The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-08-21 00:00:00

LORD PALMERSTON'S DIARY.

portance.
Some of the journals, enlarging on the statements of
correspondents, are dealing severely with the would-be
practical jokers who make fun of people who arrive at
our ports in a state of sea-sickness from crossing the
channel. We are told, for instance, that "crowds as-
semble as the Boulogne boat is seen to approach the
coast, and when the gangway is thrown across, and the
procession of tottering washed-out ladies and pallid
gentlemen defile feebly from the vessel, the joy of the
assembly in the jubilant spectacle becomes exuberant,
and finds vent in audible remarks, ironical addresses,
and hilarious burets of laughter;" and a great deal
more of the same sort. There is some exaggeration in
all this, but no little truth. It is not now for the first
time that the subject is mentioned; indeed it crops up
annually about this time of the year. I have crossed
the channel scores of times, and have never noticed
anything deserving such strong language as that Ilst
ce
quoted, though milder reproof would certainly be
applicable. The visitors to watering-places make a
habit of going "to see the boat come in," and amongst
them are occasionally some who act in the way des-
cribed, or nearly as bad; but these people are the ex-
ception. You may also observe the same thing in
Boulogne and Dieppe, but—it is the English visitors,
and not the inhabitants, who indulge their stupid and
unfeeling merriment. This is not gratifying to our
national vanity, but it is the simple truth. Reference
to this matter reminds me how strangely the channel
service is managed in regard to the size and "accommo-
dation" of the steamers. They are all pitiably small
in regard to the demands made upon them, and the
steamers between Folkestone and Boulogne are posi-
tively disgraceful. If the steamers were larger and more
commodious th ere would not be so much sea-sick ne ss. As
no remedy for this distressing malady has yet been dis-
covered (unless ice applied to the spine be regarded as
one, and no one has the courage to try that) it would
be a great boon if there were accommodation for lying
down on deck. To lie down is universally admitted to
be a palliative, and sometimes a preventive, but the
wretched little cabins are so stuffy and hot that the
" air " it; encugh to make one sick. I believe there is
no practical difficulty in the way of larger steamers,
and as the Channel traffic increases every year it its a
great pity the experiment is not made.
A high-class musical periodical, the Choir, urges the
advisability of Government taking the necessary steps
to afford musical education to all classes, and asks
whether it would not be possible to do this by inaugu-
rating the national grant to the Royal Academy of
Music, and enlarging its scope so as to make it a really
national school. Considering the way in which the
nation's money is squandered on comparatively useless
objects, the suggestion is a good one; but on the other
hand it can scarcely be said that the want of such an
institution as the Paris Conservatoire or the Leipzig
Conservatorium is much felt in our own country, where
facilities for musical education abound.
At a time when the accounts of the Napoleonic
fifes in France are being read with interest, a re-
markable statement in the Daily News is worth
referring to. Sunday last has been spoken of
throwhout France as the centenary of the birth
of the first Napoleon, and, alluding to this, the
journal mentioned says, that when he rose to power
he post-dated his own birth by two years, in order
to make it appear that he had been born since Corsica
had become a French possession. "This fundamental
fable, which makes Napoleon the First a coeval in year.
with Wellington, and fixes his birth in Augustl769, when
in fact it took place in 1767," &c. The question thus
raised is worth solution, but it would require more time
for research than I have at command. Haydn's
Dictionary of Dates ought to be an authority, and in
that repository of facts I find this entry : "Napoleon
Bonaparte, born at Ajaccio, in Corsica, Aug. 15,
1769." Heweston's Life of Napoleon says, "Napoleon
Bonaparte was born on the 15th of August, 1769, at
Ajaccio," &c. Russell's History of Modern Europe
records that "Napoleon Bonaparte was born at
Ajaccio, in Corsica, on the sth of February, 1768 ; "
and in a note it is added, "This is one of the many
historical events of which the correct date is not given
even in works enjoying the highest reputation.. .
Napoleon's °bled in sealing that he was been in 1769

----
The Athencrum records one of the pleasantest liter
ary discoveries that could have been made—that of the
private diary of Lord Palmerston. All his great con-
temporaries figure in it, and they are said to be drawn
by a bold and masterly hand. This discovery will, no
doubt, be turned to profitable use by Sir Henry Bulwer,
who is known to have been for some time occupied
(with family sanction and assistance) on a biography
of the late statesman, which will be published by Mr.
Bentley.
----
The Record, commenting on the foregoing paragraph, and
giving a short sketch of the interesting discovery of the
handiwork of the late Premier, says.—
The main fact published by the Atherdeurn is quite
true, although not to the extent which an evening con.
temporary would conduct sanguine readers to believe,
when it intimates that "Lord Palmerston's shrewd
perception and genial humour were employed in this
diary of his to analyse the characters of the great men
with whom, for threescore yearn, be was almost in
daily contact. Sir Henry Bulwer, who is sail to be at
work on a biography of the veteran statesman, will
have materials at disposal unequalled since the days of
__ _

Boswell."
The diary is said to be full of interest, and distils.
guished by all the late Premier's finest characteristics.
It commences when he was sixteen years of age, and
it ends at the close of 1830, when he assumed office as
Foreign Secretary. But at present no continuation of
the diary has been found amongst his lordship's papers;
and it has none of the attributes of a Boswellian reci,rd.
It is replete with interest ; modest, unaffected, and
!simple; without an atom of gall or ill-nature, but short
and condensed, as if the style had been formed after
the model of the sententious brevity of Tacitus.
It seems to have been originally designed in its pre-
sent form chiefly to explain why he left the Tories and
took office under the Whig Earl Grey; a change
which, according to Lord Palmerston's chivalrous sense
of honour, could only be justified by the fact that he
was himself deserted by the party, when he was un-
seated for the University of Cambridge, for voting in
favour of Roman Catholic emancipation, although
there had been an established compact, according to
which that question was to have been an open one.
The diary will explain that his long term of service
as Secretary at War was not from a want of many
overtures to accept higher offices. His lordship was
importuned by Mr. Perceval. as Mr. Pitt's successor at
Cambridge, to assume Mr. Pitt's office of Chansellor of
the Exchequer. He twice declined the Governor.
Generalship of India, and he was willing to has.
accepted, on Mr. Canning's solicitation, the
cellorship of the Exchequer. But George IV.
thought that he should find a more pliant Minister
in Mr. Herries; and Mr. Canning was compelled,
after a visit to Windsor, to make an awkward
apology to Lord Palmerston, by offering him a
British peerage and the Governorship of Jamaica! We
understand that the story of this interview is full of
the namt racy humour. The Viscount burst into an
uncontrollable fit of laughter, which for a moment qmite
disconcerted Canning ; until Lord Palmerston, with
his ready good humour, relieved the Premier by telling
him that he saw that he had not the Chancellorship of
the Exchequer at his disposal, but that as for himself,
he preferred the House of Commons to the niggers !
Lord Palmerston's life spans the gulf that separates
the era of Fox and Pitt from the times of Gladstone
and Bright. But we fear no diary will be found to
conduct Sir Henry Bulwer over the thirty-five years
which separates the commencement of Earl Grey's
Administration from the close of Lord Palmerston's.