a successful candidate for Bedfordshire in 1807, and who had been nominated member for the Duke of Bedford's borough of Tavistock in 1812. Lord Tavistock, the Duke's eldest son, was already member for Bedfordshire; Lord William, the second son, though he was serving as Lord Wellington's aide-de-camp in Spain, was member for Bedford; and the Duke resolved on making Lord John, his third son, member for the Devonshire borough. It was true that Lord John was still under age, and therefore ineligible for a seat in Parliament. Disqualifications of this kind had only slight influence with borough owners, who all acted on, if they did. not claim, the right to do what they chose with their own. Lord Liverpool, moreover, the Prime Minister of 1813, was himself under age when first elected to the House of Commons. Mr. Fox, who was the pattern and example of all true Whigs, was under age when he was first elected for Midhurst; and Lord John's absence abroad made it certain that he would be neither expected nor required to make any inconvenient declaration for some time. Probably for all these reasons, and perhaps still more from a desire to push the fortunes of a favourite and promising son, the Duke ordered the electors of Tavistock to elect Lord John. The electors, of course, obeyed their patron's commands, and Lord John became consequently a member of Parliament.1 It is characteristic of Lord John that no mention of his election occurs throughout his diary. It was his business there, so he evidently thought, to record circumstances of public importance, not private matters affecting himself; and In introducing the second Reform Bill in 1831, Lord John gave the following account of Tavistock (where the franchise was vested in the freeholders). He said : In that borough in 1716 there were 110 persons who polled at elections. Looking at the returns from thence, it appears that the family to which I belong very often returned a member; and the other member seems usually to have been a gentleman of the county. At some period, I really cannot tell exactly when, the Duke of Bedford, having great property in the neighbourhood, bought up the freeholds, and in time the constituency was so diminished that the electors varied only between twenty-seven and thirty-five. They [were] not entirely dependent, but still it will be seen that so small a number was much more within the verge of the influence of a great proprietor than the 110 voters would be who, a century earlier, assisted at elections. in accounting for his second separation from his friends he merely stated Finding I must undergo forty days' quarantine if I went on to Sicily, I gave it up and resolved to come home. But Mr. Bridgeman, writing three months afterwards, says I was astonished to see John's arrival in England about three weeks after he left us at Mahon. He flew home, on what wings I know not, but I suppose on those of political ambition.1 The journey occupied a longer time than Mr. Bridgeman imagined. Lord John left Port Mahon on September 26, and he did not sail from Coruña for England till October 27. In the intermediate period, however, he probably contrived to see as much of interest as many mortals succeed in witnessing in a long series of years. He sailed from Port Mahon in the 'Espoir,' a brig of war commanded by Captain Spencer,2 touched the Spanish coast at Barcelona on the 29th, breakfasting there with Captain Adam on board the 'Invincible ;' and, after a three days' visit to Admiral Hallowell's flagship, 'the Malta,' landed at Tarragona and became the guest of Lord Frederick Bentinck 3 at Reus. On Tuesday, October 5, in company with Mr. Locker, he left Reus with hired mules. for Saragossa. The marks of the famous siege were still everywhere visible. The country houses, the convents, the suburbs on the Ebro are reduced to a few roofless walls, penetrated in a thousand places by cannon and musket balls. . . But when we got into the Calle Coso " our astonishment was much increased at seeing that every house son. 1 Mr. Bridgeman's Letters, p. 185. 2 Afterwards Captain Sir Robert Spencer, K.C. H., Lord Spencer's second Captain, afterwards Admiral Sir C., Adam, was the second son of the Right Hon. W. Adam. General Lord Frederick Bentinck was the fourth son of the third Duke of Portland. Mr. Locker was Public Secretary to the Mediterranean Fleet. carrying despatches to Lord Wellington on this occasion. He was The Calle Coso, or Calle del Coso, is the chief street in Saragossa. Mr. Locker Lampson tells me, on the authority of his father's diary, that 'the walls that separated the houses had been pulled down, and the long street had been converted into two immense forts.' was like a sieve; doors, windows, and walls all being penetrated by musketry. Mr. Locker and he stayed at Saragossa till October 13, and then proceeded by Tudela and Pampeluna to Lord Wellington's headquarters at Vera. On the 20th I went with Lord William to the Highland Brigade. The high hill of La Rune, which rises above here, is visible from a great distance. On it is a stone to mark the boundary of France and Spain. On Sunday, the 24th, I rode along the line to Irun, and dined with Lord Waldegrave. On Monday I went to Passage, where Sir G. Collier treated me very kindly, and sailed on the 27th in the packet for England. Perhaps no sight could have been more imposing than that on which Lord John thus gazed. From the high ground, over which he rode with his brother, his eyes must have travelled over the rich and varied scenery of Southern France, while, as he said himself in his 'Recollections and Suggestions' I could not but feel admiration and joy on beholding the General, whom I had visited in a critical position, defending with difficulty the capital of Portugal, now advancing in command of an admirable army to the invasion of France.1 Parliament met on November 4, only eight days after Lord John left Passage. The session which then began continued till the end of the following July; and on two occasions only is Lord John reported to have broken silence. On 1 Recollections and Suggestions, p. 15. The following song, which Lord John wrote (in the character of a Spaniard), is a recollection of the ladies of the land in which, at various times, he had spent so many months :— Love shall not here in England Enchain me with his fetter; For I have in my own land Loves that I love better. The women here in England But I who come from sunny lands The women here in England Are graceful, tall, and slender, But others in my own land Have hearts more soft and tender. The women of my own land Are somewhat pale and sallow, Political economy. The women of my own land Can scarcely spell a letter ; But then their mirth 's so unconstrained the first of these, he is stated to have opposed the proposal of Ministers to enforce the union of Norway and Sweden; but his arguments are not given in 'Hansard.' On the second of them he opposed the renewal of the Alien Acts, which had been in force throughout the war, and which enabled the Secretary of State to exercise a close supervision over aliens, and even to remove them from the country. Lord John wound up the short debate on the second reading of the Bill. He considered the Act to be one which was very liable to abuse. The present time was that which least called for it; and Ministers, in bringing forward the measure now because it had been thought necessary before, reminded him of the unfortunate wag mentioned in Joe Miller, who was so fond of rehearsing a joke that he always repeated it at the wrong time.' Such is the full report of Lord J. Russell's speech. His sally may have caused a laugh; it did not influence the result. The Alien Act of 1814, like its many predecessors, became law. Not much interest attaches to these early speeches. And perhaps, so far as Lord John Russell is concerned, there is more significance in an event which happened in Bond Street than in either of the two speeches which he made in the House of Commons. For, in 1814, he became a member of Grillion's Club.2 It has been the good fortune of Grillion's that, from its first formation, it has embraced the foremost men on both sides of politics. The statesmen opposed to one another in Parliament have met at its table; and the asperitics of political warfare have been smoothed by the easy and pleasant friction of social converse. Lord John was a frequent attendant at its meetings; and, though the older members of the club hesitate to publish the many good stories which they tell and retell in private, some of them could recount how 'Johnnie,' as he was almost universally called, after he had ripened Hansard, xxvii. 862, and xxviii. 715. 2 The late Sir Philip Egerton wrote a short account of Grillion's Club (for private circulation). From that book I find that in 1844 Lord John, having been thirty years a member, was invited to become an honorary member. He must therefore have joined the club in 1814. into the full dignity of a Cabinet Minister, was one of the leading actors in at least one scene of boisterous good humour. Lord John was not in London when Parliament reassembled. The air of Southern Europe was preferable to the atmosphere of Westminster; and, like a bird of passage, he had again spread his wings for a long flight to the South. Leghorn, December 4, 1814.-After five weeks spent on the sea and in a Lazzaret, you may suppose that we return to the habitations of men with a greater appetite than is usual to travellers newly arrived in Italy. Thus Lord John commenced the new diary, which he opened on his arrival in Italy, and the same reflection again occurred to him on reaching Florence. I shall hardly be safe in describing the beauties of this place; for, to those who have spent six weeks between a sea voyage and a Lazzaretto, every object has a colour much richer than to ordinary travellers; so that, whilst many of the English here are complaining, some of the cold, some of the wet, some of the journey, and almost all of the inns, I listen with great satisfaction and unconcern to their lamentations. His stay at Florence was, however, only short. On the 17th I left Florence with Mr. Whitmore' and Captain Adye of the 'Partridge.' We went to Lucca, visiting this place in our way to Leghorn. For an opportunity such as falls to the lot of few men, and such as Lord John himself had not hitherto enjoyed, had arisen. Napoleon was detained at Elba, and to Elba Lord John was bending his way. More than fifty years afterwards, in November 1868, Lord John wrote to M. Van de Weyer an account, which was privately printed, of the interview which he then had with the Emperor. More interest, however, naturally attaches to the narrative which he wrote at the time. Porto Ferrajo, December 25, 1814.-At eight o'clock in the evening yesterday, I went to the Palace according to appointment to see Mr. Whitmore was the husband of Lord John's cousin, Lady Lucy Bridge man. |