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OF VOL. I

WASHINGTON

Arrival at Washington--Effect produced in America by the Franco-Austrian War--Feeling in America with regard to England--San Juan and Mexico--Rising passions between Northern and Southern States--Disclaimer of matrimonial intentions--Accompanies Prince of Wales on Canadian tour--Delight of President Buchanan at receiving a letter from Queen Victoria--Prince of Wales's visit to the United States 12

OUTBREAK OF CIVIL WAR--THE 'TRENT' CASE

Crisis caused by election of President Lincoln--Mr. Seward as Secretary of State: his threatening language--Capture of Fort Sumter--Desirability of England and France acting in conjunction--Danger of an attack upon Canada--Growth of ill-feeling towards England--Effect of battle of Bull's Run--Mr. Seward on the essential difference between American policy and that of Foreign Nations--Seizure of a Foreign Office bag--British Consuls and the Confederate Government--The Trent incident: seizure of Messrs. Mason and Slidell--Lord Lyons's decision to maintain complete reserve--H.M. Government urged to provide for defence of Canada--Attitude of American public--Instructions of Her Majesty's Government--Mr. Seward's reception of the despatch--Liberation of Messrs. Mason and Slidell--Lord Lyons's consideration acknowledged by Mr. Seward--Advantage of occasional silence 29

COURSE OF THE CIVIL WAR

CONSTANTINOPLE

THE SECOND EMPIRE

SECRET PROPOSALS FOR DISARMAMENT

Attempt by Lord Clarendon, at request of Count Daru, to induce the Prussian Government to partially disarm--Emile Ollivier on disarmament--Memorandum by Lord Clarendon communicated to Bismarck--Objections raised by Bismarck--Count Daru on Bismarck's arguments--Intended reduction of the French army--Second attempt by Lord Clarendon--Bismarck's final answer 246

THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR

Internal situation in France--Further military reduction sanctioned--The Pl?biscite: general uneasiness--Official satisfaction at result of Pl?biscite--Sycophantic diplomatists--Gramont appointed Foreign Minister--Official views respecting the value of British colonies--Accurate prophecy by Lord Clarendon--Death of Lord Clarendon: Lord Granville Foreign Secretary--The Hohenzollern Candidature--Explosion of Chauvinism--Lord Lyons's explanation of the manner in which the war was forced upon the Emperor Napoleon--Conduct of the Empress during the early stages of the war--Fall of the Empire: Thiers and Jules Favre--Thiers's mission--Malet's mission to Bismarck--Consent of Bismarck to receive a representation of the Provisional Government 280

THE GOVERNMENT OF NATIONAL DEFENCE

LIST OF PLATES IN VOL. I

FACING PAGE

WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD 32

PRINCE NAPOLEON 194

LORD LYONS

A RECORD OF BRITISH DIPLOMACY

EARLY LIFE

Born in 1817, Richard Bickerton Pemell Lyons, second Baron and first Viscount and Earl Lyons, eldest son of the distinguished Admiral Sir Edmund , was apparently destined like his younger brother for a naval career, since at the age of ten he was already serving as an honorary midshipman. A sailor's life, however, must have been singularly uncongenial to a person of pronounced sedentary tastes whom nature had obviously designed for a bureaucrat; in after years he never alluded to his naval experiences, and it was probably with no slight satisfaction that the navy was exchanged for Winchester. From Winchester he proceeded to Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his degree in 1838, being apparently at that period a quiet, well-behaved, hard-working youth, living carefully upon a modest allowance, and greatly attached to his parents and family.

In the following year he entered the diplomatic service as unpaid attach? at Athens, where his father occupied the position of Minister. In 1844 he became a paid attach? at Athens, and passed thirteen uneventful years at that post.

At this stage of his career, prospects looked far from promising; he had started later than usual, being twenty-two at the period of his entry into the service; younger men were senior to him; he had had no opportunity of distinguishing himself at Athens, and as he laments in a letter to the Foreign Secretary, Lord Malmesbury, written in April, 1852, he felt 'mortified and humiliated that a man six years younger than himself had been passed over him as Secretary to the Legation in which he had served for thirteen years.' Promotion indeed seemed so remote that, having reached the age of thirty-five, he seriously contemplated abandoning diplomacy altogether.

As a matter of fact, there was no cause for uneasiness. In 1852 he was transferred as paid attach? to Dresden, and early in the following year received the gratifying intimation that Lord John Russell, who had been struck with his capacity, had appointed him paid attach? at Rome. 'What I mean for him,' wrote Lord John Russell, 'is to succeed Mr. Petre, and to conduct the Roman Mission, with ?500 a year. If there were any post of Secretary of Legation vacant I should gladly offer it to him, as I have a very good opinion of him.' The importance of the post at Rome consisted in the fact that, whereas technically dependent on the Tuscan Mission at Florence, it was virtually semi-independent, and might easily form an excellent stepping-stone to higher and more important appointments if activity and discretion were displayed.

The business between His Majesty's Government and that of Rome was not of an overpowering nature, and was chiefly concerned with the proposed establishment of regular diplomatic relations; with the alleged intention of the Papal Government to create a Hierarchy in Scotland, and with the inconvenient zeal of ardent Protestants in the Papal dominions. As regards the establishment of diplomatic relations it seems highly doubtful whether the Papal Government really desired to see a new Protestant Mission at Rome: Cardinal Antonelli disclaimed any intention of creating Roman Catholic Bishops in Scotland, but the religious activity of British subjects in the Pope's dominions was a constant source of petty troubles. It must be admitted, however, that it was singularly easy to fall out with the Papal Government. The importation of Bibles was forbidden, the distribution of tracts was punished with imprisonment; one man of English extraction was incarcerated for a lengthy period because, according to his own statements, he had not communicated with sufficient regularity; and there were over 600 political prisoners in gaol at Rome at the same time.

As for the official relations between England and the Papal Government they were friendly enough, and when the Crimean war broke out, feeling at the Vatican was strongly anti-Russian, for it was believed that whereas the Roman Catholic Church had nothing to fear from Protestants and Mussulmans, the Greek schism was a real and threatening danger.

The following letter addressed to his brother, Captain Lyons, gives a not uninteresting description of the life led in Rome by an unmarried diplomatist without much private means, and incidentally shows the deep affection which he entertained for his family.

Rome, January 3rd, 1855.

You may imagine what a relief to me it was, after reading your letter of the 18th, to see Admiral Dundas' arrival at Constantinople announced in the Malta paper. Your letter of the 3rd is almost, indeed I think quite, the most interesting I ever read. The only drawback to the delight all these letters are to me, is that you were still lying up. That I hope is over, and that you will be very prudent about it. We have now a weekly post from Constantinople and Malta, which is a great comfort. Mention all the details you can in your letters about the siege and operations by sea and land. The Malta papers bring nothing that can be depended upon. Besides the intense interest, it is a great advantage to me diplomatically to have good intelligence to communicate here, and is a great help to getting information, which is useful to me, on Roman matters. Details about Sir E. and yourself are always the most precious things you can write, and they cannot be too numerous or too minute.

A few months later, the brother, Captain Lyons, an exceptionally promising and gallant naval officer, died of wounds received before Sebastopol.

In 1856 promotion came in the shape of the secretaryship of Legation at Florence, but he continued to be employed in Rome, and stood twenty-second on a list of twenty-four secretaries of Legation. His prospects of further advance did not appear reassuring, and in March 1857, he writes to his father , 'My chance at present seems to rest almost entirely on Lord Clarendon's disposition to give practical effect to the good opinion he expresses of me. I should trust with more confidence to that, if he had not promoted six secretaries of Legation before me during my residence here, and afterwards offered me as promotion the post of Secretary of Legation at Florence. Had it not been for your visit to England at the critical moment, I should now have been no more than simple Secretary of Legation, doing nothing at Florence.'

In the autumn of 1857, Lord Normanby, Minister at Florence, having gone on leave, Lyons was sent to take his place, and, instead of having nothing to do, found himself at once involved in one of those trivial questions which so deeply exercised the diplomacy of a former generation, but which are now of rare occurrence.

Earlier in the year the Pope had paid a visit to Tuscany, and during his stay at Florence a banquet was held in his honour, to which the members of the diplomatic corps were invited. Much to their indignation they were not accommodated at the Tavola di Stato or Sovereign Table, where His Holiness was seated, and Lord Normanby, the British Minister, a K.G., Ex-Viceroy, and social magnate, considered that an apology was due from the Tuscan Government. Unfortunately for Lord Normanby, his colleagues, having previously agreed to support him, backed out of their undertaking, and the task of extracting an apology fell upon Lyons, for Lord Normanby had departed uttering dark threats that he would not return unless the apology was forthcoming. The Foreign Office took up the matter seriously, and for no less than three months an animated controversy was carried on, in the course of which 'The Tuscan authorities showed themselves so thoroughly wrongheaded that every time the subject was mentioned they said or did something which made it more difficult for them to go back,' and Lord Clarendon administered to them 'a severe rebuke.' Finally, whether owing to the severe rebuke or not, some sort of expression of regret was obtained; the injured Lord Normanby returned to his post, and Lyons resumed his duties at Rome. Whence he writes on March 6, 1858:--

The question of Reforms in the Papal Administration, which was so much agitated during the Pope's journey and immediately afterwards, appears to be entirely forgotten. The repressive measures which have been adopted in France since the attempt on the Emperor would seem to render it difficult for H.M. to urge other sovereigns to Liberal reforms. The mode in which the intelligence of the attempt was received at Rome was shocking. One can hardly say that any class expressed horror: the lower people openly declared their regret that the crime had not been successful, and the middle classes took little pains to conceal that they shared this feeling. In fact the policy which is supposed to be adopted by France of coquetting with the Liberal Party, without doing anything serious in their favour, has alienated the sympathies of this part of Italy.

Reforms of a simple character were evidently urgently needed in the Papal Administration, for just about this time a Canadian bishop and other British tourists were openly plundered on the main road between Rome and Civita Vecchia.

In spite of the unpleasant nature of this affair, Lyons contrived to remain on the very best of terms with the Neapolitan Ministers with whom he had to deal, and Lord Malmesbury was so favourably impressed with his tact and skill that he at once appointed him Minister at Florence. His professional future was now assured; but far greater honours were in store for him, for in November, 1858, came the offer of the Washington Legation, an offer which, with characteristic modesty, he accepted with considerable misgivings as to his competence. Nor could it be said that success had arrived with unusual rapidity, for he was already forty-one.

In the same month he succeeded to the peerage on the death of his father. His mother had died some years previously; his brother had perished in the Crimea, and the only remaining near relatives were his two sisters, one of whom was married to the Duke of Norfolk, and the other to a Bavarian gentleman, Baron von W?rtzburg.

FOOTNOTES:

WASHINGTON

Although the Presidential message of the previous December had contained some rather ominous passages with regard to the relations between England and the United States, the sentiments now expressed were friendly in character and showed a disposition to settle pending difficulties in an amicable spirit.

The first letter of importance addressed by Lord Lyons to Lord Malmesbury deals with the effect produced in the United States by the outbreak of war between France and Austria.

Washington, May 24, 1859.

I had intended to write a despatch respecting the effect produced in the U.S. by the War in Europe, but we are so short of hands in the Chancery, that it is as much as we have been able to do to get through the regular matters of business which must be treated officially. I can however give you in a very few words an account of the state of feeling here, which is probably just what you would have expected it to be.

The sympathies are all with France and against Austria, but they do not seem very strong; one sentiment however does appear to be both strong and universal--the desire to take advantage of the state of things in Europe to carry out American Views on this side of the Atlantic; in short to get hold of Mexico and Cuba. The present wish of the President is, I think, both to be and to appear to be on the best terms with us. He is careful to vindicate us, in the newspaper which is his organ, against all imputation of insincerity in Central American Affairs. The Departments are particularly attentive to all the smaller matters I have to bring before them, and apparently anxious to do what I ask. But here I am afraid the practical effect of their goodwill is likely to end. The Government is so weak that I do not think it would venture, even in a small matter, to do anything for us which would expose it to the least unpopularity. I feel my way cautiously, endeavouring to be very plain and firm upon clear British Questions, and to avoid doubtful topics as much as possible.

The immediate object of the President with regard to Mexico appears to be to avoid the ridicule which would be heaped upon him if the Government of Juarez were to fall immediately after the American Cabinet had at last made up their mind to recognize it. Instructions are, I am told, on the point of being sent to Mr. McLane to negotiate a treaty with Mexico, partly, it is said, with the object of giving Juarez a little moral support, partly perhaps to get so advantageous a Treaty from him, as to engage public opinion here to declare itself more strongly in favour of his being upheld by the U.S. Whether Mr. McLane will be instructed to propose to purchase part of the Mexican territory, I am unable to say.

I am very much obliged by your sending out Mr. Warre, and am impatiently expecting him. It is absolutely necessary to have a good man here to direct the Chancery; I think too this mission would be a very good school for a young man who really wished to learn his business, and I should welcome any one who was industrious, and wrote a thoroughly good legible hand.

It is particularly desirable that the Staff should be complete, because if the Minister is to have any knowledge of the Country and people, it is indispensable that he should visit, from time to time, the principal cities. This is not like a European State, in which politics and business are centred in the Capital, and can be studied more advantageously there than elsewhere. No political men make Washington their principal residence, in fact they cannot do so, as it sends no members to Congress, either to the Senate or the House of Representatives. Commerce it has none. It is in fact little more than a large village--and when Congress is not sitting it is a deserted village.

Another letter dated May 30, shows that he was under no illusion as to the feelings entertained by a large section of the American public, while fully conscious of the difficulties with which the United States Government, however well intentioned, was forced to contend.

Washington, May 30, 1859.

You will anticipate from my private letter of the 24th my answer to your inquiry as to what would be the animus of this Government if England became involved in the present war.

The first notion both of Government and People would be to take advantage of the circumstance to take their full swing upon this side of the Atlantic, and especially so far as the people are concerned to get hold of Cuba and Mexico. The wiser heads see very distinctly the imprudence of fresh acquisitions of territory, and the great danger to the Union of introducing large Bodies of Citizens of Spanish and mixed Races. I believe this to be the feeling of the present Administration, but no administration disregards the popular cry.

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