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1858
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 November 2009
Extract
I received a letter from Lord Derby6 requesting me to call upon him between 5 and 6 in the evening. At that hour I found him in the library surrounded with heaps of papers and with Colville7 sitting at the same table engaged in writing or copying for him. He came at once to the point and offered me the Under Secretaryship of the Colonial Office. I replied at once that I hoped he would allow me to speak quite frankly to him, that I felt the kindness which had made him propose the post, that I owed him gratitude for the encouragement and assistance which before now he had given me in the House of Lords and which had led me on in the first instance, that whatever he wished as regards office that I would do, that I placed myself entirely in his hands, but that I thought it was due to my strong feelings on one point to ask him the intentions of the Government as to Lord Palmerston's8 Conspiracy bill.9 Did they propose to take it up and carry it or to throw it over at once.
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References
6 Edward George Stanley (1799–1869), 14th Earl of Derby (1851), Chief Secretary for Ireland (1830–1833), Colonial Secretary (1833–1834, 1841–1845), Prime Minister (1852, 1858–1859, 1866–1868). Derby had assumed office on 21 February.
7 Charles John Colville (1818–1903), Lord Colville of Culross (1849), 1st Baron Colville (1885), 1st Viscount Colville of Culross (1902), Master of the Buckhounds (1866–1868), Whip, House of Lords.
8 Henry John Temple (1784–1865), 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1802), Tory MP for Newport (1807–1811), for Cambridge University (1811–1831), for Bletchingly (1831–1832), and for Hampshire South (1832–1834), Con. MP for Tiverton (1835–1865), Secretary of State for War (1809–1828), Foreign Secretary (1830–1834, 1835–1841, 1846–1851), Home Secretary (1852–1855), Prime Minister (1855–1858, 1859–1865).
9 The Conspiracy to Murder Bill had been introduced by Palmerston following the near assassination of the French emperor Napoleon III in Paris on 14 January 1858. The plot had been devised in England. Palmerston was criticized in the Commons for not replying to a despatch by Count Walewski, the French foreign minister, urging the Government not to allow abuse of the right of asylum. The Government were defeated by 234 to 218 votes and Palmerston resigned three days later, on 19 February (Hansard, CXLVII, col. 1847).
10 James Brownlow William Gascoyne-Cecil (1791–1868), 2nd Marquess of Salisbury (1823), Lord Privy Seal (1852), Lord President of the Council (1858–1859).
11 Sir William Heathcote (1801–1881), Con. MP for Hampshire (1826–1832), for Hampshire North (1837–1849), and for Oxford University (1854–1868). He was Carnarvon's guardian.
12 Charles Abbot (1798–1867), 2nd Baron Colchester (1829), Paymaster-General (1852–1853), Postmaster-General (1858–1859).
13 Spencer Horatio Walpole (1806–1890), Con. MP for Cambridge University (1856–1882), Home Secretary (1852, 1858–1859, 1866–1867).
14 Archibald William Montgomorie (1812–1861), 13th Earl of Eglinton (1819), Earl of Winton (1859), Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1852–1853, 1858–1859).
15 Carnarvon to 14th Earl of Derby, 25 February 1858: Derby Papers, 920 DER (14) 163/5A.
16 Carnarvon began this entry in March 1858 and continued it, without a new date, until later in the year.
17 Edward Cardwell (1813–1886), 1st Viscount Cardwell (1874), Lib.-Con. MP for Clitheroe (1842–1847) and for Oxford City (1853–1874), President of Board of Trade (1852–1855), Chief Secretary for Ireland (1859–1861). The motion in the Commons, urging the House to abstain from expressing an opinion on the situation, was on 14 May (Hansard, CL, col. 686).
18 Edward Law (1790–1871), 2nd Baron Ellenborough (1819), 1st Earl of Ellenborough (1844). Governor-General of India (1841–1844), four times President of the Board of Control (1828–1830, 1834–1835, 1841, 1858); resigned the latter post on 5 May 1858 for publicizing a despatch to Lord Canning, Governor-General of India, criticizing the latter's proclamation, without first consulting colleagues. See A.L. Imlah, Lord Ellenborough (Cambridge, 1939), pp. 251–261.
19 William Ewart Gladstone (1807–1898), Con. MP for Newark (1832–1846), Peelite MP for Oxford University (1847–1865), Lib. MP for Lancashire South (1865–1868), for Greenwich (1868–1880), and for Midlothian (1880–1895). President of the Board of Trade (1841–1845), Colonial Secretary (1845–1846), Chancellor of the Exchequer (1852–1855, 1859–1866, 1873–1874, 1880–1882), Leader of the House of Commons (1865–1866), Prime Minister (1868–1874, 1880–1885, 1886, 1892–1894), Lord Privy Seal (1892–1894).
20 Catherine Gladstone (1812–1900), daughter of Sir Richard Glynne of Hawarden Castle, Flintshire. For her interest in Indian affairs, see M. Drew, Catherine Gladstone (London, 1919), p. 145.
21 Sidney Herbert (1810–1861), 1st Baron Herbert of Lea (1861). Con. MP for Wiltshire South (1832–1861), Secretary of State for War (1843–1846, 1852–1855), Colonial Secretary (February 1855, but resigned after a fortnight).
22 Sir James Graham (1792–1861), Leading Peelite MP for various constituencies, Home Secretary (1841–1846), First Lord of the Admiralty (1852–1855).
23 Henry James Baillie (1804–1885), Under-Secretary of State for India, previously Joint Secretary of the Board of Control until March 1858.
24 On 4 June.
25 William Francis Cowper (later Cowper-Temple) (1811–1888), Lib. MP for Hertford (1835–1863), Vice-President, Committee of Council on Education (1857–1858).
26 Abraham Hayward (1801–1884), essayist and journalist.
27 Although slavery had been officially banned in the British Empire since 1834, a system of indentured labour, employing ‘coolies’, akin to slavery, had been allowed.
28 Samuel Wilberforce (1805–1873), Bishop of Oxford (1845–1869), Bishop of Winchester (1869–1873).
29 Wilberforce had moved an Address for the production of correspondence between the Colonial Office and the Government of Hong Kong and between the Colonial Office and the Foreign Office on the subject of emigration from Hong Kong and China to the British West Indies and other possessions since 1 January 1856: see Hansard, CLI, 2 June 1858, cols 70–73, and cols 73–80 for Carnarvon's reply.
30 An Act to Regulate the Qualifications of Practitioners of Medicine and Surgery; the Local Government Act; and an Act to Provide for the Government of British Columbia: all received the Royal Assent on 2 August 1858 (Hansard, CLI, col. 2369).
31 An Act to Provide for the Relief of Her Majesty's Subjects Practising the Jewish Religion; first reading, 7 June 1858, Royal Assent, 23 July (Hansard, CLI, col. 1967).
32 George Charles Bingham (1800–1888), 3rd Earl of Lucan (1839), lieutenant-general (1858). Gave orders for the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava in 1854.
33 Derby allowed a free vote on the bill. Carnarvon warned the Prime Minister that he intended to support it (Carnarvon to Derby, 29 May 1858: Derby Papers, 920 DER (14) 163/5A).
34 Lord John Russell (1792–1878), 1st Earl Russell (1856), Liberal statesman. Colonial Secretary (1839–1841), Prime Minister (1846–1852), Foreign Secretary (1852–1853), Cabinet without portfolio (1853–1854), Lord President (1854–1855), Colonial Secretary (1855), Foreign Secretary (1859–1865), Prime Minister (1865–1866).
35 Richard Bethell (1800–1873), 1st Baron Westbury (1861). Lib. MP for Aylesbury (1851–1859) and for Wolverhampton (1859–1861), Attorney-General (1856–1861), Lord Chancellor (1861).
36 John Singleton Copley (1772–1863), 1st Baron Lyndhurst (1826). Tory MP for Ashburton (1818–1820) and for Cambridge (1826–1827), Lord Chancellor (1827–1830, 1834–1835, 1841–1846).
37 John Thomas Freeman-Mitford (1805–1886), 2nd Baron Redesdale (1830), 1st Earl of Redesdale (1877). Chairman of Committees and Deputy Speaker, House of Lords (1851–1886).
38 John Kent (1807–?), private tutor to Carnarvon when at Eton.