Chapter 9 POLITICS AND LAST YEARS. 1850-1873

Having resumed the profession to which he had always been devoted, it was the ambition of Lord Hardwicke's life to continue his naval career, and to complete a period of active service afloat which would have entitled him to promotion to flag rank. He was encouraged in this desire by all his friends, even by those who, like John Wilson Croker, had opposed his return to active service.

In a letter written by that gentleman to Lady Hardwicke in 1849, he said: 'I never was very favourable to his going to sea, but I am now decidedly against his not going through with it, and I cannot but believe that his services are appreciated, if not at their full value at least with respect, on the part of the Whigs. But however that may be, and however glad I shall be to see you all again at Wimpole, I earnestly advise him to play his hand out.'

Unhappily, Lord Hardwicke was prevented from carrying out his intention by the very serious illness of Lady Hardwicke, which caused him the gravest anxiety, shortly after the termination of his arduous responsibilities at Genoa. Lady Hardwicke was brought to death's door by an attack of fever at Naples, and he immediately resigned his command of the Vengeance, and hurried to her bedside. She happily recovered, and after her convalescence the whole family returned to England.

Apart, however, from this urgent private trouble, it is doubtful whether Lord Hardwicke would have continued his service in the Mediterranean. He felt, indeed, that the approval of his conduct at Genoa by the Whig Government was less hearty than Mr. Croker believed was the case, confined as it was to the barest official acknowledgment of services which to everyone else appeared not only creditable to Lord Hardwicke as a captain of a British ship of war, but of the highest value to Italy, to the cause of good order, and, by the havoc and bloodshed his tact and firmness had certainly prevented, to humanity itself. As the documents set out in the appendix to the last chapter fully show, all this was highly appreciated abroad. King Victor hastened to confer on Lord Hardwicke the order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus for what were described by General de Launay, his foreign secretary, as 'les importans services que vous avez rendus à Son Gouvernement pendant les graves évènemens qui ont affligé la ville de Gênes et l'empressement efficace avec lequel vous avez puissamment secondé M. le Général de La Marmora pour y ramener l'ordre'; Lord Normanby, the British Ambassador at Paris, reported to his government that the French Minister at Turin had more than once expressed his conviction 'that during the late troubles at Genoa that city was in great part saved from pillage and destruction by the energetic attitude assumed by the British naval force in that port, and that the French consuls had stated to him that there were moments when the lives and properties of the peaceable inhabitants would have been in great danger, but for the dread inspired by the position taken up by H.M.S. Vengeance, and the effective support given by Lord Hardwicke to the consular authorities.' There was less value perhaps in the thanks given by 'the Count and Colonel, Director of the Bagni Maritim,' whose gratitude was mingled with a sense of favours to come, in the possible exertion of Lord Hardwicke's good offices with King Victor Emmanuel for clemency for the convicts under the Count's charge, whose conduct had added so much to the dangers of the situation. But of the foreign testimony to Lord Hardwicke's service at Genoa perhaps the most eloquent was that of Mazzini, who admitted to Lord Malmesbury that his career in Italy had been spoiled 'by one English sailor at Genoa called Hardvick.'

This universal approbation of the part played by Lord Hardwicke was of course perfectly well known to the Government; it was also more or less known to the public from the letters written by the Times correspondent at Genoa. 'But for the decision and judgment Lord Hardwicke manifested,' he wrote, 'Genoa would, in all probability, have been at this moment a ruined and pillaged city. The very worst vagabonds were hired to mount guard and man the walls, since the National Guards had retired for the most part to their own dwellings. It was indeed a reign of terror, and it was most fortunate for Genoa that the Vengeance was in the port to prevent its being a reign of blood.'

Under these circumstances Lord John Russell's government could scarcely withhold official recognition of Lord Hardwicke's success in having virtually saved a great and historic city from destruction. His conduct, moreover, was such as would certainly appeal to Lord Palmerston, the Foreign Secretary, who took the occasion to inform the Admiralty 'that Lord Hardwicke's conduct seemed to him highly praiseworthy, and that he was of opinion that the Earl of Hardwicke by his promptitude, energy and decision saved the city of Genoa from the calamities of further bombardment, and prevented a great effusion of blood and much destruction of property and life.'

This official approval, as we have seen, was conveyed to Lord Hardwicke by his admiral, Sir William Parker, who had already indicated his own rather tepid approval accompanied, however, by the hope that there had been 'no actual infraction of the neutral position of Her Majesty's ship, or undue interference in the political contention of the opponents.'

But it seems clear that both political and professional influences were already at work against Lord Hardwicke. On the happy conclusion of the trouble at Genoa by what he truly described in a letter to Lady Hardwicke as 'the only English interference that has been successful in Europe since the affair began,' he had already detected a certain faintness in the praise he received from Admiral Parker: 'The good admiral gives me negative praise,' he writes, 'but I leave it all to him to judge my acts. I have no fear of results; I have a good reason for all I did.' But from a memorandum written by Lady Hardwicke after his death, it appears that he felt very acutely the grudging spirit in which his services had been received by a section, at least, of the Cabinet. Upon reporting himself at the Admiralty on his arrival in London he was greeted by Sir Francis Baring, the First Lord, with these words: 'Well, Lord Hardwicke, you certainly did do well at Genoa, and it was lucky that you succeeded, for if you had failed you certainly would have been broke.' He made no complaint, however, but returned to Wimpole, resumed his life of a country gentleman, and renewed all his interest in the affairs of his estate and his county.

He was called at length from this retirement by the return of his own party to power. In March of 1851 Lord John Russell had announced the resignation of the Government owing to their defeat on the franchise question; Lord Stanley was sent for by Queen Victoria, but found himself unable to form a ministry, and upon the advice of the Duke of Wellington the Queen had requested her ministers to resume office. But this arrangement lasted less than a year. On the 27th of February following Lord Stanley, by that time Earl of Derby, became prime minister in the new Government with Mr. Disraeli, Mr. Spencer Walpole, Lord Malmesbury and Sir John Packington, among his colleagues, and in this cabinet Lord Hardwicke sat as Postmaster-General. It was a short term of office, which lasted less than a year, during which time, however, Lord Hardwicke's energy and powers of organisation were much appreciated in his department, where he came to be known as 'Lord Hardwork'; but his official life came to an end with that of the Government upon the return to power, in December 1852, of the Aberdeen administration, which included Lord John Russell as Foreign Secretary and Sir James Graham as First Lord of the Admiralty.

A characteristic souvenir of the immortal Duke of Wellington occurs to me in connection with this first administration of Lord Derby, well known as the 'Derby D'Israeli Ministry,' which may find a place here. A great many new men necessarily composed it, and when they were all mustered before being 'sworn in' the Duke began chaffing them 'as somewhat raw recruits,' and then taking his stick he put them into line and said, 'You will require a little drilling' and he flourished his stick about, imitating a sergeant, and amused them all very much. Such was the great man's way of putting a home truth.

The fall of Lord Derby's government was the occasion for a letter to my father from Mr. Croker, in which that gentleman appears to admiration in the characteristic role of candid friend. I print this, not only as a typical effort of that critical spirit, but because it contains a very just appreciation of my mother's great qualities, to which her husband and her children owe so much.

* * * * *

Dec. 31, 1852.

'... As for the party, I cannot but feel with you, that a party without a spokesman in the House of Commons is as nothing, but with such a spokesman as Disraeli, it is worse than nothing. In Opposition, his talents of debate would be most valuable, if there was any security for his principles or his judgment. I have no faith in either.

'But after all, nobody is so much to blame as Derby; why did he not take higher and surer ground. Why are you all turned out on-neither you nor anyone else can say what? You had not even hoisted a flag to rally round. You have been like some poor people I have read of in the late storm, buried under the ruins of your own edifice, but whether you were stifled or crushed, killed by a rafter or a brick, nobody can tell. You have died a death so ignoble that it has no name, and the Coroner's verdict is "Found Dead."

'Why did you not die in the Protestant cause; on something that some party could take an interest in? Why did you spare Cardinal Wiseman? Why butter Louis Buonaparte thicker than his own French cooks? Why did you lay the ground of the confiscation of landed property by a differential income tax and by hinting at taxing property by inheritance? "You have left undone the things you ought to have done, and you have done those things which you ought not to have done, and there is no help for you."

'My own grief is this, that Disraeli's vanity, or as he would say, his character, was committed by his electioneering speeches and addresses, and that you all, half generosity and half prudence, resolved to stand by him rather than break up the Government, which his resignation would have done. That's my solution of the greatest political riddle I ever encountered.

'I know not what to say about your going to sea, I fear observations on your resigning the ship abroad and taking one at home for the mere purpose of making up a little time. Pray think well of it. I daresay you would receive a civil answer, perhaps get a ship, but cui bono. What is your flag to you? [Footnote: He was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral in November 1858.] I wish you were on the Admiral's list for the sake of the country if we are to have a war, but I see no advantage in it if there is no prospect of distinguished service.

'Give my best love to all the dear people round you and, above all, to the dearest of all, whose solid good sense and natural sagacity, quite equal to her more charming qualities, will be your best guide in the topic last treated. Indeed, if I knew her opinion on any of those topics, it would have a prime chance of becoming my own.

'Ever most affectionately hers and yours,

'J. W. CROKER'

* * * * *

The Aberdeen Government will always be remembered as that of the period of the Crimean War, and it was in connection with that great struggle and his wish to serve his country afloat that Lord Hardwicke found just reason to complain of more than the mere belittling of his services at Genoa which had been his sole reward upon his return to England in 1849.

Lord Hardwicke's desire to obtain active employment at sea so soon as hostilities with Russia appeared probable was well known at the Admiralty, but political rancour as well as professional jealousy were both employed in a secret but active agitation to prevent his obtaining that employment. The entirely honourable distinction he had received from the King of Sardinia by the bestowal of the order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus was made the opportunity of a series of slanderous suggestions which caused him the greatest pain. It was perfectly well known that a regulation in force at the English Court forbade the acceptance of foreign distinctions of that kind without the express permission of the Crown. Yet it was stated that 'The English Government had desired that the order should be returned on the ground that Lord Hardwicke had acted at Genoa without orders.' Further than this, as Lady Hardwicke records, 'Much jealousy was created by his successful diplomacy at Genoa, and his enemies disseminated a report that he had disobeyed Admiral Sir William Parker's orders, and "made the Mediterranean sea too hot to hold him."'

These injurious statements, however, did not reach Lord Hardwicke's ears until some time after they were first made-'he was of course ignorant of what was going on to defame his professional character and stop his career in a service to which he was devoted and in which he had spent the best years of his life.' They at length, however, came to his notice under more responsible authority than that of mere rumour at service clubs, and at a moment when their acceptance by a member of the Government was allowed to stand in the way of Lord Hardwicke's selection for an important command.

By a recent regulation of the Admiralty, Lord Hardwicke with many other senior captains who had failed by a short period to complete the active service afloat necessary to entitle them to the rank of rear-admiral, was placed upon the retired list. In his case, the regulation took effect upon January 28, 1854. Meanwhile, however, the probability in 1853 of a declaration of war between this country and Russia had led to great naval activity, and Lord Hardwicke had applied for active employment. 'Sir Charles Napier,' writes Lady Hardwicke, 'who fully appreciated his courage and ability, applied for him as his flag-captain.' His offer, however, as well as Admiral Napier's wish for his assistance, were both disregarded by the Admiralty, and his appointment as flag-captain refused.

There was, perhaps, no legitimate grievance in this refusal, but at this moment information reached Lord Hardwicke through Lord Clarendon, that the refusal had been accompanied by a revival at the Admiralty of the injurious suggestions, already mentioned, of his having exceeded his instructions from Sir William Parker at Genoa.

'I believe it to have been at this juncture,' writes Lady Hardwicke, 'that his friend Lord Clarendon, feeling acutely his position, informed him of the slanders which had been spread abroad. ... This statement was made use of by Sir James Graham, First Lord of the Admiralty and successor to Sir F. Baring, and carried by him to the ears of his best friends, the Queen and the Prince Consort.'

It will be readily understood that the adoption of these injurious reports by a cabinet minister, and their repetition by him in his official capacity to the Queen and Prince Albert, placed the whole matter upon a different footing. Queen Victoria, almost from the beginning of her reign, had honoured my father with her regard and confidence, and so recently as his return from Genoa he had received a letter which shows very plainly the terms upon which he stood with his Sovereign.

* * * * *

BUCKINGHAM PALACE: March 4, 1850.

'MY DEAR LORD HARDWICKE,

'The Prince is anxious that you should resume your seat at the Council of the Duchy of Lancaster which you resigned when you went abroad. I hope that you will be willing to do so as it is important for the Queen's interest that the persons upon that Council should be well acquainted with the peculiar details of the Duchy business, as well as generally accustomed to the management of property, and it would be a considerable time before any person could acquire the knowledge of the subject which you have gained. The change in the Chancellor of the Duchy will not, I hope, make the working of the Council less easy.

'Sincerely yours,

'C. B. PHIPPS'

* * * * *

In such circumstances, and apart altogether from any question of the refusal of employment by the Admiralty, it is obvious that the matter could not be allowed to rest where it was, and a letter received by Lord Hardwicke in September 1853 from Lord Clarendon makes it clear that he lost no time in seeking an explanation from Sir James Graham.

* * * * *

September 30, 1853.

'MY DEAR HARDWICKE,

'I hope you will excuse me for not having answered your letter by return of post as I ought to have done, but I assure you that the last two days, I have been unable to do anything but fight against an extraordinary pressure of public work. My firm belief is that the personal errors into which Graham had fallen are now quite removed. "Hardwicke is a good sailor, and an officer of real ability and merit"-is an extract from a letter of Graham's in answer to mine about you; but I see that the bar to your being employed, is your own position in the Service and your having one year and eleven months to serve afloat before you can render yourself eligible for the Flag. There are only three captains above you and if when your turn arrived you were in command of a ship, and your full period of requisite service was not accomplished, I suppose that a question, which has not yet arisen, would then arise, respecting your right to promotion to the Active Flag. This I take to be the real difficulty, and your professional knowledge will enable you to judge of its value. I sent a copy of your note to Graham, and as far as I am concerned I hope you will now take any course you may think most expedient, only bearing in mind that Graham has no unfriendly feeling towards you. I have said to you upon that point, nothing more than what he told me, but I should be sorry that he thought I had said less. I fear that all endeavours to keep the peace are exhausted or nearly so, and I don't anticipate much active hostility at this time of year, if hostilities we are to have. The Emperor of Russia is quite without excuse, he persists in asking what the Turks cannot concede, and he wants a power in Turkey which would be useless to him, except for overturning the Ottoman Empire, the independence of which he declares must be maintained.

'Ever yours truly,

'CLARENDON.'

* * * * *

From this letter it is clear that Lord Clarendon as a friend of both parties did all he could to explain the conduct of Sir James, but his mention of 'personal errors' into which the First Lord had fallen seems an ample confirmation of that gentleman's indiscretion in giving an official countenance to the rumours of which Lord Hardwicke complained. In any case, Lord Clarendon's letter was obviously an explanation thoroughly unsatisfactory to Lord Hardwicke, who, as Lady Hardwicke writes, 'immediately wrote to Sir William Parker and obtained from him the following memorable credential.'

* * * * *

SHENSTONE LODGE, LICHFIELD: 14 Nov., 1853.

'My DEAR LORD HARDWICKE,

'I fully enter into your feeling of mortification and disappointment in not obtaining professional appointment in the present threatening aspect of affairs; I am much grieved that a fallacious impression should for a moment have obtained that the slightest approach to a misunderstanding between your Lordship and myself had ever occurred. I am indeed at a loss to conceive on what pretence such an idle and mischievous rumour could have originated. Sir Francis Baring intimated to me the astonishment and annoyance you had expressed to him at such a fabrication; I assure you my reply quite corresponded with your sentiments. I can truly say that the Vengeance was very satisfactorily conducted under your command, while attached to my flag, and all your proceedings manifested genuine zeal for the Service. I cannot forget with what anxiety your Lordship withdrew your application to be relieved in the command of that ship, when on the Squadron being ordered to the vicinity of the Dardanelles, there appeared a temporary prospect of more active service. I truly regret it that on our departure from the East you again felt yourself compelled to resign your ship, in consequence of the illness of Lady Hardwicke at a time when I believe you were within a short period of completing the requisite servitude for your active Flag.

'I remain faithfully and cordially yours,

'W. PARKER, Admiral.'

* * * * *

'Armed with this letter,' continues Lady Hardwicke, 'he sought an audience of the Prince Consort, and stated his case, placing the refutation of these calumnies in the Prince's hands. Upon reading this generous and truthful statement, Prince Albert expressed his satisfaction at having seen it, and his astonishment at the falsehoods that had been circulated, and requested Lord Hardwicke that he might place it in the hands of the Queen, which he accordingly did and returned to express Her Majesty's gratification on its perusal.'

All this took place at the end of 1853: meanwhile Sir Charles Napier was unwearying in his applications to the Admiralty to obtain Lord Hardwicke's assistance in the expedition which was shortly to sail for the Baltic. In January Lord Hardwicke was placed upon the retired list, but Sir Charles was still anxious to secure him as one of his admirals, as is very clear from a memorandum of a conversation by Lord Hardwicke which he left among his papers.

* * * * *

March 6, 1854.

'I met Sir Charles Napier in the United Service Club. He took me aside and told me that Sir James Graham had consulted him as to whom he would select as 3rd Divisional Admiral for the Baltic Fleet. He answered Sir James Graham by saying that he would have asked for Lord Hardwicke as Captain of the Fleet as he preferred him, but he thought he would have no chance of having him. But now he was again to select an Admiral, he should ask for Lord Hardwicke as he should prefer him to anyone. Sir James Graham said, "Very well, I will appoint him, but in this peculiar case, I must apply to the Cabinet." The result was the refusal of the Cabinet to appoint me, in consequence of their fearing to excite emotion in the officers of the Active List; but that although at the beginning there was this ground of refusal, yet by and by it might be done. Sir Charles Napier added, "I shall want one more Admiral and I shall again apply for you."

'H.'

* * * * *

The controversy with Sir James Graham perhaps affords a sufficient explanation of the failure of Sir Charles's repeated efforts in behalf of Lord Hardwicke, though there is no doubt the Government had an answer in the Admiralty regulation which had placed him upon the retired list.

'Lord Hardwicke's application for employment was brought before the Cabinet,' writes Lady Hardwicke, 'but the Admiralty declaring that an order in Council to make this exception would bring the whole retired list upon their shoulders, his request was politely declined, with the feeling that the late enactment had fallen cruelly upon his professional career.'

'Few but myself,' concludes Lady Hardwicke, 'who have seen the anguish of disappointment caused by such a termination of the cherished ambition of a whole life, can at all appreciate the severity of this blow. This statement of facts engraven on the tablet of my heart I have drawn up with a view of placing in the hands of my dear children the means of vindicating their beloved father's memory in case upon any future occasion they should be called upon to do so. Let them remember that "the Lord nourisheth with discipline" and accept the trials and disappointments of life with the same spirit of resignation which their beloved father always exhibited, to my great and endless consolation.'

To me, his daughter, it has seemed that the occasion of which my mother speaks, for the vindication of my father's memory, has arrived with the publication of this memoir of his life, and I have therefore set out the facts as she wrote them down.

The long period of Whig rule, which had lasted with the single break of a few months in 1852 since the year 1846, was at length terminated by the return of Lord Derby's second administration to power in 1858, and Lord Hardwicke took office as Lord Privy Seal with a seat in the Cabinet. His energy and professional zeal, however, had been fully employed since 1856 as the Chairman of a Royal Commission which had been appointed to inquire into the question of the manning of the Navy. The negative results of the expedition to the Baltic during the late war with Russia had brought the question into public notice, and the great changes which were taking place in the design and construction of ships of war by the invention of the screw propeller and the evolution of the ironclad battleship had given a more than ordinary urgency to the question of national defence.

Lord Hardwicke entered upon his duties with the greatest energy. One of the instructions to the Commission was to 'determine in case of need the means necessary to man at short notice thirty or forty sail of the line.' In a speech at Cambridge in 1858 he pointed out some facts regarding the Navy of which the public were quite ignorant, and which pointed to a serious decrease in the naval power of the country which caused much uneasiness. Lord Hardwicke reminded his hearers that though during the period of the American, Revolutionary, and Napoleonic wars we had maintained an establishment of from 105,000 to 140,000 seamen and marines, and had experienced little difficulty in manning a fleet of ships of the line which averaged 120 sail, yet during the recent war with Russia the Admiralty had with difficulty found crews for the thirty-three vessels which took part in the operations in the Baltic. 'These ships,' he said, 'went to sea in such a condition as to inflict a positive injustice on the brave officers in command of them, and if it had not been for the efficiency of the latter and the way their crews were disciplined, they might as well have stopped at home.'

Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort both took great interest in this important question, and the Prince in the following letter showed his practical knowledge of the subject by urging the importance of the training-ship as a source of an efficient personnel for the Navy.

* * * * *

'My DEAR LORD HARDWICKE,

'In your position as chairman of the Manning Committee I wish to draw your attention to a point, which I consider of the utmost importance.

'We have two brigs, the Rollo and the Nautilus, at Portsmouth and Plymouth for apprenticing boys for the Navy. You are perfectly acquainted with their excellent system, and the fact that, after having completed their time of instruction, these boys form the best sailors in the Queen's service, having acquired a taste for the Man-of-War service early in life, and are free from any connection with the Merchandise. But these two ships give the Navy only about 200 seamen a year. What are 200 annually to a fleet of 50,000? Why should not each of the Coast Guard Ships have a brig attached to them on their respective stations for receiving boys? The brigs are worth nothing to the service, and I am told that the applications for the entry of boys is always far beyond the present means of receiving, whilst men are frequently not to be had. If 2000 boys so trained were added every year to the Navy for ten years' service, it would be none too many. It would only give us 20,000 men at the end of ten years; but these would be permanently added to the stock of seamen of the country, which I am sorry to say appears to be gradually falling below our wants.

'Ever,

'Yours Truly,

'ALBERT.'

OSBORNE: July 24, 1856

* * * * *

The labours of Lord Hardwicke and his colleagues were received with general approbation on all sides, although his own declared opinion of the advisability of reviving the Press-gang in certain circumstances was not generally accepted.

I must here mention that although Lord Hardwicke was debarred by the regulation in force from accepting the decoration from King Victor Emmanuel of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus, his Majesty was still determined to mark his sense of my father's services to Italy at Genoa. Six years after the revolution of Genoa he caused a medal to be struck bearing the national arms and inscribed with the words:

'Al Valore Militare. Lord Conte di Hardwicke, commandante il vascello Vengeance. Distinti servizii pel Ristabilmento del Ordine. Genova, 1849.'

Queen Victoria's permission to wear this medal was accorded to Lord

Hardwicke by the following letter from Lord Clarendon.

* * * * *

GROSVENOR CRESCENT: July 24, 1855.

'MY DEAR HARDWICKE,

'The Queen's permission has been duly received for you to wear the medal conferred upon you by the King of Sardinia and I have communicated the same officially to the Admiralty.

'Very truly yours,

'CLARENDON.'

* * * * *

The end of every life is the hardest to describe. The time of rest must come, and with it retirement from public work. The parent begins life again in his children, and in making place for them in the world. We have followed the career of an active and energetic man, who thoroughly lived his life, and enjoyed it. We have seen his first great disappointment in the profession that he loved, when an opportunity offered itself for service under Sir Charles Napier in the Baltic Fleet during the Crimean War. To die in action, fighting for England, was his ambition, and the failure of an opportunity for its fulfilment brought with it much depression.

Meanwhile, however, he lost no time in vain regrets, or ceased from active and useful work on his estate and in his county. We have read a letter describing old 'Wimple' in 1781; I shall now try to carry on the description in few words from 1855. It was a beloved home; we 'were seven,' and in the adjoining rectory lived my uncle the Hon. and Rev. Archdeacon Yorke, Canon of Ely, with six cousins, a merry party in holiday time. The house was big and the furniture, books and pictures fine, but my father's life would have satisfied the severest of socialist critics by its simplicity. Our own dress was scrupulously simple. Our boots I well remember, they were all made by a little hump-back cobbler who lived at New Wimpole, and used to come by the avenue to the 'Big House,' as it was always called, to measure us. These substantial thick boots and leather gaiters from the village shop, with short linsey skirts, formed our walking attire. And in the Christmas holiday we all tore about the muddy fields in 'paper-chases.'

Later on I remember writing a paper for my friends on how to dress on eighty pounds a year, which was my allowance at eighteen.

The cottages were beautifully clean and the furniture solid, all the men wore smock-frocks and very thick boots with large nails that lasted a year: no such thing as a blue suit and yellow boots would have been tolerated then. The best dressed wife wore a red cloak and neat black bonnet. The family Bible was found in every cottage, and my uncle gave two cottage Bible-readings every week of his life. There was no attempt at Cathedral services in country churches. The Communion service was reverently given once a month, and on the great feast-days my uncle preached in a black gown. And such a fuss was made when the black waistcoat now commonly worn by the clergy was introduced: it was called the M. B. Waistcoat (mark of the beast).

My uncle ultimately adopted it, when promoted to a canonry at Ely. What changes since those days, what luxury has crept in everywhere, and how often one sighs over the simplicity of the past, which certainly produced a stronger, if not a better race.

My father was very courteous, especially to ladies, cheery, full of life and spirits; liberal in heart though a strong Conservative in politics. If anything pleasant or amusing was on hand, such as a dance or our 'private theatricals,' he would wave his hands and say, 'Clear the decks! Clear the decks!' We often used to 'clear the decks' for games of Post and Magical Music!... Evenings at Wimpole were never dull. We attempted to keep up old traditions, and intellect and vitality were not wanting. There was always a sprinkling of rising men in all the practical departments of life among the guests at Wimpole, statesmen, agriculturists, shipbuilders and owners, besides intimates and relations; dear old 'Schetky' with his guitar among the most popular, and the delight of the children after dinner when he would sing his favourite ballad 'When on his Baccy Box he viewed.' Amateur music was greatly encouraged, not that it came up to the requisitions of the present day, but it was very pleasant. My mother's ballad singing was exceptional, and without accompaniment very interesting.

'Annie Laurie' and all Lady John Scott's ballads, besides 'Caller Herrin''-the Scotch cry for fresh herring-were her favourites and brought tears to one's eyes. Nothing was spared where education was concerned, and music and languages were among the great advantages afforded to myself and my sisters. To the latter I attribute one of the greatest enjoyments of my life, especially when in later years I often lived in Paris. Histrionic art also was cultivated in the holidays under the able management of uncle Eliot Yorke, M.P. The 'Wimpole Theatre' opened in 1796 with 'The Secret,' with Lady Anne, Lady Catherine and Lady Elizabeth Yorke and Viscount Royston as the caste. It was reopened in 1851 with the 'Court of Oberon: or The Three Wishes,' by the Dowager Countess of Hardwicke, with Viscount Royston, the Hon. Eliot Yorke, Mr. Sydney Yorke, Lady Elizabeth Yorke, the Hon. John Manners Yorke, Lady Agneta Yorke, the Hon. Victor Yorke, and the Hon. Alexander Yorke in the caste, and the Hon. Eliot Yorke, M.P., as stage manager. This company in 1853 repeated the 'Court of Oberon' with 'The Day after the Wedding.' In 1854 'The Day after the Wedding' was again given with a comic interlude 'Personation' by Charles Kemble and a popular farce 'Turning the Tables.'

In 1855 'Personation' and 'Popping the Question' were given before their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Cambridge and Princess Mary. A very smart party was invited to meet their Royal Highnesses, and a great deal of merriment was our reward.

The excellent training of 'Uncle Eliot' during the dull winter evenings made the winter holidays a real joy; we rehearsed and acted in the Gallery, originally built to hold the Harleian Manuscripts, and divided by columns into three parts, making an admirable theatre and a handsome proscenium. On one great occasion we had Frank Matthews as prompter, and we none of us forget seeing him initiate Lady Agneta in the art of making a stage kiss. Oh! how we laughed. He cried so much during the performance that he prompted badly; but perhaps the dear man was touched by the family talent! A letter from Tom Taylor recommending plays suitable for our company will be read with interest.

* * * * *

'There is a play called "Hearts are Trumps" which I think would suit your friends, from what you tell me of their troupe and requirements. We played a piece at Canterbury called "Palace and Prison" adapted by Simpson from "La Main gauche et la main droite" which, as far as I remember, is unobjectionable. I think Palgrave Simpson had it printed, though I do not think it has been acted in London. My little comedietta "Nine Points of the Law" is free from all critical situations and language, but perhaps Mr. Sterling's part may be too old for your jeune premier.

'There is a piece called the "Secret Agent" well suited to drawing-room theatricals; you might look at it. "You can't marry your Grandmother" is a good one-act piece, free from objectionable situation and dialogue. See also "Time tries all," "A Match in the Dark," and "Kill or Cure."

'Ever yours truly,

'TOM TAYLOR.'

* * * * *

In 1857 the Wimpole Theatre reopened with the same company and gave 'Sunshine through the Clouds' and 'Only a Halfpenny'; and in 1860 for the last time with 'The Jacobite' by Planche; a scene from 'King John'; and 'Helping Hands' by Tom Taylor. The last was a beautiful play, but too refined for the ordinary theatre, and consequently did not have the run it deserved.

All these performances were strictly confined to the family, including

the painting of the scenery and the composition of Prologues,

Epilogues, &c. As we said in one of those compositions, 'We are no

London stars; we're all of Yorke.'

While we were play-acting, my father would continue persistently the work of his estate and county. It was his habit to hire his own labourers for the estate and home farm, and these, well and carefully chosen, were secure in their posts from year to year, and loved him. He also made a rule every Saturday of passing elaborate accounts at the estate office with his steward. He dined at Cambridge once a year with all his tenants; never was a landlord more beloved. The old-fashioned harvest home was celebrated in the spacious coachhouse cleared for the occasion; my mother and 'all of us' went down to welcome the labourers and hear my father address them. He settled things in his own way, sometimes differing considerably from ordinary routine, but he was scrupulously just, liberal and kind, with a most attractive sense of humour.

My father had seen and felt acutely the harm raw spirits had done in the Navy. This made him very careful when at Wimpole. According to old custom, beer was brewed twice a year, and he kept the key of the cellar and punctually opened it every morning before breakfast to give out the 'measure' for daily consumption. I remember so well a new butler arriving with a pompous manner and very red nose. Shortly after arrival he was taken ill and retired to his bed for several days, the family doctor from Royston attending him. On his recovery, going into luncheon with us all, my father with his usual courtesy said, 'I hope you are better.' Answer: 'Oh yes, thank you, my Lord, it was only the Change of Beer!'

I remember the average doctor's bill for domestic servants at Wimpole was ￡100 a year. May I be allowed for once to speak of self? Mine, with a more or less teetotal home, comes on an average to ￡1; I give extra wages and no strong drink, and this system works admirably, except for the poor Doctors, whom I fear sometimes find their incomes sadly diminished by the Temperance movement!

My father made great additions and improvements at Wimpole House. He found it needing repair, and after releading the extensive roof, he built offices on the left side, and later restored the large conservatory on the right, besides entirely rebuilding the stables, and placing the handsome iron gates at the Arrington entrance. A group of sculpture by Foley in the pediment of the stone porch over the front door greatly improved the centre of the house, which was very flat. In round numbers he spent ￡100,000 in these improvements. There were twelve reception rooms en suite, including the beautiful chapel painted by Sir James Thornhill, and no sooner had No. 12 been done up than No. 1 began to call out! It was always beginning, never ending.

In 1867 came the first home bereavement, the first heart-breaking loss, from which my father never recovered; he kept to his daily work, but gaiety forsook him, and the trouble no doubt told upon his constitution, which was threatened with a serious form of rheumatic gout, and with gradual heart failure. His beloved third son, Victor Alexander, Queen Victoria's godson, died suddenly whilst assisting at a penny reading at Aston Clinton, the residence of Sir Anthony and Lady de Rothschild, to whom he was devoted. Victor was a lad of great promise; he was in the Horse Artillery, and a bad accident in Canada is supposed to have left some injury to the back of the head and spine. He had been suffering from pains in the head, but was in the highest of spirits the day before he died. An accomplished fellow, fond of music and poetry, he was reading 'The Grandmother' by Tennyson, and at verse three-

Willy my beauty, my eldest born, the flower of the flock,

Never a man could fling him, for Willy stood like a rock'-

he fell forward on his face and never spoke again.

The tenderness and sympathy shown by Sir Anthony and Lady de Rothschild on this occasion made a deep impression on our bereaved hearts. It was quite beyond words, and from it sprang that happy marriage between my brother Eliot Yorke, Equerry to H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh, and Annie de Rothschild, their daughter. It was founded on the truest love, and admiration of great qualities which have stood the test of many years. The marriage took place in Wimpole Church in February 1873.

It was about June in the same year that my father left Wimpole for the last time in an invalid carriage. The fatigue of the journey brought on a severe attack of heart failure, and as he reached his house in Portman Square, we feared it was his last. But not so. A few weeks later he reached his beloved Sydney Lodge, where his room was arranged on the ground floor and a young doctor always in attendance. His patience and fortitude were heroic. Unable to lie down, he sat for weeks in an armchair, supported at night by his two attendants. Nothing could be more sad than to witness his lingering end. Sometimes he rallied sufficiently to be wheeled into the drawing-room and be refreshed by our singing hymns to him in parts. He was a firm believer in Christ, and constantly asked for St. Paul's Epistles to be read to him: 'Read me my St. Paul,' he would say. The conclusions of the great Apostle to the Gentiles as to the divinity of Christ supported him through all his troubles.

His last letter, dated September 7, 1873, was written to his friend Tom

Cocks.

* * * * *

'I send my Banker's Book and beg you will return it made up with a balance. I am a dying man, and shall be glad when it pleases God to call me home.

'Yours truly, my dear Cocks,

'HARDWICKE.'

* * * * *

On September 17 he expired at Sydney Lodge, Hamble, conscious to the last, and was laid to rest in the family vault at Wimpole. These lines, 'to his beloved memory,' were written by his widow and engraved on a stone cross erected in the grounds of Sydney Lodge overlooking the Southampton Water:

'To thee, the fondly loved one I deplore,

I dedicate this spot for evermore.

Here, 'neath the shade of spreading beech, we sought

Some brief distraction to overburdened thought,

Some balm for pain, immunity from care,

To lift thy soul and for its flight prepare.

Here forest glade and wat'ry flood combine,

To stamp on nature the impress divine;

The sluggish murmur of retiring tide

Whispers "Much longer thou can'st not abide";

The trembling light of sun's retreating ray

Suggests th' effulgence of more perfect day,

And soothing warblers of the feathered tribe

Hymning their orisons at eventide,

Point to the "Sun of righteousness which springs,"

Saviour of souls, "with healing in its wings."

Hallowed by sacred musings be this ground

Where last we sat, and consolation found.

Brief be the space which binds me here below,

Thy spirit fled, all life has lost its glow.'

INDEX

Abercromby, Sir W.

Addington, Rt. Hon. Henry

Algiers, Dey of; expedition against;

Bombardment of; slaves released

Anaguasti

Ancestry

Anson, Mr.

Asarta, General

Avezzana

Barbary pirates

Baring, Sir Francis

Berlin

Bermuda

Bernadotte

Bevan, Lady Agneta

Brisbane, Captain

Bute, Lord

Byron, Lord; 'Maid of Athens'

Cambridge, Duchess of, and

Princess Mary

Camden, Lord

Campbell, Lord

Canea

Capellan, Admiral von der

Capo d'lstria

Carlo Felice

Cavour

Charles Albert

Chrisaphopulo

Clanricarde, Marchioness of

Clarendon, Earl of

Cochrane, Lord

Cocks, Margaret (Lady Hardwicke)

Coleotronis

Corfu

Corn Laws, repeal of

Croker, J. W.

Dantzig

D'Azeglio

De Launay, General

Derby, Earl of

Devonshire, Duke of

Disraeli, Mr.

Dover, Lord

Druses, the

Dundas, Capt.

Exmouth, Admiral Viscount

Fox, Henry

Garibaldi

Garrick

Genoa

George III

Gladstone, Mr.

Grafton, Duke of

Graham, Sir James

Greek Committee, the

Grey, Marchioness

Hamburg Hardwicke, first Earl of Lord Chancellor character as a judge political influence marriage and children ---second Earl of ---third Earl of Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland ---Charles Philip, fourth Earl of, birth, education, enters navy first ships letters from Mediterranean visits Genoa joins Queen Charlotte, Lord Exmouth's flagship letter commands gunboat at bombardment of Algiers sails for Halifax Crazy Jane sloop letters from Halifax lieutenant commander anecdotes of commands Alacrity in Mediterranean, mission to suppress Greek piracy at Malta Corfu Gibraltar visits Lord Byron the 'Green Bag,' at Smyrna massacre at Psara visit to Pasha opinion of the Greek Committee Odysseus visit to Ali Bey at Magnesia Ephesus Malta again Beirut Sidon visits Lady Hester Stanhope account of Tyre goes to Alexandria and Cairo holiday in Sweden and Norway: Kiel Copenhagen Gottenborg, incident at Christiania the Storthing dinner with Bernadotte the Doverfeld Trondhjem Diet at Stockholm conversation with Bernadotte desire for active service returns to Mediterranean in Alligator diplomatic duties in connection with Greek settlement chases pirate Macri Georgio proceeds to Crete grief at leaving Alligator voyage home; Reform question Sir Joseph Yorke's death his last letter elected M.P. for Reigate for Cambridgeshire marriage succeeds to Earldom country gentleman President of the Agricultural Society Lord-Lieutenant Lord-in-Waiting attends on King of Prussia visit to fire at Hamburg Berlin and Sans Souci goes with King to Court of St. Petersburg, Dantzig Cronstadt impressions of Emperor of Russia and Russian Royal Family Peterhof and Court life at St. Petersburg review of military cadets takes leave of Emperor at Erdmansdorf with King of Prussia and Konigsberg Marienberg Dresden pictures Dresden fair Sans Souci attends Emperor of Russia in England the Queen and Prince Consort visit Wimpole Her Majesty's opinion of him Wimpole cheese for King Louis Philippe correspondence with Sir R. Peel attitude on repeal of Corn Laws resigns Court appointment relations with Mr. Disraeli wish for naval employment Mr. Croker's opinion appointed to command the Vengeance under Sir W. Parker; ordered to Leghorn his instructions at Genoa letters to Lady Hardwicke describing his action during the Genoese crisis letters commending his conduct in having saved Genoa from pillage and ruin from La Marmora, Syndic of Genoa, Sir W. Parker, Lord Palmerston, &c. but official approval somewhat grudging joins Lord Derby's Cabinet as Postmaster-General applies for command in the Baltic under Sir C. Napier refusal controversy with Sir James Graham Lord Privy Seal in Lord Derby's second Cabinet Chairman of Royal Commission on manning of the Navy King of Italy's medal life at Wimpole evening amusements and society music and theatricals estate work improvements at Wimpole death of Hon. Victor Yorke marriage of Hon. Eliot Yorke his own illness and death at Sydney Lodge Hardwicke, seventh Earl of ---Countess of, Margaret. See Cocks. ---Countess of, Susan. See Liddell. Hotham, Sir H. Hurd Hydra Hypsilantes, Prince Alexander

Independence, War of

Ismail Pacha

Italian unity, movement for

Karabusa in Crete

Keppel, Admiral

K?nigsberg

La Marmora, General

Liddell, Hon. Susan (Countess of Hardwicke)

Liverpool, Earl of

Magnesia

Maitland, Sir T.

Mansfield, Lord

Marienberg

Masséna

Matthews

Mavrocordato

Mazzini

Mecklenburg Schwerin, Duke of

Mehemet Ali

Melbourne, Viscount

Miaoulis, Admiral

Milne, Sir D.

Missolonghi

Montesquieu

Morden, Barony

Napier, Sir C.

Nauplia

Navarino

Nelson, Lord

Newcastle, Duke of

Nore, mutiny at the

Normanby, Marquis of

Novara, battle of

Odysseus, the Chief

Otho, King

Oxford, Harley, Earls of

Palmerston, Viscount

Parker, Sir W.

Peel, Sir R.

Perceval, Rt. Hon. Spencer

Pitt, William (Lord Chatham)

Pitt, William

Plumptre

Prince Consort

Prior

Prussia, King of

Psara

Rattray, Elizabeth Weake (Lady Yorke)

Reform Bill

Rockingham, Lord

Rodney, Lord

Rothschild, Sir A. and Lady de

Royston, Lord

Russell, Lord John

Russia, Emperor of (Nicholas I)

Sadowa, battle of

St. Germans, Countess of

Schetky, John Christian

Smyrna

Somers, Lord Chancellor

Stanhope, Lady Hester

Stanhope, Col. Leicester

Stanislas, King of Poland

Stanley, Lord. See Earl of Derby

Sydney Lodge

Taylor, Tom

Trevelyan, Sir George's 'Life of Fox'

Tyre

Victor, Emmanuel I

Victor, Emmanuel II

Victoria, Queen

Warburton, Bishop of Gloucester

Watson, Dr.

Wellington, Duke of

Wilkes, John

Wilmot, Lord Justice

Wimpole

Yorke, Lady Agneta

---Agneta (Hon. Mrs. Charles)

---Hon. Alexander G.

---Archdeacon

---Hon. Charles (second Chancellor)

---Rt. Hon. Charles Philip, M.P.

---Hon. Eliot

---Lady Elizabeth

---Hon. Grantham (Dean of Worcester)

---James, Bishop of Ely

---Hon. John

---Hon. Sir Joseph (Lord Dover)

---Admiral Sir Joseph Sydney, K.C.B.

---Hon. Victor A.

Yorkes of Forthampton

---of Hannington