with. He was Minister of War for a moment just after the King accepted the Constitution. He is attached to Mde. de Staël, who has the most uncontrolled dominion over his opinions and conduct. His person is a more divided property. He used to be Talleyrand’s intimate friend, but Mde. Grand, finding him averse to her elevation, by degrees broke the friendship.

Ségur,[199] son of the Comte, a promising, rising young man, married to Mde. d’Aguesseau’s daughter.

Young Ségur, a flippant lad, vain of having made under McDonald a campaign, which he has written, and of having gone, by order of Bonaparte, with more celerity than was ever done, from Paris to Madrid and back again. Age and some well-directed rebuffs will be of infinite service to him.

Mde. d’Aguesseau.

Jaucourt,[200] a Tribune. Under the days of the Court he was distinguished for his galanterie and dévouement in affairs of intrigue. There is a famous anecdote of his losing his thumb not to betray a lady whose house he quitted by stealth at daybreak. The Swiss heard a noise at the gate, and shut it with violence; Jaucourt’s thumb was crushed, but he made no noise, and for many years the adventure was secret. He is now married, according to the licence allowed by the Revolution, to Mde. de la Châtre. He is an agreeable man, she is clever.

Abbé Casti.[201] I will not do to him what an injudicious panegyrist has done to Ariosto, whose epitaph is laden with an enumeration of his works. Suffice it to say that his last work is inferior to all his others—Gli animali parlanti, a poem as dull and as ill-conceived as Dryden’s Hind and Panther. Those discuss polemical questions, and Casti’s reason upon the abstract principles of Governt. He is very old, and worn out by every species of debauchery and excess; his eyes twinkle at times, and show a trace of his former life, but they are but rare scintillations.

Rumford, ye Yankee philanthropist. I have often named him elsewhere.

M. LE CHEVALIER

Le Chevalier,[202] a most cordial, warm-hearted, zealous man. He travelled to the plain of Troy with Sir Francis Burdett, and has written upon it, which has given rise to a fresh controversy. He is employed au Bureau des relations extérieures, merely from Talleyrand’s friendship for him. His language is not calculated to obtain him promotion in his career, nor is he trusted with anything, his place being a sinecure and more a pension than an employment.

Monteron,[203] [sic] one of the unfortunate Duke of Orléans’ set, a complete mauvais sujet, but an agreeable vaurien. He was one of the Dsse. de Fleury’s husbands, but has regained his liberty.

Markoff,[204] the Russian Ambassador, a rusé diplomat, scurvily treated by Bonaparte, who seems to make a point of saying offensive things before him.

M. de Grave,[205] an obliging driveller.

Abbé Dillon, brother of the Beau Dillon,[206] &c. Knew him in Paris in 1790, afterwards in Italy and England. A conceited bel esprit, with too much pretensions.

Calonne. One may say of him as Johnson did of Garrick, that his loss has removed a stock of harmless amusement from society. He was delightful; with all the freshness and vivacity of youth, he had the taste and refinement of riper years. Tho’ he allowed himself to range in the regions of fancy, when he ought to have been restrained by the strictness of veracity, yet he did it with such liveliness and wit that one compounded for the lost fact in hearing the facetious story. He was murdered by an unskilful physician a very short time after we quitted Paris.

Talma,[207] the celebrated tragedian. His voice is bad, nor is his conception of his part always correct. He is the person who has introduced the severity and perfection of costume in the theatre. He is not clever and not well informed.

Abbé Sicard,[208] the successor of Abbé de L’Épée. He brought with him his most intelligent pupil Massieu. The pains he bestows upon the unhappy objects confided to his care entitle him to much praise; the lectures are worth seeing once, but to those who stand not in need of this assistance are soon tedious.

Bertrand.[209] I knew him in Italy. He is a friend of Mde. d’Albany’s, and belongs to the society of Mde. de Souza, Morellet, &c., &c. He is declining fast; he was a lively man.

Charles de Noailles,[210] an uncommonly handsome man, son of the Prince de Poix. He lived very much in England, and at one time with the Prince, who grew jealous at Mrs. Fitzherbert’s partiality to him, which occasioned their rupture. He has much more sense and useful knowledge than one might suppose from a slight acquaintance with him he possessed.

ENGLISH IN PARIS

The English who dined with us were Mr. and Mrs. Fox, Ld. Robert Adair, St. John, Mr. Trotter, Mr. Clarke, Green, Heathcote, Kemble, Pinkerton, Fitzpatrick, 2 Erskines, Mr. Merry, Lens, Abbé Roberts, Banks, Mrs. H. Fox, Mr. Neave, Miss Townshend, Mr. Parish, St. Leger, Tuyle, Warner, Francis, A. St. Leger, Capt. Jones, Jerningham. We dined twice at Sieyès; once at Cambacères’s and Lucchesini’s; often at Talleyrand’s; once at Versailles with the Caumonts and Andréossys.

The Hollands left Paris on September 20, 1802, for a tour in the South of France and Spain. They did not return to England till April 1805. The Journal continues until April 8, but is omitted from these pages.

July 24th, 1806.—The Russians have made a separate peace.[211] The Cabinet have determined upon sending a person upon an extraordinary Mission to Portugal, and have chosen Lauderdale for that purpose, and he has accepted. Ld. St. Vincent is to follow with the fleet, and be joined in the Commission; the nature of the appointment to be the same as Ld. Minto and Ld. Hood were at Toulon. It is proposed, if Portugal be invaded, that we should carry off (vi et armis) the Royal family, and such as choose to follow their fortunes, and establish them at Brésil. A French army of 90,000 men is assembled at Bayonne for the invasion of Portugal. Eugène Beauharnais, the Viceroy of Italy, is to have the command of it; the attack is to be made by Galicia.

NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE

25th.—The preliminaries of peace between France and Russia have been signed by d’Oubril, though he knew at the time that Basilico was on his road to Paris with dispatches from our Governt. He signed three hours after he knew of his landing at Boulogne. The following stipulations form the basis of the peace. The Russians are to return Corfu, but they are not to keep more than 4000 men in garrison there. Dalmatia and Ragusa are left to the French. The Montenegrins are not to be punished for the successful resistance which, in conjunction with the Russians, they have opposed to the French arms, but this amnesty does not extend to any offences which they may have committed against their lawful Sovereign. Sicily is left exposed to the French without a stipulation in its favour. No provision of any sort is made for the ex-King of Naples, nor is there any allusion to him in the Treaty, except a declaration on the part of the French that they have no objection to the King of Sicily et sa femme (they will not call her Queen) finding an asylum wherever they can. By a secret article, Minorca, Majorca, and Iviza are to be transferred from Spain to the D. of Calabria, on condition that the ports of these islands shall be shut against the English. The Russians agree to exclude the English from all their ports in the Mediterranean. The French are to be allowed six months[212] to evacuate Germany. The present Treaty must be ratified within twenty-five days.

On the day following this extraordinary transaction, Ld. Yarmouth[213] presented his credentials to the F. Governt., though his instructions were not to present them at all, till the basis of the pacification was settled. This step of Ld. Y.’s is very reprehensible, as it may give d’Oubril a pretext to justify his conduct.

NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE

The terms of peace originally offered by Talleyrand and conveyed to Mr. Fox by Ld. Y. were very advantageous to this country; indeed, so extremely so, that as the proposals were verbally made, much doubt was entertained of Ld. Y.’s accuracy in reporting them, and he owed entirely his being employed in the negotiation to the doubts of his veracity. The uti possidetis on both sides was to be the basis of the treaty. Hanover was to be restored to the K. of E., in return for our acknowledgment of Bonaparte’s newly-created Kings. No further changes were to be made in Germany or Switzerland. The integrity of Spain and Portugal was to be guaranteed in both Hemispheres. We were not to interfere with the settlement of Italy or Holland. Upon a distant hint being thrown out about commercial arrangements, ‘Nous voulons être maîtres chez nous’ was the reply. When Sicily was mentioned, Talleyrand, who had spoken the above, exclaimed, ‘Mais que voulez vous? Vous l’avez.’ Our Cabinet readily assented to these terms (in addition to which it was hinted that Bonaparte was disposed to concur with Mr. F. in taking measures for the general abolition of the Slave Trade, but this was intended as a sneer. When Talleyrand read the resolutions of the H. of Commons upon the subject of the S. Trade, he said there was another Act of Parliament much more necessary, one for which the Spaniards, Portuguese, and Germans called out most loudly, ‘Et cette acte du Parlement, c’est la paix’), and Ld. Y. was sent back to Paris with full assent to his message. But when he arrived there he found the views of the French Governt. materially changed in the most important point. They now demanded that Sicily should be ceded to them in order to be re-annexed to the kingdom of Naples. Joseph, the new King, had represented that his kingdom of Naples would not be secure without the possession of Sicily, and the French engineers had given in a report that Sicily could be subdued with much more ease than they had at first supposed. On these grounds, which the French have the assurance to represent as new occurrences since their first overtures to Ld. Y., they pretend to justify their deviation from their original proposals, and they offered to the King of Sicily, in exchange for that island, to make him King of Dalmatia and Albania.[214] D’Oubril, the Russian negotiator, who was by this time at Paris, and who had been privy to everything done by our Cabinet, was caught by this last proposal, and expressed his opinion decidedly in favour of it. In the cession of Dalmatia to the King of Sicily, he fancied that he saw the elevation of power which would remove the French to a greater distance from the frontiers of Turkey, and prove in future a bulwark against the extension of their empire in that quarter. He was ready, as Mr. Fox observed, to sacrifice a well-understood English object to an ill-defined Russian one. This modification of the original project was received here with great disappointment and ill-humour, and was considered as a breach of faith on the part of the French. We contended that no event had happened which could justify any departure from the first proposals. We could not consent to transfer Albania from its present possessors, who were the friends and allies of England, in order to make compensation to the K. of Sicily for the loss of his dominions, which it was equally our interest and our duty to defend. Dalmatia alone was not to be mentioned as an equivalent for Sicily. But to show our disposition to accommodate matters, it was at length proposed as a compromise, that Dalmatia should be given to the King of Sardinia, with the title of King; and since the new K. of Naples was desirous to have a greater extent of sea-coast, that Sardinia, together with the other Spanish Islands of Majorca, &c., should be added to his kingdom; Sicily on no account could we yield. The Minute which Mr. Fox drew up for the Cabinet, in which he states his reasons compressed into 8 or 10 sentences, is the most able summary ever penned.

In this state of the negotiation, d’Oubril, who a few days before had reminded Mr. Fox of the expression of ‘piano piano,’ which he had used in his letter to Czartorisky upon the Grand Confederacy forming last year, signed the peace, the outline of which I have just noted. His excuse for this conduct is said to be the danger to which Russia would be exposed, if they were to persuade Turkey and compel Austria to join in a coalition against her. Austria is so much reduced that she must comply with whatever France demands, and French influence domineers at Constantinople. But these are not supposed to be the true reasons for his conduct. The late changes in the private councils of St. Petersburg are suspected to have had a greater share in determining him, and it is even said that, on the strength of those, he has ventured to take this important step without instructions from his Court. He says, ‘He is gone back to lay his Treaty and head at the feet of his Master.’

Czartorisky,[215] the late Minister of Russia, is a Pole of great consideration and high rank in Poland. He owed his elevation to the partiality of the Empress, who was passionately in love with him. He afterwards became a favourite with Alexander; he played the truant to his mistress, who was for a length of time quite inconsolable at his infidelities. The Empress is with child at present.

MISSION TO PORTUGAL

26th.—It is determined to send a military man to Portugal, and Ld. Rosslyn[216] has been fixed upon for the mission. Ld. H. immediately proposed to him to take Brougham, if he had any person in a civil capacity. He promised to propose him to Ld. Grenville. There is an idea of employing Dumouriez.

Sr. Sidney Smith has taken the Isle of Capri, and the French have been worsted in several encounters in Calabria. Hopes are entertained that we shall be able to defend Sicily against the French, with the aid alone of the Sicilians. The Queen and Duke of Calabria, who are surrounded by persons suspected of being secretly in the French interest, are eager for carrying the war into Calabria.

Great dissatisfaction at Ld. Yarmouth’s conduct, and another negotiator must go. Ld. Holland not being able to leave his uncle, Lauderdale, as the next best person, is to go. It is a sad mortification, as it has long been the darling hope of uncle and nephew; but it would be impossible to go, as Ld. H., besides being useful, is also one of the greatest comforts to Mr. Fox. Mr. F. so ill that none of the last transactions of the preceding three days have been communicated to him.

27th July.—Mr. Fox stronger, and in better spirits to-day, but there is no material change in his complaint. The news of the Russian Treaty, and the determination of sending Lauderdale to Paris, were communicated to him by Ld. Howick. Upon hearing that L. was to go to Paris, he exclaimed, ‘Why does not Holland go?’ Ld. Howick was perplexed, and stammered by way of excuse the ‘suddenness of the departure’; upon which Fox said, ‘Oh, I understand you!’ and immediately changed the subject. When he saw Ld. Holland about an hour afterwards, he began with saying, ‘So, young one, you won’t go to Paris’; on Ld. Holland’s answering that he preferred staying, as he thought he was a comfort to him, he caught his hand and said, with great emotion, ‘Yes, a comfort indeed,’ and was for several minutes quite overcome and shedding tears. This circumstance is the first event which has given him any apprehension about his own danger.

LORD YARMOUTH’S CONDUCT

D’Oubril has written to Stroganoff[217] that he signed the preliminaries with Ld. Yarmouth’s approbation. Ld. Yarmouth in his dispatches says quite the contrary. Copies of the letters have been sent to St. Petersburg. Our Ministers are greatly displeased with Ld. Yarmouth for having presented his credentials the very day after d’Oubril signed, and are not without fear that he may be bullied or won into signing the preliminaries without further instructions. There are some unpleasant suspicions afloat about Ld. Y., especially upon the score of stock-jobbing.[218] General Clarke[219] is the person named to negotiate with him; he was employed upon d’Oubril’s business. The French already show a disposition since the signature of the Russian Treaty, to rise in their demands. They have thrown out hints that they expect St. Lucia and Tobago to be restored to them, and Ld. Y. has of his own head suggested that Cuba should be ceded to the King of Naples, who cannot be reduced to live as a fugitive or subject in the dominions of his son. Ld. Y. is suspected of concealments in his report of his negotiations. A messenger went off instructing him not to proceed in any way, but wait L.’s arrival. Notwithstanding their displeasure, Ld. Y. has been joined in the Commission with Ld. Lauderdale.

28th.—Mr. Fox nearly in the same state; his spirits are good, and he has still great hopes of recovery. He said this morning, ‘I hope my recovery is not so desperate as peace.’ The news from Paris is every day less favourable, so much that hints have been thrown out to Ld. Yarmouth about the restitution of Pondicheri and Surinam, and the other Dutch colonies in S. America, about the expulsion of the French Princes from England, and a restraint upon the licence of the journals. Ministers are much more discontented with Ld. Y. L. has been told in the most explicit manner by the Cabinet, that if he finds anything in Ld. Y.’s conduct to disapprove of, he has only to give a hint, and he shall be recalled.

Bonaparte is elated beyond his usual tone of insolence since he procured the Russian Treaty; he sent for the Austrian Chargé d’Affaires, and ordered him to signify to his master that he must lay aside the title of Emperor of Germany, and yield the precedence to France, and that he must assent to and recommend the alterations in the constitution of the Empire, which were proposed to be held at Frankfort on the 10th August. The Chargé d’Affaires pleaded that he durst not convey such a message to his Sovereign. ‘Pourquoi votre maître ne m’envoye-t’-il pas un ambassadeur, et pas un misérable parlementaire?’

29th.—Professor Dugald Stewart, who has just arrived from Edinburgh, is to go with L. to Paris. Gaeta is taken, and Sr. Sidney has met with some check in the kingdom of Naples.[220] L. had a conversation alone with Mr. F., in which he opened himself freely. He said he wished to retire from office till he got better, and to have Ld. H., whom he had always destined ultimately to succeed him, appointed to fill his place pro tempore, adding that he had been thinking of this for some time, but that he had put it off in the hope of being able to sign the peace before he retired. He bid L. ‘open the matter to Ld. Grenville,’ and added that he ‘would talk further on the subject to Ld. Grenville in 8 or 10 days.’ In a conversation which L. had with Ld. Grenville some time ago, during which they talked of Mr. Fox’s situation and of the small prospect of any amendment in his health, Ld. Grenville said, ‘That he hoped his own conduct had been such as to satisfy Mr. Fox’s friends since the period of their being connected together, and if that disastrous calamity should happen, and most disastrous indeed would it be for the country, he trusted, they would have no reason to be dissatisfied with any future arrangements that might take place.’

Sheridan, who dined here to-day, begged to talk to me privately. He said that it was the wish of many of Fox’s friends, whenever the state of his health should make it impossible for him to attend to the duties of his office, that Ld. H. should be appointed his successor; that such an appointment would be regarded by them as a pledge that the Whig Party was still to be kept up, and its principles maintained; that the Prince was very eager to have them carried into effect; that he had spoken to Windham, who seemed to listen with satisfaction. That he, ‘from delicacy, spoke to me instead of to Ld. H., and begged I would communicate the substance of them to him,’ He told me that George Byng and the second-rate sort of politicians were very eager upon the subject.

Cline, the surgeon, has seen Mr. Fox, and declares himself ready to perform the operation whenever the physicians shall judge it expedient, as he does not see any reason to think the result more formidable to Mr. F. than to any other person.

A SUCCESSOR TO FOX

Ld. Howick is full of plans for an Administration, in the event of Mr. Fox’s retirement, or worse. He takes for granted that neither the General or Ld. Fitzwilliam would choose to remain in office if F. were away. He would, in that case, make Whitbread Secretary at War, himself S. for the Home Department, Tom Grenville the Admiralty, Tierney the Board of Control, Ld. H., of course, the Foreign Office; and, said I, ‘Pray where do you put Lauderdale, ye first, greatest, and best lord?’

31st.—Lauderdale had an interview with Ld. Grenville, and repeated the substance of his late conversation with Mr. F.; Ld. G. listened with great attention, but made no reply. Just as L. went out, he called him back to beg that he would say to Ld. H. that, ‘He had many times abstained from going to Stable Yard, from an apprehension that if Mr. Fox should know he was there, he might suppose he was come upon business and make an effort to see him, which might do him harm; but that if he followed the dictates of his own inclination, he should be there every day,’ Tierney and Ld. Morpeth have both expressed to me very strongly their wishes and the necessity that Ld. H. should be the locum tenens for his uncle.

1st August.—Ld. Rosslyn has written a letter on the subject of his Mission to Portugal, from which it appears he is not inclined to undertake the services assigned to him. When Admiral Markham read it, he observed upon it that, ‘Ld. St. Vincent, when he sees this, will say the fellow has got dung at his heart.’ Not a very elegant or delicate mode of expression!

It is said that Spain is disposed to a war with France, in consequence of their having discovered that a plan of partitioning Spain is in agitation, by which Estremadura and Galicia are to be annexed to Portugal, and made into a kingdom for the Prince of the Peace,[221] while the rest of Spain is to be given to one of B.’s brothers.

Mr. Goddard (Ld. Henry Spencer’s friend) arrived this evening from Paris with passports for Lauderdale. When the passport was required, Bonaparte exclaimed, ‘What! another passport! Have they not a blank one already? But this is of a piece with the whole of their conduct during the negotiation; delay, delay is their object.’ ‘But will you grant them the passport?’ ‘Yes, and for twenty more if they choose.’

2nd.—Lauderdale set off for Paris this evening, with Professor Stewart, and Mr. Maddison from the Post Office. Ld. H. gave him a letter to Serra and Prince Masserano.[222]

Mr. Fox better; Vaughan said this morning that there was a greater assemblage of favourable symptoms than there had been any day since he attended.

SHERIDAN’S INTRIGUES

Sheridan came here in the evening, and talked over his schemes. He enlarged greatly upon the state in which the House of Commons would be left if Mr. Fox were removed from it; deplored the unpopularity of Ld. Howick, and seemed to insinuate that Petty had been tried and found unfit for the task.[223] He has some project, all founded upon his enmity to Ld. Howick and hereditary suspicion of Ld. Henry, to try and rouse Ld. H.’s old partiality for Canning, and get him and Perceval into the Administration.

3rd.—Mr. Fox not quite so well.

4th.—Mr. Fox in high spirits, and talks confidently of meeting Parlt. in October; approves of an early session in time of war. He has not the slightest expectation of peace, and expects Lauderdale’s immediate return.

5th.—When Bonaparte was told that L. was coming, he said, ‘Comment! on m’envoye un ancien Jacobin.’ D’Oubril had been shut up for 14 hours with General Clarke, before he signed the Preliminaries. It is a dexterous way of carrying a point, to weary out a man’s physical strength, to tame him like a wild beast, to carry your purpose. The pretext was to carry the business through rapidly.

Ali Pacha[224] of Janina has sent a letter which he received from Bonaparte, all written in his own hand, inviting him to form a connection with France. Ali observed he had never received such a mark of respect and confidence from the English. Bonaparte is steady and indefatigable in all his undertakings.

6th.—Ld. Grenville has proposed to Ld. H. that he should be one of the Commissioners for settling the points in dispute between this country and the U. States of America.[225] Ld. Auckland, as President of the Board of Trade, is to be the other Commissioner. The Americans are Messrs. Monroe[226] and Pinckney.[227] Ld. Howick and others consider this as a delicate opening on the part of Ld. G. to show his readiness to comply with the intimation he had recently had from Mr. F. through Lauderdale.

The operation is to be to-morrow.

7th.—The operation was performed this morn.; Cline and Hawkins did it. Sixteen quarts of amber-coloured water was drawn off; he bore the operation perfectly well, his pulse very little affected, and no disposition to faintness.

8th.—Not so well from nausea and lowness.

Ld. H. has accepted the appointment of Commissioner. Mr. Eden is the Secretary (by a shabby artifice of his father’s), Mr. Allen the Assistant-Secretary.

It has been proposed to Tierney to go to Lisbon in the capacity in which Ld. Rosslyn was to have gone. T.’s intimacy with Ld. St. Vincent made him be thought of for the service. Ld. St. V. is to follow with a squadron for carrying off, if necessary, the Portuguese fleet to the Azores, and for transporting the Prince Regent and his friends to Brazil. T. is disinclined, and has refused.

LAUDERDALE’S MISSION

9th.—Ld. Grenville sent for Ld. Rosslyn late last night and renewed his former proposal of sending him to Lisbon. Ld. R. has accepted, and is to set off to-night. The Commissioners are Lds. Rosslyn, St. V., and General Simcoe;[228] and, to my great satisfaction, Mr. Brougham.

10th.—Mr. Fox continues very low; a great flow from ye wound, the anasarca diminishes fast.

12th.—No messenger from Paris. It is suspected that some artifice is used to delay the messengers, in order to prolong the negotiation, it being a matter of importance to France to keep up the appearance of a negotiation with England till the changes she meditates in Germany are completed.

NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE

14th.—Messengers in. Immediately on L.’s arrival he presented to the F. Governt. a short recapitulation of what had already passed during the negotiation, recalling to their recollection that the principle on which the E. Governt. had consented to treat was the uti possidetis, and reminding them how much this had been forgotten and departed from in their late demands, and concluding with the alternative, either to resume the uti possidetis as the principle of the Treaty, or to send him passports to return to England.[229] Three days elapsed before any answer was given to this note. General Clarke proposed that the business should be carried on by conversations, and not by written notes, which was refused. He also cavilled at some expressions in L.’s note, but at length presented a note couched in rather a high tone, complaining that when the Treaty was far advanced, and that Ld. Yarmouth was on the point of signing, L. should have been sent over to make inadmissible pretensions and to disappoint the hopes which all Europe had conceived of peace. The uti possidetis could not be the basis of the Treaty, unless the Emperor were to be replaced in the possession of Fiume, Treviso, and of all the conquests which he had renounced by the Peace of Presburg. Upon this L. sent for his passports. Three days were employed in sending from one office to another to obtain them, without success. M. de Lima (the Portuguese) called upon him, and implored in the most earnest manner that he would not break off the negotiation, as this would leave Portugal and Spain exposed to certain and immediate destruction. No effect being produced by this manœuvre, and L. persisting in his demand of passports, a 2nd note was sent, expressed in much more civil and moderate language, and tho’ denying that the uti possidetis had ever been admitted as the basis of the Treaty, and declaring that without great modifications it was inadmissible, but concluding with these words, ‘Mais l’Empereur l’adopte puisqu’il le trouve.’ It is remarkable that in this note the word adopte was substituted in the Emperor’s own handwriting, in place of accepte or admet. And in the date, the 11th had been inserted instead of the 7th, which had been the original date, so that the note had been detained some days, in hopes of Lauderdale’s yielding. On receiving this, L. addressed a note to the French Governt., in which, without taking any notice of the contents of theirs, he declared he could not go on with the negotiation, unless he had an explicit assurance from them that he should have passports at any time within half an hour, for himself or couriers, whenever he should chance to demand them. This note produced a very civil answer from Talleyrand, ascribing to accident entirely the blame of the former delay, and assuring him that it was in no respect owing to any want of civility to him. Lauderdale returned a second note, in answer to the former one, that he could not negotiate further, unless the uti possidetis[230] was distinctly admitted to be the basis of the Treaty, and that every deviation from it should be considered as an exception from the general basis of the peace. Things were in this state when Basilico was sent away.