Correspondence & Conversations of Alexis de Tocqueville with Nassau William Senior from 1834 to 1859 Part 3

The House of Commons is full of middle-aged lawyers, merchants, manufacturers, and country-gentlemen, who take to politics late in life, without the early special training which fitted for it the last generation.

I fear that the time may come when to be in the House of Commons may be thought a bore, a somewhat vulgar spouting club, like the Marylebone Vestry, or the City of London Common Council.

I do not know whether Lord Derby has gained much in the last four months, but Lord John has certainly lost. His Reform Bill was a very crude _gachis,_ without principle, and I think very mischievous. I ventured to say nearly as much to Lord Lansdowne, who sat by my sofa for an hour on Sunday, and he did not take up its defence. Then his opposition to the present Ministry has been factious, and to punish him, he was left the other day in a minority of fifty per cent. People begin now to speculate on the possibility of Lord Derby's reconstructing his minority on rather a larger basis, and maintaining himself for three or four years; which, in these times, is a good old age for a Minister. One admirable result of these changes is the death of Protection. Those who defended it in opposition are found to abandon it now they are in power. So it has not a friend left.

Pray send me word, by yourself or by Mrs. Grote, when you leave Paris. My vacation begins on May 8, but I shall not move unless I recover the use of my legs, nor then I think, if I find that you will be absent.

Kindest regards to Madame de Tocqueville.

Ever yours,

N.W. SENIOR.

Paris, November 13, 1852.

I am unlucky, my dear Senior, about your letters of introduction. You know how much I have wished and tried to make the acquaintance of Lord and Lady Ashburton, but without success. I should also, I am sure, have had great pleasure in meeting Mr. Greg.

This time I was prevented by ill health.

Two or three months ago, I wrote to you from the country a letter which was addressed to Kensington. Did you receive it? and if so, why have you not answered it?

I wrote upon politics, but especially I asked you about yourselves, your occupations and projects, some questions to which I was very anxious to have answers. At any rate, do now what you ought to have done then--write to me.

I do not now write about politics, because we do not talk, or at least write about them in France any more than in Naples; besides, such subjects are not suitable to an invalid.

I will only tell you, as important and authentic pieces of information, that the new court ladies have taken to trains and little pages, and that the new courtiers hunt the stag with their master in the Forest of Fontainebleau in dresses of the time of Louis XIV. and c.o.c.ked hats.

Good-bye! Heaven preserve you from the mistakes which lead to revolutions, and from the revolutions which lead to masquerades. A thousand kind regards.

A. DE TOCQUEVILLE.

London, December 4, 1852.

My dear Tocqueville,--Your letter of November 13 is, I think, the first that I have received from you since March.

That which you addressed to me at Kensington, two months ago, did not reach me. I have written to you one or two; I do not know with what success.

I grieve to hear of rheumatism and pleurisy. You say nothing of Madame de Tocqueville, whence I hope that I may infer that she, at least, is well.

We have all been flouris.h.i.+ng. We pa.s.sed the vacation in Wales and Ireland, and brought back a curious journal,[4] which I hope to send or bring to you.

I do not think that I shall venture to Paris at Christmas, though Ellice and Thiers are trying to persuade me. I have too vivid a recollection of the fog, cold, and dirt of last year; but I fully resolve to be with you at Easter--that is, about March 24.

The present Government, with all its want of principle and truth, and with all its want of experience, is doing much better than I expected.

The law reforms are far bolder than any that _my_ friends ever proposed, and the budget, which was brought forward last night, contains more that is good, and less that is bad, than was hoped or feared.

Its worst portion is the abolition of half the malt tax, which leaves all the expense of collection undiminished, besides being a removal of a tax on a luxury which I do not wish to see cheaper. It is probable, however, that the doubling of the house tax will be rejected, in which case Disraeli will probably retain the malt tax, and the budget will sink into a commonplace one.

The removal of certain burdens on navigation and the change in the income tax are thought good, and generally the Government has gained by the budget. I am now inclined to think that it may last for some months longer--perhaps for some years.

In the meantime we are in a state of great prosperity: high wages, great acc.u.mulation of capital, low prices of consumable articles, and high prices of stocks and land.

Ever yours,

N.W. SENIOR.

February 27, 1853.

My dear Tocqueville,--I profit by Sir H. Ellis's visit to write, not venturing to trust the post.

We are grieved to hear that both you and Madame de Tocqueville have been suffering. _We_ have borne this disagreeable winter better than perhaps we had a right to expect; but still we have suffered.

Mrs. Grote tells me that you rather complain that the English newspapers approve of the marriage;[5] a marriage which you all disapprove.

The fact is that we like the marriage precisely because you dislike it.

We are above all things desirous that the present tyranny should end as quickly as possible. It can end only by the general alienation of the French people from the tyrant; and every fault that he commits delights us, because it is a step towards his fall. To say the truth, I wonder that you do not take the same view, and rejoice over his follies as leading to his destruction.

Our new Government is going on well as yet. As the Opposition has turned law reformers, we expect law reform to go on as rapidly as is consistent with the slowly-innovating temper of the English. Large measures respecting charities, education, secondary punishments, and the transfer of land are in preparation, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer is at work on the difficult--I suspect the insoluble--problem of an equitable income tax. I foresee, however, a rock ahead.

This is reform of the const.i.tuencies. Lord John Russell, very sillily, promised two years ago a new Reform Bill.

Still more sillily he introduced one last year, and was deservedly turned out for it.

Still more sillily the present Government has accepted his responsibility, and is pledged to bring in a measure of reform next year.

I have been trying to persuade them to pave the way by a Commission of Inquiry, being certain that the facts on which we ought to agitate are imperfectly known. But Lord John is unfavourable, and the other Ministers do not venture to control the leader of the House of Commons. There will, therefore, be no previous inquiry; at least only the indirect one which the Government can make for itself. The measure will be concocted in secrecy, will be found open to unforeseen objections; it will be thrown out in the House, and will excite no enthusiasm in the country. If the Government dissolve, the new Parliament will probably be still more opposed to it than the present Parliament will be; and the Government, being beaten again, will resign.

Such is my prophecy.

_Prenez en acte_, and we will talk it over in May 1854.

I hope to be in Paris either for the Easter or for the Whitsun vacation--that is, either about the 24th of March or the 5th of May next--and I trust to find you and Madame de Tocqueville, if not quite flouris.h.i.+ng, at least quite convalescent.

Ever yours,

N.W. SENIOR.

[Footnote 1: Republished in the _Biographical Sketches_. Longmans: 1863.--ED.]