Charles Philip Yorke, Fourth Earl of Hardwicke, Vice-Admiral R.N. Part 13

'Lord Hardwicke the Queen likes very much; he seems so straightforward.

He took the greatest care of the Queen when on board ship. Was not his father drowned at Spithead or Portsmouth?'

Lord Hardwicke, as commander of the _Black Eagle_ yacht, had taken her Majesty to Scotland.

He was in waiting during a visit of the King and Queen of the Belgians to Windsor, and wrote on that occasion to my mother:

'Our Court news is not filled with much interest; to-morrow the King and Queen of the Belgians go back to their own country, and yesterday at dinner the Queen of the Belgians told me her father (King Louis Philippe) was so fond of English cheese that he had sent to her to procure for him a "Single Gloster," I could not refrain from offering a Wimpole cheese that she graciously accepted and which I must now beg you to give.'

I find a reference to this little incident in the Queen's Letters, vol.

ii, p. 28. In a letter to her Majesty during King Louis Philippe's visit in 1844, the Queen of the Belgians wrote:

'If by chance Lord Hardwicke was in waiting during my father's stay, you must kindly put my father in mind to thank him for the _famous cheese_, which arrived safely, and was found very good.'

Queen Victoria's conversation with my father upon this occasion I find related at length in a copy in my mother's handwriting of a letter he wrote to Sir Robert Peel. This letter is of so private a character as to preclude its publication, but I may say that it is clear that the Queen (though, as Lord Hardwicke says, 'in very good humour; I never saw her so gracious to all as she was during her stay at Wimpole') was still quite ready to state in very plain terms her objection to certain points of the policy of the Tory party, which, as she said, she could 'forgive but not forget.' All this Lord Hardwicke reported at length to the Prime Minister for his information and instruction.

Several letters from Sir Robert to my father at this period show him very anxious to learn from Lord Hardwicke the details of the proper arrangements for receiving the Queen at Drayton Manor. 'I have the prospect,' he wrote, 'not only of one but two royal visits, for I must arrange that Queen Adelaide should meet the Queen each with her several suites. If you have any device for making stone walls elastic,' he adds humorously, 'pray give it to me. Did Lord H. new furnish the rooms allotted to H.M.? How many apartments did H.M. require? Did he observe anything especially agreeable to the Queen's wishes, and did Lord H.

attempt to keep any order among his mounted farmers, and if so how?'

Lord Hardwicke and his brother, Mr. Eliot Yorke, though both pledged to the maintenance of the Corn Laws, refused to oppose the government of Sir Robert Peel upon the rumours of the minister's intentions which became rife in the course of the year 1845, when the Irish Famine forced the question to the front. By that time the Anti-Corn Law League had done its work of educating the country, and under its great leaders, Cobden and Bright, had organised a strenuous campaign throughout the kingdom, collected large funds, and united the great body of employers and operatives in favour of Free Trade. There were counter organisations of farmers' societies, of which those in the eastern counties were, perhaps, the most active, and at a meeting of one of these, the Cambridge Agricultural Society, Lord Hardwicke and Mr. Yorke met with some criticism. A letter from Lord Hardwicke to the chairman, however, made his position perfectly clear:

'I believe the meeting is intended to follow others that have taken place in the agricultural districts of England, owing to certain reports of contemplated changes on the opening of Parliament affecting agriculture.

'I have endeavoured to learn what these are, and have failed; I have heard various opinions, but no facts, and I have no knowledge of the intentions of the Government. I therefore feel, were I to attend your meeting, that I could give no advice, neither could I combat or support any plans. I think it best to hear and know what is intended.'

Acting upon this determination, Lord Hardwicke waited for the announcement of the Government policy. At the opening of the session of 1846 Sir Robert Peel then made it clear, that as Lord John Russell had been unable to form a ministry, he himself intended to propose the abandonment of the Corn Laws, and to follow this up by the gradual removal of protective duties, not only upon agriculture, but also upon manufactures, and thus to place himself in opposition to the sentiment and principles of the party of which he was the leader. Lord Hardwicke, as might have been expected, was among those 'men of metal and large acred squires,' as Disraeli called them, 'the flower of that great party which had been so proud to follow one who had been so proud to lead them, whose loyalty was too severely tried by the conversion of their chief to the doctrines of Manchester,' and early in February he wrote to Sir Robert to resign his post as Lord-in-Waiting, on the ground that as he could not support the measures of the Government and act up to his own opinion, he thought it not respectful to her Majesty to oppose her minister and hold an office in her household. Some correspondence followed, which shows the regret of Sir Robert Peel at the loss of a friend and colleague, and testifies to the cordial personal relations between the minister and Lord Hardwicke. Here is one of the letters, two or three of which were earnest attempts to persuade Lord Hardwicke to reconsider his decision:

'MY DEAR HARDWICKE,

'If anything could tend to diminish the pain with which I contemplate separation from you in public life, it would be the kind terms with which you accompany your tender of resignation.

'I should indeed deeply regret it, if the termination of official relations were to cause any interruption of private friendship and regard.

'Most faithfully yours,

'My dear Hardwicke,

'ROBERT PEEL.'

So ended Lord Hardwicke's political connection with the great minister, and it is pleasant to me to know that the aspirations of Sir Robert's letter were fulfilled, and that their personal friendship continued unbroken until it was brought to a close by the tragic death of the statesman on Const.i.tution Hill in 1850. At a time when that same great question of Free Trade or Protection is again dissolving many political alliances, it is, perhaps, worthy of mention that my father came to change his view of the policy which had led to his political severance with Sir Robert Peel. In a speech delivered at a meeting of the Western Cambridgeshire Agricultural a.s.sociation in 1858, twelve years after his resignation, he said:

'The last agricultural meeting I had the pleasure of attending was in the golden days of protection, when we all thought we could not do without it. I am happy to find however, now that the legislature has thought fit to abolish those fiscal duties, that I formed a wrong opinion on the subject.'

Meanwhile, however, Lord Hardwicke's political severance from his old leader was complete and final, as appears very fully from letters from such uncompromising opponents of the minister as Lord George Bentinck, Mr. Disraeli, and Mr. John Wilson Croker, which I find among his papers.

'Pray come up and fire a double shotted broadside into these fellows,'

wrote Lord George in 1848, in soliciting Lord Hardwicke's a.s.sistance for Lord Desart in the House of Lords on the debate on the Copper Duties, who as that ardent spirit complained was 'grossly insulted by Grey, Clanricarde and Granville.' A few months later, again, upon his resignation of the leadership of the irreconcilables in the House of Commons, Lord George wrote: 'I come to you, therefore, as a private and independent member of the House of Commons, with none but such as you who admire consistency "so poor to do me reverence."'

All of Mr. Disraeli's letters to my father are written in very cordial terms, and express much grat.i.tude for the support which was so valuable at that period of his career. Lord Hardwicke is 'his dear and faithful friend'; 'I am shaken,' he says in October of 1848, 'to the core, and can neither offer nor receive consolation. But in coming to you I know that I come to a roof of sympathy, and to one who at all times and under all circ.u.mstances has extended to me the feelings of regard by which I have ever been deeply honoured and greatly touched.' Two years later he wrote: 'I am pained that you should have been so long in England without my having seen or heard from you, my first, my best, and most regarded supporter and friend.--DISRAELI.'

I may perhaps look forward a few years in order to quote another letter of Mr. Disraeli of December 30, 1851, which contains an interesting reference to Lord Palmerston, who had just been dismissed by Lord John Russell for having given a semi-official recognition to Louis Napoleon and the _coup d'etat_.

'If he had not committed himself in some degree by approbation of the "ma.s.sacre of the boulevards" as it is styled, I hardly think Lord John would have dared to dismiss him. He said to a person the other day, "I was not dismissed, I was kicked out."'

Five days later, on January 4, 1852, Mr. Disraeli wrote:

'That my last letter should not mislead you, I just write this to say that I have authentic information that Palmerston's case is a good one; that the Government cannot face it; that Johnny has quite blundered the business, and that P., whatever they may say at Brooks's, is _acharne_.'

Mr. Disraeli was a true prophet. On February 27 following, the Whig Government fell, mainly owing to Lord Palmerston.

CHAPTER VIII

GENOA. 1849

In spite of the many interests of his position as a great landowner and the distractions of politics at a time of great political unrest, Lord Hardwicke had never wavered in his love for his true profession of the sea. In his own words, 'in piping times of peace he was loth to take the bread out of his brother officers' mouths after he became a peer,' by applying for active employment in the navy. He had, nevertheless, always placed himself at the disposal of the Admiralty, where his wish to serve his country at sea was well known. To his family he made no secret of his ambition to resume his career in the service which had been interrupted by his succession to the peerage. I have often heard him say that his ideal of a happy death was to be killed by a round shot on his own quarter-deck.

This longing for active service was, perhaps, a little relieved, but was scarcely satisfied, by a short voyage he made in 1844 in command of the _St. Vincent_, line-of-battle ship of 120 guns. That vessel formed one of a small squadron which included also the _Caledonia_, _Queen_ and _Albion_, and sailed under Admiral Bowles upon an experimental cruise of six weeks in order to determine the respective merits of those ships.

It was, perhaps, the menacing aspect of European affairs which followed the revolutions of 1848 which decided Lord Hardwicke again to seek active service. He had certainly become restless, and his craving to resume the profession which lay nearest his heart and once more to command a battleship was daily growing stronger. Most of his friends were opposed to that step; he had done so well and showed such apt.i.tude for politics, had lived so energetic and useful a life in his own county of Cambridgeshire, that they felt so great a break in that life as was involved in service abroad was a mistake. Moreover, Lord Hardwicke had now a family of seven children, the eldest being only about twelve years of age. Many were the counsels heard by his friends to dissuade him from the step. His old friend John Wilson Croker was among those who sought most urgently to persuade him to abandon the idea, and the esteem and admiration in which he held Lord Hardwicke and his devotion to Lady Hardwicke and to 'Lady Betty' (who often sat on his knee) are plain in several letters of advice he wrote at this juncture. But all was unavailing; Lord Hardwicke applied to the Admiralty for a ship, and was given command of the _Vengeance_. Mr. Croker rather unwillingly acquiesced in this course in the following letter:

WEST MOLESEY: 9th Novr. '48.

'MY DEAR CHARLES,

'I cannot say that I like losing you from home at so important a crisis, and I fear the good ship _Wimpole_ will have cause to regret the absence of the padrone, and all the world will say that this is proving the love of the profession with a Vengeance. But seriously,... if dear Lady Hardwicke not only does not object, but becomes the accomplice and partner of your exile, no one else has anything to object, not even political friends, as you can leave a proxy. It may also be an advantage to all the children, for it will perfect the young ones and indeed all in the languages, and the two elder young ladies will have opportunities of seeing what all the world desires to see. Whatever you do, and wherever you go, you will be followed by the affectionate solicitude of your old constant and most attached friend,

'J. W. CROKER.'

Lord Hardwicke sailed early in 1849 to join the Mediterranean Fleet under Sir William Parker who was in command at that station. Lady Hardwicke and her family were installed at Malta, where a hotel in the Strada Forni was engaged for them.

In order to understand the insurrection at Genoa in April 1849, in the quelling of which H.M.S. _Vengeance_ and its captain, the Earl of Hardwicke, took so notable a part, it is necessary to take a short retrospect of the history of Italy.

At the end of the Napoleonic Wars the opinion of Prince Metternich that Italy is only a geographical expression was true enough. This cynical minister of the Austrian Empire was the embodiment of the reaction which set in after the fall of Napoleon.

Europe, worn out by the struggles first of the Revolution and then of its conquering offspring, had one idea only--the reorganisation of the different States and the suppression of all revolutionary movements. The Powers therefore stood aloof from all interference in Italy and Austria had a free hand.

By the Treaty of Paris in 1814, Savoy, Genoa and Nice were a.s.signed to Piedmont. This was not popular in Genoa which, hitherto a Republic, was now handed over to Victor Emmanuel I, a reactionary of the most extreme type. The old privileges of the Church and n.o.bility were restored to them. The Jesuits were allowed to overrun the country and were given the control of education, and in the army all those who had served under Napoleon were degraded. In fact the _ancien regime_ was restored with interest to all those who had lost their privileges since 1793. The hatred of France on the part of the reigning sovereigns of Italy was a great strength to Austria. It was to the latter country that they looked for their ideal of government. Such was the position when, in 1821, a rising took place in Piedmont for reform and a const.i.tution, and for the expulsion of the Austrians. It was not aimed at the King, on the contrary the insurrectionaries professed the greatest loyalty. Victor Emmanuel I, though a lover of his people, was not a lover of their liberties, and the hopes of the Reformers lay in the Prince of Carignano, a nephew of Victor Emmanuel, who afterwards ascended the throne as King Charles Albert. This prince, though in sympathy with reform, refused to go against the wishes of the King, who abdicated, appointing the Prince of Carignano Regent. The const.i.tution of Spain was granted 'pending the orders of the new King.' This monarch, Carlo Felice, Duke of Genoa and brother of Victor Emmanuel I, lost no time in repudiating the const.i.tution, which was also opposed by the Russian and Austrian Governments.

Santarossa, who had been appointed Minister of War by the Regent, and who was at the head of the insurrection, issued a proclamation in which he expressed the views of the promoters of the movement. 'A Piedmontese King in the midst of the Austrians, our inevitable enemies, is a King in prison. Nothing of what he may say can or ought to be accepted as coming from him. We will prove to him that we are his children.' Liberty and freedom from Austrian influence was the cry, not disloyalty to the ruling House of Piedmont. The rising of 1821 was not supported in Lombardy, and was finally put down by the Austrian power.