[39] an interesting party. There were Sir Edward Codrington;1 Sir William Molesworth;2 Charles Buller;3 Joseph Parkes; Ward,4 son of ‘Tremaine’ Ward, and M. P., whose motion on Irish affairs nearly upset the ministry; Charles Austin (the first lawyer in England, mejudice); Gibbon Wakefield;5 Stanley, M. P. (not Lord); and Miss Martineau, who seemed surprised to meet me there. His Lordship is remarkable in personal appearance,— slender, upright, with an open countenance, coal-black hair and eyes. He is very frank in the expression of his opinions, and uses good language, without being fluent. There is also a slight tremulousness in his voice, which is not a little strange in one so long accustomed to public affairs. In language and thought he does not lack boldness. We were at a round table á la Frantaise, and I sat between Buller and Lord Durham. His Lordship said that all the Canadian politicians—Papineau and all—were petty men; and that he should like nothing better than to have them all recalled, and to be allowed to deal with them. To one accustomed to politics on the broad stage of Europe, provincial actors seemed weak and paltry. I ventured to ask him what truth there was in the present reports with regard to the hostile intentions of Russia towards England. ‘Not a word of truth,’ said he; ‘I will give you leave to call me idiot, if there is a word of truth.’ You know he was ambassador at the court of St. Petersburg for a long time. He said that Russia was full of friendly regard for England; and he pronounced Urquhart,6 who is now going about the kingdom preaching against Russia, ‘a madman.’ With regard to Lockhart, he expressed himself in terms not less distinct. He said that he had never seen him; but, from all that he had heard of him, he thought him one of the greatest blackguards in England. I happened to tell a story that I had heard from Lord Brougham: he looked me in the eye, and asked my authority for it. I replied: ‘Lord Brougham; I had it from his own lips.’—‘Did you ever verify it?’ was the short but significant reply. I have selected these little things, because they at once reveal in a few words his opinions with regard to some distinguished persons,
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1 1770-1851; admiral; distinguished at Trafalgar and Navarino.
2 1810-1855; member of Parliament; colleague of John Austin on a commission of inquiry into the administration of the government of Malta, and, in 1855, Secretary of the Colonies. At the suggestion of George Grote, he edited the works of Thomas Hobbes. He was associated with John Stuart Mill in editing the ‘Westminster Review;’ and was a friend of Mr. Grote, in whose ‘Personal Life,’ prepared by Mrs. Grote, he is frequently mentioned.
3 1806-1848; distinguished as a member of Parliament by his advocacy of the repeal of the corn-laws, and contributor to the ‘Edinburgh’ and ‘Westminster’ Reviews.
4 Henry George Ward, 1708-1860. He represented Sheffield in Parliament; was Minister Plenipotentiary for acknowledging the Mexican Republic; and was appointed Governor of the Ionian Islands, 1849-1855, and of Ceylon, 1855-1860. His father, Robert Plumer Ward, who died in 1846, was the author of three novels,—‘Tremaine,’ ‘De Vere,’ and ‘De Clifford;’ and of works on international law and other subjects.
5 Edward Gibbon Wakefield, 1796-1862. He was an author of books on colonial questions, and private secretary of the Earl of Durham in Canada in 1839. He died in New Zealand, with whose interests he had become identified.
6 David Urquhart, 1805-1877; M. P. for Stafford in 1847.
Cambridge, MA. Press of John Wilson and Son. 1877.
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