285 LORD JOHN RUSSELL'S LIFE OF FOX.* VERILY it seems that Man never is, but always TO BE blest Again and again with an actual Life of Fox by Lord John Russell. his lordship makes out a new case of hope deferred. be said to have appeared, and yet the biography can hardly be said to have begun. In the preface to the present instalment we read: "It has been my object, in this volume, rather to give a sketch of the TIMES of Mr. Fox, than to follow minutely his LIFE. The next volume, if I should be able to complete it, will be more biographical, and less historical." On the whole, we are more resigned than impatient. It is not every kind of hope deferred that maketh the heart sick. Of the nineteen chapters which compose the volume now before us, one is occupied with the Coalition Ministry and its fall; another with the rise and progress of young Pitt's administration; another with the impeachment of Warren Hastings; and others with Parliamentary Reform, the Prince of Wales and Mrs. Fitzherbert, the French Revolution, the policy of Great Britain, and the commencement and conduct of her great war with France. On occasion of the split between Fox and Burke, Lord John Russell contends that the latter and more philosophic of the two statesmen, once cordially attached brothers-at-arms, looked only at one side of the French Revolution; that while he, Burke, perceived clearly the presumption, the shallowness, and the incapacity of the popular leaders, and the fury, cruelty, and madness of the French populace, he never, on the other hand, gave any weight in the scale to the shameless immorality of Louis the Fifteenth's Court, the corruption of the administration, the speculative infidelity and practical vices of the nobility and clergy. "He never enumerated the occasions upon which, by summoning foreign soldiers to the palace, by intriguing with foreign sovereigns, and with leaders in the Assembly, by purchasing writers in the press, and applauders in the populace, the Court had convinced the most moderate of the lovers of liberty that a reaction in favour of despotism and the punishment of the friends of a free constitution, was the only result with which the courtiers would be satisfied. It was the Court itself which, by the mistrust it showed of La Fayette, of Mirabeau, of the Duke of La Rochefoucault, of Lally Tolendal, and other patriots, had made impossible that middle form of constitutional monarchy which Mr. Fox desired no less than Mr. Burke." The separation of Mr. Burke from his party was, Lord John elsewhere says, "a natural consequence of the position he had assumed in his book. The breach of friendship with Mr. Fox was an effect of his own wilful intemperance. But," continues his lordship, "it was no momentary passion which confirmed and widened the breach. * The Life and Times of Charles James Fox. By the Rt. Hon. Lord John Russell, M.P. Vol. II. London: Bentley. 1859. Mr. Burke did not rest till he had estranged from Mr. Fox of his many best friends, and broken into fragments the great and firm body' of the English Whigs." As a pronounced Foxite, Lord John Russell is not the man to deal any too tenderly with Edmund Burke, of whom indeed he commonly speaks in a tone that implies dissatisfaction and suggests dislike. But neither is his lordship blind to foibles in Fox-in the policy, and parliamentary tact, as well as in the morals, of the man. Frankly he records his opinion, as occasion arises, that at this juncture, or on this particular measure, Fox was mistaken, and perhaps mischievously so to the cause he represented. For instance, in the case of the opposition to the Pitt administration, while the Fox party-just ousted from officewere still superior in numbers, Lord John Russell remarks: "On reviewing these proceedings of Mr. Fox and his majority, they seem to be wanting at once in vigour and in moderation" (p. 57). "There appears some weakness in this conduct. Mr. Fox ought either to have proceeded to stronger measures, or have given up his Committee on the State of the Nation," &c. (p. 69). The ex-Minister's line of conduct as regards Lord Temple's counsel to the King, is, from the first, entirely disapproved of in these pages. "It must be owned that Mr. Fox's position at this moment was an untenable one. Everything shows that before taking part in the debate of the 17th of December, Mr. Fox should have tendered his resignation" (p. 46). "But from the outset of this unhappy business, the Opposition seem to have aimed their blows at the King's secret influence without adopting the means of making those blows effective" (p. 51). Again: "There can be no doubt that Mr. Fox was right on this point [in answering an assertion of Lord Nugent's]; but if so, why had not the personal conduct of Lord Temple been directly censured by the House of Commons ?" (p. 70). Nor does Fox's vehemence against a dissolution hit the taste of his noble biographer. "Had the King, like Charles II. in 1680, or Charles of France in our own days, repeatedly dissolved Parliament, and then attempted to govern in defiance of them, Mr. Fox would have been justified in this invective. But George III. never contemplated, and Mr. Pitt certainly never would have executed, such a scheme” (p. 76). Justified in his invective, therefore, Mr. Fox was not. So again with his futile obstruction to Government, when "he would and he would not" stop the supplies. "Mr. Fox's position was unfortunate. . . . . Had he enjoyed the confidence of a large majority of the House of Commons to such an extent as to have been able to say that on the Friday the supplies would be refused, the King must at once have yielded. But, as he could not do that, as he could only speak, argue, remonstrate, and declaim, he was, when opposed to a man so resolute and courageous as Mr. Pitt, already beaten. He could only excite alarm without effect, and create a dread of his violent intentions, while, in fact, he was preparing for retreat" (p. 83). It was, on Lord John's own showing, a clear case of words, words, words,-sum total: sound and fury, signifying nothing. Here is another passage, to like effect: "With the odium attaching to the Coalition, and the India Bill hanging about him, Mr. Fox attempted to reduce the Court to surrender to the majority of the House of Commons. But, while he was undoubtedly right in maintaining that no Ministry could conduct public affairs with advantage to the country unless they had the confidence of that House, he failed to perceive or chose to be blind to the truth that there is a wide difference between the House of Commons existing at any particular moment and the House of Commons as a part of the Constitution. He always argued as if Mr. Pitt were defying the authority and advice of the House of Commons when he was only refusing to acknowledge the supreme power of the House of Commons elected in 1780" (p. 95). By another election the leader of the Opposition majority would lose ground: hence his stickling for the particular "House" then existing-in which any change, so far as he was concerned, would, he knew, be a change for the worse. So he declaimed magniloquently about an abstract House of Commons, meaning all the while the poor doomed concrete then and there assembled-at that time, and in that place. Again, in reference to Mr. Pitt's financial measures, in the early stage of his Ministry, Lord John Russell candidly avows of his hero, that, "During this period the conduct of Mr. Fox, though not wanting in ability and in eloquence, betrayed the deficiencies of a mind ready for the debate of the day, but not stored with the reasonings of economical writers, or directed by an enlarged view of the liberal policy of a mercantile people. Whether, while embracing the prejudices of manufacturers, he opposed the Irish propositions, or, while listening to national animosities, he denounced the commercial treaty with France, he displayed on either question a mind whose notions of commerce were erroneous, and whose patriotism fostered national jealousy, in place of cultivating national friendship" (p. 138). In fact, at this period, Pitt was the Reformer and Free Trader-Fox, the laggard and fainéant. Political economy was, to the latter, at once tiresome and worthless. "We knew nothing on that subject," said Lord Lauderdale, "before Adam Smith wrote." Pooh," said Fox, "your Adam Smiths are nothing."* And the Correspondence of the Whig Statesman who pooh-poohed Political Economy, and nihilified its Father Adam, contains repeated indications of the aversion he fostered-whatever that young Pitt might think of it -towards the applied science in question. It is not always the Liberal that devises liberal things, though only by liberal things shall he stand. * Recollections. By Samuel Rogers. (Longmans: 1859.) M. DUMAS IN GEORGIA. ARRIVED at Baku, M. Dumas had crossed the Caucasus and entered into the Asiatic province of Georgia. maka and Nouka to Tiflis, along the southern foot of the great mounHis way thence lay by Schoutain barrier that separates the two continents, but between the two former places there is still a spur of the main chain to cross, with a pass so formidable in character, that our travellers had nigh come to grief; but there was also some close cover abounding in pheasants, here in their native country, and which afforded good sport to our travellers as they journeyed along. Arrived at Nouka late at night, they were, as usual, much inconvenienced. The metallic ewer and basin of the East are familiar to most travellers in our modern exploratory times, but the purposes to which they are said to be converted by our travellers by the Georgians, has the advantage of novelty. The manner (says M. Dumas) in which this ewer is used, is to stretch forth the hands, an attendant pours water over them, and you rub them under this improvised tap. If you have a kerchief you rub your hands with it; if you have not, you naturally let them dry. You will ask me how, with such a system, you manage for the face? This is how the commonalty do: They take the water in the mouth, eject it into their hands, and then rub the face, renewing the water every time that the hands pass over the mouth, and as long as the latter contains any fluid. trouble themselves with anything of the kind; that is an affair of the open air. As to wiping themselves, they do not But how do the better class manage? The better class are modest persons, who shut themselves up to make their toilet, and I cannot tell you how they manage. But strangers! How do they do? Strangers wait till it rains: they then take off their hats and turn their noses upwards. This is most assuredly Muscovite or Georgian incivilisation. In the humblest cottage in Syria or Palestine, or further east, a napkin is tendered with the well-known ewer; among the better classes, more especially in Persia, that utensil is charged with rose-water. Mussulmans, that which is not alluded to by M. Dumas, only one handBut amongst the left is reserved for ablution of the face. The other is not used, for reasons that it would be indelicate to explain. But this was not the sole petty, and yet, in one sense, formidable grievance that M. Dumas had to contend with. We will give another in his own picturesque language: Il n'y a pas un de mes lecteurs de France qui n'ait, au chevet de son lit, nonseulement pour y poser sa chandelle, sa bougie ou sa veilleuse au moment où il se couche, mais encore dans un autre but, un petit meuble, de forme indéterminée, rond chez les uns, carré chez les autres, ayant l'air d'une table à ceux-ci, d'une bibliothèque portative chez ceux-là, en noyer, en acajou, en ouvrage chez palissandre, en citronnier, en racine de chêne, capricieux enfin dans son essence comme dans sa forme; vous connaissez le meuble, n'est-ce pas, chers lecteurs? Je ne m'addresse pas à vous, belles lectrices; il est convenu que vous n'avez aucun besoin d'un pareil meuble, et que, s'il se trouve dans vos chambres à coucher, c'est comme objet de luxe. Eh bien, ce meuble n'est qu'un étui, une armoire, un écrin quelquefois, tant l'objet qu'il renferme peut, s'il sort des vieilles manufactures de Sèvres, être ravissant de forme et riche d'ornements. Ce meuble en contient un autre qu'il dissimule, mais qui contribue à vous donner un sommeil tranquille par la conscience qu'il est là, et qu'on n'a qu'à étendre la main et le prendre. Hélas! ce meuble manque complétement en Russie, contenant et contenu, et, comme le water-closet manque également, sans doute depuis que Catherine Seconde a eu le malheur d'être frappée d'apoplexie dans le sien, il faut aller, à quelque heure que ce soit, et par quelque froid qu'il fasse, faire à l'extérieur une étude astronomico-météorologique. At Nouka, M. Dumas made the acquaintance and became even much attached to a most promising youth, Prince Ivan Tarkanoff, a young Georgian, who spoke French fluently. The young prince, on his side, did everything he could to amuse the traveller. He conducted him over the town, albeit so infested with Lesghians that it was scarcely safe for him to do so. Among other amusements provided by this precocious young prince for his visitor's amusement, was a fight between two sturdy old rams, followed by a Tartar dance and a wrestling-match. The invited began to arrive, those who dwelt near on foot, others in carriages; five or six men came on horseback; they did not live a hundred yards off, but Orientals only walk when they cannot do otherwise. All the arrivals came, and, after the customary salutations, took their place on the balcony, which began to assume the aspect of a gallery at a theatre. Some of the women were very handsome. They were Georgians and Armenians. All had assembled by about six o'clock. Forty men belonging to the militia then came in. They constituted the guard, which every evening took charge of Prince Tarkanoff's palace, and watched in the courts and at the gates. After the sentinels had been placed, the remainder grouped themselves round the man with the ram. The signal was then given, and room was made for the combatants to have fair play. Nicholas, the young prince's servant, or rather his nouker, who never lost sight of him by day, and slept at his door at night, took the prince's black ram by one horn, and brought it within about ten paces of his rusty-coloured adversary. On his side the master of the red ram embraced and caressed his beast, and led it out to confront the black one. The two quadrupeds were then animated by cheers. They were not, however, in need of these; for no sooner were they free than they threw themselves at one another like two knights for whom the barriers had just been removed. They met in the centre of the space, forehead to forehead; the collision produced a dull yet deep, distinct sound, like that which must have resulted from a blow of the ancient machine, which was also called a ram. The two combatants bent on their hind-legs, but did not yield an inch of ground. Only the black ram soon reared its head to renew the attack, whilst the red one was still shaking his ears. Then the circle below, who consisted of militiamen, attendants, and passers-by, who were permitted to see the spectacle, began to jeer the owner of the red ram: this shaking of the ears appeared to them to be ominous of defeat. The court, seen from where we were— -that is to say, from a dominating point -presented a most picturesque aspect. Among the passers-by who had come in was a camel-driver, with three camels. The beasts of burden, fancying, no doubt, that they had arrived at the caravanserai, had laid down, stretching forth their long necks, whilst the driver, mounted upon one of the loads on their backs, had obtained one of the best places gratis. Others, who were going by |