Part 12

_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.

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: 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.