Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Henry Reeve, C.B., D.C.L. Part 22

'I attended her funeral on the 10th'--Reeve noted in his Journal--'and went in an immense procession from Twickenham to Weybridge.'

_From M. Guizot_

_Val Richer, November 21st_.--I never had any taste for travelling. I would willingly go a hundred miles for an hour's conversation with such or such a person; but the miles themselves have little interest for me. However, your tour in Portugal, as you describe it, would have tempted me. I like a country which is different from all others. Still, I am quite sure that, after having amused yourself in Portugal, you are very glad to be back in England....

Lord Clarendon may be quite easy; no difficulty affecting his department will come from here. Country and Government are equally inclined to peace.

As to our home affairs, which alone have any interest just now, I am a little sad, but not uneasy. We are returning--quietly, ignorantly, and with tottering steps--into the right path, the parliamentary system. The country is coming back to it. The Emperor does not, and will not, offer any serious resistance to it. We shall make blunders, both in our procedure and debates, but shall, nevertheless, make sensible progress. What we are in want of is the men.

_From Lord Westbury_

_Hinton St. George, November 25th._--Mrs. Reeve, when I had the pleasure of seeing her at Hinton, gave me an a.s.surance that I should not be troubled this year with any request to attend the Privy Council. Your letter, therefore, is an act of _gross domestic insubordination_--a kind of petty treason. Formerly it was the act of the husband that bound the wife; _mais nous avons change tout cela_; the act of the wife binds the husband. I appeal unto Caesar. It is very easy for Lord Chelmsford and yourself, who have your town houses in order, your servants, horses, carriages, and whole establishments, not omitting the _placens uxor_, to talk of the 'patriotic duty' of attending the Privy Council--having nothing else to do, and wanting amus.e.m.e.nt; but my house is thoroughly dismantled, having been under repair; I have not a room to sit down in with comfort, nor servants to attend to me, nor a cook to cook my dinner, nor any of those _solatia_ or _solamina_ which you have in profusion. Yet you, with great unconcern, desire me to quit my family, and all my amus.e.m.e.nts and enjoyments, that I may come to town to endure complete wretchedness, and have a bad dinner and an indigestion everyday, _ut plebi placeam et declamatio fiam_. If you think this reasonable and right, I am sure you have left all sense of reasonableness in Lusitania. Besides, have you not a plethora of judicial wealth and power? Have you not the Lord Justice, who has little else to do; and the Admiralty Judge; and that great Adminiculum, the learned and pious man whom, _honoris causa_, I call Holy Joe? [Footnote: Probably sir Joseph Napier, nominated to a place on the Judicial Committee by Disraeli in March 1868.] But to speak more gravely. Had I had the least conception that I should have been wanted--that is, _really_ wanted--I would have made other arrangements than I have done.... We shall now have a house full of people until December 20th, and I cannot, without much offence, relieve myself from these deferred engagements. A little while ago I was thrown out of my shooting-cart; I injured my arm, which has brought on rheumatism, and I am not in a condition to come up to a solitary and dismantled house in London without anything requisite for the comfort of an old man. On January 20th, until the beginning of appeals in the Lords, I will, if you need it, sit and dispose of all the colonial and admiralty appeals. When will you come down and shoot?

_To Lord Derby_

62 Rutland Gate, December 19th.

My dear Lord Derby, [Footnote: For some years Reeve had known him as Lord Stanley. He had succeeded to the t.i.tle on October 23rd.]--I cannot without emotion address you by your present name. Although I never had the honour of much personal acquaintance with your father, he has been, for the last thirty years, an object of familiar interest even to those with whom he was not familiar. His high spirit, his splendid eloquence, his public services, have endeared him to thousands whom he hardly knew, and caused them to share the feelings with which you, in a far higher degree, must regard this great loss. I have no doubt, however, that you will support and increase the honour of a name so ill.u.s.trious, and I know no one more fit to bear it.... Mrs. Reeve begs to join with me in again presenting to you our very sincere regards, and I remain,

Very faithfully yours,

HENRY REEVE.

Of social engagements, the Journal mentions--

To Farnborough for Christmas, and thence to Timsbury till the end of the year. I called at Broadlands, now occupied by the Cowper Temples.

_January 5th_, 1870.--To Hinton. Vice-Chancellor Stuart there. Lord Westbury very amusing. Shooting every day. In Cudworth covers killed 192 head.

The following letter from M. Guizot refers to an incident which caused a tremendous sensation at the time, and--judged by the later events--may be considered as a portent of the downfall of the Empire. Prince Pierre Bonaparte had challenged M. Henri Rochefort, the editor of a violent Republican journal which had published a scurrilous and abusive article.

M. Grousset, the writer of the article, took the responsibility, and, on January 10th, sent his friends, Victor Noir and Ulric Fonvielle, to wait on the Prince at his house in the Rue d'Auteuil. The Prince said his challenge was to M. Rochefort; to M. Grousset he had nothing to say. A quarrel and a free fight followed. Each man drew his revolver, and Victor Noir, mortally wounded, broke out of the room, staggered into the street, and fell dead.

Fonvielle escaped uninjured. He and the Prince were the only witnesses of what took place, and their stories directly contradicted each other. The Prince was tried on a charge of murder, but was acquitted. On a civil trial he was sentenced to pay 1,000 damages to the father of Victor Noir, as compensation for the loss of his son's services.

_Val Richer, January 12th_.--I do not yet rightly understand the tragic incident at Auteuil. I am inclined to think that Prince Pierre Bonaparte was threatened and a.s.saulted before using his revolver; the probabilities are that he acted in self-defence. The trial will be curious. In any case, it is a great misfortune for the Imperial Government, more so than for the new Cabinet, which will certainly not be wanting in courage, and will be supported by whoever is anxious to practise 'economy of revolution,' as a friend of mine says.

I have friends in this Cabinet, honourable, liberal-minded, and sensible men. Will a leader be found among them? We shall see. Hitherto organisation has been everywhere wanting; in the Legislative Body, as in the Cabinet. I see no reason to change the opinion I formed some time since, and perhaps already mentioned to you; I am sad, rather than uneasy, for the future of my country. She will not fall into the abyss; but, for want of political foresight and firmness, will allow herself to be dragged along the edge of it. Men's minds and characters are narrowed rather than corrupted.

In connexion with which the Journal has:--

_January 16th_.--Dined at Lord Granville's, with Lavalette, the new French amba.s.sador. The Emperor had just formed a more liberal ministry, with Daru and Ollivier, which soon broke down owing to Buffet's _entetement_.

_26th_.--Dinner at Clarendon's, to meet the Queen of Holland.

_From M. Guizot_

_Paris, January 31st_.--I have just read the article on Calvin with a real and lively satisfaction, complete, so far as I am concerned; I am very grateful to Mr. Cunningham (I think that is the author's name) for his kind words, and for his sympathy with my description of Calvin and his time. Be so good as to thank him for me; it is a pleasure to be so well understood and set forth. As to Calvin, Mr. Cunningham does full justice to his merits; I ask a little more indulgence for his faults, which belonged to the time quite as much as to the man. Very few, even among superior men, admitted the rights of conscience and liberty. Marnix de Ste.-Aldegonde bitterly reproached the hero of the Reformation, William the Silent, with tolerating Catholics in Holland. Melanchthon unreservedly approved of the burning of Servetus. Catholic Europe was covered with stakes for the Protestants, and, if Servetus had had the upper hand, I doubt if Calvin would have received from him any better treatment than he received from Calvin. I do not on that account detest the burning of Servetus any the less; but I do not count it as a fault personal and peculiar to Calvin. In every-day life and in systematic theology he ignored the rights of freedom.

The twofold error was enormous; but his policy and philosophy were equally sincere, and, of all the eminent despots of history, he was, I think, one of the least ambitious and most disinterested. He was almost forced into power against his will, and he wielded it harshly, tyrannically, but without seeking any personal gain, and he was still more severe to himself than to those whom he treated so severely....

The Journal goes on:--

_March 5th_.--Visit to the Watneys, at Leamington, and to Stratford-upon-Avon. Beautiful effect in the church, the organ playing 'Rest in the Lord.'

_12th_.--Evening at Lady Cowley's, for Queen of Holland.

Went to Isle of Wight with W. Wallace at Easter. The Bishop of Winchester preached in Ventnor Church on April 24th (first Sunday after Easter).

_From M. Gulzot_

_Paris, April 7th_.--... It is curious to watch France, and I am also curious as to the possible consequences of what is happening in England.

France has never been so liberal and so anti-revolutionary at the same time. England is making a thoroughly liberal reform in Ireland, and at the same time a severe law of repression for the defence of order. I wish and hope for your success in both. I also hope that our attempt at quiet and liberal reform will not fall through. But both for you and for us there are rugged paths yet to traverse; the future is still darkly clouded. Even after the success of our respective undertakings, Ireland will not be pacified, and political liberty will not be established in France. There is no need to be discouraged, the best of human works are incomplete and insufficient; but there is need to beware of illusions, to be prepared for disappointments, to be always ready to begin again. I moralise on politics.

Good sense is the law of politics, and what I have learnt from history, above all, is that good sense is essentially moral. You will, therefore, not be surprised that I mix morals and politics....

_From Lord Westbury_

_April 13th_.--How shall I thank you for your inspiriting letter, which was as the sound of the trumpet to the aged war-horse! I fear my contemporaries have taken a more accurate measurement of my power, and that I shall never fulfil any such glorious destiny as you hold before my eyes. It is true of many men that _possunt quia posse videntur_; and that they accomplish many things simply because they are not fastidious. I should never do anything, simply because I should tear up one day what I had written the preceding.

It would be Penelope's web. Our education is too aesthetical. Unless a cultivated taste be overpowered by personal vanity, it is very difficult to complete any composition. I can most truly say that I have never done anything, speaking or writing, of which I could say, on the review, _mihi plaudo_.

We have a great difference of opinion in the members of the Digest Commission. Many think that the work should be handed over to two or three very able men (not judges or Emeriti Chancellors), who should be well paid; and that to them, with a staff of subordinates, all the work should be committed. Others think that there should be added to this establishment some presiding power, consisting of one, two, or three distinguished judges, to whom all questions should be referred, and whose duty it should be to give an _imprimatur_ to the work. So we cannot agree on a recommendation to the Government; and when we shall do so, but little weight will attach to it.

The Journal here notes:--

_May 6th_.--Mansfield came back from India.

At the time of the Russian war, Reeve and Mansfield had been on terms of intimacy, and, in fact, it was largely through Reeve's interest with Lord Clarendon that Mansfield had been sent to Constantinople in 1855, as military adviser to Lord Stratford de Redcliffe. Since then the intimacy had been interrupted by Mansfield's absence in India, where he had served with distinction during the Mutiny, and afterwards in command of the Bombay army and as commander-in-chief since 1865. In the following year he was raised to the peerage as Lord Sandhurst. The Journal notes:--

_May 26th_.--The King of Portugal made me a Commander of the Order of Christ; but this was solely as chairman of the Lusitanian Mining Company.

The Duc d'Aumale, Mansfield, Lord Dunsany, Lord Northbrook, Stirling Maxwell, Lady Molesworth dined with us.

_From the Marquis of Salisbury_

40 Dover Street, June 1st.

Dear Mr. Reeve,--It is my pleasing duty to inform you that the University of Oxford wish to express their sense of your literary services and attainments by conferring on you an honorary degree at the approaching commemoration. I trust that it will not be disagreeable to you to accede to their wishes in this matter, and that you will be able without inconvenience to attend at Oxford to receive the degree. The day on which they will be conferred will be on Tuesday, the 21st inst.

Believe me, yours very truly,

SALISBURY.

The Journal notes:--

_June 3rd_.--Excursion to Malvern, Hereford, and Worcester. Xavier Raymond came to Bushey [Duc de Nemours']. I breakfasted there on the 10th. [On the 11th the Duke wrote]:--

Cher Monsieur Reeve,--Je lis ce matin en tete des colonnes du journal le 'Times,' un charmant premier article sur mon fils aine, et portant meme son nom pour t.i.tre. Cet article inspire par un bienveillant sentiment envers lui et ma famille en general, met dans un brillant relief les services que mon fils vient de rendre a son pays d'adoption. Cela a donc ete pour moi une extreme satisfaction que de le voir place en premiere ligne dans le journal le plus repandu du monde.

Je sais qu'il n'est pas permis de s'enquerir du nom de ceux qui ecrivent dans la presse anglaise. Mais si a vous le nom de l'auteur etait connu, dans ce cas-ci, cher Monsieur Reeve, et si vous appreniez aussi a qui est due l'insertion de cet article, je vous serais tres reconnaissant (dans le cas toutefois ou vous le jugerez convenable) de faire connaitre a l'une et a l'autre de ces personnes combien j'en ai ete heureux et touche.

Plein du bon souvenir de votre visite d'hier, je vous renouvelle ici, cher Monsieur Reeve, l'a.s.surance de mes bien affectueux sentiments.

LOUIS D'ORLeANS.