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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 November 2009
I dined with Lady Abercromby alone and heard a great deal from her that was interesting to me. The Queen, when she told her that I had made a speech in support of the Government and the Zulu War,684 said, “Oh, but you know it is his war.” This is another indication of the line that Disraeli has taken. He has, I think it is clear, laid the responsibility of the war on me as the result of my annexation of the Transvaal.685 Salisbury is, I hear, in much favour with the Queen, and Lady S. is perpetually retailing all sorts of gossip and scandal to the Queen. What is really bad, she tells frequent stories against the Derbys. This is only what I believe she did last summer in London but it is not the less odious.
684 See Carnarvon's speech in the House of Lords on 13 December: Hansard, CCXLIII, cols 1064–1068.
685 Sir Henry Frere, Governor of Cape Colony and High Commissioner of South Africa, was convinced that confederation in South Africa could be achieved only when the power of the Zulu chief, Cetewayo, was broken. Frere therefore issued an ultimatum to him on 11 December 1878. British forces under Lord Chelmsford entered Zululand on 6 January 1879 and were heavily defeated at Isandhlwana sixteen days later (see A. Lloyd, The Zulu War 1879 (London, 1973), pp. 67–73). Disraeli, like the rest of the nation, was deeply shocked, and took to his bed. Carnarvon, however, stood by Frere ‘as I do not expect that he will have a very warm defence at the hands of the Government’ (Carnarvon to Heathcote, 21 February 1879: CP, BL 61074, fo. 211).
686 Carnarvon told Heathcote, ‘My disposition is to say what I can in defence of Frere and not to attack the Ministry’ (Carnarvon to Heathcote, 23 March 1879: CP, BL 61075, fo. 9).
687 George Henry Byng (1830–1898), Viscount Enfield (1860), 3rd Earl of Strafford (1886). Lib. MP for Tavistock (1852–1857) and for Middlesex (1857–1874), Parliamentary Secretary to the Poor Law Board (1865–1866), Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office (1871–1874).
688 A resolution in the Lords condemning Frere's ultimatum leading to war and stating that the conduct of affairs should be taken out of his hands, was lost by 61 to 159 votes (Hansard, CCXLIV, 25 March 1879, Carnarvon, cols 1645–1657, Kimberley, cols 1670–1678). Frere later wrote to Carnarvon, thanking him for ‘your noble defence of me in the House of Lords [. . .]. We have all been like the crew of a ship in a hurricane – so hard at work saving the ship from foundering that I have barely time to keep the official log’ (Frere to Carnarvon, 7 May 1879: CP, BL 60797A, fo. 109).
689 Carnarvon wrote to Derby the next day, ‘After seeing you I learnt that the Government are not aware whether the despatch published in the Standard is accurately given or not’ (Carnarvon to Derby, 20 May 1879: Derby Papers, 920 DER (15)). Headed ‘The Boer memorial to the Queen’, the despatch set out the substance of a meeting with the Boers six miles from Pretoria, at which a memorial was presented stating that ‘their [the Boers’] independence was unjustly taken away from them by the Act of Annexation’.
690 Derby commented after the meeting, ‘I always doubted the wisdom of the policy of annexation, & assented to it reluctantly. It was a mistake, & one for which Carnarvon as colonial secretary is primarily responsible’ (Vincent, Derby, IV, p. 127).
691 South Africa – Natal and the Transvaal. Appointment of Sir Garnet Wolseley as High Commissioner: Hansard, CCXLVI, 27 May 1879, Carnarvon cols 1329–1330.
692 The Cabinet decided on 19 May to replace Frere and Chelmsford, though the Queen was reluctant to consent. Chelmsford was sent back to England. On 27 May, Disraeli wrote to the Queen on the Cabinet deliberations of the previous day, ‘It was with much difficulty that Lord Beaconsfield secured the arrangement, that Sir Bartle Frere should remain as High Commissioner of the Cape Colony and its dependencies. These are more than 1,000 miles from the seat of war’ (Buckle, Disraeli, VI, p. 432).
693 Henry Edward John Stanley (1827–1903), 3rd Baron Stanley of Alderley (1869), orientalist and diplomat. The motion introduced was ‘Concerning the rights of succession following the death of the Sultan of Johore’: Hansard, CCXLVI, 27 May 1879, Stanley of Alderley, cols 1341–1346, Carnarvon, cols 1347–1348. The motion was brought on by Stanley, ‘that strange animal compounded of foolishness and mischief’ (Diary, 15 May 1879).
694 Elisabeth Catherine Howard (1856–1929), first daughter of Henry Howard of Greystoke Castle and Charlotte Long, married Carnarvon in December 1878. She was Carnarvon's first cousin, and twenty-five years younger than him.
695 Treaty of Berlin–Armenia: Hansard, CCXLVII, 27 June 1879, cols 811–830. Carnarvon referred to the articles in the treaty that promised improvements and reforms by the Turks in the treatment of Armenians (ibid., cols 811–819). Salisbury, in reply, ‘repudiated any responsibility for the acts of the Turkish Government’ (ibid., cols 820–826).
696 Albert Edmund Parker (1843–1905), 3rd Earl of Morley (1864), Lord-in-Waiting to the Queen (1868–1874), Under-Secretary of State for War (1880–1885), Chairman of Committees, House of Lords (1889–1905).
697 Henry Chaplin (1840–1923), Con. MP for Mid-Lincolnshire (1868–1896) and for Wimbledon (1907–1916), Chancellor, Duchy of Lancaster (1885–1886), President of the Board of Agriculture (1889), President of the Local Government Board (1895–1900), 1st Viscount Chaplin (1916).
698 An archetypal Tory squire, Chaplin found himself, as a member of the Royal Commission on Agricultural Distress, resisting the efforts of the Radicals to set up peasant proprietors in place of landlords. See Stewart, E.H.V.T., Marchioness of Londonderry, Henry Chaplin: a memoir (London, 1926), p. xsp Google Scholar.
699 Cruelty to Animals Bill, second reading: Hansard, CCXLVIII, 15 July 1879, cols 419–436.
700 Charles Robert Wilde (1816–1891), 2nd Baron Truro (1855).
701 Ibid., Truro, cols 419–422, Beauchamp, cols 422–426. Carnarvon pointed out the need for new legislation because the 1876 Act had undergone so many changes in the Commons during its passing that it was deprived of its effectiveness (ibid., cols 433–434). The second reading was resolved in the negative.
702 Carnarvon had objected to the proposed size of the Commission – fifteen members in all – as well as its composition, ‘consisting mainly of tenant farmers with a few politically lightweight landowners’ (Carnarvon to Heathcote, 24 July 1879: CP, BL 61075, fo. 51).
703 The chairmanship of the Commission was offered to the Duke of Richmond, who accepted it. There were twenty members. The report of the Commission was issued in 1882. See F.M.L. Thompson, English Landed Society in the Nineteenth Century (London, 1963), p. 309.
704 Ever suspicious of Disraeli's motives, Carnarvon asserted, ‘The chances of making a success of it is very small and in the event of failure making a scapegoat of me would have been irresistible’ (Carnarvon to Granville, 1 August 1879 (copy): CP, BL 60773, fo. 119).
705 Thomas Brassey (1836–1918), Lib. MP for Hastings (1868–1886), later publisher of Brassey's Naval Manual; Gen. Sir John Lintorn Arabin Simmons (1821–1903), Inspector-General of Fortifications, War Office (1875–1880); Sir Alexander Milne (1806–1896), Junior Naval Lord, Admiralty (1866–1868, 1872–1876); Sir Henry Barkly; Sir Henry Thurstan Holland; Capt. Herbert Jekyll (1847–1932), private secretary to Carnarvon at the Colonial Office.
706 Informing Derby of his acceptance as chairman of the Commission, Carnarvon wrote, ‘It is a much smaller affair [than the Royal Commission on Agricultural Distress] involving nothing but a moderate amount of trouble’ (Carnarvon to Derby, 31 July 1879: Derby Papers, 920 DER (15)). This analysis turned out to be wrong.
707 Joseph Arch (1826–1919), Organising Secretary and President of the National Union of Labourers (1872), Lib. MP for Norfolk North-west (1885–1886, 1892–1902).
708 Carnarvon protested at the impending break-up of the India Museum, set up over 100 years previously by the East India Company: Hansard, CCXLIX, 8 August 1879, cols 491–492. Hardy commented on Carnarvon's wish to keep the collection together, ‘I [. . .] found plenty to do until the House met at the I.O. [India Office] – Carnarvon did not do much as to India Museum’ (Johnson, p. 419).
709 General principles were discussed by the Commission. It was agreed that India should be excluded from their deliberations, that the Commission should handle the self-governing colonies with tact, and that more information was needed on the state of Australian defences. The Commission gave priority to the need for secrecy and a guarantee that their reports would be for the Cabinet only. See Schurman, D.M., ed. Beeler, J.F., Imperial Defence, 1868–1887 (London, 2000), p. 86Google Scholar.
710 Derby to Carnarvon, 11 November 1879: CP, BL 60766, fos 76–77. At the same time, he withdrew from local Conservative organizations.
711 Carnarvon to Derby, 13 November 1879: Derby Papers, DER (15).