capacity for wielding it, it has been with the purest intentions, and the most conscientious views. (Vol. ii. p. 373.) were in danger of being carried away, had begun to retreat. The Spaniards maintained their position, but the duke said he believed they owed it to the storm more than to their own resolution. (Vol. i. p. 69.) minutes before him, and Major Brooke nearly at the same time. He is of opinion that Massena was the best French general to whom he was ever opposed. Putting epithets and adjectives aside, in which he deals much too freely, the The duke said he had been struck down by picture Mr. Greville gives us of the Duke a musket-shot whilst reconnoitring the enemy of Wellington as a politician and a min- as they were retreating in the Pyrenees. The ister is graphic, and we think not far people round him thought he was killed, but from just. His pride in his own quick-he got up directly. Alava was wounded a few ness and decision, his tenacity where he thought he could succeed, and his courage in yielding where he saw he could not; his sympathy with old absolutist principles, He said that Bonaparte had not the patience and yet a clear-sighted prevision that requisite for defensive operations. His last their day was nearly over; the entire campaign (before the capture of Paris) was fearlessness and courage of the man, and very brilliant, probably the ablest of all his his patriotic loyalty to his sovereign and performances. The duke is of opinion that his country, come out in the end in the if he had possessed greater patience he would most distinct colcurs. He was not a have succeeded in compelling the allies to great politician, or a great minister, in retreat; but they had adopted so judicious a any sense. His views of policy were not system of defence that he was foiled in the impetuous attacks he made upon them, and large, and he had no popular leanings or after a partial failure which he met with, when sympathies. But he was, in addition to he attacked Blücher at Laon and Craon, he being a great soldier, a very clever man; got tired of pursuing a course which afforded and both his natural simplicity of char-no great results, and leaving a strong body acter, and what he felt due to his great under Marmont to watch Blücher, he threw reputation, raised him above much of the himself into the rear of the Grand Army. littleness of party. The march upon Paris entirely disconcerted The Allies could not had he continued to keep his force concenhave maintained themselves much longer, and trated, and to carry it as occasion required against one or other of the two armies, the duke thinks he must eventually have forced them to retreat, and that their retreat would have been a difficult operation. The British army could not have reached the scene of ope rations for two months. The Allies did not dare attack Napoleon; if he had himself come up he should certainly have attacked him, for his army was the best that ever ex More interesting to us than Mr. Gre-him and finished the war. ville's estimate of his political career are one or two notices of conversations with him on some of his military performances. The following, as reported at first hand from the Duke of Wellington himself, are well worth transcribing: Upon one occasion only the Spaniards gained a victory, the day on which St. Sebastian was stormed. Soult attacked a Spanish corps commanded by General Freyre. When the duke was informed of the attack he has-isted. (Vol. i. pp. 71, 72.) tened to the scene of action and placed two Whersted, December 10th. I left Woburn British divisions in reserve, to support the on Thursday night last, and got here on FriSpaniards, but did not allow them to come day morning. The Lievens, Worcesters, into action. He found the Spaniards running Duke of Wellington, Neumann, and Montagu away as fast as they could. He asked them were here. The duke went away yesterday. where they were going. They said they were We acted charades, which were very well taking off the wounded. He immediately done. Yesterday we went to shoot at Sir sent and ordered the gates of Irun, to which Philip Brooke's. As we went in the carriage, they were flying, to be shut against them, and the duke talked a great deal about the battle sent to Freyre to desire him to rally his men. of Waterloo and different things relating to This was done, and they sustained the attack that campaign. He said that he had 50,000 of the French; but General Freyre sent to men at Waterloo. He began the campaign the duke to beg he would let his divisions with 85,000 men, lost 5,000 men on the 16th, support him, as he could not maintain himself and had a corps of 20,000 men at Hal under much longer. The duke said to Freyre's aide- Prince Frederick. He said that it was rede-camp," If I let a single man fire, the Eng-markable that nobody who had ever spoken lish will swear they gained the victory, and he had much better do it all himself; besides, look through my glass, and you will see the French are retreating." This was the case, for a violent storm of rain had occurred, and the French, who had crossed a river, finding that it began to swell, and that their bridges of these operations had ever made mention of that corps, and Bonaparte was certainly ignorant of it. In this corps were the best of the Dutch troops; it had been placed there because the duke expected the attack to be made on that side. He said that the French army was the best army that was ever seen, self. At night. Went to Lady Glengall's to meet Marmont. He likes talking of his adventures, but he had done his Paris talk before I got there; however, he said a great deal about old campaigning and Bonaparte, which, as well as I recollect, I will put down. and that in the previous operations Bona- in the campaign of 1814 with that of the parte's march upon Belgium was the finest Duke of Wellington. thing ever was done- -so rapid and so well combined. His object was to beat the armies in detail, and this object succeeded in so far as that he attacked them separately; but from the extraordinary celerity with which the allied armies were got together he was not able to realize the advantages he had promised himThe duke says that they certainly were not prepared for this attack, as the French had previously broken up the roads by which their army advanced; but as it was in summer this did not render them impassable. He says that Bonaparte beat the Prussians in a most extraordinary way, as the battle was gained in less than four hours; but that it would probably have been more complete if he had brought a greater number, of troops into action, and not detached so large a body against the British corps. There were 40,000 men opposed to the duke on the 16th, but he says that the attack was not so powerful as it ought to have been with such a force. The French had made a long march the day before the battle, and had driven in the Prussian posts in the evening. I asked him if he thought Bonaparte had committed any fault. He said he thought he had committed a fault in attacking him in the position of Waterloo; that his object ought to have been to remove him as far as possible from the Prussian army, and that he ought consequently to have moved upon Hal, and to have attempted to penetrate by the same road by which the duke had himself advanced. He had always calculated upon Bonaparte's doing this, and for this purpose he had posted 20,000 men under Prince Frederick at Hal. He said that the position at Waterloo was uncommonly strong, but that the strength of it consisted alone in the two farms of Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte, both of which were admirably situated and adapted for defence. In Hougoumont there were never more than from 300 to 500 men, who were reinforced as it was necessary; and although the French repeatedly attacked this point, and sometimes with not less than 20,000 men, they never could even approach it. Had they obtained possession of it, they could not have maintained it, as it was open on one side to the whole fire of the English lines, whilst it was sheltered on the side towards the French. The duke said the farm of La Haye Sainte was still better than that of Hougoumont, and that it never would have been taken if the officer who was commanding there had not neglected to make an aperture through which ammunition could be conveyed to his garrison. (Vol. i. pp. 39-41.) As to the battle of Salamanca, he remarked that without meaning to detract from the glory of the English arms, he was inferior in force there; our army was provided with everything, well paid, and the country favourable, his "dénuée de tout," without pay, in a hostile country; that all his provisions came from a great distance and under great escorts, and his communications were kept up in the same way. I repeated what the Duke of Wellington had once told me, that if the emperor had continued the same plan, and fallen back on Paris, he would have obliged the Allies to retreat, and asked him what he thought. He. rather agreed with this, but said the emperor had conceived one of the most splendid pieces of strategy that ever had been devised, which failed by the disobedience of Eugene. He sent orders to Eugene to assemble his army, in which he had 35,000 French troops, to amuse the Austrians by a negotiation for the evacuation of Italy; to throw the Italian troops into Alexandria and Mantua; to destroy the other fortresses, and going by forced marches with his French troops, force the passage of Mont Cenis, collect the scattered corps d'armée of Augereau (who was near Lyons) and another French general, which would make his force amount to above 60,000 men, and burst upon the rear of the Allies so as to cut off all their communications. These orders he sent to Eugene, but Eugene "rêvait d'être roi d'Italie après sa chute," and he sent his aidede-camp Tascher to excuse himself. movement was not made; and the game was up. Lady Dudley Stewart was there, Lucien's daughter and Bonaparte's niece. Marmont was presented to her, and she heard him narrate all this; there is something very simple, striking, and soldier-like in his manner and appearance. He is going to Russia.” (Vol. ii. pp. 33-6.) The Turning to the Duke of Wellington's comrade and colleague, Sir Robert Peel, we find his career, merits, and character as clearly delineated and as sharply canvassed as those of the hero of Waterloo : the same infusion of asperity and the same unreserved acknowledgment of his undoubted power and ability. There is On the occurrence of the French Revo- this difference, that while the author lution in 1830, Marmont came to London, knew and liked the Duke of Wellington, and Mr. Greville had more than one con- he does not seem to have been on terms versation with him on military affairs. of familiarity with Peel (as indeed very It is interesting to compare his account few people were) or to have found him of the position of the contending forces congenial. He only once speaks of VOLIX. 414 LIVING AGE. meeting him in society, and thus de- son and manner are vulgar, and he has certain scribes him: November 13th, 1833. To Buckenham, where I met Sir Robert Peel. He is very agreeable in society. It is a toss-up whether he talks or not; but if he thaws, and is in good humour and spirits, he is lively, entertaining, and abounding in anecdotes, which he tells extremely well. (Vol. iii. p. 35.) tricks in his motions which exhibit that vulgarity in a manner almost offensive, and which is only redeemed by the real power of his speeches. His great merit consists in his judgment, tact and discretion, his facility, promptitude, thorough knowledge of the assembly he addresses, familiarity with the details of every sort of Parliamentary business, and the great command he has over himself. He never was a great favourite of mine, but I am satisfied that he is the fittest man to be minister, and I therefore wish to see him return to power. (Vol. iii. pp. 64, 65.) We infer from this that he was not one of his intimates, or we should not have had to wait till the third volume for this testimony to his conversational powers, which we believe to be entirely deserved. This tribute is to a considerable extent To his debating ability he does ample extorted for in many prior passages he but rather unwilling justice; but grum-looks rather with alarm than pleasure to bles at his cold temperament, and his future power. In 1835, we have this condemns his political inconsistency. renewed testimony to his ascendancy in Among many notices of his political debate: career, few of them without considerable indications of dislike, or at least distaste, tithes, Peel bowled down his opponents, On Friday night, on the debate upon Irish the following account of the position Howick, Rice, and Thomson, like so many which he occupied in 1834 is the most nine-pins; for, besides his vigour and power elaborate, and on the whole the fair-in debate, his memory is so tenacious and est: correct, that they never can make any mistakes without his detecting them; and he is inconPeel's is an enviable position; in the prime | ceivably ready in all references to former of life, with an immense fortune, facile princeps debates and their incidents, and the votes and in the House of Commons, unshackled by speeches of individual members. It cannot party connections and prejudices, universally be denied that he is a great performer in his regarded as the ablest man, and with (on the present part. Old Sir Robert, who must have whole) a very high character, free from the been a man of exceeding shrewdness, precares of office, able to devote himself to litera- dicted that his full energies would never be ture, to politics, or idleness, as the fancy takes developed till he was in the highest place, and him. No matter how unruly the House, how had the sole direction of affairs; and his impatient or fatigued, the moment he rises all brother Lawrence, who told this to Henry de is silence, and he is sure of being heard with Ros, said that in early youth he evinced the profound attention and respect. This is the same obstinate and unsocial disposition, which enjoyable period of his life, and he must make has since been so remarkable a feature of his the most of it, for when time and the hour character. I wish he was not hampered with shall bring about his return to power, his the Irish Church fetters, which he cannot cares and anxieties will begin, and with what-throw off. (Vol. iii. pp. 232, 233.) ever success his ambition may hereafter be crowned, he will hardly fail to look back with In the prior references to Peel there is regret to this holiday time of his political a suggestion, apparently quite falsified career. How free and light he must feel at by the event, that there had been a mobeing liberated from the shackles of his old con-mentary coolness between him and the nections, and at being able to take any part Duke of Wellington, arising out of Peel's that his sense of his own interests or of the refusal to join the government which the public exigencies may point out! And then the satisfactory consciousness of being by far the most eminent man in the House of Commons, to see and feel the respect he inspires and the consideration he enjoys. It is a melancholy proof of the decadence of ability and cloquence in that House, when Peel is the first, and, except Stanley, almost the only real orator in it. He speaks with great energy, great dexterity his language is powerful and easy; he reasons well, hits hard, and replies with remarkable promptitude and effect; but he is at an immense distance below the great models of eloquence, Pitt, Fox, and Canning; his voice is not melodious, and it is a little monot-ity, however, can exist again between him onous; his action is very ungraceful, his per- (Peel) and the duke and his friends; and duke attempted to form in May 1832. In one passage he attributes to Lord Lyndhurst the following description of the demeanour of the two great chiefs at the Cabinet: "That in the Cabinet, he (the Duke of Wellington) was always candid and reasonable; not so Peel. He, if his opinion was not adopted, would take up a newspaper and sulk." And again, in reference to the resignation of Lord Grey in 1832, of which the author gives a long and "No cordialcurious account, he says: should the Whig government be ex-1 should have felt the troubles and inpelled, the animosity and disunion en- trigues of the stormy period of 1831 gendered by these circumstances, will press hardly on his nerves, or even on make it extremely difficult to form a his temper, is neither wonderful, nor a Tory administration." He adds, how- fit subject for sarcasm. Yet Mr. Greville ever, this note: "In a short time it does ample justice to his great oratorical was all made up-forgiven if not for-power; and those who venerate his gotten." (Vol. iii. p. 328.) memory might find the fullest testimony to the constancy, fidelity, and loftiness of his character in the narrative which these volumes contain. Mr. Greville justly calls him "the most finished orator of the day" (vol. ii. p. 88). He tells the following anecdote, illustrative of his intellectual vigour : Taken as a whole, however, the part of the criticism on this great statesman's political character which seems to us to be most substantially just is that on the consistency of his public conduct. The rest had doubtless some foundation in the temperament of the man; but the strong expressions which our author applied to him, as those in which he some- from Lord Grey, talked of his power in that Stanley said there would be a great speech times speaks of the Duke of Wellington, line, thought his reply at five in the morning must be taken as the expression of a on the Catholic question the most perfect momentary impression rather than his speech that ever was made. He would rather deliberate opinion. Peel was quite capa- have made it than four of Lord Brougham's. ble of attaching, and he did attach to him He gave the following instance of Lord Grey's a circle of warm and devoted followers, readiness and clear-headed accuracy. In one whom his sagacity singled out to be, and of the debates on the West India question, he who have since proved, leaders of affairs went to Stanley, who was standing under the and of opinion in this country. So far gallery, and asked him on what calculation he was he, as our author suggests, from be- had allotted the sum of twenty millions. ing cold to the rising statesmen of the Stanley explained to him a complicated series of figures, of terms of years, interest, comday, he chiefly, if not alone of the minis-pound interest, value of labour, &c., after ters of this century, fostered the early which Lord Grey went back to his place, rose, promise of public men -a great quality and went through the whole with as much in the leader of a party, and one too clearness and precision as if all these details often neglected. He outlived the unfa- had been familiar to his mind. vourable impressions which his course p. 10.) on the Catholic Relief Bill had created, and which his resolute and manly policy on the Corn Laws entirely overshadowed; and went down to his untimely grave honoured and lamented by all parties, leaving behind him the fame, not of a great debater merely, but of a great and successful minister. Our space will not allow us to follow out in the same detail the other prominent portraits in the gallery. That of Lord Stanley, the future Lord Derby, is, perhaps nearer the truth than most of them. Mr. Greville is too disparaging and severe in some of the epithets which he applies to Lord Grey; nor can a Whig read without something of indignation the slighting terms in which he speaks of one to whom the Liberal party and the country owe so deep a debt of gratitude. That a statesman who had won his early laurels forty years before, and had held the banner flying through many dark years of depression and desertion - who had earned the rest which he coveted, as he himself said, Bankrupt of life, yet prodigal of ease, (Vol. iii. that he should unite so much oratorical He adds, "It is very extraordinary and parliamentary power with such weakness of character. He is a long way from a great man after all." So Mr. contemporaries; but his vision was narGreville says of him as of most of his rowed by too close vicinity to his object. and nothing in these volumes will disturb The country has judged him differently, their verdict. The author reserves all the vials of his Full of unspeakable admiration for his asperity for his character of Brougham. of scorn, contempt, and denunciation of transcendent and wonderful ability, and his conduct and motives, are the many the qualities of that most extraordinary pages which he devotes to an analysis of man. The following is the first impression of him described in the journal, in 1828: About three weeks ago I passed a few days at Panshanger, where I met Brougham; he came from Saturday till Monday morning, and from the hour of his arrival to that of his departure he never ceased talking. The party was agreeable enough - Luttrell, Rogers, &c. | best) men are often influenced by pique or - but it was comical to see how the latter was passion, by a hundred petty feelings which provoked at Brougham's engrossing all the their philosophy cannot silence or their temtalk, though he could not help listening with perament obeys, it is no wonder that we poor pleasure. Brougham is certainly one of the wretches who are cast in less perfect moulds most remarkable men I ever met; to say should be still more liable to these pernicious nothing of what he is in the world, his almost influences; and it is only by keeping an habitchildish gaiety and animal spirits, his humour ual watch over our own minds and thoughts, mixed with sarcasm, but not ill-natured, his and steadily resolving never to be turned from wonderful information, and the facility with considerations of justice and truth, that we which he handles every subject, from the most can hope to walk through life with integrity grave and severe to the most trifling, display- and impartiality. I believe what I have said ing a mind full of varied and extensive infor- of Brougham to be correct in the main- that mation and a memory which has suffered he is false, tricking, ambitious, and unprincinothing to escape it, I never saw any man pled, and as such I will show him up when I whose conversation impressed me with such can -but though I do not like him and he an idea of his superiority over all others. As has offended me- that is, has wounded my Rogers said the morning of his departure, vanity (the greatest of all offences) - I only "This morning Solon, Lycurgus, Demos-feel it the more necessary on that account to thenes, Archimedes, Sir Isaac Newton, Lord Chesterfield, and a great many more went away in one postchaise.' (Vol. ii. pp. 117, 118.) be on my guard against my own impressions and prejudices, and to take every opportunity of exhibiting the favourable side of the picture, and render justice to the talents and virtues which cannot be denied him. (Vol. iii. pp. 76, 77.) Even then, however, he adds: "After all, Brougham is only a living and very remarkable instance of the inefficaThe author, in his narrative, traces cy of the most splendid talents, unless very graphically Brougham's remarkable they are accompanied with other quali-career, from the period of the queen's ties, which scarcely admit of definition, trial, until his great and and as it proved but which must serve the same purpose permanent downfall in 1835. To his wonthat ballast does for a ship." Subse-derful powers of debate he is never tired quently, in 1830, he writes after the of recurring; and in one passage, on the formation of the Grey government: November 22nd. - [The day on which Brougham took his seat on the Woolsack.] Dined yesterday at Sefton's; nobody there but Lord Grey and his family, Brougham and Montrond, the latter just come from Paris. It was excessively agreeable. Lord Grey in excellent spirits, and Brougham, whom Sefton bantered from the beginning to the end of dinner. Be Brougham's political errors what they may, his gaiety, temper, and admirable social qualities make him delightful, to say nothing of his more solid merits, of liberality, generosity, and charity; for charity it is to have taken the whole family of one of his brothers who is dead -nine children - and maintained and educated them. (Vol. ii. p. 69.) Irish Church Bill, when Peel and Stanley had it all their own way, he wonders how it would flutter the Conservative camp could they have but one half-hour of Brougham. Of the charges of insincerity and treachery which so often recur in these volumes it is needless to speak here. It is not the first time they have been made; but Mr. Greville leaves us, as others have left us, much in the dark as to the specific acts on which they have been founded. Some things, however, are plain enough. Brougham certainly wanted ballast, as Mr. Greville said. There was a dash of eccentricity and excitable restlessness which tinged all his career. He was sharp in speech, and cared not sometimes if he trod on the tenderest susceptibilities even of those intimate with him. He did not like 66 a brother in marvellous succession. Such a one makes enemies in the mere wantonness of power and excitement. But of his relations with the Whig party in 1830 Mr. Greville gives us some revelations. |