The Letters of Thomas Babington MacAulay: Volume 3, January 1834-August 1841 (v. 3)

THE LETTERS OF THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY VOLUME III

Crayon drawing of Macaulay by George Richmond, 1844. Macaulay's opinion was that * in Richmond's drawing I look extremely sensual.' Courtesy of Sir William Dugdale, Bart.

THE LETTERS OF THOMAS BABINGTON

MACAULAY EDITED BY

THOMAS PINNEY PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH POMONA COLLEGE, THE CLAREMONT COLLEGES CLAREMONT, CALIFORNIA

VOLUME III JANUARY 1834

- AUGUST

1841

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIDGE LONDON • NEW YORK • MELBOURNE

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo, Delhi Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521211253 © Cambridge University Press 1976 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1976 This digitally printed version 2008 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron, 1800-1859. The letters of Thomas Babington Macaulay. CONTENTS: v. 1. 1807 - February 1831. - v. 2. March 1831 -December 1 8 3 3 v. 3. January 1834 - August 1841. 1. Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron, 1800-1859. I. Pinney, Thomas, ed. II. Title. III. Title: The letters of Macaulay. DA3.M3A4 1974 828'.8'09 [B] 73-75860 ISBN 978-0-521-21125-3 hardback ISBN 978-0-521-08898-5 paperback

The title-page device is the Macaulay coat of arms, taken from Macaulay's seal on a letter of 17 December 1833; it was later the basis of Macaulay's arms as Baron Macaulay. Acknowledgement is made to the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge.

CONTENTS

Macaulay in 2844

frontispiece

Preface

vii

Biographical Chronology

xiii

THE LETTERS From London to Calcutta, 1 January 1834 — 7 February 1835

3

The Indian Legislator, 8 February 1835 — 17 January1838

127

England, Italy, and Return to Politics, 14 June 1838 - August 1841

241

Index

389

PREFACE

The third volume of these letters begins with Macaulay preparing to sail for what he regarded as his exile in India. It ends in 1841 with the defeat of the Whigs, whose ranks he had rejoined following his return from India and who had raised him to cabinet office. The nearly eight years between these two points are filled by his activity as a legislator in India and by his return to English politics, beginning with his election for Edinburgh in 1839. At the same time he continued to write for the Edinburgh Review, contributing from India the ambitious essays on Mackintosh and on Bacon, and, after his return, the essays on Clive and on Hastings that embody his reflections on the imperial venture in India. These years were marked, in Macaulay's private life, by two devastating events. His sister Margaret died shortly after he reached India, though the slowness of communication from England meant that Macaulay did not learn of her death until months after his arrival. When, at the beginning of 1835, Macaulay at last received the news of Margaret's death, he was already in desperate emotional straits in consequence of the marriage of his sister Hannah, who had accompanied him to India and who had married a young civil servant within a few months of their arrival. He thus lost both sisters at very nearly the same time. The marriage and the death were both traumatic events. They cost him bitter suffering, and they left permanent marks on him. One passage from Macaulay's Journal, written in 1856, reveals the depth of his grief for Margaret: 'I passed the day in burning and arranging papers. Some things that met my eyes overcame me for a time. Margaret. Alas! Alas! And yet she might have changed to me. But no; that could never have been. To think that she has been near twenty-two years dead; and I am crying for her as if it were yesterday.' And Hannah, after her brother's death, wrote that the effect upon him of her marriage was such that * he never while we were in India at all recovered his spirits, nor do I think his former light-hearted vivacity ever returned, a certain amount of depression

Vll

Preface

remained, and to his last day there are entries in his journals referring to this unhealed wound which were exquisitely painful to me to read.'1 The effect of these two events was to make the rest of Macaulay's Indian years rather strange and unhealthy. His early letters from India show a naturally excited, inquiring interest in the Indian scene that is almost wholly absent from those after 1834. He often seems, in what little we learn of his public life, to be a man going through the motions of a routine that is without vital meaning for him. Some perception of this is, perhaps, involved in the response of his fellow Englishmen in India; they resented what seemed his combination of indifference to and ignorance of Indian matters with a confident authority in prescribing for them. Macaulay himself valued his official business largely as a means of distracting himself from private grief. He did not, after the first months, seek to know any more of men and things beyond that business, and this aloofness was quickly noted and held against him. Indeed, Macaulay was well-hated in India, and though he must have had some pleasure in provoking the impotent anger of those for whom he had little but contempt, his behavior had the inevitable effect of alienating him even more from an already sufficiently alien situation. Apart from business, his resource against the troubles of his private and his public lives was literature; always bookish, he grew, as he himself recognized, almost pathologically so under the stress of his Calcutta years. The Greek and Latin classics were his special place of refuge, and his account of his reading in them to his friend Ellis would be difficult to match, I feel sure, in the history of any public man anywhere, ever, for quantity and range. It was in India that Macaulay became a classicist after his own fashion; that is, one who read and re-read through the whole sequence from Homer to Photius, from Plautus to Augustine, with undiminished and constantly renewed appetite. Yet one must not exaggerate the separation between the private person and the public figure. Always practical and reliable in his offices, Macaulay took interest enough in his work to make extensive and important contributions to the government of India. This has been well demonstrated recently by John Clive, who finds good reason to devote nearly a third of his admirable Macaulay, the Shaping of the Historian, to the activity of the Indian years. Macaulay had a significant part to play in the reforming and liberalizing movement begun under Lord William Bentinck; his work in education, in such reforms as the removal of the press censorship, and on the composition of a penal code for India are sufficient evidence of the fact. 1

'And most of which I have erased/ she adds. A number of passages have been deleted and pages torn from the MS of Macaulay's Journal, presumably of the sort that Hannah describes.

viii

Preface A legacy on the death of his uncle Colin, combined with what he had saved from his princely salary of £ 10,000 per annum, enabled Macaulay to return to England at the beginning of 1838, accompanied by Hannah, her husband, Charles Trevelyan, and their infant daughter Margaret. He returned to a very different England from the one he had left. His father and his sister Margaret were dead, the rest of the family dispersed, the old haunts of Clapham and Rothley Temple now become to him places of the past. William IV, last of the sons of George III to occupy the throne, was dead now, too, and England was in the first year of the Victorian age (Macaulay was back in time to see the coronation ceremonies).1 In politics, the Whigs, whom he had left triumphant, had been riven by internal conflict and had lost the reforming momentum of the early 1830s. Macaulay himself rejoiced in the possession of an * independence,' as he called it, but at the same time he was a man without a fixed abode, a domestic circle, and a recognized occupation. Worst of all, Macaulay lived in the daily awareness that his beloved Hannah would soon return to India, leaving him desolate. Her husband was on furlough only, and fully expected to go back to what was, after all, his chosen profession in the East India Company's service. So long as this prospect seemed certain, Macaulay could have only a limited and precarious pleasure in the opportunities that his 'independence' gave him. The threat was happily averted early in 1840, when, almost certainly through Macaulay's own exertions, his brother-in-law was offered and accepted one of the best appointments in the civil service as assistant secretary to the Treasury, a responsible office in which he labored enthusiastically for the next eighteen years. Through this arrangement, Macaulay was assured of the continued possession of Hannah's companionship, upon which, evidently, not only his happiness but the very use of his powers depended. For a part of one year, 1840, the Trevelyan family lived with him under the same roof; they then took a house of their own in Clapham, next to the common where Macaulay's and his sister's earliest childhood had been spent. There Macaulay - a vigorous pedestrian through many years — regularly walked to see them and where a bed was kept for him. He took increasing pleasure in his avuncular relation to a growing family: there were three children by 1843, all of whom delighted in their indulgent uncle, as he delighted in them. No actual father, as he wrote in his Journal in later years, could 1

He took note of them as a historian: 'At length the old practice of public display was partially revived. On the day of the coronation of Queen Victoria there was a procession in which many deficiencies might be noted, but which was seen with interest and delight by half a million of her subjects, and which undoubtedly gave far greater pleasure, and called forth greater enthusiasm, than the more costly display which was witnessed by a select circle within the abbey' (History of England, I, 474).

ix

Preface

ever have had more satisfaction in his children than Macaulay had in his nephew and nieces. Before this happy arrangement had been made, Macaulay, late in 1838, had gone off on what was no doubt a long-meditated Italian tour, made all the more attractive by his recent immersion in the Latin poets, historians, and orators. He had already resolved, three years earlier in India, that he would devote himself to literature instead of to politics, and specifically to a major work of history. In the Journal that he now began to keep (but relinquished in May 1839, n o t t 0 ^ e resumed until the end of 1848) we get a few glimpses of his mental preparation for the task, as on the December morning that he spent 'lounging in St Peter's' and meditating 'the plan of my history.' Shortly after his return to England early in 1839 he had brought his courage to the starting point: on 9 March in that year he was able to record in his Journal the terse phrase: 'began my history.' It was only a beginning, though; nearly ten years were to elapse before the first two volumes came out at last. How much sooner Macaulay might have produced them if he had devoted himself exclusively to the work one can only guess, since he did not do so. Instead, he yielded to the solicitation that, so he had thought in India, would never again tempt him - that is, to enter into political life again. When, about the middle of 1839, lt w a s conveyed to him that he might be returned for Edinburgh, he consented to stand, was elected, and sat for the city for the next eight years. In that time he twice held cabinet office, first as Secretary at War under Melbourne and then as Paymaster General in Lord John Russell's first ministry. He also distinguished himself by the success of his parliamentary oratory, which, if it did not excite men as his efforts during the glorious days of the Reform Bill struggle had excited them, nevertheless attained a standard beyond rival for energy, readiness, precision, and point. This volume concludes with Macaulay on the point of leaving his ministerial life for the .bachelor chambers in the Albany where, for the next fifteen years, he was to concentrate on the History of England. There would be, in that time, many distractions, many deflections from the purpose. But his main decisions had been made, and his satisfaction with his lot, as it seemed in July of 1841, is eloquently put in the last but two of the letters in this volume: I can truly say that I have not for many years been so happy as I am at present. Before I went to India I had no prospect, in event of a change of government, except that of living by my pen, and seeing my sisters governesses. In India I was an exile. When I came back, I was for a time at liberty. But I had before me the prospect of parting in a few months, probably for ever, with my dearest sister and her children. That misery was removed. But I found myself in office,

Preface a member of a government wretchedly weak and struggling for existence. Now I am free. I am independent. I am in parliament, as honorably seated as man can be. My family is comfortably off. I have leisure for literature. Yet I am not reduced to the necessity of writing for money. If I had to chuse a lot from all that there are in human life, I am not sure that I should prefer any to that which has fallen to me. I am sincerely and thoroughly contented. I have to record a grievous loss to this edition in the death of Dr A. N. L. Munby, librarian of King's College, Cambridge. Macaulay had no more zealous friend than Tim Munby; his generous, informed, and unwearied help will be sorely missed from the work on Macaulay's letters, as it will be missed by many other scholarly enterprises, by many institutions, and by many friends. To the acknowledgements in the first volume of this edition I am happy to add the names of these institutions: Bavarian Academy of Science; Geneva Public Library; Hampshire Record Office; University of Kansas; John Murray Ltd; George Peabody Library, Baltimore. The following private owners have very kindly made letters available to me since the publication of the first volumes: Mr D. R. Bentham; Mr T. S. Blakeney; Mr Thomas Brumbaugh; The Honorable George Howard; Mr Roy Mottahedeh; Mr D. PepysWhitely.

XI

BIOGRAPHICAL CHRONOLOGY

1834 January 8 Sworn in as member of the Council of India - January 20 Finishes * Thackeray's History of the Earl of Chatham9 (ER, January) - February 4 Resigns seat for Leeds - February 15 Sails for India from Gravesend on the Asia - June 10 Arrives at Madras - June 26-August 31 At Ootacamund with Governor General and Council; begins the Lays of Ancient Rome - September 25 Arrives in Calcutta - Early December Appointed president of the Committee of Public Instruction Finishes * Sir James Mackintosh's History of the Revolution* (ER, July 1835) - December 23 Hannah married to C. E. Trevelyan 1835 Early January - Learns of Margaret Macaulay Cropper's death, 12 August 1834 - February 2 Minute on education in India - April 16 Minute on freedom of the press

- May 25 Appointed president of the Indian Law Commission - December 30 Determines to undertake the History of England 1836 February Inherits £10,000 on death of his uncle Colin Macaulay - March 21-October 3 Defends * Black Act' against organized protest in series of minutes - September Minute in defense of Press Act - November Finishes 'Lord Bacon' (ER, July 1837) 1837 May 1 and 2 Completes Indian Penal Code and notifies government of his determination to return to England at beginning of 1838 1838 January 11 Attends last legislative council - January 17 Submits resignation to the Council of India - January 21 Sails on the Lord Hungerford for England with the Trevelyans - May 13 Death of Zachary Macaulay - c. June 1 Lands at Dartmouth xiu

Biographical Chronology - c. June 4 Arrives in London: settles at 3 Clarges Street - September 12 Finishes ' Life and Writings of Sir William Temple' (ER, October) - October 12 Leaves for Italian tour - November 2-12 In Florence - November 15-December 30 In Rome 1839 January 1-16 In Naples - February 6 Elected to Reform Club - February 7 Arrives in London - March 7 Finishes 'Church and State' (ERy April) - March 9 Begins History of England - March 19 Elected to The Club - May 15 Invited to stand for Edinburgh - May 29 First of his election speeches at Edinburgh - June 4 Elected M.P. for Edinburgh; presented with freedom of th e city - J u n e 18 First speech - on the ballot following his return to Parliament - September 2 Speech at Mechanics' Institute, Edinburgh - Early September In Paris - September 17

Offered appointment as Secretary at War in Melbourne's cabinet — September 30 Sworn of the Privy Council — October 1 Attends his first cabinet — November 14 Finishes ' Sir John Malcolm's Life of Lord Clive (ER, January 1840) 1840 January Moves to 12 Great George Street — January 14 C. E. Trevelyan given Treasury post; Hannah Macaulay Trevelyan thus enabled to remain in England — January 23 Re-elected for Edinburgh in consequence of appointment as Secretary at War — January 29 Speech in defense of the ministry — April 7 Speech on war with China — August In Paris — September 30 Finishes 'Ranke's History of the Popes — Revolutions of the Papacy' (ER, October) — December 24 Finishes ' Comic Dramatists of the Restoration' (ER, January 1841) 1841 February 5 Speech on copyright — July 1 Re-elected at Edinburgh following dissolution of Parliament -July 'The Late Lord Holland,' ER — August 30 Melbourne's ministry resigns

xiv

THE LETTERS

FROM LONDON TO CALCUTTA 1 JANUARY 1834 - 7 FEBRUARY 1835

1834 January 8 Sworn in as member of the Council of India - January 20 Finishes 'Thackeray's History of the Earl of Chatham9 (ER, January) - February 4 Resigns seat for Leeds - February 15 Sails for India from Gravesend on the Asia - June 10 Arrives at Madras - June 26-August 31 At Ootacamund with Governor General and Council; begins the Lays of Ancient Rome - September 25 Arrives in Calcutta - Early December Appointed president of the Committee of Public Instruction Finishes 'Sir James Mackintosh's History of the Revolution9 (ER, July 1835) - December 23 Hannah married to C. E. Trevelyan 1835 Early January - Learns of Margaret Macaulay Cropper's death, 12 August 1834 - February 2 Minute on education in India

Hannah Macaulay

1 January 2834

TO H A N N A H MACAULAY, I J A N U A R Y

1834

MS: Trinity College. Address: Miss Macaulay / Rothley Temple / Leicester. Frank: London January one / 1834 / T B Macaulay.

London Jany. 1. 1834 Dearest love, When I wrote yesterday I forgot that to day was not only New Year's day but your birth-day, my own darling. What an important day to me. From your very birth I always loved you. Before you were a year old we were friends. And yet how little did I foresee how much you would one day be to me. Many happy birthdays to you, dearest — as happy as health, goodness, cultivated tastes and kind affections can make them. My kind old friend Sharp has been repeatedly at me about you. He never meets me without asking when you come to town. He wanted yesterday night to make a dinner party for you on Friday week. In consequence of what you said, I did my best to find excuses, though it went to my heart not to accept the good old man's kindness with as much frankness as he offered it. He made me promise that I would write to you and learn precisely when you return. Now, my dear girl, please yourself. Only let me know precisely what your wishes are, and whether I may or may not venture to make any engagement for you. George and the girls here think that you ought to accept Sharp's invitations. But I am not for forcing any body's inclination, and least of all yours. I know that there are times when what would generally be most agreable is most distasteful. I have really no other wish than to please you with as little ungraciousness as possible to Sharp. Ever dearest yours TBM Love to all at Rothley Temple. Mary is going on well I hear. I give them joy.

TO H A N N A H MACAULAY, 2 J A N U A R Y

1834

MS: Trinity College. Address: Miss Macaulay / Rothley Temple / Leicester. Frank: London January two 1834 / T B Macaulay. Partly published: Trevelyan, 1, 352-3.

London Jan 2. 1834 Dearest love, I have not much to tell you: but I love to have a two minute's gossip with you whether what I have to tell be much or little. I called at 5

2 January 2 834

Hannah Macaulay

CockerelPs1 house to day and saw Larpent and Brownrigg. I imagine, by what I learn, that we shall stop for a day or two at Madeira to take on board a cargo of wine to be roasted, as it is called, in India. I shall like to see Funchal. I wonder whether we shall be invited to meet Mr. Hanningham Junr. Brownrigg earnestly advises me to buy carriages here and take them out with me. It seems that we must have two — a close chariot, and an open landau. The price at Calcutta is enormous — four hundred pounds a piece. Yet I doubt whether I shall be able to afford to make this purchase. I have 1600 £ in Henry Thornton's hands. Five hundred will go for our passage. My outfit and that of our servants will come to more than 250 £ - perhaps 300 £. Then I have some Christmas bills to pay here. And we are to lay in china and glass. I must also have some money when I arrive in India. If it should be necessary for me to chuse whether I will buy carriages or plate in England, I shall decide for the carriages. For the price of plate is much the same in Bengal that it is here. Brownrigg tells me to my great joy that house rent has fallen at Calcutta, and that we may procure a very handsome house at Garden Reach, as it is called, for less than 500 £ a year. I am busy with an article for Napier. I cannot in the least tell at present whether I shall like it or not. I proceed with great ease; and in general I have found that the success of my writings has been in proportion to the ease with which they have been written. I had a most extraordinary scene with Lady Holland. If she had been as young and handsome as she was thirty years ago she would have turned my head. She was quite hysterical about my going, paid me such compliments as I cannot repeat, cried, raved, called me dear dear Macaulay. "You are sacrificed to your family. I see it all. You are too good to them. They are always making a tool of you - last session about the slaves now sending you to India to make money for them. Your sister is to go with you I hear. Is she p r e t t y ? - " "I think her s o - " I said. "But I am a great deal too fond of her to be a judge. I have watched her face ever since she was a month old." "Well" — cried my lady— "She will marry some rich Nabob within six months after she reaches Bengal — six months — no — three — I won't allow more than three. That's what you are taking her out for." I very calmly assured her ladyship that neither you nor I had any such plan and that no girl could make a greater sacrifice. I was not allowed to finish. " Sacrifice - dear Macaulay - don't - don't - sacrifice. Oh what dupes you men are. How women turn you round their fingers. Make me believe that any girl who has no fortune would not jump at 1

Cockerell and Co., 8 Austin Friars, merchants and East India agents (East India Register, 1834).

Hannah Macaulay

3 January 1834

visiting Calcutta as the sister of such a man and in such a situation." I always do my best to keep my temper with Lady Holland for three reasons - because she is a woman - because she is very unhappy in her situation and in her health - and because she has a real kindness for me. But I could not stand this, and I was beginning to answer her in a voice trembling with anger when she broke out again. "I beg your pardon. Pray forgive me, dear Macaulay. I was very impertinent. I know you will forgive me. Nobody has such a temper as you. I have said so a hundred times. I said so to Allen only this morning. I am sure you will bear with my weakness. I shall never see you again:" — and she cried; and I cooled. For it would have been to very little purpose to be angry with her. I hear that it is not to me alone that she runs on in this way. She storms at the ministers for letting me go. Labouchere says that at one dinner where he was - 1 think it was Labouchere who told me - she became so violent that even Lord Holland, whose temper, whatever his wife may say, is much [cooler?]1 than mine, could not command [himself?]1 and broke o u t - "Don't talk such nonsense my lady. What the dfevil!]1 Can we tell a gentleman who has a claim upon us that he must lose his only chance of getting an independence, that he may come and talk to you in an evening?" Good bye, darling, and take care not to become such a woman as my Lady. It is now my duty to omit no opportunity of giving you wholesome advice. I am your papa now. I have bought Gisborne's duties of women,2 Moore's fables for the female sex,3 Mrs. King's Female Scripture Characters,4 and Fordyce's sermons.5 With the help of these books I hope to keep my responsibility in order on our voyage and in India. Love to all at the Temple. Ever yours, my darling TBM 1

4 5

Paper torn away with seal. Trevelyan supplies, plausibly enough, 'cooler,' 'himself,' and 'devil!' Thomas Gisborne, An Enquiry into the Duties of the Female Sex, 1797. Edward Moore, Fables For the Female Sex, 1744. Frances Elisabeth King, Female Scripture Characters, 1813. James Fordyce, Sermons to Young Women, 1765; and The Character and Conduct of the Female, 1776.

2 January 1834

Mrs Edward Cropper

TO MRS EDWARD CROPPER, 2 JANUARY

1834

MS: Morgan Library. Address-. Mrs. E Cropper / Dingle Bank / Liverpool. Frank: London January two 1834 / T B Macaulay. Extract published: John Clive, Macaulay: The Shaping of the Historian, 1973, p. 281.

London Jan 2. 1834 Dearest Margaret, While Nancy was at the Dingle I thought it unnecessary to write separate letters to you. But now I must resume my character of correspondent. Dear dear Margaret — you cannot know and I do not wish you to know all the feelings which rise in my mind when I sit down to write to you. They are, I fear, very wrong and very selfish feelings. You are happy: and you still love me: and that ought to be enough for me. And why is it not enough? Why is it that I cannot trust myself to finish this letter without locking my door lest I should be found crying like a child? It is not because I am going to India. I am as far from you here as there. The additional distance looks great on a globe. It is nothing in reality. It is not the separation which is to take place six weeks hence that makes me weep, but the separation which took place last year. I shall sustain no new loss. Half of my happiness I lost then. The other half I carry with me. The wound is still fresh. I expected more from time. But time passes in vain. No successor comes to occupy your place. You are as necessary to me as when I used to call for you every day in Golden Square, as when I walked with you that fine Sunday afternoon through the streets of the city. But you have forgotten that walk and those calls, and ten thousand little circumstances that I must remember as long as I live, and which even now crowd upon me so that I cannot see the lines which I trace. And it is right that this should be so. It is the ordinance of nature and of society. And as new ties multiply around you, as new affections and hopes arise, the more will the past seem to you like a dream. It is not so with me. My loss is all pure loss. Nothing springs up to fill the void. All that I can do is to cling to that which is still left to me. I do not know how I got this train of thought. I had no intention of bestowing any of my sadness on you when I took up my pen. — My sadness will steal, I hope, only a few moments from the serenity of a happy wife and a happy mother. Tell me all a[bou]tT your little boy, dearest Margaret, and whom he is like, anfd]1 what he is to be called, and whether he sucks his thumb, and whether he has yet given any of those wonderful proofs of wit and wisdom which babies, in the opinion of their mammas, generally begin to exhibit before they are a month old. And tell me when you shall be well enough to bear a short visit from me. It shall be very short. One day is enough for pain. 1

Paper torn away with seal.

8

Hannah Macaulay

4 January 1834

A man should bolt a pill of aloes down at once, and not stay to chew it. My kindest love to Edward, and a kiss to baby. Yours ever, dearest Margaret, TBM TO H A N N A H MACAULAY, 4 JANUARY

1834

MS: Trinity College. Address: Miss Macaulay / Rothley Temple / Leicester. Frank: London January four 1834 / T B Macaulay. Partly published: Trevelyan, 1, 354.

London Jany. 4. 1834 Dearest Love, I will do as you desire respecting Sharp. I assure you that I had no wish whatever in accepting his proposition at first, but your gratification and advantage. Knowing as I do the warmth of your affectionate feelings, I am not surprised that you should find yourself unequal to what I cannot still help thinking would have been an useful exertion. On consideration I have given up the idea of buying carriages in England. But I shall, I think, buy plate and plated articles here. There will of course be a far greater choice in this country than in India. I am now buying books - not trashy books which will only bear one reading, but good books for a library. I have my eye on all the bookstalls: and I shall no longer suffer you, when we walk together in London, to drag me past them as you used to do. Pray make out a list of any books which you would like to have. The provision which I design for the voyage is Richardson, Voltaire's works, Gibbon, Sismondi's history of the French, Davila,1 the Orlando in Italian, Don Quixote in Spanish, Homer in Greek, Horace in Latin. I must also have some books of jurisprudence and some to initiate me in Persian and Hindostanee. Shall I buy Dunallan2 for you? I believe that it would stand in the place of all the rest together. But seriously let me know what you would like me to procure. Ellis is making a little collection of Greek classics for me. Sharp has given me one or two very rare and pretty books which I much wanted. All the Edinburgh [Re]view[s]3 are being bound, so that we shall have [a]3 complete set up to the forthcoming Number which will contain an article of mine on Chatham. And this reminds me that I must give over writing to you, and fall to my article. I rather think that it will be a good one. Love to all at Rothley. Ever yours my dearest, TBM 1 2 3

Enrico Davila, Historia delle Guerre Civili di Francia, 1630? Grace Kennedy, Dunallan: or Know What You Judge, 3 vols., 1825. Paper torn away with seal.

4 January i8\s4[

Macvey Napier

TO MACVEY NAPIER, 4 JANUARY

183^]

MS: British Museum.

London Jan 4. 1833 Dear Napier, A single line about Loch. Did the Lord Chief Commissioner1 apply before last November? In that month Loch was quite unexpectedly made Chairman, and his share of the patronage consequently doubled. Grant tells me that he has just refused a cadetship to Lord Althorp who begged for one very hard. He wished me to mention this to you that you might see how he is situated. I will go on with Chatham as fast as I can — which is not saying much. Ever yours TBM TO THE R E V E R E N D T H O M A S SCALES, 7 JANUARY 1834 MS: Trinity College. Published: Leeds Mercury, u January 1834.

London Jany. 7. 1834 Dear Sir, To day I had an interview with Lord Grey who returned to London last week. I placed your memorial2 in his hands, stated the substance of it to him fully, and assured him that, to my own certain knowledge, many of the gentlemen who had subscribed it were persons of the highest respectability, and persons to whom the present government owed great obligations. Lord Grey requested me to inform you that several other memorials, agreeing in substance with yours, were lying before him, that he was fully sensible of the high respectability of the petitioners, and that he should feel it his duty to bring the subject under the consideration of his colleagues in the cabinet. These are Lord Grey's expressions. I could say much, very much indeed on the subject, partly in the way of encouragement and partly in the way of warning. But my time is so much occupied that I can at present add no more. My [... .] 3 1 2 3

William Adam. See 30 December 1833. The rest is missing. The Mercury text concludes: *Ever, dear Sir, / Yours most truly, / T. B. Macaulay.*

10

Mrs Edward Cropper

8 January 1834

TO MRS EDWARD CROPPER, 8 JANUARY 1834 MS: Morgan Library. Address: Mrs. E Cropper / Dingle Bank / Liverpool. Frank: London January eight 1834 / T B Macaulay.

London Jany. 8. 1834 Dearest Margaret, I cannot tell you how much your letter moved and gratified me. Indeed, my dear love, I am as fond of you as ever I was: and, though I miss you cruelly, I rejoice in your happiness, and do not even wish to be missed by you. We are all pleased with what we learned yesterday from Mrs. John Cropper about your health. To day Edward confirms the good news. But I shall not visit you for the next week or ten days. I am quite sure that you must require a little repose after your indisposition and the agitation of parting with Hannah. Hannah is here at last, in very good health, and in spirits which, though unequal, are, or at least seem to be, on the whole tolerably cheerful. On the 10th of February the Asia goes to Gravesend. On Saturday the 15 th, nothing unforeseen preventing, we shall set sail. To day I am to be sworn in at the India House. After this ceremony there is to be a grand dinner at the Albion Tavern, at which a crowd of great folks are expected to be present.1 Next week I shall take Nancy to the East India Dock to see the accommodations provided for her. The Captain was here to day, and speaks in a very confident tone of the arrangements which he has made for her comfort. I am working very hard to finish an article for Napier by the middle of next week. I think that it will enable me to depart with eclat: but we shall see. I will soon write again. Love to Edward and kisses without number to the baby. Ever yours my dearest TBM TO M R S E D W A R D C R O P P E R , 13 JANUARY

1834

MS: Morgan Library. Extract published: Clive, Macaulay, p. 283.

London January 13. 1834 Dearest Margaret, I am most happy to learn that you are still going on well. Next week I hope to see you - probably on Tuesday or Wednesday. But you shall 1

After TBM was sworn in, the Leeds Mercury reports that he * dined with the directors at the City of London Tavern' (11 January). II

13 January 1834

Macvey Napier

hear from me again as soon as my plans are formed. My stay will be very short. Indeed, my darling, if it were not that I have real business to discuss with you and Edward,1 I should spare myself the pain of a parting. I am buying books, and binding those which I already have. My library will be a very good one, not large, but excellently chosen, and all very readable. Nancy is in the mean time buying fine bracelets and gowns. Poor girl! She feels the separation cruelly, though she does her best to bear up. I do not wonder that she should feel it. Rogers begged me to bring her to breakfast with him: but I made an excuse for her. She judges rightly I think in declining all invitations from people with whom she is not intimate. For her spirits are not equal, I plainly see, to the exertion which would be necessary. I had hoped that when she had left Liverpool the worst would be over, and that she would have found relief and amusement in a very agreable society which would have been new to her. My father is very ill. I have not been so seriously alarmed about him since he had the erysipelas. But he is quiet, and very kind to the girls. Though his state is more dangerous it is much less distressing than that in which he was two months ago. Kindest love to Edward and the baby. Ever, dearest Margaret, yours TBM TO MACVEY N A P I E R , 13 JANUARY

1834

MS: British Museum. Address: Macvey Napier Esq / Castle Street / Edinburgh. Frank: London January thirteen 1834 / T B Macaulay.

London Jan 13. 1834 Dear Napier, Everything is against me. I have had a swelled face for some days which has made it impossible for me to be at work early in the mornings: and my days are fully occupied. In spite of all difficulties I hope to send you by the end of this week a very long article on Pitt. Whether it will be amusing or not I cannot tell. I have had much amusement in writing it. But writer and reader are not always of a mind. Ever yours truly T B Macaulay 1

A loan of £600: see 3 February 1834.

12

Samuel Rogers TO SAMUEL ROGERS, 14 JANUARY

14 January 1834 1834

MS: University College, London. Address: S Rogers Esq / 22 St James's Place.

Gray's Inn / Jany. 14. 1834 My dear Sir, Many thanks for your beautiful present.1 Beautiful as it is the scrap of your writing in the first page is more valuable to me than the finest engraving in the volume. The poems, as far as I have yet examined them, are all such as I have long known and admired. I do not perceive anything new. But such a series of illustrations I never saw or expected to see. I used to say that if your Italy were dug up in some Pompeii or Herculaneum two thousand years hence, it would give to posterity a higher idea of the state of the arts amongst us than any thing else which lay in an equally small compass. But Italy is nothing to the new volume. Every body says the same. I am charged with several copies for ladies in India. How the publishers of the Annuals must hate you. You have certainly spoiled their market for one year at least. / Ever, my dear Sir, Yours most truly T B Macaulay

TO T H O M A S F R O G N A L L D I B D I N , 2 16 J A N U A R Y

1834

MS: John Rylands Library. Gray's Inn Jany. 16. 1834 Dear Sir, I should be most happy to be of use to any deserving young man: and, from all that I have heard, I believe that a person recommended by you would prove really deserving. But it will not be necessary for me to be accompanied by such an assistant as you describe: and I have no share whatever in the public patronage of the East India Company. 1 2

No doubt Rogers's Poems, 1834, with 72 illustrations by Stothard and Turner. A copy is in the library at Wallington. This letter is without an address but is part of a collection of letters to Dibdin. Thomas Frognall Dibdin (1776-1847: DNB), bibliographer, founder of the Roxburghe Club, author of Bibliomania, 1809, and many other such works, was notable for enterprise and ignorance in bibliography and for the extravagance of his writing. In his Bibliographical Tour in the Northern Counties and Scotland, Dibdin refers to TBM as ' Zachary Macauley, Esq., late M.P. and perhaps the most powerful prose writer, as well as strictly eloquent speaker, of the day* (11, 79m).

18 January 1834

Macvey Napier

I assure you that no apology whatever was necessary for your application, and that I am truly grateful for your kind wishes. / I have the honor to be, / Dear Sir, Your faithful Servant T B Macaulay TO

MACVEY NAPIER,

18 JANUARY

1834

MS: British Museum. Address: Macvey Napier Esq / Edinburgh. Frank: London January eighteen 1834 / T B Macaulay. Published: Napier, Correspondence, p. 144.

London Jany. 18. 1834 Dear Napier, I have hardly had one moment of ease since I wrote to you last; and, though I believe that my malady is giving way the pain and inconvenience of it are scarcely diminished. I write this with a swelled face and a lip scarred with caustic on a table half covered with papers and half with lotions and ointments. I have, though with great difficulty, brought my article so near to a close that I am quite sure of being able to send it off on Monday. It will be very long-fifty pages at the least, I should think. Whether its quality will redeem the excess in quantity I am too stupid with disease and physic to judge.1 / Ever dear Napier Yours most truly T B Macaulay TO M A C V E Y N A P I E R , 21 J A N U A R Y 1834 MS: British Museum.

London Jan 21. / 1834 Dear Napier, It has just flashed across my mind that I have made a mistake about the South Sea House. I have put it in Throgmorton Street. It is in Threadneedle Street.2 The confusion is natural; as you would know if you were well acquainted with that part of London. I am always mistaking the one for the other. 1

2

Writing in 1861, J. L. Adolphus recalled of TBM at this time 'that few men ever went to India with less appearance of being likely to return alive. When I took leave of him at his chambers in Grays Inn, his complexion was foul, his aspect jaded, his skin blotched, and I felt the strongest persuasion that he was going to sacrifice his life* (to H. H. Milman: MS, Trinity College). The error was corrected: ER, LVIII, 512.

Mrs Edward Cropper

21 January 1834

You will easily correct this error. I would to God the article had not worse errors which you cannot, I fear, correct. Ever yours T B Macaulay TO M R S E D W A R D C R O P P E R , 21 JANUARY

1834

MS: Morgan Library. Address: Mrs. E Cropper / Dingle Bank / Liverpool. Frank: London January twenty one / 1834 / T B Macaulay.

London Jany. 21. 1834 Dearest Margaret, I have been unwell during the last week, and consequently unable to decide as to my movements. I am now recovering fast. I hope to be with you at the Dingle on Tuesday1 morning to breakfast. Two days is the very utmost length of time during which I shall be able to remain with you. Nancy's spirits are improving. At least I think so. My father is certainly very unwell. I have never been so uneasy about him except when he had the erysipelas. He really cannot rise up or sit down without difficulty. I have never seen him so weak. He is very gentle and kind to every body: and shows much more sensibility about our going than formerly: but, I am glad to say, he does not seem to feel it very acutely. This is one of the compensations for the many miseries attending the decay of nature. Ever yours my darling TBM Kindest love to Edward and baby.

TO JAMES S T E P H E N , 21 JANUARY

1834

MS: Mr F. R. Cowell. Gray's Inn Jany. 21. / 1834 Dear Stephen, I had not heard that Mill was reputed to be the author of the attack on me in Tait;2 nor indeed had I heard that such an attack had been made. I 1

2

28 January; since TBM left London on 25 January (see next letter) he probably stopped off at Rothley Temple on his way to Liverpool. 'Mr. Macauley, A Legislator for the Hindoos/ Tatis Edinburgh Magazine, iv (January 1834), 485-90, attacks TBM as a political adventurer. Writing to Mill on 17 January Stephen says that' People must have strange notions of you and of your Pursuits, who can suppose you engaging yourself in anonymous Personalities in a magazine. . . . I think

21 January 1834

James Stephen

have now read the article: and certainly Mill's disclaimer was not necessary to satisfy me that it could not be his. A more helpless attempt at mischief I never saw. Mill has some reason to complain of me. For, though I still think myself quite in the right on all the main points of what I formerly wrote in the Edinburgh Review about his book, I certainly used language about him personally which I now feel to have been neither just nor decorous. The truth is that I had not read his history of India,1 which, when the difficulties of such an undertaking are considered, must be allowed to be a very extraordinary performance: nor had I read his metaphysical work: indeed it had not been published. I judged of him by the Essays in the Encyclopaedia,2 and by the absurd rants of some foolish young men who talked as if all human knowledge were included in those Essays, and would have burned every other book in the world on the same principle on which Omar is said to have burned the Alexandrian library.3 I did great injustice to him, though I think that I only did justice to the Essay on Government. Whenever he is inclined to retaliate, I have not the least doubt that he will do it like a man and like an able man, - not in the wretched style of Mr. Tait's correspondent. I leave London for a few days on Saturday morning. I fear that I shall not be able to complete my round of country visits in less than a week: so that I cannot engage to dine with you on Friday night. I have no engagements as yet for the following week: and if you will fix a day, I shall have the greatest pleasure in accepting your invitation. / Ever, dear Stephen, Yours most truly, T B Macaulay however that it may not be amiss to convey your Contradiction of the Rumour, to my friend Macaulay, and to Mr. Grant —to both of whom I have accordingly written* (MS, Somerville College, Oxford). 1 History of India, 3 vols., 1817. 2 Essays expounding Utilitarian doctrine contributed to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1816-23, a n d reprinted separately. 3 The Caliph Omar is supposed to have said ' that if the books agreed with the book of God, they were useless: if they disagreed, they were pernicious.'

16

Mrs Edward Cropper TO M R S E D W A R D C R O P P E R , 23 JANUARY

23 January 2834 1834

MS: Morgan Library. London Jan 23. 1834 Dearest love, On Tuesday morning I hope to reach the Dingle by your breakfast hour. On Thursday at latest I must leave you. We shall have much to say to each other, and small time to say it in. Love to Edward and a kiss to baby. Ever, dearest, yours TBM. TO M R S E D W A R D C R O P P E R , 3 FEBRUARY

1834

MS: Morgan Library. London Feby. 3. 1834 Dearest Margaret, I have just received the halves of notes for 600 £ from Edward. I am truly obliged to him. In a year from this time I hope to be able to repay him. I had not a very pleasant journey, and was in no good state of health when I reached London. But George has taken me thoroughly in hand, and has fallen on a right system. I go out very little — refuse all invitations, and live by the strictest rule. He hopes to set me up again within a few days. Pray Miss — or Madam rather — do you take snuff? I never did. But I must. For I have a noble box to put it in. The Jew of Jews- Goldsmidhas sent me a most superb Gold tabatiere with an inscription in the lid setting forth my services to the cause of Civil and religious liberty. It will do excellently to hand round our table after great dinners at Calcutta. Dearest Nancy is very well, I think, in body, and not ill at ease in her mind. I never loved her so much. She has behaved since she came to London with a constant sweetness, cheerfulness, and tenderness, beyond all praise. You shall hear from me again in a day or two. In the meantime give my love to Edward and a hundred kisses to baby. Ever yours, dearest, TBM

4 February 2834

The Electors of Leeds

TO THE ELECTORS OF LEEDS, 4 FEBRUARY

1834

Text: Leeds Mercury, 8 February 1834.

Gentlemen, It is well known to you that the great Corporation to which Parliament has entrusted the Government of our Indian Empire has appointed me to one of the highest posts in its service, - that his Majesty has been graciously pleased to confirm the appointment, — that I have accepted it, — and that, in a very short time, I shall proceed to the scene of my new labours. I have lately enjoyed the pleasure of conversing with several of my most respected constituents, and I have been truly gratified to learn that my conduct on this occasion has obtained their approbation. They justly consider it as honourable to themselves that their representative should be freely selected, by a body which wants neither the spirit nor the power to resist unreasonable dictation on the part of the Crown, to fill one of the most important offices in the Empire. I trust that I shall carry with me the esteem of my constituents, and that, in my new situation, I shall not forfeit that esteem. In Asia as in Europe, the principles which recommended me to your favour shall be constantly present to my mind. While legislating for a conquered race, to whom the blessings of our constitution cannot as yet be safely extended, and to whom the benignant influence of our religion is unknown, I shall never forget that I have been a legislator chosen by the unforced and uncorrupted voices of a free, an enlightened, and a Christian people. I this day return into your hands the high trust with which you have honoured me. It was obtained by no unworthy arts. It has been used for no unworthy ends. I owed it to your free and unsolicited choice. I have endeavoured to employ it for what appeared to me to be your real good. My conscience tells me that I have been an honest servant: and I owe to you this attestation, that you have been most indulgent and reasonable masters. You will bear me witness that I have never shrunk from speaking the truth: and I can bear witness that you have always been willing to hear it. When we have differed, I have never evaded your questions, nor have you clamoured down my answers. We have endeavoured to convince each other by a fair interchange of reasons, and, if we still continued to differ, we have differed as friends. I can form no better wish for your borough, — and it is well entitled to the best wishes that I can form, — than that it may maintain the honourable character which it has won. If, now that I have ceased to be your servant, and am only your sincere and grateful friend, I may presume to offer to 18

Lady Holland

6 February 1834

you advice which must, at least, be allowed to be disinterested, I would say to you: - act towards your future representatives as you have acted towards me. Choose them, as you chose me, without canvassing or expense. Encourage them, as you encouraged me, always to speak to you fearlessly and plainly. Never suffer your great and independent town to be turned into an East Retford or a Newark. Reject as you have hitherto rejected the wages of dishonour. Defy, as you have hitherto defied, the threats of petty tyrants. Never forget that the worst and most degrading species of corruption is the corruption which operates not by hopes, but by fears. Cherish those noble and virtuous principles for which we have struggled and triumphed together, — the principles of liberty and toleration, of justice and order. Support, as you have steadily supported, the cause of good government: and may all the blessings which are the natural fruits of good government descend upon you and be multiplied to you an hundred fold. May your manufactures flourish: may your trade be extended: may your riches increase. May the works of your skill, and the signs of your prosperity meet me in the furthest regions of the east, and give me fresh cause to be proud of the intelligence, the industry, and the spirit of my constituents. And now, gentlemen, it remains for me only to bid you farewell, — to wish to you all, to my supporters and to my opponents, health, prosperity, and happiness, and to assure you that, to the latest day of my life, I shall look back with pride and pleasure on the honourable connection which has subsisted between us. / I have the honour to be, / Gentlemen, Your faithful friend and servant, T. B. Macaulay. London, Feb. 4, 1834.

TO L A D Y H O L L A N D , 6 F E B R U A R Y

1834

MS: British Museum.

Gray's Inn Feby. 6. 1834 Dear Lady Holland, I am under strict medical direction, and am positively forbidden to dine out this week. I have begged hard for Sunday; but to no purpose. My tyrants are however good enough to promise that, if I will be submissive now, I shall shake hands with you before my departure. I am already so much the better for my obedience that I am not at all inclined to be

[j2] February 2834

Mrs Edward Cropper

mutinous. On the first day on which I am suffered to call anywhere I will call in Burlington Street.1 / Ever dear Lady Holland, Yours most faithfully T B Macaulay

TO MRS EDWARD CROPPER, [12]2 FEBRUARY 1834 nk / /Liverpoo MS: Morgan Library. Address:* Mrs. E Cropper / Dingle Bank Liverpool. Frank: London February twelve / 1834 / C Grant.

London Feby. 13. 1834 Dearest Margaret, To morrow we go on board. The day after to-morrow we sail. My own dear, dear sister — farewell again and again. God bless you, and make you as happy as you are good. Do not forget me. I never forget you for two waking hours together. John will carry to you a large packet from Henry, who seems to be going on tolerably well. You will also receive the copy of the Spectator which you asked me for. I have sent it as I thought you would like best to have it, battered, ragged, and thumbed, - such as it was when you and Nancy used to sit and read it to me at my bed-side.4 The marks are of no value except as memorials of one who loves you and will always love you dearly. My health has during the last week been rapidly mending. George and the surgeon of the Asia who seems an intelligent man, both agreed to day, after a full conference about me, that in three weeks I should be better than ever I was in my life. Kindest love to Edward. Kisses to the dear baby. And again and again, dearest, dearest Margaret, God bless you. Ever, my love, yours TBM 1 2

3 4

Lord and Lady Holland had taken the house of Sir Thomas Neve, 30 Old Burlington Street. Both the postmark and frank agree on 12 February, despite TBM's date. His mistake would also explain the statement that they are to sail the day after tomorrow; he is thinking of the 15 th. TBM has written the address on the back of the cover; it was then copied on the front cover by Charles Grant, under whose frank the letter was sent. Writing on 4 March in the journal-letter that she kept for Hannah, Margaret says that she will 'always value' this copy of the Spectator 'as a remembrance of those days. Every thing in that little room of Tom's is impressed upon my mind as if I had been in it yesterday just as it was when he used to lie in bed with his unshorn face, you opposite the window with your feet up on the bed, reading the Spectator resting on your knee. I, opposite you, or at the foot of the bed, working' (MS, Huntington). 2O

Macvey Napier

13 February 1834

TO MACVEY NAPIER, 13 FEBRUARY

1834

MS: British Museum. Mostly published: Napier, Correspondence, pp. 144-6.

London Feby. 13. 1834 Dear Napier, It is true that I have been severely tried by ill health during the last few weeks. But I am now rapidly recovering, and am assured by all my medical advisers that a week of the sea will make me better than ever I was in my life. Ill as I have been, and busy as I have been, I ought to have answered your letter earlier. But I will lose no time in apologies, or in thanks for your kind expressions, or in assurances of good will for which you, I well know, will give me credit. Time flies. In forty eight hours I shall be under sail; and we must go at once to business. I have several subjects in my head. One is Mackintosh's History 1 1 mean the fragment of the large work. Empson advised me to ask Longman for the sheets and take them with me. But, as there would not have been time for a reference to you, and as you may have engaged some other writer, I have not thought it right to do this.2 If you approve of the plan, you can send the book after me by the earliest conveyance. Another plan which I have is a very fine one, if it could be well executed. I think that the time is come when a fair estimate may be formed of the intellectual and moral character of Voltaire.3 The extreme veneration with which he was regarded during his life time has passed away. The violent reaction which followed has spent its force; and the world can now, I think, bear to hear the truth and to see the man exhibited as he was, - a strange mixture of greatness and littleness, virtues and vices. I have all his works, and shall take them in my cabin on the voyage. But my library is not particularly rich in those books which illustrate the literary history of his times. I have Rousseau and Marmontel's memoirs,4 and Madame du Deffand's letters,5 and perhaps a few other works which 1

2

3 4

5

TBM's review of Mackintosh's unfinished History of the Revolution in England in 1688, 1834, appeared as 'Sir James Mackintosh's History of the Revolution* ER, LXI (July 1835), 265-322. Apparently, though, he did: Jeffrey wrote to Napier on 15 February that TBM 'has taken with him the sheets of Mclntosh's history — which I took it upon me to say you would rather have him to review than any other' (MS, British Museum). See also 10 December 1834. This plan was never carried out. Jean Francois Marmontel, Memoires, Paris, 1804. In his Journal for 29 December 1854, TBM recalled that Marmontel's Memoirs was ' once my favourite book. With what rapture I read it the first time in a detestable translation at Cambridge. I think I was a freshman. It was my first glimpse of that singular society. I know a good deal about that breed of men now' (vni, 158). Letters of the Marquise Du Deffand, 4 vols., 1810. 21

2-2

23 February 2834

Macvey Napier

would be of use. But Grimm's correspondence and several other volumes of memoirs and letters would be necessary. If you would make a small collection of the works which would be most useful in this point of view, and send it after me as soon as possible, I will do my best to draw a good Voltaire. I fear that the article must be enormously long — seventy pages perhaps. But you know that I do not run into unnecessary length. I may perhaps try my hand on Miss Austin's novels.1 That is a subject on which I shall require no assistance from books. Whatever books you may send me ought to be half bound; or the white ants will devour them before they have been three days on shore. You will of course set off any books which you may send against what you may consider as due to me. If there should be a balance in my favour, it had better be paid to Mr. George Gisborne Babington, Number 26 Golden Square, London. From him you will at any time learn any particulars about me which you may be desirous to know.2 Besides the books which may be necessary for the Review, I should like to have any work of very striking merit which may appear during my absence. The particular department of literature which interests me most is history, above all English history. Any valuable book on that subject I should wish to possess. Sharp, Miss Berry, and some of my other friends, will perhaps, now and then, suggest a book to you. But it is principally on your own judgment that I must rely to keep me well supplied. Any letters for me you can send under cover to Grant, or, after the 22d of April next, to Stewart Mackenzie, who will then become Secretary of the India Board.3 They will be franked to me whatever their size may be. I have now, I think, said all that I had to say about business. The day after to morrow, as I told you, is the day of my departure. There is much that is sad in this separation. But the prospect of honor, usefulness, and independence, — the consciousness that I mean well and am endeavouring well - has supported me and will support me through it. Many thanks for all your kindness. May we meet again with undiminished regard. If we live, I have no doubt that we shall so meet. - Believe that I entertain every friendly feeling towards you, and that it will give me the greatest pleasure to find that it is in my power in any way to be of use to you or to those in whom you are interested. / Ever, dear Napier, Yours most truly T B Macaulay 1 2 3

He did not. TBM had made Babington and Edward Cropper his agents during his absence from England. I do not know why TBM says this: Robert Gordon had succeeded him as Secretary on 26 December 1833 and continued in that office through Grey's administration. 22

Lord Lansdowne TO L O R D

2 5 February 1834

LANSDOWNE,

15 F E B R U A R Y

1834

MS: The Marquess of Lansdowne. Mostly published: Trevelyan, 1, 359.

Gravesend Febry. 15. 1834 Dear Lord Lansdowne, I had hoped that it would have been in my power to shake hands with you once more before my departure. But this deplorably absurd affair in the House of Commons has prevented me from calling on you.1 I lost a whole day while the Committee was deciding whether I should or should not be forced to repeat before them all the foolish, shabby, things that I had heard Shiel say at Brookes's. I cannot leave England without sending a few lines to you — and yet they are needless. It is unnecessary for me to say with what feelings I shall always remember our connection, and with what interest I shall always learn tidings of you and of your family. Lady Lansdowne mentioned to me at Bowood a surgeon in the Company's service in whom she takes an interest.2 I have forgotten his name. If you will send me a single line to say who he is, I will do all in my power to serve him. / Believe me ever, / Dear Lord Lansdowne, Yours most sincerely T B Macaulay

TO L O R D H O L L A N D ,

15 F E B R U A R Y

1834

MS: British Museum.

Gravesend Feby. 15. 1834 Dear Lord Holland, Every member of your family has a right to every attention and service from me. I shall be most happy to have an opportunity of repaying to Lord Lilford's brothers3 a small part of the hospitality and kindness which have been shewn to me at Holland House and in Burlington Street. 1

2 3

A Committee of the House of Commons had been appointed on 10 February to hear testimony regarding an allegation made in the House that Richard Shiel, though publically opposing the Irish Coercion Bill, privately supported it; the charge had raised a furore in the Commons and nearly led to a challenge between O'Connell and Althorp (see Trevelyan, 1, 356-9). The accusation rested on what had been said in private conversation, and when TBM appeared before the Committee he simply said that 'he would not repeat what had passed in private conversation' (Greville, Memoirs, in, 13: 17 February 1834). Perhaps the Dr Kean mentioned in 27 December 1834. R. Vernon Powys (1802-54) and Charles Powys (1813-97), second and sixth sons of the second Baron Lilford, were both in the Indian army. Their brother was Lord Holland's son-in-law: see to Hannah Macaulay, 29 July 1833. 2

3

15 February 1834

Mary Berry

You will receive, in a day or two at farthest, a book which you were kind enough to lend me, — the curious account of the Conquest of Mexico by Bernal Diaz.1 Time passes; and in half an hour I must be on board. Many thanks, dear Lord Holland, for many pleasant hours. Many thanks also for the kind wishes expressed in your last note. Believe that no distance of place or lapse of time can efface from my mind the recollection of the kindness with which I have been treated by you and Lady Holland. I must stop. / Believe me ever, / Dear Lord Holland, Yours most truly T B Macaulay TO MARY B E R R Y , 15 F E B R U A R Y

1834

MS: The Honorable George Howard.

Gravesend Feby. 15 / 1834 Dear Miss Berry, A single line before I embark to thank you for your very kind note, and to assure you that I should value your correspondence more than 1 can express. I would have solicited it if I could have ventured to do so. I am most truly grateful to you for offering it. I am sure that you can beat Madame du Deffand if you try. Pray let me hear all the tattle of the world which I am leaving. Literature I shall have in abundance. — Politics I shall have even to nausea. But the state of society I can really learn from nobody but you. I assure you that you cannot possibly write to any human being who will value your letters more.2 Kindest remembrances to your sister. - Pray believe that I shall never forget the agreable hours which I have passed in Curzon Street. — But the ship's boat is coming. The luggage is on board. And I must stop. I am amazed at the firmness with which I have gone through this tremendous separation. I suppose it would be much the same if I were to be hanged. — / Ever, dear Miss Berry, Yours most truly T B Macaulay 1 2

First published in 1632. They did correspond while TBM was in India; no doubt TBM destroyed her letters, and his to her were returned to TBM on Miss Berry's death in 1853. On re-reading them TBM wrote: 'How strange it is to read a letter written by one's self 18 years ago. I was moved to tears by the change. Yet I am happier now than I was then' (Journal, vi, 97: 21 June 1853).

24

Mrs Edward Cropper TO MRS EDWARD CROPPER, 16 FEBRUARY

16 February 1834 1834

MS: Morgan Library. Addressv1 Mrs. E Cropper / Dingle Bank / Liverpool. Extract published: Clive, Macaulay, p. 284.

The Downs Feby. 16. 1834 Dearest Margaret, I snatch a moment to write to you before our pilot goes on shore.2 Nancy is on a sofa by me half sick, half dozing. I am as well as ever I was in [my]3 life, and infinitely better than I have [been]3 for months. I will own to you, my love, that, dearly as I love my friends and my country, I enjoy the renovation of my health so much that I feel the sacrifice which I am making less than under other circumstances I should feel it. Dear Nancy has behaved like an angel.4 George, with his usual kindness, came down with us to Gravesend, and saw us on board. What we should have done without him I cannot tell. I love him like a brother, — much more indeed than I ever loved any of my own brothers. But I must stop. I have only an hour before the letters go off, and I have much to do in that time. God bless you, dearest Margaret, and your husband, and your baby. You shall hear again by the first opportunity. Ever yours my love TBM 1 2

3 4

TBM has written the address on the back of the cover presumably so that the letter could then be franked; the front remains blank. The Asia had left Gravesend at 2:30 P.M. on February 15. George Babington, who had seen Hannah and TBM off, wrote that day to Fanny to say that * poor Hannah was utterly exhausted by continued watching, and worn by distress which she laboured to control, and was lying on her sofa, with every possible comfort around her. . . . Tom had left his watch which I have sent down to him by the Surgeon of the Ship, who proceeds to night by the coach to join them at Deal' (MS, Huntington). Paper torn away with seal. Hannah wrote on this day to Margaret that 'till I sat down alone in my Cabin I knew not what I had consented to. If I could have conceived the sufferings of the last twenty four hours beforehand never would I have placed myself here. It is impossible that I could be called upon to such a sacrifice as I have really made. It was not fair to myself to shut myself out at once from what the deprivation of is agony. And the dreadful future. . . . Why did none of my friends interfere, they must have guessed at what lay before m e . . . . all the new friends in the world would not make up to me for the want of the old friends I have so madly left. . . . I feel how selfish it is to write so but I have no human soul to speak to and I must relieve the dreadful oppression. Tom has no conception what I am feeling' (copy, Mrs Lancelot Errington). Years afterwards, on Hannah's death, Charles Macaulay wrote to his daughter Mary that his mind was haunted by memories of Hannah, above all by that of 'the night we spent together in each others arms — the night before she left us at five o'clock in the morning for India' (7 August 1873: MS, University of London).

16 February 1834

Zachary Macaulay

TO ZACHARY MACAULAY, 16 FEBRUARY

1834

MS: Trinity College. Address: Z Macaulay Esq / 44 Bernard Street / Russell Square. Subcription:1 T B Macaulay.

The Downs Feby. 16. 1834 My dear Father, A single line to say that we are on the sea - 1 perfectly well - better indeed than I have been for months—dear Hannah sick enough-both of us regretting most tenderly what we have left behind, but both of us looking forward firmly and cheerfully to our voyage and to our sojourn in India. Nothing could exceed George's kindness to us both. What we should have done without him I do not know. The greatest comfort that I have in quitting England is that I leave such a brother — for he is my brother to advise and assist my family. If a favourable opportunity offers you shall soon hear again from us. At present our pilot is going off and we must make up our packets. Kindest love to Selina, Fanny, and Charles. / Ever, my dearest Father, Your affectionate Son, T B Macaulay TO ZACHARY MACAULAY, 22 F E B R U A R Y

1834

Text: From MS in possession of Mr C. S. Menell, who furnished transcript.

Asia off Portland / Febry 22. 1834 My dear Father, Here we are, after tossing, pitching and rolling about the Channel for a week, and after visiting the French and English coasts I know not how often. The wind has been steadily adverse, and we may, I believe, consider ourselves fortunate in having worked our way so far. Tomorrow we hope to be in the neighbourhood of Plymouth. There the pilot will leave us. He takes charge of this and several other letters. Though the sea has been rough and though on one night we had something which even the sailors allowed us to call a storm, I have not been sick. I was rather stupid and languid for two days; but I am now in excellent health. Dear Nancy suffered terribly - thought she was dying — and seemed to care very little whether she died or lived. She is now quite well, breakfasted in the cuddy today and will soon dine there, and walked with me for half an hour on the quarter deck. 1

For lack of a better, I use this term to describe the signature that TBM frequently writes in the lower left hand corner of his letter covers; it is not part of a frank nor of a return address but stands by itself. 26

Mrs Edward Cropper

22 February 1834

I have accommodated myself very well to the mode of life. I read all day, except when I am at table or with Nancy. The fare is plentiful and wholesome, though not very delicate. The society, though not such as I have been used to, has nothing to disgust. The Captain is extremely kind and attentive, the surgeon a man of sense, and, I think, skilful in his profession - the young cadets very good specimens of their days, intelligent, frank, and gentlemanlike. The ladies are not equal to the men. One of them, a bride, is extremely pretty; but not, I think, very sensible or wellbred. The rest are, as far as I can judge, positively disagreeable. But they have been so sick that we have as yet hardly seen enough of them to form an opinion. Of course you will not repeat my criticisms. I should be very sorry if they came to the ears of the ladies' friends. Kindest, most affectionate love to Selina, Fanny and Charles. My heart sometimes sinks when I think of Bernard Street. But I look resolutely on the bright side of things, and keep my mind vigorously employed. In that way I soon rally. Hannah, I believe, will write to Fanny. You shall hear from us whenever an opportunity offers. But you must not expect to hear soon or often. The track of the outward bound ships differs so widely from that of the homebound ships that they scarcely ever meet, I am told, except in the neighbourhood of the line. I will from time to time prepare letters and have them in readiness if we should meet with any vessel on its way to England. / Ever, my dearest Father, yours most affectionately, T B Macaulay P.S. Hannah's maid1 has been a great comfort to h e r - t o both of us indeed. She has been both an excellent nurse and an excellent housemaid. My fellow only crawled out of his cot this morning. He seems able to do nothing. Happily there is next to nothing for him to do.

TO M R S E D W A R D C R O P P E R , 22 F E B R U A R Y

1834

MS: Mrs Lancelot Errington. Asia — off Dorsetshire / Feby. 22. 1834 Dearest Margaret, We have made, as you see, very little way. The wind has been as unfavourable as it could be, and sometimes very violent. We have been 1

Her name was Mrs Riddick. Hannah calls her 'a most excellent servant and a very great comfort to me' (to Fanny Macaulay, 28 [February 1834]: MS, Huntington). In later years TBM made frequent gifts of money to her (private account books at Trinity).

27

24 February 2834

Zachary Macaulay

creeping on, through a rough sea, and tacking ten times a day. The pitching and tossing was allowed even by the old sailors to be uncommonly disagreable. I stood it like a man, was never sick, and never missed breakfast or dinner. But dear Nancy was in a deplorable state, said that she should not live till morning, and seemed to wish for nothing but to be thrown into the sea. She is now recovered. The wind is at present gentle, though still adverse. She walks on the deck, eats and drinks with tolerable appetite, and is mistress of her eyes and her hands, as you will see from her letter. We hope to be near Plymouth to morrow. The pilot who has accompanied us through the Channel will leave us there, and will take charge of our letters - the last letters, I believe, which we shall be able to send before we finally stand out to sea. God bless you again and again, dearest, dearest, Margaret — and your husband, and your baby, and may we love each other when we meet as much as we did when we parted. I have written to George about the Spectator. John left London so suddenly that I could not charge him with it. Kindest love to Edward and baby. Ever yours, my darling TBM T O ZACHARY MACAULAY, 24 F E B R U A R Y

1834

MS: Trinity College. Address: Z Macaulay Esq / 44 Bernard Street / Russell Square / London. Subscription: T B Macaulay.

Plymouth Feby. 24. 1834 My dear Father, We have put in here, as the wind is still adverse and the weather very disagreable. I am writing in a very comfortable room in the Royal Hotel, where we shall sleep to night. Whether we shall stay longer depends absolutely on the elements. As I know nothing whatever of what has passed during the last week out of the Asia, I have, as you may believe, very little to tell you. If we remain another day I will write again. In the mean time write and make Fanny, Selina, and George write, directing to us at the Royal Hotel here. We may sail without receiving the letters. But they would give us so much pleasure, that it will be worth while to write for the mere chance. I am quite well - better and better daily. Nancy is much better than I expected her to be, and as patient and cheerful as possible. Her servant is a great comfort to us — mine as yet is merely an incumbrance. Kindest love to the girls and Charles - to George and all other friends. / Ever, my dear father, Yours most affectionately T B Macaulay 28

Mrs Edward Cropper

1 March 1834

TO M R S E D W A R D C R O P P E R , I M A R C H

1834

MS: Morgan Library. Falmouth March 1. 1834 Dearest Margaret, The adverse wind has forced us to put in here, and we are sitting in a fine large room in the Royal Hotel, with a blazing fire. Nancy is reading Clarissa, and I am writing to my darling Margaret. We have had a pretty severe initiation into sea life. We have been tossing in the Channel for nearly a fortnight, and have suffered all the inconveniences of windy weather, yet have made no way, or none worth speaking of. We are pining for a north-wind. If we can but have a fortnight of favourable weather, we shall be approaching the region of the trades, and shall be out of all risk of delay. Dearest Nancy is in very good health and spirits. She had two days of pretty severe sickness, and is now much the better for it. How kind, and cheerful, and affectionate, and accommodating, she is, I cannot tell you.1 Her maid goes on well, and is of great use to us both. I have no time to add more. Farewell, my dearest sister. If we stay here you shall hear from me again. Kindest love to Edward. Kiss the dear baby for me. Ever, my love, yours T B Macaulay

TO ZACHARY MACAULAY, 3 M A R C H

1834

MS: Huntington Library. Address: Z Macaulay Esq / 44 Bernard Street / Russell Square / London. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Mostly published: Knutsford, Zachary Macaulay, P- 473-

Falmouth March 3. 1834 My dear Father, We are still here; but we expect to be on the sea in a few hours. The delay has been expensive and vexatious. But there is no remedy except patience. I heard a very curious anecdote from the pilot who brought us into 1

Hannah wrote to Fanny from Falmouth on 28 February describing their routine thus: 'Our way of life on board is this. We breakfast at 1/2 past eight after which we spend the morning separate in our Cabin reading, writing, etc., at least I do, and I believe Tom learns Persian. At one we go on deck and walk; when we come back it is time to dress or rather make tidy for dinner. After dinner some times we go out again but generally I work and Tom reads to me till tea time, and then very soon after I prepare for bed' (MS, Huntington).

,9 March 2834

Zachary Macaulay

Plymouth. He had piloted the ship in which Herschel sailed last autumn.1 He says that he heard Herschel say that he was very desirous to get to sea then; for that he fully expected a quarter of a year of west-wind; and did not believe that there would be a change to the East till March. If the story be true, Herschel either made a very lucky guess, or has discovered some principle of meteorology which is unknown to less scientific observers. We are both in excellent health, and have been pretty well seasoned to the sea. The ship is certainly a very good one, the captain civil and sensible, and the passengers tolerable. We are not likely to form any friendships among them. But we shall succeed in avoiding quarrels. This morning I was honored by a visit from seven or eight of the principal people of Falmouth, with the Mayor at their head. They came, they told me, to thank me for my public services, to congratulate me on my appointment, and to wish me health in India and a happy return to England. I was much pleased [by]2 the compliment which was qufite]2 unexpected, and which was paid [in]2 very good taste. Affectionate love to the girls and Charles. Love to George and thanks for his letter. I will attend to his medical advice. But I am going on capitally, and am not likely to want Mr. Alleyn's3 assistance. Hannah sends her love. / Ever, my dearest father, Yours most affectionately T B Macaulay TO Z A C H A R Y MACAULAY, 9 M A R C H

1834

MS: Trinity College.

Falmouth March 9. 1834 My dear Father, We have not yet sailed. But we hope to be under weigh before daybreak to morrow. 4 We have been so often disappointed that I am not sanguine. One advantage we have derived from our detention, unpleasant and tedious as it has been. We received your letter yesterday, and were glad to learn that you were able to go on your circuit, and that all was well at home. I wrote from Gravesend to Lord Palmerston, and pressed Henry's 1

2 3

4

Herschel left England in November 1833 for South Africa, where he carried out astronomical observations for the next four years. Paper torn away with seal. Perhaps the ship's surgeon? No one of this name is in the Post Office London Directory, 1834. The Asia did not sail until 11 March.

Zachary Macaulay

[2? April? 2834]

claims as strongly as I could do with propriety.1 I shall send these few lines under cover to George. Your residence is shifting, — and his is fixed: - 1 therefore think that, in our ignorance of your movements, it will be the most prudent course to make him the channel of communication. Kindest love to the girls and Charles both from myself and Hannah. / Ever, my dearest father, Yours most affectionately T B Macaulay TO ZACHARY MACAULAY, [ I ? A P R I L ?

1834]2

Text: Extract in Frances Macaulay to Mrs Edward Cropper [26 May 1834]: MS, Huntington.

[Asia] [...] my time is fully occupied. My appetite is good, and my sleep is sound. I rise at 1/2 past 5 and am in bed by nine. I read about 10 hours a day, and I find a sea life is very endurable.

TO L O R D W I L L I A M B E N T I N C K , 3 10 J U N E

1834

MS: University of Nottingham.

Madras June 10. 1834 My Lord, I have this instant landed here,4 and have received your Lordship's 1

2

3

4

Probably this refers to the promotion to a judgeship of the mixed (i.e., Spanish and English) court of justice at Sierra Leone that Henry received in 1835; the position was worth £2,250 per annum (Parliamentary Papers, 1835, xxxvm, 480). This is probably the letter that TBM says he sent by a French ship (see 15 June 1834) and probably accompanied the letter dated 1 April from Hannah mentioned in Margaret's journal letter, 27 May (MS, Huntington). The letter from Fanny in which this extract is copied explains that 'Tom's letter was to Papa' and adds this summary: 'He says tho' the heat is certainly intense, the thermometer being 850 and 86° in the shade yet that the H. of Commons at 5 in a July morning is a hotter place than a ship on the line at noon — the hold of a slave-ship always excepted.' Bentinck (1774-1839: DNB), Governor-General of India, 1825—35; he had earlier served as Governor of Madras (1803-07), and had fought in the Napoleonic wars. His administration marks the beginning of political and social reform in British India. TBM's admiration for Bentinck is recorded in the inscription that he wrote for Bentinck's statue in Calcutta (1835) and in the conclusion to the essay on Clive (1840). Hannah Trevelyan's Memoir of TBM states simply that TBM regarded Bentinck as 'the greatest man he had ever known' (p. 60). 'Mr Macaulay disembarked on the 10th June, under a salute of fifteen guns, from the fort. The Asia had a fine voyage of only three months, having left Falmouth on the n t h March' (Asiatic Journal, N.S. 15 [December 1834], Part 11, 211).

31

15 June 1834

Mrs Edward Cropper

letters and the accompanying documents.1 I shall proceed to join you as soon as the necessary arrangements for that purpose can be made. I feel greatly indebted to your Lordship for the very kind invitation which you have given to me. A stranger as I am in the country I shall accept your hospitality with the greatest pleasure. / I have the honor to be, / My Lord, Your Lordship's faithful Servant T B Macaulay The Rt Hon / Lord W Bentinck / etc. etc. etc.

TO M R S E D W A R D C R O P P E R , 15 J U N E

1834

MS: Mrs Lancelot Errington. Extract Published: Trevelyan, I, 360-1; 362.

Madras June 15 1834 Dearest Margaret, Here we are, quite safe and pretty well. But where shall I begin or end the long story which I have to tell you? As to our voyage, it furnished little matter for narrative. It was monotony itself; - the same blue sky the same blue sea — the same people performing the same operations, and the same operations recurring at the same hours. The great events were one man's thinking that he saw Madeira; - another man's being sure that he saw St Antonio; - the appearance of a fleet of Portuguese men of war, which, you are to understand, are not ships, — for Portugal could not furnish out such a fleet, — but beautiful funguses floating on the water; — the appearance of a shoal of porpoises; — a covey of flying fish with wings like mother of pearl darting out of one wave and into another; - a sailor tumbling down the hatchway and breaking his head; - a cadet getting drunk and swearing at the captain; — the passing of the line with a great deal of ducking, tarring, and scraping, which at one time seemed likely to end in fighting; - the catching of a shark; — the shooting of an albatross; — the spouting of a whale; — and now and then a hard gale of wind. These were our great and important occurrences.2 The passage was on the whole 1

2

Bentinck, who was spending the summer in the high hills at Ootacamund, far removed from Calcutta, had sent for TBM to join him there: see 15 June. Since, under the new India Act, the old council at Calcutta had ceased to operate and since the new council at Calcutta had not yet been instituted, Bentinck's improvised council at Ootacamund was illegal. An act of indemnity had subsequently to be passed in order to legalize its acts (see J. W. Kaye, The Life and Correspondence of Charles, Lord Metcalfe, 1865, II, 97-100). Cf. the passage describing a voyage to India in the essay on Hastings: 'Any thing is welcome which may break that long monotony, a sail, a shark, an albatross, a man overboard' (ER, LXXIV, 169).

32

Mrs Edward Cropper

15 June 1834

a very good one after we had got clear of the Channel in which we were detained upwards of three weeks. We experienced little discomfort, and were never but once, I believe, in danger. The seas round the Cape kept their ancient reputation of being the most stormy in the world, and when we were about four hundred miles south of Madagascar, we had a tempest which almost amounted to a hurricane, and saw such waves as I never saw before, and am in no hurry to see again. Monotonous as the mode of life is, I accommodated myself to it without difficulty. Society indeed I had none. The Captain, though a very gentlemanlike and respectable person, had not much in common with me; and the Chief mate, though a good officer and a hard-headed man, was quite uneducated, and never pronounced his h's. They were both, however, perfect masters of their business, and shewed on every occasion great professional skill and great propriety of feeling. The Cadets were lads of about the intellectual and moral elevation of Henry Rose,1 and other relations of ours who have preceded them in the same career. By an ill luck which I cursed more than once, it happened that precisely the most disagreable of them were recommended particularly to my notice, - one of the name of Mason2 by Rogers, who is his uncle, — another odious youth of the name of Gill3 by Matthew Babington, whose only connection with him, I imagine, is that, being the Prince of a Community which you wot of, he thought it his duty to patronize so eminent a subject. The best of the Cadets was a young man of the name of Cotton,4 son of a Director. He seemed a very promising young man. I find that he resided some time in a Commercial House at Liverpool. I should be glad to know how he behaved there: for I feel inclined to serve him, if it should happen to be in my power. We had two young officers who had been to England on furlough, and who were on their return, well-bred, good-natured, and intelligent enough, but nothing extraordinary. One of them is a son of Colonel Jones, better known by the name of Radical.5 We had a civil servant of the Company who calls himself Godson,6 and whom the tattlers of Madras 1

2

3

4

5

6

One of the children of TBM's cousin, Lydia Babington Rose, he had gone out to India as a cadet in the army of the East India Company in 1831. William Mason; he joined the 21st Native Infantry, Madras, in 1834 and died in Bombay, 1839 {India Register, 1835; 1839). Charles Gill joined the 17th Regiment of Native Infantry in 1834; he disappears from the India Register in 1861. John Stedman Cotton, son of the East India Company director John Cotton (1783-1860); he died in 1843, aged 31 years (J. J. Cotton, List of Inscriptions on Tombs or Monuments in Madras, Madras, 1905, p. 139). I cannot identify the son: the father is Leslie Grove Jones (1779-1839: DNB), who signed his letters to The Times in support of the Reform Bill with the name 'Radical.' No one of this name is in any of the official lists of Indian civilians that I have seen.

33

15 June 2834

Mrs Edward Cropper

call son of the Duke of Wellington, with his bride, a pretty, blooming young woman, English born and French bred. We had several other damsels, — all rather plain and all very vulgar — one Miss Haldane1 in particular who was a perfect nuisance, and was always romping and joking with a coarse, raw-boned grey-whiskered Scotchman, the very abstract and essence of every thing that is most unpleasant in the Scotch character. Hannah will give you the histories and characters of all these good people at length, I dare say. For she was extremely social, — danced with the gentlemen in the evenings, and read novels and sermons with the ladies in the mornings. I contented myself with being very civil whenever I was with the other passengers, and took care to be with them as little as I could. I shut myself up in my cabin with my books, and found that the time on the whole passed easily and pleasantly. I was in almost utter solitude. Except at meal times I scarcely exchanged a word with any human being. I never was left for so long a time so completely to my own ressources; and I am glad to say that I found them quite sufficient to keep me cheerful and employed during the whole voyage. I read insatiably and with keen and increasing enjoyment. I devoured Greek, Latin, Spanish, Italian, French and English, folios, quartos, octavos, and duodecimos. If I can judge of the future from my present feelings, I am in no danger of allowing my mind to rust in India. On the voyage we had only one opportunity, and that not a very good one, of sending letters home. When we were on the Equator about three weeks after leaving Falmouth we met a French merchantship, bound from Bourbon to Havre de Grace - but I remember that I could never succeed in putting any geography into your head: - so it is useless to mention places. However we sent letters on board this Frenchman to say that we were safe and well. I sent a few lines to my father; Hannah, I believe, wrote to you. Very likely you have not received our letters. At last ninety days after leaving Falmouth, I was summoned on deck at five o'clock in the morning of Tuesday June the 10th, to see Madras. Since we lost sight of the Lizard, I had never looked on any land except the blue outline of the mountains of Ceylon. There was Madras lying close to the sea like Brighton, and we were anchoring about a mile or a mile and a half from the town. The effect was very striking, — great, white, masses of buildings scattered amidst a rich profusion of deep dark 1

Catherine Haldane; according to Hannah she was 'a coarse untidy thorough Scotch g i r l . . . . Tom will have it that Miss Haldane is in love with the second mate Mr. Hilman and certainly there is a little appearance of it. I rather wonder at her choice for he is a round shouldered vulgar-looking man' (to Frances Macaulay, 28 [February 1834]: MS, Huntington).

34

Mrs Edward Cropper

15 June 1834

varnished green. The sun was just about to rise. The town was quite still, and for some time we saw no sign of life. At last a catamaran was discernible amidst the waves. Do you know what a catamaran is? It is simply a raft composed by tying two or three long pieces of wood together. On these rafts the fishermen of Madras venture on the sea in all weathers, in defiance of winds, waves and sharks. The appearance of the little black boatman beating the water with his paddle, and seeming as familiar to the element as a duck was the first glimpse that I caught of the people among whom I am to live. He came on board with nothing on him but a pointed yellow cap, and walked among us with a self-possession and civility which, coupled with his colour and his nakedness, nearly made me die of laughing. In the meantime we had given notice by signals of the name of our ship, and soon boats arrived from a frigate which lay in the roads, and from the shore. I now learned that I had been very impatiently expected. Lord William Bentinck is at present in the mountains beyond Mysore, and, being prevented by ill-health from leaving them for some time has determined to hold the Supreme Council there. But, as it was necessary to leave one member of the Council at Calcutta as his deputy, he could not make a quorum without me. Accordingly he and Sir Frederic Adam1 who is in the hills with him had written most pressing letters to be delivered to me as soon as I arrived. The case was not one which admitted of hesitation. I could not, without disgracefully abandoning my public duties, decline to comply with such a summons. But to take Hannah up to the hills with me seemed impossible: and to send her to Calcutta without me would have been most painful to me. Happily, just as I was finishing Lord William's letter, a letter from the Bishop2 was put into my hands. The Bishop in this letter insisted kindly and even peremptorily that we should take up our abode with him on our first arrival in Bengal. This put me pretty much at ease about Hannah: for, though his house would not have been particularly suited to me, it is of all houses in India that which will give the most creditable protection to her. About the voyage from Madras to Calcutta I felt no uneasiness. For the constant kindness and the approved discretion of our officers had gained the fullest confidence of us both. In spite of all these mitigating circumstances however, I cannot but feel great pain at being under the necessity of quitting her almost at the very moment of our arrival in India. She seems however quite reconciled to the arrangement. She will not hear of a journey to the Hills with me. And 1

2

Adam (1781-1853: DNE) was Governor of Madras, 1832-7. He was, like Bentinck, a veteran of the Peninsular wars, and was knighted for his services at Waterloo. Daniel Wilson, Bishop of Calcutta.

35

15 June 1834

Mrs Edward Cropper

indeed the discomforts of travelling in India are such that all the people whom we have seen have told her that it would be madness in her to undertake such an expedition. The letters of Sir Frederic and of Lord William were brought on board by Captain Barron1 and Colonel Walpole,2 two officers attached to the Government House. I told them that I was ready to set off instantly. But I found that a journey of between three and four hundred miles in India requires some days of previous preparation. You know that there is no posting. Indeed there are no roads for wheel-carriages through the greater part of the country. I am to be carried in a palanquin by men the whole way; and it is necessary to write to the public functionaries all along the route, that relays may be in readiness and that accommodations may be provided at the proper places. For inns there are none. I am to travel only at night, and I shall be at least a week on the road. Of course the discomfort of the journey will be considerable. But it is some compensation that when I reach the hills I shall be in one of the finest climates in the world — a climate very like that of the South of France, and that I shall escape for this year the bad season of Calcutta: for Lord William tells me that he shall not leave the hills till September. I am also glad to have an opportunity of seeing a very interesting part of India, and of acquiring information on the spot as to the real nature of the slavery about which there has been so much controversy. For I shall be close to the tract in which slavery exists. If it were not for parting with Hannah I should delight in the arrangement. The officers who came on board informed me that though Sir Frederic was absent we were to go to the Government House and to be entertained as we should have been if he had been on the spot. In the afternoon accordingly we went on shore. I do not know whether you ever heard of the surf at Madras. It breaks on the beach with such fury that no ship's boat can venture through it. The only conveyance in which people can land with safety is a rude boat made and guided by the natives. It is a large, clumsy barge-like looking thing, made of rough planks stitched together, and so elastic that it readily yields to the pressure of the waves. A boat of this sort was sent off for us, and a dozen half-naked blacks, howling all the way the most dissonant song that you ever heard, rowed us with great skill to the shore. The surf happily was not very high, and we were not even splashed. We landed, not, as most people do, at the custom house, but at the watergate of the fort. A salute of fifteen guns was fired to my praise and glory. 1

a

Richard Barron, captain in Her Majesty's 3rd Foot and aide-de-camp to the Governor of Madras. Col. Henry Walpole (1787-1854: Boase), Military Secretary at Madras, 1834-7.

36

Mrs Edward Cropper

15 June 1834

Hannah and I were put into one carriage: our servants into another: and away we drove. I can give you no idea of the bewildering effect of this our first introduction to a new world. To be on land after being three months at sea is of itself a great change: - but to be in such a land - nothing but dark faces and bodies with white turbans and flowing robes, — the trees not our trees, — the very smell of the atmosphere like that of a hothouse, — the architecture as strange as the vegetation. I was quite stunned. On we drove, however. Our very equipage, though English built, was new in form and fitting up. There was a window behind to give us a thorough draught of air. There was an oil cloth below, because a carpet or rug would have been too hot; — and at each door trotted a boy in an oriental costume of scarlet and gold. These boys run by the side of a carriage without being distressed for fourteen or fifteen miles at a time. At last we came to the government house. As we drove up the Seapoys on guard presented arms; and when we stopped under the portico, a crowd of figures with beards, turbans, and robes of white muslin came to receive us, and to conduct us to our apartments. Captain Barron and his wife, a very kind and agreable young woman, represented our absent host and hostess. Each of us was provided with a sitting room, a bed room, a dressing room, and a bathroom. My man was lodged near me, and Hannah's maid close to her. The size of the rooms is immense. My dressing room is as high as a church and has four great doors, each as large as the door of a house in Grosvenor Square. These doors are not solid; but are made after the fashion of Venetian blinds, so that the wind is always blowing through the room. The beds are immense, as hard as bricks, and completely surrounded with mosquito net. The furniture looks scanty in the large apartments. There are no carpets, but the floors are covered with matting which looks neat enough. The cielings are of timber painted white, and the walls of a remarkable plaister called chunam,1 which is made of fishes' bones, and which, when very fine, really looks exactly like the whitest and purest marble. We have had very hot weather since we landed, and I have felt it much, though not so much as Hannah: but we are both recovering from the effect of our first discipline. There are many ingenious devices for cooling the rooms: but the Madras people acknowledge that in this respect they are far inferior to those of Calcutta. Do you wish to know how I pass my day here? I rise at five or a little after, put on my dressing gown, and go forth, bare-footed, to take a walk of half an hour in the colonnade which runs along the house. When I have 1

'Cement or plaster largely used in India, made of shell-lime and sea-sand' (OED).

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finished my walk I go to my dressing room, and the barber makes his appearance. He shaves me so much better than I can shave myself that I mean, at least while I remain in India, to leave the superintendance of my chin to others. In the meantime the bath is got ready and I plunge into it. I then dress, go into my sitting room, and write to my dear, dear, little, Margaret, or to some other person. At half after eight breakfast is served for Hannah and me. We are waited on by four or five servants; and, what is much more to the purpose, the coffee is excellent, - the butter good and cool, - the bread, the eggs, the milk, all quite equal to those of an English country house. As to the fish and fruit which they regularly put on the table, I do not trouble them. The fish is insipid: and all the tropical fruits together are not worth any of our commonest English productions — cherry, strawberry, currant, apple, pear, peach. The mango eats like honey and turpentine, - the plaintain like a rotten pear. - The pine-apple is the best fruit that I have found here, and is as far inferior to the pine apples of an English pinery as the grapes on a wall to hot house grapes. After breakfast begin my duties. Every public functionary at Madras, civil or military, comes to call on me: and I have to find something to say to every body. I sit in the library- Sir Frederic's collection of books, by the way, is very respectable — and a succession of Colonels, Chaplains, Doctors, lawyers, Judges, Councillors, Secretaries, and so forth, is ushered in and bowed out. My election-practice at Leeds has trained me pretty well to this business, and I get through it easily enough. During the intervals of these visits, I read, and now and then call for a glass of cold water. I should tell you that they have a way of cooling liquors by immersing the bottle in a pail of water and saltpetre, which answers admirably, and makes all our drink quite as cool as we wish to have it. At two we are summoned to our tiffin. We take this meal by ourselves. It is, I believe, generally allowed that in India everybody ought to lunch; and that long fasts and large meals are dangerous. I have submitted my own tastes to the advice of the Doctors, and I accordingly take a hearty lunch. I never drink wine at this meal, and I mean never to drink it more than once a day. I take a glass or two of Hodson's pale ale, well cooled, which is a very refreshing, and I believe a very wholesome drink. When tiffin is over, Hannah lies down: and this is a custom very common among the people here. But I have not felt inclined to adopt it. I sit and read till half after four or five. Then the sea-breeze is generally coming in: and the good people of Madras take their airings. I go out in a carriage for two hours with Captain Barron. Hannah goes in another with the lady. We drive through different parts of Madras and its environs, and come back at about seven. The drives are very pleasant, particularly when the sea-breeze is 38

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blowing. For some miles round the whole country is a garden. The English at Madras have only their offices within the walls of the fortification. They live in villas which stretch far into the country on every side. Each villa is surrounded by a pleasure ground of some acres, which is here called a compound. The roads are bordered with rich tropical vegetation, and crowded by an innumerable swarm of natives some walking, some riding, some in carts drawn by bullocks. Every here and there you come to a native village or town. From what I have yet seen I should say that these are much on an equality with the villages of Wales and Scotland — Llanrwst for example, or Laidler - two which I particularly remember. They consist of low whitewashed huts of one story with projecting roof which forms a sort of piazza in front of the dwellings. There are some signs that the people in these huts have more than the mere necessaries of life. The timber over the door is generally carved, and sometimes with a taste and skill that reminded me of the wood-work of some of our fine Gothic Chapels and Cathedrals. The crowd and noise in the streets is prodigious during business hours. But, if you pass late at night, the people are sleeping before their doors on the ground by hundreds, with scarcely any covering. Indeed they need none in this climate. As to the European villas, they are large and sometimes very shewy. But you may see at a glance that they are the residences of people who do not mean to leave them to their children or even to end their own days in them. There is a want of repair - a slovenliness - a sort of Simon O'Doherty way of taking things asy- which marks that the rulers of India are pilgrims and sojourners in the land. You will see a fine portico spoiled by a crack in the plaister which a few rupees would set to rights, — gaps in the hedges — breaches in the walls - doors off the hinges, and so on. As no Englishman means to die in India, and as very few have any certainty that, even while they remain in India, they shall reside at the same place, nobody pays the attention to his dwelling which he would pay to a family house. It is curious that the neatest and most carefully kept houses which I have observed are those of half-casts and Armenians, who mean to end their days here. When we come back from our drive we dress for dinner, which is served at half past seven in a very handsome portico open to the seabreeze. We have had one great party of more than fifty persons to meet me. In general we have ten or twelve, half of them officers, who always appear in uniform. By the time that dinner is over and that I have taken a cup of coffee, I am quite disposed to go to bed. Of course this is but a very imperfect account of what we have seen and done during the last week. If I should call any thing to mind which I have omitted and which would be likely to interest you, I will mention it in my next letter, which will pro39

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bably be from the hills. I will give you an account of the Nabob,1 whom I am to visit in state before I leave Madras, and who daily sends two messengers to ask how I am and to wish my honor much health and happiness. I will also give you the history of my journey which will, I think, be curious. I shall write very concisely to my father and George by this ship, and refer them to you for the particulars of our voyage and of our residence at Madras. You can lend them this letter, or as much of it as you wish them to see. Oh my dear, dear Margaret, if you knew how fondly, in this distant country, amidst ten thousand new objects my mind turns to you, how much more you are to me than all the rest that I have left, how many tears the thought of you draws from my eyes every day, how lightly all other afflictions fall on me, compared with that stroke which separated us, you would feel more than I wish you to feel. Be happy, my own darling; but do not quite forget me. There is nobody in this world who loves you better. Kiss the dear little baby for me; and give my love to Edward. In a very few months I hope to acquit myself of that part of my debt to him which money can discharge. Of the debt of gratitude which we owe to him I cannot be and do not wish to be clear. Again, and again dearest Margaret farewell and love me. Ever my darling yours TBM It is not improbable, my love, that a letter which I write after this may arrive before it.

TO M R S E D W A R D C R O P P E R , 27 J U N E

1834

MS: Mrs Lancelot Errington. Address: Mrs. E. Cropper / Dingle Bank / Liverpool. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Extracts published: Trevelyan, 1, 363-8; 377; Clive, Macaulay, pp. 293-4.

Ootacamund June 27. 1834 Dearest Margaret, I told you in my last letter that I learned at Madras that Lord William was here among the mountains of Malabar, that he wished me to join him immediately, and that Hannah would go to Calcutta and stay with the Bishop. During my stay at Madras which lasted about a week my time 1

Ghulam Muhammad Ghaus (1824-55), last of the Nabobs of the Carnatic; the title was abolished on his death. 40

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was constantly occupied from breakfast till ten at night by engagements of different kinds. On Sunday June 15 we heard Archdeacon Robinson1 read prayers and preach in a handsome Church of Gothic Architecture. In the afternoon we looked into another Church - St George's - which is said to be the handsomest built by the English in India. It is indeed very pretty, though not large. There is a material used here in ornamental building called chunam. It is made, I am told, from the bones of fish, and has all the brightness, smoothness and whiteness of the very finest marble. The whole interior of St George's Church is lined with it. Indeed it is much employed in the shewy buildings of Madras. I hear that at Calcutta it is not to be procured, at least not of a superior quality. There are two monuments by Chantry in St George's — one to Bishop Heber, not I think among the sculptor's happiest performances either in design or execution, - the other a very fine statue of a medical man who had a great reputation in this part of India. On Monday the 16th I paid a visit to the Nabob of the Carnatic. Indian politics are so little studied in England by Gentlemen — let alone ladies - that the chance is that not one member of parliament in twenty knows who or what the Nabob of the Carnatic is. The Nabobs were the viceroys of the Emperors of India, and governed great provinces, some of them as large as England. The Carnatic, I should think, with its dependencies must be nearly of that size. About a hundred years ago the power of the Emperors had sunk almost to nothing. The whole of India was in confusion, and these great Viceroys set up for themselves, paying only a little outward respect to their Sovereign, such as the great Dukes of Burgundy whom you remember in Scott's novels used to pay to the Kings of France, or as the Pacha of Egypt may now pay to the Grand Signor. The Nabob of the Carnatic was in reality a Sovereign Prince. A dispute arose about the right to the Nabobship. The English took one side, the French the other. The English succeeded, made their friend Nabob, and from that time he was absolutely their creature. This was more than seventy years ago. During about forty years the Nabobs were suffered to administer the civil government of their territories, the English holding the military power. But in fact whatever the English wished they could always force the Nabob to do; and he was so sensible of this that he expended enormous sums in bribing powerful servants of the Company. These abuses are described in one of the finest speeches in the English language - Burke's on the Nabob's debts.2 You must have heard that Sir Robert Inglis was Carnatic Commissioner.3 It was his office to 1

2

Thomas Robinson (1791-1873: Boase), of Trinity College, was chaplain to Bishop Heber? 1825-6, and Archdeacon of Madras, 1826-37. 28 February 1785. 3 The Commission sat until 1830. 41

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examine into these transactions and to distinguish the fair from the corrup* claims on the revenues of that country. At last Lord Wellesley became tired of this divided administration, which was indeed a great curse to the people. He accordingly took the whole power away from the Nabob.1 He did this in a very violent and arbitrary manner; but in substance I think he was right. This was thirty years ago. Since that time the Nabobs have had no political power whatever: but they are treated like abdicated princes-much as you may suppose Charles the Fifth of Spain or Queen Christina of Sweden to have been treated. They are allowed a splendid income — about a hundred thousand pounds sterling a year. The Nabob is always called "Your Highness." He is exempted in his own person from the authority of the Courts of justice. He is allowed to govern and punish his own servants at his discretion. I do not know that he ever went so far as to inflict death. If he did the government would probably interfere. He holds a court with all the forms of royalty. He has a guard of about five hundred men paid not by the Company but by himself, and he occasionally sends letters of condolence or congratulation to the King of England in which he calls himself His Majesty's good brother and ally. The present Nabob is a boy of only ten or eleven. His Uncle is his guardian, or, in the stately phrase which the courtiers about the palace employ, Regent of the Carnatic. The family is Mahometan, and maintains a crowd of low Mahometan dependants and hangers on, who form a nest of blackguards in the immediate vicinity of the palace. I went at about eleven in the morning to visit his Highness. Captain Barron and another gentleman accompanied me in the Governor's carriage. A salute in honor of me was fired from the palace. When we entered the garden we found it thronged by beggarly Musselmans. The guard of the Nabob was drawn up. It consisted of some hundreds of soldiers who seemed to have bought the cast-off clothes of our Seapoys. They looked like scare-crows, and had less precision and order in their movements than any awkward squad that I ever saw in St James's park. There were also several enormous elephants exhibited to astonish the new comer. We came at last to the Durbar - that is the Indian name for a hall of Audience. It is a large building, open on one side like a booth at a fair and supported by pillars. On the steps the Nabob and the Regent met me, embraced me, placed me between them, and led me to a sofa in the middle of the hall where I sate down, and they took their places one on each side. The interpreter of the court, a handsome, intelligent-looking, man, whose mind has evidently been enlarged by much intercourse with Englishmen, took his place opposite to us. The young Nabob said not a 1

In 1801.

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word. But the Regent talked with as much profundity and wit as most princes in Europe or in Asia. The following may serve as a specimen of the conversation. " His Highness is pleased to observe to your Excellency that all the English are wise and good." - "Assure his Highness that I am flattered to hear such a compliment to my country from so discerning a prince." "His Highness says that it was wise in the English to send to India such a man as your Excellency." "Inform his Highness that it will be my constant ambition to deserve so gratifying an eulogium from so illustrious a person." "His Highness wishes to know how old the King of England is." "Sixty-eight." "His Highness wishes to know how many sons the King of England has." "None." "His Highness begs me to inform your Excellency that his Highness is greatly concerned to hear that the King of England has no children." While this truly royal colloquy was going on, the hall was filled with Mahometan courtiers and parasites of the Nabob's family, some on the ground, some on sofas, in various dresses, but all profoundly silent. When I rose to depart, the little prince and the regent proceeded, after the immemorial custom of the East, to offer me presents. These presents were formerly of very substantial value, and indeed, the most frightful corruption and extortion was practised by the first English conquerors of India under pretence of complying with this national usage. Lord Clive was proved to have received 280,000 £ sterling in presents from the Nabob of Bengal, and very likely received a great deal more. At present the thing is a mere form, - a little sprinkling of attar of roses on my handkerchief, a flower put into my hand, a wreath of flowers thrown round my neck, and a piece of betel, a sort of aromatic nut, offered to me. The principal people of the court were introduced to me — cousins, and uncles of the little Nabob, — and one man who was designated as Commander-in- Chief of the Carnatic, — that is to say the Colonel of the ragged regiment which was drawn up before the palace. I was then conducted in great state to the carriage; and before I departed his Highness promised to return my visit on the following day. That evening we went to a very shewy ball which Mr Chamier,1 one of the principal functionaries at Madras, gave in honor of Hannah. An Indian ball-room is, I think, a gayer sight than an English ball-room, owing to the blaze of uniforms. The military men form the majority of every party here, and they always appear in their scarlet coats. Hannah must tell you what passed, for I stole away early, by my doctor's orders, as I had to set out on my journey the next day. On the following morning came the Nabob in state with some horsesoldiers, more miserable, if possible, than his infantry, round his carriage. We received him with great pomp. A salute was fired from fort St George. 1

Henry Chamier (1796?-! 867: Boase), in the Madras Civil Service since 1812.

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A company of Seapoys was drawn up in front of the government house, and, to be sure, their arms, dress, and discipline, presented a curious contrast to the appearance of his Highness's ragamuffins. The conversation was as instructive and as amusing as on the preceding day. The most curious part of the Nabob's train was the interpreter who was evidently scarcely able to suppress his laughter at the nonsense which he was employed to translate. After a short visit I presented attar, flowers, and betel nut to the princes and their chief attendants and saw them very civilly to the door. I could not but feel for the poor little fellow who is brought up in such a way that he is quite sure to indulge in every excess and to acquire no useful knowledge. Dr Lane,1 the principal physician here, tells me that the boy is both intelligent and affectionate, but that he is surrounded by flatterers, that his only education consists in reading the Koran some hours every day, that the care of his person is left to his mother and grand mother who will not let him swallow English physic for fear of poison and are always covering him with amulets for fear of enchantment. I really think that our government should have insisted, when his father died, that his education should be superintended by some Englishman. If the Nabob had been so brought up as to turn out an accomplished gentleman, and a good scholar, with his influence over the Mahometans, with his immense wealth, and with his high birth, he would have been the most useful agent that our government could have had in the great work of civilizing the Carnatic. It is now, I am afraid, too late. He will kill himself, in all probability, before he is thirty, by indulgence in every species of sensuality. In the afternoon of the 17th of June I left Madras. And how do you think I travelled ? I was in one palanquin, my servant followed in another. Each of us had twelve bearers who from time to time relieved each other, six at a time being required for each palanquin. Before us trotted ten coolies or porters with my luggage. Beside my palanquin ran two peons or police officers with badges on their breasts and swords at their sides. The whole train consisted of thirty eight persons, myself and my servant included. Did I tell you of my servant? He was recommended to me by the Chief Magistrate of police at Madras, and does credit to the recommendation. He is a half-caste, a Catholic, and apparently a devout one, for I often catch him crossing himself and turning up his eyes. What is more to the purpose, he knows the native languages, is honest and sober, can dispute a charge, bully a negligent bearer, arrange a bed, and make a curry. But he is so fond of giving me advice that I fear he will some day or other, as 1

Thomas Moore Lane (1797-1844), in Madras since 1822 (D. G. Crawford, Roll of the Indian Medical Service 1615-2930, 1930).

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the Scotch say, raise my corruption, and provoke me to send him about his business. His name, which I never hear without laughing, is Peter Prim. In this fashion I travelled all night, sleeping very sound in my palanquin from sunset to sunrise; for the bearers make a strange noise between a grunt and a chaunt which has a very lulling effect on me, though some people complain that it keeps them awake. We went, I should think, on an average, about four miles an hour, and changed bearers every fifteen miles or thereabouts. The night was cool; though the part of the country through which I went is generally very hot. But some heavy showers fell during my journey which effectually refreshed the air. At about nine the next morning Arcot appeared. A number of pretty white houses covered with red tiles peeped out from amidst thick trees at the foot of a line of hills. This is the English town of Arcot. The native town, like all the native towns which I have seen, is a maze of wretched huts. So I was told: for I did not go into it. But before I tell you of my reception at Arcot, I ought to describe the country through which I passed from Madras. Half my journey was by daylight; and all that I saw during that time disappointed me grievously. It is amazing to see how small a part of the country is under cultivation, what extensive tracts are apparently abandoned to the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air. Two thirds at least, as it seemed to me, of the country through which I went was in the state of Wandsworth Common, or, to use an illustration which you may understand better, of Chatmoss.l The people whom we met were very few, - as few as in the highlands of Scotland. The villages were also very few and very mean. But I have been told that this is a very unfavourable specimen of the country, that in India the villages generally lie at a distance from the road - a fact which if true is strange enough - and that much of the land which when I passed it looked like a parched moor that had never been cultivated would after the rains be covered with rice. I tell you however what I saw. At Arcot I was most hospitably received by Captain Smith2 who commanded the troops there. He is a relation of a Smith who was Judge at Mauritius, and who, I am afraid, was guilty at least of conniving at the iniquities of Sir Robert Farquhar's administration.3 The Captain however 1

2

3

A swamp between Liverpool and Manchester, it was the greatest obstacle to the building of the Liverpool and Manchester railway. John Smith, captain in the 2nd Regiment of Light Cavalry, Madras; in India from 1816; promoted major, 1837. 'Lawyer Smith they called him in India, and a great scamp, I am afraid, he was' (Journal, in, 29a: 25 August 1849). Sir Robert Farquahar (1776-1830: DNB), Governor of Mauritius, 1812-23. The account in the DNB praises him for vigorous efforts in suppressing the slave trade in Mauritius. The abolitionists took a different view: see Sir George Stephen, Anti-Slavery Recollections, 1854, Letter vn.

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proved a very kind host, and, though I could not join in all his abuse of the Saints and of poor Jeremie,1 who by the bye seems to have shewn in some late transactions more zeal than prudence, I passed a tolerably pleasant day. For you are to understand that in this hot country we rest by day and travel by night. After dinner the palanquins went forward with my servant, and the Captain and I took a ride, in order to see the lions2 of the neighbourhood He mounted me on a very quiet Arab, and I had a pleasant excursion.3 We passed through a garden which was attached to the residence of the Nabobs of the Carnatic, who anciently held their court at Arcot. The garden has been suffered to run to waste, and is only the more beautiful for having been neglected. Garden indeed is hardly a proper word. In England it would rank as one of our noblest parks, from which it differs principally in this, that most of the fine trees are fruit-trees. From this wood we came into a mountain pass which reminded me strongly of Borrodale near Derwent water and through this defile we struck into the road and rejoined the bearers. This was about 7 o'clock on the evening of the 18th of June. We went on through a valley all night, and at daybreak began to ascend a ridge of hills about two thousand feet high. At about half after nine we were on the table land, after going through much very pretty scenery. In a little while three or four horsemen, gaudily but shabbily dressed rode up to my palanquin, and saluted me with drawn swords. I found that I was now in the Kingdom of Mysore, and that these were some of the irregular cavalry, as they are called, in the Mysore service, who had been sent to escort me through that territory. In a little while the village of Vincatagherry made its appearance. A crowd of people poured out to meet me. There is in every Hindoo village, I believe, a headman, a sort of lord of the manor, a little less ignorant and less beggarly than the peasants around him. There is also a police officer called a cutwal, and a revenue officer called a tehsilder. These three functionaries in tolerably clean white robes and turbans, but barefooted, met me, presented me with flowers and fruit, and hung a wreath round my neck. They then trotted on by the side of my palanquin, the whole rabble of the place accompanying them; and before us went the village music, a trumpet which sounded like a cat-call, and a 1

2

3

Sir John Jeremie (1795—1841: DNB), a colonial judge and abolitionist, whose appointment as Public Prosecutor of Mauritius, 1832, was so resisted by the colonists that he was compelled to retire; he returned in 1833 but was again forced to resign in that year after accusing the Mauritius judges of having an interest in slavery. I.e., the sights: derived from the tradition of going to see the lions kept in the Tower of London. When TBM was in Ireland and compelled to mount a horse he recalled this ride: 'I had not crossed a horse since in June 1834 I rode with Captain Smith . . . through the Mango Garden near Arcot' (Journal, m, 29a: 25 August 1849).

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drum which made a noise like a kettle beaten with a poker. I am not musical, as you well know. But, if I may venture to judge, the national music of India is most deplorably bad. Whether the boatmen or the bearers make the more horrible noise, whether the vocal or instrumental music be the worse, I cannot decide. I expected to have been forced to pass this day alone at the bungalow of Vincatagherry. But I was reprieved from bungalow-accomodations for the present. What I mean by bungalow-accommodations you will soon know. The Collector of the district happened to be at Vincatagherry. The name of Collector of a district conveys in India very different ideas from those attached to it in England. The Collector is a civil servant of very high rank. He is placed over the administration, both financial and judicial, of a population of perhaps half a million or a million of souls. His duties are much higher and his importance much greater than that of some Sovereign princes in Europe, of a Duke of Saxe Weimar, for example, or a Duke of Lucca. The Collector during part of the year performs a circuit through his province. He happened to be at Vincatagherry at this time. He and his suite lived in tents which were pitched in a large meadow near the road. His name is Roberts.1 He seemed an intelligent good sort of man and had with him two younger civil servants as his assistants, one of them a nephew of Sir Gilbert Blane.2 I liked this young man particularly. I dressed as well as I could in one of the tents, and dined with the English functionaries in another. The repast and wine were excellent; and indeed these are things which you are pretty sure of finding good among the Europeans in India, however wretched their accommodations may be in other respects. When the heat of the day was over I returned to my palanquin, and, with my train swelled by the Mysore horsemen, proceeded on my journey. I did not sleep quite so well this night, for at every stage where we changed bearers all the authorities of the village were in attendance to make their bows and to present flowers and fruit; a civility which I could well have dispensed with. Still better could I have excused the attendance of the musicians whose noise was as odious to me as the squeaking of a slate-pencil or the scraping up of ashes under a grate. Day came at last, and I reached Bangalore. Bangalore is one of the greatest military stations in India. The Company has at least five thousand excellent troops there, quartered in the neatest cantonments that I ever saw, — quite unlike English barracks. They are low white houses, of one story only, with red tiles, very clean, with 1

2

Charles Roberts, Principal Collector and Magistrate of the Northern Division of Arcot; in India since 1807; retired 1838 (Dodwell and Miles, Alphabetical List of. . . Madras Civil Servants, 1380-1839, 1839). Blane (1749-1834: DNB), one of the best-known physicians of the time, held important hospital, military, and court appointments.

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trees planted before them, and an immense area in the middle covered with grass and railed in. Adjoining to these cantonments, which have something of the look of very neat almshouses are the villas of the principal officers surrounded by small gardens. Here and there a shop has been established with an European name over the door. Through this very agreable scene I passed to the house where I was to be lodged, the house of Colonel Cubbon,1 Commissioner of Mysore. And here I must digress again into Indian politics; and let me tell you that, if you will read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest,2 the little that I may say about them, you will know more on the subject than half the members of the cabinet. In England they attract scarcely any notice. You must have heard of the Kingdom of Mysore. At least you must have heard of the two famous princes who governed it formerly, Hyder Ali and Tippoo Saib. Hyder was a Mahometan. The antient Rajahs of Mysore were Hindoos. Their power had sunk almost to nothing. At last Hyder Ali, who had risen from a low situation to the command of their troops usurped the government and put the old sovereign into confinement. Hyder was the cleverest man by far that we have had to encounter in India. We never could do anything decisive against him. He enlarged his dominions on every side, invaded the Carnatic, gave us several defeats, took several of our forts, — one in which my uncle Colin commanded, — and, if he had not died in the midst of a campaign might perhaps have driven us out of Southern India. His son Tippoo hated us bitterly and was as bitterly hated by us. At last Lord Wellesley attacked him with extraordinary vigour. You must have heard of that war. Tippoo was killed. His capital was taken; and his kingdom was completely conquered. We took a large slice of it for ourselves. The rest we gave to the heir of the old royal family which Hyder had deposed. But we made this new Sovereign tributary to us, and we inserted in our treaty with him an article authorising us to assume the government if he administered it ill. The Rajah was a child, and we gave the Regency to a very intelligent native. For a time things went on well. But the Rajah came to man's estate, tried to govern for himself, mismanaged, wasted his treasures, contracted debts, oppressed his people, and at last drove them to insurrection. Then we interfered. We suppressed the insurrection, and took the government into our own hands.3 The Rajah is accordingly in the same situation with the Nabob of the Carnatic. He resides in his palace 1

2 3

(Sir) Mark Cubbon (1784-1861: DNB); in India since 1800, he had in this month been made sole Commissioner of Mysore. He kept the post for the next twenty-seven years. Sir Charles Trevelyan told Cubbon years later that TBM had been 'highly impressed by him and often talked about him' (Humphrey Trevelyan, The India We Left, 1972, p. 74). Book of Common Prayer, collect for the second Sunday in Advent. The Rajah, Krishnaraja Wodeyar, came of age in 1811 and was deposed in 1831.

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with royal state. But he has no power beyond the walls of his residence. The whole civil government of Mysore is administered by Colonel Cubbon who reigns, - for that is the proper word, — at Bangalore, over a country probably as large and as populous as Scotland. He is a very fit man for so high a post. I had heard him highly spoken of at Madras; and even the civilians, though jealous and displeased that a military man should have been appointed to so important a political situation, allowed that he was a person of eminent abilities. Still I was surprised. I had seen several superior men at Madras. But neither at Madras nor in England have I met with a person who struck me more. Not only did he seem to be thoroughly master of his business, and familiar with every part of the military and civil administration of India; but, though he left England at fifteen, and has passed thirty years in the East without once visiting his native country,1 he was perfectly familiar with European literature and politics, had evidently been an indefatigable reader of good books, and was in short, as Dominie Sampson said of another Indian Colonel, "a man of great erudition, considering his imperfect opportunities."2 His ignorance pleased me even more than his knowledge. Such a listener I never saw. His eager curiosity, his earnest attention, his quick comprehension, were delightful. We passed three days together. For such is the clumsy mode of travelling in this country that it was impossible to make the arrangements for my journey in less time. I had plenty of amusement both indoors and out of doors. The climate of Bangalore, though not so cool as that of the mountains where I now am, is widely different from that of the plain. The heat was never such as to prevent me from going out except at noon, and at night I found a blanket necessary. Bangalore is an interesting place on many accounts. Its fort was formerly considered as one of the strongest in India. It was stormed, after a desperate resistance, by Lord Cornwallis's army in one of our wars with Tippoo. It was, when I was there, interesting on another account. One of the petty princes of the country, the Rajah of Coorg,3 sovereign of a district perhaps as large as Derbyshire or a little larger, had the audacity, 1

2 3

Cubbon died at Suez in 1861 on his return to England, where he had not been in the sixty-one years since he had left it. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. 51. Vira Raja, who succeeded to the throne of Coorg in 1820, had been deposed in April of this year. He died in London, 1863. TBM met him at Lord Ellesmere's in 1852: 'There was the Rajah of Coorg - all the vices of an Oriental despot written on his face - or was it imagination?- How odd that he and I should meet in a London rout. When I landed in India in June 1834, the first news that I heard was of his defeat and captivity, and on my way up to the Neilgherries I crossed the victorious army coming down. When I was at Bangalore as Cubbon's guest the Rajah was there as a prisoner. And now we meet at Bridgewater House' (Journal, v, 47-8: 17 May 1852).

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a few months ago, to go to war with us. He was indeed a more formidable enemy than you might imagine. His principality lies among the mountains between Mysore and Malabar, which are almost impenetrable. I have seen several of the principal officers who commanded against him, and they all say that a skilful general would have held out for years in such a country. But the truth is that every enemy is formidable in India. We are strangers there. We are as one in two or three thousand to the natives. The higher classes whom we have deprived of their power would do anything to throw off our yoke. A serious check in any part of India would raise half the country against us. At Coorg we were very near meeting with a serious check. After some hard righting, however, the Rajah's heart failed him, and he surrendered. He had been a horrible tyrant, — had murdered every relation that he had, and had filled his dominions with noseless and earless people. Some of the stories of his cruelty are too shocking to relate. We spared his life. But he is to be kept a state-prisoner in the strong fortress of Vellore. He had arrived at Bangalore on his way, and was in Colonel Cubbon's custody. He talks of his atrocities with wonderful coolness. He said to Colonel Cubbon. "I had a great mind to crucify the messenger whom you sent to me with a flag of truce. What would you have done if I had?" "We should have hanged you to a certainty" said the Colonel. "Exactly. - " said the Rajah- "I thought so. That was the reason that I did not crucify the man." The fort of Bangalore is handsome and well built. There is a palace within it now almost in ruins, but very like the courts of some of the shabbier colleges at Oxford. The town lies close to the fort, and, like most Indian towns, is surrounded by a strong hedge. The principal shrub in the Indian hedges is the aloe which grows here as abundantly as the thistle in England. These hedges are formidably strong, quite strong enough to keep out those roving marauders who formerly infested the country, nay quite strong enough, as Colonel Cubbon told me, to give very serious trouble even to a regular army. The aloes are so sharp and tough that they will run six inches into a man or a horse. The town within the hedge is large and populous. The houses are about as good as the poorest in Rothley, and not much unlike them. The people seemed very active, and when I passed through the streets, buying and selling was going on at every door. I was now in so cool a climate that I could without inconvenience travel by day. Accordingly after breakfast on Monday the 23d I took leave of Colonel Cubbon, who told me, with a warmth which I was vain enough to think sincere, that he had not passed three such pleasant days for thirty years; and I proceeded on my journey through Mysore. On the whole I thought the country better peopled and better cultivated as I proceeded. 50

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I went on all night, sleeping soundly in my palanquin. At five I was waked, and told that a carriage was waiting for me. I had told Colonel Cubbon that I very much wished to see Seringapatam. He had written to the British authorities at Mysore, and, as the roads in this part of the country for about twenty miles are unusually good, an officer of the name of White 1 had come from the residency with a carriage to shew me all that was to be seen. Seringapatam, you probably know, was the capital of Hyder Ali and Tippoo Saib. It sprang up with them and went down with them. For this is often the fate of cities in the East. A powerful prince likes a particular situation. He fortifies it, builds a palace, holds his court there, assembles his army there. His ministers and courtiers cluster round him. An Indian town is easily built. In a few years a vast city rises composed of mud huts thatched with straw, and inhabited by people who live by the wants or the profusion of the Sovereign, his court, and his army. In this way a population of three or four hundred thousand people has been collected round Madras, and probably twice the number round Calcutta. If the seat of our government were changed, probably in twenty years there would not be ten thousand souls in the place which is now the Capital of our Empire. The huts of the natives cost little. The inhabitants leave them easily, and they fall down or are washed away in a few years. This has been the fate of Seringapatam. In the time of Tippoo's greatness it contained, I have heard, a hundred and fifty thousand people. There are now not five thousand. The situation was found not to agree with Europeans. The population, being principally Mahometan, was attached to the dynasty of Hyder, and unfriendly to the Rajah of Mysore whom we had set up. We accordingly placed the seat of the new government at the town of Mysore, eight miles from Seringapatam. Mysore which I believe had fallen into utter decay, has in consequence flourished, and now contains about thirty thousand people, while Seringapatam is deserted. But Seringapatam has always been an object of peculiar interest to me. It was the scene of the greatest events in Indian history. It was the residence of the greatest of Indian princes. From a child I used to hear it talked of every day. Our uncle was imprisoned there for four years. He was afterwards distinguished at the siege. I remember that there was at a shop window at Clapham a daub of the taking of Seringapatam which, when I was a boy of ten, I used to stare at with the greatest interest. I was delighted to have an opportunity of seeing the place. And, though my expectations were high, they were not disappointed. The town, as I told you, is depopulated. But the fortress, which was one of the strongest in India, remains entire. The Caveri, a river about as 1

3

I cannot identify him among the several Captain Whites in the Madras service. 51

PLO

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broad as the Thames at Chelsea, - at least when I saw it; for it is sometimes nearly dry, - breaks into two branches, and surrounds the walls. Above the fortifications are seen the white minarets of a mosque. We entered, and found everything silent and desolate. The mosque indeed is still kept up, and deserves to be so; for it is an elegant building. But the palace of Tippoo has fallen into utter ruin. I saw however with no small interest the airholes of the dungeon in which the English prisoners were confined, and the water-gate leading down to the river where the body of Tippoo was found still warm by the present Duke of Wellington, then Colonel Wellington. The exact spot through which the English soldiers forced their way against desperate disadvantages into the fort was still perfectly discernible. Though only thirty five years have elapsed since the fall of the city the palace is in a state of as utter ruin as Tintern Abbey or Melrose Abbey. The courts, which bear a great resemblance to those of the Oxford Colleges, are completely overrun with weeds and flowers. The Durbar, or great audience hall, which was once considered as the finest in India, still retains some very faint traces of its old magnificence. It is supported on a great number of light and lofty wooden pillars resting on pedestals of black granite. These wooden pillars were formerly covered with gilding, and here and there the glitter may still be perceived. In a few more years not the smallest trace of this superb hall will remain. I am surprised that more care was not taken by the English to keep up so splendid a memorial of the greatness of him whom they had conquered. The soldiers were suffered to cover the walls of the palace with all sorts of scrawls, and the officers spoiled one of the finest apartments by making it a mess-room. This was not at all like Lord Wellesley's general mode of proceeding. I soon saw a proof of his taste and liberality. Tippoo built a most sumptuous mausoleum for his father Hyder, and attached a mosque to it which he endowed. The building is carefully kept up at the expense of our government. It lies a little way from the fort. You walk up, through a narrow path bordered by flower-beds and cypresses, to the front of the building which is really very beautiful, and, in general character, closely resembles the prettiest and most richly carved of our small Gothic Chapels. The only fault which I find with it is that it is covered with whitewash, instead of being left in naked granite. It is however very fine, and very well kept up. Within are three tombs, all covered with magnificent palls embroidered in gold with verses from the Koran. In the centre lies Hyder, on his right his wife the mother of Tippoo, and Tippoo himself on the left. Having seen these things and some others of less interest, we went on to Mysore, and I must say that the country hereabouts seemed to me the most thriving that I have yet seen in India. The resident at Mysore is now commanding in Coorg, and the residency is uninhabited. I was however 52

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conducted to a small house adjoining, where I was received with abundant hospitality, though I cannot say much for my accommodations. Captain White, the officer who conducted me over Seringapatam and who, in the absence of the resident, was the principal Englishman at Mysore, is certainly not a Colonel Cubbon, but seems a very respectable man, and very seriously, but not fanatically, religious. I met, however, another Englishman at the house where we stopped who accosted me by asking whether I did not think that Napoleon Buonaparte was the Beast, and assured me that he had found out the number 666 in the name of that famous person. I told him that the number 666 had been found in the names of Peter the Great, of Louis the Fourteenth and of Frederic of Prussia. "Ah but," said he, "I can prove this to you. If you write Napoleon Buonaparte in Arabic, only leaving out the letter E in Napoleon and A in Buonaparte, you will find that the Arabic letters, which also stand for numbers, make 666." "Well, Sir," said I, "but I have a much better solution. The House of Commons contains 658 members. These, with the Chaplain, the three Clerks, the Serjeant at arms, the Deputy Serjeant, the Librarian, and the Doorkeeper, who are the principal officers of the House make up 666. I hold therefore that the House of Commons is the Beast." My gentleman stared amazingly at this exposition, and seemed in great doubt whether I was a wicked person or an inspired prophet. He asked me whether I was serious. I told him very seriously that I thought my exposition much better than his. "Pray Sir," said I, "by what right do you leave out all the letters which do not suit you; and why do you suppose that a person writing in Greek to the Greek Churches of Asia should have in his mind the Arabic language, a language probably unknown to him, and certainly unknown to them? Would it not be better to try the Greek letters?" " O h Sir," said my enlightened divine, "the Greek letters were not used to mark numbers." I had now fathomed the depth of his ignorance, and told him, with the most civil air and tone possible, that people who knew Greek were of a different opinion. Captain White seemed rather to enjoy the discomfiture of his friend, who, to do him justice, bore no malice, and talked about the Indian army and the Coorg war much better than about the Beast. We breakfasted, and had scarcely finished when a message came from the Rajah, begging that I would favour him with a visit, and apologising for not having sent his whole court to escort me into the town. He had indeed sent them, but by a road different from that which we had taken. I could have wished to avoid an interview with his Highness. I have told you his situation. His power is now in abeyance. Whether it will ever be restored is doubtful.1 Colonel Cubbon governs the whole of Mysore; 1

The rule of Mysore was restored to Krishnaraja's adopted son in 1881. 53

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and the Rajah is allowed about forty thousand a year to keep up his Court. He is extremely desirous to be suffered again to exercise his power. My opinion was in England and still is that he ought not to be restored, and that the English ought to keep the administration in their own hands. I did not wish to give him hopes which I had no intention of realizing, or, on the other hand, to speak harshly to a fallen prince. It was impossible, however, to refuse his invitation, and, in a short time, several of his principal nobles arrived to escort me. One of them, an old Mahometan, with a long white beard, had been high in office under Tippoo, and told me that he remembered my uncle's name well. We went in great state. The whole thing indeed was better managed than at the Court of the Nabob of the Carnatic. The soldiers were not better dressed or drilled, but their costume was oriental, and had on the whole a striking effect. An elephant richly harnessed, led the procession. Then followed a long stream of silver spears and floating banners. Music, detestable like all the music that I have heard in India, preceded the carriage and the whole rabble of Mysore followed in my train. We came at last to a square surrounded by buildings less shabby than Indian houses generally are. On one side was the palace. The Durbar fronted the square. Like the other Durbars in India, it is open in front, and supported by pillars. A curtain of patchwork colours, red and blue predominating, hung in front. The pillars were gaudily painted and carved, and the whole look of the thing was like that of a booth for strolling players on a large scale. I was ushered by several of the grandees into the private room of audience. Everywhere I saw that mixture of splendour and shabbiness which characterises the native courts. I very nearly broke my neck over a step in a dark passage dirtier and lower than any communication between a kitchen and a coal-hole in England, and at last I scrambled into his Highness's presence. The room in which he received me was very singular. Imagine a low square chamber, lighted by a high sky light. In the middle of the chamber was a square space surrounded, for no earthly purpose that I could imagine, by a low wooden rail. At one end was the throne blazing with gold and covered with embroidered cushions. Below the throne was a handsome chair on which his highness sate or rather squatted like a tailor. A chair for me was placed beside him. The whole room had the look of a toyshop. Everything was like Tunbridge ware. The roof, the walls, the pillars, the railing, were of wood cut into little knobs, cups, and points, coloured and varnished. The floor was carpeted. Whatever was not painted and carved wood was pier glass, and the glasses reflected the room backward and forward in such a way as to 54

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make it seem a perfect universe of knick knackeries. His Highness would be a tolerably good looking man, if he had not a trick which is very common here of always chewing betel nut. He keeps such a quantity of it in his cheek that his face looks quite distorted, and the juice of it makes his mouth a very unpleasing object.1 He talked with prodigious rapidity and vehemence, scarcely ever allowing his interpreter to get to the end of a translation without bursting out again. His theme was, as I had expected, his own situation. He implored my help. He was, he said, the child of the Company. He was not, like their other tributaries, a conquered enemy. We had taken him from a prison, when he was a child. We had seated him on a throne. We might do what we would with him. He would not murmur. If we did bad - so the interpreter rendered his words - he would say good. Then he called his children, two sons and a daughter of about ten or twelve, very richly dressed, introduced them to me, and recommended them to my protection. I have since learned that the children are not legitimate, and will probably not be suffered to succeed him even if he should be restored to his power. I had a difficult part to play. I answered however with every sign of respect that I was convinced that the Government would spare his Highness's feelings as much as possible, that I would serve him in every thing consistent with my duty, that I was highly gratified to hear him express such strong attachment to the English government, and that, in the worst event, I was convinced that he would have everything that could conduce to his personal comfort and dignity. I felt indeed much pity for him and some shame for my country. He has little reason to thank us. Lord Wellesley took him, it is true, when a child, from a prison and set him on a throne; but Lord Wellesley never thought of the duty which he incurred by taking that course. Lord Wellesley never bestowed one moment's reflection on the moral and intellectual education of the boy whom he had made a King. The Rajah was, as he said, the child of the British. We were answerable for his bringing up. And we left him in the hands of the most superstitious and ignorant flatterers. With very considerable natural abilities and with, I am told, many real good qualities, he has reached manhood without having acquired a taste for anything but toys, fine clothes, betel-nut, and dancing girls. If he had been put, like Sarabojee2 the late King of Tanjore, under 1

2

A letter from Madras in the Bengal Hurkaru, 25 August 1834, reports a story current about TBM's visit to the Rajah: 'the drogman not being very skilful in his renderings of Canarese with English, Mr. M. understood his plaints of loss of power and shorn dominions to apply to his cheek (enormously distended with betel) which appeared swollen with severe pain, and when the Rajah was looking for condolence on his fallen estate — he was assured with every feeling of sympathy that "the swelling would soon go down".' Sharaboji, Raja of Tanjore (d. 1833), had been a pupil of the Protestant missionary Christian Schwartz (see to Margaret Cropper, 10 August).

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good tuition, if such a man as Doctor Buchanan1 for example had been charged with his education, if he had been made an accomplished English gentleman, what a different aspect his court would have exhibited. I quite approved of Lord William's conduct in taking the government from so incapable a prince. But I could not forget, while the poor fellow was bemoaning himself to me, that, if we had done our duty by him in the first instance, we never should have been forced to depose him. The past is irreparable. But whatever power I have shall be exerted to prevent the repetition of such fatal errors in future. To give a person immense power, to place him in the midst of the strongest temptations, to neglect his education, and then to degrade him from his high station because he has not been found equal to the duties of it, seems to me to be a most absurd and cruel policy. The Rajah insisted on shewing me his pictures, and, if he had been master of the Vatican or of the Florentine Gallery, he could not have been vainer of his collection. It consisted of about a dozen coloured prints, exactly like those which are hung round the parlours of country inns in England, "Going to C o v e r " - " I n at the D e a t h " - " T h e battle of Waterloo", and so on. After I had expressed proper admiration of his taste and magnificence, and proper joy at finding so discerning a patron of the arts in the East, his Highness, in great elation, ordered the piece which was the glory of his collection to be brought forth. It was preserved with care in a gilded case, and proved to be a head of the Duke of Wellington, as large as the life. I would swear that it had hung on a sign-post in England. I commanded my countenance as well as I could, and followed his highness into his closet, a little room which had more of an English look than any that I had seen in India. It was crowded with English furniture, carpets, sofas, chairs, glasses, tables, and a dozen clocks of ivory and gilt metal. It was not much unlike the drawing room of a rich, vulgar, Cockney cheesemonger who has taken a villa at Clapton or Walworth, and has shewn his own taste in the furnishing of the apartments. The Rajah now left me to the care of his chief courtiers, who offered to shew me over the palace. Above all they begged me to see the regalia 1

Claudius Buchanan (1766-1815: DNB), a protege of the first generation of the Clapham Sect; went to Bengal as a chaplain, became Vice-Provost of the College of Fort William, and actively promoted the idea of Christian missions in India. After reading Pearson's Life of Buchanan in 1857 TBM wrote: 'I remember him well. There was a certain greatness about him which I have seldom seen in any class — something of Napoleon — a boldness, an originality, a largeness of conception, together with a little or rather not a little fanfaronade and humbug. He was quite a peculiar man, unlike the other members of that Evangelical party of which I saw so much in those days. I was only fourteen when he died. Yet I see him and hear him, as if I had been with him this morning' (Journal, xi, 115—16: 11 May 1857).

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of their master. A chest was brought, and the ornaments were produced. There was a rich coat of gold stuff with buttons of garnet, a kind of aigrette for the turban blazing with diamonds, emeralds, and rubies, a dagger with a hilt covered with jewels, and several strings of pearl. The value of the whole must be very great. Indeed when his Highness assumed the government more than twenty years ago, he found himself in possession of a revenue, I believe, of seven or eight hundred thousand a year and of a treasure of between two and three millions sterling which had been laid up by the able minister who conducted the affairs of Mysore during the minority. The treasure is gone; a debt has been incurred; and these playthings are all that his Highness has to shew for it. It was not enough that I had admired his Highness and his Highness's clothes. Love me, love my dog. Admire me, admire my horse. So his Highness's state-horse, a fine white Arab was caparisoned in his best suit and brought out to me. The saddle, bridle, stirrups and every other part of the harness blazed with gold and with stones, which, if not really precious, were very well imitated. Having seen his Highness's clothes, and his Highness's horse, I was favoured with a sight of his Highness's Gods, who were much of a piece with the rest of his establishment. The principal deity was a fat man with a paunch like Daniel Lambert's,1 an elephant's head and trunk, a dozen hands, and a serpent's tail. When I had seen all that was to be seen and had received the usual presents of perfumes, flowers, and fruit, I departed in the same state in which I had arrived, dined with my English hosts, and after dinner set out on my journey again. I slept all night very soundly. When day broke I found that we were entering the vast jungle which lies at the foot of the hills of Malabar. I can give you no notion of the beauty of the scene. For thirty miles we went on through a forest of the richest verdure which spread on every side till it was bounded by a range of lofty mountains. The scene, beautiful as it is, has its drawbacks. It is very unhealthy, and, if I had passed through it in the night, would very likely have given me a fever. There are other dangers. Tigers now and then carry off a traveller, or a wild elephant sets his foot on him and crushes him as flat as a pancake. I saw however no animals more dangerous than monkeys who ran about the trees like the squirrels in England. At about ten o'clock in the morning of Wednesday the 25th I stopped at a bungalow - the first at which I had been compelled to halt, and the meanest that I had ever seen. These bungalows are something like caravanserais. They are houses of one story, unfurnished or almost un1

Lambert (1770-1809: DNB) was the fattest man in England, weighing 739 pounds at death. He lived in Leicester, where TBM may well have seen him.

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furnished, in which a traveller may have shelter from the sun and rain. Food, attendance, a bed, and so forth, he must find elsewhere, or go without them. This bungalow was built of mud and thatched with straw. Its furniture consisted of one wooden table and one wooden chair. The village in which it stood was a collection of wretched huts. There were cows and fowls however. And I had brought sugar, tea, and biscuits. In about an hour my servant brought me breakfast, eggs, a curried chicken, and a large bowl of warm milk. With these and with my tea and biscuits I made a very good meal. At about noon I again entered my palanquin, and began to ascend the mountains. The bearers are a very fine race of men. They climbed without pausing, except to relieve each other: but we were several hours in ascending the steep acclivity. The magnificence of the scenery which opened on me as I mounted is really beyond description. Imagine the vegetation of Windsor Forest or Blenheim spread over the mountains of Cumberland and you will have some notion, an inadequate notion, of what I saw. The road as we approached the summit of the hills became wilder and wilder. We passed the dead bodies of several animals which had probably been killed by wild beasts. Over one carcase half a dozen enormous vultures as large as turkies were revelling, and had picked it almost to the bone. When we were on the top of the hills the vegetation had changed its character. I saw again the fern and the heath of England, or plants so like them that I could see no distinction. The grass which in the plains below is brown and very scanty was as thick and as richly green as in the meadows of Leicestershire in a wet spring. The temperature was that of England, or rather cooler. At last we came to a Bungalow where I found that I was to sleep. This place was a little better than that in which I had breakfasted. It had stone instead of mud, and tiles instead of thatch. Lord William had sent people to prepare a dinner for me, and logs were blazing in the fire-place of the largest room. It was the 25 th of June, Midsummer exactly, and only 13 degrees from the Equator, and yet I was forced to heap on wood, and to draw close to the hearth. After eating a hearty dinner and drinking a pint of very good wine which Lord William had sent in abundance I went to bed in my palanquin. For there was no other place to sleep in. The bearers who had brought me up the hill were to take me on the following day. At five June 26th we were again on the road, and went on for five hours through a hilly country, without many trees but covered with thick green grass. I scarcely saw during these five hours a single sign, except the road on which we trod, which marked that any human being had ever been among those mountains before us. There were no villages, no cultivation going on, and in a space of eighteen miles I do not remember that we 58

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overtook or met any traveller. We passed a river by an odd sort of contrivance on a raft fastened to a rope. At last at about ten o'clock dwellings began to appear, and very soon Ootacamund was before me. Do you know the history of this place? It was discovered about fifteen years ago that the climate in these hills is as fine as that of any country in the temperate zone. Accordingly invalids have frequently resorted hither, and the place has gone on increasing. It has now very much the look of a rising English watering place. There are many scattered dwellings, a few with porticoes and other architectural decorations, but most of them pretty cottages of one story only, white, and roofed with neat red tiling, or thatched. The hills form a sort of basin with a small lake in the middle. A Gothic church has been built here, and one or two shops have been set up. Altogether the coolness, the greenness of the grass, the character of the houses both without and within, is quite English. The place is 7,200 feet above the level of the sea, twice as high, I should imagine, as Snowdon or Benlomond; for my whole journey from Madras hither has been an almost continued ascent. The largest house is occupied by the Governor General. It is a spacious and handsome building of stone. To this I was carried, and immediately ushered into his Lordship's presence. I found him sitting by a fire in a carpeted library. He received me with the greatest kindness, frankness, and hospitality, insisted on my being his guest, ordered me breakfast, and entered at once into business.1 He is, as far as I can yet judge, all that I have heard, — that is to say, rectitude, openness, and good nature personified. His abilities, though not quite on a level with his moral qualities, seem to be highly respectable. Here I stop for the present. I shall continue my letter in a few days when I come to understand the ways of the place.2

TO T H O M A S F L O W E R E L L I S , I J U L Y

1834

MS: Trinity College. Address: T F Ellis Esq / 15 Bedford Place / Russell Square. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Partly published: Trevelyan, 1, 369—73; 374.

Ootacamund July 1. 1834 Dear Ellis, You need not get your map to see where Ootacamund is: for it has not found its way into the maps. It is a new discovery, a place to which 1

2

TBM took the oaths of office and his seat in Council on the next day, 27 June (Letters Received from India and Bengal, 1834-5, 1, 27 June 1834: India Office Library). The letter is continued on 6 July.

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Europeans resort for their health, or, as it is called by the Company's servants — blessings on their learning! — a sanaterion. I always spell the word sanatnpiov. It is indeed a very remarkable place. It lies at the height of 7000 feet above the level of the sea amidst the mountains which separate Mysore from Malabar. While London is a perfect gridiron, here am I at 130 North from the Equator by a blazing wood-fire, with my windows closed. My bed is heaped with blankets, and my black servants are coughing round me in all directions. One poor fellow in particular looks so miserably cold that, unless the Sun comes out more, I am likely soon to see under my own roof the spectacle which according to Shakspeare is so interesting to the English,-a dead Indian.1 I came to this sanatrnpiov not from want of any sanifying process, but on public duty. When we reached Madras, I found a letter waiting for me from Lord William. He told me that he was in these hills, that he was not well enough to leave them at present, that he wished to hold the Council of India here, and that without me a Council could not well be formed. This summons left me no choice. To take my sister was impossible. It would have been as much as her life was worth. The medical men at the Presidency told me that even for me it was a desperate undertaking to travel four hundred miles up the country immediately after landing. The Bishop had earnestly invited us to be his guests at Calcutta. There could be no more creditable protection for my sister. So we parted very reluctantly. She went on to Bengal by sea, and I came up to my Lord by land. I travelled the whole four hundred miles on men's shoulders. I went in one palanquin, my native servant in another. Each palanquin required twelve bearers who were changed every fifteen miles or so. My baggage, though I brought no more than was absolutely necessary, required ten porters. Two police officers with swords and badges ran by my side, and when I crossed the Mysore frontier I was honored by the attendance of some of the Rajah's horse-soldiers, the most miserable ragamuffins that I ever saw, except indeed his Highness's infantry. I had an agreable journey on the whole. On the third day I got fairly on the table-land, and was afterwards little molested by the heat. I stopped for some time at Bangalore, where I found many interesting sights and much pleasant society. I saw Seringapatem, and went over all the decaying monuments of Hyder's and Tippoo's greatness. I was honored with an interview by the Rajah of Mysore who insisted on shewing me all his wardrobe and his picturegallery. He has six or seven coloured English prints not much inferior to those which I have seen in the sanded parlour of a country inn, - " Going to cover" - " The death of the Fox," - and so forth. But the bijou of his 1

The Tempest, II, ii, 32-4. 60

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gallery, of which he is as vain as the Grand Duke can be of the Venus or Lord Carlisle of the Three Maries1 is a head of the Duke of Wellington which has, most certainly, been on a sign-post in England. Yet after all the Rajah was by no means the greatest fool whom I found at Mysore. I alighted at a bungalow appertaining to the British Residency. There I found an Englishman who, without any preface, accosted me thus. "Pray, Mr. Macaulay, do not you think that Buonaparte was the Beast?" "No, Sir, I cannot say that I do." "Sir, he was the Beast. I can prove it. I have found the number 666 in his name. Why, Sir, if he was not the Beast, who was?" This was a puzzling question, and I am not a little vain of my answer. "Sir," said I, "the House of Commons is the Beast. There are 658 members of the House, and these, with their Chief Officers, the three clerks, the Serjeant and his Deputy, the Chaplain, the Doorkeeper, and the Librarian, make 666." "Well, Sir, that is strange. But I can assure you that if you write Napoleon Buonaparte in Arabic leaving out only two letters, it will give 666." "And pray, Sir, what right have you to leave out two letters? And as St John was writing Greek and to Greeks, is it not likely that he would use the Greek rather than the Arabic notation?" "But, Sir," said this learned divine, "every body knows that the Greek letters were never used to mark numbers." I answered with the meekest look and voice possible. "I do not think that every body knows that. Indeed I have reason to believe that a different opinion, — erroneous no doubt, — is universally embraced by all the small minority who happen to know any Greek." So ended the controversy. The man looked at me as if he thought me a very wicked fellow, and, I dare say, has by this time discovered that if you write my name in Tamul, leaving out T in Thomas, B in Babington, and M in Macaulay, it will give the number of this unfortunate beast. When I left Mysore I proceeded through a jungle where a traveller runs a great chance of catching a bad fever, and some chance of being breakfasted on by a tiger or trode out into the shape of a half-crown by a wild elephant. However, I escaped fever, tigers and elephants, and came hither in safety through the finest scenery that I ever saw. Imagine Windsor forest spread over the highest and boldest of the Cumberland mountains and you will have some idea of it. I am very comfortable here. I am the Governor General's guest. But I am in a pretty little cottage buried in laburnums, or something very like them, and geraniums which grow here in the open air, at the distance of a two minute's walk from the large house in which his Lordship and his suite are lodged. He is the frankest and best natured of men. Sir Frederic Adam is also a very pleasing companion. The chief functionaries who 1

See 26 July 1826. 6l

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have attended the Governor General hither are clever people, but not exactly on a par as to general attainments with the society to which I belonged in London. I thought however that, even at Madras, I could have found a very agreable circle of acquaintance. I am assured that at Calcutta I shall find things far better. After all the best rule in all parts of the world, even in London itself, is to be independent of other men's minds — Ne te quaesiveris extra.1 My power of finding amusement without help from companions was pretty well tried on my voyage. I read insatiably - the Iliad and Odyssey Virgil, Horace, Caesar's Commentaries, Bacon de Augmentis, Dante, Petrarch, Ariosto, Tasso, Don Quixote, Gibbon's Rome, Mill's India, all the seventy volumes of Voltaire, Sismondi's history of France, and the seven thick folios of the Biographia Britannica. I found my Greek and Latin in good condition enough. I liked the Iliad a little less and the Odyssey a great deal more than formerly. Horace charmed me more than ever, — Virgil not quite so much as he used to do. The want of human character, the poverty of his supernatural machinery, struck me very strongly. Was ever any thing duller and poorer than the third Book? Compare it with the speciosa miracula of the Odyssey. Can any thing be so bad as the living bush which bleeds and talks, or the Harpies who befoul ./Eneas's dinner? It is as extravagant as Ariosto, and as dull as Wilkie's Epigoniad.2 The poem contains, to be sure, some magnificent speeches and descriptions. But they are a little too much like the purple patches which Horace censures. The last six Books which Virgil had not fully corrected pleased me better than the first six. I like him best on Italian ground. I like his localities, his national enthusiasm, his frequent allusions to his country, its history, its antiquities, and its greatness. In this respect he often reminded me of Sir Walter Scott, with whom, in the general character of his mind, he had very little affinity. The Georgics pleased me better, - the Eclogues best, the second and tenth above all. But I think that the finest lines in the Latin language are those five which begin "Sepibus in nostris parvam te roscida mala" 3 I cannot tell you how they struck me. I was amused to find that Voltaire pronounces that passage to be the finest in Virgil.4 I liked the Jerusalem better than I used to do. I was enraptured with Ariosto; and I still think of Dante, as I thought when I first read him, that he is a superior poet to Milton, that he runs neck and neck and neck with Homer, and that none but Shakspeare has gone decidedly beyond him. 1 2

Persius, Satires, 1, 7. William Wilkie, The Epigoniad, 1757.

3

Eclogues, VIII, 37.

4

Voltaire refers to the passage as 'ces vers admirables' ('De Virgile/ in the article 'Iipope*e/ Dictionnaire Philosophique). 62

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As soon as I reach Calcutta I intend to read Herodotus again. By the bye why do not you translate him? You would do it excellently; and a translation of Herodotus well executed would rank with original compositions. A quarter of an hour a day would finish the work in five years. The notes might be made the most amusing in the world. I wish you would think of it. At all events I hope you will do something which may interest more than seven or eight people. Your talents are too great and your leisure-time too small to be wasted in inquiries so frivolous, I must call them, as those in which you have of late been too much engaged, — Whether the Cherokees are of the same race with the Chickasaws,— whether Van Dieman's land was peopled from New Holland or New Holland from Van Dieman's land, - what is the precise mode of appointing a headman in a village in Tombuctoo. I would not give the worst page in Clarendon or Fra Paolo for all that ever was or ever will be written about the migrations of the Leleges and the laws of the Oscans.1 I have already entered on my public functions, and I hope to do some good.2 The very wigs of the judges in the Court of King's Bench would stand on end if they knew how short a chapter my law of evidence will form. 1 am not without many advisers. A native of some fortune at Madras has sent me a paper on legislation which is almost as good as if Sir Gregory3 himself had written it. "Your honor must know," says this judicious person, "that the great evil is that men swear falsely in this country. No judge knows what to believe and what not to believe. For every man swears falsely when he can gain any thing. So innocent men are punished and offenders are cleared, whereby laws are of no use. Surely if your honor can make men to swear truly your honor's fame will be great and the Company will flourish. Now I know how men may be made to swear truly: and I will tell your honor for your fame and for the profit of the Company. Let your honor cut off the great toe of the right foot of every man who swears falsely, whereby your honor's fame will be extended." Is not this an exquisite specimen of legislative wisdom? 1

2

3

All this refers no doubt to Ellis's 'Niebuhr-madness.' His daughter wrote that 'about this time [c. 1830]... he studied the ethnological questions, which I know always after interested him —both from his conversation and from the familiar sound of the names "Pelasgian" and "Oscan" ever since I can recollect. We have some letters from Dr. Arnold to him in 1830, partly concerning the ancient Italian races; and my Father also wrote out a careful abstract of the 1st volume of Niebuhr's History of Rome, no doubt with a view to the same subject' (MS Memoir, Trinity). As fourth or legislative member of the newly-founded Supreme Council, TBM's immediate task was to help in establishing the Council's procedure. The Charter Act had also created a Law Commission to inquire into the existing state of law and to undertake the composition of a uniform code. TBM was not yet officially on the Commission, but it would appear from this letter that he was already acting on the assumption that he would be. Lewin: see to Hannah and Margaret Macaulay, [2] August 1832.

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I must stop. When I begin to write to England, my pen runs as if it would run on for ever. You shall soon hear from me again and pray let me hear often from you. Malkin, I hear, is very well.1 I shall press him to pay me a visit at Calcutta in the cold season. Remember me most kindly to Mrs. Ellis. Tell me when you write how all your household are going on. Remember me to Adolphus — Drinky — and our other circuit friends. Ever yours affectionately TBM TO M R S E D W A R D C R O P P E R ,

6

JULY

18342

MS: Mrs Lancelot Errington. Extract published: Trevelyan, I, 377.

[Ootacamund] July 6. 1834 Dearest Margaret, I must now conclude my long letter. I have not very much to add to it. I have been ten days here, and my time flows on in the most monotonous manner. The way of life however is not disagreable. The country is decidedly colder, though this is midsummer, than Scotland in April or September. I burn fires in my bed-room and sitting-room, dress pretty warmly, and have already had a slight cold in my head since my arrival. The thermometer over the chimney-piece is at 65°. It was 95° in the shade at Madras. Is it not strange that we should be able to pass in a few hours from the climate of India through all the intermediate stages to that of Russia. You may select the temperature which you like best on these hills - Italy- France - Devonshire or Scotland. The founders of Ootacamund chose the coldest of all. Still we are now and then admonished that we are within thirteen degrees of the line, and that a vertical Sun at noon is a serious matter. It is better on a shiny day not to stir out between ten and two: and it is curious that, though the weather here in July is as cold as in an English spring or autumn, no snow has ever been known to fall here even in the depths of winter. Geraniums and some other plants which require protection in England flourish here in the open air. There are other marks less agreable of our vicinity to the Equator. The tigers prefer the situation to the plains below for the same reason which takes so many Europeans to India. They encounter an uncongenial climate for the sake of what they can get. Ootacamund is the only inhabited spot within many miles. Its flocks and herds tempt the wild beasts 1 2

He was appointed Recorder of Penang, 1832. This letter is the continuation of 27 June.

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to leave warmer, but less plentiful situations which lie below. There is no danger to an European who does not wander imprudently into the wilderness, which I am not likely to do. I am Lord William's guest. But I am not in the same house with him. I am in a charming little cottage, Barley Wood in miniature.1 It is quite buried in geraniums and yellow flowers very like laburnam. Here I have a very comfortable sitting-room and bed room quite a PAnglaise. Besides my half-caste servant whom I told you of, I have a large suite: and half a dozen bearers are always in attendance in case I should want my palanquin, which I find very useful when it rains; and it rains, at the season, eighteen hours in the twenty four. The Governor General's family and guests form a large party. Here is Mr. Macnaghten,2 Chief Secretary to Government, a very great man in India, I can tell you, and deserving of his place which ranks highest next to the members of the Council,- Colonel Casement,3 Military Secretary, also a very important and a very deserving functionary, — the Governor General's private Secretary, Mr. Pakenham,4 who has been extremely kind and attentive to me, — another Secretary who attends on the Governor General in his Character of Commander in Chief, - two aides-decamp, one of them a very lively, pleasant, young soldier, and much smitten by one of the pretty girls who are come up to recover their bloom in these hills, - Dr. Turner,5 my Lord's medical man, skilful, I dare say, and honest, but not a very pleasant companion, a furious Jacobin, and a very noisy and boisterous professor of infidelity. My Lord, though an aristocrat by birth, and an orthodox believer, tolerates all his surgeon's eccentricities, and only insists on his attending service and sermon, — a kind of regimen which, 1 must say, judging from present appearances, seems likely to do more harm than good. These, with myself, make up Lord William's household. There are 1

2

3

4

5

According to S. C. Sanial, TBM's house was called Woodcock Hall (' Macaulay in Lower Bengal/ Calcutta Review, cxxm [April 1906], 2.97x1). (Sir) William Henry Macnaghten (1793-1841: DNB), in India since 1809 and in the Bengal Civil Service since 1814, an authority on law and Oriental languages; Secretary to Government in the Political and Secret Departments, 1833-7. Macnaghten, who had advised Lord Auckland to intervene in Afghanistan, was murdered by the Afghan chiefs with whom he was negotiating during the British retreat from Kabul. Colonel Sir William Casement (1778-1844); he was appointed to the Supreme Council in 1839. Thomas Pakenham (1787-1846) was private secretary to Bentinck from 1829 and returned with him to England in 1835. John Turner (1788-1852), Indian Medical Service, 1816-38. According to Hannah's Memoir, TBM at Ootacamund 'amused himself with making the staff read Clarissa Harlow, and triumphed especially in its effects on the medical man of the party, an old harsh Scotchman, a violent Atheist, and contemner of all sentiment. After crying and almost howling over the last volumes, he was too ill to appear at dinner' (p. 60).

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many other people in the hills — some of high importance - Sir Frederic Adam, Governor of Madras, an extremely amiable companion, a brave soldier, and a staunch Whig; - Colonel Morison,1 who succeeded our uncle as Resident at Travancore, who preceded Colonel Cubbon as Commissioner of Mysore, and who has just been promoted to a seat in the Supreme Council, being the first military man who ever sate in it. Morison has a very great Indian reputation, but he hardly supports it, I think. However, I have as yet seen very little of him. Sir Robert O'Callaghan,2 the Commander in Chief of the Madras army, and Sir John Dalrymple,3 who is the general commanding one division of that army, have also been here. There are many others of inferior note. I meet every day with riding parties, which have also much the look of flirting parties, consisting of smart English damsels escorted by young officers, and with nurseries of fine, chubby, rosy, children, looking as well as I hope your dear little boy looks, and looking the better for the foils which accompany them in the shape of coal-black nurses and bearers. Should you like to know how I pass my day here? One day is the picture of another. I rise at half after six, take a cup of coffee, dress, and, if the weather will permit it, walk for two hours. At nine we breakfast. From breakfast to five in the afternoon, I am writing minutes or letters, discussing business, paying or receiving calls. At five, unless it rains, which is the case oftener than I would wish, I take a long walk, generally with Macnaghten, Pakenham, and one or two others. At a little before seven I return to dress. At half after seven I go in my palanquin to his Lordship's house to dinner; and I am always in bed by ten. Nobody here eats tiffin; and I am glad to find that it is a decaying fashion. I particularly dislike it, and am pleased to learn that it is going out. I have not yet heard from Hannah since her arrival at Calcutta. The slowness of the post is one of the greatest torments in India. You might hear at Liverpool from New York in less time than it requires to convey a letter from Bengal to these hills. For all purposes of communication Stanley4 is quite as near to Canada or Jamaica as Lord William to his own seat of government. I have no expectation of receiving news about Hannah for another week. I shall probably remain here till past the middle of September. I shall then go to Madras in the hope of finding a conveyance to Bengal before the Monsoon changes. By the 15th of October I hope to rejoin Hannah at 1

2

3 4

Colonel Sir William Morison (d. 1851: Boase), in the Madras Establishment since 1799; member of Supreme Council, 1834—7. O'Callaghan (1777-1840: DNB), a Peninsular veteran, Commander at Madras, 1830-6. Dalrymple (d. 1835), commanded the southern division of the Madras Establishment. I.e., the Colonial Secretary.

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Calcutta. But before that time I shall doubtless have opportunities of writing to you. For the present, my love, farewell. Ever yours TBM TO M R S E D W A R D C R O P P E R , 10 A U G U S T

1834

MS: Mrs Lancelot Errington. Extracts published: Trevelyan, 1, 364; 375-6.

Ootacamund August 10. 1834 Dearest Margaret, I suppose that you have received my last letter from these hills.1 It went by the Claudine from Madras on July the 27th. This letter will go by the Sesostris which will sail in about a week. Lest any mischance should have befallen my large packet of last month, I will very briefly recapitulate the contents. I told you how I saw the Nabob of the Carnatic in all his glory — how sadly Nancy and I parted and set out different ways, she to the Bishop at Calcutta, and I to join the Governor General on the mountains of Malabar, how I travelled through Arcot and Bangalore, how I visited Seringapatam and saw my uncle's dungeon and the ruins of Tippoo's palace, how I was honoured with an audience by the Rajah of Mysore, and what I thought of his establishment, how I came up to these hills and how kindly I was received here by Lord William. I shall now take up my story where I left it off. But I may say, I am afraid, with the needy knife-grinder — " Story — God bless you — I have none to tell, Ma'am."2 For if ever there was a month of my life barren of incident, it has been this last. Llanrwst, Tunbridge-Wells, the Asia, were amusing places compared with Ootacamund. You have no conception of the dulness and monotony of life here. I have books, and I have public business to transact: but still time hangs heavy on my hands; particularly as the Bengalese gentlemen who form the Court of the Governor General feel the tediousness of their stay here far more than I do, and never meet at breakfast in the morning, or part after coffee at night, without ejaculating "What a stupid place this is! When shall we be at Calcutta!" A watering place was always an object of especial aversion to me. And this is the worst of watering-places. It is so rainy that during the last month I have not been able to walk for two hours. It is so distant from the civilized world that we think ourselves happy, if the post from Calcutta arrives on the sixteenth day. 1

2

Margaret did not live to receive any of TBM's Indian letters: she died two days after this one was written. George Canning, ' The Friend of Humanity and the Knife-Grinder,' in the Anti-Jacobin, Number 2.

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These hills were discovered only about twelve or fifteen years ago, and are certainly invaluable as a place of resort for invalids. The climate indeed is so cold that constitutions broken by the heat are often unable to stand it: but in many cases it has a wonderfully restorative effect. I have had excellent health during my stay here. Once indeed I had an attack of sore throat. But the enemy was soon dislodged by flannel and hartshorn. My native servants are coughing and shivering all round me. I have bought them thick woollen clothing, however; and they look rather less miserable than they did six weeks ago when they were exposed to the temperature of an English November in garments no warmer than an English shirt. The climate of these hills is particularly injurious to people who have a tendency to liver-complaints. One of the aides-de-camp of Lord William died of an abscess which appeared as soon as ever he came up to the tableland, and advanced to maturity so rapidly that it was impossible to send him down. This was a little before my arrival. I have had a very melancholy proof of the same truth under my own eyes. Did I not mention to you in my last letter my half-caste servant, Peter Prim? He was well recommended to me at Madras, and quite deserved the recommendations which were given to him. Poor fellow! On the day on which we set out on our journey to the hills he told me that he was a Catholic, and added, crossing himself most devoutly and turning up the whites of his eyes, that he had recommended himself to the protection of his patron, Saint Peter, and that he was quite confident that we should perform our journey happily and in safety. I thought of Ambrose Llamela - do you remember him?— Gil Bias's devout valet, who arranges a scheme for robbing his master of his portmanteau, and, when he comes back from meeting his accomplices, pretends that he has been to the Cathedral to implore a blessing on their journey.1 I did Peter great injustice however: for I found him a very honest man, though a bit of a prig. Poor man! Before we had been in the hills a fortnight he became very ill. He concealed his disease for a time, and made light of it even after I had insisted on his keeping himself quiet and seeing a physician. He became worse and worse, and, at last, it was discovered that an abscess was forming in his liver. I did what I could for him. The physician however had very little hope from the beginning. A rich sort of hotel-keeper who lives here and who is making a great deal by the Governor General and his suite is a half caste and Catholic, like poor Peter; and shewed a very pleasing sympathy for his brother in affliction. This hotel-keeper has built a small chapel near Ootacamund for the Catholics who are numerous hereabouts. When Peter became very ill, I sent my palanquin for the 1

Book 1, ch. 16.

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priest. The priest came, a tall venerable looking man with a black beard. He could not talk a word either of English or Latin, so that I was utterly unable to judge whether Peter was likely to be much benefited by his instructions and consolations. He confessed my poor man, absolved him, and gave him the last sacraments of the Romish Church. The struggle continued however for near ten days more. The sick man's room opened into mine, and I heard his gaspings and moanings plainly through the door. At last, after a hard battle, he sank. I ordered him to be decently buried. The Catholics of the neighbourhood assembled at my bungalow and carried him to their cemetery in a very decorous and solemn manner. I cannot tell you how curious an effect was produced by the contrast between their oriental dresses and complexions and the European character of their rites. They all carried crosses in their hands; and in their chaunt I could repeatedly distinguish the word Yesu — Jesus. I do not know whether they performed the service in Latin or not. If they did their pronunciation is very strange. They praised my attention to the poor fellow; and I saw a letter from one of them in which I was called the benefactor of my servant. This says but little for the general conduct of masters in India. For I did absolutely nothing more than common humanity required, and had been sometimes inclined to fear that I had done less.1 As I have mentioned the Catholic population, I must add that, by all that I can learn, I am led to believe that the Catholics are the most respectable portion of the native Christians. As to Schwartz's2 people in Tanjore, they are a perfect scandal to the religion which they profess. It would have been thought something little short of blasphemy to say this a year ago. But now it is considered as impious to say otherwise. These people have got into a violent quarrel with the Bishop and the missionaries. The missionaries refused to recognize the distinctions of caste in the administration of the sacrament of the Lord's supper, and the Bishop supported them in the refusal. I do not pretend to judge whether this was right or wrong. Swartz and Bishop Heber conceived that the distinction of caste, however objectionable politically, was still only a distinction of rank; and 1

2

TBM tells this story, or something like it, as a hypothetical case in his essay on Gladstone *A Protestant gentleman is attended by a Catholic servant, in a part of the country where there is no Catholic congregation within many miles. The servant is taken ill, and is given over. He desires, in great trouble of mind, to receive the last sacraments of his Church. His master sends off a messenger in a chaise and four, with orders to bring a confessor from a town at a considerable distance. Here a Protestant lays out money for the purpose of causing religious instruction and consolation to be given by a Catholic priest. Has he committed a sin?' (ER, LXIX, 272). Christian Frederick Swartz, or Schwartz (1726-98: DNB), German Protestant missionary, among the earliest in India; he eventually concentrated on the mission at Tanjore. A Life of Schwartz, by the Evangelical Hugh Pearson, appeared in three volumes, 1834.

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that, as in English Churches the gentlefolks generally take the sacrament apart from the poor of the parish, the high-caste natives might be allowed to communicate apart from the Pariahs. Whoever was first in the wrong, however, the Christians of Tanjore took care to be most in the wrong. They called in the interposition of the Government, and sent up such petitions and memorials as I never saw before or since. Such folly, arrogance, spite, falsehood, hypocrisy, were never known. Their remonstrances are made up of lies, invectives, bragging, cant, texts of Scripture quoted without the smallest application, and bad grammar of the most ludicrous kind. I remember one passage by heart, which is really only a fair specimen of the whole. "These Missionaries, my Lord," they say, "loving only filthy lucre, bid us to eat Lordsupper with Pariahs as lives ugly, handling dead men, drinking rack and toddy, sweeping the streets, mean fellows altogether, base persons, contrary to that which Saint Paul saith - 'I determined to know no thing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified.'" Was there ever a more apposite quotation. I believe that nobody on either side of the controversy found out a text so much to the purpose as one which I cited to the Council of India, when we were discussing this business. "If this be a question of words and names and of your law, look ye to it: for I will be no judge in such matters."1 But though, like Gallio I drave these petitioners from my judgment seat, I could not help saying to one of the missionaries who is here on the hills that I thought it a pity to break up the Church of Tanjore on account of a matter which such men as Swartz and Heber had not been inclined to regard as essential. "Sir," said the reverend gentleman, "the sooner the Church of Tanjore is broken up the better. It is a mere blot on Christianity. You can form no notion of the worthlessness of the native Christians there." I could not dispute this point with him: for, judging by their memorials, which were signed by many priests and catechists, I was inclined to be much of his opinion. But I could not help thinking though I was too polite to say, that it was hardly worth the while of so many good men to come fifteen thousand miles over sea and land in order to make proselytes who, their very instructors being judges, were more children of hell than before. I have not yet seen much of the idolatry of India, and the little which I have seen, though excessively absurd, as all idolatry must be, is not characterised either by atrocity or indecency. But I have as yet no right to pronounce a judgment. Nothing of the sort is to be seen at Ootacamund. I have not during the last six weeks witnessed, to the best of my recollection, a single circumstance from which you could have inferred that this was a heathen country. There is no pagoda here to my knowledge, and 1

Acts 18:15; the next sentence is the substance of the next verse. 70

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there are Christian Churches both Protestant and Catholic. The bulk of the natives here are a colony from the plains below who have come up hither to wait on the European visitors, and who seem to trouble themselves very little about caste or religion. The aboriginal population of these hills is a very singular race. They are called the Todas. They attracted no notice till within the last few years. The coldness of this ridge which attracts Europeans to it kept away the races who governed here before us. Neither Hyder or Tippoo, I believe, ever troubled themselves about the people who lived on the top of the Neilgherries. They are all herdsmen. They are in the lowest state of ignorance and barbarism. Their only wealth consists in cattle. They are thinly scattered in little villages of five or six huts each over a country as large as Westmoreland, or larger. They were till very lately the only occupants of this country, and their whole number is believed to be short of two thousand. They had a great funeral a little while ago, and some of Lord William's suite went to see the ceremony. I should have gone had it not been a council-day. But I found afterwards that I had lost nothing. The whole ceremony consisted in sacrificing bullocks to the manes of the defunct. The butchery was, I learned, sufficiently disgusting and the roaring of the poor victims quite horrible. The people, men and women, stood round talking and laughing till a particular signal was made: and immediately all the ladies lifted up their voices and wept aloud. As I have not lived three and thirty years in this world without having learned that a bullock roars when he is knocked down, and that a woman can cry whenever she chuses, I do not imagine that I should have enlarged my information much by attending this ceremony. What a rambling, unconnected letter this is! But what would you have? I am in a wilderness which affords no material for connected narrative. A dinner is a great event here. Now and then some invalid of importance who has a house on the hills gives an entertainment, and this breaks a little the monotony of our life, particularly if the party be graced by one of the two or three pretty girls who are at Ootacamund, and for whom Lord William's aides-de-camp are ready to pistol each other and themselves. For my part, I did not keep my liberty in Berkeley Square and Curzon Street to lose it on the Neilgherries. Hannah's letters are among the most interesting events of my life here. She is safe and well at Calcutta. Though the season is generally considered as very unhealthy she has been free from all ailments. She tells me that she looks very well, and that the Doctors pronounce her made for this climate. She is now with the Bishop. When the Bishop goes on his visitation she is to be with Lady William Bentinck1 who, my Lord says, 1

Nee Lady Mary Acheson, daughter of the first Earl of Gosford: *A more amiable and excellent woman never existed in the world' (Greville, Memoirs, 7 May 1843: v, 90). 71

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has taken a very great liking to her. They are very gay at Calcutta, and the Bishop puts no restraint on Nancy. She goes with Lady William to Balls and Operas, and would have gone to the French play, but that she thought it better to read the performance before she saw it. It happened to be Tartuffe, and, having read it, she was not inclined to attend the representation of it. This is a stupid letter. My next, I hope, will be more amusing. I am about to change the scene. On the ist of September I shall leave the hills. The Governor General and his suite will be here a month longer: but he can spare me; and I am very desirous to rejoin Nancy, and to be comfortably settled in our Indian home. I shall go to Madras by the same road by which I came from it. I should have preferred taking a different route and seeing Trichinopoly and Tanjore, places which I shall probably never have another opportunity of seeing. But the doctors say that the Bangalore road is the most healthy at this season: and I submit. My next will probably be dated from Madras, where I shall be within a month from this time. I shall sail from Madras to Calcutta by the first ship that has good accommodations. This letter, my dearest Margaret, I mean as a sort of general epistle to the family. I shall send you a series of such epistles, and I wish you to let my father, Selina, Fanny, Charles, and George, if he cares for them, see how I am going on. / Ever, dearest Margaret, Yours most affectionately T B Macaulay TO S E L I N A AND F R A N C E S MACAULAY, IO A U G U S T

1834

MS: Trinity College. Address: The Miss Macaulays. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Partly published: Trevelyan, i, 373-4.

Ootacamund August ioth. 1834 Dearest girls, I received last week two of the kindest letters that ever were written, both dated on the 21st of March. You will have heard before you receive this of our adventures, of our safe arrival at Madras, and of our very disagreable separation. Hannah went on by sea to the Bishop at Calcutta, and is now figuring away there at balls and operas under the kind chaperonage of Lady William Bentinck. I was forced to come up by land to join the Governor General in the midst of the mountains of Malabar. I am now in this little village, on the top of a mountainous chain twice as high as the highest Scotch hills, - wrapped in clouds and streaming with rain during half the year, - and surrounded for many miles by a wilderness inhabited only by elks and tigers. 72

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10 August 1834

I sent last month a full account of my journey hither and of the place to Margaret, as the most stationary of our family, desiring her to let you all see what I had written to her. I think that I shall continue to take the same course. It is better to write one full and connected narrative than a good many imperfect fragments. I had a letter from Hannah to day. The post is sixteen days in running from Calcutta to these hills, - a longer time by half than a courier takes to go from Naples to London. She was in excellent health and spirits when she wrote - that is on the 24th of July. I am as well as ever I was in my life. I eat and drink heartily, am always asleep before I have been ten minutes in bed, and am always up within ten minutes after I wake. In about three weeks I shall leave the hills and proceed to Madras. Thence I shall go by sea to Calcutta, where I hope to arrive about the end of September or the beginning of October. Money matters seem likely to go on capitally. My expenses, I find, will be smaller than I anticipated. The rate of exchange - if you know what that means - is very favourable indeed: and, if I live, I shall get rich fast. I quite enjoy the thought of appearing in the new character of an old hunks who knows on which side his bread is buttered, — a warm man — a fellow who will cut up well. This is not a character which the Macaulays have been much in the habit of sustaining. But I can assure you that, after next Christmas, I expect to lay up on an average about seven thousand pounds a year while I remain in India. At Christmas I shall pay Edward what I owe him, and shall send home a thousand or twelve hundred pounds for you, my father, and Charles. George will be your banker. I cannot tell you what a comfort it is to me to find that I shall be able to do this. It reconciles me to all the pains acute enough sometimes, God knows — of banishment. In a few years, if I live, — probably in less than five years from the time at which you will be reading this letter, we shall be again together in a comfortable, though a modest, home, certain of a good fire, a good joint of meat, and a good glass of wine, without owing obligations to any body, and perfectly indifferent, at least as far as our pecuniary interest is concerned, — to the changes of the political world. Rely on it, my dear girls, that there is no chance of my going back with my heart cooled towards you. I came hither principally to serve my family, and I am not likely while here to forget them. Kindest love to Charles. Why does he not write to me? I write to my father [... .]l 1

The bottom half of the last leaf of the sheet has been torn away.

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Thomas Spring-Rice

TO THOMAS SPRING-RICE, I I AUGUST

1834

MS: John Rylands Library. Mostly published: W. T. M. Torrens, Memoirs of Viscount Melbourne, 2nd edn, 1878,11, 15-17.

Ootacamund August n . 1834 Dear Rice, Your relation Mr. Sandes,1 finding when he reached Bengal, that I was with the Governor General on the top of the highest mountain in Malabar, sent me the letter which you had entrusted to his care. I shall be most happy to form his acquaintance when I go down from this region of clouds and wild beasts into the civilized world. Many thanks for the kindness of the expressions in your letter. I was indeed truly sorry to leave England without shaking you by the hand. But, after all, partings are sad things. And I had quite as many of them to go through as I could well stand. What shall I find you when I come back? Whatever you chuse. That is my firm opinion. The game is in your own hands: and if you are not prime minister, or very near it, when I return, which will be, I hope, before the end of 1839, I shall say that you have played the game ill. I am too far from the scene of action to offer any opinion about particular divisions, or the details of the parliamentary warfare. But I think that I can judge pretty well, even in the midst of this wilderness, of the great political operations which are going on in England. And my judgment is this. The strongest party, beyond all comparison, in the empire, is what I call the centre gauche, the party which goes further than the majority of the present ministry, and yet stops short of the lengths to which Hume and Warburton 2 go. That party is a match for all the other parties in the state together. It contains, I imagine, three fourths of the constituent body. But it has no head. Lord Althorp with Stanley's abilities, or Stanley with Lord Althorp's opinions and temper, would be the leader of that party, and, consequently the most powerful man in the country. But Stanley's opinions are aristocratical and his manners unpopular. Lord Althorp's talents are not eminent: and either of them may any day be translated to the House of Lords. I see no man among the Whigs so well qualified as yourself, by talents for business and talents for debate combined, to lead the House of Commons, or, in other words, to rule the empire. Stick to the Centre Gauche. Gain their confidence. And 1

2

Perhaps Maurice Sandes (b. 1806?), who graduated from the University of Dublin in 1828, entered Gray's Inn, 1829, and became Registrar of the Supreme Court, Calcutta, in 1848. Henry Warburton (i784?-i858: DNB), Radical M.P., 1826-41; 1843-7; closely associated with Hume.

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you may do what you please. This is the game that I would have tried to play, if I had remained in England. It is a game which you can play, and which nobody now in the House of Commons can play but yourself. Our latest news from England comes down only to the 10th of April. I am quite with you about the pensions.1 Indeed I think that to touch the pensions already granted would be downright robbery. But I own that the way in which you are dealing with the other great questions before you makes me very uneasy. Why must O'Connel have the credit of originating an amendment of a part of our jurisprudence so unpopular and so absurd as the libel-law?2 And this when, to my certain knowledge, the Attorney General3 had strongly pressed on the Cabinet the expediency of doing something on that subject? Why was Lord John Russell suffered to bring in so miserable, so contemptible a measure as the bill for dissenter's marriages?4 I have been laughing over it with Lord William Bentinck, and, familiar as we are with the wretched and unworkman-like legislation of India, we both agreed that it was the worst-constructed law that we ever fell in with. But I will have done with scolding: and indeed I must have done altogether. For the post is going out, and my letter will be at Madras but just in time to catch the Sesostris. I am much obliged to you for your letter to Sir John Franks.5 I will present it to him when I reach Calcutta. If now and then you can steal a little time from parliamentary business and official business, write me a few lines. I shall be delighted to receive them, and above all delighted if they tell me that you and your family are well. / Ever, dear Rice, Yours most truly T B Macaulay 1

2

3 4

5

A motion for a select committee of inquiry into the pensions on the civil list was defeated on 18 February. O'Connell introduced a bill to amend the libel law on 18 February, prodding the government to appoint a committee to study the law on 18 March. Sir William Home. Russell's bill, which was withdrawn, proposed to allow Dissenters to marry in their own chapels after the banns had been published in the parish church. Franks (1770-1852: DNB)f was judge of the Supreme Court at Calcutta, 1825—34.

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[August? 2834]

Lord William Bentinck

TO LORD WILLIAM BENTINCK, [AUGUST?

1834]1

MS: University of Nottingham.

[Ootacamund] My dear Lord, What was done when Lord Wellesley and Lord Cornwallis were at sea on the passage from Calcutta to Madras? What was done while your Lordship was at sea a few months ago? Those precedents may be followed, as far as the executive functions of the Supreme Government are concerned. As to legislation, the sittings of the legislature are suspended in England six months in the year, and may surely be suspended in India for three weeks without serious inconvenience. I doubt whether the question deserves much consideration. / Ever, my dear Lord, Yours truly T B Macaulay TO M R S E D W A R D C R O P P E R , 3 O C T O B E R

1834

MS: Mrs Lancelot Errington. Address: Mrs. E Cropper / Messrs. Cropper Benson and Co / Liverpool. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Extracts published: Trevelyan, I, 376; 378-81.

Calcutta October 3. 1834 Dearest Margaret, I mean this for a general epistle to all the venerable circle, as Miss Byron would have called it. Before it reaches you, you will, I hope, have received the letters which I wrote to you from Ootacamund. The last was sent by a ship which sailed from Madras, if I remember right, on the 19th of August. Since that time I have had no opportunity of writing. I have travelled a good deal by land and sea, and have seen very much more than I shall be able to find time to relate. I staid on the hills of Malabar till the end of August. Nothing could be duller. The rain streamed down in floods. It was very seldom that I could see a hundred yards before me. There were no books in the place except those which I had brought up with me. As to my companions, their faces reflected only each other's ennui. They pined for Calcutta, just as a townbeauty married to a country curate, would pine for Almack's and the Opera. I really thought that we should have had to cut Macnaghten down 1

This note is TBM's reply to a query from Bentinck as to who will exercise the functions of the government on land while the Supreme Council is at sea from Madras to Calcutta en route from Ootacamund. Bentinck's note enclosing the query asks ' Is the question worth considering . . . ?' (MS, University of Nottingham). TBM's reply was obviously written sometime between his arrival in Ootacamund on 27 June and his departure on 31 August.

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3 October 1834

from the beam of his ceiling, and to fish Colonel Casement out of the tank. I bore the dulness of the place better than any of the party; and yet I never was so dull in my life. At length Lord William gave me leave of absence. My bearers were posted along the road. My baggage was sent off. My palanquins were packed. My debts were paid. Every thing was ready. I was to start next day, when an event took place which may give you some insight into the state of laws, morals, and manners among the natives. I told you that my servant Peter died after I had been on the hills about a month. He was succeeded by a man from Bangalore — a Christian — such a Christian as the missionaries make in this part of the world, — that is to say a man who superadds drunkenness to the other vices of the natives. I should hardly have ventured to say this formerly. But late events have cleared up truths which had long been concealed: and I believe that the missionaries and the Bishop himself will now acknowledge that their converts are among the most worthless members of society in India. My servant had been persecuted most unmercifully by the servants of some other gentlemen on the hills for his religion. At last they contrived to excite against him,—whether justly or unjustly I am quite unable to say, — the jealousy of one of Lord William's under-cooks. We had accordingly a most glorious tragicomedy — the part of black Othello by the cook aforesaid, — Desdemona by an ugly impudent Pariah girl, his wife, — Iago by Colonel Casement's servant, - Michael Cassio by my rascal. The place of the handkerchief was supplied by a small piece of sugar-candy which Desdemona was detected in the act of sucking, and which had found its way from my canisters to her fingers. If I had my part in the piece, it was, I am afraid, that of Rodrigo, whom Shakspeare describes as "a foolish gentleman," and who also appears to have had "money in his purse." 1 On the evening before my departure my bungalow was besieged by a mob of blackguards. The native judge whose business it is to try cases of this kind, under the controul of the English authorities, came with them. After a most prodigious quantity of jabbering of which I could not understand one word, I called the judge, who spoke tolerable English, into my room, and learned from him the nature of the case. I was, and still am, in utter doubt as to the truth of the charge. I have a very poor opinion of my man's morals, and a very poor opinion also of the veracity of the accusers. It was however so very inconvenient for me, at setting out on a journey of four hundred miles through countries of which I did not know the language, to be deprived of my servant, that I offered to settle the business at my own expence. This would, under ordinary circumstances, have been easy enough. For the Hindoos of the lower castes 1

Cf. Othello, 1, iii, 389, and 1, iii, 344.

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have no delicacy on these subjects. The husband would gladly have taken a few rupees and walked away. But the persecutors of my servant interfered, and insisted that he should be brought to trial, in order that they might have the pleasure of smearing him with filth, beating kettles before him, carrying him round the town on an ass with his face to the tail, and giving him a good flogging. As I found that the matter could not be accommodated, I begged the judge to try the cause instantly. He would gladly have done so. But the rabble insisted that the trial could not take place for some days. I argued the matter with them very mildly. I told them that judge, parties, witnesses, were all present, - that there could be no reason for not deciding the matter immediately, - that I must go the next day, - and that, if my servant was detained, he would lose his situation, which would be very hard upon him, if, on investigation, he appeared to be innocent. They were obstinate. They returned no answer to my reasons, but threatened the judge, and repeated that my servant should not be tried for three days, and that he should be imprisoned in the meantime. I now saw that their object was to deprive him of his bread, whether he turned out to be guilty or innocent. I saw also that the gentle and reasoning tone of my expostulations made them impudent. They are in truth a race so much accustomed to be trampled on by the strong, that they always consider humanity as a sign of weakness. The judge told me that he never heard any gentleman speak such sweet words to the people in his life. But I was now at the end of my sweet words. My blood was beginning to boil at the undisguised display of rancorous hatred and shameless injustice. I sate down and wrote a line to the Commandant of the station, under whose controul the administration of justice is placed. I begged him to give orders that the case might be tried that very evening. He instantly sent the necessary directions. The court assembled; and continued all night in violent contention. At last the judge pronounced my servant not guilty. I did not then know, what I learned some days after, that this respectable magistrate received twenty rupees as a bribe on the occasion. The beaten party were furious, as you may imagine. The husband would gladly have taken the money which he had refused the day before. But I would not give him a farthing. The rascals who had raised the whole disturbance were furious at being disappointed of their revenge. I had no notion however that they would have gone such lengths as they did go. My servant was to set out at eleven in the morning. I was to follow at two. We had made this arrangement in order that he might arrive before me at the bungalow where I was to sleep, and might make every thing ready. His palanquin had scarcely left the door when I heard a noise. I looked out. And I saw that the gang of blackguards who had pestered me 78

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the day before had attacked him, pulled him out, torn off his turban, stripped him almost naked, and were, as it seemed, about to pull him to pieces. I snatched up a sword-stick, and ran into the middle of them. It was all that I could do to force my way to him: and really, for a moment, I thought my own person in danger as well as his. But this was a mistake. Even in their rage, they retained a great respect for my race and station. I supported the poor wretch in my arms. For, like most of his countrymen, he is a chicken-hearted fellow, and was almost fainting away. They surrounded us storming, and shaking their fists, and would not suffer me to replace him in his palanquin. But my honest barber, a fine old soldier in the Company's army, and a great admirer of me, as soon as he saw me in this scrape, ran to the Governor General's and soon returned with some police officers. I ordered the bearers to turn round, and to proceed instantly to the house of Colonel Crewe,1 the Commandant. I was not long detained here. Nothing can be well imagined more expeditious than the administration of justice in this country when the judge is a Colonel and the plaintiff a Councillor. I told my story in three words. In three minutes the rioters were marched off to prison, and my servant with a sepoy to guard him was fairly on his road and out of danger. Though he is, I fear, a very worthless fellow, he seemed deeply affected by my exertions in his defence. He cried, prostrated himself on the ground, and put his turban into my hands. I had and have great doubts about his innocence on this occasion. But I am sure that the persecution which he underwent was prompted by religious malignity, and that the last attack on him, after he had been legally acquitted, was a gross and intolerable outrage. I did not then know that the judge had been corrupted: and even if I had known it, such is the state of Indian morality that there would have been nothing uncommon or disgraceful in the transaction.2 I had acted through this whole business without assistance or advice from any person. Indeed the emergency came so suddenly that I could not send for any body. When I went up to the Governor General's to take my leave, Lord William and all the party were surprised and indignant at 1 2

Col. Richard Crewe (1782?—1836), in the East India Company's service since 1802. A rather different version of this story was remembered and told against TBM in India to demonstrate his ignorance of the country. TBM is represented as having given the native judge a florid testimonial in writing, calling him his ' zealous, his intelligent, his immaculate friend, distinguished for his penetration and high legal acquirements.' TBM's servant is reported to have said to the judge: 'The charge is true enough, but I wanted the woman not for myself, but for my master.' When TBM learned that the judge had been corrupted and that his servant was guilty, he fired the servant but could not touch the judge, who frequently displayed TBM's testimonial to the visitors to Ootacamund {Bengal Hurkaru, 31 May 1836). In cruder versions of the story, the charge of seduction is said to have been made and proved against TBM rather than his servant.

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the outrage which had taken place. It is very seldom that such a thing happens in this country when an European functionary of high rank is concerned. But the rabble of Ootacamund is remarkable for profligacy, ferocity and impudence. I took leave of all my friends on the hills with many expressions of good-will. There are two for whom I have really a very great regard, Lord William and Macnaghten the Secretary of Government. Lord William absolutely insisted on my making the Government House my residence at Calcutta, till I could find a convenient place of abode. I had forgotten, oddly enough, to mention that Henry Babington and his wife1 arrived on the hills some days before my departure. I liked them both much and saw much of them. She is a woman of agreable manners, and, in spite of ill health, of agreable person. He seems to make her a very good husband. He has a fair — indeed a high — character for ability and attention to his public duties. I desired him to let me know when any situation fell vacant which he might desire to have. If I can, I will serve him. His relationship to me has already, I hope, been of use to him. I have just learned with great pleasure that Lord William has selected him to be one of three civil servants who have been commissioned to report on the internal customs and transit duties of India. It is not improbable that in the discharge of his functions he may find it necessary to visit Calcutta and to become our guest. The office itself is not permanent, and may not be very lucrative. But it is a noble opportunity. The subject is of prodigious importance. And if Henry acquits himself well, he will be quite on the high road to preferment. In justice to Henry I ought to tell you that he owes the notice of Lord William chiefly to his own good character, and that, unless he had been a man of merit, his connection with me would not, I am quite certain, have been of the smallest use to him. Whether he comes to Bengal or not, Nancy hopes that his wife will pay her a visit during the approaching cold season. Now to my journey. At twelve on the 31st of August my servant set out from Ootacamund to Needobutta - , a distance of eighteen miles. I followed at two. I was six hours in running this stage. I think that, in a former letter, I described to you the mode of travelling. There are twelve bearers to each palanquin - six at a time. They walk or trot relieving each other. On a good road they go from four to five miles an hour. But the road along the ridge of the Neilgherries is very indifferent: and two months of incessant rain had marred it most fearfully. We had to cross ten or twelve mountain streams which rose above the girdles of the men. The fog was thick round us. The rain poured down in torrents. I had a 1

Henry was now a Sub-Collector and Magistrate in the northern division of Arcot. He had married Sarah, daughter of General F. Disney, in 1830. 80

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new publication of Theodore Hook's with me-Love and Pride,1 which I had picked up at a sale of some deceased officer's effects on the hills. This amused me while the day light lasted. But we had to light torches long before we arrived at the bungalow where I was to sleep. I had slept here before in going up from Madras. I knew therefore how miserable the accommodations were: and I would gladly have gone on. But it is thought very dangerous to pass through the great jungle at night. And therefore I submitted to my fate. That fate might have been worse. A very honest friend of mine who has passed a year or more on the hills, Mr. Ironside,2 Member of the Council of Bombay, had very kindly, without telling me his intentions, sent a servant forward with provisions to cook me a dinner. I found a miserable barn with stone floor and naked walls. But I found also a heap of logs blazing, a beef-steak smoking, a bottle of ale bubbling and another of Sherry by its side. I made a hearty dinner, finished a volume of my novel, and lay down in this wilderness. My bearers and my servant's bearers, twenty four in number altogether, slept round me without any partition between them and me. The next day rose, like almost all the days that I had seen on the mountains, dark and misty. I breakfasted very tolerably on milk, eggs, bread and butter, and set out at about half after eight. I was now to descend from the tops of the Neilgherries to the table land of Mysore. You can form no conception of the change. After going down for about half an hour, we emerged from the immense mass of cloud and moisture in which I had been buried for two months, and the immense plain of Mysore lay before us, — a vast ocean of foliage on which the sun was shining gloriously. I am very little given to rant about the beauties of scenery. But I really was moved almost to tears. I jumped out of my palanquin, and walked in front of it down the immense declivity. In about two hours we descended about three thousand feet-the height of Helvellyn or thereabouts. Every turning of the road shewed the boundless forest below in some new point of view. I was greatly struck by the resemblance which this prodigious jungle,-as old as the world, and planted by nature, - bears to the fine works of the great English landscape-gardeners. It was exactly a Wentworth Park or a Bradgate Park3 as large as Devonshire. When we got to the foot of the hill, we entered on the jungle. We had 1

1833: years later TBM remembered reading this in the 'palanquin on the road along the table land and afterwards through the great jungle of Mysore' (Journal, vi, 17: 27 December 1852). 2 Edward Ironside (d. 1839), in the Bombay Civil Service, 1804-37; Member of the Council of Bombay, 1833-7. He had been pressed into Bentinck's improvised council at Ootacamund. 3 Near Rothley Temple. 8l

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Mrs Edward Cropper

to run thirty six miles through this vast forest, which has a very bad name for tigers and elephants. I know several people who have been in danger there. But I met with no molestation. The jungles of India are dreadfully unhealthy. It is necessary to run through them by day, and with all speed. Even a native who passes a night in them is in great danger of catching a bad fever. But though they are by no means salubrious, the scenery is gloriously beautiful. I was for several hours passing through a succession of spots which might have been parts of the garden of Eden. - Such gigantic trees I never saw. In a quarter of an hour I passed hundreds the smallest of which would bear a comparison with any of those oaks which are shewn as prodigies in England. The grass, the weeds, and the wild flowers grew as high as my head. The sun, almost a stranger to me for two months, was shining brightly. When, in the afternoon, I got out of my palanquin and looked back, I saw the huge mountain ridge from which I had descended about twenty miles behind me, still buried in the same mass of fog and rain in which I had been living for weeks. It was late in the evening before we got out of the jungle, and entered the inhabited country of Mysore. I stopped to dine, after a sort, at a bungalow,-a much neater place than that which I had slept in the preceding night. I procured a few mutton chops. I had brought bread with me, and I drank a bottle of pale ale. Having thus refreshed myself I entered my palanquin again. It was now quite dark. I soon fell fast asleep: and did not wake till day-break when I found myself in the streets of the town of Mysore. There had been some mistake about the posting of my bearers; and I was forced accordingly to stay here about two hours. I had a very comfortable breakfast with an officer who was in command of the Company's troops at the station, and with his wife - a very civil lady, who asked me repeatedly whether my tea was agreable. I told you in a former letter the adventures that befel me at Mysore on my journey up to the hills, — how I had an interview with the Rajah, — how I saw all the finery of his court, - and, as Mrs. Meeke would say, every etc. etc. I had no mind to undergo the court ceremonial again, and I hoped that I might have been able to go through the capital incognito. But the princes and courtiers of the dependent states have a quick scent for a great European functionary. I had not been at Mysore ten minutes when I received a message from the Rajah begging to see me. I excused myself on the ground of haste: and he was pleased to accept my apologies graciously. He sent one of the princes of the blood, who speaks English very decently, to attend me during my short stay, and honoured me with presents of flowers, fruit, and atar of roses, after the fashion of the country. The illustrious person who was in attendance on me amused me very 82

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much. He had never been out of Mysore, and his questions about England were very diverting. He said that he had heard that the English roads were very good. I confirmed this. "Who makes the roads? - " he asked. "Is it the King's Majesty." - No - 1 said-the King has nothing to do with our roads. " O h then," said he, "I suppose it is the Company." I tried - but quite in vain, I suspect, to explain to him that the Company a power which in India seems to be irresistible - which put his kinsman on the throne of Mysore and pulled him down from it - has in England just as little power as the Grocer's Company or the Merchant Tailors' Company. At about ten in the morning of the 2nd of September I started again. My palanquin had been sent forward to Seringapatam, which is the next stage, and the Rajah of Mysore, — the Highness as his cousin called him, — furnished me with one of his own English made barouches for that part of the journey. The road between Mysore and Seringapatam is one of the few roads in India which are suited for wheel-carriages on springs. I sent you a full account of Seringapatam in a former letter. I saw nothing new this time. But I was, if possible, more struck than before by the contrast which the extent and strength of the fortification and the magnificence of some of the buildings present to the miserable state of the crumbling and uninhabited streets. Forty years ago the town contained probably a hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants. There are not now five thousand. We ran on all day and all the following night, stopping only once for half an hour at a bungalow where I made an excellent dinner on a biscuit, half a dozen fresh eggs, and a bottle of ale. I slept sound during the night. Indeed the motion of the palanquin and the peculiar chaunt of the bearers always have a very lulling effect on me. What they sang I could not imagine. There is a great difference in their note in different provinces. In the Mysore, I have since learned, they generally chaunt extemporaneous eulogies on the person whom they carry, interspersed at intervals with sounds between grunting and howling. Sir John Malcolm who was unusually well acquainted with the native languages, made out the burden of one song which they sang while they carried him. " There is a fat hog a great fat hog - how heavy is is - hum - shake him - hum - shake him well — hum - shake the fat hog —hum." Whether they paid a similar compliment to me I cannot say. They might have done so, I fear, without any breach of veracity. At eight o'clock in the morning of the 3d of September I was comfortably seated in Colonel Cubbon's house at Bangalore. With him I passed three or four very pleasant days. I described him to you in a letter from the hills. I think him one of the ablest and most pleasing men that I have found in India. 4

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If I had to chuse my place of residence in this part of the world it should, I think, be Bangalore. The place stands three thousand feet or more above the level of the sea. It is therefore agreably cool during the greater part of the year. I have been there both in June and September, and found that even in those months, which are very hot in most parts of India, I was able to take exercise at all times except in the very middle of the day. The situation is central. In forty eight hours you may be on the tops of the Neilgherries for health. In forty eight hours you may be at Madras for business. So ready is the communication from Bangalore to every other part of Southern India that in one of our discussions in Council, Lord William, Sir Frederic Adam, and Colonel Morison, all distinguished military men, agreed that whoever holds Bangalore holds India south of the Kistna from sea to sea. The society is, I suppose, better than at any other place in the Presidency of Madras — Madras itself excepted. There is a large military cantonment and an important civil establishment. Many invalids also go up from the sea-coast for their health. I do not find however that the mortality is smaller here than in other parts of India. Indeed in this country caution is everything. The care which people take of themselves in unhealthy places and seasons compensates for the superior salubrity of other places and seasons. Every body at Calcutta leads the life of a valetudinarian, eats, drinks, and sleeps by rule, notes all the smallest variations in the state of his body, and would as soon cut his throat as expose himself to the heat of the sun at noon. At Bangalore a man feels himself as healthful and active as in England. He takes liberties. He drinks his two bottles at night, walks two miles at twelve o'clock in the day, has a coup-de-soleil, - and is in the churchyard in twenty four hours. I left Bangalore late in the evening of the 7th of September, and ran to Madras without stopping except for a few hours in the heat of the day, after I got into the Carnatic. I reached Madras as the sun was rising on the morning of Wednesday the 10th of September. A carriage of the Governor's met me a few miles from the town and carried me to the Government House. Here I found my old friends Captain Barron and his wife, who, in Sir Frederic's absence, superintend the household. They were as kind as possible. I was soon comfortably lodged in my old rooms: and, after breakfast, I made inquiries about the ships which were then lying in the roads bound for Calcutta. The largest and best was the Broxbournebury, under the command of a Captain Chapman, a brother-in-law of my friend Macnaghten, the Chief Secretary to the Government.1 Macnaghten had begged me to go with his relation, if I could contrive it. I therefore sent for the Captain, and 1

Alfred Chapman, captain of the Broxbournebury; married Caroline Macnaghten in 1826.

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engaged a passage in a very good cabin, which had been vacated by a lady whom he had brought to Madras. The cabin was part of the poop. I furnished it, - not as I furnished my little room in the Asia, - but in the very simplest manner. One strong table served for dressing and for writing. A large brass basin which I had used on my journey and two jars of the same metal contained water for my ablutions. The couch of my palanquin sufficed for a bed. We were not likely to be many days on the water, and at this season of the year carpeting and curtaining would have been mere annoyance. I passed my time at Madras very pleasantly till the 16th of September, when I went on board. I heard, just before embarking, that a schism had taken place in the ministry at home - that several resignations had been sent i n - and that more were expected.1 I did not obtain full information as to the particulars. But the general nature of the event could not be mistaken. I had foreseen it many months ago: and it was quite clear to me, from Lord John Russell's speech on the Irish Church, delivered early in May,2 that the crisis was at hand. I have even now very imperfect information as to particulars. But it seems to me that the new arrangements are very far indeed from being what they ought to have been. Indeed, with the exception of Rice's appointment,3 nothing that has been done pleases me. Abercromby4 ought to have been brought into the cabinet, and perhaps Sir Henry Parnell.5 I have very little hope that the ministry as now composed will be able to stand a year: and I shall be much surprised if Lord Lansdowne and some others do not leave it before long. I think I described Madras fully to you in my first letters. I have little or nothing to add. I kept very quiet during the week which I passed there on my return from the interior, and saw hardly any body except the Governor's household, and the Archdeacon6 who is a great favourite of mine. On the evening of Tuesday the 16th I went on board the Broxbournebury.7 I was carried through the surf in a native boat. But I think I have already described all that to you. I was honoured with a farewell salute of fifteen guns from Fort St George, and greeted by as many from the 1

2 3 4

5

6 7

The ministers divided over the question of Irish tithes; Stanley, Graham, Richmond, and Ripon resigned at the end of May. 6 May: Hansard, 3rd Series, xxm, 664-6. He became Secretary for War and Colonies in place of Lord Ripon. James Abercromby (1776-1858: DNB), afterwards first Baron Dunfermline, was appointed President of the Board of Trade and Master of the Mint in July, with a seat in the cabinet. He was Speaker of the House of Commons, 1835-9. Parnell (1776-1842: DNB), afterwards first Baron Congleton, Whig M.P. in the Irish interest; Secretary at War, 1831-2; Paymaster-General under Melbourne. Robinson. The Broxbournebury sailed from Madras on the 18th. 85

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Broxbournebury. I found my cabin tolerably comfortable. I had laid in two dozen bottles of soda water, a little sherry, a little sugar, and a few limes; — so that I was able to bid defiance to thirst. Captain Barron sent on board a large supply of fruit and fresh vegetables from the Governor's garden. I amused myself during this short voyage with learning Portuguese; and made myself as well or almost as well acquainted with it as I care to be. I read the Lusiad, and am now reading it a second time. I own that I am disappointed in it. But I have so often found my first impressions wrong on such subjects that I still hope to be able to join my voice to that of the great body of critics. I never read any famous book which did not, on the first perusal, fall below my expectations, except Dante's poem and Don Quixote, which were prodigiously superior to what I had imagined. Yet in those cases I had not pitched my expectations low. I did not like Captain Chapman quite so well as Captain Bathie. By the bye poor Bathie is dead. He died of fever here more than a month ago.1 He has left a wife and children, all whose fortunes, I am afraid, are afloat in the Asia. I feel most acutely for them. He was an excellent officer, and a kind and honorable man. Nancy speaks in the warmest terms of his attention to her after our separation at Madras. But to return to Captain Chapman. He is a very good navigator, and manages to have the business of his ship done very well, with less noise and scolding than I ever heard even in much smaller vessels. He seems to be very humane and conscientious. But he is a shallow, fanatical, fellow, a believer in the tongues, and in all similar fooleries. He brought out a missionary to Madras with whom he had long and fierce theological contests. He is famous for the care which he takes to prevent flirtations among the young ladies and gentlemen whom he carries out. They sate separate at table; and I was told at Madras that, in order to prevent them from giving any signs of partiality under the table, he had buckets, painted alternately white and green, into which all his passengers were forced to put their legs. This was a lie, as you may suppose. It is true, however, that he would not allow dancing and that psalm-singing was the only amusement of the poor girls on board. He is, in short, a good sort of man who understands his profession, but who is not overburdened with brains. In person he is very like Sir Robert Inglis. We had a remarkably fine passage up the Bay of Bengal — at least for the time of year. The voyage in September is often more than a fortnight. We performed it within a week. At two in the morning of Tuesday the 23d we saw the floating light which marks the entrance of the Hoogley. At break of day we procured a pilot. At noon we saw the island of Saugur; and by dinner time we anchored for the night at Kedgeree. 1

He died at Calcutta, 1 September.

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The following morning we weighed anchor, and proceeded up the river with wind and tide in our favour. We had a most unusually good run. The day was fine and not oppressively hot. The banks of the Hoogley were far prettier than I had expected. Indeed I think that justice has never been done to them. They are low. But they are of the richest green, well wooded, and sprinkled with pretty little villages. They are far superior, I am sure, to the banks of the Thames or the Humber. I was a little surprised to find Bengal more verdant than Leicestershire in a moist April. But I came at the end of the rains; and the bright, cheerful, silky, green of the rice-fields was in all its beauty. The least agreable part of the scenery was the river itself. It comes down black and turbid with the mud collected in the course of fifteen hundred miles. For many leagues out to sea the water of the Ocean is discoloured by the filth which the innumerable mouths of the Ganges pour into it. The Hoogley often brings down with it great masses of jungle, whole trees, and acres of shrubs and brambles. We passed several of these floating islands. But this is not the worst. The boiling coffee-coloured river swept several naked corpses along close to our ship. This ghastly sight would once have shocked me very much. But in India death and everything connected with it become familiar subjects of contemplation. And habit is a much better strengthener of the nerves than philosophy. Six months ago I could not have believed that I should look on with composure while the crows were feasting on a dead man within twenty yards of me. If we had taken one of the fine houses at Garden Reach which are close to the river, we should have been forced to keep a man whose only business would have been to push away the corpses from our garden into the stream. We had so quick a run up the river that by dinner time - that is at five or a little later - we were within fifteen or sixteen miles of Calcutta. Here we met a steam vessel going down. It had been sent to meet me, as soon as the telegraph had announced that I was in the river. I dined on board the Broxbournebury and when she anchored for the night, I went on board the steamer. I invited two or three passengers who were very desirous to reach Calcutta immediately, to accompany me. We found however that the tide was strong against us, and that little could be done till midnight. I took a comfortable nap of two hours; and at twelve went on deck. Soon after we began to move. The moon was past the full, but was very bright, and the night was calm and beautiful. At about two we came in sight of the villas of Garden Reach, which looked, I dare say, the prettier for being seen indistinctly peeping from amidst groves of trees. It was about half past three when the steam vessel reached the landing place. A boat was in waiting to land me. A palanquin was instantly sent down from the government house: and before four o'clock I was again 87

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with dear Nancy. I found her in excellent health and spirits, looking well and pretty, and bearing the climate as well as I: - for nobody can possibly bear it better. I may as well say a little here about my health. I shall this week have been in India four months. Two of those months I passed on the Neilgherries, where the climate is the same with that of the Scotch Highlands or nearly so. The rest has been spent almost entirely travelling, or at Madras, or here at Calcutta. The time at which I arrived in Bengal is generally considered as the most unhealthy in the whole year. Indeed Nancy wrote to press me not to leave Madras so soon. But I did not think it right to remain at a distance from her, after the public duties which called me to the hills had been performed, merely in order to avoid a danger to which she was exposed. I came hither accordingly: and I never was better in my life. I have not swallowed five pills since I reached India. My appetite is good; my sleep is sound; I can do anything here that I could do in England, except taking strong exercise in the heat of the day. This season has been, I hear, a very favourable one. I hear also that new comers often get on better during their first year than afterwards. But as yet the climate agrees perfectly with me. I do not think that I ever had better health in England than I have here. I am sure that during the Session of Parliament I was never so well as I am at present. And now that I have brought you to Calcutta I will close this long letter. In my next I will give you an account of the place and of our way of life. I will only add that nothing can exceed the kindness of Lady William Bentinck both to Nancy and to me. With love to everybody believe me, dearest, ever yours T B Macaulay

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20 October 1834

TO MRS EDWARD CROPPER, 8 OCTOBER

1834

MS: Morgan Library.

Calcutta Octr. 8/1834 Dearest Margaret, I send you a long letter, the contents of which I wish you to impart to my father, the girls, etc. etc. I shall send a few lines to my father under cover to George. Nancy and I are in excellent health. Every thing looks well. The climate suits me perfectly as yet. Money comes in much faster than it goes out. In a month or six weeks I shall be able to remit something handsome to England, although I have to be at the expense of furnishing my house, and of providing plate and equipages. Four years, if I am fortunate - five years if I am unlucky - and I shall be preparing for my return to dear England and to dearest Margaret. Many thanks, my love, for the affectionate letters which I have received from you. I rejoice to hear so good an account of the dear little boy. He will, I hope, be able to read about Frank and the plum-cake or about the cherry-orchard,1 when I have him next on my knee. Kindest love to him and to Edward. Ever yours, my darling T B Macaulay

TO M R S

EDWARD

CROPPER,

10

OCTOBER

1834

MS: Morgan Library. Address: Mrs. E Cropper. Subscription: T B Macaulay.

[Calcutta] Octr. 10. 1834 Dearest Margaret, I have this instant received a most affectionate letter from my darling: — and at the same time I have learned that a ship, of which I had not heard, sails for Liverpool to night. I shall therefore put up the long letter which I had prepared for you. I shall not have time to write to any body else by this conveyance. Pray let my father, the girls, and George know that we are in excellent health and send them my narrative when you have done with it. Love to them all, and to Charles, who I hope will be quite competent to treat my liver when 1 return home. I have no time to add any thing. Again and again dearest farewell. TBM 1

Maria Edgeworth's Frank (see 1 June 1833) and 'The Cherry Orchard' from her Early Lessons.

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TO MRS EDWARD CROPPER, 17 OCTOBER

1834

MS: Mrs Lancelot Errington. Address: Mrs. E Cropper / Messrs. Cropper Benson and Co / Liverpool. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Extracts published: Trevelyan, 1, 419; 420-1.

[Calcutta] October 17. 1834 Dearest Margaret, I sent you a long letter a few days ago by a Liverpool Ship called the Tyrer. In that Letter which I wish you to send to my father and to George I gave you a regular narrative of my descent from the Neilgherries to Madras and of my voyage from Madras to Calcutta. I now take up my story where I dropped it. It was near four o'clock in the morning of Thursday the 25 th of September when I reached the Government House, and found my way with some difficulty, — not a soul understanding a word of English, — to dear Nancy's room. I sate an hour by the side of her bed talking over a small part of the ten thousand things that we had done and seen during a separation of more than three months. I found her surprisingly well and cheerful. After a long chat I went to my own apartments. But I did not think it worth while to go to bed, as morning was breaking. As soon as the first gleam of daylight was discernible, a salute of fifteen guns thundered from Fort William to announce my arrival to the good people of the capital. Soon I perceived carriages, palanquins, and people on horseback hurrying backward and forward in all directions. For this is the hour of exercise at Calcutta. The view from my windows was not unlike that from the houses in Park Lane. There is a large space, covered with turf, intersected by roads, and with a few trees scattered about it, round which the finest houses of Calcutta are built. Suppose Hyde Park to be this space: for they are much of a size: suppose the Knightsbridge road to be the Hoogly: suppose Fort William to occupy the place of Kensington Gardens: then the Esplanade in which the Government House stands would answer to Park Lane; and the Chowringhee Road in which our house1 is situated would answer to Connaught Terrace.2 This space was the first view which I saw from the windows of my apartments in the Government House. I shall know the prospect pretty well before I leave it finally, I am afraid. The Esplanade, the Chowringhee Road, and the streets immediately adjoining are the May Fair or Faubourg St Germain of Calcutta. They are the quarters of the English aristocracy. There are, indeed, many fine houses 1

2

TBM's house in Calcutta was at 33 Chowringhee; it was taken over for the Bengal Club in 1845. A new building was erected on the site in 1908 and was partially razed in 1970 to make room for a skyscraper. This description is contradicted by TBM's map, below; I cannot guess why he has reversed the positions of Kensington Gardens and Park Lane.

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with gardens along the river lower down than Fort William. But during the last year or two that situation has been dreadfully unhealthy, and nobody is willing to reside there. Behind the Esplanade, the Black Town, with a population of nearly half a million of souls, spreads for miles up the river. I will try to scrawl a sort of map. But I cannot observe proportion. o

o o o 0 Houses of English Gentlemen ^OO

U

O

v

O

O O© house

Chowringhee Road

Black Town

;. r oO a

Q_ LU

_ Garden Reach —

Hoogley River

As I have got into a description of Calcutta I may as well go on with the subject. I must premise that I am giving you only my first impressions, — that I know no more of the Black Town, - a town about three times as large as Liverpool, - than what I have seen in a drive by night through one great street, - and that, till the cold season comes, I am not likely to know more of it. I shall therefore tell you only what I think of the English Quarter of Calcutta. The houses, for the most part, stand separate, each with its own garden and courtyard, or as they are called here compound, — a word derived from the Portugueze campinho^ — a little field, — at least so say our philologists.1 The houses are placed very much like those at Kensington Gore. There is a wall and a gate for coaches, and behind the house is generally a small garden. The houses are all of stone or white plaister, with numerous windows, with a great display of Green Venetian blinds, and generally with porticos and verandahs. Considered as architectural compositions, they have separately no claims to admiration. But the size, the loftiness, the brilliant whiteness, and, above all, the immense number of these large mansions, and the immense profusion of columns, though not always happily disposed, give a certain splendour to the general effect. The coup d'ceil is not much unlike that of Regent's Park. 1

This is the etymology given, e.g., in Heber's journal: Malay kampong is now the favored etymology.

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The houses are vilely arranged inside. The heat requires that the rooms should be large, and that they should therefore be few. But they all open into each other. There is seldom any way to your library but through your dining room or to your dining room but through your drawing room. The furniture of some of these palaces is deplorably shabby. Our friend Colonel Galloway,1 for example, who has a very lucrative place, has an immense house with absolutely nothing in it except old dirty matting, and chairs and tables of the meanest sort. The whole, I am convinced, would not sell for fifty pounds, and you would not like to furnish your servants' hall so. But I forget one article of furniture which is unknown in England, but which is to be found in every room here, and which does much to break the vast size of the apartments. It is called a punkah. It is a long board, covered with canvass, and with a flounce like that of a lady's gown hanging from it. It is sometimes twenty feet long, I should think, and about three feet broad. It is hung from the ceiling, so that the fringe just touches the head of a tall man. A rope is fastened to it, which a servant pulls. This great board swings backward and forward, and fans the company most deliciously. Many people have punkahs over their beds, and keep servants pulling all night. The servant need not be in the room. A little hole is sometimes made in the door or the wall, and the rope is passed through. Nancy keeps her punkah pullers at work night and day. I often laugh at her about it. It is constantly: " Punkah - Punkah tund - (that is, pull the punkah hard) Punkah tund - Jemildar - Jemildar (The Jemildar is a head servant who speaks English) Jemildar - tell the bearers that if they do not pull harder, I shall stop a rupee out of their month's wages." I bear the heat much better; and am so far from requiring a punkah at night that, unless people are sitting with me, I seldom have mine worked even in the hottest part of the day. But the moment poor Nancy steps into my room, she begins: " Qui hi? Qui hi? Punkah tund Punkah tund." Who is there? - Who is there? Pull the punkah- Pull the Punkah. Qui hi? - Who is there? is the phrase universally used in Bengal to summon Servants. We have no bells, and our servants always lie in the antichambers and passages within call. The Calcutta people are called, all over India, the Qui His. I had often heard the nickname in England; but never understood its meaning. As 1 am rambling on in this way, I may as well tell you about the language. The servants at Madras, at Bangalore, and at Ootacamund, have very generally a smattering of English. It seems odd that English should be less cultivated at Calcutta, the seat of Government. But the fact is so. There is a dislike generally felt here towards native attendants who 1

(Sir) Archibald Galloway (1780?-i850: DNB)> in military service in India since 1800; he was later a director and chairman of the East India Company.

Mrs Edward Cropper

ly October 1834

know our language. And certainly it must be allowed that it is pleasant to be able to say what you will at table without fearing the tongues of servants. The servants indeed are so constantly about us here - fanning us pulling punkahs — and so forth — that, if they understood all that we might say, we should be under constant restraint. Hannah gets on very well with Hindostanee. Indeed she has been nearly four months at Calcutta. I have only got some of the commonest phrases of which that most in requisition is "Coop tunda pawnee." "Very cold water." Hannah's knowledge of the language has been a hindrance to me. For at breakfast, or when we ride out, she acts as interpreter. When I am by myself I make rapid proficiency. We have taken a house, but we are not to go into it till the 15 th of November. It is said to be the best in Calcutta. Every body praised it so loudly and Nancy liked it so much that I have consented to give 450 Rupees a month for it — a very high rent in the present state of Calcutta. I hope, however, that we shall be no losers. For, if we had taken almost any other house we should have been forced to buy new furniture. But this house is ready-furnished from top to bottom, very comfortably and handsomely; and we are to take the whole at a valuation. The gentleman who is leaving it will also let us have as much of his plate, cutlery, and china, as we chuse to take, at an appraisement which the principal auctioneer of the place is now employed in making. It will be very hard if we do not get ourselves provided with all that we shall want at a much cheaper rate than if we went to the upholsterers and silversmiths. The house is certainly very handsome. Two rooms, the dining room and the great drawing room, are really magnificent. I have dined there with a party of forty; and there was not the smallest crowding or inconvenience. This is a very great advantage. For there are a hundred and fifty or two hundred people in Calcutta whom it will be necessary for me to invite to dinner once a year: and four ceremonious parties of forty people each cost less, and are less disagreable than eight parties of twenty. As to attendance, there would be no difficulty about that, if I had a hundred guests at once. For every person brings his own servant. Our drawing room is very handsome and spacious. I should think that it must be fifty feet long with windows at both ends, fine sofas, gilded punkahs, and a shining floor which looks like the polished oak-floors at the Temple. In the cold weather a very fine carpet is laid down. There is a very pretty garden, not unlike our little grass-plot at Clapham, but larger. It consists of a fine sheet of turf with a gravel walk round it, and flower beds scattered over it. It looks beautiful just now after the rains: and I hear that it keeps its verdure through the greater part of the year. It is so well shaded that you may walk there till ten o'clock in the 93

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morning. A flight of steps leads down from my library into the garden. I shall generally walk in it for two hours before breakfast. The merit of the house seems to me to be in what I have mentioned the dining room - the drawing room - and the garden. They are the best dining room, the best drawing room, and the best garden that I have seen in any private residence in any part of India. In other respects I do not much admire the house. The rooms are so disposed that I must either sleep in my library, which I mean to do, or walk through the drawingroom every time that I go from my bed-room to my dressing room. Every body here seems to think such inconveniences mere trifles: and the house is generally spoken of as one of the best arranged in Calcutta. Edmonstone1 who was in the Council and is now in the Direction lived in it. So did Lord Combermere2 who was Commander in Chief a few years ago; and since Lord Combermere's time it has been enlarged and improved. I have ordered two carriages - an open barouche for airings, and a close chariot for occasions when the sun or the rain render a covering necessary. We expect our barouche daily. I have agreed with the principal liveryman here to let me have two pair of good carriage horses, with their grooms. They are to be completely found, and all for two hundred and twenty rupees a month. I have taken a coachman of very high character; and a cook renowned through all Calcutta for his skill. He brought me the attestations of a long succession of gourmands, and among them one from Lord Dalhousie3 who pronounced him decidedly the first artist in Bengal. This great man and his two assistants I am to have for thirty two rupees a month. These are all the arrangements that I have yet made. At present we are very comfortably lodged in a wing of the Government House. I have an antichamber, a large sitting room, a dressing room, and a bed room. My sitting room opens into a large portico which I have all to myself and in which I can walk under cover from the sun and rain. Above me Hannah has rooms corresponding to mine. My life is passed thus. I rise at six in the morning, and am forthwith attended by two servants — one with a razor and shaving-box — the other with a piece of dry toast and a large cup of coffee. Having been shaved, and having drunk my coffee, I walk for an hour about the portico. I then read or write and dress. At nine I go up to Nancy's sitting room where we 1

2

3

Neil Benjamin Edmonstone (1765-1841: DNB), a member of the Supreme Council, 1812—17, and a director of the East India Company, 1820-41. Stapleton Cotton (1773-1865: DNB), first Viscount Combermere, commanded in India, 1825-30. George Ramsay (1770—1838: DNB), ninth Earl of Dalhousie, succeeded Lord Combermere as Commander-in-Chief in India.

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breakfast. Three servants wait on us. Another sits on the ground at a distance pulling a punkah over our heads. A tailor is squatted near the punkah-puller in a corner, making up our liveries. These you must understand are not the servants of the Government House, but our own. The room is about twice as large and twice as high as the drawing room in Ormond Street. It has three great windows down to the ground with Venetian blinds,-and three great doors opposite the windows and answering to them in size. These doors are left open for air. The furniture is neat but scanty. One table - one sofa — two or three chairs — are the whole. The floor is covered with a very neat matting which is generally used here. It consists of long stripes, alternately light and dark. Our breakfast is that of England with the addition of rice, fish, and an omlet. At breakfast the Bengal Papers come in; and we snatch them up eagerly to see whether there are any new arrivals from our dear country. We talk, and laugh, and sometimes read a little: but soon it is time to pay or receive calls, and we are forced to separate. I have every day many visitors. I have had so many as forty in one morning. Most of the principal people have now been introduced to me: so that I begin to have a little rest. On the alternate mornings I go out for two or three hours to return these calls. Happily the good people here are too busy to be at home. Except the parsons they are all usefully employed somewhere or other; so that I have only to leave cards. But the reverend gentlemen are always within doors in the heat of the day, lying on their backs — regretting breakfast, longing for tiffin, and crying out "Punkah tund" and "Lemonade Serbet." I have not been so lucky as to find one of them "Not at home." At two Nancy goes to tiffin with Lady William, and then lies down and takes a siesta. I never eat between breakfast and dinner, and very seldom sleep in the middle of the day. Once or twice when the weather has been very warm, and when I have been up late the preceding evening, I have dozed for half an hour. But in general I read and write till past five, when the carriages come to the door for the afternoon airing. This drive is never omitted by any body at Calcutta who can afford to keep a carriage, except when the rain renders it impossible to stir out. Our party generally consists of Lady William, Nancy, and myself. We are attended by two of the governor general's body-guard, in blazing uniforms and with drawn swords. It is certainly very agreable and refreshing particularly after a warm day. I think that Bishop Heber speaks too disparagingly of the equipages of Calcutta.l Those of the great people are very 1

'I am much disappointed as to the splendour of the equipages, of which I had heard so much in England' (Heber, Narrative of a Journey through the Upper Provinces of India, Philadelphia, 1829, 1, 57: 13 October 1823).

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handsome, and the Coachmen and grooms in their laced turbans and sashes make a grotesque but still a striking and shewy appearance. What I complain of is that there is no variety of places to ride in. The course is too much crowded to be pleasant: and I begin to be tired of going over it day after day. At seven we come back and retire to dress. At eight the evening gun fires and dinner is put on the table. The dining room is a very splendid hall of marble, opening into a semicircular portico. It is delightfully cool. The meat and the cookery are much better than at Madras, and might indeed be considered as very good in London. Fish is the article which a gourmand would regret most. There is no fish in India — at least I have ate none - which can be compared to the fourth-rate or fifth-rate fish of Europe. A good whiting or a good haddock would appear as great a luxury here as the finest mullet or John Dory in London. The mango fish, which is the best of those that are caught in the Hoogley, is not now in season. I am assured that it is like an English smelt: and, if that be true, I am sure that it well deserves to be considered as the greatest delicacy in the fish-market of Bengal. As I am on the subject of the cuisine^ I may as well say all that I have to say about it at once. The tropical fruits are wretched. The best of them is inferior to our apricot or our gooseberry. I never touch them. But the gardeners here succeed very well in pease, beans, cauliflowers, asparagus, and many other vegetables. I remember, when I was a child, that I had a notion of its being the most exquisite of all enjoyments to eat plaintains and yams, and to drink palm-wine. How I envied my father for having enjoyed those luxuries! I have now enjoyed them all; and I have found, like much greater men on much more important occasions, that all is vanity. A plaintain is very like a rotten pear — so like that I would lay twenty to one that a person blindfolded would not discover the difference. A yam is better. It is like an indifferent potatoe. If I could not procure potatoes, I should be glad to have yams. I tasted palm wine in perfection at Ennore — a pretty village near Madras where I slept one night. I told Captain Barron that I had been curious to try that liquor ever since I first saw, eight or nine and twenty years ago, the picture of the niggur climbing the tree in Winterbottom's Sierra leone.1 The next morning at five I was roused by a servant with a large bowl of juice fresh from the tree. This is the time and the way of drinking it: for if it be kept a few hours it becomes a very intoxicating, and to Englishmen a very nauseous beverage. I drank it and thought it very like ginger beer in which the ginger had been very sparingly used. I have no wish to repeat the dose. 1

Thomas Winterbottom, An Account of the Native Africans in the Neighbourhood of Sierra Leone, 1803. Winterbottom (i765?-i859: DNE) had been with Zachary Macaulay in Sierra Leone.

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Selina and Frances Macaulay

19 October 1834

As to wine I never drink any but French claret either at dinner or after it. I never taste beer: and I never touch any fermented liquor except at dinner. I reject champagne - and shun cherry-brandy, a favourite mixture here even with the ladies, as I would shun a cobra de capello. Of claret I drink freely at dinner, but not much afterwards. So much for my diet. Our party always consists of six or eight people. For the aides-de-camp and inmates of the Government House are alone sufficient to make up that number. We generally have several other guests. After dinner we adjourn to the drawing room, take coffee, and very soon disperse to our own apartments. You will now, I suppose, expect an account of the people with whom we associate. But that subject must wait for another letter. At present I will only say that the kindness and cordiality of Lady William towards us both are beyond description. Kindest loves to all. Ever yours T B Macaulay TO SELINA AND FRANCES MACAULAY, 19 OCTOBER 1834 Text: Copy, Trinity College. Extract published: Trevelyan, 1, 42211.

Calcutta October 19th 1834. My dearest girls, Since I wrote last I have received very welcome and very affectionate letters from you both. They were the more acceptable as neither my Father nor George has sent us a single line. Charles has written to Nancy, but I wish to hear from him about his professional studies and his views.1 I will write to him as soon as he sets me the example. I sent Margaret a long and full account of my adventures from the time of my leaving the hills to my arrival here by a ship called the Tyrer which sailed last week. I have now sent her another large packet, containing a description of my life here. These letters I intend you to see. She will send them to you when she has read them: and I have very little to say beyond what they contain. We are both very well, and as cheerful and comfortable as exiles can be. We have a splendid house, two carriages, an army of servants: we shall give dinners of forty and Balls of three hundred. But my tastes are not oriental. And I long to find myself in some snug house near Russell Square or Cadogan Place, able to give a home to my family, and secure of a small competence, let who will be in or out. 1

In November of this year Charles accompanied his father to Paris, where Charles set to work studying dissection (Charles Macaulay to George Babington, 14 November 1834: MS, University of London).

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I am dunned unmercifully by place-hunters. Frederic Schuler has written to ask, for old acquaintance sake, that I will ask Sir Frederic Adam to put his son on the Staff of the Madras Army.1 But the oddest application that I have received is from that impudent rascal Felix Fortier,2 who is somewhere in the interior. He tells me that he is sure that prosperity has not changed me, that I am still the same John Macaulay who was his dearest friend, — his more than brother, — and that he means to come up and live with me at Calcutta. If he fulfils his intention I shall have him taken before the police magistrates. I hope however that my silence will discourage him from coming. Selina told me that Dr. Chambers was supposed to be at the point of death.3 I have rummaged all the Newspapers for a month subsequent to the date of her letter, and I do not find him in the list of the deceased. I hope that he has got over his accident. And now that I am mentioning a Doctor, I will tell you how we manage here about Medical Advice and Physic. Nobody gives fees. The Medical men are public officers and receive salaries from the Government; but the private families of respectability give something handsome by the year to the gentleman who attends them. We must give twelve hundred rupees — about a hundred and twenty pounds. This sum will be exactly the same whether we required advice or not: for your doctor engages to keep you in repair by the year. I have had only one visit from him since I came, and that was not a professional visit; and as the cold weather is coming, I hope to have no occasion for his services till Christmas; but I must pay him just as much as if he had sate up with me twenty nights. Next year I may have a fever and he may visit me thrice a day for six weeks: but I shall give him no more. As to medicine, it costs nothing. The Company provides it for us gratis. How I go rambling on. It is pleasant to me to write home, though I have only nothings like these to say. For the rest I must again refer you to my letter to Margaret. My kindest love to Charles and John - to Henry also, when you write to him. I send a short letter by this conveyance to my father, and another to George. Ever, my dearest girls, __ & . , , & a ' J ' Your affectionate brother, TBM. I do not know whether Nancy will write by this ship. She wrote last week by the Tyrer. 1 2 3

For Schuler see 4 April 1807. I do not find any other Schuler in the Indian army lists. Not identified. 'In 1834 a poisoned wound, obtained in a post-mortem examination, had nearly cost him his life, and from its effects he never fully recovered' (DNB).

Mrs Edward Cropper

y December 2834

TO MRS EDWARD CROPPER, 7 DECEMBER

1834

MS: Mrs Lancelot Errington. Partly published: Trevelyan, 1, 383-7; G. M. Trevelyan, George Otto Trevelyan, 1932, pp. 5; 8—9; Clive, Macaulay, pp. 285-7; 301.

_. ., Calcutta Deer. 7. 1834 J Dearest Margaret, ^ I rather suppose that some late letters from Nancy may have prepared you to learn what I am now about to communicate. She is going to be married, and with my fullest and warmest approbation, to Trevelyan,1 the Deputy Secretary to the Supreme Government in the political, or what we should call at home the Foreign Department. 1 can truly say that if I had to search India for a husband for her, I could have found no man to whom I could with equal confidence have intrusted her happiness. Trevelyan is about eight and twenty. He was at the Charter House, and was there a great crony of Charles Babington. So intimate were they that, when Charles was left to himself to shew him what a poor creature he was, he called Trevelyan to prove that the stolen money was his own. Trevelyan however refused to tell a lie for him. I remember to have heard at the time of the distress of George and Tom when their brother's own friend, being called to prove his innocence, stood silent and agitated before Dr. Russell.2 Trevelyan then went to Haileybury and came out hither. In this country he has distinguished himself far beyond any man of his standing by his great talents for business, by his liberal and enlarged views of policy, and by literary merit which, for his opportunities, is considerable. He was at first placed at Delhi under Sir Edward Colebrook3 - a very powerful and a very popular man, but extremely corrupt. This man tried to initiate Trevelyan in his own infamous practices. But the young fellow's spirit was too noble for such things. At only twenty one he publicly accused Sir Edward, then almost at the head of the service, of receiving bribes from the natives. A perfect storm was raised against the accuser. He was almost everywhere abused, and very generally cut. 1

(Sir) Charles Edward Trevelyan (1807-86: DNB), civil servant, was the fourth son of George Trevelyan, Archdeacon of Taunton, and had been educated at the Charterhouse, 1817—23, and at Haileybury. He entered the Bengal Civil Service, 1826, and had been in Calcutta since 1831. The rest of his career, after his marriage to Hannah Macaulay in 1834, will appear from these letters. 2 Dr John Russell (1787-1863: DNB), Master of the Charterhouse, 1811-32. The disgrace of Charles Babington must have occurred in March, 1823, when he left the Charterhouse to enter the Bombay army. 3 Sir James Edward Colebrooke (1761-1838) had been a member of the Bengal Council and was Resident and Commissioner at Delhi when Trevelyan came to India. On Trevelyan's complaint he was suspended in 1829 and returned to England in 1830. The details of the story are given in Percival Spear, Twilight of the Mughuls, Cambridge, 1951, pp. 167— 81.

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But, with a firmness and ability scarcely ever seen in any man so young, he brought his proofs forward, and after an inquiry of some weeks, fully made out his case. Sir Edward was dismissed in disgrace, and is now living obscurely in England. The Government here and the Directors at home applauded Trevelyan in the highest terms:1 - and from that time he has been considered as a man certain to rise to the very top of the service. When Lord William went up the country Trevelyan attended him. Lord William then told him to ask for any thing that he wished for. Trevelyan begged that something might be done for his elder brother 2 who is in the Company's army. Lord W. told him that he had richly earned that or any thing else, and gave Lieutenant Trevelyan a very good diplomatic appointment. Indeed Lord William, - a man who makes no favourites, has always given to Trevelyan the strongest marks, not of a blind partiality, but of a thoroughly well-grounded and discriminating esteem. Not long ago Trevelyan was appointed by him to the under-secretaryship for foreign affairs, an office of a very important and confidential nature. While holding this place he was commissioned to report to Government on the operation of the internal transit-duties of India. About a year ago his report was completed.3 I shall send to England a copy or two of it by the first safe conveyance: for nothing that I can say of his abilities or of his public spirit will be half so satisfactory. I have no hesitation in saying that it is a perfect masterpiece in its kind. Accustomed as I have been to public affairs, I never read an abler state-paper: and I do not believe that there is, — I will not say in India, — but in England, — another man of twenty-seven who could have written it. Trevelyan is a most stirring reformer. He is indeed quite at the head of that active party among the younger servants of the company who take the side of improvement. In particular he is the soul of every scheme for diffusing education among the natives of this country. 4 His reading has been very confined. But to the little that he has read he has brought a mind as active and restless as Lord Brougham's, and much more judicious and honest. His principles I believe to be excellent, and his temper very sweet. His own religious feelings are ardent, like all his feelings, even to enthusiasm: but he is by no means intolerant with regard to others. 1 2

3

4

In their dispatch of 24 November 1830, confirming Colebrooke's suspension. Henry Willoughby Trevelyan (1803-76), then lieutenant in the Bombay army, was Assistant Resident, Rajpootana, in 1834. A Report upon the Inland Customs and Town-Duties of the Bengal Presidency; Calcutta, 1834. A second edition was printed for public sale in August. Trevelyan had already published A Treatise on the Means of Communicating the Learning and Civilisation of Europe to India, Calcutta, 1834, and had contributed to The Application of the Roman Alphabet to All the Oriental Languages, Serampore, 1834; on his return to England he published On the Education of the People of India, 1838, with extracts from TBM's education minute of 2 February 1835. IOO

Mrs Edward Cropper

y December 2834

He has faults, certainly; but they are for the most part faults which time, society, domestic life, and a visit which in a very few years he will pay to England, are almost certain to correct. He is rash and uncompromising in public matters. If he were a wrongheaded and narrow minded man, he would be a perfect nuisance. But he has so strong an understanding that, though he often goes too fast, he scarcely ever goes in a wrong direction. Lord William said to me, before anybody had observed Trevelyan's attentions to Nancy, "That man is almost always on the right side in every question: and it is well that he is so: for he gives a most confounded deal of trouble when he happens to take the wrong one." This is a fault which experience will do much to remove, and which, after all, has a great affinity to his good qualities. His manners are odd,-blunt almost to roughness at times, and at other times awkward even to sheepishness. But when you consider that during the important years of his life from twenty to twenty five or thereabouts, he was in a remote province of India, where his whole time was divided between public business and field-sports, and where he seldom saw an European gentleman, and never an European lady, you will not wonder at this. Every body says that he has been greatly improved since he came down to Calcutta. Under Nancy's tuition he is improving fast. His voice, his face, and all his gestures, express a softness quite new to him. There is nothing vulgar about him. Even in his oddities and brusqueries he is always the gentleman: and those oddities and brusqueries, I have no doubt, will speedily disappear. He has no great tact or knowledge of the world. You may judge of this by what passed on the very first day on which I met him. He asked me whether I was not related to Charles Babington, and, as soon as he was satisfied of the connexion, he proceeded to relate at full length the whole story of the Sovereign, — or, as he for Charles's greater degradation insisted that it was, the halfSovereign. A man less accustomed to have rascals for cousins than I have been would have been grievously affronted. But these drawbacks, were they ten times more serious, would be trifling when compared with the excellencies of his character. He is a man of genius, a man of honor, a man of rigid integrity, and of a very kind heart. As to his person, nobody can think him handsome; and Nancy, I suppose in order to anticipate the verdict of others, pronounces him ugly. He has however a very good figure, and looks like a gentleman everywhere, but particularly on horse-back. He is very active and athletic, and is renowned as a great master in the most exciting and perilous of fieldsports, the spearing of wild boars. His face is not unlike George Babington's in general character, but is more youthful, and, in spite of 101

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the Indian sun, much more blooming. Besides George's look of thought and resolution, Trevelyan's face has a most characteristic expression of ardour and impetuousity which make his countenance very interesting to me, and, if she would own it, to Nancy too. Birth is a thing that I care nothing about. But his family is one of the oldest and best in England. Money is a more important matter: and there I think that Nancy is fortunate. He has five thousand pounds in England. His salary here is at present about 2000 £ sterling a year, and will, in all probability, be soon increased. If he lives there can be no doubt of his rising rapidly to the most lucrative places in the Indian Government. He was struck with Nancy at her first arrival: but she could not bear him. His manners as I told you are at once shy and rough, and his conversation is not likely to attract a young lady who does not know him well. He has not only no small talk, but he has very little English literature, and — what surprises me greatly - does not know a word of French. His mind is full of schemes of moral and political improvement, and his zeal boils over in all his talk. His topics, even in courtship, are steamnavigation, the education of the natives, the equalization of the sugar duties, the substitution of the Roman for the Arabic alphabet in the oriental languages. Nancy was so cold to him that he studiously avoided her, for fear, he says, of falling in love hopelessly. When I came, things were in this state. I had formed a very high opinion of him from his political correspondence, of which I had read whole reams at Ootacamund. Lord William, though quick-sighted to his faults, had always spoken to me of him as a most distinguished young man. His report on the internal transit-duties was extolled by every body in the South of India. I found it on Colonel Cubbon's table at Bangalore: and Cubbon, one of the ablest and most enlightened men in the Service, praised it in terms so high that, till I read it, I thought them hyperbolical. I came to Calcutta therefore prepossessed in Trevelyan's favour. I found him engaged in a furious contest against half a dozen of the oldest and most powerful men in India on the subject of native education. I thought him a little rash in his expressions; but in essentials, quite right. I joined him, threw all my influence into his scale, brought over Lord William, — or rather induced Lord William to declare himself, - and thus I have, I hope, been the means of effecting some real good. The question was whether the twenty thousand pounds a year which Government appropriates to native education should be employed in teaching the natives Sanscrit and Arabic, as heretofore, or in teaching them English and thus opening to them the whole knowledge of the western world. You will not doubt on which side Trevelyan and I were found. We now consider the victory as gained. 102

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y December 1834

Lord William has made me President of the Education Committee, and intends, very speedily, to pronounce a decision in our favour on the points at issue.1 While this was going on I was constantly in communication with Trevelyan: and he was constantly becoming more and more in love with Nancy. At first I saw that she disliked him: but soon she began to listen to his political disquisitions with more interest. Then I found her reading an account of the inquiry into the conduct of Sir Edward Colebrook. The minutes of the Education Committee had been sent to me. I missed them; and found that Nancy had stolen them, and was pouring over some very powerful, but rather too vehement, papers which Trevelyan had placed on record. Then she began to talk with him about the oriental alphabets. Then she engaged a Moonshee2 from among his followers to teach her Hindostanee after his new fashion with the Roman character. Her eyes looked bright whenever we met him on the Course, and her cheeks extremely red whenever he spoke to her. In short she became as much in love as he. I saw the feeling growing from the very first, for, though I generally pay not the smallest attention to such matters, I had far too deep an interest in Nancy's happiness not to watch her behaviour to everybody who saw much of her. I knew it, I believe, before she knew it herself: and I could most easily have prevented it by merely treating Trevelyan with a little coldness. For he is a man whom the smallest rebuff would completely discourage. But you will believe, my dearest Margaret, that no thought of such base selfishness ever passed through my mind. I knew how painful a sacrifice I should have to make. But I knew that I had no right to enjoy her society at the expense of her happiness. Whatever prudes may chuse to say, nature made the two sexes for each other. It is the fundamental law on which the whole universe rests that they shall mutually attract each other. The celibacy of women has always been to me an object of more pity than I can express. I never see an amiable girl passing the prime of life unmarried without concern. And as to my dear Nancy, I would as soon have locked her up in a nunnery as have put the smallest obstacle in the way of her having a good husband. I therefore 1

2

The official notice of TBM's appointment to the presidency of the Committee is dated 8 December. For Lord William's decision in favor of TBM's party, see [2?—7? February 1835]. The division in the Committee between the 'Orientalists' and the 'Anglicists,' as they were called, was even, and had held up useful action for several years by the time that TBM arrived on the scene. The General Committee of Public Instruction had been organized in 1823 to put into effect the provisions of the Charter Act of 1813, whereby the East India Company accepted responsibility for education in its territories. TBM had almost a hereditary interest in this matter, the educational and religious provisions of the 1813 Charter being a work of the Clapham Sect. The best account of the subject is in chapters 12 and 13 of John Clive's Macaulay. Secretary or language teacher. IO3

7 December 2834

Mrs Edward Cropper

gave every facility and encouragement to both of them. What I have myself suffered it is unnecessary to say. My parting from you almost broke my heart. But when I parted from you I had Nancy - I had all my other relations-I had my friends-I had my country. Now I have nothing except the resources of my own mind, the consciousness of having acted not ungenerously, and the contemplation of the happiness of others. This it is to make war on nature. This it is to form a scheme of happiness inconsistent with the general rules which govern the world. My Margaret and my Nancy were so dear to me and so fond of me that I found in their society all the quiet social happiness of domestic life. I never formed any serious attachment - any attachment which could possibly end in marriage. I was under a strange delusion. I could not see that all the qualities which made them so dear to me would probably make them dear to others. I could not see that others might wish to marry girls whose society was so powerfully attaching as to keep me from marrying. I did not reflect - and yet 1 well knew - that there are ties between man and woman dearer and closer than those of blood; - that I was suffering an indulgence to become necessary to me which I might lose in a moment that I was giving up my whole soul to objects the very excellence of which was likely to deprive me of them. I have reaped as I sowed. At thirty four I am alone in the world. I have lost everything - and I have only myself to blame. The work of more than twenty years has vanished in a single month. She was always most dear to me. Since you left me she was everything to me. I loved her — I adored her. For her sake more than for my own I valued wealth, station, political and literary fame. For her sake far more than for my own I became an exile from my own country. In her society and affection I found an ample compensation for all that brilliant society which I had left. She was everything to me: and I am to be henceforth nothing to her - the first place in her affections is gone. Every year some new object of love will push me lower and lower in the scale of her regard till I am to her what our uncles and aunts were to our father and mother. I do not repine. Whatever I suffer I have brought on myself. I have neglected the plainest lessons of reason and experience. I have staked my happiness without calculating the chances of the dice. I have hewn out broken cisterns. I have leant on a reed. I have built on the sand. And I have fared accordingly. I must bear my punishment as I can: and above all I must take care that the punishment does not extend beyond myself. I am proud to say that, in all this affair, amidst the most acute suffering, I cannot accuse myself of one selfish proceeding, and that I have done everything in my power to secure Nancy's happiness at the expense of my own. Nothing can be kinder than her conduct has been: and Trevelyan evidently feels much for me: though neither of them, I believe, know 104

Mrs Edward Cropper

y December 1834

what my feelings are. Nancy proposed that we should form one family: and Trevelyan, though, like most other lovers, he would, I imagine, prefer having his goddess to himself, consented with strong expressions of pleasure. The arrangement is not so strange as it might seem at home. The thing is often done here: and those quarrels between servants which would inevitably mar any such plan in England are not to be apprehended in an Indian Establishment. I feel the kindness of their intentions: and I cling too much to Nancy's society not to be desirous to defer the separation as long as I can. Yet I hardly know whether I judge rightly in taking this course, and whether it would not be wiser in me to bear the pain of separation once for all than to see the gradual growth of new feelings, the multiplication of new objects of attachment, the progress of that inevitable estrangement which it will not be in the dear girl's power to avert. But I have not fortitude enough to relinquish her society at once in this strange country. One advantage there will be in our living together of a most incontestable sort. We shall both be able to save more money. Trevelyan will soon be entitled to his furlough, but he proposes not to take it till I go home. Thus he has done all that he can do to alleviate this great blow. He will return to India with Nancy for ten years more; and it matters little whether we meet again or no. I have gone on, I scarcely know how, pouring out to you all my thoughts. My grief is not without a mixture of mirth. The world is a tragi-comedy, and the scene now acting in this house is no bad instance of it. I have never seen a more amusing specimen of human — I might say of female nature - than dear Nancy is now exhibiting. It nearly broke her heart to come to India. She pined for nothing but home. Whenever I asked her jokingly whether if I should ever hereafter be made Governor General she would come out with me again, she screamed with horror at the bare idea. And here is a young fellow who, six weeks ago, was positively disagreable to her, for whose sake she is not only ready, but happy, to stay here in all probability fourteen or fifteen years. Nevertheless she is frightened out of her wits at the thought of being married; and will, I apprehend, go into fits before every thing is over. But as I never heard of any young lady dying in suchfits,I am not very uneasy about her. As to Trevelyan he is by no means so good a wooer as a financier or a diplomatist. He has had no practice: and he never read, I believe, a novel in all his life - so that his love-making, though very ardent and sincere, is as awkward and odd as you would wish to see. He will not however be the worse husband on that account. The match is loudly applauded by the most intimate friends on both sides. Intimate friends, indeed, we can hardly be said to have here. But there are some whose kindness to us has been very great - particularly 105

7 December 1834

Mrs Edward Cropper

Lord and Lady William. Lord W has taken the warmest interest in the business. My lady came here immediately after she heard of the declaration, — a rare compliment from her I assure you, - kissed Nancy over and over, and seemed transported with joy. They take a warm interest both in her and in Trevelyan. When the ceremony will take place I do not know: but probably about the middle of January. I heartily wish that it were over: for poor Nancy is in a most dreadful flutter of spirits, and will continue so, I suspect, till she knows the worst. I do what I can to enliven her: but it is hard for the miserable to find spirits for the happy. This letter is of course private, and meant only for yourself. But you can communicate parts of it to our family and friends. Whatever you divulge, keep secret what I have said about my own feelings. I would gladly conceal from Nancy that I suffer at all. I hope that she does not know the whole extent of what I suffer. Yet sometimes within the last few days I have been unable, even at Church or in the Council-room to command my voice or to restrain my tears. I have known poverty. I have known exile. But I never knew unhappiness before. So there you have my heart before you with all its inconsistency and weakness. I have half a mind not to send the letter; and yet I will: for there is a pleasure in reposing confidence somewhere, in exciting sympathy somewhere. I shall write in a very different style to my father, and to George. To them I shall represent the marriage, as what it is in every respect except its effect on my own dreams of happiness, [a] most honorable and happy event, prudent in a worldly point of view, and promising all the felicity which strong mutual affection, excellent principles on both sides, good temper, youth, health, and the general approbation of friends, can afford. As to myself it is the tragical denouement of an absurd plot. I remember quoting some nursery rhymes to you years ago when you left me in London to join Nancy at Rothley Temple or Leamington - I forget which.1 Those foolish lines contain the history of my life — There were two birds that sate on a stone: One flew away, and then there was but one The other flew away and then there was none And the poor stone was left all alone. I shall soon write again, and tell you about a thousand other matters. At present I will only say that our climate is at present agreably cool — that my health, though it has suffered a little during the last week from mental agitation, is in the main very good - certainly better than in England, and that, in all external matters, I am going on as well as possible. 1

See 3 August 1831. 106

Macvey Napier

10 December 1834

Give my kindest love to Edward. The necessity of paying ready money for furniture, china, plate, glass, and table linen has prevented me hitherto from discharging my debt to him. But by the end of this month I shall be able to remit fifteen hundred pounds home without the smallest inconvenience. My love to the baby. Pray when are we to have another? I presume that Master Charles will be destined by you to be a match for Miss Trevelyan - heiress of the great Indian Trevelyan just returned from the Government of Agra with a hundred thousand pounds. Kiss him for me at anyrate. / Ever, my dearest Margaret, Yours most tenderly T B Macaulay TO MACVEY N A P I E R , 10 D E C E M B E R

1834

MS: British Museum. Mostly published: Napier, Correspondence, pp. 154-6.

Calcutta Dec 10. 1834 Dear Napier, First to business. At length I send you an article for the Review1 — an article which has the merit of length, whatever it may be deficient in. As I wished to transmit it to England in duplicate if not in triplicate, I thought it best to have three or four copies coarsely printed here under the seal of strict secrecy. The printers at Edinburgh will therefore have no trouble in deciphering my manuscript,-and the corrector of the press will find his work done to his hands. The reason of the long delay of which I dare say you have often complained was that the copy sent me from Longman's when I was on board did not contain either the title-page or the introductory matter: and it was not till within the last month that I was able to procure a complete volume. The disgraceful imbecillity and the still more disgraceful malevolence of the editor have, as you will see, moved my indignation not a little.2 I hope that Longman's connection with the review will not 1 2

The article on Mackintosh. TBM devoted several pages of angry and scornful comment to Mackintosh's editor, whose identity he could not have known. He was William Bayley Wallace (1793.^-1839), an Irishman, a Catholic, and a barrister, who apparently lived by journalism. He had been a friend of Ugo Foscolo and had collaborated with Mackintosh on the translation of an article by Foscolo on Dante for the ER. He had contributed to Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia, of which Mackintosh's History of the Revolution in 1688 formed a part, and would thus have been known to Lardner and to Longman, who published the Cyclopaedia. When Mackintosh's History was republished in 1835 Wallace's additions to the original edition were omitted, no doubt because of TBM's attack upon the editor's incompetence. Wallace himself was so offended by the review that he challenged both Napier and TBM to duels: see 8 February 1836 and to Napier, 14 June 1838. 107

/ o December 1834

Macvey Napier

prevent you from inserting what I have said on this subject. Murray's Whig writers are unsparingly abused by Southey and Lockhart in the Quarterly; and it would be hard indeed if we might not in the Edinburgh strike hard at an assailant of Mackintosh. As to the rest I leave the article to your discretion. It has been written, as you may suppose, with less assistance from books than would have been desirable. But I hope that you will find in it no serious inaccuracy. I shall soon begin another article. The subject I have not yet fixed upon, - perhaps the romantic poetry of Italy, for which there is an excellent opportunity, Panizzi's reprint of Boiardo,1 just arrived here;perhaps the little volume of Burnet's characters edited by Bishop Jebb. 2 This reminds me that I have to acknowledge the receipt of a box from Longman, containing this little book, and several other books of much greater value, Grimm's Correspondence, Jaquemont's letters,3 which I hope Empson has reviewed by this time, and several foreign works on jurisprudence. Another box has arrived by a later ship; but it has not yet been brought on shore. All that you have yet sent have been excellently chosen. I will mention, while I am on this subject, a few books which I want, and which I am not likely to pick up here; — Daru, Histoire de Venise4 — St Real, Conjuraison de Venise5 - Fra Paolo's works6 — Monstrelet's chronicle7 - and Coxe's book on the Pelhams.8 I should also like to have a really good edition of Lucian. I believe that Hemsterhusius's9 is the best. But you will easily learn. So much for business. And now for a little friendly chat. I am settled here, in exile it is true, but surrounded with all that can render exile tolerable. My health is excellent, my employment honorable and useful, - not a mere drudgery, nor so laborious as to leave me without leisure for 1

2

3

4 5

6

7

8

9

Panizzi's nine-volume edition of Boiardo and Ariosto was completed in 1834, but Ariosto, not Boiardo, was published second: see 29 April 1830. John Jebb, ed., Gilbert Burnet, Lives, Characters, and an Address to Posterity, 1833. Nothing came of this proposal. Victor Jacquemont, Letters from India, 2 vols., 1834. On 1 January 1835 Empson wrote to Jeffrey that ' Macaulay suggests to me the Review of Jacquemont which I have as yet not seen: saying he would review it himself but that he should be thought to be puffing his friend, the Governor General' (MS, British Museum). Pierre Daru, Histoire de la Republique de Venise, Paris, 1819. Cesar Vichard, Abbe* de Saint Real, De la Conjuration des Espagnols contre la Republique de Venise, 1674. TBM's copy (London, 1800) is now at Trinity, dated 16 November 1835. Fra Paolo's Opere in four volumes were in TBM's library (shelf-list of TBM's library, 1852: MS, University of Newcastle. Cited hereafter as 'shelf-list'). Enguerrand de Monstrelet, Chroniques, is a fifteenth-century work; an English translation in 5 vols. had been published, 1809. William Coxe, Memoirs of the Administration of the Right Honourable Henry Pelham, 2 vols., 1829. Thus in MS. Tiberius Hemsterhuis, Luciani Opera, Amsterdam, 1743-6; a copy was in TBM's library (Shelf-list, p. 8). 108

Macvey Napier

1 o December 2 834

literature. I read much and have not the smallest reason to apprehend that any rust will gather on my mind during my absence. My sister whose society has been invaluable to me is about to be married: but we shall not on that account be separated. She and her intended husband - a young civilian of very distinguished talents and of the highest character, will live with me. Your kindness is such that you will, I am sure, take an interest in these particulars. I shall send another copy of my article by a Liverpool ship, and a third very shortly by a private hand. My sister desires me to send you her kind regards. She remembers her visit to Edinburgh and your hospitality with the greatest pleasure. Calcutta is called, and not without some reason, the city of palaces. But I have seen nothing in the East like the view from the Castle Rock, nor expect to see anything like it till we stand there together again. Kindest regards to Lord Jeffrey. / Ever, dear Napier, Yours most truly T B Macaulay TO MACVEY N A P I E R , 10 D E C E M B E R

1834

MS: British Museum.

Calcutta Dec 10. 1834 Dear Napier, I send off an article to you at last. The delay was inevitable. The copy which I received just before sailing did not contain the Editor's prefatory memoir, and I was not able to procure the complete work till about a month ago. I thought it better to have three or four copies of the article printed, under solemn assurances of secrecy, than to transcribe so long a manuscript twice or thrice. I have sent a duplicate by a London ship, accompanied by a longer letter to you. At present I will only add that I am in better health than I ever had in England since I went into parliament, and as happy as a man can reasonably expect to be who is separated from so much that he loves and values. / Ever, dear Napier, Yours very truly T B Macaulay

109

15 December 1834

Thomas Flower Ellis

TO THOMAS FLOWER ELLIS, 15 DECEMBER

1834

MS: Trinity College. Address: T F Ellis Esq /15 Bedford Place. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Mostly published: Trevelyan, 1, 426-30.

Calcutta Dec 15. 1834 Dear Ellis, Many thanks for your letter. It is delightful in this strange land to see the handwriting of such a friend. I can truly say that England contains very few people indeed, not more than three or four, whether in my own family or out of it, who are so dear to me as you. We must keep up our spirits. We shall meet, I trust, in little more than four years at the outside, with feelings of regard only strengthened by our separation. My spirits are not bad; and they ought not to be bad. I have at present health, affluence, consideration, great power to do good, functions which, while they are honorable and useful, are not painfully burdensome, leisure for study, good books, an unclouded and active mind, warm affections, and a very dear sister. There will soon be a change in my domestic arrangements. My sister is to be married next week. She came hither on no matrimonial speculation: and indeed the match is, in a temporal point of view, no very good speculation. As mistress of my house, she was second only to Lady William Bentinck in Indian society; and, while she remained unmarried, no house of mine, either in England or in India, would ever have had another mistress. She marries from attachment, and from very honorable and well-placed attachment. Her lover, who is lover enough to be a knight of the Round Table, is one of the most distinguished of our young civilians. I have the very highest opinion of his talents both for action and for discussion. Indeed I should call him a man of real genius. He is also, what is even more important, a man of the utmost purity of honor, of a sweet temper, and of strong principle. He is very fervently religious, - perhaps too much so for my taste: but this is, at all events, a fault on the right side in the man to whom I am about to give away a girl whose happiness is quite as dear to me as my own. His public virtue has gone through very severe trials, and has come out resplendent. Lord William, in congratulating me the other day, said that he thought my destined brother in law the ablest young man in the service, and the most noble-minded man that he had ever seen. His name is Trevelyan. He is a nephew of a Sir John Trevelyan,1 a baronet, in Cornwall, I suppose, by the name; for I never took the trouble to ask. He and my sister will live with me during my stay here. I have a house about as large as Lord Dudley's in Park Lane, or rather larger, so that I shall accommodate them without the smallest difficulty. This arrangement 1

Sir John Trevelyan (1761-1846), fifth Baronet.

no

Thomas Flower Ellis

i5 December 1834

is acceptable to me, because it saves me from the misery of parting with my sister in this strange land; and is, I believe, equally gratifying to Trevelyan, whose education, like that of other Indian servants, was huddled up hastily at home, who has an insatiable thirst for knowledge of every sort, and who looks on me as little less than an oracle of wisdom. He came to me the other morning to know whether I would advise him to keep up his Greek, which he feared he had nearly lost. I gave him Homer, and asked him to read a page; and I found that like most boys of any talent who have been at the Charter-House, he was very well grounded in the language. He read with perfect rapture, and has marched off with the book, declaring that he shall never be content till he has finished the whole. He is now set most vehemently on a scheme for our reading Mitford's History of Greece together, referring, as we go on, to the poets, historians, philosophers, and orators, whose works throw light on the narrative. This, you will think, is not a bad brother-in-law for a man to pick up in 22 degrees of North Latitude and 100 degrees of East Longitude. I read much - and particularly Greek; and I find that I am, in all essentials, still not a bad scholar. I could, I think, with a year's hard study, qualify myself to fight a good battle for a Craven's Scholarship. I read however, not as I read at College, but like a man of the world. If I do not know a word, I pass it by, unless it be important to the sense. If I find, as I have of late often found, a passage which refuses to give up its meaning at the second reading, I let it alone. I have read during the last fortnight, before breakfast, three books of Herodotus, and four plays of yEschylus. I began the Xorjcpopoi1 this morning. I now and then give up particular passages. But I thoroughly enter into the spirit, not only of the iambics, but of most of the chorusses. My admiration of yEschylus has been prodigiously increased by this reperusal. I cannot conceive how any person of the smallest pretensions to taste should doubt about his immeasurable superiority to every poet of antiquity, Homer only excepted. Even Milton, I think, must yield to him. It is quite unintelligible to me that the ancient critics should have placed him so low. Horace's notice of him in the Ars Poetica is quite ridiculous.2 There is to be sure the "magnum loqui." But the great topic insisted on is the skill of ^Eschylus as a manager, as a property-man — , the judicious way in which he boarded the stage, the masks, the buskins, and the dresses. And, after all, the magnum loqui, though the most obvious characteristic of yEschylus, is by no means his highest or his best. Nor can I explain this by saying that Horace had too tame and unimaginative a mind to appreciate ^Eschylus. I think that Horace's taste was excellent. He knew what he could himself do, and, with admirable wisdom, he confined himself to that. But he 1

2

Choephori. Ill

Lines 278-80.

i5 December 1834

Thomas Flower Ellis

seems to have had a perfectly clear comprehension of the merit of those great masters whom he never attempted to rival. He praised Pindar most enthusiastically. It seems incomprehensible to me that a critic who admired Pindar should not admire yEschylus far more. Greek reminds me of Cambridge and of Thirlwall, and of Wordsworth's unutterable baseness and dirtiness.1 When you see Thirlwall tell him that I congratulate him from my soul on having suffered in so good a cause: and that I would rather have been treated as he has been treated on such an account than have the Mastership of Trinity. There would be some chance for the Church, if we had more Churchmen of the same breed — worthy successors of Leighton2 and Tillotson3. From one Trinity Fellow I pass to another-(This letter is quite a study to a metaphysician who wishes to illustrate the law of association). We have no official tidings yet of Malkin's appointment to the vacant seat on the Bench at Calcutta.4 But private letters represent it as certain; and we are assured that another fellow of our College, Gambier,5 has actually kissed hands on being appointed to Penang. I cannot tell you how delighted I am at the prospect of having Malkin here. An honest enlightened Judge, without professional narrowness, is the very man whom we want on public grounds. And as to my private feelings nothing could be more agreable to me than to have an old friend and so estimable a friend brought so near to me in this distant country. I heartily wish that your letter had contained better news about your eldest boy. 6 I will say no more on that painful subject. It is not a subject on which consolation can be of the smallest avail. Even with this terrible drawback, I think you one of the happiest men in domestic life that I have ever known. I hope from the bottom of my soul that, when I return, I shall find you as happy in your home and as deserving to be so 1

2 3

4

5

6

Wordsworth had compelled the resignation of Thirlwall as an assistant tutor of Trinity for supporting the bill to admit Dissenters to university degrees, and, incidentally, for denouncing compulsory chapel. Connop Thirlwall (i797-1875: DNB), later Bishop of St David's and the author of the History of Greece (1835-44), was elected Fellow of Trinity, 1818. He had been an assistant tutor since 1832. Robert Leighton (1611-84: DNB), Archbishop of Glasgow. John Tillotson (1630-94: DNB), Archbishop of Canterbury; both he and Leighton were friends to religious toleration. Malkin had been appointed to the Supreme Court at Calcutta, but he was not sworn in until October, 1835. Sir Edward John Gambier (1794-1879: DNB), Fellow of Trinity, 1820, succeeded Malkin at Penang, 1834. He was later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court at Madras. Thomas Flower Ellis, Jr (1822.^-98); nothing is known of this child other than the meager details in official records. Perhaps he was mentally defective. Ellis, in his will dated 1839, leaves his residuary estate in trust for him. He is not shown as residing at Ellis's Bedford Place home in the census of 1841, but his residence at his death was that of his sisters Marian and Louisa. See also the reference of 30 May 1836. 112

Mrs Edward Cropper

24 December 1834

as I left you. My kindest regards to Mrs. Ellis. Tell Frank that if he is not a better Greek scholar than I when I come back, I shall hold him in great contempt. Love to all the children. / Ever dear Ellis Your affectionate friend T B Macaulay

TO M R S E D W A R D C R O P P E R , 24 D E C E M B E R

1834

MS: Mrs Lancelot Errington. Address: Mrs. E Cropper / Messrs. Cropper Benson and Co / Liverpool. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Extracts published: Trevelyan, I, 387-8; Humphrey Trevelyan, The India We Left, 1972, p. 47 Clive, Macaulay, p. 287.

Calcutta December 24. 1834 Dearest Margaret, I wrote to you at great length a fortnight ago or thereabouts. But as it is possible that this letter, though dispatched later, may arrive earlier than the other, I will briefly recapitulate what I then told you, and will then proceed with my narrative. Our dearest Nancy, after resisting the direct courtship of some suitors, and discouraging the very significant attentions of many more, has at last fallen in with the right man. The right man he is, I think, in all the best senses of the phrase. He is Charles Edward Trevelyan, deputy secretary to the Government in the Political Department, or, as you would call it at home, in the Foreign department. I have, in my former letter, given you a full account of him. I will therefore only say that, if I had to look round not only India but England for a brotherin-law, I could not have found a man to whose keeping I could with more entire confidence entrust the happiness of my dear sister. He is young — not more than twenty eight. But he has already established a very high character both for talents and for integrity. He has been placed in situations most trying to public virtue and he has come out of them all with the most unsullied honor. He has been charged with duties which required the greatest abilities: and he has performed them in such a manner as to have already earned a place in the very first class of Indian statesmen. He is a thorough gentleman in mind. - His manners are not very polished at present: but this fault is pardonable in a young man who has passed several years up the country at a distance from society: and, under Nancy's tuition, he is rapidly learning refinement. He is of a very aristocratical family — a nephew of Sir John Trevelyan, a great Western Baronet. He has a small fortune in England — four or five thousand pounds. He has settled the whole of this on Nancy, and would have done the same if it had been ten times as much. I never saw a more devoted or adoring lover: and he was quite in the right: for he certainly could not 113

24 December 1834

Mrs Edward Cropper

have found from one end of India to the other a girl so well deserving of attachment. She behaved extremely well through the whole affair, - with perfect frankness, and perfect modesty, - and became at last very nearly as much in love as he was. This is a concise recapitulation of what I told you before. When the engagement was made, Trevelyan naturally pressed for a speedy marriage. I seconded him: for I never could see, even in England, either wisdom or delicacy in postponing the ceremony when both parties are agreed. To accept a man on a very short acquaintance is not quite consistent with my notion of womanly propriety. But to accept him, and then to put off" marrying him, always seemed to me a silly and affected way of proceeding. Nancy was very refractory. But we prevailed on her to submit the whole to the arbitration of Lady William who has really been a mother to her, through the whole affair. Lady William quite sided with us, and fixed yesterday for the marriage. Yesterday accordingly it took place at the Cathedral. Lord and Lady William attended, at their own earnest desire. I gave her away. After the ceremony she and Trevelyan set off for Barrackpore, where the Governor General has lent them a pretty little cottage in his beautiful park. There they will remain for a fortnight, and will then return to Calcutta, and take up their residence with me. I meant when I sate down to have been very minute in my narrative. But I cannot. I have no heart to write. My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death.1 My only comfort is that she is happy and that I have made her so at my own cost - at a cost which neither she nor any other human being except myself can conceive. Under the strongest temptations I have acted justly, kindly, generously: and that must be my support. Every thing is dark. The world is a desert before me. I have nothing to love — I have nothing to live for - 1 do not care how soon I am carried to the Cathedral on a very different occasion from that of yesterday. I have nobody but myself to blame. I have indulged in a foolish dream till it became necessary to me. I have refused to be awakened. My own reason, my own experience, told me that I was under a deception, and yet I slumbered on. I am now awakened indeed. I see the whole extent of my folly. I see what a madman I was to waste my tenderness as I have done what a madman to think that it would ever be returned. I have been prodigal of my love, and I have had the fate of other prodigals. My tenderness would have been more highly prized if it had been less lavishly given. This bitter lesson, which comes too late to be of use, is all that I have got in exchange for the blighted hopes and squandered affections of a life. I am a changed man. My sense and my humanity will preserve me from 1

Mark 14:34. 114

Mrs Edward Cropper

24 December 1834

misanthropy. My spirits will not easily be subdued by melancholy. But I feel that an alteration is taking place. My affections are shutting themselves up and withering. I feel a growing tendency to cynicism and suspicion. My intellect remains and is likely, I sometimes think, to absorb the whole man. I still retain, not only undiminished, but strengthened by the very events which have deprived me of every thing else, my thirst for knowledge, my passion for holding converse with the greatest minds of all ages and nations, my power of forgetting what surrounds me, and of living with the past, the future, the distant, and the unreal. Books are becoming every thing to me. If I had at this moment my choice of life, I would bury myself in one of those immense libraries that we saw at the Universities, and never pass a waking hour without a book before me. I know that this state of mind will not last. Time takes away the smart of the deepest wounds. Ambition will again spring up in my mind. I may again enjoy the commerce of society and the pleasures of friendship. But a love like that which I bore to my two youngest sisters, and which, since I lost my Margaret, I felt with concentrated strength for Nancy, I shall never feel again. I received the news of your marriage on the day of my election for Leeds. My feelings were stunned by noise and tumult. I was forced to exert myself. I was supported by popularity, by ambition, by triumph. Then too I had my country; I had many comforters; I had her whom I have no longer. I now sit alone in the vast halls of my house with fifteen thousand miles of sea rolling between me and every person to whom I could speak with freedom or from whom I could expect one word of consolation. This must be my excuse for writing to you thus. I did not mean to do so. But to write on such an occasion was absolutely necessary: and my feelings will govern my pen. I shall give you pain, I know. But you will forgive me for the sake of what we once were to each other in pleasant times that are gone and that will return no more. They are to live with me. Nancy proposed this arrangement, and indeed insisted on it. I do not think that it will answer her expectations. She seems to imagine that my sufferings, which indeed I have done my best to conceal from her, arise merely from my dread of parting with her. It is quite a mistake. It is the moral much more than the physical separation which I dread: and the very course which she has taken for the purpose of preventing the physical separation will make the moral separation a slow torture instead of a quick decisive pang. But she was very fully determined on carrying her point; and indeed said that she would not marry on any other terms. I could not refuse to assent under these circumstances: nor could I tell her, nor shall I ever tell her, one thousandth part of what I feel. I fear that every day will bring some circumstance with it 5

115

PLO

in

24 December 2834

Mrs Edward Cropper

to gall those feelings which were the delight, and are the torment of my life. Every day will remind me how little I am to her who was so much to me.1 It is a strong recommendation of this arrangement to my mind that it will enable them to save money. Trevelyan's whole salary is at present 1800 £ a year. It is likely to be soon increased, but, even if increased, it would not enable her to live as his wife in the style in which she has lived as my sister, although they were to spend the whole. By living with me, Trevelyan will be enabled to lay up a thousand a year, or so, at a time of life when most of his brethren in the civil service are still borrowing. The later and more lucrative part of the career of an Indian politician is generally spent in paying the debts of his youth with immense accumulations of interest and compound interest. It is a great satisfaction to] 2 me to be able to save two persons in whom I take so much interest from such a calamity. Whatever satisfaction I have indeed must now arise from my being able to serve others. The ship which carries this letter carries a bill for 1500 £ to George Babington. He will pay Edward the 600 £ which I borrowed last January. The remainder ought, I think, to suffice for a year's expenditure. But I have told George to consult you, and have promised to be answerable for any outlay which you and he may concur in thinking necessary for the comfort and credit of my father and sisters or for Charles's education. An article of mine on Mackintosh's historical fragment goes by the same ship. It was written under very discouraging circumstances. But I am not sensible of any fallings off either in the thought or in the style. Kindest love to Edward, and kisses without number to the dear baby. He is a namesake of Trevelyan. People will suppose that our new brother-in-law is his godfather, when the poor little heathen never had a godfather at all. Say nothing to anybody about my personal feelings. I pour them out to you without restraint, but to you alone. / Ever dearest Margaret Yours most affectionately T B Macaulay 1

2

Hannah wrote of the effects of her marriage on TBM that' he never while we were in India at all recovered his spirits, nor do I think his former lighthearted vivacity ever returned, a certain amount of depression remained, and to his last day there are entries in his journals referring to this unhealed wound which were exquisitely painful to me to read Lord and Lady William went in the evening [of Hannah's wedding-day] to see him, and wrote to me begging us to return as soon as we could, as they were frightened about him. I am sure his mind was disturbed for he wrote me the most fearful letter of misery and reproach, followed the next day by one begging me to forgive it' (Memoir of TBM, pp. 62-3). Letter torn.

Selina and Frances Macaulay

26 December 1834

T O S E L I N A A N D F R A N C E S M A C A U L A Y , 26 D E C E M B E R

1834

MS: Trinity College. Address: The Miss Macaulays. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Calcutta Dec 26. 1834

My dear Girls, I have very little time and very much to do. Yet I should think it unkind, on so very important an occasion, to make up my packet for England without adding a few lines addressed to you. You will learn from Margaret, my father, and George, full particulars of dearest Nancy's marriage. Your new brother-in-law is one of whom we have all reason to be proud, - a man of virtue, a man of eminent talents, a man fondly attached to his wife, and a very sincerely religious man. You will find him, I am quite sure, as ready to serve you in every thing within his power as if he were your brother by blood. His name is Trevelyan. The details of the great day —which was last Tuesday —you must get from Nancy. I can tell you only that Lord William was there in his uniform and his star, that Lady William, who has really been quite a mother to Nancy, through this and some other perplexing and agitating affairs, furnished the lace veil - an unique in India, and a present of the old Duke of Portland1 that Nancy was in white and looked very pretty and very much frightened - that Trevelyan had a swelled face, which drew forth from him the pious reflection that Providence had sent it to save him from doing something absurd from the excess of his joy, and that it just sufficed to keep him tolerably reasonable. I gave her away, with the fullest confidence that the event will be for her happiness. They set off almost immediately in my open carriage for a pretty cottage which Lord William has lent them. It is on the banks of the Hoogly, in the beautiful park of Barrackpore, about twelve miles from Calcutta. They will return within a fortnight, and take up their residence with me, an arrangement which will, I trust, enable them to save money. Trevelyan's salary, though higher than that of any man in the service who is so young, is not more than would support him and his wife handsomely if they lived separately. But, living with me, they ought to lay up a thousand a year at least, at a time of life when most people here are borrowing and getting further and further behindhand every day. I must say no more at present. Kindest love to Charles and J o h n indeed to all our relations and friends. Ever yours, my dear girls T B Macaulay PS. At last I have sent you some money. You will learn particulars from George. 1

The fourth Duke (1768-1854), Lord William's brother. 117

5-2

2j December 2834 TO L O R D L A N S D O W N E , 27 D E C E M B E R

Lord Lansdowne 1834

MS: The Marquess of Lansdowne. Calcutta Dec 27. 1834 Dear Lord Lansdowne, Even if I had not received your most welcome letter, I should have felt certain from all your past kindness that you would be pleased to hear from me. I am here, as comfortably situated as an exile can expect to be. My health has been constantly improving since I left England. The climate of Bengal, whatever people may say, is a far less noxious one than the climate of the House of Commons. My duties are honorable and will, I hope, prove useful. At the same time they are not painfully laborious. I have three or four hours before breakfast for literature, and the evening for society. I am renewing my acquaintance with old friends with whom I never expected to fall in again, — the Greek poets and philosophers. I read them with far more zest than in my college days — indeed with so much zest that my friends must not be surprised if I should end my career as an editor of yEschylus or of Aristophanes. As to my public functions, I have hitherto been reconnoitering, and am only just commencing active operations. I am placed in a very awkward position by an unfortunate clause which was introduced at the third reading of the India Bill in the House of Lords. That clause provides, in direct contradiction to the spirit of the act, that the fourth member of Council shall sit only at meetings held for the making of laws or regulations.1 But it was not thought necessary to define the meaning of the words law and regulation. In all countries which have mixed governments, either in Europe or America, great care has been taken to mark out accurately the frontier which separates the functions of the legislature from those of the executive. And indeed this is absolutely necessary. For there is no natural line of demarcation between the two provinces. The distinction between a law and an order-in-council is a purely arbitrary distinction. For example, in the time of Cromwell an act of parliament was necessary to pardon a murderer. In the time of Elizabeth the Queen's letter was sufficient to create a monopoly. Now the executive can pardon all crimes without a law; but cannot confer any exclusive commercial privilege. We are all utterly at a loss here to know where it was meant that the line should be drawn in the Indian Government. We have written home for instructions. Meantime questions are daily arising of a most 1

The question of what share TBM could have in the proceedings of the Supreme Council apart from strictly legislative sessions arose immediately on his arrival at Ootacamund: a minute of his on the subject was written 27 June, the day he was sworn of the Council (Judicial Letters from India, 1834-5, 1, 101: India Office Library).

Lord Lansdowne

zy December 1834

perplexing nature — as whether the fourth member of Council is to vote on the imposition of a tax, on the cession of a portion of territory, on the rules which are laid down for the administration of justice in a district under temporary occupation by our arms, on the appropriation of the funds assigned by the government for the purposes of education, and so forth. We have had no disputes. For I have determined, till orders come out from England, neither to intrude myself into any business uninvited, nor to decline any responsibility which I am asked to share: and Lord William has insisted on my being admitted to all sittings and consults on all questions. But he is, and we all are, very desirous that the restriction should be either removed altogether, or made more definite. He has recorded a strong minute on the subject in which he has said very truly that, while the law remains in its present state, it depends wholly on the Governor General whether the fourth member of Council shall or shall not be a cypher. I hope, in spite of the difficulties of my situation, to be able to effect some good both in the Council and out of it. There is one subject which now occupies the minds of people here very much, and in which I take the warmest interest — the education of the natives. I am satisfied that no laws, however neatly framed and arranged, can do much for them unless we can raise the standard of intelligence and morality among them. The Government have just made me President of the Board of Public Instruction; and in that capacity I hope to be useful - more useful at least than, under present circumstances, I could have been in England. I am truly glad that I escaped the last Session. I could not have gone through it without doing great violence either to my public or to my private feelings. We are all painfully anxious to know who is to be our next Governor.1 Of this I am certain that he cannot possibly be a better than Lord William. I have seen many men better fitted to govern a free state: but I never saw and cannot even imagine a man better fitted by his intellectual and moral character, to exercise despotic power with advantage to his subjects. He cannot speak at all, and would make a bad canvasser or party-leader in England. But he is really a personification of justice, wisdom, and industry. I do not think that I exaggerate in saying this. But possibly the constant kindness which I have received from him and the maternal tenderness with which Lady William has treated my sister may bias my opinion. My domestic life is very agreable. My sister is just married to a young civilian of the highest distinction in the service, and they are to live with 1

Bentinck was about to leave India. Before he could, the Tories took office and nominated Lord Heytesbury to India, but on their defeat the appointment was cancelled and Lord Auckland sent out by the Whigs. 119

[December 2S34]

Lord William Bentinck

me. This marriage alone prevented me from inviting Dr. and Mrs. Kean1 to stay with us during their short residence at Calcutta. They came in the very week before the ceremony. I saw them; and I have begged him, in any case in which I may be able to serve him, to apply to me without scruple. The lady seems to enjoy excellent health. Lady William, who saw more of her than I did, speaks very highly of her. I cannot expect to hear often from you. But you will I am sure believe that there is no person living whose letters will give me greater pleasure, or whose recommendations will have so much authority with me. Will you present my kindest regards to Lady Lansdowne, and my warmest congratulations and good wishes to Lord Kerry.2 There is no family in the world to which I more cordially wish every thing that is honorable and happy in public and in private life. / Ever, dear Lord Lansdowne, Yours most faithfully T B Macaulay TO L O R D W I L L I A M B E N T I N C K , [ D E C E M B E R

1834]3

MS: University of Nottingham.

[Calcutta] My dear Lord, I thoroughly approve of the plan, and I think that the person whom you have pitched upon seems, from his letter, to be very fit for the functions to which he is destined. I hope that he will not be paid out of the funds allotted for education. They are shamefully scanty, and will very ill bear the charges of this inquiry. / Ever, my dear Lord, Yours most faithfully, T B Macaulay 1

Archibald Kean (1799—1855), *n t n e Bengal Medical Service from 1831. Lord Kerry married Augusta Ponsonby, daughter of the fourth Earl of Bessborough, March, 1834. 3 The letter is endorsed: '1834 . . . approving the plan of sending Mr Adam to report upon the state of Native Education.* The reference is to Bentinck's plan for a statistical survey of education in India. On 20 January he appointed William Adam to undertake the work. Adam had been in India since 1818, first as a Baptist missionary, then as a Unitarian minister, and then as a newspaper editor. His letter outlining his scheme of inquiry may be found in India Public Proceedings, 2 January 1835: India Office Library. Following his appointment Adam published three reports on education, 1835-8. 2

I2O

Anthony Pani^i

i January 2835

TO A N T H O N Y P A N I Z Z I , I J A N U A R Y

1835

Text: Louis Fagan, Life of Panini, 1, 84-5. Calcutta, 1 st January, 1835 Dear Panizzi, Many thanks for your kind and welcome present.1 It was acceptable to me on account of its intrinsic interest, and still more acceptable as a proof that I am kindly remembered by one by whom I should be sorry to be forgotten. In two years or little more I shall be on my return to England. There, or, as I would rather hope, in your own beautiful country, we shall meet, and talk over that fine literature which you have done so much to illustrate. I have never given up my intention of writing a review of your edition of Bojardo. I never found time to read the poem through in England. But here I have had that pleasure, and have been exceedingly gratified both by the text and the notes. I read Berni's Rifacimento2 long ago. But I like Bojardo better. At present my official duties take up a great and increasing portion of my time. The hours before breakfast are still my own. But I give them to ancient literature. It is but little that I have lately been able to spare to Italian, yet I feel all that Milton has so beautifully expressed, Quamquam etiam vestri nunquam meminisse pigebit, Pastores Tusci, Musis operata juventus; Hie Charis, atque Lepos; et Tuscus, tu quoque, Damon, Antiqua genus unde petis Lucumonis ab urbe. O, ego quantus eram, gelidi cum stratus ad Ami Murmura, populeumque nemus, qua mollior herba, Carpere nunc violas, nunc summas carpere myrtos, Et potui Lycidae certantem audire Menalcam!3 But of these things we shall have opportunities of talking hereafter. Believe me ever, yours, etc., etc., T. B. Macaulay. 1 2 3

Panizzi's edition of Ariosto: see 10 December 1834. Francesco Berni, Rifacimento, 1541. Epitaphium Damonis, 125-32.

121

28 January 1835

John Tytler

TO JOHN TYTLER, 1 28 JANUARY

1835

Text: Copy, India Office Library. Published: Gerald and Natalie Sirkin, 'The Battle of Indian Education,' Victorian Studies, 14 (June 1971), 426-7.

[Calcutta] Janry. 28th 1835 Dear Sir Our difference of opinion is quite fundamental, nor do I conceive that discussion is likely to bring us nearer to each other. I deny every one of your premises without exception. I deny that no nation was ever educated by means of foreign languages. I say that all the progress which knowledge has made in Russia has been altogether through the medium of languages as remote from the Russian as English is from the Bengali. I deny that no derivative language can be well understood without a knowledge of the original language[;] the best and most idiomatic English has been written by men who knew neither Anglo-Saxon or Norman French. I deny that there is the smallest use in making the vernacular dialects of India at the present time, precise, regular, or eloquent. These things come without fail in their proper season. They are conveniences or luxuries. What we now want are necessaries. We must provide the people with something to say, before we trouble ourselves about the style which they say it in. Does it matter in what Grammar a man talks nonsense? with what purity of diction he tells us that the World is surrounded by a Sea of butter? in what neat phrases he maintains that Mount Meru is the centre of the world ? I deny that it is necessary to teach absurdities either to a man2 or to a native for the purpose of afterwards refuting those absurdities. It is very well for a few studious men to pass their lives in tracing the history of opinions. But the great mass of students have not a life to give to such researches. If they are taught errors while their education is going on, they will never learn truth afterwards. Nor is it necessary to the rational belief of truth that men should be acquainted with all the forms which error has taken. The same reasoning which establishes truth does ipso facto refute all possible errors which are opposed to that truth. If I prove that the earth is a sphere, I prove at the same time that it is not a cube, a cylinder, or a cone; — nor is it necessary for me to go through all possible 1

Tytler (1790-1837) came to India as an assistant surgeon in 1813; he taught literature and mathematics at the Hindu College, 1827-34, and was employed in translating for the Committee of Public Instruction under Horace Hayman Wilson, Secretary of the Committee until 1833 and the head of the Orientalist cause. TBM's letter is a reply to a letter from Tytler of 26 January setting forth the case for carrying on instruction in Sanskrit and Arabic: the article by the Sirkins cited in the headnote to this letter also prints Tytier's 2 letter. Thus in the copy, but TBM probably wrote 'Englishman/ 122

John Tytier

28 January 1836

figures one after another, and to direct a seperate argument against each. I deny that there is the smallest analogy between our attempt to teach sound science to people who are desirous to learn it, and the attempts of the Spanish Government to bring up Jewish Children in the Christian faith. I do not propose to bribe any body to learn English as the pupils of the Sanscrit College are now bribed to learn Sanscrit. I would merely provide the means of wholesome instruction for those who desire it. I have no doubt that there are many such. I deny that we wish to conceal both sides of any scientific question from our students. But life is too short to study every thing. You cannot teach your pupils truth and all the various forms of error in the short time which is allotted to education. I cannot see the wisdom of making a boy, for example, a great astrologer, of keeping him several years employed in casting nativities - and then telling him that the whole of the Science which he has painfully mastered is good for nothing. I think myself entitled to laugh at astrology though I do not know its very rudiments to laugh at alchemy though I have no knowledge of it but what I have picked up from Ben Jonson. Would you teach your children astrology? And would you not think it strange if any body were to tell you that it was cowardly in you not to teach them astrology? that you shewed great distrust in the force of truth — that truth could not be defended unless its defenders were thoroughly acquainted with all the details of the errors which they rejected? You say that there is some truth in the Oriental systems. So there is in the Systems held by the rudest and most barbarous tribes of Caffraria and New Holland. The question is why we are to teach any falsehood at all. You say it is necessary in order to make the truth palatable to the Natives. I am not convinced of this. I know that your Sanscrit and Arabic Books do not sell. I know that the English books of the School book Society do sell. I know that you cannot find a single person at your Colleges who will learn Sanscrit and Arabic without being paid for it. I know that the Students who learn English are willing to pay. I believe therefore that the native population if left to itself would prefer our mode of education to yours. At all events the onus probandi lies upon you. You see how unlikely it is that we should come to the same opinion on this subject. I am greatly obliged to you for taking the trouble to place your sentiments before me in so clear and precise a manner — and I wish you most heartily a pleasant voyage with a speedy restoration to health. We will finish our dispute when we return. / Believe me, Dear Sir Your faithful Servant T B Macauley. 123

\6 February ISJS]

Calcutta Petitioners

TO CALCUTTA PETITIONERS AGAINST REGULATION OF THE 1 PRESS, [6 FEBRUARY 1835] MS: University of Nottingham. Published: Bengal Hurkaru, 12 March 1835.2

[Calcutta] Gentlemen, I am directed by the Governor General of India in Council to inform you that his Lordship has considered your petition with all the attention to which it is entitled on account both of the important subjects to which it relates and of the respectable names which it bears. The unsatisfactory state of the laws relating to the press has already attracted the notice of his Lordship in Council, and he trusts that in no long time a system will be established which, while it gives legal security to every person engaged in the fair discussion of public measures, will effectually secure the government against sedition and individuals against calumny.3 His Lordship in Council agrees with you in thinking that such a measure, before it is finally passed into a law, ought to be submitted to the public, and that all classes of the community ought to have an opportunity of offering their comments and suggestions with respect to it. His Lordship in Council does not conceive that the inhabitants of Calcutta are prohibited by any rule now in force from meeting for purposes of discussion. They already, as it appears to his Lordship, enjoy the liberty which they solicit, nor has the government any intention of restricting that liberty. I have etc. 1

A public meeting on 5 January voted to petition against the Press Regulation Act of 1823; the Supreme Council considered the petition on 6 February and sent this answer drafted by TBM. 2 The letter, with one or two trifling verbal changes, is printed as TBM wrote it over the signature of H. T. Prinsep, Secretary to the Government. 3 The new system was designed by TBM; his draft of an act repealing press censorship, submitted 16 April, was passed on 3 August 1835: see C. D. Dharker, Lord Macaulay's Legislative Minutes, Madras, 1946, pp. 40-6; 165—7.

124

Lord William Bentinck

J February i8s\5\

TO LORD WILLIAM BENTINCK, 7 FEBRUARY MS: University of Nottingham. Address: The / Lord W C Bentinck / etc. etc. etc. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Extract published: A. F. Salahuddin Ahmed, Social Ideas and Social Change in Bengal 2828-2835, Leiden, 1965, p. 159.

[Calcutta] Feby. 7. 1834 Dear Lord William, I am greatly pleased with Mr. Adam's letter. I do not think that you could possibly have chosen better. It is odd that he should have been struck as I was, by the analogy between the situation of the Indian and of the Russian Empire, as respects education. As soon as our Committee is remodelled, I shall recommend the taking of immediate measures for learning what the system of education in Russia now is. As to Adam's instructions, I conceive that he is more competent to draw them himself than any of our Committee. I shall desire him to prepare a draft, which we can correct. It has occurred to me that it would be desirable that the remodelling of our Committee should take place at the same time at which government pronounces its decision on the late disputes. I see that our opponents are resolved to die game, and that, even after the decision on the general principle, we shall have to fight every question of detail. The names which I would recommend are these — Captain Birch,2 Mangles,3 Cameron4 the Law-Commissioner, Sir Edward Ryan,5 Sir Benjamin Malkin, Mr. Christopher Smith,6 the Judge of the Sudder, and Doctor Grant.7 1 2 3

4

5 6

7

TBM's date is obviously an error. Captain (afterwards General) Sir Richard James Birch (1803-75: DNB), then assistant secretary in the Military Department. He was appointed to the Committee. Ross Donnelly Mangles (1801—77: DNB), in the Bengal Civil Service, 1819-39, where he held many posts; after his return to England he became a director of the East India Company and entered Parliament. According to Empson, TBM submitted his essay on Clive to Mangles as a 'sort of Ex-Prime Minister for Bengal' (to Napier, 2 November [1839]: MS, British Museum). Mangles was appointed to the Committee. Charles Hay Cameron (1795-1880: DNB), a barrister and Benthamite, had just been appointed to the Law Commission and had not yet arrived in India. He was made a member of the Committee. Later he succeeded to TBM's post as Legislative Member of the Supreme Council. Ryan (1793-1875: DNB) was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Calcutta, 1833-43. He was appointed to the Committee and succeeded TBM as its president. Christopher Webb Smith (d. 1879), a judge of the Court of Sadr Diwani, the chief civil court, was appointed to the Committee. Years later, Smith, who had retired to Florence, was remembered by James Montgomery Stuart as having 'an insuperable and quite irrational antipathy to Macaulay. . . . the head and front of Macaulay's offending, the great charge with which old Christopher wound up his harangues, was his personal appearance. "You should see him, sir, he is like a tailor. Yes, a tailor. A dumpy, stumpy tailor"' (Reminiscences and Essays, 1884, pp. 37-8). James William Grant (1801—73), joined the East India Company's medical service in 1823 and retired in 1851. As Trevelyan wrote to Bentinck, Grant was proposed to represent the I2

5

y February 2S3S

David Lester Richardson

If I receive any news from England which is likely to interest you, I will send it instantly. / Believe me ever, / My dear Lord, Yours most truly, T B Macaulay I return Adam's letter. Since I wrote what is written, it has occurred to me that it might be of great use that the more important proceedings of the education committee should be regularly laid before the public. This is highly desirable, because the assistance which Government lends is small compared with the assistance which we are likely to obtain from zealous individuals. And it is only by letting the public know what we are about that we can induce the public to cooperate with us. What I should propose is that we should print our annual report to Government,1 and add as an appendix our minutes on the most important questions. Would your Lordship propose this in your minute?

TO D A V I D L E S T E R R I C H A R D S O N , 2 7 F E B R U A R Y

1835

Text: S. C. Sanial, * Captain David Lester Richardson,* Calcutta Review, cxxm (1906), 73.

Chowringhee, / February the 7th, 1835. My dear Sir, I find that we3 have not the nominations of the masters of the Hindu College. The Committee of the College - a body almost entirely composed of natives — chooses: we have only a veto. I feel that we have no chance of obtaining the services of any person whose services would be equally valuable with yours; and shall assuredly give you all the support in my power. / Believe me ever, / My dear Sir, Yours very truly, T. B. Macaulay.

2

3

medical, as Birch was the military, services on the Committee (20 November 1834: MS, l This was done. University of Newcastle). Richardson (1801-65: DNB), after serving in the Bengal army and in civil appointments, had become editor of the Bengal Annual, the Calcutta Monthly Journal, and the Calcutta Literary Gazette; he was appointed Professor of English Literature at the Hindu College in Calcutta, July 1835, and Principal of the College, 1839. The Calcutta Monthly Journal, LXXXIX (January 1838), 5, states that Richardson was then preparing an anthology of English poetry for the Committee of Public Instruction and adds that 'Mr. Macaulay undertook to prepare a similar work of selections from our prose writers; but having sketched out the design, he left it to be completed by Sir Edward Ryan.' The Committee of Public Instruction. 126

THE INDIAN LEGISLATOR 8 FEBRUARY 1835 - 17 JANUARY 1838

1835 April 16 Minute on freedom of the press - May 25 Appointed president of the Indian Law Commission - December 30 Determines to undertake the History of England 1836 FebruaryInherits £10,000 on death of his uncle Colin Macaulay - March 21-October 3 Defends 'Black Act' against organized protest in series of minutes - September Minute in defense of Press Act - November Finishes 'Lord Bacon' (ER, July 1837) 1837 May 1 and 2 Completes Indian Penal Code and notifies government of his determination to return to England at beginning of 1838 1838 January 11 Attends last legislative council -January 17 Submits resignation to the Council of India -January 21 Sails on the Lord Hungerford for England with the Trevelyans

127

Thomas Flower Ellis TO T H O M A S

FLOWER

8 February i8s5 ELLIS,

8 FEBRUARY

1835

MS: Trinity College. Address: T F Ellis Esq /15 Bedford Place. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Partly published: Trevelyan, I, 430-4.

Calcutta Feby. 8. 1835 Dear Ellis, The last month has been the most painful that I ever went through. Indeed I never knew before what it was to be miserable. Early in January letters from England brought me news of the death of my youngest sister.1 What she was to me no words can express. I will not say that she was dearer to me than any thing in the world: for my sister who is with me was equally dear. But she was as dear to me as one human being can be to another. Even now, when time has begun to do its healing office, I cannot write about her without being altogether unmanned. That I have not utterly sunk under this blow I owe chiefly to literature. What a blessing it is to love books as I love them, - to be able to converse with the dead and to live amidst the unreal. Many times during the last few weeks I have repeated to myself those fine lines of old Hesiod. £i yap TIS TTEVOOS excov V£OKT|6SI OUJJICO a^Tca Kpa8ir|V CCKOCXTIIJIEVOS, auTocp aoi8os HOUCTOCCOV 0£poarcov KAEICC TtpoTEpcov avOpcomov uccKapas T£ 0EOUS 01 OAUJJHTOV sypwi oye 8i/(79povEC0V £-rriAr|0ETca, OU8E TI KT|8EGOV 8E TrapETpoarE 8copoc OECCCOV.2 I have gone back to Greek literature with a passion quite astonishing to myself. I have never felt any thing like it. I was enraptured with Italian during the six months which I gave up to it. I was little less pleased with Spanish. But, when I went back to the Greek, I felt as if I had never known before what intellectual enjoyment was. Oh that wonderful people. There is not one art, not one science, about which we may not use the same expression which Lucretius has employed about the victory over superstition— "Primum Graius homo." 3 1

2

3

Margaret died of scarlet fever, 12 August 1834: 'perhaps no wonder that this illness befell her, seeing that the well that there [Dingle Bank] supplied drinking water served also to drain the stable yard' (Conybeare, Dingle Bank, p. 40). The news of Margaret's death reached India while Hannah and Trevelyan were away from Calcutta on their honeymoon; they were summoned back by a message from TBM, after which ' we spent many months in great unhappiness' (Hannah Trevelyan, Memoir of TBM, p. 63). Theogony, 98-103: 'For if to one whose grief is fresh, as he sits silent with sorrow-stricken heart, a minstrel, the henchman of the Muses, celebrates the men of old and the gods who possess Olympus; straightway he forgets his melancholy, and remembers not at all his grief, beguiled by the blessed gift of the goddesses of song' (G. O. Trevelyan's translation). De Rerum Natura, 1, 66. 129

8 February 283S

Thomas Flower Ellis

I think myself very fortunate in having been able to return to these great masters while still in the full vigour of life, and when my taste and judgment are mature. Most people read all the Greek that they ever read before they are five and twenty. They never find time for such studies afterwards till they are in the decline of life. Then their knowledge of the language is in a great measure lost, and cannot easily be recovered. Accordingly almost all the ideas that people have of Greek literature are ideas formed while they were still very young. A young man, whatever his genius may be, is no judge of such a writer as Thucydides. I had no high opinion of him ten years ago. I have now been reading him with a mind accustomed to historical researches and to political affairs; and I am astonished at my own former blindness, and at his greatness. I could not bear Euripides at college. I now read my recantation. He has faults undoubtedly. His extraordinary talent for declamation and debate, and perhaps the taste of a public accustomed to a war of tongues on all speculative and practical questions, sometimes led him to indulge his talent at the expense of all the probabilities of character and situation. But what a poet!-The Medea-the Alcestis-the Troades-the Bacchaeare alone sufficient to place him in the very first rank. Instead of depreciating him, as I have done, I may, for aught I know, end by editing him. I have read Pindar, - with less pleasure than I feel in reading the great Attic poets, but still with admiration. Two things occurred to me in reading him, which may very likely have been noticed by a hundred people before, but I mention them as they are quite new to me, and I should like to have your opinion about them. I was always puzzled to understand the reason for the extremely abrupt transitions in those Odes of Horace which are meant to be particularly fine. The "justem et tenacem" 1 is an instance. All at once you find yourself in heaven - heaven only knows how. What the firmness of just men in times of tyranny or of tumult has to do with Juno's oration about Troy it is hardly possible to conceive. Then again how strangely the fight between the Gods and Giants is tacked on to the fine hymn to the muses in that noble ode " Descende Ccelo, et die age tibia."2 This always struck me as a great fault, and an inexplicable one. For it is peculiarly alien from the calm good sense and good taste which distinguish Horace. My explanation of it is this. The Odes of Pindar were the acknowledged models of lyric poetry. Lyric poets imitated his manner as closely as they could; and nothing was more remarkable in his compositions than the extreme violence and abruptness of the transitions. This in Pindar was quite natural and defensible. He had to write an immense number of poems on subjects extremely barren and extremely monotonous. There 1

2

Odes, in, iii. 130

Odes, in, iv.

Thomas Flower Ellis

8 February 1835

could be little difference between one boxing-match and another. Accordingly he made all possible haste to escape from the immediate subject, and to bring in, by hook or by crook, some local description, some old legend, something or other which might be more susceptible of poetical embellishment and less utterly threadbare than the circumstances of a race or a wrestling-match. This was not the practice of Pindar alone. There is an old story which proves that Simonides did the same, and that sometimes the hero of the day was nettled at finding how little was said about him in the Ode for which he was to pay. This abruptness of transition was therefore in the Greek lyric poets a fault rendered inevitable by the peculiarly barren and uniform nature of the subjects which they had to treat. But, like many other faults of great masters, it appeared to their imitators a beauty, and a beauty almost essential to the grander ode. Horace was perfectly at liberty to chuse his own subjects and to treat them after his own fashion. But he confounded what was merely accidental in Pindar's manner with what was essential. And because Pindar, when he had to celebrate a foolish lad from ^Egina who had tripped up another's heels at the Isthmus, made all possible haste to get away from so paltry a topic to the ancient heroes of the race of yEacus, Horace took [it] into his head that he ought always to begin as far from the subject as possible, and then to arrive at it by some strange and sudden bound. This is my solution. At least I can find no better. The other remark that occurred to me in reading Pindar is that the political feelings of a Theban have, in a most extraordinary degree, tinged his poetry, though he scarcely says a word about contemporary politics. He has only two odes to Athenians. They are two of his shortest. One of them, — that to Megacles, though complimentary to the individual, contains a reflection on the Athenian people. The other is to Timodemus. He goes back to Ajax for a theme. He mentions the island of Salamis. But he has nothing to say about the great battle which was fought there in his own time. On the other hand no less than eleven of his forty five odes are addressed to citizens of the little island of yEgina, the deadliest enemy of Athens. When these thirteen odes are taken out, thirty two remain: and of those thirty-two only two are to the citizens of states which opposed the Persian invasion. The remaining thirty are all addressed to men whose cities had either mediied, as Mitford would say, or remained neuter. But I shall run on for ever, if I get into this vein. One word however in answer to a question in your last letter. You ask whether I think that the Shield of Hercules is Hesiod's. Most certainly not. You ask whether it is not a mere cento of a late age. I think not. I rather suspect that it is an old poem— older than the time when the Iliad and Odyssey were edited 131

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in their present form. In the first place I do not think that a sophist of the later ages would have borrowed from Homer in so impudent a manner. In the undoubted forgeries of later times - the Epistles of Phalaris for example, - you do not find whole passages of Plato and Xenophon stolen. This is not the way in which an imitator proceeds in a literary age. But it is exactly the way in which a minstrel would borrow verses of a brotherminstrel in an age when books were very rare. There are several different versions of Chevy Chase, the history of which is I suppose much the same. I have another reason for thinking the poem, bad as it is, an old one. An imitator of a late period would have dressed up Hercules in the lion's skin and armed him with the club. The author of the Shield makes him fight in the panoply and with the spear — just like Hector or Diomede in the Iliad. Now this is exactly like the Hercules of Homer, and quite unlike the Hercules of the later writers. You must excuse all this. For I labour at present, under a suppression of Greek; and am likely to do so for at least three years to come. Malkin might be some relief. But I am quite unable to guess what he means to do. I should think that Calcutta would be in every respect the most agreable place of abode that he could find in this part of the world. But he is very unwilling to change. He is protracting his stay at Penang as long as he can: and, if any thing should happen to Gambier, may remain there permanently. Every body that I see speaks highly of him. The bishop1 writes in the warmest terms of gratitude and respect both about Sir Benjamin and his lady. I am in excellent bodily health: and I am recovering my mental health: but I have been cruelly tried. Money-matters look well. My new brotherin-law and I are brothers in more than law. I am more comfortable than I expected to be in this country: and as to the climate I think it beyond all comparison better than that of the House of Commons. My kindest remembrances to Mrs. Ellis. You are a happy man. Yet I thought of you as well as of myself when I read over and over again the other day, not without many tears, these exquisite lines TTOAAOC SISOCCTKEI uJ 6 TTOAUS

Xpf]v y a p ueTpias eig aAAr|Aous qnAias OVOCTOUS ccvccKipvaaOai, KOCI [XT] Trpos ocKpov UUEAOV EUAUTCC 6' eivai orepyr|dpcc 9pevcov, caro T* coCTocaOai KOCI £UVTEIVCU.

TO 6 s uTTEp Staacov uiav COSIVEIV 1

Daniel Wilson. 132

Lord William Bentinck

11 February 18s5 yah&nov |3apos, cbs K&yco ' CrrrepaAyco.1

I hope Frank gets on well, and is becoming a better scholar than either of us. With all kind wishes for you and yours believe me ever, / Dear Ellis, Yours affectionately T B Macaulay PS. By the bye it has crossed my mind that the most obscure passage - at least the strangest passage-in all Horace may be explained, as I said above, by supposing that he was misled by Pindar's example - 1 mean that odd parenthesis in the " Qualem ministrum" — Quibus Quos unde deductus per omne etc.2 This passage, taken by itself, always struck me as the harshest, queerest, most preposterous digression in the world. But there are several things in Pindar very like it.

TO L O R D W I L L I A M B E N T I N C K , I I F E B R U A R Y

1835

MS: University of Nottingham. [Calcutta] Feb 11. 1835 Dear Lord William, I should recommend something like the short paper which I send. If I understood what fell from you when we talked the matter over in council, you disapprove, not of the measures of Sir Charles, but merely of his Theory. 3 You do not mean to reverse what he has done. But you wish to 1

2 3

Euripides, Hippolytus, 252-60: ' — with many a lesson stern The years have brought, this too I learn — Be links of mortal friendship frail! Let heart-strings ne'er together cling, Nor be indissolubly twined The chords of love, but lightly joined For knitting close or severing. Ah weary burden, where one soul Travails for twain, as mine for thee!' (Loeb translation). Odes, iv, iv, 18-19. Sir Charles Metcalfe, as Vice-President in Council during Bentinck's absence at Ootacamund, had approved a reduction in the number of holidays allowed to Hindus in the public offices. A petition against the measure in June 1834 had been ineffective, but I have not found what statement Metcalfe made on the occasion.

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quiet the uneasiness that has been excited in the public mind by what he has said. And this you wish to do without appearing to pronounce a direct condemnation of the doctrine which he has laid down. Conceiving these to be your views, I have tried to form a letter in accordance with them. It has at least the merit of conciseness. Prinsep's1 paper, instead of appeasing one controversy, would scatter the seeds of fifty. /Believe me ever, / Dear Lord William Yours most faithfully T B Macaulay The Governor General in council has taken into his most serious consideration your petition on the subject of the Hindoo holidays, and has carefully reviewed all the proceedings in which it originated. It is the firm conviction of his Lordship in Council that it never was the intention of the late Vice President in Council to depart in the smallest degree from that fundamental principle of British policy which gives equal protection to every form of religion professed in India: nor does his Lordship conceive that any step which has yet been taken can justly be considered as a violation of that principle. It is the determination of His Lordship in Council not to suffer any rule which can operate as a test of religious belief to be established in any of the public offices: and you may confidently rely on his assurance that, neither by direct nor indirect means, will the Government interfere with the rights of conscience. His Lordship does not conceive that the system at present established can practically have the effect of excluding even rigid Hindoos from employment under the state. Should his Lordship hereafter see reason to think that his opinion on this subject is incorrect, it will be his duty to adopt such measures as may effectually remove all ground of complaint.2 1

2

Henry Thoby Prinsep (i792-1878: DNB), in the Indian Civil Service since 1807, held many high administrative positions and was temporarily appointed to the Supreme Council in 1835. Prinsep disliked the liberal policies of both Bentinck and TBM, and was especially opposed to TBM in the Committee of Public Instruction. I have not been able to discover Prinsep's paper on this question. TBM's answer, in slightly revised form, was published over Prinsep's official signature in the Calcutta papers, e.g., the Bengal Hurkaru, 10 March 1835.

John Moultrie

11 February 1835

TO JOHN MOULTRIE, 1 I I FEBRUARY

1835

Text: Extract in Derwent Coleridge, * Memoir/ in Poems by John Moultrie, newedn (1876), 1, lxv: dated Calcutta, February n , 1835.

Whatever I hear of you gives me pleasure. You might have done, and if you choose, may still do great things: but I cannot blame you if you despise greatness, and are content with happiness.

TO R I C H A R D S H A R P , I I F E B R U A R Y

1835

MS: Trinity College. Address: R Sharp Esqre. / near Grosvenor Gate / Park Lane. Sub scription: T B Macaulay. Partly published'. [C. Kegan Paul], Maria Drummond, 1891, pp« 42-6.

Calcutta Feby. n . 1835 My dear Sir, I was just making up a packet for England by a ship that sails to day when your letter of the 1st of August was put into my hand. And, though in a great hurry, I could not but defer2 sending you my thanks for your news. News it is, though I had the facts before. But your comments and explanations were most acceptable. I heartily congratulate you on the success of your book,3 and the public on not having quite lost its taste for works written in what Hamlet calls "an honest method, as wholesome as sweet, and by very much more handsome than fine."4 My Calcutta friends read but little. Several of them, however, have been much interested by your volume, and were exceedingly curious about you, when they found that I claimed acquaintance, and something more than acquaintance with you. Who reviewed you in the Quarterly?5 In spite of political spleen the article was not an unhandsome one: and I heartily wish that you would take the critic's advice and give us a volume of reminiscences.6 It would be worth doing, if only to convince the world that there had existed in it such a lusus natures as a famous town-wit with more milk than gall in his composition. What an effect that magnificent gallery of contemporary portraits at the beginning of Clarendon's history produces. Why not give us a volume 1 2 3 4 5 6

Moultrie was Rector of Rugby, 1825—74: see 20 June 1823. This extract is from TBM's letter acknowledging Moultrie's poem 'To Margaret in Heaven.' Thus in MS. Letters and Essays in Prose and Verse, 1834. 11, ii, 464-6. The review in the Quarterly, LI (June 1834), 285-304, was by Lockhart. Sharp died before this letter arrived in England.

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Richard Sharp

of characters - political and literary? - You could give us Fox, Windham, Burke, Grattan, Home Tooke, Porson, — a hundred others. I would advise you to devote a few months to such a work, and not to be sparing of anecdote. What a poor creature that Spence1 was! Yet his name will live in our literature as long as Pope's or Swift's. Your place in our literature would be as permanent as his, but infinitely higher, if you would execute such a work as I recommend, — a work which historians would quote as the highest authority for the characters of the most eminent men of two most interesting generations. I am in all external circumstances going on as well as possible. My first outlay has been considerable. But I have paid my way, and next month I shall begin to save. I receive eight thousand rupees a month. I can live very handsomely for two thousand or little more. I therefore can hardly help making an independence fast. My sister who accompanied me is married, most happily, to a young civil servant of the highest character for abilities and public spirit. They live with me, and we form a most united family. Their intention is to come to England with me on furlough when I return, which will be, I hope and trust, within four years. But this depends on many contingencies. I have had one most cruel trial to undergo-far more severe than poverty, or banishment, or any form of suffering with which I had ever been acquainted. About five weeks ago I learned that my youngest sister had been taken from me. For some time I was altogether overwhelmed by this calamity. I have not yet by any means recovered my equanimity. But the lenient and certain operation of time heals every wound. And I am beginning to find it so. I have excellent health. My duties are highly important, but by no means painfully laborious. I have ample leisure for literature: and I read with the most ravenous appetite. I mean to go fairly through the whole literature of Greece and Rome before I return. I have often thought that [it] is sad folly to give the first twenty years of life to the mastering of two such difficult and valuable languages as the Greek and Latin, and then never to open a Greek or Latin book. Scarcely any man of thirty reads much Greek. The consequence is that all our notions about the ancient history, the ancient literature, the ancient modes of society have a certain schoolboy character. They are notions formed before we have seen any thing of the world. I now feel this most strongly. The ancient writers now that I go back to them at thirty-four, having acquired some knowledge of the literature of France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, having seen something of the world, having been a spectator and an actor in politics, appear quite 1

Joseph Spence (i699-1768: DNB)y author of literary Anecdotes first published in 1820.

136

Lord William Bentinck

2j February 1S3S

new to me. I find in such a writer as Thucydides or Demosthenes, ten thousand things worthy of notice which never struck me in my college days, which indeed never could possibly strike any young man however quick and clever. My admiration for the Greeks increases every day. It almost amounts to idolatry. I was a sad heretic about Euripides. I have thoroughly recanted my error, and begin to prefer him to Sophocles. I did not much like Thucydides formerly. I have now no hesitation in pronouncing him the greatest historian that ever lived. I have just finished reading Plautus and Terence through with great attention: and there too I have seen reason to reverse my old judgments. I like Plautus much less, and Terence infinitely more than in my younger days. You see that my mind is not in great danger of rusting from inaction during my stay here. The danger is that I may become a mere pedant. I feel a habit of quotation growing on me. But I resist that devil — for such it is — and it flees from me. It is all that I can do to keep Greek and Latin out of all my letters. Wise sayings of Euripides are even now at my finger's ends. If I did not maintain a constant struggle against this propensity my correspondence would resemble the notes to the Pursuits of Literature.l It is a dangerous thing for a man with a very strong memory to read very much. I could give you three or four quotations this moment in support of that proposition. But I will bring this vicious propensity under subjection, if I can. Remember me most kindly to Miss Sharp and Miss Kinnaird-to Rogers whose exquisitely beautiful volume is [the] admiration of all our visitors, — to the Philipses, and generally to all our common friends. The smallest contributions from any of them in the way of news will be thankfully received. / Ever, my dear Sir, Yours most truly T B Macaulay TO L O R D W I L L I A M B E N T I N C K , 27 FEBRUARY

1835

MS: University of Nottingham. Partly published: Salahuddin Ahmed, Social Ideas and Social Change in Bengal, p. 164.

Calcutta Feby. 27. 1835 Dear Lord William, I approve most highly of what you propose. The number of votes given to natives in our Committee2 ought, I think, to be limited to two: 1

2

Thomas James Mathias, The Pursuits of Literature, 1794-7, which, in his marginal comments in his copy of the poem, TBM called, among other things, *a contemptible heap of rant and twaddle': see A. N. L. Munby, 'Macaulay's Library* (David Murray Lectures, 28), Glasgow, 1966, p. 19. The book is now at Trinity. The Committee of Public Instruction.

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[February? 2Sj5]

Draft of Governor-General9s Resolution

and this is done in the best way by allowing the managers of the Hindoo College to name two delegates. The Government in this manner pays a high compliment to the natives as a body, and yet escapes from the invidious task of selecting individuals. The only objection that strikes me is this. The Hindoo College admits no Mahometan students. None of the Directors are Mahometans. The high compliment paid to this institution is therefore a compliment paid to the Hindoos at the expense of the Mussulmans. And I see no way of remedying this inconvenience. For there is no Mahometan institution which bears the smallest resemblance to the Hindoo College.1 Would you permit me therefore to suggest that, as your minute will probably be published, it might be as well to insert some expressions which might hold out to the Mussulmans a hope that, if they will, like the Hindoos, exert themselves in the cause of education, they will, like the Hindoos, be admitted into the education Committee? The Forbes, as you doubtless know, has arrived. I hear a strange story about a fire which is said to have burned down the two houses of parliament, but to have spared the Abbey and the Hall.2 / Ever, dear Lord William, Yours most truly T B Macaulay D R A F T OF G O V E R N O R - G E N E R A L ' S R E S O L U T I O N ON

E D U C A T I O N , [ F E B R U A R Y ? 1835]3 MS: University of Nottingham.

[Calcutta] The Governor General in Council has attentively considered the letters from the Secretary to the Committee of public instruction dated the 21st and the nd of January last. The Governor General in Council agrees with those gentlemen who are of opinion that our great object ought to be the promotion of Euro1

The Hindu College, founded by natives in 1816, was a * Westernizing' institution providing instruction in English. TBM's suggestion was adopted, and two representatives of the College joined the Committee. 2 The Houses of Parliament burned on 16 October 1834. The Forbes, a steamship sent out experimentally by a Calcutta group on a voyage to Suez, had reached Calcutta on the 26th. 3 The date of this draft must be between 2 February, the date of TBM's minute on Indian education setting forth the Anglicist argument, and 7 March, when Bentinck's resolution decided the question in favor of TBM's party. Bentinck's resolution, though it is not identical with this draft in TBM's hand, resembles it closely enough to justify TBM's claim that Bentinck 'suffered me to draw the answer' to the education question (see 24 August 1835). The text of the resolution as published may be found in Henry Sharp, ed., Selections from Educational Records, Part 1, 1381—1839, Calcutta, 1920, pp. 130-1.

138

Draft of Governor-General9s Resolution

[February?

pean literature and science among the natives of India. The pecuniary interests of individuals ought undoubtedly to be respected. But, subject to this great principle, his Lordship in Council conceives that all the funds appropriated by government to the purposes of education ought to be employed on English education alone. His Lordship in council decidedly objects to the practice which has hitherto prevailed of supporting the students during the period of their education. He conceives that the only effect of such a system can be to give artificial encouragement to branches of learning which, in the natural course of things, would be superseded by more useful studies. In conformity with these principles his Lordship in Council has decided the questions submitted to him by the Committee. It is not the intention of his Lordship in Council to abolish any college or school of native learning, while the native population shall appear to be inclined to avail themselves of the advantages which it affords. His Lordship in Council directs that the existing professors and students of Oriental learning at the Agra College, at the Sanscrit College of Calcutta, at the Mudrasa and at all the other institutions under the superintendance of the Committee shall continue to receive their stipends; but that no stipend shall be given to any student who may hereafter enter at any of those institutions, and that, when any professor of oriental learning shall vacate his situation, the Committee shall report to the Government the number and state of the class, in order that Government may be able to decide on the expedience of appointing a successor. It has been brought to the knowledge of the Governor General that a large sum has been expended by the Committee in the printing of Oriental works. His Lordship in Council is pleased to direct that no portion of their funds shall hereafter be so employed. His Lordship in Council directs that all the funds which these reforms will leave at the disposal of the Committee be henceforth employed in imparting to the native population a knowledge of English literature and science through the medium of the English language. And his Lordship in Council directs the Committee to submit to Government, with all expedition, a plan for the accomplishment of this purpose.

139

2$ May 1835

Thomas Flower Ellis

TO THOMAS FLOWER ELLIS, 29 MAY 1835 MS: Trinity College. Partly published: Trevelyan, i, 434-8.

Calcutta May 29. 1835 Dear Ellis, I am in great want of news about my friends from England. I had indeed a letter of the 2nd of March from Babington which came across Egypt, and told me generally that all was well. But we have no news by the Cape of Good Hope later than the first week of January. We know that the Tories dissolved at the end of December and we also know that they were beaten towards the end of February. As to what passed in the interval we are quite in the dark.1 I will not plague you with comments on events which will have been driven out of your mind by other events before this reaches you, or with prophecies which may be falsified before you receive them. About the final issue, I am certain. The language of the first great reformer is that which I should use in reply to the exultation of our Tories here, if there were any of them who could understand it. <j£(3ou, -rrpoaeuxou, Occurs TOV KporrouvT9 del. 8|ioi 8' EAOCCTCTOV Zr|v6s f| 6pocTco. KpccreiTco TOV5S TOV OTTCOS OEAEI. 6apov yap OUK ap^Ei OEOIS.2 As for myself I rejoice that I am out of the present storm. "Suave mari magno" — or, as your new premier, if he be still premier, construes "It is a source of melancholy satisfaction."3 I may indeed feel the effects of the change here, but more on public than private grounds. A Tory Governor General is not very likely to agree with me about the very important law reforms which I am about to bring before the Council. But he is not likely to treat me ill personally - or if he does &AA' ou TI x«ipcov, f\v T 6 8 ' opOcoOfj (3EAOS,4 1 2

3

4

The Whigs were dismissed by William IV in November 1834; Peel's administration lasted only until April, when the Whigs returned under Melbourne. Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound, 937—40: 'Worship thou, adore, and flatter the monarch of the hour. To me Jove is of less account than nothing. Let him have his will, and his sceptre, for this brief season; for he will not long be the ruler of the Gods' (G. O. Trevelyan's translation: Trevelyan adds, 'it is needless to say that poor William the Fourth was the Jove of the Whig Prometheus' [1, 435n]). Lucretius, De Rerum Natura, 11, 1. Broughton, Recollections of a Long Life, iv, 157, remembered that TBM, elated by the effect that his speech of 16 December 1831 seemed to have had on Peel, walked home from the House with Broughton and 'could not refrain from a little pleasantry at the expense of Peel's performances at Oxford. He rendered the "suave mari magno" of Lucretius in this way: "suave — it is a source of melancholy satisfaction."' C. S. Parker, Sir Robert Peel, I (1891), 23, reports the 'Oxford tradition' that Peel's rendering was 'It is a source of gratification.' Sophocles, Philoctetes, 1299: 'It shall be to his cost, so long as this bow carries true' (G. O. Trevelyan's translation). 140

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as Philoctetes says. - In a few months I shall have enough to enable me to live, after my very moderate fashion, in perfect independence at home. And whatever debts any Governor General may chuse to lay on me at Calcutta shall be paid off, he may rely on it, with compound interest, at Westminster. My time is divided between public business and books. I mix with society as little as I can. My spirits have not yet recovered, — I sometimes think that they will never wholly recover - the shock which they received five months ago. I find that nothing sooths them so much as the contemplation of those miracles of art which Athens has bequeathed to us. I am really becoming — I hope not a pedant - but certainly an enthusiast about classical literature. I have just finished a second reading of Sophocles. I am now deep in Plato, and intend to go right through all his works. His genius is above all praise. Even where he is most absurd, as, for example in the Cratylus, he shews an acuteness and an expanse of intellect which is quite a phenomenon by itself to me. The moral character of Socrates does not rise upon me. — I suppose of course that Plato has exhibited Socrates correctly, and that even in those dialogues which are wholly fictitious, as some doubtless are, the character is preserved. That Socrates was a most wonderful man is clear. But he seems to have been very deeply tainted with the vices of the sophist. Professing to pursue only truth he evidently loved truth less than victory. Professing the greatest humility he was evidently very ostentatious. He had prodigious command over his temper. But this I think was no virtue in him: for he used it as a means of provoking and humbling others. His greatest enjoyment was to irritate and shame men of high reputation for talents and knowledge before large circles of their admirers. He was never conciliated by the courtesy with which they treated him. He never refrained from using any weapon of sophistry in such conflicts. Is this the enjoyment of a good heart? Read the Protagoras, if you do not remember it, and tell me whether you think that Protagoras or Socrates appears in the more amiable light. I should say that Socrates shews admirable acuteness and wit; but an utter want of humanity and generosity, and that Protagoras, though once or twice nettled and not without reason, behaves with real magnanimity - particularly at the close. The more I read about Socrates the less I wonder that they poisoned him. If he had treated me as he is said to have treated Protagoras, Hippias, and Gorgias, the three most famous sophists of the age, I could never have forgiven him. Nothing has struck me so much in Plato's dialogues as the raillery. At college, some how or other, I did not understand or appreciate it. I cannot describe to you the way in which it now tickles me. I often sink down on 141

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Thomas Flower Ellis

my huge old Marsilius Ficinus1 in a fit of laughter. I should say that there never was a vein of ridicule so rich and at the same time so delicate. It is superior to Voltaire's - nay to Pascal's. Perhaps there are one or two passages in Cervantes and one or two in Fielding that might give a modern reader a notion of it. I have very nearly finished Livy. I never read him through before. I admire him greatly, and would give a quarter's salary to recover the lost Decades. While I was reading the earlier books I went again through Niebuhr. And I am sorry to say that, having always been a little sceptical about his merits, I am now a confirmed unbeliever. — I do not of course mean that he has no merit. He was a man of immense learning, and of great ingenuity. But he seems to me to have been a man of a thoroughly unsound mind. I am not aware that he has discovered any one important fact about Roman history. The real nature of the relations between the Patricians and Plebeians was not discovered by him. The theory that the early Roman history had been partly compiled by the authors of the Chronicles from old national ballads was not his but Perizonius's.2 Indeed I hardly see how any body who had read Polybius could have missed it. Beaufort3 says distinctly that the three sources of the early history of Rome were funeral orations, family traditions, and songs about the heroes of the republic. Now every thing that is at once new, important, and true, in Niebuhr's book seems to me to be brought out simply by the application of these two principles. Niebuhr's mind was utterly wanting in the faculty by which a demonstrated truth is distinguished from a plausible supposition. He is not content with suggesting that an event may have happened. He is certain that it happened, and calls on the reader to be certain too, though not a trace of it exists in any record whatever; because it would solve the phenomena so neatly. Just read over again, if you have forgotten it, the conjectural restoration of the inscription in page 126 of the second volume, and then, on your honor as a scholar and a man of sense, tell me whether in Bentley's edition of Milton4 or in Pope's squibs on Bentley5 1

Ficino's edition of Plato, Opera Omnia, Frankfurt, 1602, in folio. This volume, now at Wallington, is described and some of TBM's notes in it transcribed by G. O. Trevelyan, Marginal Notes by Lord Macaulay, 1907, pp. 54—64, reprinted in Trevelyan, 1908, pp.

2

James Perizonius (1651-1715), Dutch classical scholar, whose theory of the ballad origins of early Roman history TBM discusses in the Preface to the Lays of Ancient Rome. Louis de Beaufort, Dissertation sur VIncertitude des Cinq Premiers Siecles de VHistoire Romaine, Utrecht, 1738. An edition of Paradise Lost, 1732, notorious for the extravagance of its alterations. See, e.g., the burlesque notes attributed to Bentley appended to Pope's ' Sober Advice from Horace.'

715-20.

3

4 5

142

Thomas Flower Ellis

29 May 1835

there is any thing which approaches to the impudent audacity of that emendation. He requires you to believe that some of the greatest men in Rome were burned alive in the Circus, that this event was commemorated by an inscription on a monument, one half of which is still in existence, but that no Roman historian knew any thing about it, - that all tradition of the event was lost though the memory of anterior events much less important has reached our time. And when you ask for a reason he tells you plainly that such a thing cannot be established by reason, that he is sure of it, and that you must take his word. This sort of intellectual despotism always moves me to mutiny. It generates real disgust and a disposition to pull down the reputation of the dogmatist. Niebuhr's learning was unmeasurably superior to mine. But I think myself quite as good a judge of evidence as he was. I might easily believe him if he told me that there was evidence which I had never seen. But when he produces all his evidence, I conceive that I am perfectly competent to pronounce on its value. As I turned over the leaves just now I lighted on another instance of what I cannot but call ridiculous presumption. He says that Martial committed a blunder in making the penultimate of Porsena short.1 Strange that so great a scholar should not know that Horace had done so too: Minacis aut Etrusca Porsenae manus.2 All the alternate lines of the "Altera jam teritur" 3 are pure Iambics. There is something extremely nauseous to me in a German Professor telling the world, on his own authority, and without giving the smallest reason, that two of the best Latin poets were ignorant of the quantity of a word which they must have used in their exercises at school a hundred times. As to the general capacity of Niebuhr for political speculations, let him be judged by the preface to the Second Volume. He there says, referring to the French revolution of July 1830, that, "unless God send us some miraculous help, we have to look forward to a period of destruction similar to that which the Roman world experienced about the middle of the third century." Now when I see a man scribble such abject nonsense about events which are passing under our eyes, what confidence can I put in his judgment as to the connection of causes and effects in times very imperfectly known to us. The sum of the whole is this. There are parts of Niebuhr's book of which I think myself perfectly competent to judge. There are others which relate to points which I have never studied and shall never, I suppose, have time to study. If on those matters of which I can judge I found him a safe guide, I would readily give myself up to his guidance in other matters. But in almost every part of his book on which I am com1 2

Niebuhr, History ofRome, 1, 54m. TBM repeats this argument in the Preface to 'Horatius.' Epodes, xvi, 4. 3 Epodes, XVI.

M3

[May? 283$?]

[James Charles Colebrook Sutherland]

petent to pass judgment, I find him clever indeed and learned, but rash, shallow, and sometimes extravagantly absurd. I therefore pronounce him a pretender, — a person who has thrust himself into a seat much higher than he had any right t o , - w h o has deceived people much superior to me, — but who will one day be found out: and hereof I put myself on the year of God 1850. But I must bring my letter, or review, or whatever else you call it to a close. I have no news for you that you will care to hear. I am in excellent health. I have got through the hottest month of the year without a day's illness. My sister is also very well. Before you receive this a third part of my exile will have passed away. In the summer of 1838, at latest, you may expect to see me if we both live. But keep this a secret. I have not told my resolution yet even to my own family. We are impatiently expecting Malkin. Ryan and I are great friends. I think very highly of him in every way. Remember me most kindly to your wife. Tell Frank that I mean to be a better scholar than he when I come back, and that he must work hard if he means to overtake me. / Ever, dear Ellis, Yours affectionately T B Macaulay. TO [ J A M E S C H A R L E S C O L E B R O O K E S U T H E R L A N D , 1 M A Y ?

1835 ?]2 MS: National Library of Scotland. Extract published: W. F. Gray, *A Budget of Literary Letters,' Fortnightly, cxxm (1928), 349.

[Calcutta] Dear Sir, I meant to have joined you this morning. But I have just received several boxes which I must go through before breakfast, as they are to be brought before Council this morning. You must therefore go on without me. Will you have the goodness to send me any papers which may contain an account of Dr. Wise's relation to the Hoogley College and of the reasons which led to his dismissal.3 I think that we want some efficient 1

2

3

Sutherland (1793?-! 844) joined the East India Company's service in 1809. He was Secretary to the Committee of Public Instruction (and one of the Orientalist party), 1835?—8, and of the Law Commission, 1839—44. The remarks in the last paragraph of this letter are closely parallel to those in TBM's minute of 6 May 1835, quoted in Trevelyan, 1, 408. But the letter may well be from the next year, when TBM proposed Wise as Principal of the Hooghly College (7 May 1836: Henry Woodrow, ed., Macaulay*s Minutes on Education, Calcutta, 1862, pp. 95-6). Dr Thomas Alexander Wise, M.D. (1802-89) was Principal of the Hooghly College, founded in 1835 and opened in 1836. Before becoming Principal he had served as Secretary

144

[Governor-General in Council]

[May? i8s5f\

and able superintendant there; and, from my short personal acquaintance with him, I should say that it would be impossible to find a better. I have made some objections to your indent.1 I am convinced that we are all on a wrong tack. - To think of teaching boys a language by means of grammars of logic and grammars of rhetoric! - Give them Jack the Giant Killer and Tom Thumb;-and then let them have Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver. — That is what I would do: and I will bet ten thousand to one that my pupils would beat yours hollow. Ever yours truly T B Macaulay TO T H E G O V E R N O R - G E N E R A L IN C O U N C I L , I J U N E

1835

MS: Victoria Memorial Hall, Calcutta. Extract published: Clive, Macaulay, p. 429.

Honorable Sirs, I have this day received your letter dated the 25 th of May; and I have no hesitation in complying with the flattering and gratifying summons which it contains.2 Though under the arrangement which my colleagues kindly made, and which the Court of Directors has sanctioned, I have been permitted to see all the documents which have been in circulation and to assist at all the deliberations of the Council, I still feel that my public duties do not occupy so much of my time as the public has a right to require. I cannot better employ my leisure than by taking part in the labours of the LawCommission; and I shall forthwith enter with the greatest alacrity on the important duties of my new office. / I have the honor to be, / honorable Sirs, Your most obedient Servant T B Macaulay Calcutta June 1. 1835

1 2

to the yet unopened institution. A note on this letter explains that TBM's notion that Wise had been dismissed as Principal is incorrect: 'The office of Secretary lapsed . . . and Dr. Wise was appointed Principal/ A requisition. TBM calls this 'our Indian official term' (to Ellis, 8 March 1837). To the Presidency of the Indian Law Commission. When TBM went out to India it was by no means certain that he would be allowed to undertake this work: a despatch from the East India Company of 16 July 1834 explicitly directs the Governor-General to wait before appointing a president (Legislative Despatches to India, 1833—8, 1: India Office Library). Yet from the evidence of TBM's letters to Ellis of 1 July 1834 and 3 June 1835 he seems to have taken up the question of law reform at once, even though, as Member of Council, he would have to sit in judgment on the work he produced as Law Commissioner, an anomaly that did not go unnoticed by the Calcutta press.

145

S June 2835

Thomas Flower Ellis

TO THOMAS FLOWER ELLIS, 3 JUNE

1835

MS: Trinity College. Address: T B Ellis Esq / 15 Bedford Place. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Extract published: Eric Stokes, The English Utilitarians and India, Oxford, 1959, pp. 213-1411.

Calcutta June 3. 1835 Dear Ellis, I have now received your letter of the 29th of Deer. Many thanks for it. — I rejoice to find that you seem to be getting on with your profession. - Since I wrote the inclosed1 the Government have determined on putting me at the head of the Law-Commission. I have immense reforms in hand, — such as you big Templars would abhor, but such as would make Old Bentham jump in his grave - oral pleadings — examination of parties - single-seated justice - no institution fees - and so forth. But I have no time to dilate on these matters at present. Remember me most kindly to Adolphus. I am sorry to hear that Frank is idle. He should see me every morning at five over my folio Plato, covering the margins with annotations. Ever yours affectionately T B Macaulay TO J A M E S M I L L , 24 A U G U S T

1835

MS: Mr Gordon N. Ray. Address: James Mill Esq / India House. Subscription: T B Macaulay Extracts published: Clive, Macaulay, pp. 365-6; 383; 384; 400.

Calcutta August 24. 1835 My dear Sir, I have to thank you for a very friendly and interesting letter which Cameron delivered to me. He has arrived safe after a long voyage,2 and is now in my house which I am trying to make agreable to him till he can provide himself with one. All that I have seen of him satisfies me that the home authorities could not possibly have made a better choice. We agree perfectly as to all the general principles on which we ought to proceed, and differ less than I could have thought possible as to details. We are now most vigorously at work on the criminal code. 3 1 entertain strong hopes that this great work will be finished in a few months, and finished in a manner useful, not only to India, but to England. When once 1 2 3

This note accompanies the letter of 29 May. Cameron arrived on 12 August. A criminal code for all of India, instructions for which were drawn up by TBM in a minute of 4 June 1835 (India Judicial Consultations, Board's Collections, 63507, vol. 1555: India Office Library), was the first work of the Law Commission. In this letter to Mill TBM emphasizes the Benthamite elements of his design.

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24 August

the English people see the whole criminal law of a vast empire, both substantive and adjective, contained in a volume smaller than one of the hundred volumes of statutes and reports which a Templar must turn over to know whether a particular act be larceny or forgery, they will, I think, turn their minds to the subject of law-reform with a full determination to be at least as well off as their Hindoo vassals. You are aware that Macnaghten declined the situation of Law Commissioner. I hardly know whether to rejoice or grieve at his determination. I have a great regard for him; and I think him a man of eminent abilities and information. But he is in the wrong on some very important fundamental points: and, wherever he is in the wrong, his talents, his high authority, his great local knowledge, and, above all, a certain mild and well-bred obstinacy which is the most striking feature of his character, render him a very mischievous person. There is a striking saying of Caesar about Brutus which may be applied to Macnaghten. "Magna refert hie quid velit: nam quicquid vult, valde vult." 1 Among those things which Macnaghten "valde vult," one is to keep up the whole of that vile system of institution fees and stamps in judicial proceedings which is my utter aversion. He does not at all like oral pleading, or the confrontation of parties. On these and many similar subjects he talks with considerable ability and with the greatest suavity and moderation. But he is firmly convinced that the country will be ruined if the philosophers get the upper hand; and would have differed from Cameron and me on general principles so widely that I fear we should have derived little benefit from his great knowledge and talents. Macleod2 is a very acute man, with a mind fertile in objections. This is an invaluable quality in a law-commissioner. One such member of a Commission is enough. But there ought to be one such. He refines so much that he does nothing. He has not been able to produce a single definition which satisfies himself. But he is invaluable as a critic, or rather a hypercritic on all that others do. The real work of drawing up the Code will, as far as yet appears, be completely performed by Cameron and myself, under the constant checking of Macleod. Anderson3 is very willing to work but is utterly incompetent. He has absolutely no notion 1

z

3

Cicero, Letters to Atticus, xiv, 1: * What he wants is of great importance, but whatever he wants, he wants it badly.' TBM also applied this to Charles Trevelyan (Trevelyan, 1, 38511). (Sir) John Macpherson Macleod (1792-1881), in India since 1811; Commissioner for the Government of Mysore and Member of the Board of Revenue, he was appointed to the Law Commission in February 1835. After his retirement and return to England, where TBM continued to see him frequently, Macleod published Notes on the Report of the Indian Law Commissioners on the Indian Penal Code, 1848, a defense of the Commission's work. (Sir) George William Anderson (1791-1857: DNB), whose experience in framing a code for the Bombay Presidency and in various Indian judicial positions led to his appointment to the Law Commission. He was later Governor of Bombay, of Mauritius, and of Ceylon. 6

147

PLO

in

24 August 1835

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of any other jurisprudence than that which he has passed his life in administering: nor have we yet received from him even a single hint of the smallest value. - You see that I write to you quite freely. I do so because it is really important that you should know exactly how matters stand, and that, whenever a favourable opportunity may occur, you should do what may be in your power in order to procure good assistance for us. Personally I am on the best terms with my colleagues in the Law Commission. I have laid before the Council of India a very extensive plan of reform in the civil procedure which is still under consideration.1 It embraces a new organization of the courts, - oral pleadings, - the confrontation of parties, — the abolition of all taxes on justice and of the suit in forma pauperis, - the use of the vernacular languages of the country in lawproceedings. It also contains a proposition for allowing one appeal in every case, and no more than one in any case. Ross is most vehement in favour of my propositions. Indeed he and I very seldom differ on any question: and I am not without hopes that the Governor General and a majority of the Councillors will agree to at least a large part of what I have recommended. We hear that Lord Heytesbury's appointment is cancelled.2 I am truly glad of it; and quite content to see Metcalfe still at the head of affairs. I have a real personal regard for him. But, apart from that, I think that he has some of the best qualities of a Governor. He has indeed no reforming zeal. But he has not the smallest prejudice in favour of abuses. He would not take any great trouble to remove a defect from the laws. But he would not lift up his little finger to preserve an evil merely because it is ancient. I think him a Governor General decidedly above par. We cannot expect another Lord William. There is a subject which seems to me of the highest importance, and with respect to which you may possibly be able to render a great service to India. I do not know whether the noise of our conflicts about education has yet reached you. It will infallibly reach you before long. Lord William appointed me last winter President of the Committee of Public Instruction. I found that body divided into two equal parties. All their proceedings were at a stand, and had been so for several months. The question was whether their funds which amount to a lac3 of rupees a year from the public treasury, and about as much more from other sources, should be employed in teaching the learned languages and the scientific systems of 1

2

The plan is presented in TBM's minute of 25 June 1835: it is printed in Dharker, Lord Macaulay *s Legislative Minutes, pp. 203—26. William A'Court (1779-1860: DNB)y first Baron Heytesbury, was appointed by Peel to succeed Bentinck, but the ministry was out before Heytesbury had left England and the 3 Whigs cancelled the appointment. A hundred thousand.

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24 August 1835

the East, or in communicating English knowledge. On the side of Sanscrit and Arabic were the most powerful of the old servants of the Company, Macnaghten, Prinsep, and Shakspeare,1 particularly. — On the other side were the cleverest and most rising young men - Colvin,2 for example, and Trevelyan, who is now my brother-in-law. We had a most obstinate conflict, and at last referred the case to the Government. Lord William, who placed a confidence in me for which I shall feel most grateful as long as I live, suffered me to draw the answer. It was determined that existing interests should be respected, but that all the funds, as they became available, should be employed in teaching English literature and science. Several of the old members of the Committee retired, and Lord William suffered me to nominate several new members. Cameron was among those whom I suggested; and, since his arrival, he has entered, apparently with hearty good will, on his functions. We have now fallen to work in good earnest. Instead of paying away our funds in jaghires3 to students of Mahometan and Hindoo theology, we have opened English schools at the principal towns in the two presidencies. The stir in the native mind is certainly very great. We have just learned that the resort of pupils to our school at Dacca is such that the masters whom we have sent are not sufficient, and that it has been found necessary to repel many applicants. These measures have been most violently opposed. After Lord W[illiam]'s departure the Orientalists appealed to Sir Charles. Sir Charles acted like himself. He would never have taken so bold and decisive a measure as that of declaring for English education. But he is not at all a man to rescind such a measure when taken by another. He declared himself decidedly favourable to the new system. Even this declaration did not silence the opposition. The Asiatic society4 complained bitterly of the 1

2

3 4

Henry Shakespear (d. 1838), of a well-known Anglo-Indian family, entered the East India Company's service in 1802 and had been on the Committee of Public Instruction since its founding in 1823; TBM succeeded him as President. Shakespear became a Member of Council later in this year. John Russell Colvin (1807-57: DNB)y in the East India Company's service since 1825, eventually became Lieutenant Governor of the North-Western Provinces of Bengal, where he died during the Mutiny. Government grants. The Asiatic Society of Bengal, founded by Warren Hastings in 1784. The Journal of the Society for 1835 contains a number of items on the new educational policy and on the fate of the official editions of Oriental works. To the Society's petition against the new policy the Government answered by publishing Bentinck's resolution of 7 March 1835, the resolution drawn up by TBM {Journal of the Asiatic Society, iv [June 1835], 348-50). Trevelyan, who was an active member of the Society, said at the debates on this question that * He had himself had a narrow escape of being a great orientalist, for he had attained some credit for his progress in Sanscrit at College: but his Dictionary fell overboard on his voyage to this country, and thus he was saved from the bias which an enthusiastic devotion to this ancient tongue might have given to his view of education' (ibid., p. 239).

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neglect with which we were treating the learned languages of the East, though they were themselves forced to admit that the Government could not find people to learn those languages without giving jaghires as motives to study, and could not sell a single copy of the oriental works which it was printing. When the change of system took place twenty three thousand volumes, folios and quartos for the most part, choked up the rooms of the Government depository. These had all been printed at the public cost. Nobody ever bought or read them. Our outlay on books in the three years which ended last Christmas had been sixty thousand rupees; our receipts from the sale of books nine hundred rupees. I dwell thus long on this subject, because I think it one of the greatest moment, and because I have no doubt that the struggle will be renewed at home. Indeed the Asiatic society have memorialized the Court. I need not impress on you the immense importance of introducing English literature into this country, - the absurdity of bribing people to learn Sanscrit and Arabic when they are willing to learn English gratis, — the absurdity of giving to error bounties and premiums of a sort which it would be objectionable to give even to sound and useful knowledge. There are very few things in my life on which I look back with so much satisfaction as on the part which I took in deciding this question. I am sure that we shall have your support at home if an attempt should be made to reverse that decision.1 I have filled my letter with Indian politics; and I have left myself no room to discuss English politics. It is clear in which direction things are tending. The perfidy of the Court, the obstinacy of the Lords, the bigotry of the Church and of the universities, will soon turn the great body of the Whigs into Radicals. I am not fond of violent changes when it is possible to avoid them. I like to see abuses die out quietly, as for example the old practice of fining and imprisoning refractory juries died out in the seventeenth century, - as the privilege of scandalum magnatum died out in the eighteenth century, — as the oppressive privileges of parliament have died out in our own time. I like to see good things come in as the practice of printing the debates of the houses came in, almost imperceptibly. Such revolutions produce no suffering to any human being. [They]2 excite no malignant passions: and, though slow, they are su[re. I] 2 thought the Reform Bill absolutely necessary: and, having secured that, my wish was to leave the power of the aristocracy to its euthanasia. 1

2

Mill, as John Clive points out, was opposed to the Anglicizing policy that TBM supported, and his son, John Stuart, drew up the arguments against it that were, unsuccessfully, submitted to the Board of Control by the Court of Directors (Clive, Macau/ay, pp. 384-7). Obscured by stain from seal. 150

James Mill

24 August 1835

I was willing to trust to time, to reason, and to the vast power which the middle classes had obtained. I hoped that the Lords would find themselves in the situation in which the Patricians of Rome were when the plebeians had obtained equal political franchises, and that they would gradually melt into the mass, or that only the "nominis umbra" 1 would remain. Ten, twenty, thirty years of delay are nothing in the existence of a nation. But one day of anarchy is a fearful evil. I was therefore inclined to say of the ballot, of the shortening of parliaments, of the abolition of the hereditary privileges of the peers -"Haec cum nova sint, relinquo tempori maturanda."2 But I do not see that I have any choice. I must be governed on the principles of the Oxford Convocation and the Pitt Club, or I must join the Radicals. And, under these circumstances, my decision is speedily made. I believe that the great body of the Whigs will take the same course. Some fainthearted men will go back. But the impulse of the mass will be onward. I ought to thank you for your kindness in sending me your publication relating to Mackintosh.3 Yet I cannot but regret that it should have appeared. I had a great regard for him. He was kind to me at a time when his kindness was valuable to me. I learned much from him: and, though I perceived weak parts in his character, they were not such as to deprive him of his claims to my respect and gratitude. He deserved to be treated with charity for he was himself singularly charitable. Considering him as an able man, an accomplished man, a man who was very kind to my self, a man whose life was singularly unfortunate, a man who had been most shamefully calumniated, a man whose worst faults were timidity and love of ease, and who was persecuted as if he had been an atrocious criminal, I could not but feel a great concern at seeing so keen an attack upon him by so formidable an adversary. I am sure that you have too much generosity to be displeased at the sincerity with which I speak what I think. I have just learned with the greatest concern the death of my excellent friend Sharp.4 He was the best correspondent that I had in England. I must close. / Believe me ever, my dear Sir, Yours most faithfully T B Macaulay 1 2

3

4

Lucan, Pharsalia, I, 135. * Since these are new matters, I leave them to be matured by time.' If TBM is quoting, I have not found his source. A Fragment on Mackintosh, 1835, an attack on Mackintosh's Dissertation on the Progress o Ethical Philosophy, 1830. Sharp died on 30 March.

25 August 1835

Thomas Flower Ellis

TO THOMAS FLOWER ELLIS, 25 AUGUST 1835 MS: Trinity College. Partly published: Trevelyan, I, 438-41.

Calcutta August 25. 1835 Dear Ellis, The autumn has come round again, - the most unhealthy season of the Indian year: but I am still in excellent health, and begin to think all that is said against this climate a mere delusion. Cameron is now in my house. He arrived here about a fortnight ago, and is staying with us till he can find a home of his own. I think him an excellent man for the purpose for which he has been selected. We are most actively engaged in preparing a complete criminal Code for India. He and I agree excellently. Ryan - the most liberal of judges - lends us his best assistance; and so, I have no doubt, will Malkin when he comes hither, which — God knows why — he seems obstinately determined not to do. I heartily hope and fully believe that we shall put the whole penal law and the whole law of criminal procedure into a volume not so large as our friend Sir Gregory's treatise on settlements.1 I begin to take a very warm interest in this work. It is indeed one of the finest employments of the intellect that it is easy to conceive. I ought however to tell you that the more progress I make as a legislator the more intense my contempt for the mere technical study of law becomes. These matters however will furnish us with subjects for many a long argument three years hence. For within that time I fully purpose to be again in England. Public business however does not take up all my time. I am quite sure of four cool, solitary, hours before breakfast: and I make the most of them. I really hope that, by the time of my leaving this country, I shall have completely gone through all that is valuable in Greek and Latin literature, - not in a childish way, or in a cramming way, - but understanding, judging, reperusing what is good again and again, skipping what I perceive to be worthless. I have taken to the practice of always reading with a pencil in my hand. I like it because it enables me to keep a journal of my life without the plague of sitting down to it as a daily task. I mark the date in every book that I read, and scrawl in the margin any criticisms that occur to me. It amuses me six months after to look over these hasty notes. I have lately read Pindar twice through with close attention; and I own that he rises on me. I have read Callimachus. He would have sunk in my opinion, but that I always rated him as low as possible. I have read Apollonius Rhodius through for the first time. At College I never could 1

Sir Gregory Lewin, A Summary of the Law ofSettlement, 1827. 152

Thomas Flower Ellis

z5 August 1835

get beyond the first book. His only merit lies in the pathetic; and there he sometimes rivals Euripides, and even Homer. Look at the First Book line 270 for an instance. I am now reading Quintus Smyrnaeus: but I find little or nothing in him. I have no copy of Nonnus; so that I must soon return to Homer and the great Attic poets — no great misfortune you will say. As to Greek prose I am deep in the examination of the political theories of the old philosophers. I have read Plato's republic and his Laws; and I am now reading Aristotle's Politics after which I shall go through Plato's two treatises again. I every now and then read one of Plutarch's Lives on an idle afternoon; and in this way I have got through a dozen of them. I like him prodigiously. He is inaccurate to be sure and a romancer: but he tells a story delightfully, and his illustrations and sketches of character are as good as any thing in ancient eloquence. I have never till now rated him fairly. As to Latin I am just finishing Lucan, who remains pretty much where he was in my opinion, and am busily engaged with Cicero, whose character moral and intellectual interests me prodigiously. I think that I see the whole man through and through. But this is too vast a subject for a letter. I have gone through all Ovid's poems. I admire him. But I was tired to death before I got to the end. I amused myself one evening with turning over the Metamorphoses to see if I could find any passage of ten lines which could, by possibility, have been written by Virgil. Whether I was in ill luck or no I cannot tell. But I hunted for half an hour without the smallest success. At last I chanced to light on a little passage more Virgilian, to my thinking, than Virgil himself. - Tell me what you say to my criticism. — I really think that if I were asked to give a sample of Virgil's manner in a very short space, I should select those lines of Ovid. It is part of Apollo's speech to the laurel. Semper habebunt Te coma, te citharae, te nostrae, laure, pharetrae. Tu ducibus Latiis aderis, cum laeta triumphum Vox canet, et longas visent Capitolia pompas. Postibus Augustis eadem fidissima custos Ante fores stabis, mediamque tuebere quercum.1 As to other Latin writers, Sallust has gone sadly down in my opinion Caesar has risen wonderfully. I think him fully entitled to Cicero's praise. He has won the honors of an excellent historian while attempting merely to give hints for history.2 But what are they all to the great Athenian? I do 1

Metamorphoses, 1, 558-63. At a breakfast given by Rogers in 1849 TBM quoted these lines to illustrate the same 'Virgilian' quality {Extracts from Journals Kept by George Howard, Earl of Carlisle: Selected by His Sister, Lady Caroline Lascelles, privately printed [London], 2 n.d., p. 81: 25 May 1849). Brutus, lxxv, 262.

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assure you that there is no prose composition in the world, — not even the irepi cn^ccvou,1 - which I place so high as the 7th book of Thucydides. It is the ne plus ultra of human art. - 1 was delighted to find in Gray's letters the other day this query to Wharton - " The retreat from Syracuse — is it or is it not the finest thing you ever read in your life?" 2 Did you ever read Athenaeus through? I never did. But I am meditating an attack on him. The multitude of quotations looks very tempting; and I never open him for a minute without being paid for my trouble. I will close this long talk about ancient writers by telling you that I have lately read the most indecent book, to the best of my belief, in the Latin language- Petronius, you will guess — No— Do you give it up? — Even St Augustin de Civitate Dei. As to your English politics, we know the new ministerial arrangements, and we hear and are willing to believe that Lord Heytesbury is not coming out to Calcutta. But what sort of times are at hand it is not very easy precisely to foretell. I think that the Tories will have another struggle for it before they finally give in. But that they must at last give in I hold to be as certain as that the sun will rise to morrow morning. I am exceedingly pleased with your Corporation Report.3 The last ships brought me some very unpleasant news. I find that I have lost my kind old friend Richard Sharp. He was, excepting Empson, the best correspondent that I had in England. I had little hope of ever seeing him again. But I have regretted him very much. I am sorry to hear that Frank is so idle. Tell him that if he goes on so, he will grow up to be such a man as Joy.4 Shew him Joy; and press the thing strongly on him. If this does not cure him, I can think of no remedy that will. - To be Lewin - Alexander5 - Rosson6 - one might bear. But to be J o y ! - I would conspire against destiny, as Thersites says.7 Whenever you write tell me every thing about yourself, and how Mrs. Ellis and the children are. I hope and trust that I shall find you in as happy 1 1

3

4

5 6

Cicero, De Corona. September 1746: letter 121 in Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, eds, Correspondence 0 Thomas Gray, Oxford, I (1935), 241. Ellis was a member of the Commission on Municipal Corporations, whose Report was ' one of the longest and most elaborate documents that had ever been published under the authority of Parliament' (Walpole, History of England, in, 314); the First Report of the Commission, with an Appendix in five parts, was published in Parliamentary Papers, 1835, XXIII-XXVI. The Report led to the passage of the Municipal Corporations Act in 1835. Henry Hall Joy (1784?-!840), on the Northern Circuit; K.C., 1832. In his Journal for 10 December 1852 TBM wrote: 'Much amused by the figure which that bore of bores, Joy, makes' in Tom Moore's journal (vi, 4). Perhaps Robert Alexander, K.C., on the Northern Circuit (Law List, 1836). The name is clear in the MS, but no one bearing it seems to have been on the Northern 7 Circuit. Troilus and Cressida, V, i, 70.

154

Thomas Flower Ellis

8 September 183$

a home as I left you in. Remember me most kindly to your wife, and to our old friends — particularly Adolphus and Drinkwater. Yours ever affectionately T B Macaulay TO T H O M A S F L O W E R E L L I S , 8 SEPTEMBER

1835

MS: Trinity College. Address: T F Ellis Esq / 15 Bedford Place. Subscription: T B Macaulay.

[Calcutta] September 8. 1835 As no favourable opportunity has yet occurred of sending this letter1 off, I add a few lines. I find September a very pleasant month, and I would really advise all my friends to come to this country by way of setting themselves up in health. Sir Henry Fane2 the new Commander in Chief has arrived, and a fine, spirited, soldierlike, man he seems to be. We know that Lord H[eytesbury]'s appointment is cancelled. But we have no notion as to the person who may be appointed to replace him. Do you know what the arguments are by w[hich]3 it is proved that the Pro Domo Sua is not Cicero's? I believe that Markland4 is the critic who is supposed to have established the point. If you can learn the name of the work which contains his reasonings tell Napier to send it me. I must own that the internal evidence for the genuineness of the speech seems to me almost irresistible. I am charmed with Aristotle, and am going to read his Rhetoric. No news of Malkin yet. His brother judges are beginning to grumble.5 Ever yours TBM 1 2

3 4

5

25 August. Fane (1778-1840: DNB), a Peninsular veteran, was appointed Commander-in-Chief by Wellington during his brief term of office; the Melbourne government confirmed the appointment, and Fane served until 1839. He arrived in Calcutta on 5 September. Obscured by seal. Jeremiah Markland, Remarks on the Epistles of Cicero to Brutus and of Brutus to Cicero, 1745, pp. 284-317; Markland's argument against the genuineness of the 'Pro Domo Sua' largely depends on points of style. Malkin at last arrived and was sworn in on 6 October.

155

i5 September i8s5

Selina and Frances Macaulay

TO SELINA AND FRANCES MACAULAY, 15 SEPTEMBER

1835

MS: Trinity College. Address: The Miss Macaulays. Subscription: T B Macaulay.

Calcutta Septr. 15. 1835 My dearest sisters, It is very long since I wrote to you, - not from want of kindness, — but because I had no heart to write; nor indeed have I now. But sooner or later I must make the effort. Perhaps I ought to have made it sooner. I should be sorry to give you reason to think that want of affection had kept me silent so long. I am indeed very much altered, - so much that I hardly know myself. But my feelings towards my family, I think, have undergone no change. The truth is that I deferred writing in the hope that time would heal my mind. But month follows month; and I find no relief. I have no new ties, no new hopes, to replace those which are gone. I have no ressources but in my own mind. I do my best. I pass without a moment's intermission from business to books and from books to business. And in this way I contrive to make existence endurable. I do not expect ever to find it more than endurable. But these are idle lamentations, and I will have done with them. But when I have done with them I have nothing to tell you. Hannah no doubt has kept you informed of what has been passing here. And indeed her task would have been a light one. For the monotony of our life is such as you can hardly conceive. One week is the express image of another. Breakfasts, councils, airings, dinners, sleep, waking, follow each other in a rotation which is only now and then slightly interrupted by a great formal banquet which some great man gives to thirty or forty people. This monotony is not unpleasing to me. And I only wish that it were still more rarely disturbed by ceremonious festivities. I am so utterly in the dark as to your plans, and can so little conjecture where either of you may be when you receive this that I can only assure you that I will do all in my power to make you comfortable in any place in which it may be your duty or your wish to reside.1 I must stop. For the ship by which I write sails to day: and I have to finish letters of some importance to Sir John H[obh]2ouse and Lord William Bentinfck.]2 I hope that Hannah will find time to write by this conveyance. She expects to be confined shortly. But she is now extremely well. 1

2

Zachary Macaulay, partly to avoid the pressure of debt and the threat of legal action, had left London for Paris late in 1834; Selina and Fanny do not seem to have been with him at first but joined him later. In the summer of 1836 they removed to Geneva and at the end of that year returned to London: see Knutsford, Zachary Macaulay, pp. 475-83. Paper torn away with seal.

156

Thomas Flower Ellis

30 December 1836

Kindest love to my father and Charles. When you write to Henry congratulate him in my name on his promotion.1 Love to John. If you should happen to be at the Temple remember me to all there in the most affectionate manner. I have received a letter from my uncle which has given me the greatest pleasure. His writing has decidedly improved since I left England. My kindest love to Edward - 1 have repeatedly tried to write to him. But I cannot. / Ever, my dearest sisters, Yours most affectionately T B Macaulay TO T H O M A S F L O W E R E L L I S , 30 D E C E M B E R

1835

MS: Trinity College. Address: T F Ellis Esq / 15 Bedford Place / London. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Partly published: Trevelyan, 1, 441-4.

Calcutta December 30. 1835 Dear Ellis, I have received a letter from you dated in the month of July last. It was accompanied by a copy of your answer to Palgrave.2 You have fairly won the victory. You have also, as you boast, kept your temper. Whether A be morally justified in keeping his temper for the purpose of making B lose his, is a question which will bear much discussion. In my opinion the most provoking thing in the world is meek, well-bred malice, — the malice of a Christian and a gentleman. You will make an excellent controversialist, I see. As Sir Dugald said to Montrose— "really, for a person that has seen so little service, you have a very pretty notion of war." 3 What the end of the Municipal reform-bill is to be I cannot conjecture.4 Our latest English intelligence is of the 15 th of August. The Lords were then busy in rendering the only great service that I expect them ever to render to the nation - that is to say in hastening the day of reckoning. But I will not fill my paper with politics, — at least with English politics. Here we are going on as smoothly as possible. The criminal code is advancing, 1 2

3

4

To a judgeship at Sierra Leone: see 9 March 1834. Sir Francis Palgrave (1788-1861: DNB), a barrister, editor, and historian, was DeputyKeeper of the Public Records from 1838 until his death. He was, with Ellis, one of the Commissioners of Municipal Corporations. I have not found Ellis's answer, but it must be connected with the quarrel between Palgrave and his fellow Commissioners. Palgrave did not approve of the Commission's lengthy Report, presented in April 1835, and submitted his protest to the House of Commons at the same time, stating that the Report did not distinguish between 'adventitious defects and inherent defects' in the structure of corporations {Parliamentary Papers, 1835, XL, 525). Scott, A Legend of Montrose, ch. 3: ' " I profess," said Dalgetty, addressing Lord Menteith, "your lordship's servant has a sensible, natural, pretty idea of military matters."' The bill was entirely recast by the Lords, but their amendments were rejected by the Commons, and the bill passed into law on 9 September.

157

30 December 2 8jS

Thomas Flower Ellis

— not so quickly as I could wish, but very satisfactorily. All the people whose cooperation is of importance agree with me thoroughly as to general principles. We have one great advantage - an advantage beyond all hope. Ryan and Malkin go hand in hand with the government and the Law-Commission, and seem as much interested in the success of our work as if their own credit were at stake. This is most fortunate. For it was from this very quarter that we had most reason to expect opposition. The lawyers and attorneys of the Supreme Court, with Sir John Grant1 at their head, will no doubt give us all the trouble that they can. But our alliance with the Chief Justice and Malkin will enable us to set them at defiance. I am in excellent health. So are my sister and my brother-in-law, and their little girl,2 whom I am always nursing, and of whom I am becoming fonder than a wise man, with half my experience, would chuse to be of anything except himself. I have but very lately begun to recover my spirits. The tremendous blow which fell on me at the beginning of this year has left marks behind it which I shall carry to my grave. Literature has saved my life and my reason. Even now I dare not, in the intervals of business, remain alone for a minute without a book in my hand. What my course of life will be when I return to England is very doubtful. But I am more than half determined to abandon politics, and to give myself wholly to letters — to undertake some great historical work which may be at once the business and the amusement of my life, and to leave the pleasures of pestiferous rooms, sleepless nights, aching heads, and diseased stomachs, to greater men, - to Roebuck3 and Praed. In England I might probably be of a very different opinion. But in the quiet of my own little grass-plot, when the moon, at its rising, finds me with the Philoctetes or the De Finibus in my hand, I often wonder what strange infatuation leads men who can do something better to squander their intellect, their health, their energy on such objects as those which most statesmen are engaged in pursuing. I comprehend perfectly how a man who can debate, but who would make a very indifferent figure as a contributor to an annual or a magazine — such a man as Stanley for example — should take the only line by which he can attain distinction. But that a man before whom the two paths of literature and politics lie open, and who might hope for eminence in either, should chuse politics and quit literature seems to me madness. 1

2

3

Grant (i774-1848: DNB) was one of the judges of the Supreme Court and was afterward, Chief Justice. Margaret (1835—1906), born 14 October. Hannah wrote that 'the birth of Margaret cheered and amused him, and he devoted himself to her from the first most fondly' (Memoir of TBM, p. 64). John Arthur Roebuck (1801-79: DNB), a Benthamite and friend of John Stuart Mill entered the House of Commons in the first reformed Parliament, where, as a Radical, he steadily and acrimoniously opposed Whig policies.

158

Thomas Flower Ellis

so December 2835

On the one side is health, leisure, peace of mind, the search after truth, and all the enjoyments of friendship and conversation. On the other side is almost certain ruin to the constitution, constant labour, constant anxiety. Every friendship which a man may have becomes precarious as soon as he engages in politics. As to abuse, men soon become callous to it: but the discipline which makes them callous is very severe. And for what is it that a man who might, if he chose, rise and lie down at his own hour, engage in any study, enjoy any amusement, visit any place, travel to foreign countries, consents to make himself as much a prisoner as if he were within the rules of the Fleet, - to be tethered during eleven months of the year within a circle of half a mile round Charing Cross, - to sit, or stand, night after night, for ten or twelve hours, inhaling a noisome atmosphere and listening to harangues of which nine tenths are far below the level of a leading article in a newspaper? For what is it that he submits, day after day, to see the morning break over the Thames, and then totters home, with bursting temples, to his bed? Is it for fame? Who would compare the fame of Charles Townshend to that of Hume, that of Lord North to that of Gibbon, that of Lord Chatham to that of Johnson? — Who can look back on the Life of Burke, and not regret that the years which he passed in ruining his health and temper by political exertions were not passed in the composition of some great and durable work? Who can read the Letters to Atticus, and not feel that Cicero would have been an infinitely happier and better man, and a not less celebrated man, if he had left us fewer speeches and more Academic Questions and Tusculan disputations, if he had passed the time which he spent in brawling with Vatinius and Clodius in producing a history of Rome superior even to that of Livy. But these, as I said, are meditations in a quiet garden, situated far beyond the contagious influence of English faction. What I might feel if I again saw Downing Street and Palace Yard is another question. I tell you sincerely my present feelings. I pass the three or four hours before breakfast in reading Greek and Latin. I really think that I am now in better training for an University Scholarship examination than when I was an undergraduate. I have cast up my reading account, and brought it to the end of the year 1835. It is as follows. It includes December 1834. For I came into my house and unpacked my books at the end of November 1834. During the last thirteen months then, I have read yEschylus twice, Sophocles twice, Euripides once, Pindar twice, Callimachus, Apollonius Rhodius, Quintus Calaber, Theocritus twice, Herodotus, Thucydides, almost all Xenophon's works, almost all Plato, Aristotle's politics, a good deal of his Organon, besides dipping elsewhere, the whole of Plutarch's Lives, about half of Lucian, two or three books of Athenaeus, Plautus twice, Terence twice, Lucretius

jo December 1835

Thomas Flower Ellis

twice, Catullus, Tibullus, Propertius, Lucan, Statius, Silius Italicus, Livy, Velleius Paterculus, Sallust, Caesar, and lastly Cicero. I have indeed still a little of Cicero left. I shall finish him in a few days. I am now deep in Aristophanes and Lucian. Of Aristophanes I think as I always thought. But Lucian has agreably surprised me. At school I read some of his dialogues of the dead when I was thirteen; and, to my shame, I never, to the best of my belief, read a line of him since. I am charmed with him. His style seems to me to be superior to that of any extant writer who lived later than the age of Demosthenes and Theophrastus. He has a most peculiar and delicious vein of humour. It is not the humour of Aristophanes. It is not that of Plato. Yet it is akin to both, - not quite equal, I admit, to either, - but still exceedingly charming. I hardly know where to find an instance of a writer, in the decline of a literature, who has shewn an invention so rich and a taste so pure. Nor is humour by any means his only merit. Some of the most brilliant and animated declamation that I know is to be found in his works. By the bye, it might amuse you to compare his excellent little piece "rrspl TCOV em uia0& OVVOVTCOV1 with Juvenal's Third Satire. The Case of Greek versus Roman is at least as well argued by Lucian as that of Roman versus Greek by Juvenal. But if I get on these matters I shall fill sheet after sheet. They must wait till we take another long walk or another tavern dinner together, — that is till the Summer of 1838. Malkin and his wife seem to be very well. He begins to like Calcutta, I think. He is as you may suppose, a very agreable addition to the society here: and I am certain that he will be infinitely more useful here than he could have been if he had remained at Penang. I am delighted to hear of your professional success. I hope, when I return, to find you in the high road to the bench. I hope also to find that Frank is going on better with his Greek. He must not dare to look me in the face if he cannot pass a good examination. Apropos of examinations, I have a long story to tell you about a classical examination here, which will make you die with laughing. But I have not time. I can only say that some of the competitors tried to read the Greek with the papers upside down, and that the great man of the examination - the Thirlwall of Calcutta - a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, translated the words of Theophrastus, OCTCCS AsiToupyias AeAEiTOupynKE2 "how many times he has performed divine service". But I

must stop. Remember me most kindly to Mrs. Ellis. Remember me also to our friends Adolphus and Drinkwater. ^ rr i r Ever yours affectionately T B Macaulay 1

2

' On Salaried Posts in Great Houses.' Theophrastus, Characters, xxm: 'he does not count any of the trierarchies or public services which he has performed' (Jebb's translation). The examination was that for the mastership of the La Martiniere charity school (Bengal Hurkaru, 17 December 1835, p. 586). 160

Selina and Frances Macaulay TO SELINA AND FRANCES MACAULAY, I JANUARY

1 January 1836 1836

MS: Trinity College. Address: The Miss Macaulays. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Partly published: Trevelyan, 1, 422-3; 425-6.

Calcutta Jan 1. 1836 My dear sisters, A happy new year to you — happier than the last was to me. It has been indeed a dark and mournful one. But time has begun to do its work. Eighteen hundred and thirty six is opening with fairer prospects. We are in excellent health. Hannah's little baby is a great source of pleasure and a great object of interest to us all. The term of my exile will, when you read this, be more than half accomplished. The expectations which induced me to leave England seem likely to be speedily fulfilled. I have sent a thousand pounds to George this week: and I have between five and six thousand pounds in this country. In two years more I shall be able to do my part towards making my family comfortable, and I shall have a competency for myself, small indeed, but quite sufficient to render me as perfectly independent as if I were the possessor of Burleigh or Chatsworth.1 The weather is delicious. I hardly know how to describe it, — mornings colder than those of an English October, - a noon far hotter than the hottest noon of an English July. I sleep under two or three blankets, and dine by the fire-side. But I cannot step out of the shade for a single minute between ten in the morning and three in the afternoon. Our Christmas table is loaded with cauliflowers, green peas, and other vegetables which, at home, are the products of a warm summer. This is, or used to be, the season of Calcutta gaieties. But that tremendous crash of all the great commercial houses which took place a few years ago has produced a revolution in fashions.2 That crash ruined one half of the English society in Bengal and seriously injured nine tenths of the remaining half. A large proportion of the most important functionaries here are deeply in debt. Accordingly the mode of living is exceedingly quiet and modest. Those immense subscriptions, those public tables, those costly equipages and entertainments of which Heber and others who saw Calcutta a few years back say so much, are never heard of. I live more handsomely, I think, than any other member of council. My house is one of the finest here. My table is exceedingly good; and is expensive in a degree more than proportioned to its goodness. Hannah and Trevelyan live with me. Yet my whole expenditure is a good deal short of 3000 £ a year; and I am quite convinced that, if I knew the country, the language of the people, and the prices of articles, I could live as well as I do for less 1 2

The seats of the Marquess of Exeter and of the Duke of Devonshire. The crash occurred in 1830, a remote consequence of the commercial crisis of 1825-6 in England.

i January 2836

Selina and Frances Macaulay

than 2000 £ a year. I consider it as a great piece of good fortune that I came hither just at the time when the commercial distress had forced every body to adopt a moderate and quiet way of living. That circumstance makes the difference of 1500 £ or 2000 £ a year to me. The public diversions are of a miserable sort,— vile acting, — viler opera-singing, - and things which they call reunions, - a sort of subscription balls. These and great dinners of between thirty and forty people constitute the dissipation of Calcutta. I avoid all these amusements, - if they deserve the name, — the dinners excepted. I am forced now and then to be a guest, and now and then to be a host. Last week we had a party of thirty six, and next month we must have another. Nothing can be duller. Nobody speaks except to the person next him. The conversation is the most deplorable twaddle that can be conceived; and, as I always sit next to the lady of highest rank - or in other words next to the oldest, ugliest, proudest, and dullest woman in the company - 1 am worse off than my neighbours. The best way of seeing society here is to have very small parties. There is a little circle of people whose friendship I value, and in whose conversation I take some pleasure; the Chief Justice, Sir Edward Ryan — my old friend Malkin — Cameron and Macleod, the Law Commissioners — Macnaghten among the older servants of the company, - Mangles, Colvin, and Grant,1 among the younger, - these, in my opinion, are the flower of Calcutta society. I often ask some of them to a quiet dinner, and should do so oftener, but that one or two of them, between ourselves, have most particularly disagreable wives, who must be asked with them. Do not let it be known to any soul that I say this; or I shall be torn in pieces by the ladies of Calcutta. Henry Babington is still here. He is not in very good health; and his temper and spirits have suffered in consequence. I like him a good deal better than I did formerly. He stands, I think, rather high among the servants of the Company in real merit. But his extreme reserve and taciturnity prevent him from doing himself justice. In a few months he will probably return to the South of India which he very much prefers to Bengal. We are waiting impatiently for news from England. Our latest intelligence is of the middle of August. Ever yours affectionately T B Macaulay (Sir) John Peter Grant (1807-93: DNB), son of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,, entered the Bengal Civil Service, 1828, and was, in 1835, in the office of the Board of Revenue; in 1837 he became Secretary to the Law Commission under TBM. Grant afterwards held several high administrative posts in India and was appointed a member of the Supreme Council. After his retirement from India he served as Governor of Jamaica, 1866-73. 162

Macvey Napier

1 January [1836]

TO MACVEY NAPIER, I JANUARY

[1836]

MS: British Museum. Address: Macvey Napier Esq / Edinburgh. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Mostly published: Napier, Correspondence, pp. 173—4.

Calcutta January i. 1835 Dear Napier, I write in some haste, and without any particular news to communicate. But I am ashamed to let ship sail after ship without sending you a line, if for no other purpose, at least to thank you for your very kind and punctual attention to all my requests. All the books which you have sent have arrived safe, and in excellent condition. I should be much obliged to you to tell Longman to procure for me Lysias, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and the fragment of Cicero's De Republica. I am becoming a mere pedant, you will think. Not so, I hope. Yet I have returned to Greek and Latin literature with a zest stronger than I ever felt when at college. And I indulge my taste with the less scruple because it is very improbable that I shall ever have an opportunity of doing so, if I neglect that which I now enjoy. In England I shall be distracted by all the gossip, political and literary, of the day. Here, when my official duties are performed, I have nothing to divert me from a connected course of study. I am up every morning before the sun; I have three or four hours without interruption for my books; and I do not know that I can spend them better than in going over all the best works which the ancients have left to us. I have received the Edinburgh Review containing my article on Mackintosh. I quite approve of your alterations. I have no intelligence as to the reception which the paper has met with at home. Here it is generally liked. I am writing a review of Basil Montague's Life of Lord Bacon.1 It will be immeasurably long, I fear, and very superficial in the philosophical part. But I rather think that it will be liked. Perhaps you may already have published an article on the subject. If so, I shall still be amply repaid for the trouble which I have taken by the pleasure which the act of composition has given me. When I shall finish I cannot guess. I go on steadily, but slowly. My health is as good as possible. Every thing in my situation is agreable. I have reason to hope that I shall be able to effect much practical good for this country. My efforts are heartily seconded by all those whose cooperation is of most importance. In two years I fully expect to be preparing for my return. When I reach home I hope to find you as well, and 1

Published as 'Lord Bacon,' ER, LXV (July 1837), 1-104; Montagu's Life is the last volume of his sixteen-volume edition of Bacon, 1825-34. In an untraced letter of 14 September 1835 TBM told Empson that 'he had fixed on B. Montagu's life of Bacon!' (Empson to Napier, 23 January [1836]: MS, British Museum).

163

6 January 1836

Sir John Cam Hobhouse

I am sure that I shall find you as friendly, as when we last rambled together about your noble city. My sister begs me to remember her very kindly to you and to Miss Napier. Pray assure Jeffrey that in every part of the world in which I may be I shall continue to remember him with kindness. Ever yours truly T B Macaulay TO S I R J O H N CAM H O B H O I J S E , 1 6 J A N U A R Y

1836

MS: British Museum. Address: The Right Hon Sir J C Hobhouse Bart / M.P. / London. Upper left corner: By the Exmouth. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Extracts published: Clive, Macaulay, pp. 439; 448; 453-4-

Calcutta Jany. 6. 1836 Dear Sir John Hobhouse, I ought to have written earlier to thank you for the kind and generous manner in which you defended me against Praed's paltry attack.2 I am proud to be so attacked, and so defended. Whether this letter will find you in power or in opposition I cannot guess. I hope, not for your own sake, but for that of England and India, that it will find you in power. Of English politics I will say nothing, but that our last news is of the 28th of August, and that we are waiting with painful anxiety for the result of the crisis which then seemed to be approaching. I will not plague you with comments on events which may already have lost their interest, or with prophecies which may already be falsified. But with respect to this country, I am convinced that it is most desirable that, during the next few years, the supreme controul over its affairs should be held by you or by some man who resembles you. The criminal code is proceeding very satisfactorily, though not quite so expeditiously as I could wish. We have already sketched out the greater part, and several important chapters are almost completed. We have one great advantage which we had not the smallest reason to expect. I had been 1 2

President of the Board of Control since the Whigs' return to office in April, 1835. Praed, in a speech protesting the cancellation of Lord Heytesbury's appointment as Governor-General of India, asserted that TBM might be justifiably recalled for irregular actions in his capacity as legal member of the Supreme Council. Hobhouse in reply stated that there had been uncertainty about the Charter's definition of the legal member's role, that TBM may have exceeded his authority by acting in executive matters, but that he had committed no 'gross error' (Hansard, 3rd Series, xxix, 38-9; 48-9). In fact, TBM's first official minute written in India asked for a clarification of this question (27 June 1834, in Judicial Letters from India, 1834-5, 1: India Office Library). While waiting for the Board of Control's answer the Council apparently allowed TBM full participation in its affairs. Hence, when the Board under Ellenborough decided that the legal member could have no part in executive sessions TBM had already done what was now prohibited.

164

Sir John Cam Hobhouse

6 January 2836

fully prepared for the strongest opposition on the part of the Supreme Court. That Court has always been disposed to consider itself as a rival power to the government.l The Judges, accustomed to administer a very peculiar system of technical jurisprudence, have generally been unable to see any merit in any other system; or to recur to those general principles on which all such systems ought to be founded. Happily we have obtained the most valuable assistance from a quarter from which we had every reason to expect the strongest opposition. Sir Edward Ryan and Sir Benjamin Malkin, with abundant professional learning, have no professional prejudices. They have not the smallest jealousy of the legislative power of the Supreme Government; and they are zealous and able lawreformers. All our plans have been submitted to them; and, whether they agree with us or differ from us, they never fail to give us much useful information. I wish that I could say the same of Sir John Grant. But he is still, I am sorry to say, a wild elephant;2 and, in spite of all the exertions of his tame brethren, will not long keep his trunk and his tusks from us. In one important inquiry, however, I hope that even Sir John will be of use. Our criminal code, whatever credit it may do us in the opinion of Benthamites at home, will do very little good to the people of this country, unless it be accompanied by a thorough reform of prison-discipline. I have proposed to the Government that this subject should be referred to a committee of which the Law-Commissioners, and the Judges should be members. This measure has been adopted: and I have great hopes that much good will result from it.3 I have written to Ross at Allahabad, begging him to establish a similar Committee in his presidency: and I am sure that, in that way or in some other way, he will heartily cooperate with us. He is an excellent man, very benevolent, very enlightened, and zealous almost to a fault for the reform of every kind of abuse. The Criminal Code, the state of prison-discipline, and the education of the people, are the three subjects to which my attention is chiefly directed. There are other subjects which are forced on my notice by the present state of this country, and about which I cannot help forming opinions not in all respects agreeing with those which are prevalent here in the highest 1

2

3

The Supreme Court, which administered English law, had been created in 1773 as part of Parliament's effort to regulate the operations of the East India Company. The Court was independent of the Governor-General. In 1829 Grant had been called a 'wild elephant' by Lord Ellenborough, then President of the Board of Control, in a private letter that had accidentally been made public and had raised a storm. TBM's minute proposing the establishment of a Committee on Prison Discipline is dated 14 December 1835 (Dharker, Macaulay's Legislative Minutes, pp. 278—80). The Committee was composed as TBM had suggested. Its long Report, dated 8 Jan 1838 and published in Calcutta (copy, India Office Library), contained a number of Benthamite recommendations, which were not carried out by government.

165

8 February 1836

Thomas Spring-Rice

quarters. But, as I have no right to give a vote or to record an opinion on these subjects, I keep my doubts to myself. The business which peculiarly belongs to me is so important, and so interesting that I have little temptation to intrude myself into any province which I have not a right to enter. We expect Lord Auckland daily.1 1 should, on private grounds, have preferred Lord Glenelg,2 for whom I feel, as every body who has seen much of him must feel, a strong attachment. But I am very well satisfied. I shall not however part from Metcalfe without regret. He has great talents for government; and, though not zealous for reforms, has not the smallest prejudice against them. He is the only man of abilities that I ever knew, who, after passing his whole life in politics, was neither a reformer nor a [conseprvative, — who had neither the smallest ] 3 in favour of 3 old courses nor the smallfest] passion for trying experiments, — who would not lift up his little finger to effect any great innovation, and yet, when that innovation was loudly called for by the public voice, would net lift up his little finger to avert it. But I must stop. Believe me ever, / Dear Sir John Hobhouse, Yours most faithfully T B Macaulay TO T H O M A S S P R I N G - R I C E , 8 F E B R U A R Y

1836

MS: Bodleian Library. Address: The Right Hon T. Spring Rice M.P. / London. Upper left corner: By the first ship. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Published: Bodleian Library Record, 1 (1941), 247-52; 256.

Calcutta. February 8. 1836 Dear Rice, Last week I received your very kind and very interesting letter of the 26th of Septr.: and I cannot delay answering it. I have an excellent opportunity. A very dull and a very unimportant question is before the Council. Sir Charles is alternately yawning and punning. The Commander in Chief has gone into the antichamber to take a cup of coffee. One of my colleagues is writing a note, and another is drawing a man and horse on his blotting paper. I, who have no vote on the question, and who, if I had, should not know which way to vote, conceive that I cannot employ the next hour better than in writing to you. I wish that I could send you any information half so interesting as that which I received from you. But in the commerce of news, as in all other branches of commerce, India has very few articles of export which she 1

2 3

The Whigs, after cancelling Lord Heytesbury's appointment, had named Auckland to succeed Bentinck as Governor-General. He did not arrive in Calcutta until 4 March. Charles Grant had been created Baron Glenelg, May 1835. Paper torn away with seal.

166

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can give in exchange for what she imports from England. I have read several times your account of the late ministerial revolutions, and I think that I fully understand the whole history. Your narrative confirms many opinions which I had previously formed, and clears up many matters which had much perplexed me. On the whole it has greatly raised my spirits. I think that I can collect from what you tell me that there is now no great chance of a coalition between my friends and the Tories. Such a coalition, as it seems to me, would be a more fatal event for the Whig party than even the coalition of 1783. You have done wonders. I approve, — as far as I can judge of things at this distance, — of every move of your game. I must, on second thoughts, make one exception. I think that you should have left the question of the ballot open. This would, I conceive, do more than anything else to cement the league between the Whigs and Radicals, - a league on the continuance of which the welfare of the state seems to me to depend. You will find before long, I have a notion, that the determination of the government to resist that change as a government will prevent you from obtaining the services of a great number of very able men, who generally agree with you, whose opinions are by no means violent, but who consider that question as one of vital importance. There is another question, however, compared with which the ballot and every thing else sinks into insignificance, and which, though not immediately pressing, will before long become so. I mean the question of a hereditary peerage. I do not see but that you may go on for a few sessions, occupying much the same position which you now occupy relatively both to the Tories and to the Radicals. But I cannot help looking further. I do not see how it is possible to avert a final collision between the two houses. The probability is that popular opinions will gather strength every year. At the next general election the reformers will probably have a far greater majority in the house of Commons than at present. In the mean time the Lords are becoming fiercer and more obstinate day by day. The young aristocrats who are destined to fill the seats of the present peers are even more bigotted than their fathers. The nobles and the people are not only at variance: but there is no tendency to approximation: nay, the separation is daily becoming more marked. The crisis is at hand. I do not expect it in 1837. It may not arrive in 1838 or 1839. But come it must, and in this generation. The minds of men are fast becoming familiarized to the contemplation of changes which, even when I left England, would have been regarded with dismay by a great majority of the middle classes. The institution of a hereditary aristocracy is one which it is not easy to defend in theory. But it had, till lately, a very strong hold in the feelings and imagination of the people. It is losing that hold. 167

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Opinions on this subject which, a few years ago, few people entertained and scarcely any ventured openly to express, are now constantly repeated in the most respectable newspapers, and have been very plainly hinted in parliament without calling forth any strong disapprobation. These opinions, I firmly believe, will spread and strengthen. In a few years it will be absolutely necessary to take some extraordinary course for the purpose of bringing the two branches of the legislature into harmony with each other. What course will it then be proper to take? It seems to me that any creation of peers which did not almost double the numbers of the upper house would be no remedy at all, and that a creation of three or four hundred hereditary peers would, in the first place, be a bad remedy, and would, in the next place, be only a temporary remedy. There must surely be something radically bad in the constitution of a legislative body which, for the preservation of the state, must from time to time, be swamped by the executive body. As one of the people, I should prefer a reform which went direct to the seat of the evil. Were I one of the peers, I would far rather renounce my privileges and live as a private citizen, with the chance of obtaining a seat in the house of Commons, than remain a member of an assembly so impotent and ridiculous as the House of Lords would be, if several hundreds of Whigs were sent thither to outvote the conservatives. Such a measure would give satisfaction to nobody. It could not possibly be final. It would destroy any reverence for the upper house which might still linger in the public mind, and would infallibly lead to the complete abolition of that body. The evil seems to me to lie very deep. No hereditary chamber can long, in a country like England, go on harmoniously with an elective chamber. If Lords are hereditary they must be men of large property, and their property must be invested in a form not liable to perpetual subdivision or exposed to the chances of trade. That is to say, they must be great landed proprietors. Now is it possible that two houses, - the one representing a single interest, the other representing all the interests in the country, — the one composed exclusively of land lords, the other comprising land lords, manufacturers, merchants, fund holders,-can go on well together? Formerly the defective constitution of the House of Commons prevented any violent collision. Most of the great towns had no members. The small boroughs were generally in the hands of the great land holders. The consequence was that the landed interest, though not so overwhelmingly strong in the Commons as in the Lords, was yet, even in the Commons, decidedly predominant. The two houses could therefore act in concert. But the reform-bill has introduced into the House of Commons a crowd of members who represent the new interests created by trade. The commercial and manufacturing classes have, in that house, their fair share of 168

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power. But in the house of Lords they have not a single representative. How is it possible, under these circumstances, that collision should not frequently take place? And what permanent good would be done by swamping the house of Lords if the new peers are, like the old peers, great land holders? Yet great land holders they must be if they are to be hereditary. The obvious remedy would be to introduce into the upper house men taken from the commercial, the manufacturing, the professional classes. But the property of such men is not of such a nature or of such an amount as would support a hereditary peerage. They would think such an honour an encumbrance. What follows? They must be made peers for life. The King can make them so undoubtedly without any act of parliament. But the creation of a great body of peers for life, though according to the letter of the law, it is a perfectly legal proceeding, would be practically a revolution. To this or to something stronger than this you must inevitably come. If I were in England I might perhaps think differently: I am not however sure that I should think more correctly. I judge of the events which are passing at home as a historian, not as a politician. I am not excited by the conflict. I have no immediate personal interest in what is going on. I think much less than you about what is to be done next session, and probably much more about what is likely to be the state of the country ten years hence. I really think that I look on your transactions as calmly as on the events of the Civil War. And, unless I am quite mistaken, the days of the House of Lords are numbered. If you should again find time, and I am sure you will, — amongst your many avocations to write to me, let me know what you think on this subject. I will keep your counsel. Our Indian news will hardly bear exportation. An old hag called the Begum Sumroo1 is just dead, and her death has put the government in possession of ten or twelve lacs a year. We have a Nepaulese envoy here who dresses like a captain of banditti in a melodrama, and eructs like Sancho Panza. We had a report a few days ago that Lord Auckland had arrived: but it turned out to be a mistake of the people at one of the Semaphores. These are our great events. But, with all this monotony, important changes are gradually proceeding. The criminal code is going on slowly, but I think satisfactorily. The diffusion of English knowledge among the natives proceeds with increasing rapidity. In both these great works I have borne, I hope, an useful part, and I hope to do more. I have received a very kind letter from our new Governor General, and I confidently expect to receive his support in every good undertaking. I knew but little of him at home. But I was pleased with that little. His manners, 1

The Begum Samru, the widow of a military adventurer named Walter Reinhardt, who established a little principality of his own at Sardhana, near Meerut, died on 27 January; her territories were thereupon annexed by the government.

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if I remember rightly, were much disliked at the clubs. But some of my constituents who waited on him at the Board of Trade spoke highly of his affability and good nature; and he has since been very popular with the officers of the navy.1 I therefore cannot help hoping that he may be popular with the services here. The art of conciliating was one of the few parts of an excellent ruler which were wanting to my friend Lord William. Had he possessed that art, he would have been incomparably the best governor that England ever sent to India. I shall not part from Metcalfe without regret. We have been on very good terms; and I see much to admire both in his public and private character. I am greatly pleased to find that he is to have the Grand Cross of the Bath. Your kindness will make you desirous to hear about myself. I am in excellent health. Indeed I have not had a day's indisposition since I landed in India. I am actively, and, I hope, usefully employed during the greater part of every day. The Council sits twice a week. The Law Commission at which I preside also sits twice. These sittings generally occupy six or seven hours each. I am President of the Committee of public instruction, and a member of a Committee which was lately appointed by Government at my suggestion for the reform of the prison-discipline of India. The hours before breakfast I have all to myself; and I give them to literature. My evenings I generally pass quietly with my sister and my brother-in-law. I cannot mention him without thanking you most warmly for recommending his interests to Lord Auckland. I am quite certain that no situation in the service is too high for his merits. His mind is so simple, and there is so much youthful ardour in his manners, that those who know little of him would be apt to underrate his talents. But neither in India nor in England have I ever known a man of his age so eminently qualified for high political situations. His industry, his energy, his perseverance, remind me of Brougham. I am happy to say that there is no resemblance in their moral qualities. As to money, you will be glad to hear that, though I live handsomely and am cheated mercilessly, I am laying by fast. In two years from this time, I hope to have saved twenty thousand pounds. I could live in perfect comfort and independence on half that sum as a single man, and it would not be worth my while to pass several additional years here for the purpose of saving a fortune which might enable me to marry, — which after all I might not chuse to do. I shall be able, with twenty thousand pounds, to do my duty to my family, and to support myself in a manner quite as 1

Auckland was President of the Board of Trade in Grey's administration and First Lord of the Admiralty in Melbourne's.

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much to my satisfaction as if I had all the Duke of Bedford's acres and all Lord Westminster's mines. In the summer of 1838 I hope to be again in England, at liberty to make my choice between politics and literature. What that choice will be I do not know. But I know what it will be if I am a wise man. I do not understand your allusion to a quarrel between Napier and Wallace.1 Surely that man was not so inconceivably absurd as to think that a critique on an anonymous work could justify a demand of personal satisfaction. I suppose that I shall soon know the whole history. I must have done. Remember me kindly to Lady Theodosia and to your son,2 who I hope is in an excellent course of training for the Treasury Bench. I shall never have done if I charge you with kind remembrances. But I must not forget one person - Lord Lansdowne. Tell him that I never think of him but with affection and gratitude, and that I never see his name in the newspapers without interest. I shall write to Empson shortly. He is generally my best correspondent; but of late he has been idle or the ships have been slow. His last letter bears date seven months ago. Ever yours most truly T B Macaulay. TO ZACHARY MACAULAY, 2 M A Y 1836 MS: Mr C. S. Menell, who furnished transcript; and Trinity College.3 Address: Z Macaulay Esq. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Partly published: Knutsford, Zachary Macaulay, pp. 482-3.

Calcutta. May 2. 1836 My dear Father, I was beginning a letter to Empson but the date reminded me so strongly of you that I changed my intention. This is your birthday. Most sincerely do I hope that it has found you in health and comfort, that other happy birthdays are still in store for you, and that at no very distant time all the members of our family whom death has spared may be assembled in one affectionate circle. 1

2

3

Wallace (see 10 December 1834), on the appearance of TBM's essay on Mackintosh, challenged Napier to a duel (it did not take place). Wallace must have been very quarrelsome: he fought a bloodless duel in the next year with Mackintosh's son, after the latter's publication of his father's Life (John Allen to Macvey Napier, [6 June 1838]: MS, British Museum). Stephen Edmond Spring-Rice was private secretary to his father as Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1835-8. The MS probably was separated quite early. The last sheet and the cover are at Trinity; the rest is in Mr MenelFs collection. An autograph copy of the Menell fragment is also at Trinity, and it is presumably from this that the text in Knutsford was taken. 171

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This month, the most delicious of the English months, is the terrific part of the Indian year. The fury with which the sun blazes is not to be described to anybody who has not, like you, been within the tropics, and the storms of wind, rain and thunder which afford some relief from the intense heat are such as sometimes seem to threaten the dissolution of nature. I never knew what thunder and lightening were till I came hither. However, in the midst of the heat and the storms we are all in the very best of health, and your little granddaughter as well as any of us. She is the sweetest little child that I ever saw; and gives as much promise as a baby of seven months old can give of being a sensible and amiable woman. We were forced to leave our own agreable and spacious house two months ago in order that it might be thoroughly repaired from top to bottom. The effects of this climate are as deleterious on the works of man as on man himself. Every building is in a state of dilapidation every four years. While the workmen were in our house we were squeezed into a narrow hot dungeon, with no garden, surrounded by native huts, where we were deafened with the clang of native musical instruments and poisoned with the steams of native cookery. At last our imprisonment is over; and we are again expatiating in our own palace, breathing the best air which is to be found in Calcutta, and with every thing clean and new about us. Yesterday we entertained the new Governor-General and all the great dignitaries very splendidly. I rather think that you had some acquaintance with Lord Auckland. He is in all essentials eminently fitted for his situation — liberal yet cautious, industrious, judicious, and truly desirous to do what is right. In the ornamental qualities of a Governor General he is rather deficient. He is extremely shy, and his shyness sometimes has the air of pride. His utterance is not ready, and his figure is not very dignified. But I do not think that he is unpopular; and he is certainly much liked by all who have to transact business with him. He and I were old acquaintances, and I am on a very friendly footing with him. We are very eager for letters from home. Our last were those which arrived with Lord Auckland] 1 by the Jupiter. I dare say that our correspondents are not to blame. For this is the season of the year at which arrivals from England are most rare. A few more weeks will, I hope, bring us news down to the meeting of parliament. I hope to find time to write to my sisters by this conveyance. If not — give them my kindest love. Love from Hannah and Trevelyan. The baby would send hers if she could utter more than single syllables. Yours ever most affectionately T B Macaulay 1

Covered by seal. 172

Selina and Frances Macaulay

9 May 1836

TO SELINA AND FRANCES MACAULAY, 9 MAY

1836

MS: Trinity College. Address: The Miss Macaulays. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Extracts published: Trevelyan, 1, 420; Clive, Macaulay^ pp. 301—2.

Calcutta May 9. 1836 My dear sisters, I hope that this letter will find you as well as it leaves us. This is the hottest month of the Bengal year. The sun blazes like a furnace. The soldiers, it is said, dress beef-steaks by laying them at noon on the cannon of Fort William. Yet we all thrive and bloom under this raging heat, — the baby and I in particular. I run up and down stairs, eat and drink heartily, and sleep like a top from the moment that I lie down till my blinds are opened at day-break. The baby is a most engaging little child. She is not yet seven months old; yet she can all but walk alone and all but talk articulately. She has got to Ba and Ma and Pa. She laughs and shouts for hours together, — has suffered very little with her teeth, and shews every sign of intelligence and good temper. I am getting fonder of her than a wise man who has seen and suffered so much as I have done would be of anything but himself. We are again in our own fine house, after having been imprisoned in what, by comparison, was a dungeon, during six weeks. We are more sensible than ever of the value of the comforts which we enjoy from having gone so long without them. Our rooms look better than ever. The whole house is brilliant white and brilliant green. Our new matting looks very handsome, and the tatties which I have ordered to be hung up diffuse a delicious fragrance through the rooms. But you do not know what a tatty is. It is a mat, thickly woven of an odoriferous grass, and suspended over a window. A servant keeps it moistened with cold water. The fiercer the heat of the sun, the stronger is the evaporation from this mat, and the cooler is the air from without. Sometimes when the sun is hot enough to melt metal on the outside of the window, we are as cool on the inside as if we were in an ice-house. Towards evening a fresh breeze springs up; and we take an airing in an open carriage along the banks of the Hoogley. We come home by star light a little before eight o'clock, and sit down almost immediately to dinner. After finishing our mango-fish, our curry, our asparagus, and our snipes - (these are now chief articles at table,) we fall on a very fine Stilton-cheese which my aunt has sent us. Hannah and Trevelyan generally indulge in bottled ale and porter. I more aristocratically confine myself to sherry or hock and soda water. Our desert is but a poor one. Nothing can be viler than the tropical fruits.The leechees are the best. They look like very large strawberries. They have a rough skin which is peeled off. Within there is a pulp which looks exactly 173

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like a plover's egg when the shell is taken away. This pulp contains a black stone, and tastes very much like a grape. As to the plantains, mangos and so forth, they are detestable. At a quarter to nine we take tea, and go immediately to bed — a necessary measure, for I am always up and out soon after five in the morning. Before six the barber comes to shave me; and soon after the nurse brings in the baby to attend my levee. One of the Khitmatgars - that is the appellation of the servants who wait at table, — attends with coffee and dry toast, and I sit over my books till it is time to bathe. After luxuriating in an enormous tub, I dress and go to breakfast, at which we support nature under the exhausting effects of the climate by means of plenty of eggs, mango fish, snipe-pies, and frequently a hot beef-steak, in addition to coffee and toast. Then business begins and lasts till the afternoon is far advanced. There you have the history of a day. I am afraid that you will think that the creature-comforts make up too large a part of it. In this way time glides on rapidly and almost without leaving any perceptible trace. I can hardly believe that so large a portion of my banishment is gone by, and that in eighteen months or little more I shall be looking out for a conveyance to England. Every day my wish to return acquires additional strength, and all my other wishes become more moderate. I am already as rich as I should care to be, if I had [onply myself to take care of; and I would not [stay in]1 India till I am forty to be maste[r of] 2 all Lord Westminster's streets and a[ll]2 Lord Durham' mines. I have written to my father, and may perhaps be able to write to Charles. If not, and if you are with him, give him my kindest love. Love to John and Henry. / Ever my dear sisters Yours most affectionately T B Macaulay TO T H O M A S F L O W E R E L L I S , 30 MAY

1836

MS: Trinity College. Address: T F Ellis Esq / 15 Bedford Place / London. Upper left corner: By the first ship. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Partly published: Trevelyan, 1, 445-8.

Calcutta May 30. 1836 Dear Ellis, I have just received your letter dated December 28. How timeflies!— Another hot season has almost passed away and we are daily expecting the beginning of the rains. Cold season, hot season, and rainy season are all much the same to me. I enjoy even high health. I shall have been two years on Indian ground in less than a fortnight, and I have not taken ten 1

Paper torn away with seal. 174

2

Covered by seal.

Thomas Flower Ellis

30 May 1836

grains of solid or a pint of liquid medicine during the whole of that time. My sister, her husband, and her baby thrive almost as well. If I judged only from my own sensations I should say that this climate is absurdly maligned. But the yellow spectral figures which surround me serve to correct the conclusions which I should be inclined to draw from the state of my own health. One execrable effect this climate produces; — it destroys all the works of man with scarcely one exception. Steel rusts; — pins become quite useless; — razors lose their edge; — thread decays; — clothes fall to pieces; — books moulder away and drop out of their bindings; - plaister cracks; timber rots; - matting is in shreds. The sun, the steam of this vast alluvial tract, the infinite armies of white ants, make such havoc with buildings that every house requires a complete repair every three years. Ours was in this situation about three months ago; and if we had determined to brave the rains without any precautions we should in all probability have had the roof down upon our heads. Accordingly we were forced to migrate for six weeks from our stately apartments and our flower-beds to a dungeon where we were stifled with the stench of native cookery and deafened by the noise of native music. At last we have returned to our house. We found it all snow-white and pea-green; and we rejoice to think that we shall not again be under the necessity of quitting it till we quit it for a ship bound on a voyage to London. My intentions about returning are unchanged; and I do not foresee that any event which is within the range of probability can induce me to prolong my stay. You complain that I tell you nothing about my moneymatters. I hope that I have already repaired that omission. But, in case I should have sent you no information on that subject, I will send you some now. I am at this moment possessed of about seven thousand pounds in government securities at five per cent. I have between seven and eight hundred in my agent's hands. My plate, carriages, furniture, etc., are worth on a moderate valuation, two thousand pounds. I do not owe a farthing, and I regularly lay by a clear six hundred pounds every month; and this without living meanly. Indeed I think that my house, table, furniture, and equipages, are superior to those of any member of Council, except the Commander in Chief. I have every reason to believe that in another year and a half I shall have as much as will enable me to do my duty to others and to live in England in the simple and independent manner to which I have been accustomed, and which I prefer to any other. I do not intend to make any remittance to England for the purpose of investment. I can obtain five per Cent here on security as good as that of the English funds, and can have all my property immediately under my own eye. I have sent at different times between two and three thousand 175

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pounds to England for the support of my father and sisters and for the education of my brother. But I did not think it worth while to trouble you with those matters. I have also enabled my brother-in-law to pay his debts which, like those of most young servants of the Company, were heavy, though unlike those of most young servants of the Company, contracted for public objects. His salary is 2400 £ a year. By living with me he is enabled to save 1800 JT a year or more; so that he has paid all that he owes without breaking in on his patrimony which consists of five thousand pounds in the English funds. He will take his furlough when I return in the beginning of 1838, and will then be perfectly at ease in his circumstances. I hope that you find my account of my pecuniary transactions interesting. If not remember that you asked for it. I hope also that you think it satisfactory. I am by no means confident that I shall be inclined or even that I shall be able to stay till the beginning of 1838. If there should be a change of ministry, it would be exceedingly disagreable to me to remain here under the malignant inspection of Lord Ellenborough1 and Praed. And, though I think that the chances are on the side of the Whigs, it is plain that they are by no means secure. If I were to return to morrow, I should still rejoice that I had come out; and, if I can only remain in office till Christmas, I shall care very little whether I am recalled or not. We have been for some months in the middle of what the people here think a political storm. To a person accustomed to the hurricanes of English faction this sort of tempest in a horsepond is merely ridiculous. We have put the English settlers up the country under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Company's Courts in civil actions in which they are concerned with natives.2 The English settlers are perfectly contented. But the lawyers of the Supreme Court have set up a yelp which they think terrible, and which has infinitely diverted me. They have selected me as the object of their invectives; and I am generally the theme of five or six columns of prose and verse daily. I have not patience to read a tenth 1

2

Edward Law (1790-1871: DNB), first Earl of Ellenborough, had been President of the Board of Control under Wellington and again in Peel's brief administration. He was again appointed to that office in 1841, and in the same year was made Governor-General of India. TBM disliked Ellenborough's vain personality, his theatrical style, and his Tory politics, and was active in the parliamentary attack upon Ellenborough that led to his recall in 1844: see TBM's speech on * The Gates of Somnauth,' 9 March 1843 (reprinted in Speeches) and on the recall of Ellenborough, 7 May 1844 (Hansard, 3rd Series, LXXIV, 808-12). Ellenborough was a fourth time President of the Board of Control under Derby, 1858-9. By the so-called Black Act (Act No. 11 of 1836), which repealed the privilege of British settlers to appeal from Company courts to the Supreme Court and put all persons under uniform jurisdiction. The Act was drafted by TBM, promulgated on 1 February, and passed into law on 9 May 1836. It provoked an extraordinary agitation in Calcutta which compelled TBM to defend the Act in a succession of official minutes: see Dharker, Macaulay's Legislative Minutes, pp. 47-64; 168-97. 176

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part of what they put forth. The last ode in my praise which I perused began "Soon we hope they will recall ye Tom Macaulay, Tom Macaulay."1 The last prose which I read was a parallel between me and Lord Strafford.2 The lawyers here are a miserable set of fellows - most of them sots and debauchees, perpetually engaged in discreditable quarrels, and hardly ever admitted into good society. Turton's 3 character is blasted, and he is, I suppose, the cleverest among them. Next to Turton in practice and importance comes Longueville Clarke.4 — I suppose that I need say no more. My mornings from five to nine are quite my own. I still give them to ancient literature. I have read Aristophanes twice through since Christmas. I have also read Herodotus and Thucydides again, as well as those parts of Plutarch and Diodorus which relate to the history of Greece from the beginning of the Persian war to the end of the Peloponnesian. I am going to read Xenophon's Hellenics, and then I shall fall on the orators. Plutarch has greatly risen in my opinion. Diodorus is even a greater ass than I expected to find him. I got into a way last year of reading a Greek play every Sunday. 1 began on Sunday the 18th of October with the Prometheus; and next Sunday I shall finish with the Cyclops of Euripides. Euripides has made a complete conquest of me. It has been unfortunate 1

Probably TBM means this stanza from the verses in the Bengal Hurkaru of 19 May: ' Thou'rt proclaimed our birth-right's foe, Soon thy masters must recall thee, We will bring thy vauntings low Tom Macaulay — Tom Macaulay.'

2

'Sir, you are a pocket Wentworth, an octodecimo edition of that ancient folio volume of political iniquity Lord Strafford' (letter from 'Antimac,' Bengal Hurkaru, 13 May 1836). There are other outbursts against TBM using the same parallel in the papers about this time. (Sir) Thomas Turton (1790-1854), advocate before the Supreme Court of Calcutta, had come out to India after being divorced, in 1830, by his wife, who named her sister as corespondent. Turton was appointed, at £1,000 a year, the agent for the Committee formed to petition Parliament against the Black Act, and arrived in England early in 1837. In 1838 he was appointed a private secretary on his Canadian mission by Lord Durham, whose school-fellow Turton had been; the appointment raised questions in Parliament and led to official proceedings against him. In 1848 Turton narrowly escaped prosecution when his accounts as Registrar of the Supreme Court of Calcutta were found to be nearly £80,000 deficient. Longueville Loftus Clarke (d. i860?), formerly a barrister on the Western Circuit and now an advocate before the Supreme Court of Calcutta. In England he had been a member of the Constitutional Association, a society formed in 1821 to put down radical and atheist literature and which was itself brought to trial for oppression and extortion. He is said to have founded 'the Ice House, the Bar Library, and the Metcalfe Hall' in Calcutta (C. E. Buckland, Dictionary of Indian Biography•, 1906).

3

4

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for him that we have so many of his pieces. It has, on the other hand, I suspect, been fortunate for Sophocles that so few of his have come down to us. Almost every play of Sophocles which is now extant was one of his master-pieces. There is hardly one of them which is not mentioned with high praise by some ancient writer. Yet one of them, - the Trachiniae, is, to my thinking, very poor and insipid. Now if we had nineteen plays of Sophocles of which twelve or thirteen should be no better than the Trachiniae, — if on the other hand only seven pieces of Euripides had come down to us, and if those seven had been the Medea, the Bacchae, the Iphigenia in Aulis, the Orestes, the Phoenissae, the Hippolytus, and the Alcestis, I am not sure that the relative position which the two poets now hold in our estimation would not be greatly altered. I have not done much in Latin. I have been employed in turning over several third-rate and fourth-rate writers. After finishing Cicero I read through the works of both the Senecas, — father and son. There is a great deal in the Controversial both of curious information and of judicious criticism. As to the son, I cannot bear him. His style affects me in something the same way with that of Gibbon. But Lucius Seneca's affectation is even more rank than Gibbon's. His works are made up of mottoes. There is hardly a sentence which might not be quoted. But to read him straight forward is like dining on nothing but anchovy sauce. I dislike the man as well as the style. By the bye, I am going to ask a question which may probably betray very gross ignorance. Is there any reason to think that the Gallio mentioned in the Book of Acts was Seneca's brother, to whom several of his books are addressed?1 My editions of the Classics are without notes, and therefore I am very likely to fall into some absurd mistakes on such matters. I have read-as one does read such stuff-Valerius MaximusAnnaeus Florus, - Lucius Ampelius, - and Aurelius Victor. - 1 have also gone through Phaedrus. I am now better employed. I am deep in the Annals of Tacitus, and I am at the same time reading Suetonius. When I have finished Tacitus, I shall proceed to Pliny and Quintilian. Tacitus, somehow or other, does not please me quite so much as he did. I believe that this is because I have generally taken him up immediately after laying Thucydides down; and, in my opinion, there never was a historian, ancient or modern, who could bear a comparison with Thucydides. I will not answer your arguments about Niebuhr; for a controversy carried on between London and Calcutta is not likely to come soon to a close. But I think that I could answer some of them even to your own satisfaction. I hear that there is a volume of Niebuhriana.2 One extract has 1 2

Gallio was Seneca's brother. Franz Lieber, Reminiscences of an Intercourse with George Berthold Niebuhr', 1835.

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30 May 1836

found its way into the newspapers here. It seems that Niebuhr said that the destruction of the Mexican picture-writings was a greater loss to the world than the loss of all the treasures of ancient learning which perished in the Alexandrian library.1 That he said this I have no doubt. It is a saying worthy of a person who regrets nothing in ancient literature so much as the TuppfjviKCC of that old fool Claudius.2 I do not pretend to be deeply versed in the constitution of the curies and in the migrations of the Sabines. But I think that I can form some sort of judgment as to the soundness of a writer's mind; and that a person who is in the habit of talking extravagantly about things which I do understand is exceedingly likely to talk it also about what I do not understand. But time tries all things. "Provoco ad quintum lustrum."3 I do not know whether to be glad or sorry that you have so little time for these things. Nothing is without its drawbacks. I remember when you would have danced with joy at the prospect of making fifteen hundred a year by your profession. I sympathise most deeply in what you must suffer on account of your eldest boy. I must, I fear, infer from your expressions that you have given up all hope. It is indeed a great calamity. But you are so rich in domestic comforts that I am far more inclined to envy than to pity you. I am not however without my share. I am quite as fond of my little niece as her father. I pass an hour or more every day in nursing her and teaching her to talk. She has got as far as Ba, Pa, and Ma, which, as she is not eight months old, we consider as proofs of a genius little inferior to that of Shakspeare or Sir Isaac Newton. Remember me most kindly to Mrs. Ellis. I am glad to hear so good an account of Frank. Remember me to Adolphus, with whom I suppose you are in constant communication. I give you joy on the working of your Corporation Bill. The municipal elections have quite put me in good spirits as to English politics. I was rather inclined to despondency. Ever yours affectionately T B Macaulay 1

2

3

Niebuhr is reported as saying that 'no greater loss has ever happened' (Lieber, Niebuhr; p. 118). The 'earliest story of Rome,' Niebuhr says, 'has no greater loss to deplore' than that of the Tyrrhenian history of the Emperor Claudius (History of Rome, 1, 11). 'I take my case to the fifth lustrum.' If TBM is quoting I have not found his source.

179

z5 July-12 August 2836

Thomas Flower Ellis

TO THOMAS FLOWER ELLIS, 25 J U L Y - 1 2 AUGUST

1836

MS: Trinity College. Address: T F Ellis Esq /15 Bedford Place. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Partly published: Trevelyan, 1, 448-51.

Calcutta July 25. 1836 My dear Ellis, I have heard from you again: and glad I always am to hear from you. There are few things to which I look forward with more pleasure than to our meeting. The time is fast drawing near. In a year after you read these lines I shall be furnishing my cabin and packing up my books. It is really worth while to go into banishment for a few years for the pleasure of going home again. Yet that home will, in some things, be a different home — oh how different a home — from that to which I once expected to return. But I will not stir up the bitterness of sorrow which has at last subsided. I hope soon to enjoy in my own country health, ease, liberty, pecuniary independence, literature, and friendship. Whether I have learned philosophy enough to free me from political ambition remains to be seen. I believe my cure to be complete, and that I shall never quit "la maison d'Aristippe, le jardin d'Epicure,"1 for the House of Commons or the hustings in Covent Garden. Whether the air of Westminster will bring on a relapse or no may perhaps be a question. You take interest, I see, in my Greek and Latin studies. I continue to pursue them steadily and actively. My morning hours I consider as absolutely my own — I mean the hours before breakfast, when some people are riding and some snoring. I have lately finished Thucydides and Euripides again. I am now reading Demosthenes with interest and admiration indescribable. I am slowly, at odd minutes, getting through the stupid trash of Diodorus. I have read through Seneca - and an affected empty scribbler he is. I have read Tacitus again. And, by the bye, I will tell you a curious circumstance relating to that matter. In my younger days I always thought the Annals a prodigiously superior work to the History. I was surprised to find that the Annals seemed cold and poor to me on the last reading. I began to think that I had over-rated Tacitus. But when I began the History, I was enchanted. I thought more highly of him than ever. I went back to the Annals and liked them even better than the History. All at once the explanation of this occurred to me. While I was reading the Annals I was reading Thucydides. I finished the two books together. When I began the History I began the Hellenics. It is my habit to pass immediately from Greek to Latin. What made the Annals appear cold and poor to me was the intense interest which Thucydides 1

Voltaire, 'L'Auteur Arrivant dans Sa Terre Pres du Lac de Geneve,' line i. This was> according to Trevelyan, 'a favourite quotation' (1, 350). 180

Thomas Flower Ellis

25 July-12 August 1836

inspired. Indeed what colouring is there which would not look tame when placed side by side with the magnificent light and the terrible shade of Thucydides. Tacitus was a great man. But he was not up to the Sicilian expedition. When I finished Thucydides and took up Xenophon the case was reversed. Tacitus had been a foil to Thucydides. Xenophon was a foil to Tacitus. I have read Pliny the Younger. Some of the Epistles are interesting. Nothing more stupid than the Panegyric was ever preached in the University Church. I am reading the Augustan History and Aulus Gellius - Aulus is a favourite of mine. I think him one of the best writers of his class. After I have finished the orators, I intend to read Aristotle through, and to read Plato through again. When I arrive in England I shall be fit to go into an examination for an University Scholarship. I read in the evenings a great deal of English, French, and Italian, and a little Spanish. I have picked up Portuguese enough to read Camoens with ease; and I want no more. I have adopted an opinion about the Italian historians quite different from that which I formerly held, and which, I believe, is generally considered as orthodox. I place Fra Paolo decidedly at the head of them; — next to him Davila, whom I take to be the best modern military historian except Colonel Napier.1 Davila's battle of Ivry is worthy of Thucydides himself. Next to Davila I put Guicciardini,2 and last of all Machiavelli. But I do not think that you ever read much Italian. The English poetry of the day has very few attractions for me. Von Artevelde3 is far the best specimen that I have lately seen. I do not much like Talfourd's Ion.4 But I mean to read it again. It contains pretty lines: but to my thinking it is neither fish nor flesh. There is too much and too little of the antique about it. Nothing but the most strictly classical costume can reconcile me to a mythological plot: and Ion is a modern philanthropist, whose politics and morals have been learned from the publications of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. There is a sort of meekness, half Christian, half Utilitarian, about him, which in the early ages of Greece would have been thought contemptible effeminacy. But I must, as I said, pay to the judgments of many of my friends the compliment of reading Ion again before I make up my mind.5 In a few months I hope to send you a copy of the penal Code of India. 1

2 3 4 5

Sir William Napier (178 5-1860: DNB), author of the History of the War in the Peninsula, 6 vols., 1828-40. Francesco Guicciardini, Uhistoria a" Italia, 1561. Henry Taylor, Philip van Artevelde, 1834. Thomas Noon Talfourd, Ion, 1835. Ellis wrote a letter of praise about Ion to Talfourd (2 January [1836]: MS, Huntington). l8l

7-2

z5 July-12 August 1836

Thomas Flower Ellis

We are going on steadily, though more slowly than I could wish. I do not know whether the noise which the lawyers of the Supreme Court have been raising against our legislative authority has reached or will reach England. They held a public meeting, which ended, or rather began, continued, and ended in a riot; and ever since the leading agitators have been challenging each other, refusing each other's challenges, libelling each other, swearing the peace against each other and blackballing each other. 1 Mr. Longueville Clark, who aspires to be the O'Connel of Calcutta called another lawyer a liar. The last-mentioned lawyer challenged Mr. Longueville Clark. Mr. Longueville Clark refused to fight on the ground that his opponent had been guilty of huggery — crimen inter jurisconsultos non nominandum. The hugger threatened to cudgel Longueville. Longueville swore the peace against the hugger. The Bengal Club accordingly black-balled Longueville.2 This and some other similar occurrences have made the opposition here thoroughly ridiculous and contemptible. They will probably send a petition home. But, unless the House of Commons has undergone a great change since 1833, they have no chance there.3 I have almost brought my letter to a close without mentioning the most important matter about which I had to write. I dare say you have heard that my uncle General Macaulay who died last February has left me ioooo^. 4 I have sent to George Babington a power of attorney authorising, you, him, and my brother in law Edward Cropper to act for me. I have sent instructions to George which he will shew you. This legacy together with what I shall have saved by the end of 1837 will make me quite a rich man, — richer than I even wish to be as a single man: and every day renders it more unlikely that I should marry. Malkin, I fear, has as yet laid by nothing. Indeed I doubt whether he has paid for his furniture yet. But he has been very unlucky. He had to set up a house at Penang in 1833, and again at Calcutta in 1835, besides 1

2

3

4

The meeting, held to petition Parliament against the Black Act, was protracted over two days, 18 and 20 June, and produced at least two challenges: see the Asiatic Journal, N.S., xxi (December 1836), Part 2, 208-19. A mistake, since Clarke was already a member of the Club (H. R. Panckridge, A Short History of the Bengal Club, Calcutta, 1927). As to Clarke's allegation of 'huggery,' a letter in the Bengal Hurkaru ironically asks what that can mean in Calcutta, where the small group of barristers and attornies necessarily live in close communion (24 June 1836). The Calcutta petition against the Black Act was presented and a motion for a committee of inquiry made in the House of Commons on 22 March 1838, but the motion was withdrawn and there was no division {Hansard, 3rd Series, XLI, 1134-66). On the news of this defeat, the Calcutta petitioners resolved to petition Parliament again and passed a motion of censure on TBM proposed by Longueville Clarke; nothing more is heard from them (Arnold, Public Life of Lord Macaulay, pp. 229—30; and Asiatic Journal, N.S., XXVIII [1839], 192). Colin Macaulay died on 21 February; TBM was the main beneficiary of his will. 182

Thomas Flower Ellis

25 July-12 August 1836

going without salary for some time during the interval between his leaving the one office and entering on the other. I am certain that now that he is settled he may easily lay by 3000/^ a year, unless he has some call for his money in England of which I know nothing. He declares that he is resolved to save, and I heartily hope that he will do so. Ryan, I believe, has saved nothing. It seems absolutely incredible to me. He has been here near ten years. His salary was 6ooo£ a year at first and is now SooojT a year. What he can have done with his money is inconceivable. I really do not think that I live shabbily. Indeed I certainly spend more than any of my colleagues in Council, except perhaps one. Yet in two years I have been able to buy plate, carriages and furniture, to remit two thousand five hundred pounds to England, and to save about ten thousand pounds. Do not mention what I say about Ryan. I have a true regard for him; and I hope that at last he is beginning to save. It is the same with the Advocate General1 and with Turton. Turton must have made more than ioooo£ a year for many years. He is under no necessity of spending largely. Yet he really has hardly the means of paying for his passage home to England. By comparison I think you must allow me to be a prudent man. We have had a very unhealthy season. But sickness has not come near our house. My sister, my brother in law and their little child are as well as possible. As to me I think that as Buonaparte said of himself after the Russian Campaign J'ai le diable au corps. I am becoming every day fonder and fonder of my little niece. It is long since I have minutely observed the gradual development of intelligence in a child. Indeed I have never had an opportunity of doing so since I was little more than a child myself. It is now a source of great and almost painful pleasure to me. Remember me most kindly to Mrs. Ellis. I hope that Frank is working hard, and that I shall find him deep in Dawes's Miscellanea2 and Bentley's Phalaris.3 Remember me to Adolphus. I have hardly any other circuit acquaintance whom I can distinguish from the rest. Ever yours affectionately T B Macaulay PS. August 12. A line to say that we are still all well and that the English mails of the 2nd of June have reached us via Alexandria. All the good Whigs here are weeping over those fallen Seraphim Lord Melbourne and 1 2 3

John Pearson (1771-1841), Company's Advocate General, 1824-40. Richard Dawes, Miscellanea Critica, 1745. Richard Bentley, Dissertation upon the Epistles of Phalaris, 1699. TBM was perhaps reading it at this time: see 15 June 1837. A copy of this work, with marginal notes by TBM, is in the collection at Wallington. 183

22 August 1836

Lord Lansdowne

Mrs. Norton. 1 For my part I give him credit. He has sold the world better than Mark Antony — and I am half inclined to say with Mercury ocuTOcp eiycov eOSoijai mxpoc ygvov^ A9P061TT)2 T O L O R D L A N S D O W N E , 22 A U G U S T

1836

MS: The Marquess of Lansdowne. Address: The Marquess of Lansdowne / London. Subscription: T B Macaulay.

Calcutta August 22. 1836 My dear Lord Lansdowne, A few weeks ago I had the high gratification of receiving your letter of the 31st of March. Since that time we have had news from England of a much later date. The London mail of the 3d of June, via Alexandria, reached Bombay in forty four days and Calcutta in fifty seven, — an unprecedented and astonishing instance of rapidity. Our very enlightened and consistent masters at home do all in their power to discourage this mode of communication; and, at the same time, abuse us for taking important steps without waiting for the expression of their opinion. It never seems to have occurred to them that no country can be really governed by people who live at a distance of four or five months' voyage from it; and that it is only by expediting the communication between the two countries that the home-authorities can make it possible to govern India in England. To forbid us to act without directions, and to throw at the same time every obstacle in the way of every scheme which would enable us to receive those directions speedily is at present the policy of Leadenhall Street, and, I am afraid, of Cannon Row too. 3 We are going on here quietly, and, I hope, well, though some of our friends at home seem to think differently. The panic which our Law concerning the press excited at the India House and the Board of Controul was childish to the last degree.4 Hobhouse ought to be ashamed of in1

2 3

4

Lord Melbourne was prosecuted in June 1836 by George Norton for adultery with Norton's wife Caroline, the grand-daughter of Sheridan and a famous beauty. Melbourne was acquitted of the charge, but scandal thought otherwise. It was also supposed that Norton's action had a political motive. Odyssey, VIII, 342: 'For I would sleep beside golden Aphrodite.' The East India Company, jealous of its position, discouraged the many efforts to improve communication with India, especially by steam and by the Suez route. After the Company ceased to have any commercial interests it was still afraid of the expense of steam communication. Only under threat of the government's developing its own lines did the Company, towards the end of 1835, reverse its policy: see H. L. Hoskins, British Routes to India, 1928, ch. 9. While TBM was in Calcutta a private New B ngal Steam Fund Committee was active. The Court of Directors of the East India Company and Hobhouse, President of the Board of Control, were both greatly distressed by the act abolishing censorship of the press in India (see [6 February 1835]), which passed into law in August 1835. The official despatch

184

Lord Lansdowne

22 August 2836

dulging in apprehensions at which Sir Henry Fane laughs. The only effect of the Act, as far as I can perceive, has been to make it easier to prosecute libellers. The English newspapers are neither more nor less scurrilous than they were. As to the natives the gazettes which circulate most among them are in manuscript and were never affected by the old restrictions. Those gazettes always were and still are extravagantly abusive, - far more so than the worst printed papers either in the English or in the vernacular tongues. To be scrupulous about granting liberty to the better class of papers published by known and responsible persons, and at the same time to allow boundless licence to calumny and sedition in a different form seems not to be a very wise course. The Indian home government, as Colman said on a very different occasion, sits securely on a barrel of gunpowder, and is scared out of its wits at a cracker.1 Lord Auckland, I am glad to say, is quite of this opinion. Three members of the legislative council have been changed since the Act was passed. We have a new Governor General, a Tory Commander-in-Chief, and a new Councillor2 distinguished among the servants of the Company by the conservative character of his opinions. Yet, as the former Council was unanimous in passing the Act, the present Council is unanimous against repealing it. We were accused of liberating the people from a foolish desire of gaining popularity among the English here. We have since given ample proof that we are not slaves of this popularity. We have made a law putting all English settlers up the country under jurisdiction of the Company's Courts in civil matters, and for depriving them of the privilege which they have hitherto possessed of dragging every creditor who sued them to the Supreme Court at the Presidency. This privilege indeed was seldom or never exercised, - I believe only once or twice. But dishonest debtors often threatened to resort to it: and the threat was sufficient. There is scarcely any native who would not wave the most righteous claim rather than be forced to engage in a ruinous litigation before the most expensive tribunal which exists in the world. The free admission of English settlers rendered it, in my opinion, absolutely necessary to deprive the ill disposed among them of this terrible power of annoying their native creditors. The settlers have taken this law very well. They think themselves on the whole gainers by it. For though it deprives them of a

1 2

on the subject, dated 1 February 1836, disapproved of the act, of the arguments for it, and of its being passed without any previous reference to the home government: see the discussion in John Clive, Macaulay, pp. 323—33. TBM was compelled to defend the act in a minute of [2?] September 1836, part of which is printed in Trevelyan, 1, 392-4. The act was allowed to stand by Auckland, who had been authorized to decide the question. I have not been able to identify this allusion. Henry Shakespear was appointed to the Supreme Council in October 1835.

185

22 August 1836

Lord Lansdowne

formidable instrument of oppression when they are in the wrong, it gives them cheap, accessible, and speedy justice, when they are in the right. But the Calcutta papers have been most outrageous. This you may think strange, as the law does not extend to Calcutta. The truth is that the lawyers of the Supreme Court, who are, as might be expected, the boldest, busiest, and most voluble members of society here, were terrified for their craft, and, having the press under their influence, did their best to raise a cry against us. They fixed on me as the chief mark of their abuse, of which I was very glad. For my colleagues, quiet old servants of the Company, would have been frightened at what was mere child's play to a man who has stood a contested election for a town of 140000 inhabitants. We were quiet and resolute, and, in spite of squibs and invectives innumerable, we passed the act. The Civil Service praise us to the skies for our firmness in withstanding the lawyers. The English up the Country have been perfectly quiet. So have been those at Madras and Bombay. Indeed the Bombay newspapers have been on our side. The clamour at Calcutta has now subsided. It ended in a public meeting of which those who got it up were ashamed, in a good deal of challenging, swearing-the-peace, and black balling, among the demagogues, and in a petition to parliament which, unless the views of parliament have undergone a total change since 1833, will meet with no support. A barrister of the name of Turton who is our O'Connell has made an attempt to raise rint from the petitioners; but his subscription has turned out a wretched failure, and the English in the Mofussil, who alone are affected by the law, have not subscribed a rupee.1 Till lately I confidently expected that the penal Code of India would be completed by the end of the year. But the last three months have been unusually sickly; and the members of the Law-Commission have, one after another, been forced to strike work. At present, I am the only one of the body who is able to do any thing. I am doing all that I can; and I hope that we shall soon be reinforced. You will be glad to hear that my health continues to be as good as it ever was in England, and that I have every comfort of which banishment admits. In another year I shall consider myself as a rich man. In the beginning of 1838 I intend to leave India. My present purpose is to devote the rest of my life wholly to letters; and it must be some very peculiar temptation that will lead me to break this resolution. I have not such a notion of my own importance as to think that it will be my duty to engage again in politics at home: and I am sure that it would not be for my happiness to do so. 1

TBM's account is roughly accurate: by early September the petitioners had raised a fund of over 20,000 rupees but complained that *as yet we have received but little from our Mofussil [the term for Bengal other than Calcutta] friends' (Bengal Hurkaru, 3 September 1836).

186

Lord Lansdowne

22 August 1836

I cannot help telling you that I have never seen your name in the report of any debate since the meeting of this parliament without pleasure. Would to God that I could see any ground for hoping that the Peers would suffer themselves to be guided by your wisdom. But I see no such ground. Distant as I am, imperfectly informed as I am, I ought perhaps hardly to venture to give an opinion. But I seem to myself to perceive, plain and glaring, all the signs which have, in all ages, preceded the downfall of ancient institutions. Even here, where there is no intemperate feeling about English questions, I every day hear men of good family, of moderate temper, of ample fortune, men who hold high situations in the government, and who, on Indian questions, take rather a conservative course, talk with the utmost calmness about changes in the English constitution which when I left England, nobody would have talked of at a political union. I am assured that the propriety of such changes is discussed at home in every stage-coach and in every coffee-house. If I had any wish for extensive and rapid alterations in the form of government I might suspect that my judgment was biassed by my inclination. But I have no such wish. I have indeed a much greater liking for the hereditary branch of the legislature than I can reconcile to my reason. It is not with triumph, but with pain and anxiety that I see that great, ancient, and mighty aristocracy to which formerly England owed so much, and which, even at this moment, contains a greater number of accomplished orators, of able statesmen, of skilful generals, of fine scholars, of fine gentlemen, than any other senate in the world, rushing headlong to its inevitable doom. But so I fear it is. I think nothing of O'Connell's rants or of the articles in unstamped papers. It is from the spirit which appears in all the proceedings of the Lords themselves that I judge. The virulence and coarseness of their assailants will do them no harm, at least unless the English nation is a very different nation from that which I knew formerly. Their own obstinacy, their own bigotry, will force men of a very different sort from O'Connell and Roebuck, reluctantly and with averted faces, to strike the blow. I see no chance of any escape from the danger. If the Lords were likely to become more favourable to popular opinions all might go right. But, unless I am greatly mistaken, the rising generation of the aristocracy have a more stubborn and vehement spirit than their fathers. The plan of pouring in new peers in such numbers as to overwhelm the old ones is, I think, quite indefensible. It would degrade the peerage irreparably in public estimation. It would irritate the old members of the body more — at least if I may judge from my own feelings, — than the complete remodelling of the constitution of the Upper House would do. And, after all, it would be no security against the recurrence of the same difficulties in a few years. 187

22 August 1836

Lord Lansdowne

Whenever the struggle comes, and that it will come I feel certain, it will be a far more desperate struggle than that which we maintained against the Tories on the Reform Bill. It will not merely agitate the public mind violently. It will not merely produce stormy elections and tumultuous debates. It will embitter all the intercourse of society. It will engender deadly enmities. It will dissolve old and close friendships. In such a struggle I have no wish to bear a part. I was formerly very ambitious. Your kindness gave me an opportunity of tasting the pleasures of ambition. Your kindness also has put it in my power at an early age to enjoy independence and literary repose. What I shall do when I find myself in old places and among old associates, — whether the sight of Downing Street and Westminster Hall may revive certain feelings which are now quiet, - I can hardly venture to say. But I am certain that my wisest course would be to pass the rest of my life in quiet study, which perhaps might not be wholly useless to the world. Your constant kindness tempts me to run on to a most unreasonable length. But I will tire you no more with my speculations and my projects. I have still to reply to one part of your letter. You mention a Mr. Kemble1 as a person of distinguished oriental learning, and you ask whether we could do anything for him here. The Government, I fear, could do nothing. But it has occurred to me that it might be possible for him to procure the situation of Principal of the Missionary College here. At that College the students receive a learned education in both the Eastern and Western languages. The institution is connected with the Established Church. The principal has, I believe, 1200 £ a year and a house, and after a few years of service, becomes entitled to a retiring pension. Dr. Mill,2 whose name you must, I think, have heard, is now principal. But in a few months he proposes to return to England. If Mr. Kemble is a clergyman, as I gather from your letter that he is, I should imagine that, considering how very few English clergymen have paid much attention to the oriental languages, he would have a very good chance. The situation is in the gift of very high churchmen. I hope therefore that all Mr. Kemble's connections do not lie among the Whigs. Believe me ever, my dear Lord Lansdowne, with every kind wish for you and for all connected with you Yours most faithfully T B Macaulay 1

2

Perhaps the William Kemble, of Swindon, Wilts., who graduated from Lincoln College in 1834 and was Rector of West and South Hanningfield, Suffolk, from 1842. William Hodge Mill (1792-1853: DNB), Principal of Bishop's College, Calcutta, from its founding in 1820. His post was left unfilled for several years after his return to England.

188

Macvey Napier

29 August 1836

I am ashamed to see that I have finished my letter and yet have said nothing about Lord Auckland. I think him an excellent Governor General, which I fully expected. I think also that he is certain to be a very popular one, which I did not expect. No man had more attached friends at home. But he was not much liked there by people who knew little of him. Here he is, I think, a general favourite. The sensible, manly, wfay]1 in which he looks at every subject, — the liberality of his views, his industry, and the extent of his information have not surprised me. But there is a simplicity and bonhomie about him, a frankness in the expression of his feelings, a readiness to be amused, a general courtesy, which have surprised me, — perhaps because I knew him but little in England. / Again, my dear Lord, Yours ever TBM TO MACVEY N A P I E R , 29 A U G U S T

1836

MS: British Museum. Address: Macvey Napier Esq. Subscription: T B Macaulay.

Calcutta August 29. 1836 My dear Napier, I hardly know how to apologize for my long idleness, — particularly as I now send you nothing of my own. I have however very nearly finished an article of prodigious length on Basil Montague's life of Lord Bacon. Whether my philosophical speculations will agree with your views I hardly know. I have tried in every quarter to obtain a copy of your Essay2 here, but without success: and I have never read it since I was at College when I remember being greatly interested by it: but I have now no distinct recollection of its contents. I earnestly hope that in a short time I shall be able to finish this article and to send it off. But I am just at present much occupied. I am writing the commentary on our penal Code: and, as my colleagues have all been knocked up by the unhealthiness of the season, it seems likely that I may have to do the whole my self. To stay your stomach I send you a luncheon or a tiffin as we call it in India, which I can conscientiously recommend. Some most extraordinary discoveries — surprising even to the oldest servants of the Company — have lately been made concerning the usages and the constitution of a vast fraternity of assassins which has existed here for many centuries, but the 1 2

Letter torn. Napier published 'Remarks Illustrative of the Scope and Influence of the Philosophical Writings of Lord Bacon' in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1818.

189

jo August 1836

Macvey Napier

real nature of which has never been understood till within the last few months. The information which Government has obtained on the subject has been printed, but not published; and indeed is in so undigested a form that, if published, it would be almost unreadable. Lord Auckland observed to me that a very amusing review might be made of it: and I accordinglyset my brother-in-law Trevelyan to work: and he has produced a paper quite unpretending, but which, if my partiality does not deceive me, will not discredit the Review.1 I have had two or three copies struck off here, and I send you one together with a copy of the volume reviewed. I shall send another copy by Bombay. I need not tell you that, if the article does not suit you, you need not have the smallest scruple on my account about declining it. Many thanks for the kindness and judgment which you have shewn in supplying me with books. Ever yours most truly T B Macaulay TO MACVEY N A P I E R , 30 A U G U S T

1836

MS; British Museum. Address: Macvey Napier Esq / Edinburgh. Upper left corner: To go by the / steamer. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Mostly published: Napier, Correspondence, pp. 179-80.

Calcutta August 30 / 1836 Dear Napier, I am quite ashamed of having done so little for you, and the more so as you have been most kindly attentive in supplying me with books. I hope in a few weeks to send you a prodigiously long article about Lord Bacon, which I think will be popular with the many, whatever the few who know something about the matter may think of it. I now send you an article which I think cannot fail to prove interesting. You have probably heard of the Thugs, - a species of robbers and murderers who infest this country. Vigorous efforts have lately been made to put them down: and in the course of those efforts the real nature of their confederacy has for the first time been discovered. I think that you will agree with me in pronouncing the long existence and the vast extent of this fraternity to be a phenomenon without a parallel in history. The Government here have printed but not published a volume of papers respecting this strange race of men. The book is so ill arranged that, even if it were published, few people would read or understand it. But the information which is dispersed through it is in the highest degree curious and amusing. Lord Auckland observed to me the other day that it would 1

Published as 'The Thugs; or Secret Murderers of India,* ER, LXIV (January, 1837), 357-95. 190

Selina and Frances Macaulay

5 October 1836

be a matchless subject for a review. I was struck by the hint, and I begged my brother-in-law, Trevelyan, to try his hand. If I do not deceive myself his paper cannot fail to be interesting even at home where, as 1 well know, very little attention is paid to Indian subjects. I have had two or three copies of his article printed. One I have sent by the Cape, and with it a copy of the volume reviewed. If you do not like the paper you will not give the very smallest] 1 offence either to him or to me bfy]1 rejecting it. I have a good deal to do at present. But I will make a push to send you my article on Bacon early [in]1 October. Yours ever most truly T B Macaulay TO SELINA AND FRANCES MACAULAY, 5 OCTOBER 1836 MS: Trinity College. Address: The Miss Macaulays. Subscription: T B Macaulay.

Calcutta October 5. 1836 My dear sisters, I hardly know, in the extreme monotony of our life here, what to write to you. The changes of weather and the growth of the baby are really the only things which mark the progress of the year. The unhealthy season, and a most unhealthy season it was, is over. The cold season seems likely to begin early. The mornings and evenings are already pleasantly cool; and in a few weeks we shall begin to light fires. About a fortnight ago the weather was more disagreable than it has been since I reached Bengal: and for a few nights my sleep was broken by the heat, — a thing which had never before happened to me. Now we are all as well and thriving as possible. The little child has begun to walk, and trots and staggers about like an angel. She makes all sorts of noises with great distinctness of articulation, and some of them with meaning. But she is not yet able to speak, which as she is generally a most intelligent little thing, is a disappointment, though she is not yet a year old. But this country is not favourable to the early development of the power of speech in children. They hear one language spoken half the day and another language during the other half. One person calls sugar sugar: another calls it misri. One gives them tea: - another cha. One talks of bread: — another of rotu The effect of this is that they cannot learn to talk so fast as children who always hear the same thing called by the same name. Next week she will be a year old: and on her birth-day we are to have a festival for half the white brats in Calcutta, who are to be regaled with a sort of puppet-show which is a favourite native amusement. I am very fond of her, - dear little 1

Paper torn away with seal. 191

12 October 2836

Zachary Macaulay

creature; and I ought to be so: for she has often drawn away my mind from sad thoughts which it is vain to indulge. In a few more months we shall be beginning to make preparations for our return. It is delightful to think that we have only one more bad season between this time and our departure. I suppose that I shall find you both talking French with so much fluency and precision as will put me quite to shame.1 I shall try to write to my father to day after Council. But if I should not be able to do so, give him my kindest love. I hope that Henry has been with you some months by this time. Kindest love to him if he be still in England. Yours ever most affectionately TBM TO ZACHARY MACAULAY, 12 OCTOBER 1836 Text: From MS in possession of Mr C. S. Menell, who furnished transcript. Mostly published: Trevelyan, 1, 454-6.

Calcutta. October 12. 1836 My dear Father, I have little to tell you except that we have gone through a very unhealthy season with no mishaps and little discomfort, and that we are now entering on the cold weather with every prospect of having four very agreable months. The day after to morrow is the first anniversary of your little granddaughter's birth. But for some reasons of convenience we keep it today. The occasion is to be celebrated with a sort of droll puppetshow, much in fashion among the natives — an exhibition much in the style of Punch in England, but more dramatic and more showy. All the little boys and girls from the houses of our friends are invited, and the party will, I have no doubt, be a great deal more amusing than the stupid formal dinners and routs with which the grown-up people here kill the time. The little girl will enjoy the diversion as much as anybody. She walks, climbs upstairs, dances about the room, laughs, feeds birds, plays with kids and dolls, and delights in babies smaller than herself. She can all but talk; and makes noises and signs scarcely less significant than words. I never saw a more attractive child or one more robust or more finely formed. It gives me great pleasure to think that she will return to England at an age too early to suffer anything from the influence of the climate. The time is drawing near. In another twelve-month we shall be making up our outfit and looking out for a good ship. 1

Zachary Macaulay and his daughters were in Geneva at this time but were probably already preparing to return to London, where they were in December. 192

Zachary Macaulay

12 October 1836

In a few months, I hope indeed in a few weeks, we shall send up the penal code to government. We have got rid of the punishment of death except in cases of aggravated treason and wilful murder. We shall also get rid indirectly of everything that can properly be called slavery in India. There will remain civil claims on particular people for particular services, which claims may be enforced by civil action. But no person will be entitled, on the plea of being the master of another, to do anything to that other which it would be an offence to do to a freeman. Our English schools are flourishing wonderfully. We find it difficult, indeed at some places impossible, to provide instruction for all who want it. At the single town of Hoogley fourteen hundred boys are learning English. The effect of this education on the Hindoos is prodigious. No Hindoo who has received an English education ever continues to be sincerely attached to his religion. Some continue to profess it as a matter of policy. But many profess themselves pure Deists, and some embrace Christianity. The case with Mahometans is very different. The best educated Mahometan often continues to be a Mahometan still. The reason is plain. The Hindoo religion is so extravagantly absurd that it is impossible to teach a boy astronomy, geography, natural history, without completely destroying the hold which that religion has on his mind. But the Mahometan religion belongs to a better family. It has very much in common with Christianity; and even where it is most absurd, it is reasonable when compared with Hindooism. It is my firm belief that, if our plans of education are followed up, there will not be a single idolater among the respectable classes in Bengal thirty years hence. And this will be effected without any efforts to proselytise, without the smallest interference with religious liberty, merely by the natural operation of knowledge and reflection. I heartily rejoice in this prospect. I wrote a few days ago to my sisters. But the letter has been staying here for want of a conveyance and will go in company with this. / Ever, my dear father, Yours most affectionately, T B Macaulay I have been a sincere mourner for Mill.l He and I were on the best terms and his services at the India House were never so much needed as at this time. I had a most kind letter from him a few weeks before I heard of his death. He has a son2 just come out to whom I have shewn such little attentions as are in my power. 1 2

James Mill died on 23 June. James Bentham Mill (1814-62), James Mill's second son, arrived in India in June.

193

26 November 1836

Macvey Napier

TO MACVEY NAPIER, 26 NOVEMBER

1836

MS: British Museum. Address: Professor Napier. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Mostly published: Napier, Correspondence, pp. 180-2.

Calcutta Nov 26. 1836 Dear Napier, At last I send you an article of interminable length about Lord Bacon. I hardly know whether it is not too long for an article in a Review. But the subject is of such vast extent that I could easily have made the paper twice as long as it is. About the historical and political part there is no great probability that we shall differ in opinion. But what I have said about Bacon's philosophy is widely at variance with what Dugald Stewart1 and Mackintosh have said on the same subject.2 I have not your Essay; nor have I ever read it since I read it at Cambridge, with very great pleasure, but without any knowledge of the subject. I have at present only a very faint and general recollection of its contents, and have in vain tried to procure a copy of it here. I fear however that, differing widely as I do from Stewart and Mackintosh, I shall hardly agree with you. My opinion is formed, not at second hand, like those of nine tenths of the people who talk about Bacon; but after several very attentive perusals of his greatest works, and after a good deal of thought. If I am in the wrong, my errors may set the minds of others at work, and may be the means of bringing both them and me to a knowledge of the truth. I never bestowed so much care on anything that I have written. There is not a sentence in the latter half of the article which has not been repeatedly recast. I have no expectation that the popularity of the article will bear any proportion to the trouble which I have expended on it. But the trouble has been so great a pleasure to me that I have already been very greatly overpaid. Pray look carefully to the printing. In little more than a year I shall be embarking for England; and I have determined to employ the four months of my voyage in mastering the German language. I should be much obliged to you to send me out, as early as you can, so that they may be certain to arrive in time, the best grammar and the best dictionary that can be procured, — a German bible, Schiller's works,3 Goethe's works, and Niebuhr's History both in the original and in the translation. My way of learning a language is always to 1

Napier was a disciple and friend of Stewart, Professor of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh,

2

Stewart's Dissertation on the Progress oj'Philosophy; 1815—21, and Mackintosh's Dissertation on the Progress of Ethical Philosophy, 1830, contain their views on Bacon. TBM's set of Schiller, 12 vols., Stuttgart and Tubingen, 1835, with the dates of his readings pencilled in, is now at Trinity.

3

194

{Macvey Napier

[28 November 1836

begin with the Bible, which I can read without a dictionary.1 After a few days passed in this way, I am master of all the common particles, the common rules of Syntax, and a pretty large vocabulary. Then I fall on some good classical work. It was in this way that I learned both Spanish and Portuguese; and I shall try the same course with German. I have to thank you for the great care and punctuality with which you have attended to all my wishes about books. A box for me is now on board of a ship lying in the Hoogly; and I hope to get it through the Custom house in a day or two. I have little or nothing to tell you about myself. My life has flowed away here with strange rapidity. It seems but yesterday since I left my country; and I am writing to beg you to hasten preparations for my return. I continue to enjoy perfect health. The little political squalls which I have had to weather here are mere cap-fulls of wind to a man who has gone through the great hurricanes of English faction. We have been most unfortunate in our work of codification. All the Law Commissioners have been so ill that none of them but myself has done a stroke of work for months; and one of them, Cameron, will, I think, go to the Cape immediately. I do what I can; and I still hope that I shall have the penal Code, with a commentary, ready for the press before the end of this Cold Season. I shall send another copy of the article on Bacon by another ship. / Believe me ever, / Dear Napier, Yours very truly T B Macaulay TO MACVEY NAPIER,

[28 N O V E M B E R 1836]2

MS: British Museum. Address: Professor Napier / Edinburgh. Upper left corner: By the Repulse. Subscription: T B Macaulay.

Calcutta Dear Napier, I send you herewith an interminably long article on Lord Bacon's life and works. I have dispatched another copy to you by another conveyance, and I may perhaps send a third either to you or to Empson, who may be able to suggest some corrections or omissions. I fear that you will think some of my philosophical opinions heretical. However it is out of the conflict of errors that truth is elicited. I can truly say that nothing that I 1

Eliza Rose Conybeare remembered that as a girl some time before TBM went to India 'he found me struggling unassisted with the beginnings of German and set me upon reading it in the Bible first, . . . and declared that was the way a certain great linguist Cardinal at Rome [Mezzofanti] had mastered so easily some fabulous number of languages' (Recollec2 tions of TBM). The Calcutta postmark is 28 November.

195

28 November 1836

Macvey Napier

ever wrote has cost me a quarter of the labour which I have bestowed on the latter part of this paper. I do not in the least expect that its success will be at all proportioned to the trouble which has been bestowed on it. But such trouble is its own reward. Pray look carefully to the printing. You have been exceedingly kind and careful in sending me out supplies of books. I have now only one more requisition of that kind to make. In another year I shall be looking out for a good ship and preparing my outfit. I have set my heart on learning German on my passage home. If I do not learn it then I may never have an opportunity: and ten hours a day for four months ought to be sufficient for the mastering of any language. Will you therefore have the kindness to send me out the best Dictionary and the best grammar that are to be had,-and also a German Bible? I have always found that to begin with the Bible, which I know by heart, is the best way of dealing with a foreign tongue. I should also wish to have Schiller's works, Goethe's works, and Niebuhr's history both in the original and in Thirlwall's and Hare's translation. If there is any German book remarkably easy and agreable to a beginner - such as Xenophon's Anabasis in Greek, Caesar's Commentaries in Latin, Metastasio's operas in Italian, — I should like to have it. Pray let the books be sent out as early as convenient, that there may be no chance of their arriving after my departure. I will repay you some day or other by writing reviews of German books more readable than Carlyle's used to be, if not so profound. It is very long since I heard from you. However I well know how busy you are; so I will not complain. I was concerned to hear that your health was not good during your last visit to London. 1 shall soon, I hope, receive better news. In a year and a half or so, we shall, I trust, shake hands again. - My sister begs to be kindly remembered to Miss Napier. Yours ever truly T B Macaulay TO MACVEY N A P I E R , 28 N O V E M B E R

1836

MS: British Museum. Address: Professor Napier / Edinburgh. Upper left corner: By the Symmetry. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Mostly published: Napier, Correspondence, p. 182.

Calcutta Nov 28. 1836 Dear Napier, I send you a long article on Bacon by the Symmetry, and a duplicate by the Repulse. This letter will go separately by the Symmetry in order to guard against accidents. There is an oversight in the article which I shall be much obliged to you to correct. I have said that Bacon did not deal at all in idle rants like 196

Selina and Frances Macaulay

28 November 1836

those "in which Cicero and Mr. Shandy sought consolation for the loss of Tullia and of Bobby." Nothing can as a general remark be more true. But it escaped my recollection that two or three of Mr. Shandy's consolatory sentences are quoted from Bacon's Essays. The illustration therefore is singularly unfortunate. Pray alter it thus—"in which Cicero vainly sought consolation for the loss of Tullia."1 To be sure it is idle to correct such trifles at the distance of fifteen thousand miles. Yet as the article is full of faults which I cannot remove though I see them, and has doubtless many which I do not see, I do not like to leave any fault in it which I see and which I can remove. Yours ever T B Macaulay TO S E L I N A AND F R A N C E S MACAULAY, 28 N O V E M B E R

1836

MS: Trinity College. Address: The Miss Macaulays. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Extract published: Trevelyan, 1, 422.

Calcutta Novr. 28. 1836 My dear sisters, My letters must be very monotonous: for I have really nothing new to tell you. Their monotony in one respect will not be unwelcome. For I have still to repeat the old story that we are all perfectly well. Disease has been all around us. The whole Law-Commission has been fairly put hors-de-combat. The Commander-in-Chief has been dangerously ill. Colonel Morison is breaking. The Chief Justice has been forced to go to sea for his health. The season has been unusually sickly even for this climate. Yet we enjoy, not only health, but comfort, and undiminished energy of body and mind. The cold season has begun, a most agreeable season, except that the air is too biting early in the mornings and after sunset in the evenings. This is the season of fine vegetables, — young potatoes and delicious peas. It is also the season when the best ships come in from England. In January they generally set off on their return with their passengers. This year their arrival is not matter of much interest to us. Next year we shall be chusing our ship, buying furniture for our cabins, and packing our books. — How time flies! It seems to me but yesterday since I was packing my library in Gray's Inn in order to come out. And in a twelve month, if I live, I shall be packing it here for the purpose of going home. I have every reason to believe that it will be in my power to make you all comfortable without any sacrifice which will be painful to myself. Indeed I am already tolerably at ease as to the future circumstances of our family. 1

The alteration was made: ER, LXV, 86.

197

j o November 1836

Zachary Macaulay

I have sent to Napier a prodigiously long article on Basil Montagu's Life of Lord Bacon. I like it: but I do not expect you to like it; and, if you tell me the plain truth, you will tell me that you think it very dry. We have had very few gaieties lately. I avoid them as much as I can: the Governor General lives quietly; of the members of Council some are poor and some are ill. One of the Judges has been laid up, and the wife of another has been brought to bed: so that we seldom dine out more than once a week. To night however I have been persuaded to go to a party at the Villa of a very wealthy native who proposes to entertain us with a shew of fire-works. As he is a liberal, intelligent, man, a friend to education, and in opinions an Englishman, though in morals, I fear, a Hindoo, I have accepted his invitation. The party cannot possibly be so stupid as one of our great formal dinners, which unite all the stiffness of a levee to all the disorder and discomfort of a two-shilling ordinary. Henry will hardly be in Europe when you receive this. If he is give him my most affectionate love. Love to Charles, if I cannot write to him by this conveyance. But I hope that I shall be able to do so. / Ever, my dear sisters, Yours most affectionately T B Macaulay TO ZACHARY MACAULAY, 30 N O V E M B E R

1836

Text: From MS in possession of Mr C. S. Menell, who furnished transcript. Partly published: Trevelyan, 1, 454-5; 456.

Calcutta, / Nov. 30, 1836. My dear Father, We were extremely gratified by receiving, a few days ago, a letter from you which on the whole gave a good account of your health and spirits. We are all exceedingly well and luxuriating in a climate which resembles a fine English May more than any other part of the English year, although it is hotter in the middle of the day, and colder before sunrise and after sunset. Your little grand daughter dances, curtseys, plays all sorts of pretty tricks, makes herself understood by a thousand pretty signs, and calls Papa, Mamma, and Baba,1 with wonderful variety and significance of expression. She is a prodigious favourite with all our household. Her English relations would laugh to see her playing with a little kid or a hideous earthen doll while four or five old Musselmans with long beards and white turbans and as many Hindus wrapped up in shawls to guard them against the winter cold are smiling at her and chattering Hindustanee and Bengalee to her. She is exceedingly fond of me, and, if I am by, will 1

Margaret's name for herself; TBM continued to use it to the end of his life. 198

Thomas Flower Ellis

30 November 1836

never take her breakfast from any other person's hand. As far as it is yet possible to judge she has the disposition and faculties which justify us in hoping that she will have a happy life - intelligence, liveliness, and a cheerful, intrepid, affectionate temper. Within half a year after the time when you read this, we shall be making arrangements for our return. The feelings with which I look forward to that return I cannot express. Perhaps I should be wise to continue here longer, in order to enjoy during a greater number of months the delusion, — for I know that it will prove a Delusion, — of this delightful hope. I feel as if I never could be unhappy in my own country, as if to exist on English ground and among English people, seeing the old familiar sights and hearing the sound of my mother tongue would be enough for me. This cannot be. Yet some days of intense happiness I shall surely have; and one of these will be the day when I again see my dear father and sisters. You will see in the Edinburgh Review a prodigiously long article by me on the life and writings of Lord Bacon. It has cost me a good deal of trouble. I have written by this ship to my sisters and Charles. [ ]l means to write to you by it. / Ever, my dear Father, Yours most affectionately, T B Macaulay TO T H O M A S F L O W E R E L L I S , 30 N O V E M B E R

1836

MS: Trinity College. Address: T F Ellis Esq /15 Bedford Place. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Partly published: Trevelyan, 1, 456-9; 11, 57.

Calcutta Nov 30 1836 Dear Ellis, How the months run away! Here is another cold season - morning fogs, cloth coats, green peas, new potatoes, and all the other accompaniments of a Bengal winter. One more year, and I shall be packing up my books and looking out for cabin furniture. As to my private life it has glided on, since I wrote to you last, in the most peaceful monotony. If it were not for the books which I read, and for the bodily and mental growth of my dear little niece, I should have no mark to distinguish one part of the year from another. Greek and Latin, breakfast, business, an evening walk with a book, a drive after sunset, dinner, coffee, my bed, — there you have the history of a day. My classical studies go on vigorously. I have read Demosthenes twice, - 1 need not say with what delight and admiration. I am now deep in Isocrates: and 1

Word illegible. A copy of this letter at Trinity reads * Trevelyan.' * Hannah' is perhaps more likely.

199

30 November 1836

Thomas Flower Ellis

from him I shall pass to Lysias. I have finished Diodorus Siculus at last after dawdling over him at odd times ever since last March. He is a stupid, credulous, prosing old ass. Yet I heartily wish that we had a good deal more of him. I have read Arrian's expedition of Alexander together with Quintus Curtius. I have at stray hours read Longus's Romance and Xenophon's Ephesiaca, — and I mean to go through Heliodorus and Achilles Tatius in the same way. Longus is prodigiously absurd; but there is often an exquisite prettiness in the style. Xenophon's Novel is the basest thing that is to be found in Greek.1 It was discovered at Florence little more than a hundred years ago by an English envoy. Nothing so detestable ever came from the Minerva Press.2 I have read Theocritus again and like him better than ever. As to Latin, I made a heroic attempt on Pliny's natural history. But I found it so contemptible that I stuck after getting through about a quarter of it. I have read Ammianus Marcellinus — the worst written book in ancient Latin. The style would disgrace a monk of the 10th Century. But Marcellinus has many of the substantial qualities of a good historian. I have gone through the Augustan history, and much other trash relating to the lower empire - curious as illustrating the state of society, - but utterly worthless as composition. I have read Statius again; but I thought him as bad as ever. I really found only two lines worthy of a great poet in all the Thebais. They are these. What do you think of my taste? Clamorem, bello qualis supremus apertis Urbibus, aut pelago jam descendente carina.3 I am now busy with Quinctilian and Lucan, — both excellent writers. Indeed I am inclined to think Lucan the greatest rhetorician that ever lived. I know nothing in Cicero equal to some of his declamation. The first book is good almost without exception. The witch scene has abundance of ingenuity and talent; but the finest thing in it is the close. Read again, if you do not remember them, the lines which begin "Refer haec solatia tecum O juvenis; placido manes patremque domumque Exspectare sinu etc." — 4 1

2

3

Trevelyan, 1, 457, supplies the following note to this reference: 'Xenophon the Ephesian lived in the third or fourth century of the Christian era. At the end of his work Macaulay has written: "A most stupid, worthless performance, below the lowest trash of an English circulating library."' The leading source of sentimental fiction in the early nineteenth century: TBM's favorite Mrs Meeke was a Minerva Press author. 4 III, 56-7. Pharsalia, VI, 802-4. 2OO

Thomas Flower Ellis

30 November 1836

The dream of Pompey at the beginning of the next book is finer still. I hardly know an instance in poetry of so great an effect produced by means so simple. There is something irresistibly pathetic in the lines which begin " Qualis erat populi facies clamorque faventum Olim cum juvenis etc." 1 and something unspeakably solemn and impressive in the sudden turn which follows " Crastina dira quies etc." - 2 There are two passages in subsequent books which surpass in eloquence anything that I know in the Latin language. One is the enumeration of Pompey's exploits " Quod si tarn sacro dignaris nomine saxum" - etc.3 The other is the character which Cato gives of Pompey- a pure gem of rhetoric, without one flaw, - and in my opinion not very far from historical truth " Civis obit, inquit etc." - 4 To be sure Lucan's wonderful excellence is confined to particular passages. He is often prosy; and, what is much worse, he is sometimes affected beyond all endurance. The sea fight at Marseilles, the wounded Centurion at Dyrrhachium, the snakes in Libya, are perfectly detestable. But when I consider that he died at twenty six, I cannot help ranking him among the most extraordinary men that ever lived. I have been reading Horace in Bentley's edition.5 Bentley has not risen in my opinion from this perusal. I knew him before only from the Dissertation on Phalaris. The notes on Horace shew as much learning and ingenuity as the Dissertation. But in the dissertation he shews as much judgment as either learning or ingenuity. He was then on the defensive. He was fighting for his reputation as a man of learning. The laughers were against him. The mob believed that Boyle or Boyle's supporters had the upper hand of Bentley even on points of philology.6 The effect of this naturally was to make Bentley cautious. I do not remember a single freak, a single wanton attack on a well-established and defensible reading in the 1 3 5

6

Pharsalia, vil, 13—14. Pharsalia, vill, 806. 1711.

2 4

Pharsalia, VII, 26. Pharsalia, IX, 190.

TBM twice wrote accounts of the quarrel between Bentley and Boyle and his defenders, first in the essay on Temple, ER, LXVIII (1838), and again in the life of Atterbury contributed to the Encyclopaedia Britannica in 1853. 2OI

30 November 1836

Thomas Flower Ellis

Phalaris. When the Horace was published, Bentley's fame was beyond the reach of detraction. He could afford to spend the reputation which ten years before he had been laboriously earning and parsimoniously hoarding. So much for my studies. As to business, I have been placed in an awkward situation by the illness of all my colleagues in the Law Commission. No member but myself has done a stroke of work for months. Cameron is thoroughly out of order. He has been to sea for three weeks and has come back without being the better for his trip; and the only question, I fear, is whether he shall go to the Cape for six months or fairly give up the struggle and return to England. I recommend the Cape: for I think him a most valuable man; and I earnestly hope that India will not lose the benefit of his services. If the Commissioners had been in good health the Penal Code would be ready for the Press. I expect now to have to write it all myself. However let the worst come to the worst, it will be finished in a few months, unless I fall ill too, which I do not anticipate. As to your English politics, I do not plague myself about them much. I am quite certain that in a few years the House of Lords must go after Old Sarum and Gatton. What is now passing is mere skirmishing and manoeuvring between two great general actions. It seems to me to be of little consequence to the final result how these small operations turn out. When the grand battle comes to be fought I have no doubt about the event. I am glad that you have so much business and sorry that you have so little leisure. I know your quickness so well that I can hardly understand how you can avoid having leisure unless you do twice as much as any body else attempts. However in a few years you will be a Baron of the Exchequer; and then we shall have amfple]1 time to talk over our favourite Clasfsics.]1 Then I will shew you a most superb emendation of Bentley's in Ampelius, and I will give you unanswerable reasons for pronouncing that Gibbon was mistaken in supposing that Quintus Curtius wrote under Gordian.2 The ship which carries this letter carries a prodigiously long article on Bacon's Life and writings for the Edinburgh Review. Pray let me know what you think of it, - particularly of the parallel between Plato and Bacon. Remember me most kindly to Mrs. Ellis. I hope that I shall find Frank writing as good Alcaics as his father. Ever yours affectionately T B Macaulay 1 2

Paper torn away with seal. In a note to ch. 7 of the Decline and Fall.

202

Charles Macaulay

5 December 1836

TO CHARLES MACAULAY, 5 DECEMBER

1836

MS: University of London. Address: C Macaulay Esq. Published: W. Fraser Rae, * Macaulay at Home,' Temple Bar, LXXXVI (May—August, 1889), 197—9.

Calcutta December 5 / 1836. Dear Charles, It is long since I wrote to you and long since I heard from you. But I do not attribute your silence, and I am sure that you do not attribute mine, to any want of affection. All that I hear of you gives me pleasure, and leads me to hope that you have a busy, useful, honorable, and prosperous life before you.1 To assist you at entering on it will be my duty, and not more my duty than my pleasure. In another year my banishment will be over, and I shall be packing up for my voyage. I already begin to feel the pleasure of returning from exile. That pleasure ought to be very great to compensate for the bitter pain of so long and so complete a separation from home. And it is very great. For though England is not all that it once was to me yet I have no hopes or wishes but what point to England; and I would rather go home with the knowledge that I should die there next year than live here till seventy in the midst of whatever splendour or comfort India affords. I quite understand how it was that neither goddesses nor enchanted palaces nor royal matches nor immortality itself could bribe Ulysses to give up his rugged little Ithaca, and that he was willing to forego everything else to see once more the smoke going up from the cottages of his dear island. Few people I believe have the feeling so strongly as I have it. Indeed the great majority of the members of the services here seem perfectly willing to pass their lives in India; and those who go home talk with very little pleasure of the prospect before them. This is not strange. For they generally come out at eighteen or nineteen. Their banishment is their emancipation. The separation from home is no doubt at first disagreeable to them. But the pain is compensated to a great extent by the pleasure of independence, - of finding themselves men, — and, if they are in the Civil Service, of finding themselves rich. A lad who six months before was under strict discipline, who could indulge in few pleasures for want of money, and who could not indulge in any excess without being soundly scolded by his father and his pedagogue, finds himself able to feast on snipes and drink as much champagne as he likes, to entertain guests, to buy horses, to keep a mistress or two, to maintain fifteen or twenty servants who bow to the ground every time that they meet him, and suffer him to 1

Charles was now in practice as a surgeon. 203

5 December 1836

Charles Macaulay

kick and abuse them to his heart's content. He is surrounded by money lenders who are more desirous to supply him with funds than he is himself to procure them. Accordingly the coming out to India is quite as often an agreeable as a disagreeable event to a young fellow. If he does not take his furlough — and not one civil servant in three takes his furlough, — he remains in India till he is forty five or fifty, and is then almost unfit for England. He has outlived his parents. He is estranged from his early friends. His children who have been sent over to England at six or seven years old are estranged from him. He is a man of consequence in the East. In Europe he knows that he will be considered as an old, yellow-faced, bore, fit for nothing but to drink Cheltenham water and to ballot at the India House. He has acquired, it may be, a great deal of valuable information on Indian affairs, — is an excellent Oriental Scholar, — knows intimately all the interests of the native Courts, - is as well acquainted with the revenue-system of Bengal as Huskisson was with the revenue-system of England, - is as deeply read in Hindoo and Mahometan jurisprudence as Sugden in the law of England. He knows that these acquirements which make him an object of admiration at Calcutta will procure for him no applause — nay not the smallest notice — in London. He has probably acquired some lazy self-indulgent habits. He cannot dress without the help of two or three servants. He cannot dine without a great variety of dishes. He cannot go out without a carriage. Under such circumstances he finds England a wretched place. He was powerful. He was eminent. He was comfortable. He is utterly insignificant, and is forced to go without the attendance and the luxuries which habit have rendered necessary to him. The case with me is very different. I have not yet become reconciled to the change from the English to Indian habits. I have not suffered the ordinary helplessness of my countrymen here to grow upon me. I never suffer anybody to assist me in dressing or in any of the thousand little offices which every man ought to be in the habit of performing for himself. My acquirements such as they are fit me far better for Europe than for Asia; — nor have I any reason to expect that I should be exposed to any mortifying neglect at home. I came hither at an age at which I had formed strict friendships; and I shall return before time has at all diminished the strength of those friendships. I shall leave nothing that I shall ever remember with regret. I am exceedingly glad for the reasons which I have mentioned that Trevelyan is going to take his furlough. I really think it an inestimable advantage to a civil servant that he should, at about thirty, spend a couple of years in Europe. As a boy he can know nothing of English society. When he returns an old Nabob his tastes and character have taken their 204

Macvey Napier

11 December 1836

ply, and it is too late to think of giving them a different bent. But by visiting England while still young, with his mind in its full vigour, with his habits and feelings not yet unchangeably fixed, he becomes an Englishman, and looks forward with pleasure during the rest of his Indian career to his final return to England. I think that after an hour's talk with a civilian of forty I could guess nine times out often whether he had or had not taken his furlough. Some of the cleverest men and of the most valuable public servants in India have never seen England from sixteen to fifty. But, whatever their merit may be, there is always a certain peculiar narrowness and Orientalism about them. They hate the thought of going home: and they seldom enjoy themselves at home when they do go. But I must not go on rambling in this way. - / Ever, dear Charles, Yours most affectionately, T B Macaulay TO MACVEY N A P I E R , I I D E C E M B E R

1836

MS: British Museum.

Calcutta Dec 11. / 1836 Dear Napier, One of the ships which are charged with the precious freight of a long article on Bacon for you - so long that, if the ship should be in danger it will be one of the first parts of the cargo that will be thrown overboard — has been delayed a fortnight; - so that I am able to send you a correction which I hope will arrive in time. Pray strike out the first note at the bottom of page 59. li humida be the right reading I am satisfied that I have given the right interpretation; and thereof I will put myself on a jury of any twelve good Baconians. But I fear that my copy is ill-printed. For there is a very similar passage in the Novum Organum, - not quite so well suited for my purpose, - but to a great extent the same word for word; and there the epithet is tumida. Tumida is certainly the preferable reading. Humida is obscure and affected. Be so kind therefore as to strike out the note, and, if tumida be the word, to correct the text.1 Ever yours most truly T B Macaulay 1

This note appears in the published text: 'The expression opinio humida may surprise a reader not accustomed to Bacon's style. The allusion is to the maxim of Heraclitus the obscure - Dry light is the best. By dry light, Bacon understood the light of the intellect, not obscured by the mists of passion, interest, or prejudice' (ER, LXV, 85).

205

32 December 1836

Lord Mahon

TO LORD MAHON, 31 DECEMBER

1836

MS: Stanhope Papers, Chevening. Address: The / Viscount Mahon / London. Upper left corner: By the first Ship. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Extracts published: Trevelyan, 1, 42611.; Aubrey Newman, The Stanhopes of Chevening, 1969, pp. 286—7.

Calcutta December 31. 1836 Dear Lord Mahon, I have received the first Volume of your history, 1 and have read it with great interest and pleasure. I am much gratified by finding that you have not forgotten me at this distance. I think your work decidedly superior both to the Life of Belisarius2 and to the History of the War of the Spanish Succession. It is no high compliment to say that it is the best history of George the First's reign. The chief fault which I find with it is that it has too much the air of a party-pamphlet written for the current year. I do not think that I am misled by political feeling. I judge, — at least I try to judge, — with perfect impartiality: and I really think that, if you were a strong Whig and if your history were filled with sneers at the Orange-Societies and at those genuine successors, in every thing but wit and eloquence, of South and Atterbury, who are persecuting Dr. Hampden3 at Oxford, I should make just the same remark. The practice of seasoning history with those pungent observations which elicit cheers in the House of Commons is, I think, very injudicious in a writer who aspires to more than a month's popularity. It is a practice which heightens the temporary effect of a book, but which greatly detracts from its permanent value. Take a single instance. Mitford wrote his History of Greece during the panic excited by the French Revolution. A perfect4 History of Greece Mitford could never have written. He had not the necessary learning or taste. But he had learning enough and ability enough to have produced a valuable work, if he had kept his mind clear from the passions of his own age. But he was a violent Antijacobin; and he missed no opportunity of having a hit at the Mountain and the Corresponding Society. His history, instead of being what a history of Greece ought to be, a mine of political information for all ages and countries, is merely a squib against the National Convention and the Directory, and is now as obsolete as an Almanack for 1793. For a 1

The History of England from the Peace of Utrecht to the Peace of Versailles, 2 7 vols., 1836-53. 1829: Mahon's first work. 3 Renn Dickson Hampden (1793-1868: DNB), Professor of Moral Philosophy at Oxford and Principal of St Mary Hall. Hampden's orthodoxy was violently but unsuccessfully attacked by the High Church party at Oxford to block his appointment as Regius Professor of Divinity. Hampden was again in the center of a storm in 1847 on his appointment to the Bishopric of Hereford; it is this second affair which is properly the * Hampden Controversy.* 4 'Good' has been overscored and 'perfect' substituted by TBM. 206

Lord Mahon

31 December 1836

time it had a vogue far beyond its merits. Who quotes it now? We do not feel the passions which raged thirty or forty years ago: and, rely on it, the passions which now agitate us will excite just as little sympathy thirty or forty years hence. The people who may then wish to become acquainted with the events of the reign of George the First will not like to look on those events through a medium coloured by the feelings of 1836. Consider how much it would now detract from the authority of a history of Elizabeth's reign written a hundred years ago, if that history abounded in reflections on the infamous excise, on the disputes between Prince Frederic and his father, on base ministers who suffered the Spaniards to rob and murder their countrymen. Or suppose that a history of Mary Queen of Scots had appeared in our time containing such passages as this " Thus died David Rizzio - not the last Italian whose faithful attendance on a British Queen gave occasion to infamous calumnies, and to a diabolical conspiracy between a worthless husband and a cabal of profligate courtiers;" — or as this — " The baseness of those ministers who made the Queen of Scots their tool while it was for their interest to do so, and deserted, slandered, persecuted, and ruined her as soon as they found that they were likely to be gainers by doing so was without precedent, and till the year 1820, remained without imitation." — Now do you not feel that, however accurate and well-written such a history of the Queen of Scots might be, the frequent recurrence of such passages as these would be a serious blemish. I, who think that the late Queen was abominably used both by her husband and by Lord Liverpool's government, should certainly be of opinion that no sarcastic or passionate allusion to her wrongs ought to be introduced in a history of events which took place in the sixteenth century. I do not think your reflections on late events just. But let it be supposed that they are just. Still they are out of place. There are many observations which it would be quite proper for Lord Denman or Lord Abinger to make in the House of Lords in a debate on a bill for disfranchising a borough on account of bribery, and which it would be most grossly improper for either of them to make if he were trying a man for bribery. The office of the historian bears a great analogy to that of the Judge. Many things which are permitted to others are not permitted to him. It is not enough that he is honest, - that his facts are correctly stated, — that his remarks are in themselves just. There is a certain irpETTOv to which he ought also to attend. He should be as unlike an orator or a party-pamphleteer as possible. In that, as indeed in every thing else, he should make Thucydides his model. There you have a contemporary history written with a judicial gravity such as no other writer has ever shewn when treating of remote events. Do you think that, if Thucydides had undertaken to relate the events of the Persian 207

2 January 1833

Lord Lansdowne

war, he would have enlivened his narrative with attacks on Cleon and Hyperbolus? But you will think my criticisms tedious, and perhaps impertinent too. I would not have made them if I had not liked the book very much: nor would I have troubled you with them if the book had been completed. But, as you have published only the first volu[me I] 1 thought that my remarks might be of use. There ar[e not] 1 many people here who trouble themselves about your books or any books. But the two or three friends to whom I have lent your volume, though generally much pleased with it, have made exactly the same observation on it which I have made. As to other points, I think your style greatly improved, and your way of telling a story in particular far more lively and agreable than formerly. I do not often dissent from your judgments on men and events. But I think you too lenient to Sunderland: and, above all, I think you inexcusably lenient to the Church. I do not know of any body of men who, as a body, have acted so contemptibly and wickedly, so perfidiously, so stupidly, so insolently, as the clergy of the Established Church during the fifty years which followed the Revolution. And I have little doubt that you think so too. However I do not wonder that you have not chosen to say so. In another year I hope to leave this country, with a fortune which you would think ridiculously small, but which will make me as independent as if I had all that Lord Westminster has above the ground and Lord Durham below it. I have no intention of again taking part in politics. But I cannot tell what effects the sight of the old Hall and Abbey may produce on me. In any event I shall have great pleasure in again shaking you by the hand. / Believe me ever, / Dear Lord Mahon, Yours most truly T B Macaulay TO L O R D L A N S D O W N E , 2 JANUARY

1837

MS: The Marquess of Lansdowne. Address: The Marquess of Lansdowne / etc. etc. etc. Subscription: T B Macaulay.

Calcutta January 2. 1837 My dear Lord Lansdowne, I have very recently learned the melancholy event which has taken place in your family.2 I have felt it as every body must have felt it who had enjoyed an opportunity of becoming acquainted with Lord Kerry's many amiable and engaging qualities. I well know, — indeed I have had cruel reason to know, - how little condolence can do in such cases. But I 1

2

Paper torn away with seal. 208

Lord Kerry died on 21 July 1836.

Colonel James Young

\z? January 18 3j\

hope that when you receive this letter, time will have begun to produce its healing effect: and perhaps when the first poignancy of your grief is over it may not be unpleasing to you to know that, in a very distant country, a friend who has the greatest obligations to you has sympathised most sincerely with your feelings and those of Lady Lansdowne under this heavy affliction. You will be pleased to hear that Lord Auckland enjoys excellent health here, and is not only a very good but a very popular Governor General. I am myself perfectly well, and am looking forward to my return to England in another year. / Believe me ever, / Dear Lord Lansdowne, Yours most truly T B Macaulay TO C O L O N E L J A M E S Y O U N G , 1 [2? J A N U A R Y

1837]

MS: Fragment, The Marquess of Lansdowne.

[Calcutta] [. . .] any interest in your success. I have just been writing to Lord Lansdowne about the death of my poor friend Lord Kerry; and I do not like to mix up any other subject with my condolences on that sad event. When next I write to him I will tell him what I sincerely think of your capacity to serve the public in the Law-Commission. But I fear that his influence in the disposal of the appointment will be very small indeed. / Believe me, / Dear Colonel Young, Yours very truly T B Macaulay TO T H O M A S F L O W E R E L L I S , 8 M A R C H

1837

MS: Trinity College. Address: T F Ellis Esq / 15 Bedford Place. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Partly published: Trevelyan, 1, 459-60.

Calcutta March 8. 1837 Dear Ellis, I am at present very much worked, and have been so for some months, being indeed the only effective member of the Law Commission. Cameron 1

This fragment is enclosed in a letter from Young to Lord Lansdowne, 17 July 1837. Young (d. 1848) had been in the East India Company's service until 1818, when he resigned and entered one of the Calcutta agency houses. In 1832 he became editor of the Bengal Hurkaru. He was a Benthamite, and had some influence with Lord William Bentinck, who nominated him to the remodelled Committee of Public Instruction in 1835. Young was temporarily a member of the Law Commission in 1838, but Lord Auckland disliked his Radicalism and the appointment was not confirmed (Eric Stokes, The English Utilitarians and India, p. 240). 209

8 March 183J

Thomas Flower Ellis

after being laid up for some months sailed at Christmas for the Cape where I hope his health will be repaired; for this country can very ill spare him. Macleod, who is the cleverest man that I have found in India by many degrees, passes two days a week in his bed; and as to Anderson, between ourselves, if he would keep his bed all the week round it would be the greatest service which he could render to the Commission. However under all these difficulties I have almost brought our first great work to a conclusion.1 In about a month we shall lay before the Government a complete penal Code for a hundred millions of people with a Commentary explaining and defending the provisions of the text. Whether it is well or ill done heaven knows. I know only that it seems to me to be very ill done when I look at it by itself, and well done when I compare it with Livingstone's Code,2 with the French Code or with the English statutes which have been passed for the purpose of consolidating and amending the criminal law. However when it is printed I will send you a copy, and then you will judge of its merits far better than I can. In health I am as well as ever I was in my life. Time glides fast. My life is very quiet. I keep my circle of acquaintance as small and as select as I can. Business, books, and society strictly domestic, take up the whole of nine days out often. I have a second little niece3 of whom I am almost as fond as I am of her sister. One day is so like another that, but for a habit which I acquired soon after I reached India of pencilling in my books the date of my reading them, I should have hardly any way of estimating the lapse of time. If I want to know when an event took place I call to mind which of Calderon's plays4 or of Plutarch's Lives I was reading on that day. I turn to the book — find the dates — and am generally astonished to see that what seems removed from me by only two or three months really happened nearly a year ago. I keep the hours before breakfast still for Greek and Latin. I am just 1

2

3 4

The delay in the Commission's work was creating much hostile remark in the Calcutta press. TBM had to defend the slowness of the work in response to an official question from the Governor-General and did so very energetically (undated minute [2 January 1837?]: Dharker, Lord Macaulay's Legislative Minutes^ pp. 252-8). The Court of Directors also expressed regret at the delay in the composition of a penal code (Legislative Despatches to Bengal and India, 1833-8, 1: 10 August 1837). The code prepared for Louisiana by Edward Livingston and published in 1833. The Commissioners acknowledge their debt to this work in the 'Introductory Report' to the Penal Code. Named Harriet Selina; she was born on 26 January 1837 and died on 5 May. TBM's copy of Calderon, 4 vols., Leipzig, 1827-30, is now in the Houghton Library, Harvard. The marginal notes show that he began reading on 29 January 1835 (very shortly after learning of Margaret's death) and gave up on 13 February 1836, having read eightyfive of the one hundred and eight plays in the edition. The function of this work as a calendar is illustrated by TBM's note, dated 8 September 1835, at the end of La Sibila del Oriente: 'This day Cameron left us' (in, 218). 210

Thomas Flower Ellis

8 March 183J

entering on a thorough course of Aristotle. He is a wonderfully clever fellow. But I have not yet made up my mind about him. I have finished that insufferable writer Dionysius of Halicarnassus - the great Halicarnassus, as the pompous empty author of the pursuits of literature1 calls him, forgetting I presume, that Herodotus was a Halicarnassian; or remembering it perhaps; — for how should a man who admires Dionysius admire Herodotus? Dionysius is a vile historian; - a somewhat better critic, though almost all his criticism relates to those evanescent graces of style of which few foreigners can judge even in a living language, and which are hardly discernible by any body in a dead language. Here and there however there are very fine paragraphs of his writing. I have read Theagenes and Chariclea, Heliodorus's romance, and like it better than Longus's Daphnis and Chloe. I have procured a copy of Philostratus, and am about to study the life of Apollonius of Tyana. I have read Polybius. I detest his style. Yet, dearly as I love Livy, I would give the 3d and 4th Decades of Livy for Polybius's lost books. I am going through Livy again, and, when we meet, I will shew you some notes which I have made on him which might easily be worked up into a small treatise entitled "Historic doubts touching the battle of the Metaurus."2 When I have finished Livy, I intend to read all Cicero's works once more, - for the last time in my life, I suppose. I intend to learn German on my voyage home, and I have indented largely, to use our Indian official term, for the requisite books. People tell me that it is a hard language. But I cannot easily believe that there is a language which I cannot master in four months with working ten hours a day. I promise myself very great delight and information from German literature. But with these hopes are mingled certain hopes that I may have an opportunity of doing a privy thing to some Saxon Chcerephon 6s o!5e TOC yuAAcov \yyx\J> I know these true votaries of the NE9EACCI4 only by translations. Yet I feel a sort of presentiment, a kind of admonition of the Deity, which assures me that the final cause of my existence, the end for which I was sent into this vale of tears, was to make game of certain Germans. The first thing to be done in obedience to this heavenly call is to learn German and then I may perhaps try, as Milton says, " Frangere Saxonicas Britonum sub Marte phalanges."5 We sail in January. It will therefore be hardly worth while for our friends to write to us at Calcutta after the beginning of September. But I 1 2 3 4

8

T. J. Mathias: see to Richard Sharp, 11 February 1835. These notes are printed in Trevelyan, 1, 471—2. Aristophanes, The Clouds•, 831: 'who knows about the flea-tracks.' 5 'Clouds.' 'Mansus,'line 84. 211

PLO

in

8 March 183J

Selina and Frances Macaulay

very much wish that you would send a few lines to the Cape so that they might arrive there by the end of February, and a few more at the same time to St Helena. I would not have you write at length because we shall probably not touch at both those places, though it is next to certain that we shall touch at one. But I should be glad to hear that all was well with you. Remember me with all kindness to Mrs. Ellis. It will give me true pleasure to find you happy in the midst of your family - with business enough for money and not too much for leisure, - and to consult Frank as to certain passages in a chorus of the Supplices of ^schylus which my poor faculties are incompetent to unravel. Remember me kindly to Adolphus, to Drinkwater, and to any of my other circuit and college friends who will care for such a message. Yours ever T B Macaulay TO S E L I N A AND F R A N C E S MACAULAY, 8 M A R C H

1837

MS: Trinity College. Address: Miss Macaulays.

Calcutta March 8 1837 My dear sisters, I steal a few minutes from council to send you a very short letter. These are busy times with me. My colleagues in the Law Commission have been put hors-de-combat by ill health. I have all their work to do; and I am now slaving as hard as I can in order to finish the penal Code and the Commentary on it. I expect that it will be completed in a month or little more. In the meantime my day from breakfast till nearly the hour of the evening drive is fully occupied. You lose little by my conciseness: for I could only repeat what I have repeated a hundred times that we are well and quiet. The new little baby is very good, and we all love her. But she is not so important a person as her sister, — who will, I hope, be a good sister. She shows as little jealousy as could be expected, kisses and strokes the little thing very affectionately, and whenever I go into the nursery pulls me to see "thister." I am very fond of them both. It is time for me to give you some directions about writing. We shall leave India in all probability next January. Circumstances may cause us to sail in December or may prolong our stay till February. But January will most likely be the month. It will therefore hardly be worth while for you to write to us here after the beginning of September. But I very much wish that one of you would send a letter - it may be a very short one - to the Cape, and another to St Helena so that they may arrive at their destination before March next. Whether we shall touch at either of those 212

Sir John Cam Hobhouse

ly April 1833

places is not certain; and we most likely shall not touch at both. But I should very much like to learn something, if we do touch, as to the way in which things are going on with you - the more so as otherwise we shall not hear anything of your doings after September 1837 till May or perhaps June 1838. I am very much pleased to find that you have enjoyed your Continental tour, and that you liked Geneva.1 I hope that you will put me quite to shame as a French Scholar when I return. George, I am sure, will omit nothing that is requisite for your comfort either abroad or at home. He has full authority from me to do whatever is proper. I shall try to write a few lines to my dear father by this conveyance. If I should not be able to do so give him my affectionate love. Ever yours TBM TO S I R J O H N CAM H O B H O U S E , 17 A P R I L

1837

MS: British Museum. Extract published: Clive, Macaulay, p. 393.

Calcutta April 17. 1837 Dear Sir John Hobhouse, I write at present only to inform you that my mind is fully made up to return to England by one of the ships of the next cold season.2 I should have sent you this intimation earlier, but that the business of the Law Commission has been in such a state that I could not with certainty foresee what my movements would be. At last however, in spite of the loss of Cameron's help, and the illness of the other members, I have brought the penal Code to a termination. Next week we shall, I hope, lay it with large annotations before the government:3 and I shall then put on record my intention of quitting India at the beginning of next year. I have no right to expect that any attention will be paid to my recommendation in the choice of a successor. Yet I cannot help saying that Cameron who, by that time, will, I hope, have returned from the Cape, seems to me a man excellently qualified for the situation.4 At all events it 1

2

3

4

Zachary Macaulay and his daughters had returned to London late in 1836. They took lodgings at 3 Clarges Street, where Macaulay remained bed-ridden until his death in May 1838. TBM's decision to return at the end of the year was rumored as early as January {Bengal Hurkaru, 13 January 1837) and provoked outcry about his non-performance of duty. The draft of the Penal Code was submitted to the Governor-General on 2 May; 1,200 copies were printed for distribution by December (India Legislative Proceedings, 1838, xci: 5 January 1838, No. 26: India Office Library). Cameron succeeded TBM as interim President of the Law Commission but yielded to Andrew Amos (see 13 December 1837) on his arrival in India. 213

8-2

i May 1833

[Governor-General in Council]

is of great importance that some successor should be here early in March. For such is the state of Macleod's health that during almost the whole of the last year I have really been the Law-Commission. I write in great haste as the last post by which letters can be forwarded to the steamer at Bombay is just setting out. I therefore omit much that I wish to say. Lord Auckland shewed me a letter which he received from you a few days ago. I was truly gratified to find that you side with us on the education question, — so much gratified that I should have easily pardoned your criticisms on my minute had they been less gentle than they were.1 But on that and many other subjects I must write hereafter. / Believe me ever, / Dear Sir John Hobhouse, Yours most truly T B Macaulay TO [ G O V E R N O R - G E N E R A L I N C O U N C I L ] , I M A Y

1837

Text: Copy, India Office Library.

[Calcutta] I have the honor to inform the Governor General in Council that it is my intention to resign my situation and to return to Europe in the course of the next cold season. T. B. Macaulay. May 1 st. 1837.

TO ZACHARY MACAULAY,2 8 M A Y 1837 MS: University of London.

Calcutta May 8. 1837 Dear Zachary, I should have answered your kind letter earlier, but for a melancholy event which took place last week in our family. Hannah's youngest child, - a very sweet-tempered intelligent baby of three months old has been taken from us. We have all felt this calamity much, — Hannah, as you may suppose, very severely. 1

2

In his letter to Auckland of 15 December 1836 Hobhouse admitted that TBM's education minute bore 'the stamp of his genius' but added that it was not so much a state paper as a 'declamation' and asked Auckland to report his opinion to TBM (Clive, Macaulay, p. 392). This Zachary (b. 1814) was the eldest son of the Indian Kenneth Macaulay (see 4 April 1807) and had been sent to England to the care of the English Zachary Macaulay in 1822. He returned to India in 1831, where he became a banker at Madras. 214

Zachary Macaulay

8 May i8sy

I am truly glad to hear that you are so comfortably situated and that you have such good prospects. It would give me real pleasure to see you at Calcutta before our departure; as there is little chance indeed of our meeting at Madras. Next cold season we shall take our departure for England, where I can hardly hope or even wish that we may find my father still alive. The last accounts which we have respecting him are exceedingly bad. He returned from the Continent last December in a state of extreme weakness, and suffers almost constant pain. He was brought from the ship to his lodgings in a litter, and never leaves his sofa. Our news respecting the other members of our family is more cheering. My sisters are well, and Charles, when last I heard of him, was applying himself vigorously to his profession, — surgery, — and was a favourite pupil of Brodie, who, as you doubtless know, is decidedly the first surgeon in London. I have had excellent health, and am decidedly better in that respect than I was when I left England, or indeed at any time during my parliamentary service. I am hardly sensible of any inconvenience from the heat, though we are now in the midst of the very hottest month of the year. In that respect there is a great difference between Madras and Calcutta. I have never suffered in all my life from heat so cruelly as during the few days which I passed at Sir Frederic Adam's. Hannah has also stood the heat admirably; and my brother-in-law Trevelyan is in good and even florid health considering that he is now in the eleventh year of his [ .]* As to money matters I have every reason to be satisfied. I was so fortunate as to come to India just after the downfall of the old unsound system of agency. The ostentatious mode of living which was formerly characteristic of the English society in Bengal was necessarily at an end. There was hardly a single family which had not suffered. Many were utterly ruined. I therefore found it easy to live without penuriousness, and to spend more, I think, than is spent by any other member of Council, and yet to lay by much more than I ever reckoned on saving when I left England. By the end of this year I shall be rich enough to provide for my family and to reserve for myself a small but perfectly sufficient independence. Hannah sends her love. Pray remember us both kindly to your father. Ever yours truly [signature cut away] 1

In consequence of the signature's having been cut away a word is missing here.

215

15 June 1 8SJ TO MACVEY NAPIER, 15 JUNE

Macvey Napier 1837

MS: British Museum. Address: Professor Napier / Edinburgh. Upper left corner: By the first ship. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Mostly published: Napier, Correspondence, pp. 192-3.

Calcutta June 15. 1837 Dear Napier, I have received your very kind letter acknowledging the receipt of Trevelyan's article about the Thugs. Though there was much that gave me pain in your account of yourself, yet, as it was on the whole better than any account which I had lately received, I was gratified by it. I assure you that I have most sincerely felt for you; and that there are few things which will give me more pleasure than to find you in good health and spirits when I return. Your letter about my review of Mackintosh miscarried, — vexatiously enough. I should have been glad to kno*w what was thought of my performance among friends and foes. For here we have no information on such subjects. The literary correspondents of the Calcutta newspapers seem to be penny-a-line men whose whole stock of literature comes from the conversations in the Green Room. My long article on Bacon has, no doubt, been in your hands some time. I never, to the best of my recollection, proposed to review Hannah More's Life1 or works. If I did, it must have been in jest. She was exactly the very last person in the world about whom I should chuse to write a critique. She was a very kind friend to me from childhood. Her notice first called out my literary tastes. Her presents laid the foundation of my library. She was to me what Ninon was to Voltaire,-begging her pardon for comparing her to a strumpet, and yours for comparing myself to a great man. She really was a second mother to me. I have a real affection for her memory. I therefore could not possibly write about her unless I wrote in her praise: and all the praise which I could give to her writings, even after straining my conscience in her favour, would be far indeed from satisfying any of her admirers. I will try my hand on Temple2 and on Lord Clive.3 Shaftsbury4 I shall 1

2

3

4

William Roberts, Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Mrs. Hannah More, 4 vols., 1834. The impression somehow got around that TBM was to do this: Empson wrote to Napier on 5 January 1835 that 'Hannah More's life is very interesting. I am very glad that M[acaulay] will do it'; and T. H. Lister wrote to Napier to the same effect, 23 February 1835 (MSS, British Museum). Thomas Peregrine Courtenay, Memoirs of the Life, Works, and Correspondence of Sir William Temple, 2 vols., 1836, reviewed by TBM in 'Life and Writings of Sir William Temple/ ER, LXVIII (October 1838), 113-87., Sir John Malcolm, The Life of Robert Lord Clive, 3 vols., 1836, reviewed by TBM in 'Sir John Malcolm's Life of Lord Clive,' ER, LXX (January 1840), 295-362. TBM had long had this in mind; Empson reported to Napier on 10 December [1834] that TBM, writing from India, 'bespeaks a life of Clive which he hears is forthcoming' (MS, British Museum). Perhaps TBM means the edition published by G. W. Cooke in 1836 of Marlyn and Kippis, The Life of The First Earl of Shaftesbury, from Original Documents. 216

William Empson

19 June

let alone. Indeed his political life is so much connected with Temple's that, without endless repetition, it would be impossible for me to furnish a separate article on each. Temple's life and works, - the part which he took in the Controversy about the Ancients and Moderns, — the Oxford confederacy against Bentley, — and the memorable victory which Bentley obtained will be good subjects. I am in good training for this part of the subject, as I have twice read through the Phalaris controversy since I arrived in India. I have been almost incessantly engaged in public business since I sent off the paper on Bacon. But I expect to have comparative leisure during the short remainder of my stay here. The penal Code of India is finished, and is in the press. The illness of two of my colleagues and, — ENTRE NOUS, — the utter incapacity of the third threw the whole work on me. It is done however: and I am not likely to be called upon for equally vigorous exertion during the rest of my Indian career. In January we propose to sail for Engfland.]1 Before this day year I hope to shake [hands]1 with you. Till then, with all kind wishes, farewell. My sister begs me to remember her to you, and to assure you of her sympathy. Yours ever T B Macaulay If you should have assigned Temple or Clive to any body else, pray do not be uneasy on that account. The pleasure of writing pays itself.

TO W I L L I A M E M P S O N , 19 J U N E

1837

Text: Copy (in Frances Macaulay's hand), Trinity College.

Calcutta June 19. 1837. My dear Empson, We are just at the close for which Heaven be praised of a tremendously severe and tremendously long hot season. The fury with which the sun has blazed upon us during the last 3 weeks is far beyond anything, not only in my short Indian experience, but in the recollection of the oldest English inhabitants of Calcutta. The tanks are dry; the earth is baked as if it had been in a furnace; the peasantry have begun to quit their villages and to assemble in crowds on the banks of the river. The natives themselves have not unfrequently died of mere heat. One groom dropped 1

Paper torn away with seal. 217

29 June iSsy

William Empson

down a corpse yesterday while attending a buggy. Two soldiers died in the same way while on guard at Fort William. The Cholera Morbus which generally accompanies the hot weather has been raging among the lower classes. " Black fellow die much, master/' said my barber to me.

The impatience with which the rains have been expected you may imagine. They generally set in about the 5 th or 6th of June. But this year they have been unusually delayed; and, to make the delay more painful, we have been frequently tantalized with dark masses of cloud which have yielded nothing but wind and thunder. At length yesterday evening some rain fell, enough to cool the air which was like a blast from a furnace, and soon after midnight we had a very heavy shower. I really do not think that I ever remember any public event which excited such general rejoicing. Indeed if the rain had been much longer delayed the heat would have been the least part of the evil. We should have had reason to apprehend famine. I believe that no person in Calcutta, European or native, stood this terrible season better than I. It did not affect either my appetite or my sleep; nor did it for more than a day or two render me unwilling to exert myself vigorously. When it was at the worst I lay from 9 in the morning till 6 in the afternoon on my sofa under a punkah reading Voltaire and Plutarch, with all the windows and blinds of my library most carefully closed; for if the smallest cranny were left open, a blast like that from the mouth of hell rushed in. Twice a week I was forced to go to Council; and I really believe that the Council described in the 2nd book of Paradise Lost was a great deal cooler. As to Trevelyan who was forced to go daily to office, I was afraid that he would have a brain fever; and I believe that if he had not been copiously relieved by leeches he would not now have been alive. An old schoolfellow of mine, a brother of the present Lord Teignmouth, F. Shore,1 was carried off by the very first beginning of this raging heat. He was an honest, able, and public spirited man, though of very disagreeable manners, violent prejudices, and harsh temper. He came down from the Upper Provinces with a pulmonary complaint for which he was ordered to try the air of the other side of Bengal. But while he was waiting here for a ship the heat came on, and he sank at once under it. Before the beginning of these heats our house had been made a sad one by the death of my younger niece, a little thing only 3 months old, but as 1

Frederick John Shore (1799-1837), second son of Lord Teignmouth, came to India in 1818; he was agent to the Lieutenant Governor of the North Western Provinces at the time of his death, 29 May. 218

William Empson

19 June 183J

engaging as a baby of that age can be. I did not feel the loss as I should have felt the loss of her sister who begins to prattle in a lingua franca made up of a dozen languages and is constantly pulling me to my book cases and saying " Tom, come picture." Still I was a very sincere mourner for the poor little creature, both on her mother's account and her own. Since I heard of the death of my sister Margaret, my spirits have never been what they once were, and a lighter domestic calamity than this would have been sufficient to depress them. The best thing that I know about myself, and it is some set-off against the many faults and weakness of which I am conscious, - is that, while I am more stoical than most of my acquaintance where my interests are concerned, I am more sensitive than most of them where my affections are concerned. In all vexations the near prospect of return is a most powerful cordial to me. I believe that nobody ever loved his country as a place to live in with so exclusive a love as mine for England. I would not go again through what I have gone through for Lord Westminster's fortune. But that is all over. When you are reading this letter I shall probably be looking out for a ship and buying cabin furniture. As far as we can look forward, we have fixed the last week of January or the istweek of February for our departure. By sailing at that time we may hope to get out of the Bay of Bengal with a fair wind, to be too late for the hurricanes of the Mauritius, and too early for the adverse North Westers of the Cape, and to reach England in the prime of the summer. I do not pretend to say what I may do when I am there. But it must be some strong temptation that draws me again into political life. I have tried to weigh dispassionately the advantages and disadvantages of a parliamentary and of a literary career, and I am certain that I should be happier as a literary man than as a successful member of Parliament. The canvassing, the compromising, the subordination, which are absolutely necessary in politics do not suit my temper. Freedom is the best thing in the world, and great men, as Bacon says, are fourfold servants.1 If I engage in politics I may possibly be a Secretary of State, and enjoy all the contentment which Lord Londonderry2 and Mr. Canning enjoyed, till I end by cutting my carotid artery like the former, or die of anxiety, vexation and fatigue like the latter. But if I keep out of politics, I may speak my mind; and 1 have a good deal of Persius's feeling "Hoc ridere meum, tarn nil, nulla tibi vendo Iliade."3 The comparison is really between freedom and slavery, toil and leisure, health and sickness. And as to fame I prefer the fame which is got by a 1 2 3

'Men in great place are thrice servants' ('Of Great Place'). Better known as Lord Castlereagh, Foreign Secretary, 1818-22. Satires, I, 122—3. 219

2 c) June 1837

William Empson

good book, to "immense cheering prolonged for several minutes." Addison could not speak in Parliament; but what has become of all the eloquence of his noisy contemporaries? And Sir Roger de Coverley is as fresh as ever. Gibbon could not speak. The good orators, he said, filled him with despair, and the bad with terror.1 What has become of them all good and bad? Burke's publications have kept his fame alive and will always keep it alive; and the fame of Fox, though perceptibly decreasing, is not extinct. As to the rest, — Dunning,2 Barre,3 Lord North, Sir G. Saville,4 Dundas, Thurlow, Wedderburne5 - what remains of them? Who would give the worst chapter of the Decline and Fall for all that is extant of their eloquence? Would it be worth the while of a man who need not despair of equalling Gibbon to kill himself with bodily fatigue and mental anxiety at 55, when he might live in comfort, health and ease till 70, in order to leave a reputation like that of Col. Barre ? I say nothing of the present aspect of the political world, because everything may be changed before I reach England. Yet I must say that, as far as I can look forward, I see nothing in the prospect except separations of friends, coalitions with opponents, bitter enmities, questions which will stir up all the fiercest passions of men. This consideration has great weight with me. I doubt whether, if I took part in politics, I should not within a few years, be in strong opposition on most exciting questions to Rice, to Lord Lansdowne, to Lord Glenelg. Remember that the choice which I shall have to make is not a choice for a day. It is in my power to determine not to go into parliament. But it will not be in my power whenever a crisis comes which separates me from my most valued friends, to retire to private life. No public man has a right to steal off at the conjunctures which require vigorous exertion. But no man is bound to be a public man. A soldier is justly disgraced who quits the service on the morning of an engagement. But no man is bound to be a soldier. He is to consider before he embraces the profession whether he has courage for a day of battle. But when he has embraced the profession he must not abandon it in the hour of danger. I think that the rules of political life are very similar. It is a man's business before he engages in politics to consider whether he is prepared to make all the sacrifices of private feelings which are likely to be required by his public duty. I am certain that I am not so prepared. If I do engage in politics I hope that I shall have fortitude 1

Gibbon to J. B. Holroyd, 25 February 1775. John Dunning (1731-83: DNB), first Baron Ashburton, Whig M.P., 1768-82. He was one of TBM's predecessors in the seat for Calne. 3 Colonel Isaac Barre (1726-1802: DNB), M.P., 1761—90, another of TBM's predecessors in the seat for Calne. * Sir George Saville (1726-84: DNB), M.P. for Yorkshire, 1759-83. 5 Alexander Wedderburne (1733-1805: DNB), first Earl of Roslyn, Lord Chancellor; M.P., 1761-78. 220 2

Selina and Frances Macaulay

11 September 183J

enough to act rightly at any cost. But the cost of acting rightly would probably be to a person of my opinions and feelings exceedingly great. I may change my mind. I profess to tell you only what I at this moment think. But my opinion has been unchanged or rather has been growing in strength during several years — and my judgment tells me that if I should swerve from my present resolution I shall bitterly repent my error. I am ashamed to see what a quantity of paper I have filled with nothing but egotism. So I will leave off talking of myself and say a few words about my friends. A letter has arrived from Napier. The news which it contains about his health is a little and but a little better than what you sent. The article on Malthus1 is very good and interesting, — a little immoderate in eulogy perhaps; but that is a becoming fault in a funeral oration pronounced by a friend, particularly when that oration partakes of the nature of a defence against calumny and scurrility. You are quite right in falling on Coleridge.2 It is quite intolerable that a man on whose grave stone flattery could not venture to write the hackneyed praise of being a good husband and father, — a lazy sot, stupified by opium, — should, in the intervals between 'his drunken dozes' abuse the best men of his time, and that these Fescennine rants should be published as oracles. If I had not eaten in old times some grains of salt with Henry Coleridge and some bushels with Derwent I should be half inclined to try whether I could not say when sober some things which would [go] quite as deep as any that their kinsman said when he was tipsy.3

TO

S E L I N A AND F R A N C E S MACAULAY, I I S E P T E M B E R

1837

MS: Trinity College. Address: The Miss Macaulays. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Partly published: Trevelyan, 1, 423-4; 426.

Calcutta September 11. 1837 My dear Sisters, We are now nearly at the end of our last and worst rainy season. The showers did not begin till near Midsummer, and they have since been very capricious. On the whole however a fair quantity of rain has fallen in Bengal; and there is no danger of scarcity here. I wish I could say the same of the Upper Provinces, which, I fear, are in great danger of famine. 1

2

3

Empson's 'Life, Writings, and Character of Mr. Malthus,' ER, LXIV (January 1837), 469-506. A note to Empson's 'Malthus' asks why Coleridge's literary executors should circulate 'posthumous poisoned slaver against the name of Mr Malthus?' and goes on to cite examples from Coleridge's Table Talk and Literary Remains (ER, LXIV, 472-3). The copy breaks off at this point. 221

ii September 183?

Selina and Frances Macaulay

Here, though we have had a sufficiently plentiful fall of water, and though it still continues, the season has been exceedingly unhealthy. Our house has escaped as well as any. Yet Hannah is the only one of us who has got off quite untouched. The baby has been repeatedly unwell, and has required change of air. Trevelyan, without having any acute attack, has suffered a good deal, and is kept right only by occasional trips in a steamer down to the mouth of the Hoogly. I had a smart touch of fever near two months ago. Happily it staid but for an hour or two, and I took such vigorous measures that it never came again. But I remained very languid and exhausted for nearly a fortnight. This was my first, and I hope my last taste of Indian maladies. I could not have believed that I could, in so short a time and with so little apparent cause, have been so utterly unnerved. We are now all pretty well: but I am certain that it is a happy thing for the health of us all, particularly of Trevelyan, that we are not to pass another year in the reek of this deadly marsh. In a month the healthy season will be beginning. In two months we shall begin to look about for a ship. The time of our departure is still quite uncertain. We may sail as early as the end of December. We may postpone our departure till the beginning of March. It would therefore be as well if you would send a few lines to the Cape and a few more to St Helena in February, since it is very possible that we might fall in with them. George's conduct is so extraordinary and, I must say, so unjustifiable, that, if I had a less rooted and sincere friendship for him, I declare that I should be tempted to break with him altogether. I have not received a single line from him since last January: and this though every farthing that I have in England is entrusted to him, - though I sent him nearly a year and a quarter ago powers of attorney and instructions of great importance, — though I have given him carte blanche for matters in which my family is concerned. I have known these five months that he made an arrangement with the Leghs, and that partly at my expense. But I do not yet know what the arrangement was, or how much I contributed. I am unable to remit money home because I am utterly ignorant, owing to his obstinate silence, whether I have or have not agents in England empowered to invest money for me. I am the last man to quarrel with people for not writing letters of ceremony. I am the last man to measure the regard of my friends by the punctuality of their correspondence. But where matters of great importance are confided to a friend, and he suffers three quarters of a year to pass without sending a single line to say how they are going on, I really think that some resentment is excusable. I have not, I think, been so much hurt for years. I have written to him pretty severely: and yet I have said less than I felt. I feel indeed so strongly that, if I were going to stay in India another year, I should at once revoke all 222

Selina and Frances Macaulay

22 September 28sy

the powers which I have given to George, and substitute for him some person who would not think it too much to write to me once in every three or four months. My next letter will probably tell you that we have taken our passage, and will fix pretty nearly the time when you may be beginning to look out for us. God grant that I may find our family circle broken only by those irreparable losses which I already know. I have no words to tell you how intensely bitter exile has been to me, though I hope I have borne it well, or how I pine for England. I sometimes feel as if I had no other wish than to see my country again and to die. I do not know what chance there is that either of you may ever think of visiting India. But let me assure you that banishment is no light matter. No person can judge of it who has not experienced it. I do not call a tour through France or Switzerland banishment. Europe is to a great extent one country. But a complete revolution in all the habits of life, - an estrangement from almost every old friend and acquaintance, - fifteen thousand miles of ocean between the exile and every thing that he cares for, — all this is, to me at least, very trying. There is no temptation of wealth or power which would induce me to go through it again. But I see that many people do not feel as I do. Indeed the servants of the Company rarely have such [a feel]1 ing, and it is natural that they shoul[d not] 1 have it; for they are sent out while still [mere]1 schoolboys, and when they know little of the world. The moment of emigration is to them also the moment of emancipation: and the pleasures of liberty and affluence to a great degree compensate them for the loss of their home. In a few years they become Orientalized, and by the time that they are of my age they would generally prefer India as a residence to England, unless indeed they happen to have sent their children home. But it is a very different matter when a man is transplanted at thirty three, as I was. Give my most affectionate love to my father. I rejoice to find, by the last accounts, that he is somewhat better. Love to Charles. Henry, I suppose, has left England. I do most earnestly long to see him again. Our last public news is the accession of the Queen.2 The intelligence came overland in about sixty days. As far as I can judge it has been in many ways a fortunate event. It seems likely that the extreme violence of parties will be a good deal calmed, and that the country will have, for a considerable time to come, a moderate, and at the same time a sincerely reforming government. Ever yours most affectionately T B Macaulay 1

Paper torn away with seal. ' 20 June.

223

20 September—19 October 183J TO

MRS

THOMAS

DRUMMOND,1

20

Mrs Thomas

Drummond

SEPTEMBER-:^

OCTOBER

1837 MS: National Library of Ireland. Address: Mrs. Drummond / Phoenix Park / Dublin. Upper left corner: By the first ship. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Partly published: Trevelyan, 1, 424-5.

Calcutta September 20. 1837 Dear Mrs. Drummond, Your letter gave me true pleasure, as indeed, in this distant country, a less interesting letter from a less valued friend would have done. I am pleased by every mark of remembrance, by every thing which gives me reason to hope that I shall not be regarded as an utter stranger when I again make my appearance in houses and among faces which were once familiar to me. But your recollection of past times is peculiarly gratifying to me. I need not assure you that I was a most sincere mourner for the death of my dear and excellent old friend.2 I had indeed but little hope when I last shook hands with him of ever seeing him again. But though not surprised by the news of his death I was greatly affected by it. I owed much to his excellent advice. Our intercourse had not been, as that of old and young men generally is even when there is sincere regard on both sides, rendered unpleasant by incompatibility of tastes and tempers. There are but few men of my own age with whom I have been so much at my ease and communicated so freely. I shall never cease to remember him with kindness. I charged Sir George Philips with my congratulations to my old friend Miss Kinnaird on her becoming Mrs. Drummond. I had myself seen but little of the gentleman.3 But many of my friends knew him well, and all who knew him valued him highly. I was therefore sure that the occasion was one for real and not merely formal congratulation. The gentleman whom your letter introduces to me has not yet arrived.4 It will give me great pleasure to make his acquaintance. I hardly know whether I ought to give you joy on the turn in English politics which the accession of the Queen seems likely to cause. I rejoice on account of the public and especially on account of Ireland. But I ought rather to grieve on your account. For it now seems likely that you may 1

2 3

4

The former Maria Kinnaird (see 28 May 1831); she married Captain Thomas Drummond in November 1835. Richard Sharp. Captain Thomas Drummond (1797—1840: DNB\ Under-Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1835-40; Drummond was in fact the head of the Irish administration in these years. Henry Drummond (1802—68), of the Indian army, Thomas Drummond's brother; he had been on sick leave since 1832 and was just returning to India.

224

Mrs Thomas Drummond

20 September-19 October 183J

remain at Dublin for years. I cannot conceive what has induced you to submit to such an exile. I declare, for my own part that, little as I love Calcutta, I would rather stay here than be settled in the Phoenix park. The last residence which I would chuse would be a place with all the plagues and none of the attractions of a capital, a provincial city on fire with factions political and religious, peopled by raving Orangemen and raving repealers, and distracted by a contest between protestantism as fanatical as that of Knox and Catholicism as fanatical as that of Bonner. We have our share of the miseries of life in this country. We are annually baked four months, boiled four more, and allowed the remaining four to become cool if we can. At this moment the Sun is blazing like a furnace: the earth, soaked with oceans of rain, is steaming like a wet blanket. Vegetation is rotting all round us. Insects and undertakers are the only living creatures which seem to enjoy the climate. But, though our atmosphere is hot, our factions are lukewarm. The utmost fury of sedition in a society like this is merely laughable to a person accustomed to the contests of English parties. A bad epigram in a newspaper, - or a public meeting attended by a tailor, a pastry-cook, a reporter for a newspaper, two or three barristers and eight or ten attorneys, are our most formidable annoyances. We have agitators in our own small way, Tritons of the minnows, bearing the same sort of resemblance to O'Connel that a lizard bears to an alligator. Therefore Calcutta for me in preference to Dublin. Luckily I am not compelled to chuse between Dublin and Calcutta. In a very short time I hope to be, for the first time in my life, an absolutely free and independent man, possessed of a competence, subject to no official superior, and at perfect liberty to chuse my own path in life. In about four months, I think, I shall set sail in one of our huge floating hotels, and in eight months I hope to have the pleasure of seeing my friends in England. Oct 1 9 A long time has passed since the beginning of this letter was written; and I am not sorry that various circumstances have prevented me from finishing and sending it, since I can now give you news of your relation Captain Drummond. He arrived last week, and dined with us yesterday. He will, I am sure, find every facility for his researches that he can desire.1 He seems to have the genuine ardour of an enthusiast, an ardour which often leads to disappointment, but without which, after all, nothing great is done. I wish him all success. The arrangements for my return are all but completed. I fully expect to be in England by the beginning of next June. 1

On his return to India he was 'employed in examining minerals' in the Kumaon Hills (Major V. C. P. Hodson, List of the Officers of the Bengal Army, JJ5S-2SJ4, 1927-47). 225

23 October 1833

Thomas Flower Ellis

Pray remember me with all kindness to Miss Sharp and to Captain Drummond. I would charge you with many similar messages for other friends, if I thought that this letter would find you in London. But to Dublin I have nothing] 1 more to send except my hearty malediction to both factions. / Believe me, / Dear Mrs. Drummond, Yours most faithfully T B Macaulay TO T H O M A S F L O W E R E L L I S , 23 O C T O B E R

1837

MS: Trinity College. Address: T F Ellis Esq / 15 Bedford Place / London. Upper left corner: By the first ship. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Single sentence published: Trevelyan, 1, 464.

Calcutta October 23. 1837 Dear Ellis, Most sincerely do I wish that I could send you less mournful intelligence in return for your affectionate and interesting letter of June which I received little more than a fortnight ago. I know how deeply you will be grieved by what I have to tell you. We have lost our excellent friend Malkin. Six weeks ago he was to all appearance in the highest health. His spirits were good. He was thoroughly pleased with his situation and prospects here, and as happy as possible in his family. About the middle of September, the most deadly month of the Bengal year, he was attacked by a stomach-complaint: but nobody considered his case as at all alarming. I saw him several times while he was labouring under this disease, and found him low, weak, and almost torpid; but I was not in the least surprised at this; for extreme depression is the effect even of the slightest indisposition in this climate. He appeared to have got over his disorder, and was pronounced convalescent. He complained still of much uneasiness. But this was supposed to be merely the effect of the medical discipline which he had undergone; and nobody doubted that a short excursion for change of air would completely restore him. Calcutta, as you know, is about a hundred miles from the sea by the course of the Hoogly. Vessels of all descriptions are constantly passing up and down between the town and the mouth of the river. It is usual for invalids here to go down to the sea, to pass a few days on it, and then to return; and the effect of these short trips sometimes resembles miracle. Malkin was on the point of setting off on an expedition of this sort when he was seized with a new and alarming malady, a disorder of the brain which I am not physiologist enough to understand and which has puzzled his medical attendants greatly. He talked incoherently, and could be managed only 1

Word obscured by stain from seal. 226

Thomas Flower Ellis

23 October 283J

with great difficulty. His medical advisers supposed at first that this derangement was merely the effect of the nervousness produced by his recent illness, and were more urgent than ever in recommending that he should proceed to sea without delay. A steamer was procured and he went down the river with his wife and a medical man. But before he had proceeded far, his mental disorder which had greatly abated before he set out returned with far greater violence than before. His distraction almost amounted to raving. It was necessary to bring him back instantly to Calcutta. His head was shaved. A blister was applied which produced a very powerful effect, and from that time he retained his faculties with little obscuration, - certainly with no more obscuration than is the ordinary effect of all very severe illness, — quite to the last. It was on Monday the 9th of this month, - just a fortnight ago, - that he was brought back. He was taken, not to his own house, but to that of a very valuable friend of his and mine, Mangles, son of the member for Guildford, and Secretary to the Government of Bengal in the Judicial and Revenue departments, an exceedingly able man, and highly respected both in his private and public character. He was very intimate with Malkin, and had been very kindly received by him some years ago when he was forced by illness to visit Penang. Malkin's house was about three miles from the town, — a great disadvantage in a country where the Doctor is so much in request and where acute disease makes such fearfully rapid progress. Mangles's house is in the very centre of public business. The medical men must pass it many times every day. They were therefore able to see their patient much more frequently than they could have done at his own residence. Nothing, I believe, was left undone. During several days after his return he appeared to be recovering rapidly. The medical men, while they strongly represented the necessity for care and vigilance, seemed to think that he was nearly, if not quite, out of danger. We all considered him as safe, — so much so that Ryan and I obtained from Lord Auckland who was just on the point of leaving Calcutta for the Upper Provinces a promise that Malkin should succeed me as President of the Committee of Public Instruction; and a child's fete in honor of my little niece's birth day, which we had put off on account of his illness, was celebrated with great hilarity. Then a sudden turn took place. A new set of symptoms appeared, — violent hiccuping, difficulty of breathing, most distressing weakness. He sank most rapidly. Yet we still continued to hope: and even those who thought worst of the case did not expect that the end of the struggle was so near. On the afternoon of the day before yesterday, Saturday the 21st, my sister went to sit with Lady Malkin and to render any assistance in her power. She found our poor friend dying. His wife was still sanguine. But every body else saw that the last moment was at hand. He retained his 227

23 October 183J

Thomas Flower Ellis

faculties however. The clock struck. He asked what the hour was. They told him "four." He said, "It is very dark for four o'clock." And so it was; for a huge black cloud, big with the last wind and rain of the wet season, was then hanging over Calcutta. These were his last words. He died so quietly that none of those who were present knew the exact moment. His body was examined, and, to my great astonishment, was found to be in a state of disorganization which must have been long in progress, three abscesses in the stomach, and the whole ceconomy of the brain disarranged. Yet little more than a month ago Malkin was constantly cited as an example of the vigorous health which it is possible for an Englishman to enjoy in Bengal. Nothing could exceed the kindness of Mangles and his wife through the whole of this melancholy business. Ryan's friendship was indefatigable. I had nothing to offer but my sympathy. But my sister did all that was in her power, and more than has agreed with her health, to assist Lady Malkin. The situation of that poor woman is quite heart-breaking. Her agony on Saturday evening was so dreadful that it quite overset even the physicians, accustomed as they are to witness the first convulsions of sorrow and despair in widowed wives and bereaved mothers. My sister passed the whole of yesterday with her, and is again with her now. Yesterday she mentioned you with great kindness and shewed my sister the little Greek Testament which you gave to Malkin at parting and which Malkin, she said, valued highly. He always, she says, carried it in his pocket. The last time that I saw him, poor fellow, which was on Tuesday the 17th, his best day since his return to Calcutta, I told him of the letter which I had recently received from you, and of the account which you gave in it of your professional and domestic goings on, to all of which he listened with warm interest, and most highly approved of your conduct respecting Liverpool. His mind was then as clear as mine is at this moment. After that day he repeatedly asked to see me when he knew that I was in the house. But the physicians would not permit it for fear of exciting him. Yesterday evening he was buried. Ryan, who took on himself the direction of all pecuniary matters, resolved, with excellent sense, that the funeral should be conducted in the simplest manner. It was so. The Cathedral is close to Mangles's house. There was therefore no occasion for a long train of hearses and mourning coaches. The coffin was carried by men on foot; and the procession had no other splendour than that which it derived from the rank and character of the mourners. Every body of the smallest note in the civil or military service who was at Calcutta attended. The Governor General and his train had set off for the North 228

Selina and Frances Macaulay

4 November 1837

Western Provinces on the preceding day. But the pall was borne by Ross the President of the Council of India and by the other members of the Council; Ryan was Chief mourner, and about two hundred persons of the first consideration in India followed the corpse. Very few funerals have ever been so honorably attended in this country. Poor fellow - you will easily believe that he could not hold during two years a high and important post in any society without acquiring general respect. As to money-matters his family will be tolerably off, though not as well off as he ought to have left them. He was, as I have several times told him, not sufficiently careful of money; and his conduct in this respect was hardly of a piece with the steady good sense which he showed in all other matters. He has been nearly five years in India. He ought to have laid by every year. But he leaves barely enough in his agent's hands to pay his debts. His life is insured however for 6000 £. His wife will, by the terms of the Charter of India, be entitled to half a year's salary, that is to say 3000 £ more. His furniture, plate, and carriages will yield another 1000 £, after paying for her passage home; so that she will have 10000 £; — and there is a wide interval between 10000 £ and destitution. I have many things to tell you. But they would be out of place in a letter on this sad subject. I will only say therefore that I have taken my passage home in the Lord Hungerford,1 the most celebrated of all the huge floating hotels which run between London and Calcutta. She is to sail in the first week of January. She is more renowned for the excellence of her internal arrangements than for her speed, and she stops at the Cape. Still I hope to shake your hand before the end of May. Kindest regards to Mrs. Ellis. Ever yours affectionately T B Macaulay TO S E L I N A AND F R A N C E S MACAULAY, 4 N O V E M B E R

1837

MS; Trinity College. Address: Miss Macaulays. Subscription; T B Macaulay.

Calcutta November 4. 1837 My dear sisters, This is, I hope, the last letter, — the last but one at any rate, which I shall write to you from this country. Our passage is taken in the Lord Hungerford. She is one of the most famous of the huge floating boardinghouses which ply between London and Calcutta. What an odd thing an East India ship is! And what an odd life that of an East India Captain! He stays in England from perhaps the middle of May to the end of July. If 1

708 tons, teak-built in Calcutta, 1813: Captain Farquharson (Lloyd's Register, 1837). 229

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he has, as he generally has, a wife and family, they see him during that short time, and at no other time. Then too he is as busy as possible, laying in Cargo and seeking for passengers. In the beginning of August he sets sail with a large party of writers, cadets, and husband-hunting damsels going to seek their fortunes in the East. A little before Christmas he reaches Bengal. There he finds a crowd of Nabobs and Nabobesses ready to return with him. In six weeks he has shipped his indigo and sugar; his passengers are on board. He sets off again and reaches England again in May. I know several people who pass their lives in this way, year after year; - whose faces we see as regularly in Calcutta during the cold season as we see the new potatoes and the green peas. One of the most celebrated of these stage-coachmen whose life is passed in going to and fro over the same track is Captain Farquharson of the Lord Hungerford. His ship is famous for the excellence of the accommodations, the luxury of the table, the abundance of cold water, the attention paid to invalids and children. There are filtering-machines in all the cabins. In the best cabins of which mine is one there are shower-baths. All this, you may suppose, must be paid for. Accordingly my passage will cost me four hundred pounds. As to Trevelyan who has a wife, a child and a woman servant to carry home, it will be well if he gets off for six hundred. If it were not on Hannah's account and that of the child I could wish that we were going by some less comfortable and more speedy ship. For the Lord Hungerford is not particularly renowned for expedition. However she made a very good voyage last year: and will, I hope, do as much this year. She has not yet arrived, and is not expected for the next three weeks. However her agents have booked us for the best places. She is advertised to sail for England on the 1st of January; and in general she is exact to her time. The agents tell me that the Captain fully purposes, nothing unforeseen happening, to be off before the end of the first week of January. If so you may be looking out for us during the latter half of May. We shall be fortunate if we arrive early in May, and unfortunate if we do not arrive till June. I send this letter under cover to Edward Cropper to whom I have also entrusted the management of a few matters of business connected with my return, which will, I hope, give him no trouble whatever. I have not received a single line from George since January last, when I had a letter from him dated, I think, in August 1836. The powers of attorney which I sent him in duplicate nearly a year and a half ago have never been acknowledged. I know that they have arrived. For Ellis tells me that there have been difficulties respecting them; and, very naturally, refers me to George who, he says, will of course have sent me full information. Indeed when I think of the brotherly terms on which I have lived with George, on the manner in which I have trusted all my own pecuniary interests in 230

Edward Cropper

5 November

England and all arrangements respecting my family to him, and when I then think on the unfeeling and unjust way in which he has behaved to me, I cannot help entertaining very strong resentment. I am afraid that we shall never be on the footing on which we have been; and this thought makes my return much less happy than it would otherwise be. But I must stop. My most affectionate love to my father, Charles, and John. Ever, my dear sisters, yours affectionately T B Macaulay TO E D W A R D C R O P P E R , 5 N O V E M B E R

1837

MS: Mrs Lancelot Errington. Address: Edward Cropper Esq / Liverpool. Extract published: Clive, Macaulay, p. 302.

Calcutta, November 5. 1837 Dear Edward, I sit down, not without many struggles, to do what ought to have been done sooner, but what I should hardly have resolution to do now, if I were not forced to do it as a matter of business. My omission to write has been caused by no want of kindness for you, but by feelings of which it is enough to say that, after three years of mourning, they still retain their bitterness, and that however long my life may be, they will go with me to my grave. Even now I cannot bear to talk of her. The sight of anything that was hers is too much for me. The pleasure great and exquisite as it is of thinking that I am on the point of returning to my country is turned into sorrow as often as I think of her who parted from me with so many tears, and who would have welcomed me home with so much tenderness and joy. But I did not mean to write in this strain; and I will not go on in it. I do promise myself a very great though a melancholy gratification from seeing your child. We hear all that is promising of him: and he is an object to me of almost as much interest as my little niece who has grown up under my eye, who passes half her time in running after me and chattering to me, and who has beguiled me of many sad thoughts. We propose to sail early in January. Our passage is secured in the Lord Hungerford. Of all the ships which ply between Calcutta and London she is the most celebrated for the excellence of her accomodations: but, I am sorry to say, she is not equally renowned for speed. We cannot hope therefore to be in England till near the end of May. I shall carry home, I hope, enough to make my family comfortable and myself independent, though I shall lose a great deal by the present state of the Exchanges. For, as you know probably better than I, the state of credit here is such that none but Government Bills can safely be taken; and Government Bills 231

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are so dear that I might as well invest my money in bullion and carry it home. However I have no reason to complain. I shall carry home my savings in bills on England; and I shall send duplicates and triplicates of these bills by other conveyances, in letters directed to myself, under covers addressed to you; in order that, if we are lost at sea, - an event which, though highly improbable, is not absolutely impossible, - my family may be provided for. I have not thought it worth while to send a will. For if such an event as I am supposing should happen, I am content that my property should be distributed as the law would distribute it. I shall leave all my furniture, plate, and carriages to be sold immediately after my departure; and I shall direct my agents to remit the proceeds to me, under cover addressed to you. The whole will be settfled]1 within a fortnight after we have sailed, and as the bills will be sent both overland, and by the quickest ships of the season round the Cape, they will probably arrive before us. The receiving of these letters and the safe-keeping of them till our arrival will not, I hope, give you much trouble. But, if it did, knowing your feelings as I do, I should not scruple to impose that trouble on you. Will you have the kindness to put the proper address on the enclosed letter and to send it to the post. I would not plague you with it, if I knew the direction. / Ever, dear Edward, Yours affectionately T B Macaulay TO S E L I N A AND F R A N C E S MACAULAY, 13 D E C E M B E R

1837

MS: Trinity College. Address: The Miss Macaulays. Subscription: T B Macaulay.

Calcutta December 13. 1837 My dear sisters, Yesterday evening the Lord Hungerford was announced by the Semaphore. She will sail again, I suppose, within a month; and we shall be on board of her. Our cabins are taken. Much of our cabin-furniture is bought. Almost the whole of our outfit has been procured. I am going to day to a bookseller to make arrangements for the packing of my books. I have bought, at a very unfavourable rate indeed, Government securities with my savings. The turn in the commercial world, the general insecurity, the increased demand for Government bills which alone inspire entire confidence, have caused me a considerable loss, which however I bear as I have borne much greater worldly misfortunes. If the exchanges 1

Letter torn. 232

Selina and Frances Macaulay

23 December 183J

were now at the rate at which they were a year ago, I should carry home at least three thousand pounds more than I shall now have. However I have resolved to risk nothing, and to buy none but bills which are exactly of as much value as gold, whatever they may cost me. I shall send home duplicates to Edward Cropper in order that, if we should be lost at sea, which I do not at all expect, you may be comfortable as far as money goes. My plate, carriages, and furniture, will be sold by auction as soon as we sail, and the proceeds which will be sent after me, also under cover to Edward, will probably be in England before me. I hope and trust that what I carry home will, together with my uncle's legacy, be enough to make us comfortable. But, owing to George's obstinate silence, now continued so long that it is a year within a few days since I heard from him, I have no information whatever as to the probable out-turn of my uncle's property. Had he told me what I had to expect, as I pressed him earnestly to do, and as he ought to have done, I should have made my arrangements accordingly, and, if necessary for the interest of my family, should have staid another year in India. But, left utterly in the dark as I have been, I have thought it better, even in a pecuniary point of view, to go home and look after interests respecting which I cannot obtain a single syllable of intelligence than to stay here. I waited to the very last in expectation of hearing; and did not send home the announcement of my intention to return this winter, till I could no longer delay it without acting unfairly by the public. The step is now of course irrevocable. My successor is chosen;1 and will soon be here. I hope for the best. That is to say I hope that the anxiety of some months will be the whole amount of the evil which is to be occasioned by George's shameful treatment of me. Very few things in my life have wounded me so deeply. But neither these painful thoughts nor any others can prevent me from feeling the most exquisite, I may say the most childish pleasure, in the near prospect of seeing my family, my friends, and my country again. I cannot say more to magnify that pleasure than that it is sufficient to compensate for the pain of banishment. What that pain was in my case is known to myself alone. The pleasure is however as intense as the pain. I fear that it will not be of equal duration. As we shall in all probability pass a few days at the Cape we shall hardly reach England till the latter part of May. But I shall think our voyage very unlucky if our arrival be deferred later than the first days of June. I have a noble supply of German books which Longman has just sent out to me, and I intend to give ten or eleven hours a day during the 1

TBM's place on the Council was taken by Andrew Amos (1791—1860: DNB), a barrister, member of the Criminal Law Commission, and Professor of Law at the London University; he was sworn in at India House on 18 October. 233

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voyage to the mastering of that language. I have found a few occasional hours for it during the last five or six weeks, and I already get on with it tolerably. When we reach England I hope to have finished Schiller's works in twelve volumes and Goethe's in fifty-five. I promise myself a greater quantity of information and amusement from German than I have found in any modern foreign language, except French. Where we shall land is of course uncertain. But Portsmouth is the most likely place. Hannah and Trevelyan will, I believe, proceed immediately to Somersetshire. On such occasions the husband's family expect to be first served; not to say that the husband has been eleven years from home, and the wife only four years. I shall proceed instantly to London, from the place where I land, be it where it may. I shall drive, unless something occurs to change my plan, to Parker's, for the purpose of learning where you are. Wherever you are, it will not be long before you and my dear father see me. If you are out of London I shall probably set out to join you, within twenty four hours after my arrival. I have received some puffing of my article on Lord Bacon; but I have no information yet as to the impression which it has generally made. I expect that parts of it will be furiously attacked. But I believe it to be in the main inexpugnable. And I am sure that it is, by many degrees, the best thing that I ever wrote. I shall bring home with me a folio volume of my works, - a complete penal Code with notes, the last sheet of which is to be printed off to day. It will have no interest for ladies. But I hope that it will not do me discredit among people who take note of such things. This letter will go by the Seringapatam, a ship celebrated for speed, which is to weigh anchor at gun-fire to morrow morning. You will receive it, I hope, by the end of March. It will be the last, I hope and trust, that I shall write to you from this country. Besides this letter the Seringapatam carries home our poor friend, Lady Malkin, the widow of Sir Benjamin, for whom, both on public and private grounds, I have been a most sincere mourner. It carries also a bridal party, Captain Trevelyan, Hannah's brother in law, and his newly espoused lady.1 The Captain had long been promising us a visit. At last ill-health compelled him to go to the Cape, and he came to Calcutta [for]2 that purpose. His brother promised that we shou[ld find]2 him a most delightful man. But when he came, though a very good sort of man, he bored me a little, Hannah a good deal, his brother almost to death. Hannah and Trevelyan accordingly took to match-making, and got rid of the Captain by marrying him to a 1

2

Captain Henry Trevelyan married Emilia Anne Greig, November 1837—'that execrable Mrs. Henry Trevelyan' TBM calls her later (Journal, 1, 421: 26 November 1848). Covered by wafer.

234

Thomas Flower Ellis

18 December 1833

bouncing Scotch girl at the next house. It is just a month since we escorted the happy pair to the Cathedral: and since that time the bridegroom has been boring his wife's relations instead of his own. Do not let a word of this history get abroad: for he is, I understand, decidedly the favourite of the whole Trevelyan family. He and his bride are bound only to the Cape, where we shall probably see them before long. Kindest and most affectionate love to my father. God grant that we may find him in tolerable health. Love to Charles. Ever yours affectionately T B Macaulay TO T H O M A S F L O W E R E L L I S , 18 D E C E M B E R

1837

MS: Trinity College. Address: T F Ellis Esq /15 Bedford Place / London. Upper left corner: By the first ship. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Partly published: Trevelyan, 1, 464-5; 11, 58.

Calcutta December 18. 1837 Dear Ellis, My last letter was on a deeply melancholy subject, the death of our poor friend Malkin. His affairs, I am glad to find, have turned out rather better than we expected. The sale of his property was singularly lucky. His furniture brought more than he had paid for it. On the whole I hope that his widow will have not less than 12000 jT. Ryan has made the most of everything for her. I have felt very much for her. I was not extremely partial to her in the days of her prosperity. But the intensity of her affliction, and the fortitude and good feeling which she shewed as soon as the first agony was over have interested me greatly in her. Six or seven of Malkin's most intimate friends here have joined with Ryan and me in subscribing to put up a plain marble tablet in the Cathedral for which I have written an inscription.1 Lady Malkin carries home a very good cast of his head, taken immediately after his death; and I hope that we shall be able to have a bust made from it. My own departure is now near at hand. This is the last letter which I shall write to you from India. I look forward with more pleasure than I can express, with even childish pleasure, to my return; and there are few circumstances connected with that return which I anticipate with more delight than my meeting with you. The effects of the commercial crisis in England and America has been strongly felt here. Credit has suffered greatly, and the exchanges which a year ago were in a state exceedingly favourable to India have turned. Last year I could have easily obtained 1

The inscription appears in TBM's Miscellaneous Writings. A copy of it in Emily Shore's Journal is dated 7 December 1837 (Journal of Emily Shore, 1891, p. 271).

235

i8 December 2837

Thomas Flower Ellis

two shillings and three pence for every sicca rupee of my savings, and that with perfect security. Now I am forced to give a sicca rupee for one shilling and eleven pence or less. I have lost in consequence of this commercial revolution about three thousand pounds.1 However I shall have, I hope, enough to be comfortable myself and to make my nearest connections so. My passage is taken in the Lord Hungerford which is to sail about the middle of January. She is a highly celebrated vessel, celebrated for the comfort and luxury of her internal arrangements rather than for her speed. As we are to stop at the Cape for a short time, I hardly expect to be in England till the end of May or the beginning of June. I have made ample intellectual provision for the voyage. I intend to make myself a good German scholar by the time of my arrival in England. I have already, at leisure moments, broken the ice. I have read about half of the New Testament in Luther's translation; and am now getting rapidly, for a beginner, through Schiller's History of the Thirty Years' War. At present I can only afford an hour or two in the day for this study. At sea I intend to read German regularly ten hours a day. And I am quite certain that in four months, reading at the rate of ten hours a day, I shall make a complete conquest of the language. My German library consists of all Goethe's works, all Schiller's works, Muller's History of Switzerland,2 some of Tieck, some of Lessing, and some other works of less fame. I hope to dispatch them all on my way home. - By the bye, when I wrote to Napier to order this supply, I begged him to send me whatever is the easiest classical book in German, that I might begin with it, — such a book, I said, as Xenophon's Anabasis is in Greek.3 Napier misunderstood me strangely; and Leipsic has been ransacked for a German translation of Xenophon's Anabasis; as if any person who can read the work in Greek would give a rotten nut for a version in German. I like Schiller's style exceedingly. I find in his history a great deal of very just and deep thought conveyed in language so popular and agreable that dunces would be likely to think him superficial. I have a strong notion that Schiller will be more to my taste than Goethe. But it is rather premature in me to give any opinion; as I have read nothing of Goethe, except a ballad about a fellow who wants to kiss a miller's daughter, and whom she repels, telling him that, if he takes any liberties with her, his fine clothes will be covered with meal.4 The merit of the composition is 1

2 3 4

Given the proportions that TBM uses, it appears that his savings were now worth about £17,250. This sum does not include his legacy from his Uncle Colin: see 25 July 1836. Johannes von Miiller, Geschichten Schwei^erischer Eidgenossenschaft, 1786—1808. See the first of the two letters of 28 November 1836 to Napier. 'Der Edelknabe und die Miillerin.'

236

Thomas Flower Ellis

18 December 2837

on a par with that of the ballads which are stuck on the rails in Privy Garden.1 But of course it is not by the epitaph on Hobson the carrier that we estimate Milton. - 1 have no doubt that I shall find much to admire in Goethe. I have during this year, the last of my life in India, read again all Livy and all Cicero, and I am now going again through Tacitus. They are the three great names in the literature of Rome. I put them all decidedly above any of the Latin poets. I have again, in a dawdling way, at odd minutes, gone through Aulus Gellius, who, though a frivolous fellow, is rather a favourite with me. In Greek I have during this year read Homer twice through, the greater part of Plato, Aristotle's Politics, which I think by far his finest work, Thucydides, all Xenophon's works, Philostratus's Life of Apollonius of Tyana, a heap of impudent lies which nevertheless sets one a thinking, some of Nonnus's trash, which tired me to death, Herodian, Polybius, a good many of Plutarch's lives over and over, Lysias twice, a good deal of Isocrates, Longinus, and some of the best speeches of Demosthenes. I took it into my head to obtain some knowledge of the fathers; and I read therefore a good deal of Athanasius, which by no means raised him in my opinion. I procured the magnificent edition of Chrysostom by Montfaucon2 from a public library here, and turned over the eleven huge folios, reading whenever the subject was of peculiar interest. As to reading him through, the thing is impossible. These volumes contain matter at least equal to the whole extant literature of the best times of Greece from Homer to Aristotle inclusive. There are certainly some very brilliant passages in his homilies. It seems curious that, though the Greek literature began to flourish so much earlier than the Latin, it continued to flourish so much later. Indeed, if you except the century which elapsed between Cicero's first public appearance and Livy's death, I am not sure that there was any time at which Greece had not writers equal or superior to their Roman contemporaries. I am sure that no Latin writer of the age of Lucian is to be named with Lucian, that no Latin writer of the age of Longinus [is]3 to be named with Longinus, that no Latin prose of th[e age]3 of Chrysostom can be named with Chrysostom's compositions.] 3 I have read Augustin's confessions. The book is not without interest. But he expresses himself in the style of a field-preacher. Our penal Code is to be published next week. It has cost me very intense labour; and, whatever its faults may be, is certainly not a slovenly performance. It is full of defects which I see, and has no doubt many which I do not see. Yet I think that it is, as a whole, better than the 1 2 3

Between Parliament Street and the Thames, once part of Whitehall Palace. Bernard de Montfaucon, ed., Chrysostom, Opera Omniay Paris, 1718—38. Paper torn away with seal.

237

ly January 1838

Henry Thoby Prinsep

French Code or than Livingston's Code of Louisiana. I shall be curious to know what you think of it. Whether the work prove useful to India or not, it has been of great use, I feel and know, to my own mind. Your English politics seem to be in a singular state. The elections appear to have left the two parties still almost exactly equal in parliamentary strength. There seems to be a tendency in the public mind to moderation. But there seems also to be a most pernicious disposition to mix up religion with politics. For my own part I can conceive nothing more dangerous to the interests of religion than the new conservative device of representing a reforming spirit as synonymous with an infidel spirit. For a short time the Tories may gain something by giving to civil abuses the sanctity of religion. But religion will very soon begin to contract the unpopularity which belongs to civil abuses. The world is governed by associations. That which is always appealed to as a defence for every grievance, will soon be considered as a grievance itself. No cry which deprives the people of valuable servants and raises jobbers and oppressors to power will long continue to be a popular cry. There will be, I am satisfied, a violent reaction; and ten years hence Christianity will be as unpopular a topic on the hustings as the duty of seeking the Lord would have been at the time of the Restoration. Remember me with all kindness to Mrs. Ellis. I hope to present myself in Bedford place in five months or very little more. I am sorry to hear so bad an account of Frank's studies. I expected to have found him a better scholar than myself. But there seems to be little danger. Under favour, there must be mismanagement somewhere. For he is a very quick fellow. Yours ever most truly T B Macaulay TO H E N R Y T H O B Y P R I N S E P , 1 17 J A N U A R Y

1838

Text: Proof copy, Trinity College.

Ship Lord Hungerford, / 17th January 1838. Sir, I have the honour to transmit to you a paper by which I have this day resigned my seat in the Council of India, and which I request that you will lay before His Honour the President in Council. / I have the honour to be, / Sir, Your most obedient Servant, T. B. Macaulay. 1

The letter is sent to Prinsep in his capacity as Secretary to the Government of India in the General, Foreign, and Financial Departments.

238

Ross Donnelly Mangles

1 y January 1838 [Enclosure]

Ship Lord Hungerford, January 17, 1838. I hereby resign my situation of fourth ordinary Member of the Council of India. T. B. Macaulay.

TO

Ross

DONNELLY MANGLES,

17

JANUARY

1838

Text: Copy, India Office Library.

Ship Lord Hungerford / Jany. 17th 1838. Sir, I have the honor to acknowledge the communication which by order of His Honor the President-in-Council, you made to me on the n t h of this month.1 The resolution recorded by His Honor-in-Council has gratified me most highly. It has gratified me on public no less than on private grounds. The situation of fourth ordinary member of Council is one of considerable difficulty and delicacy. He comes from the legal or political circles of England, while his colleagues are members of the civil and military services of India. He is transferred in manhood to a country in which they have been settled from their youth upwards. It is natural that men who have laboured for many years in the East should consider him as an intruder, that they should be jealous of his sudden elevation, that his ignorance on many subjects which are familiar to them should excite their contempt. It was therefore repeatedly predicted both in England and in India that this attempt to unite in one body members from England and members from the services must fail, and that the public business would be interrupted by endless altercations. Having been the first to fill a situation so embarrassing, I trust that I may be permitted to congratulate the Government on the manner in which these predictions have been falsified. I shall always remember with pleasure how cordially every member of the Government has been disposed to cooperate with me for the public good, to supply me with that local information in which I was necessarily deficient, to concede unimportant points, and where he was compelled to dissent from me, to give me credit for the same good intentions of which he was himself conscious. Thinking as I do that it is of high importance to the public that there should be mutual confidence and good will 1

A resolution of thanks for ' the most efficient aid which the Board has at all times derived from Mr. Macaulay's eminent talents' was recorded on 11 January by the GovernorGeneral in Council (India Legislative Proceedings, xci, January-March 1838: 11 January 1838, No. 17).

239

ly January 18sS

Ross Donnelly Mangles

between the fourth ordinary member of Council and his colleagues, I cannot but draw a happy augury for the future from the events of the last three years and from the resolution which you have communicated to me. With every wish for the happiness of my late colleagues and for the prosperity of the India Empire under their administration, / I have the honor to be, / Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant T. B. Macaulay

240

ENGLAND, ITALY, AND RETURN TO POLITICS 14 JUNE 1838 - AUGUST 1841

1838 May 13 Death of Zachary Macaulay - c. June 1 Lands at Dartmouth - c. June 4 Arrives in London: settles at 3 Clarges Street - September 12 Finishes 'Life and Writings of Sir William Temple' (ER, October) - October 12 Leaves for Italian tour - November 2—12 In Florence - November 15-December 30 In Rome 1839 January 1—16 In Naples - February 6 Elected to Reform Club - February 7 Arrives in London - March 7 Finishes 'Church and State' (ER, April) - March 9 Begins History of England - March 19 Elected to The Club - May 15 Invited to stand for Edinburgh - May 29 First of his election speeches at Edinburgh - June 4 Elected M.P. for Edinburgh; presented with freedom of the city - June 18 First speech - on the ballot - following his return to Parliament 241

September 2 Speech at Mechanics' Institute, Edinburgh - Early September In Paris - September 17 Offered appointment as Secretary at War in Melbourne's cabinet - September 30 Sworn of the Privy Council - October 1 Attends his first cabinet - November 14 Finishes 'Sir John Malcolm's Life of Lord Clive9 (ER, January 1840) 1840 January Moves to 12 Great George Street - January 14 C. E. Trevelyan given Treasury post; Hannah Macaulay Trevelyan thus enabled to remain in England - January 23 Re-elected for Edinburgh in consequence of appointment as Secretary at War - January 29 Speech in defense of the ministry - April 7 Speech on war with China - August In Paris - September 30 Finishes 'Ranke's History of the Popes — Revolutions of the Papacy' (ER, October) - December 24 Finishes 'Comic Dramatists of the Restoration' (ER, January 1841) 1841 February 5 Speech on copyright -July 1 Re-elected at Edinburgh following dissolution of Parliament -July 'The Late Lord Holland/ ER - August 30 Melbourne's ministry resigns

242

Macvey Napier

14 June 1838

TO MACVEY NAPIER, 14 JUNE

1838

MS: British Museum. Mostly published: Napier, Correspondence, pp. 255-6.

3 Clarges Street London1 June 14. 1838 Dear Napier, I must be concise: for I am, as you will easily suppose, plentifully supplied with employment of various kinds. A few days will, I hope, give me the command of my time. I did not need your letter to satisfy me of your kindness and of the pleasure which my arrival would give you. I have returned with a small independence, but still an independence. All my tastes and wishes lead me to prefer literature to politics. When I say this to my friends here, some of them seem to think that I am out of my wits, and others that I am coquetting to raise my price. I, on the other hand, believe that I am wise, and know that I am sincere. I am so much distracted by various matters, so unsettled, and so unprovided with books that I fear that I may be unable to do any thing for your next number. I will however set to work on Sir William Temple as soon as I can get my library through the Custom House. I have a good many thoughts in my head of which something may be made. I received your letter about Bacon three weeks before I left India. I could, I think, defend my doctrines as to what Bacon did for inductive philosophy. But I will not enter on the subject now. We shall, I hope, have many opportunities of talking it over, and getting at the truth wherever the truth may be. Lord Brougham's objections2 arise from an utter misconception of my whole argument and of every part of it. I am glad that his Lordship has taken to writing more spirited and taking articles than he has furnished for a long time. But really he ought not to be suffered to insert abuse of Lord Glenelg and Lord Palmerston in the Edinburgh Review.3 However I do not at all blame you. You must have, just at present, a sufficiently difficult game to play. 1

2 3

From various sources it is possible to construct an outline of TBM's return journey: the Lord Hunger ford sailed on 21 January, had left the Cape on 21 March, passed St Helena on 4 April, and landed its passengers at Dartmouth on about 1 June. From Dartmouth the Trevelyans went to Milverton vicarage, Somersetshire, where Trevelyan's mother and sisters lived with his unmarried brother John, the Vicar. TBM, after a night in Exeter, went on to London, where he arrived about 4 June, and where he would have learned that his father had died on 13 May. He must have moved in at once at 3 Clarges Street, where his father had died and where Fanny and Selina were still residing. Brougham's objections, the chief of which was that TBM is 'quite ignorant' of Bacon's philosophy, appear in his letter to Napier of 28 July 1837 (Napier, Correspondence, pp. 196-7). In 'George the Fourth and Queen Caroline — Abuses of the Press,' ER, LXVII (April 1838), Brougham remarks that Glenelg and Palmerston, as friends of Canning, were opposed to reform (pp. 26; 79). 9

243

PLO

in

[i 4 June 1838]

Thomas Spring-Rice

Yesterday I went to the E[ast] I[ndia] House, and there, to my great satisfaction, I saw your son with whom I made acquaintance at Edinburgh near five years ago. He told me that your health was very greatly improved, and glad I was to hear it. I shall be curious when we meet to see your correspondence with Wallace.1 Empson seemed to be a little uneasy, lest the foolish man should give me trouble. I thought it impossible that he could be so absurd; and, as I have now been in London ten days without hearing of him, I am confirmed in my opinion. In any event, you need not be anxious. If it be absolutely necessary to meet him, I will. But I foresee no such necessity; and, as Junius says, I never will give a proof of my spirit at the expense of my understanding. But I must have done. Remember me most kindly to Lord Jeffrey. Tell Empson that I will write to him shortly. Ever yours most truly T B Macaulay TO T H O M A S S P R I N G - R I C E , [14 J U N E 1838]2 MS: Yale University.

3 Clarges Street / Thursday Dear Rice, I will with great pleasure accept your invitation for the 17th. I hope however in spite of all difficulties to fall in with you before that day. Many thanks for your kindness about the Trevelyans. I am sure that my sister will greatly value Lady Theodosia's3 acquaintance. Ever yours T B Macaulay 1

I.e., about Wallace's challenge to Napier: see 8 February 1836. Wallace had been waiting for TBM's return to England since the review of Mackintosh appeared (see 10 December 1834), and TBM's friends showed great anxiety about the event. Empson suggested that he should summon Wallace and TBM to Bow Street to keep the peace to each other (to Napier, 23 April [1838]: MS, British Museum). 2 Dated from the following extract from Hobhouse's diary: 'This day, June 17,1 dined with our Chancellor of the Exchequer [Spring-Rice], and met Macaulay, Lord William Bentinck, the Duke of Richmond, Lord Melbourne, and Lord John Russell.' Hobhouse adds: * Macaulay was in high spirits, and every one seemed delighted with his talk. I heard Lord William Bentinck say, "He is a most extraordinary man'" (Broughton, Recollections of a Long Life, v, 138). 3 Spring-Rice's wife.

244

Macvey Napier ro MACVEY NAPIER, 26 JUNE

2 6 June 1838 1838

MS: British Museum. Mostly published: Napier, Correspondence, pp. 256-8.

3 Clarges Street June 26. 1838 Dear Napier, I assure you that I would willingly and even eagerly undertake the subject which you propose1 if I thought that I should serve you by doing so. But, depend upon it, you do not know what you are asking for. I have done my best to ascertain what I can and what I cannot do. There are extensive classes of subjects which I think my self able to treat as few people can treat them. After this you cannot suspect me of any affectation of modesty. And you will therefore believe that I tell you what I sincerely think when I say that I am not successful in analyzing the effect of works of genius. I have written several things on historical, political, and moral questions of which, on the fullest reconsideration, I am not ashamed, and by which I should be willing to be estimated. But I have never written a page of criticism on poetry or the fine arts which I would not burn if I had the power. I leave it to yourself to make the comparison. I am sure that on reflection you will agree with me. Hazlitt used to say of himself "I am nothing if not critical."2 The case with me is directly the reverse. I have a strong and acute enjoyment of great works of the imagination; but I have never habituated myself to dissect them. Perhaps I enjoy them the more keenly for that very reason. Such books as Lessing's Laocoon, — such passages as the criticism on Hamlet in Wilhelm Meister3 fill me with wonder and despair. Now a review of Lockhart's book ought to be a review of Sir Walter's literary performances. I enjoy many of them, — nobody, I believe, more keenly. But I am sure that there are hundreds who will criticize them far better. Trust to my knowledge of myself. I never in my life was more certain of anything than of what I tell you: and I am sure that Lord Jeffrey will tell you exactly the same. There are other objections of less weight, but not quite unimportant. Surely it would be desirable that some person who knew Sir Walter, — who had at least seen him and spoken with him, — should be charged with this article. Many people are living who had a most intimate acquaintance with him. I know no more of him than I know of Dry den or Addison, — not a tenth part so much as I know of Swift, Cowper, or Johnson. Then again, I have not, from the little that I do know of him, formed so high an 1

2

Lockhart's Life of Scott, 7 vols., 1837-8. Empson wrote to Napier, 13 December [1837] that 'you will do quite right in keeping Scott's life for Macaulay' (MS, British Museum): no review of the book appeared in the ER. E.g., 'On the Disadvantages of Intellectual Superiority' in Table-Talk {Works, ed. P. P. 3 Howe, VIII, 283). E.g., Book 4, chs. 3; 13. 245

9-2

26 June 2838

Macvey Napier

opinion of his character as most people seem to entertain and as it would be expedient for the Edinburgh Review to express. He seems to me to have been most carefully and successfully on his guard against the sins which most easily beset literary men. On that side he multiplied his precautions, and set double watch. Hardly any writer of note has been so free from the petty jealousies and morbid irritabilities of our caste. But I do not think that he kept himself equally pure from faults of a very different kind, - from the faults of a man of the world. In politics a bitter and unscrupulous partisan, — greedy of gain — profuse and ostentatious in expense, — agitated by the hopes and fears of a gambler, — perpetually sacrificing the perfection of his compositions and the durability of his fame to his eagerness for money, - writing with the slovenly haste of Dryden in order to satisfy wants which were not, like those of Dryden, caused by circumstances beyond his controul, but which were produced by his own extravagant waste or rapacious speculation; — this is the way in which he appears to me. I am sorry for it. For I sincerely admire the greater part of his works. But I cannot think him a high-minded man or a man of very strict principle. Now these are opinions which, however softened, it would be highly unpopular to publish, particularly in a Scotch Review. But why cannot you prevail on Lord Jeffrey to furnish you with this article ? No man could do it half so well. He knew and loved Scott; and would perform the critical part of the w o r k - much the most importantincomparably. I have said a good deal in the hope of convincing you that it is not without reason that I decline a task which I see that you wish me to undertake. I am quite unsettled. Breakfasts every morning — dinners every evening and calls all day prevent me from making any regular exertion. My books are at the baggage warehouse. My book-cases are in the hands of the cabinet-maker. Whatever I write at present I must, as Bacon somewhere says, spin like a spider, out of my own entrails.1 And I have hardly a minute in the week for such spinning. London is in a strange state of excitement.2 The western streets are in a constant ferment. The influx of foreigners and rustics has been prodigious, and the regular inhabitants are almost as idle and curious as the sojourners. Crowds assemble perpetually, nobody knows why, with a sort of vague expectation that there will be something to see, and after staring at each other, disperse without seeing any thing. This will last till the Coronation is over. The only quiet haunts are the streets of the city. For my part I am sick to death of the turmoil, and almost wish my self at Calcutta again, or becalmed on the Equator. 1 2

Advancement of Learning, Book 1 (Works, ed. Spedding, new edn, in [1887], 285-6). Victoria's coronation was on 28 June.

246

William Whewell

3 July 1838

Empson is happy by this time.1 I shall not therefore trouble you with any kind remembrances to him. But give Jeffrey every sort of affectionate message from me. Ever yours most truly T B Macaulay TO W I L L I A M W H E W E L L , 3 J U L Y

1838

MS: Trinity College.

3 Clarges Street / July 3. 1838 Dear Whewell, I ought to have thanked you earlier for your volumes.2 But I wished to read at least part of them first: and the state in which London has recently been has not been favourable to any studies more severe than the perusal of Nicholas Nickleby's Adventures.3 I have as yet read but little and irregularly. And I find much which, owing to my foolish idleness at Cambridge, is far beyond my depth. I would give a great deal now to have three years of leisure for mathematical and physical studies. But that is past praying for. I can only say as Socrates did of Heraclitus that I like what I understand so well that I am disposed to give equal credit to what I do not understand.4 I have just learned that poor Malkin's legal friends are coming very eagerly forward to subscribe for a marble bust of him, to be presented to Lady Malkin. It will be taken from an exceedingly good cast made at Calcutta. It has occurred to me that some of his old College friends might be willing to join in such a mark of regard for his memory. If you think with me, you will perhaps let this be known among the Trinity men who are likely to remember him with kindness. / Believe me ever, / Dear Whewell, Yours very truly T B Macaulay 1 2 3 4

He married Charlotte Jeffrey, 27 June. Probably Whewell's History of the Inductive Sciences^ 3 vols., 1837. Dickens's novel began publication in monthly parts on 31 March 1838. Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers; 11, 22.

247

[Early July, 1838]

Lord Mahon

TO LORD MAHON, [EARLY JULY,

1838]1

MS: Stanhope Papers, Chevening.

[London] Dear Lord Mahon, I am much obliged to you for the interesting little volume which you have sent me.2 I have read it with great pleasure. It raises Peterborough's character in my estimation; or rather it confirms me in an opinion to which I have for some time been inclined, that he had far more depth and accuracy of judgment than might have been expected from his way of conducting himself in trifles. The eccentricity of his manners and the vivacity of his style have injured his reputation. If he had written dull dispatches, and never travelled but in a coach and six he would have been thought a much wiser man. Are the letters tolerably spelt? That is a point about which I am rather curious with regard to all the eminent men of Peterborough's generation. Some of them, Marlborough for example, spelt like washerwomen. Others, the majority indeed of the gentry and even the best educated ladies, had what may be called a fashionable freedom of spelling. Stella is an instance. The men of letters, Swift for example, spelt, not always as we do now, but as systematically as we do now, and were as quick in detecting a fault of orthography as we should be. This seems to me a sort of criterion by which we may ascertain whether a man of that time was grossly illiterate - whether he had a mere gentlemanly sprinkling3 [. . . . ] 4 1 2 3

4

Endorsed 'July 1838' by Lord Mahon; it clearly precedes 7 July 1838. Mahon's privately printed volume of Letters from the Earl of Peterborough to General Stanhope in Spain, from the Originals at Chevening, 1834. TBM had written at length of the character and exploits of the third Earl of Peterborough — 'the most extraordinary character of that age' —in his review of Mahon's War of the Succession in Spain, ER, LVI (1833). The rest is missing.

248

Lord Mahon TO LORD MAHON, 7 JULY

y July 1838 1838

MS: Stanhope Papers, Chevening.

Dear Lord Mahon, I am glad to hear so good an account of Lord Peterborough's spelling. I will with great pleasure join your party on Thursday. I shall suppose that your hour is 1/2 after 7 unless I hear to the contrary. Yours very sincerely T B Macaulay 3 Clarges Street / July 7. 1838

TO [ T H O M A S N O O N T A L F O U R D ] , 1 9 J U L Y [1838?] MS: Harvard University.

3 Clarges Street July 9 My dear Sir, I am truly obliged to you for your present and for the kind note which accompanied it. The poems I already know and admire. But I shall always value this copy of them highly.2 I hope that the House of Commons will not seduce you from tragedy, as, unhappily for his fame, it seduced Sheridan from comedy. - Believe me, my dear Sir, Yours very faithfully T B Macaulay TO MACVEY N A P I E R , 20 J U L Y

1838

MS: British Museum. Address: Professor Napier / Edinburgh. Frank: London / July twenty 1838 / Gosford.3 Mostly published: Trevelyan, 11, 10-14.

3 Clarges Street London July 20. 1838 Dear Napier, You shall certainly have an article on Temple for the October Number. Perhaps I may be able to furnish another paper: but that is matter for 1

2

3

Talfourd's name has been added to the MS in another hand. Thomas Noon Talfourd (1795-1854: DNB), serjeant-at-law and later Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, was a busy man of letters as well, the friend and biographer of Lamb, and best-known for his tragedy, Ion. Talfourd was in Parliament, 1835—41, when he attempted to secure a copyright act (see 7 April 1842), and again, 1847-54. Perhaps the copy of Ion and The Athenian Captive (published in May 1838) in the shelf-list of TBM's library. It is just possible, but not very likely, that Talfourd's anonymous Poems on Various Subjects, 1811, is meant. Archibald Acheson (1776-1849), second Earl of Gosford; Irish representative peer, 1811-49, and a Whig; Governor of Canada, 1835—8.

249

20 July 2838

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future consideration. The prospects of the Review seem to be good, and I will do my best to help you. The new Number is, I think, a highly creditable one, — particularly by comparison with the last Quarterly. As to Brougham I understand and feel for your embarrassments.1 I may perhaps refine too much. But I should say that this strange man, finding himself almost alone in the world, absolutely unconnected with either Whigs or Conservatives, and not having a single vote in either house of parliament at his command except his own, is desirous to make the Review his organ. With this intention, unless I am greatly deceived, after having during several years contributed little or nothing of value, he has determined to exert himself as if he were a young writer struggling into note, and to make himself important to the work by his literary services. And he certainly has succeeded. His late articles - particularly the long one in the April Number 2 -have very high merit. They are indeed models of magazine-writing, as distinguished from other sorts of writing. They are not, I think, made for duration. Every thing about them is exaggerated, incorrect, sketchy. All the characters are either too black or too fair. The passions of the writer do not suffer him even to maintain the decent appearance of impartiality. And the style, though striking and animated, will not bear examination through a single paragraph. But the effect of the first perusal is great, and few people read an article in a Review twice. A bold, dashing, scene-painting manner, is that which always succeeds best in periodical writing. And I have no doubt that these lively and vigorous papers of Lord Brougham will be of more use to you than more highly finished compositions. His wish, I imagine, is to establish in this way such an ascendancy as may enable him to drag the Review along with him to any party to which his furious passions may lead him, — to the Radicals, to the Tories, to any set of men by whose help he may be able to revenge himself on old friends whose only crime is that they could not help finding him to be a habitual and incurable traitor. Hitherto your caution and firmness has done wonders. Yet already he has begun to use the word Whig as an epithet of reproach, exactly as it is used in the lowest writings of the Tories and of the extreme Radicals, exactly as it is used in Blackwood, in Fraser, in the Age, in Tait's Magazine. There are several instances in the Article on Lady Charlotte Bury- : "the Whig notions of female propriety" - "the Whig secret Tribunal" 3 - etc. I have no doubt that the tone of his papers will become more and more hostile to the 1

2 3

Brougham had been pointedly omitted from the cabinet formed by Melbourne in 1835 and no longer had a place in the Whig party. Evidently TBM's return from India had reawakened Brougham's old jealousy and led him to make an issue to Napier of TBM's * party' and its hostility to Brougham: see Napier, Correspondence, pp. 259-68. 'George the Fourth and Queen Caroline,' ER, LXVII (April 1838), pp. 1-80. ER,

LXVII, 17; 32.

250

Macvey Napier

20 July 1838

Government; and that in a short time it will be necessary for you to take one of three courses, to every one of which there are strong objections, to break with him, - to admit his papers into the Review, while the rest of the Review continues to be written in quite a different tone, — or to yield to his dictation and to let him make the Review a mere tool of his ambition and revenge. The last you will not do. It is exceedingly desirable that the Review should maintain one character, and should not, on great questions, be divided against itself. And it is also exceedingly desirable to avert or postpone as long as possible a breach with Brougham. I do not know that it is possible to act, under all the circumstances, better than you are acting. I will only offer one suggestion. The great services which Brougham is now rendering to the Review are so far from being a reason for neglecting to obtain reinforcements from other quarters that they are a very strong reason for making every exertion to prove to him and to the public that the Review does not depend on him alone. As to Brougham's feelings towards myself, I know and have known for a long time that he hates me. If during the last ten years I have gained any reputation, either in politics or in letters, if I have had any success in life, it has been without his help or countenance, and often in spite of his utmost exertions to keep me down. It is strange that he should be surprised at my not calling on him since my return.1 I did not call on him when I went away. When he was Chancellor and I was in office I never once attended his levee. It would be strange indeed if now, when he is squandering the remains of his public character in an attempt to ruin the party of which he was a member then and of which I am a member still, I should begin to pay court to him. For the sake of the long intimacy which subsisted between him and my father, and of the mutual good offices which passed between them, I will not, unless I am compelled, make any public attack on him. But this is really the only tie which restrains me. For I neither love him nor fear him. With regard to the Indian Penal Code, if you are satisfied that Empson really wishes to review it on its own account, and not merely out of kindness to me, I should not at all object to his doing so.2 The subject is one of immense importance. The work is of a kind too abstruse for common readers, and can be made known to them only through the medium of some popular exposition. There is another consideration which weighs much with me. The press in India is a mere newspaperpress, and is quite unfitted for the discussion of a subject so extensive and 1

2

'But what do you think of his never having called on me since his return?' (Brougham to Napier, 4 July 1838: Napier, Correspondence^ p. 260). The Penal Code was not reviewed in the ER; Empson did, however, lecture on it at Haileybury (Empson to Napier [2 February 1839]: MS, British Museum). 251

20 July 1838

Macvey Napier

requiring so much thought and study. This press too, such as it is, has fallen entirely into the hands of the lower legal practitioners, who detest all Law-reform: and their scurrility, though mere matter of derision to a person accustomed to the virulence of English factions, is more formidable than you can well conceive to the members of the Civil Service who are quite unaccustomed to be dragged rudely before the public. It is therefore really important that the members of the Indian Legislature and of the Law-Commission should be supported against the clamorous abuse of the scribblers who surround them by seeing that their performances attract notice at home, and are judged with candour and discernment by writers of a far higher rank in literature than the Calcutta Editors. For these reasons I should be glad to see an article on the Penal Code in the Edinburgh Review. But I must stipulate that my name may not be mentioned, and that every thing may be attributed to the Law-Commission as a body. I am quite confident that Empson's own good taste and regard for me will lead him, if he should review the Code, to abstain most carefully from every thing that resembles puffing. His regard to truth and the public interest will of course lead him to combat our opinions freely wherever he thinks us wrong. There is little chance that I shall see Scotland this year. In the Autumn I shall probably set out for Rome, and return to London in the Spring. As soon as I return I shall seriously commence my History. The first part which, I think, will take up five octavo volumes will extend from the Revolution to the commencement of Sir Robert Walpole's long Administration, — a period of three or four and thirty very eventful years. From the commencement of Walpole's administration to the commencement of the American war, events may be dispatched more concisely. From the commencement of the American war it will again become necessary to be copious. These at least are my present notions. How far I shall bring the narrative down I have not determined. The death of George the Fourth would be the best halting place. The History would then be an entire view of all the transactions which took place between the revolution which brought the Crown into harmony with the parliament and the revolution which brought the parliament into harmony with the nation. But there are great and obvious objections to contemporary history. To be sure, if I live to be seventy, the events of George the Fourth's reign will be to me then what the American war and the Coalition are to me now. All Mackintosh's papers are safe in my [kee]Jping, and very valuable they seem to be.2 I [sha]1!! make, I hope, a more creditable figure [as]1 a historian than poor Wallace. 1 2

Paper torn away with seal. Mackintosh, in preparing to write his history of the English revolution, made extensive and valuable transcriptions of original documents, largely from continental sources. TBM relied heavily on them for his History: see Sir Charles Firth, A Commentary on Macaulay's History of England, 1938, pp. 58-9. 252

Macvey Napier

14 August 1838

Whether I shall continue to reside in London seems to me very uncertain. I used to think that I liked London. But in truth I liked things which were in London and which are gone. My family is scattered. I have no parliamentary or official business to bind me to the capital. The business to which I propose to devote myself is almost incompatible with the distractions of a town-life. I am sick of the monotonous succession of parties, and long for quiet and retirement. To quit politics for letters is, I believe, a wise choice. To cease to be a member of parliament only in order to become a diner out would be contemptible: and it is not easy for me to avoid becoming a mere diner-out if I reside here. I have nothing more to say at present except to thank you for receiving so kindly my excuses about Sir W Scott. Ever yours TBM TO MACVEY N A P I E R , 14 A U G U S T

1838

MS: British Museum. Address: Professor Napier / Edinburgh. Frank: London August fourteen / 1838 / Jas Stephen. Mostly published: Trevelyan, 11, 6-7.

London August 14. 1838 Dear Napier, Your old friend Wallace and I have been pretty near exchanging shots. However all is accommodated, and, I think, quite unexceptionably. The man behaved much more like a gentleman to me than he did to you. Perhaps time has composed his feelings. Perhaps he felt acutely how ridiculous he made himself on the former occasion, and was desirous to retrieve his character. He had at all events the advantage of being in good hands. He sent me by Tom Steele1 — a furious O'Connellite, but a gentleman, a man of honor, and on this occasion at least, a man of temper, a challenge very properly worded. He accounted handsomely enough for the delay by saying that my long absence and the recent loss in my family prevented him from applying to me immediately on my return. I put the matter into Lord Strafford's2 hands. I had, to tell you the truth, no notion that a meeting could be avoided.3 For the man behaved so obstinately well 1

Thomas Steele (1788-1848: DNB)^ a Protestant member of the Catholic Association, of which he was 'head pacificator' (DNB), though noted for his own pugnacity and wildness. 2 General Sir John Byng (1772-1860: DNB), a veteran of the Peninsula and of Waterloo, entered Parliament in 1831, supported the Reform Bill, and was created Baron Strafford, 1835. 3 Eliza Rose Conybeare remembered a letter from TBM to Hannah at this time in which he told her that he expected to fight the duel, saying *"I do not expect you to sympathise with my so doing. . . . I do not see it in your light and I know the false unhonoured position in which a public man finds himself in parliament if he refuses a challenge." . . .

253

l September 1838

Macvey Napier

that there was no possibility of taking Empson's advice and sending for the police: and, though I was quite ready to disclaim all intention of giving personal offence, and to declare that, when I wrote the review, I was ignorant of Mr. Wallace's existence, I could not make any apology or express the least regret for having used strong language in defence of Mackintosh. Lord Strafford quite approved of my resolution. But he proposed a course which had never occurred to me,-which at once removed all scruples on my side, — and which, to my great surprise, Steele and Wallace adopted without a moment's hesitation. This was that Wallace should make a preliminary declaration that he meant, by his memoir, nothing disrespectful or unkind to Mackintosh, but the direct contrary; and that then I should declare that, in consequence of Mr. Wallace's declaration, I was ready to express my regret if I had used any language that could be deemed personally offensive. This way of settling the business appeared to both Lord Strafford and Rice perfectly honorable: and I was of the same mind. For certainly the language which I used could be justified only on the ground that Wallace had used Mackintosh ill; and, when Wallace made a preliminary declaration that he intended nothing but kindness and honor to Mackintosh, I could not properly refuse to make some concession. I was much surprised that neither Steele nor Wallace objected to Lord Strafford's proposition. But as they did not object it was impossible for me to do so. In this way the matter was settled — much better settled than by refusing to admit Wallace to the privileges of a gentleman. - 1 hope that you will be satisfied with the result. The kind anxiety which you have felt about me renders me very desirous to know that you approve of my conduct. Yours ever T B Macaulay TO MACVEY N A P I E R , I S E P T E M B E R

1838

MS: British Museum. Mostly published: Napier, Correspondence, p. 270.

London Sept 1. 1838 Dear Napier, I have only time for a line. Thank you for your kind letter. I think that foolish affair is as well settled as it could be. You shall certainly have a long article on Temple by the middle of the month. I think that it will take. But heaven knows. Much better writers than I often deceive themselves on that point. And then he touchingly described how he had spent the evening "sadly enough" in his turning over old letters and arranging business etc., and thinking of her' (MS, Trinity).

254

Macvey Napier

22 September 1838

The half dozen people who remain in London are curious to know how you in the North intend to receive Lord Brougham.1 To be sure he has done wonders this Session. A mere tongue-without a party, and without a character, in an unfriendly audience, and with an unfriendly press, — never did half so much before. As Sydney Smith says, verily he hath a devil.2 Ever yours most truly T B Macaulay TO MACVEY N A P I E R , 12 S E P T E M B E R

1838

MS: British Museum. Address: Macvey Napier Esq / Castle St / Edinburgh. Frank: London September thirteen / 1838 / Jas Stephen. Mostly published: Napier, Correspondence, p. 270.

3 Clarges Street / Septr. 12. 1838 Dear Napier, I send off by this day's post the paper on Temple. I think that it will take. But that is a point about which wiser men than I am have often found themselves mistaken. I hope to see Empson to morrow;3 and to hear from him a good account of you. He has hinted to me that Brougham has been plaguing you. Really that man is the Devil. I hope that he has written something better for the Edinburgh Review than his epistle to Mr. Tait,4 which I think the most absurd that I ever saw. Pray let me have the proofs to correct. I go to Liverpool on Monday. You had better therefore send them thither directed to me at E Cropper's Esq, Liverpool. You need not of course send the manuscript. / Ever, dear Napier, Yours most truly T B Macaulay 1

2

3

4

The papers had announced that Brougham was to be installed as Lord Rector of the University of Aberdeen and would visit Edinburgh and Glasgow on his way north. The visit did not take place: see 12 September 1838. Sydney Smith had spent the summer of 1838 in London, and doubtless he and TBM had met then; Smith liked to link Brougham with the devil: see his Letters, e.g., 11, 607; 672. Sometime between this date (probably 14 September— see next letter- but perhaps later) and 17 September, when TBM set out for Liverpool, he did see Empson, who wrote to Napier on 20 September reporting that TBM had called on him and that 'we had a long walk and talk. . . . He was very considerate and candid about Brougham: only conceives that you will not be able, as Editor of the Review, to exclude politics altogether, and that with your Whig principles and party-support of present Government, no political papers can be presented by you which Brougham may not misunderstand as attacking himself. He said, " I should not wonder if he feels himself aggrieved by my character of Shaftesbury [in the essay on Temple]. But I certainly had no such double meaning"' (MS, British Museum). William Tait, of Tait's Magazine, had written to Brougham to ask whether he were coming to Scotland; Brougham replied that he was not, for if he went he could not avoid political meetings. The rest of the long letter is a diatribe against the Whigs and a vindication of Brougham's own conduct (The Times, 11 September). 2

55

15 September 1838

Thomas Flower Ellis

I wish I could think of something for the next Number that I could write without much reference to books. When I write from my own head I go very fast indeed. But when I have to compare a dozen volumes every line that I write, I make but slow work of it. The article on Temple is, I can assure you, by no means easy writing. I hope that it may be found easy reading.

TO T H O M A S F L O W E R E L L I S , 15 S E P T E M B E R

1838

MS: Trinity College. Partly published: Trevelyan, 11, 14—16.

London Septr. 15. 1838 Dear Ellis, On Monday I shall set off for Liverpool by the rail-road, which will then be opened for the whole way. I shall remain there about a week, and then return. I hope that I shall find you in London; though the hope is but selfish - for no doubt you are much happier at Ryde. My time till I set out for Italy will be pretty fully occupied; and there is little chance of my being able to visit the Isle of Wight. But if you have steamers thence to France, I might perhaps be tempted. How is that? The chief object of my visit to Liverpool is to see my little nephew, the son of my sister Margaret. It is no visit of pleasure, though I hear every thing most hopeful and pleasing about the boy's talents and temper. Indeed it is not without a great effort that I force myself to go. But I will say no more on this subject: for I cannot command myself when I approach it. Empson came to London yesterday night with his lady in high beauty and good humour. It is, you know, quite a proverbial truth that wives never tolerate an intimacy between their husbands and any old friends except in two cases — the one when the old friend was, before the marriage, a friend of both wife and husband, - the other when the friendship is of later date than the marriage. I may hope to keep Empson's friendship under the former exception as I have kept yours under the latter. Empson brings a sad account of poor Napier - all sorts of family disquiets — pecuniary embarrassments — dreadful wearing complaints which are rendered tolerable only by opium, and which, in the opinion of all his friends, must in a very few months end fatally. And as if this were not enough Brougham is persecuting him with the malignity of a daemon. I really could not help saying as the priest says in Marmion "Avoid thee, fiend-With cruel hand Shake not the dying sinner's sand."1 1

Marmion, canto 6, stanza 32.

256

Thomas Flower Ellis

2 5 September 2838

In truth Lord Br[ougha]m is now really a Devil. I did not think it possible for human nature, in an educated, civilized man, a man too of great intellect, to have become so depraved. He writes to Napier in language of the most savage hatred and of the most extravagant vaunting. The ministers, he says, have felt only his little finger. He will now put forth his red right-hand. They shall have no rest. As to me he says that I shall rue my baseness in not calling on him. But it is against Empson that he is most furious. He says that, in consequence of this new marriage, he will make it the chief object of his life to prevent Jeffrey from ever being Lord President of the Court of Session. He thinks that there is some notion of making Empson editor of the Review. If that be done, he says, he will relinquish every other object in order to ruin the review. He will lay out his last sixpence in that enterprise. He will make revenge on Empson the one business of the remaining years of his life. Empson says that nothing so demoniac was ever written in the world.1 For my part, I am pleased, since he takes it into his head to be angry, that he goes on in such a way. For he is much less formidable in such a state than he would be if he kept his temper. In the meantime all his old friends have repudiated him. He gave up going to Edinburgh because no person of the least respectability chose to be a party to any compliment to him. All this is of course confidential; not on my account but on Napier's. For my part as the young fellow says in Sir Walter "I carena a bodle for the feud."2 I sent off on Thursday a long article on Temple - superficial - but on that account among others I shall be surprised if it does not take. Napier has procured a long article on the Duke of Wellington]'s dispatches from no less a hand than that of Sir George Murray.3 But Empson fears that it will be but tedious, though, of course, sensible and full of information. Hayter has painted me for his picture of the House of Commons,4 - I cannot judge of his performance. I can only say as Charles the Second did on a similar occasion "Cod's fish, if I am like this I am an ugly fellow."5 1

2

3 4

5

Some of these things, in very different terms, appear in Brougham to Napier, 31 August: Napier, Correspondence, pp. 271-5. Brougham was threatening to start a new ER unless his political remarks were left uncut. Perhaps TBM's adaptation of Cuddie Headrigg's remark: * Weel, I carena a boddle' (Old Mortality, ch. 14). 'The Duke of Wellington's Indian Despatches,' ER, LXVIII (October 1838), 1-46. (Sir) George Hayter (1792-1871: DNB), portrait painter specializing in groups. His painting of the first reformed House of Commons, in which TBM appears as one of a crowd of 375 figures, is now in the National Portrait Gallery. The Scotsman, 15 November 1843, said of the painting that the likenesses of'the few members personally known to us' (which would include TBM) are 'remarkably good' but that the treatment is 'en beau.' Hayter's sketch of TBM mentioned in this letter was sold at Christie's in April 1871; its present location is not known. To Riley, the painter: '"Is this like me? then od's fish, I am an ugly fellow'" (Horace Walpole, Anecdotes of Painting in England, ed. R. N. Wornam, 1888, 11, 222).

257

8 October 1838

Macvey Napier

Let me know, when your plans are settled, on what days you shall be in London. Direct to Clarges Street. My letters will reach me regularly under frank. Kindest regards to Mrs. Ellis. I am glad to hear that your young folk are well. I have given Hayter two or three subjects for pictures in his style with which he seems prodigiously taken1 - Henrietta Maria sitting to Vandyke, the King, the royal Children, and the principal nobles and beauties of the Court assembled round them. We have the originals of them all, and the costume is excellent. — Harley stabbed by Guiscard, St John and Ormond drawing their swords to attack the assassin. Johnson's literary club — the prominent figures to be Johnson, Burke, Gibbon, Fox, Goldsmith and Boswell. Garrick did not belong to that club. Johnson should be warm in argument. We have all the heads by Reynolds who ought himself to appear there. Yours ever TBM TO MACVEY N A P I E R , 8 O C T O B E R

1838

MS: British Museum. Mostly published: Napier, Correspondence, pp. 277-9.

London October 8. 1838 Dear Napier, I have just received your letter of the 3d which has performed a circuit by Liverpool. I am truly concerned to have so indifferent an account of your health; and it is my earnest wish to spare you at present, as far as possible, all vexation and anxiety. I should gladly furnish an article on politics, but for one very sufficient reason; and that is that I am not yet sufficiently well-informed respecting late events to write on them at a distance from books, files of newspapers, and men capable of giving me information. I was on the sea from January to June. 1 arrived in England profoundly ignorant of all that had passed since August 1837. In the crowd and bustle of the late London season, I could hardly find leisure to study any thing at all. It was not till I had sent you my paper about Temple that I sate down to gather information as to the history of the year which preceded my return. My sofa is at this moment covered with enormous piles of old newspapers in which I have been reading the events of the Canadian insurrection. As an instance of the extent of my ignorance I may mention that till within the last few days I had never heard of the reprimand given to O'Connell by the Speaker in conformity with the orders 1

I cannot find that Hayter actually painted any of these subjects.

258

Macvey Napier

8 October 1838

of the House,1 — one of the most remarkable and exciting events of the late Session. You will at once perceive that it is quite impossible for me under these circumstances to venture on discussing the present state of politics. When I have made myself master of them, I shall be glad to render any assistance in my power to the ministry. In the mean time I wish you would try whether Sir George Grey can do anything of that sort for you.2 You can easily get at him through Stephen. This reminds me that Stephen is a good deal hurt, though not with you, by the insertion of an apology for what he said about Clarkson.3 To you personally he has none but the kindest feelings. But he is very angry with Brougham. I am sure that the matter will easily be accommodated. And I have taken on myself to assure him that you will do him every justice. I think of writing an article on Panizzi's edition of Boiardo, with some remarks on the romantic poetry of the Italians generally.4 This I can do as well, indeed better, on my journey than in London. And it is the only thing that I can do better on my journey than in London. I will try to send it off by the middle of December, or earlier. If I find that I cannot manage it, I will give you timely notice. When I come back I will fall on Lord Clive. I think I can promise a tolerable paper on that subject. I am glad you like what I have done about Temple. I set off on Friday. I cannot at present tell you with certainty what my route will be. But I will leave full directions with Empson. I earnestly hope that I shall find you on my return quite able to stand any degree of bothering from Brougham or any body else. His last article5 is excellent better I think than its predecessor - but I am not sure that it is likely to produce quite so great an effect. The number seems to be generally approved, as far as I can judge in the present empty state of London. Ever, dear Napier, yours, T B Macaulay 1

2

3

4 5

In a public speech O'Connell had spoken of the * foul perjury' of certain Tory members of the House. On 26 February the House passed a vote of censure against him for breach of privilege, and on 28 February the Speaker administered a formal rebuke to O'Connell in his place. Nothing by Grey appears in the ER at this time. Sir George Grey (1799-1882: DNB), Whig M.P., 1832-74, held various offices under Melbourne; in 1846 became Home Secretary and remained in that office, with interruptions, until 1866. Stephen reviewed the Life of'Wilberforce in the ER, LXVII (April 1838), 142-80, and called attention to evidence in the Life that Clarkson had asked to be paid for his abolition work. In the ER, LXVIII (October 1838), 188-90, Brougham published a notice of Clarkson's reply to this charge and took the occasion to correct the 'inaccuracies' of Stephen's review. Stephen, whose review was his first contribution to the ER, was no doubt annoyed because the 'inaccuracies' were not his but those of his text. On 26 November Napier wrote to Brougham that, in consequence of Brougham's note, ' Stephen, at first, withdrew from the Review. . . . but Jeffrey acted the part of a peace-maker, and through his interference amicable relations were again restored' (Napier, Correspondence, p. 285). See 29 April 1830: as he had earlier, TBM gave up the idea this time too. ' Reigns of George the Third and Fourth - Political Characters,' ER, LXVIII (October 1838), 191-262.

259

30 October 1838

Mrs Charles Trevelyan

TO MRS CHARLES TREVELYAN, 30 OCTOBER

1838

MS: Trinity College. Address: Mrs. Trevelyan. Subscription: T B Macaulay. Extract published: Trevelyan, 11, 19-20.

Genoa1 October 30. 1838 Dearest Hannah, My first letter from Italy. But not written under the inspiration of a delicious climate, as you shall hear. I wrote to you from Avignon on Saturday the 27th. On that evening I left Avignon by a very excellent diligence, reached Marseilles at seven the next morning - found that a n[ew]2 steamer of the largest size was to sail within tw[elve] hours for Leghorn touching for a day at Geno[a. I took] my passage — passed the day in the churches and stree[ts of] Marseilles my comments on which I keep for another place — embarked next morning — found the vessel really a very fine one - Liverpool built of 160 horse power. But the weather began to threaten even before we were out of the port of Marseilles, and all its threats were faithfully performed. We had to work against a strong and sometimes furious wind, and against a head sea which, though not like those of the Cape, was sufficiently disagreable. The rain fell in torrents. The passengers, a large proportion of whom were English travellers, were as sick as dogs, which, to judge by the dogs on board, means to be very sick indeed. Then we had not separate cabins, - but births round the cuddy, to use our Indian word, - those of the ladies partitioned off from those of the gentlemen, which however did not prevent frequent reciprocal visits of anxious wives, husbands, mothers and sons, desirous to see their nearest connections vomit. I was not sick, but as [ne]ar it as ever I was. My head ached. I could not [sleep in] the midst of the uproar and lamentation [but I] lay down in my birth from seven in the evening till eight the next morning. The wind rose to all but a storm, and the waves, for Mediterranean waves, were highly respectable. But our steamer made her way gallantly; and early in the afternoon of the day reached Genoa, her first halting place. I had heard, as everybody has, of the noble view of the city from the sea. Unhappily I quite lost it. Nothing but fog and rain and a furious wind blowing. I can just see that the city is a fine and striking one. After being detained by the idle precautions which are habitual with these silly small absolute governments for an hour on deck that the passengers might be counted, for another hour in a small dirty room that an agent of the police might write down all our names, and for a third hour in another smoky den while a custom1

2

TBM's itinerary to Genoa is recorded in his Journal, which he began to keep on his departure from Paris, 20 October; he reached Chalons by coach on 23 October, took a steamer to Lyons on 25 October, and proceeded by steamer to Avignon on the 26th. Paper torn away with seal here and in all subsequent bracketed passages. 260

Macvey Napier

4 November 1838

house officer opened rasor cases to see that they contained no muslin, and turned over dictionaries to be sure that they contained no treason or [blasphem]y, I was conducted to a very comfortable [hote]l - the hotel d'ltalia, where [I] am now wapting] for my first Italian dinner and warming myself by a blazing wood fire. This inn is decidedly superior to any in which I have been lodged since I left Paris. To morrow if the sky clears I shall have a day of sight-seeing - noble streets, palaces, churches, and pictures. Whether the weather be good or bad I shall manage to see something by the help of those sedan chairs for which Genoa is famous. To morrow evening I go on board again — and the day after to morrow I hope to breakfast at Leghorn and to dine and sleep at Pisa. I am impatient to reach Florence where I count on finding letters from home. I have had none since I left London, and was rather disappointed at not finding any at Marseilles. I send this under cover to Thornton, as I think it possible that you may have left the Dingle before it arrives. If you still are there give my kindest love to all the party, Edward and Charley, and Selina, and Fanny. I only wait for information of your departure to write to Selina and Fanny separately. Wherever you are give my love to Trevelyan and to my own little Baba. Yours ever TBM TO MACVEY N A P I E R , 4 NOVEMBER

1838

MS: British Museum. Address: Macvey Napier Esq / Edinburgh / Great Britain. Mostly published: Trevelyan, 11, 23-4.

Florence November 4. 1838 Dear Napier, I arrived here the day before yesterday in very good health, after a journey of three weeks from London. I found letters waiting for me here, from one of which I learn that Lord Jeffrey told my brother in law Trevelyan that you were better. I hope and trust that it is so. — I find that it will be absolutely impossible for me to execute the plan which I mentioned to you in time for your next number. I have not been able to read one half of Boiardo's poem; and, in order to do what I propose, I must read Berni's rifacimento too, as well as Pulci's Morgante;1 and this, I fear, will be quite out of the question. The time which I have allotted for my journey is so short, the objects of interest which surround me are so numerous, that I really have not a moment for books except at my meals, and even then I am forced to read books illustrative of the sights which I have seen or which I am about to see. The day is not long 1

Luigi Pulci, Morgante Maggiore, 1481. 26l

4 November 2838

Macvey Napier

enough for what I want to do in it. And if I find this to be the case at Florence, I may be sure that at Rome I shall have still less leisure. However it is my full intention to be in England in February: and on the day on which I reach London I will begin to work for you on Lord Clive. I know little English news. Indeed from the time when I left Paris to the time of my arrival here, I was without any information at all, except what I picked up from our Consul at Marseilles when I called on him about my passport. Here we have an English reading room, and I steal a quarter of an hour in the day from marbles and altar-pieces to read the Times and the Morning Chronicle. Lord Brougham, I have a notion, will often wish that he had left Lord Durham alone.1 Lord Durham will be in the House of Lords with his bitter, vindictive, pugnacious, spirit, and with his high reputation among the Radicals. [In]2 oratorical abilities there is of course no comparison between the men. But Lord Durham has quite talents enough to expose Lord Brougham, and has quite as much acrimony and a great deal more nerve than Lord Brougham himself. I should very much like to know what the general opinion about this matter is. My own suspicion is that the Tories in the House of Lords will lose reputation, though I do not imagine that the Government will gain any. As for Brougham, he has reached that happy point at which it is equally impossible for him to gain character and to lose it. It will, as you well know, give me great pleasure to hear from you. But I am not so selfish as to wish you to exert yourself to write till your health is quite re-established. If however you should be able without any inconvenience to yourself to let me hear some of the literary and political gossip of the day, be so kind as to send your letters to my bankers Messrs. Williams Deacon and Co., Birchin-Lane. / Ever, dear Napier, Yours most truly T B Macaulay 1

2

Durham, sent to Canada as High Commissioner following the insurrection, had exceeded his authority in treating the rebels and had at once been attacked by Brougham in Parliament. Durham, finding himself abandoned by Melbourne's government, resigned in October 1838. Obscured by stain from seal.

262

Henry Fox

[5 November 1838]

TO HENRY FOX, [5 NOVEMBER

1838]

MS: Osborn Collection, Yale University. Address: The Hon Mr. Fox / etc. etc. etc. Subscription: T B Macaulay.

[Florence] Monday My dear Mr. Fox, I only learned two or three hours ago that you were at Florence,1 and I fully intended to call on you this afternoon. I have engaged myself to dinner.2 But I shall with great pleasure join your evening party. / Believe me, Yours very truly T B Macaulay TO [ M R S C H A R L E S T R E V E L Y A N ,

8 N O V E M B E R 1838]3

Text: Trevelyan, 11, 35n.

[Florence] I do not scamper about with a note-book in my hand, and a cicerone gabbling in my ear; but I go often, and stay long, at the places which interest me. I sit quietly an hour or two every morning in the finest churches, watching the ceremonial, and the demeanour of the congregation. I seldom pass less than an hour daily in the Tribune, where the Venus de Medici stands, surrounded by other masterpieces in sculpture and painting. Yesterday, as I was looking at some superb portraits by Raphael and Titian, a Yankee clergyman introduced himself to me; told me that he had heard who I was; that he begged to thank me for my writings in the name of his countrymen; that he had himself reprinted my paper on Bacon;4 that it had a great run in the States; and that my name was greatly respected there. I bowed; thanked him; and stole away; leaving the Grand Duke's pictures a great deal sooner than I had intended. 1

2 3 4

Fox was now Minister at Frankfort but lived mostly in Florence. TBM recalled in his Journal for 10 December 1859, as Fox, then Lord Holland, lay dying, that he had been *kind to me when I was ill at Florence' (xi, 602). TBM had been troubled by migraine at that time. TBM dined alone on this evening (Journal, 1, 77): 'I have engaged myself is thus pure equivocation. The incident of the Yankee clergyman is recorded in TBM's Journal for 7 November (1, 83-4). I have not been able to trace this reprint.

263

14-15 November 1838

Mrs Charles Trevelyan

TO M R S C H A R L E S T R E V E L Y A N ,

14-15

NOVEMBER

1838

MS: Trinity College. Address: Mrs. Trevelyan / Milverton Vicarage / Somersetshire (the last two words in another hand). Extract published: Trevelyan, n, 27.

Civita Castellana1 Nov 14. 1838 Dearest Hannah, On Saturday I sent off a letter to Fanny, in which I desired her to tell you that, as soon as I reached Rome, I would write to you. I am not, as you see, at Rome yet; but I hope to be there early to morrow. I was dreadfully plagued with hemicrania2 towards the close of my stay at Florence, and during the first two days of my journey southward. To day however the disease seems to have yielded, either to medicine or to change of air; and I have been able to enjoy the glorious scenery of this part of Italy. I had hoped to perform the journey in three days. But, though I have risen every day before five and travelled without a moment's pause till after sunset, I found when I reached this place that I could not be at Rome till after nine to night. It would have been exceedingly disagreable at that hour to have to pass through the Custom-house and look about for a lodging: for Rome is so crowded that I may very likely be turned back from a dozen hotels before I find accommodation. Then too I do not want to enter Rome for the first time by night. I wish to know that I am approaching it, - to observe the surrounding country, desolate as it now is, — and to see the city disclose itself by degrees. You will be interested to learn, what however I mention to you as a great secret, that a few hours before my departure from Florence, a Queen's messenger arrived there with a packet from Lord Melbourne for me. Cutlar Fergusson is dead or all but dead at Paris. And the ministers offered me the place of Judge Advocate, 2500 £ a year, they say. I thought that we —I mean the House of Commons of 1830 —cut it down to 2000^. But the Downing Street people must know best. I was to be in the Privy Council. I was to do business personally with the Queen. And they expressed a confident hope that they should find a seat in parliament for me with little expence before the commencement of the Session. They added that I must instantly come home. I answered that I was thoroughly their friend, that I should think it my duty to make some sacrifices to serve them, that, if I could find a seat in parliament without going to improper expense, I would again enter the House, and, as an independent man, serve them as heartily as I ever served Lord Grey's administration. But the place of Judge Advocate I positively refused. I acknowledged the 1

2

TBM left Florence on 12 November, spending the first night at Cortona, the second at Spoleto, and the third at Civita Castellana (Journal, i, 99—103). Migraine.

264

Mrs Charles Trevelyan

24-2 5 November 2838

offer to be very flattering. But I told them that I had other pursuits which, though not incompatible with parliament, were totally incompatible with office; - that office, except indeed office of the highest rank to which I had no pretensions, had not the smallest allurements for me; that the salary was no temptation, for that I could live contentedly on less than I had; — that the situation of a subordinate in office was unsuited to my temper; — that I had tried it, that I had found it insupportable, and that I never would make the experiment again. I begged them not to imagine that I thought a place which Mackintosh had been anxious to obtain and which had recently been filled by Sir Robert Grant and Abercrombie beneath me. - Very far from it. I admitted it to be above the market-price of my services. But it was below the fancy-price which a peculiar turn of mind led me to put on my liberty and my studies. The only thing that would ever tempt me to give up my liberty and my studies was the power to effect great things: and of that power, as they well knew, no man had so little as a man in office out of the cabinet. An independent member of parliament, - nay an independent man of letters out of parliament has far more of such power than a Judge Advocate. I begged them to consider me as a friend who would be eager to serve them, who wanted nothing from them, who would be jealous of nothing which they m[ight]J do for others, and whose only terms were that he would pocket no wages and wear no livery. This is the substance of two letters to much the same effect. One of the two, more concise and formal, was to Lord Melbourne himself. - The other, more diffuse and familiar, was to Rice, who had written by the same messenger earnestly pressing me to accept, and dwelling on the advantages of the situation with great animation. I will shew you his letter and Lord Melbourne's2 when I return. I am quite satisfied that I judged rightly for my own happiness, honor, and usefulness; and so I hope you will think. Observe that this [is] a great secret. Public men should be as delicate about the rejected offers of ministers as young ladies about the rejected offers of lovers. I wish that it may be known only to Trevelyan, Selina, Fanny, and Edward Cropper,-to nobody else, at least now. The ministers are in no condition to bear the slightest hurt; and it might hurt them if it were known, without further explanation, that I had refused to join them.3 1 2

3

Paper torn away with seal. A copy of Melbourne's letter to TBM is in the Royal Archives, Windsor Castle; Melbourne concludes by hoping that TBM, 'as Milton did of old,' will return from Italy, preferring 'the duties of the Patriot to the gratification of the man of taste and letters.' The secret cannot have been too close: Sydney Smith wrote on 15 November that 'they are going to bring in Mcauley into Cutler Ferguson's situation. . . . Mcaulay had resolved to lead a Literary Life but cannot withstand the temptation — like Ladies who resolve upon celibacy if they have no offers* {Letters, 11, 675).

265

1$ December 2838

Lord Lansdowne

Many thanks to Trevelyan for his long and entertaining letter, to which he must take this as a reply. I am delighted with Baba's theology. Dear little girl! How strange it is that so little a creature should attach me so strongly! As this letter, I suppose, will hardly find you at Liverpool, 1 will not trouble you with love to any body but her and her papa. Ever yours TBM. If Trevelyan has reported exactly Henry's words about a power of attorney, poor Henry is indeed a most deplorable man of business. However nothing can be done about Sierra Leone till I receive his answer to a letter which I sent just before I left London. I have no objection to what you wish about your settlements. Rome Nov 15 - A line to say that I am here — tolerably well, and comfortably lodged.

TO

LORD

LANSDOWNE,

19

DECEMBER

1838

MS: The Marquess of Lansdowne. Address; The Marquess of Lansdowne / London. Subscription: T B M . Mostly published; Trevelyan, 11, 36-9.

Rome December 19. 1838 Dear Lord Lansdowne, I have received your kind letter, and thank you for it. I have now had ample time to reflect on the determination which I expressed to Lord Melbourne and Rice; and I am every day more and more satisfied that the course which I have taken is the best for myself and the best also for the government. If I thought it right to follow altogether my own inclinations I should entirely avoid public life. But I feel that these are not times for flinching from the Whig banner. I feel that at this juncture no friend of toleration and of temperate liberty is justified in withholding his support from the ministers. And I think that, in the present unprecedented and inexplicable scarcity of parliamentary talent among the young men of England, a little of that talent may be of as much service as far greater powers in times more fertile of eloquence. I would therefore make some sacrifice of ease, leisure, and money, in order to serve the government in the house of Commons. But I do not think that public duty at all requires me to overcome the dislike which I feel for official life. On the contrary my duty and inclination are here on one side. For I am certain that, as an independant member of parliament, I should have far more weight than 266

Lord Lansdowne

19 December 2838

as Judge Advocate. It is impossible for me to be ignorant of my position in the world, and of the misconstructions to which it exposes me. Entering parliament as Judge Advocate I should be considered as a mere political adventurer, - as a person of the same genus with Horace Twiss, though I hope a better specimen of the genus. My speeches might be complimented as creditable rhetorical performances. But they would never produce the sort of effect which I have seen produced by very rude sentences stammered by such men as Lord Spencer and Lord Ebrington. If I enter parliament as a placeman nobody will believe, what nevertheless is the truth, that I am quite as independent, quite as indifferent to salary, as the Duke of Northumberland can be. As I have none of that authority which belongs to large fortune and high rank, it is absolutely necessary to my comfort, and will be greatly conducive to my usefulness, that I should have the authority which belongs to proved disinterestedness. I should also, as a member of parliament not in office, have leisure for other pursuits which I cannot bear to think of quitting, and which you kindly say you do not wish me to quit. A life of literary repose would be most to my own taste. Of my literary repose I am, however, willing to sacrifice exactly as much as public duty requires me to sacrifice; but I will sacrifice no more. And by going into parliament without office I both make a smaller personal sacrifice, and do more service to the public, than by taking office. I hope that you will think these reasons satisfactory. For you well know that, next to my own approbation, it would be my first wish to have yours. I have been more delighted than I can express by Italy, and above all by Rome. I had no notion that an excitement so powerful and so agreeable, still untried by me, was to be found in the world. I quite agree with you in thinking that the first impression is the weakest, and that time, familiarity, and reflection, which destroy the charm of so many objects, heighten the attractions of this wonderful place. I take a daily walk of half an hour in St Peter's and it seems to me every day to become more beautiful and splendid. I walk through the Vatican galleries as often as they are opened to the public, and I only wish that they were opened oftener. I have passed several afternoons between the Capitol and the Colosseum, and I always come away unsatisfied with seeing. I hardly know whether I am more interested by the old Rome or by the new Rome, - by the monuments of the extraordinary empire which has perished or by the institutions of the still more extraordinary empire which, after all the shocks which it has sustained, is still full of life and perverted energy. But certainly, if there were not a single ruin, fine building, ppcture]1 or statue in Rome, I should think myself repaid for 1

Letter torn.

267

December 2838

[Frances Macaulay]

my journey by having seen the head quarters of Catholicism, and learned something of the nature and effect of the strange Brahminical government established in the Ecclesiastical state. Have you read Von Ranke's history of the Papacy since the Reformation?1 There is a French translation of it, though a little sophisticated.2 I read it in the German on my voyage from Calcutta, and was exceedingly interested and struck by it. I have owed much of my pleasure here to what I learned from him of the nature of the Ecclesiastical state, of the characters of the different Popes, and of the progress of those great families which were founded by the nepotism of the 16th and 17th Centuries, and whose palaces and gardens contrast so strikingly with the beggary of the population that surrounds them. If I were to pass some years here, I should become a connoisseur in art merely by constantly poring on master-pieces. I already feel the transcendant merit of Michael Angelo's frescoes, of the Transfiguration, of the Communion of St Jerome, and of some other great works which at first disappointed me. But I have not time to finish that part of my education. As soon as the Christmas solemnities are over, of which an illumination of St Peter's is to be a part, I shall go to Naples, see Pompeii, and, I hope, Paestum, and then return to England by Marseilles. Rome is full of English. We could furnish exceedingly respectable Houses of Lords and Commons. There are at present twice as many coroneted carriages in the Piazza di Spagna as in St James's parish. I am truly concerned to hear so bad an account of Lady Theodosia.3 / Ever, my dear Lord, Yours most faithfully T B Macaulay TO [ F R A N C E S M A C A U L A Y ] , [19]4

DECEMBER

1838

Text: Trevelyan, 11, 33-4.

[Rome] Rome was full enough of English when I arrived, but now the crowd is insupportable. I avoid society, as much as I can without being churlish; for it is boyish to come to Italy for the purpose of mixing with the set, and hearing the tattle, to which one is accustomed in May fair. The Government treats us very well. The Pope winks at a Protestant chapel, 1

2

3 4

Leopold von Ranke, Die romischen Pdpste, ihre Kirche und ihr Staat, Berlin, 1834-6. TBM reviewed Mrs Austin's English translation of the work in the ER, 1840. By J. B. Haiber, 4 vols., Paris, 1836: Ranke complained of its * Catholicising' (Janet Ross, Three Generations of English Women, new edn, 1893, p. 146). She died in the next year. In her notes on volume two of Trevelyan's Life Fanny Macaulay says that this letter was written to her (MS, Trinity). TBM's Journal records that he wrote to Fanny on 19 December (1, 250).

268

[Frances Macaulay]

[29] December 2838

and indulges us in a reading-room, where the Times and Morning Chronicle make their appearance twelve days after they are published in London. It is a pleasant city for an English traveller. He is not harassed, or restrained. He lives as he likes, and reads what he likes, and suffers little from the vices of the administration; but I can conceive nothing more insupportable than the situation of a layman who should be a subject of the Pope. In this government there is no avenue to distinction for any but priests. Every office of importance, diplomatic, financial, and judicial, is held by the clergy. A prelate, armed with most formidable powers, superintends the police of the streets. The military department is directed by a Commission, over which a Cardinal presides. Some petty magistracy is the highest promotion to which a lawyer can look forward; and the greatest nobles of this singular State can expect nothing better than some place in the Pope's household, which may entitle them to walk in procession on the great festivals. Imagine what England would be if all the Members of Parliament, the Ministers, the Judges, the Ambassadors, the Governors of Colonies, the very Commanders-in-Chief and Lords of the Admiralty, were, without one exception, bishops or priests; and if the highest post open to the noblest, wealthiest, ablest, and most ambitious layman were a Lordship of the Bed chamber! And yet this would not come up to the truth, for our clergy can marry; but here every man who takes a wife cuts himself off for ever from all dignity and power, and puts himself into the same position as a Catholic in England before the Emancipation Bill. The Church is therefore filled with men who are led into it merely by ambition, and who, though they might have been useful and respectable as laymen, are hypocritical and immoral as churchmen; while on the other hand the State suffers greatly, for you may guess what sort of Secretaries at War, and Chancellors of the Exchequer, are likely to be found among bishops and canons. Corruption infects all the public offices. Old women above, liars and cheats below,-that is the Papal administration.1 The States of the Pope are, I suppose, the worst governed in the civilised world; and the imbecility of the police, the venality of the public servants, the desolation of the country, and the wretchedness of the people, force themselves on the observation of the most heedless traveller. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the population seems to consist chiefly of foreigners, priests, and paupers. Indeed, whenever you meet a man who is neither in canonicals nor rags, you may bet two to one that he is an Englishman. 1

This sentence appears in TBM's Journal, 1, 186: 30 November 1838. It is possible that he repeated it in writing to Fanny but more likely that Trevelyan interpolated it into the letter.

269

29 December 1838 TO M R S

Mrs Charles Trevelyan

CHARLES TREVELYAN,

29

DECEMBER

1838

MS: Trinity College. Address: Mrs. C E Trevelyan / Milverton / Somersetshire / England.

Rome December 29. 1838 Dearest Hannah, Two days ago I received yours of the 3d. There must be some strange mismanagement about the letters. For yours of the 3d came together with Fanny's of the 6th, and Fanny's was four days later than it should have been, allowing for the time lost in going round by Naples. This will be my last from Rome. - 1 have passed six weeks here - enough to become tired of any other place, considered merely as a sight. Paris you see in a week, Florence in a week — Cambridge or Oxford in less. But in six weeks I have only skimmed the surface of Rome, and am going away unsatisfied with seeing, and almost ready to cry at the thought that I have most likely seen those fine ruins and those miracles of art for the last time. However I have laid in a new stock of images which will last me my life. From Naples I expect less of course. There are no fine buildings there, and no modern works of art comparable to those at Rome. But the museums of antiquities found at Pompeii and Herculaneum will occupy me some days. Pompeii will take an entire day, perhaps two. And, if the weather should be fine, I shall make an excursion to Paestum. I shall leave Naples by the steamer which sails for Marseilles on or about the 15 th of January; and I hope to be on French ground on the 19th, after again seeing my favourite Genoa on the way. I own that I dislike the prospect of the journey home through France exceedingly. The roads were miserable in October. What are they likely to be in January? In October too I avoided the worst part of the road by running down the Rhone from Lyons to Avignon. But I cannot go up the Rhone in the same way. And a journey of more than 600 miles in the depth of winter, on the vilest highways that are to be found in a civilized country, where you are sometimes forced to employ oxen to tug you through the mud, and where you are lucky if you go five miles an hour, is sufficiently disagreeable. It is strange that though in wealth, intelligence, police, and almost all social and mechanical improvements, the French are immeasurably beyond the Italians, they should be so far inferior in all the contrivances which make travelling speedy and comfortable. The shops in France are far finer than those of Italy. Indeed there are finer shops in small country towns in France than at Rome, Genoa or Florence. The agriculture of France is better than that of Italy. The French people are far better governed and better off in every respect than those of Italy. But the roads of Italy, in spite of great physical difficulties, are far finer than those of France, and I have found myself more 270

Mrs Charles Trevelyan

29 December 1838

comfortable in a country inn at the foot of the Apennines than in the best hotels of Lyons and Marseilles. Soon after the 25 th of January I hope to be at Paris, and I mean to reach England by the beginning of February. I am glad that you approve of my refusing the place of Judge Advocate. I was not at all induced to do so by any apprehension of the fall of the ministry,-anevent which did not then seem so probable as it seems now. I do not expect an entire change of administration. I am rather inclined to think that some sort of coalition will be formed, — that the Duke and Peel will drop the Orangemen and the opponents of the new poor-law, — that the ministers will drop the Radicals who seem indeed inclined to drop them, - and that some sort of compromise will be made respecting Ireland. Ireland is indeed the only great difficulty. For as to Canada, as to foreign policy, as to Indian policy, nay as to most English questions, there is, I imagine, little difference of opinion, and none which might not be easily accommodated. Should such a ministry be formed I should, if I were in public life, be disposed to give it a fair trial and [not]1 to go into regular opposition. But I could not consistently [with]1 my own feelings hold any place myself in such an arrangement]. 1 The more I reflect, the more I am inclined to think that it is my best course to remain, at least for some years, in private life. If I were to pass ten years in executing a great literary work, I should still be a younger man than any member of the present cabinet now is, except, I think, Lord Howick and Poulett Thompson; and I might then, if I chose, engage again in politics with dignity, weight, and independence. But I am perfectly content to pass a life of literature. If, as I learn from Lord Lansdowne, the ministers are desirous to have my support on my own terms and urge me to come into parliament, I cannot, after what I have told them, refuse to do so. But it seems to me very doubtful whether I shall find them still in power even when I reach England. I have not given you any particulars of my travels. The notes which I have hastily made of what I have seen and thought would fill a large volume. Some parts of it may perhaps interest you. I will read you as much as you will care to hear when we meet in London. Kindest love to Trevelyan. I wrote to him by the last post. And kindest love also to my dear little girl, and baby-brother.2 Next April I shall try to make acquaintance with him, and I am sure I shall love him dearly. But she was born in my own house and hardly ever passed a day apart from me till I landed in England, and she is more to me than any but the most beloved children are to their own parents. 1 2

Paper torn away with seal. George Otto Trevelyan (1838-1928: DNB), the statesman, historian, and biogr pher of TBM, was born at Rothley Temple, 20 July. 271

2 January 2839

Selina Macaulay

If you write to Fanny give my love and say that I will reply to her as soon as I reach Naples. Ever yours TBM TO S E L I N A MACAULAY, 2 JANUARY 1839 MS: Trinity College. Address: Miss Macaulay / E Cropper's Esq / Liverpool / England.

Naples January 2. 1839 Dearest Selina, I arrived here yesterday evening,1 and found two letters from you, one dated Nov 1 - the other Deer. 14. How the former had been delayed so long I cannot tell: — probably by some mistake at the bank. I can hardly say that I was glad to receive them. For I know that writing does not agree with you. And though I was in one sense pleased to hear from you, I was sorry to think that you might have made an exertion painful to yourself in order to please me. I write from a room the windows of which command a view of Vesuvius. And Vesuvius, as if in compliment to me, has been pleased to celebrate my arrival by an eruption of unusual violence. It is a dark night, and the town is still. I hear the low rumbling of the mountain seven or eight miles off; and I see the flaming river of lava that runs down his side, and the huge cascade of fire six or seven times at least as high as the monument that is playing on his top. I hear that it is four or five years since there has been so violent an outbreak. It is the most striking natural phenomenon that I ever saw, next to a storm at sea; and indeed a storm at sea, though in itself a grander sight, is hardly so surprising. I have seen Naples very imperfectly as yet. Vesuvius has occupied most of my attention during the few hours that I have been in his neighbourhood. - There - he gives another bellow. I will go to the window and see how he is going on. - Much as before. A gigantic/^ defeu fifteen hundred feet high, and a prodigious cloud of smoke spreading out over the Mediterranean as far as eye can reach. It is more like what I used to imagine Mount Sinai when the law was given than anything else. It is rather in the environs of Naples than in Naples itself that I am interested. The bay is most beautiful. I shall certainly pass a day or two at Pompeii: and, if the weather continues to be fine I shall get as far as Paestum. Paestum is the furthest point of the cockney tour, the frontier of Grecian art. And I believe that very few Grecian remains are finer. - 1 1

TBM left Rome on 30 December, spent the first night at Velletri, the second at Mola, and arrived at Naples the next day (Journal, 1, 287-95). 272

Frances Macaulay

29 January 1839

know that very good judges who have been at Athens and have seen the Parthenon think that the temples of Paestum are better worth seeing. I do not quite make out from your letter whether Fanny will still be at Liverpool when you receive this. If she is, I thank her for her last letter which conveyed some intelligence that amused me a good deal about Clarkson. By the bye how curious it is to observe how much more we owe to our enemies than to ourselves. Clarkson has been writing himself down all his life. And then come the Wilberforces, and write him up. He made himself ridiculous by over-rating himself. They have made him a person of prodigious importance by under-rating him.1 As to Mr. Wolff,2 about whom you mention some curious circumstances, he is a most inveterate liar. And it is amusing to find that he is reduced to quote as an excuse for his rapacity the opinion of Sir Jeremiah Bryant3 who always passed for an infidel or something of the sort in India. But Beelzebub would have been sufficient authority with Wolff, if Beelzebub had advised him to pocket a thousand pounds. My love to Edward and Charley. I hope that he is fast getting beyond stories about Kids, and becoming more and more interested in stories about men and women. Ever yours TBM. TO F R A N C E S MACAULAY, 29 JANUARY

1839

MS: Trinity College. Address: Miss F Macaulay / James Parker's Esq / 4 Brunswick Square / London.

Paris. January 29. 1839 Dearest Fanny, — Here I am, having come from Naples in less time than the mailcouriers. They run day and night: but they go the whole way by land. I 1

2

3

In their Life of their father, Robert and Samuel Wilberforce sought to put Wilberforce first in all the works of the abolitionists and to diminish Clarkson's importance (see 8 October 1838). Clarkson wrote Strictures on a Life of William Wilberforce in reply, to which Crabb Robinson added a Supplement (1838). On 15 March 1840 Robinson wrote that he met TBM at the Reform Club, where 'he began on the subject of my Wilberforce controversy: " I have never thanked you for the book you gave me long ago; I wish you to know that I altogether disapprove of the conduct of the Messrs. Wilberforce and did so from the beginning'" (Edith J. Morley, ed., Henry Crabb Robinson on Books and Their Writers, n, 590-1). Wolff was now Rector of Linthwaite in Yorkshire. Selina may have been reporting gossip about him, or, just possibly, she may mean the episode in Wolff's Researches and Missionary Labours, 2nd edn, 1835, p. 382, describing how Wolff accepted £1000 from the King of Oude in order to compensate himself for some earlier losses. Sir Jeremiah Bryant (d. 1845), Major-General in the East India Company's service; a director of the Company, 1841. He and his wife had received Wolff on several occasions during Wolff's tour of India, 1832-3. 273

2

9 January 1839

Frances Macaulay

have only passed three nights out of my bed. But I had the help of steam. I left Naples on the evening of the 16th—landed at Marseilles on the morning of the 21st, after touching at Leghorn and Genoa, - went on the 22d to Avignon, - started on the morning of the 23d for Lyons by diligence, and arrived on the afternoon of the 24th; - set out at four in the morning on the 25 th for Chalons-sur-Saone by the steamer, and arrived at six in the evening; — left Chalons for Paris at three on the afternoon of the 26th by the Lyons diligence, and in exactly forty eight hours reached the Boulevards. The journey was most disagreeable in one respect. The cold was intense; and all that I could do in the way of wrapping myself up made it barely endurable. During the two nights which I passed in the coach between Chalons and Paris the cold prevented me from sleeping. In one respect indeed the cold was an advantage. For the roads were frozen as hard as a brick-floor, and, as you doubtless know, a French road in a thaw is a perfect Slough of Despond. I never was better in my life than when I reached Paris. I have a notion that my habits are too sedentary and self-indulgent. For I find that whenever I am forced on any exertion or privation of this sort I am always much the better for it. It seems odd that after running five hundred miles on French roads in January, and passing three nights out of five in jolting diligences without a wink of sleep, I should feel thoroughly set up in health as if I had just left a watering-place which had agreed with me. Yet so it is. As soon as I reached Paris I went to the Post Office. There I got your letter of the 24th and was very glad indeed to get it. It is the latest by near a fortnight that I have received from England, and I was delighted to learn that all was well. I shall see Dumont of course. But I mean, during the three or four days that I shall be here, to keep myself very quiet. The Duke de Broglie and those great men will be busy with making administrations; and not at leisure to attend to a stranger. I therefore shall not call on them. I mean to start for England on Monday. I shall go, I think, to Boulogne; and thence cross to Dover. I am curious to see Dover, and still more to see Canterbury. - 1 never happened to travel that road. On Wednesday evening I may possibly reach London. But it is more likely that I shall arrive on Thursday.1 Have the kindness to let Mr. Forster2 know. They need not expect me after eleven at night, on whatever day I arrive. If James is not otherwise engaged I should be glad to have him again in my service. They will know all about him in Clarges Street. If he is engaged I should be much obliged to you to look out for another man; as I should wish not to be more than a day or two without a servant. I am glad to hear so good an account of Charles and of every body 1 2

TBM arrived in London on Thursday, 7 February (Journal, 1, 360-1). Thomas Forster, the landlord at 3 Clarges Street.

274

Thomas Flower Ellis

[$ February

else. Remember me most kindly to Parker and Mary; and, when you write send my love to Liverpool. I write to Hannah by this post. I am as yet very imperfectly informed about English affairs. But I see that there is a fierce attack on the corn [laws]1 at which I rejoice from my heart. Let us once get rid of those laws and of the Irish Church: and I shall begin to think of being a Conservative. Every man, as Walpole said, has his price,2 and that is mine. Yours ever TBM TO T H O M A S

F L O W E R E L L I S , [9 F E B R U A R Y

1839]

MS: Trinity College.

3 Clarges Street Saturday Dear Ellis, Will you breakfast with me on Monday at a quarter after nine? I will not tell you whom you will meet:3 but I will tell you what you shall eat; and that is a terrine de foie gras from Strasbourg. I have bought Gladstone.4 Verily the Lord hath delivered him into our hands. I shall however put him on the hook tenderly, and as if I had a love for him. Ever yours T B Macaulay The favour of an answer is desired.

TO MACVEY NAPIER, 10 FEBRUARY

1839

MS: British Museum. Mostly published: Napier, Correspondence, p. 288.

3 Clarges Street London / Feby. 10. 1839 Dear Napier, I am here again, quite well andfitfor vigorous work; and glad to hear that you are much better. I have bought Gladstone's book on Church and State, and I think that I can make a good article on it. It seems to me the 1 2 3

4

Letter torn. Recorded in William Coxe, Memoirs of Sir Robert Walpole, 1798, 1, 757. ' I asked Hildyard to breakfast on Monday' (Journal, 1, 362: 8 February 1839). Robert Hildyard (1800-57: Boase) had been president of the Cambridge Union, 1824, and was on the Northern Circuit. He was M.P. for Whitehaven, 1847-57. The State in Its Relations with the Church, 1838, reviewed by TBM in 'Church and State,' ERy LXIX (April 1839), 231-80. This had been destined for TBM for some time: Empson wrote Napier on 7 January that 'if Macaulay will undertake it, you should give it him' (MS, British Museum). 10

275

PLO

in

18 February i£j[.9]

Selina Macaulay

very thing for a spirited, popular, and at the same time gentlemanlike critique. I have begun on it. - Have you any other engagement? I will fall to work on Clive as soon as I have done with Gladstone. But probably you will not want two papers from one hand for next number. I write in great haste. Ever yours most truly T B Macaulay TO S E L I N A MACAULAY, 18 F E B R U A R Y

183^]

MS: Trinity College.

3 Clarges Street Feb 18.1838 Dearest Selina, I do not know how it has happened that I have not written to you since my arrival. But every day has brought with it a crowd of employments; and I knew that Fanny would keep you informed of what was likely to interest you. Have you heard about your railway shares? There are ten guineas of interest due to you. I do not know who is to act for you. But I will see about it. Do you want any more money? I have received the purchase money of Loseley1 which leaves me a clear sum of about 3200 £ from that quarter alone, so that you need not have the least scruple about letting me know all your wishes. I am comfortable enough here. I could wish that I had fewer invitations and callers; but perhaps if my wish were granted I should fancy myself forgotten and neglected and begin to be discontented in another way. I am reviewing Gladstone's book: and I think that I shall furnish our highflying church-and-state men with much matter for thought. I never had a subject that pleased me so well. Gladstone himself is an excellent fellow: good-natured, honest, industrious, and well-read. For the sake of his high personal character and of some civilities which passed between us at St Peter's while the Pope was attending vespers on Christmas Eve2 I shall be very courteous to him personally. Politics are strangely calm. Everybody expected a tempest, and all at once the waves have gone down, and we are lying still on a sea as quiet as a mill-pond. This session was expected to be very stormy: and3 1

2

Perhaps an agent in India, but I do not find him in the East India Register. The name may possibly be Loveby. TBM wrote of this meeting in his Journal: 'I found Gladstone among the crowd, and accosted him, as we had met, though we had never been introduced to each other. He received my advances with great empressement indeed. We had a good deal of pleasant talk' (1, 263: 24 December 1838). The lower half of the second leaf of the letter has been cut away.

276

William Whewell

20 February [

is well. I have excellent accounts of Baba. She has not only learned to read words of four syllables; but she makes the beds in the morning, assists in the kitchen before dinner, and hems and stitches in the evening. My love to Edward and to dear Charley. You know that I shall be glad to hear from you when you can write without [. . • -] 1

TO W I L L I A M W H E W E L L ,

20

FEBRUARY

[1839]

MS: Trinity College.

3 Clarges Street / London Feb 20 Dear Whewell, When we met in the Strand the other day I was not aware that, during my absence on the Continent, a letter and a book 2 from you had been left at my lodgings. - Many thanks for both. Trevelyan will, I am sure, be very grateful for your present; which however I shall not let him have till I have read it myself. It is a rule in Indian nurseries that when one child is entrusted with sweetmeats to carry to another child, it is no theft to convey the treasure in the mouth, and to extract all that can be got by the greatest powers of suction during the journey, by way of Commission. I do hope that I shall take him down to give you his thanks in person during his stay in England. / Ever, dear Whewell, Yours very truly T B Macaulay TO MACVEY N A P I E R , 26 FEBRUARY

1839

MS: British Museum. Mostly published: Trevelyan, 11, 50—1.

3 Clarges Street Feby. 26. 1839 Dear Napier, I have been working for you all the morning, and have only a few minutes to write. I can now promise you the article in a week or ten days at furthest. Of its length I cannot speak with certainty. I should think it would fill about forty pages. But I find the subject grow on me. I think that I shall dispose completely of Gladstone's theory. I wish that I could see my way clearly to a good counter-theory. But I catch only glimpses here and there of what I take to be the truth. 1 2

The lower half of the second leaf of the letter has been cut away. Whewell published several books around this time, so that one can only guess at which is meant here.

277

[3? March 2839]

Thomas Flower Ellis

I am truly glad to learn that your health is so much improved, and that we are likely to see you soon. I am leading an easy life - not unwilling to engage in the parliamentary battle if a fair opportunity should offer, but not in the smallest degree tormented by a desire for the House of Commons, and fully determined against office. I enjoyed Italy intensely, - far more than I had expected. By the bye I met Gladstone at Rome. We talked and walked together in St Peter's during the best part of an afternoon: and I have in consequence been more civil to him personally than I should otherwise have been. He is both a clever and an amiable man with all his fanaticism. As to politics the cloud has blown over: — the sea has gone down: —the barometer is rising. The Session is proceeding through what was expected to be its most troubled stage in the same quiet way in which it generally advances through the dog-days towards its close. Every thing and every body is languid: and even Brougham seems to be somewhat mitigated. I met him in Lincoln's Inn Fields the other day when I was walking with Ellis. He greeted me as if we had breakfasted together that morning; and went on to declaim against every body with even more than his usual parts, and with all his usual rashness and flightiness. Ever yours T B Macaulay TO T H O M A S F L O W E R E L L I S , [3? MARCH

1839]

MS: Trinity College. Address: T F Ellis Esq / 15 Bedford Place / Bloomsbury Square.

[London] Dear Ellis, I feel most sincerely for you and Mrs. Ellis.1 - 1 am not a father. But I followed a little baby of my sister's to the grave at Calcutta with as much grief as if it had been my own. - Let me know, when it suits you, what your movements are and when and where I can see you. Ever yours affectionately T B Macaulay TO MACVEY N A P I E R , 8 M A R C H

1839

MS: British Museum.

London / March 8. 1839 Dear Napier, I send off the article on Gladstone, - longer than I expected: but the subject is inexhaustible. 1

Ellis's infant daughter Margaret, born 20 February, died on 2 March.

278

Macvey Napier

19 March \1839

Pray let me have the proofs. It is particularly important that the printing should be correct: for we are likely to have controversy enough on our hands without being under the necessity of defending the printer's errors as well as our own. I am impatient to see you again. Yours ever in great haste T B Macaulay TO MACVEY N A P I E R ,

19

MARCH

[1839]

MS: British Museum. Address: Macvey Napier Esq / Edinburgh. Subscription: T B M. Mostly published: Napier, Correspondence, p. 289.

3 Clarges Street London / March 19 Dear Napier, I send back the proofs. Pray let me have a revise. You will see that I have made greater alterations than is usual with me. But some parts of the subject are ticklish. I have taken the trouble to turn over the Apostolical fathers — Ignatius, Clemens, Hermas etc., in order to speak with some knowledge of what I was talking about. I am truly glad that you are satisfied. The paper will make noise enough, 1 have no doubt. — Longman's account is correct. I had hoped to see you before Easter - particularly as Brougham sets off for France on Monday; and I wish that you could time your visit so as to avoid being plagued by him. You say nothing of your health. I hope that your silence is to be favourably construed. But pray be more explicit on that subject whenever you write. Poor Ellis has lost his wife,1 and is quite broken-hearted. I am just going to him. I feel exceedingly for him. I am sorry to put you to the expence of postage. But I cannot spare time to day to look for a government frank. Ever yours T B Macaulay TO M R S C H A R L E S T R E V E L Y A N , 20 M A R C H

1839

Text: Copy, Trinity College. Partly published: Trevelyan, 11, 51-2.

London March 20 1839 Dearest Hannah, I have passed some very melancholy days since I wrote last. On Sunday afternoon I left Ellis tolerably cheerful. His wife's disorder was abating. The next day when I went to him I found the house shut up. I 1

Susan Ellis died on 18 March. The stated cause on the death certificate is * erysipelas.'

279

20 March 1839

Mrs Charles Trevelyan

meant only to have asked after him: but he would see me. His sister who lost her own husband but a little while ago, told me that he was so strangely composed and firm that they were all very uneasy about him. I found him so. But it did not last. I was indeed myself very much touched when I went into the room, and thought how, only a month ago, she was there, the centre of such a happy circle, so amiable, so cheerful, so intelligent, so singularly cordial and graceful in her attentions to all his friends, so excellent a wife and mother, and still, though past her prime, a woman whom any man might love. He gave way to very violent emotion; but he soon collected himself, and talked to me about her for hours, sometimes convulsed by his feelings for a minute or two, but then recovering and going on again. They were married as soon as he left college, and had lived together eighteen years without, he said, a single cross word on either side. He supported himself on the whole wonderfully. He said that the reality was nothing to the suspense. While there was still some faint hope he was almost distracted. Poor fellow — he prayed bitterly to God to take him too. But he was quite calm when I was with him, and said that he had been wickedly impatient, and that it was most ungrateful, after having been during eighteen years happier than anybody whom he knew, to repine now. "Yet" he said "I was so proud of her. I loved so much to shew her to anybody that I valued. And now what good will it do me to be a Judge or to make ten thousand a year? I shall not have her to go home to with the good news." I could not speak, for I know what that feeling is as well as he. He talked much of the sources of happiness that were left to him, his children, his relations, and hers, and my friendship. — He ought, he said, to be very grateful that I had not died in India, but was at home to comfort him. Comfort him I could not, except by hearing him talk of her with tears in my eyes. I staid till late. Yesterday I went again, and passed most of the day with him. He was composed, with occasional violent bursts of feeling. He talked of books and politics; but always came back to her. He talked also of his plans about his children which are not yet quite fixed. He has made me one of his executors. I shall go to him again today. For he says, and I see, that my company does him good. I would with pleasure give one of my fingers to get him back his wife, which is more than most widowers would give to get back their own. I have had my proofs from Napier and am to have a revise. He magnifies the article prodigiously. In a letter to Empson he calls it exquisite and admirable, and to me he writes that it is the finest piece of logic that ever was printed. I do not think it is so. But I do think that I have disposed of all Gladstone's theories unanswerably; and I do not think that there is a line of [the] paper with which even so strict a judge as Sir Robert Inglis or my uncle Babington could quarrel as at all indecorous. I think that it 280

Mrs Charles Trevelyan

20 March 1839

will make some stir. I shall write no more till I am paid for it. I have just had Longman's account, by which I find that, if I were to be paid at the very lowest rate which is given for the worst articles, I ought to receive 180 £ , and that, at the rate at which he used to pay me, I ought to receive 500 £.1 This is really too bad. But pray say nothing about it. I am impatient for the 4th of April 2 I dine out on that day, and cannot help myself. For the party was made partly on my account. But I will certainly manage to see you. I am delighted to hear that my dear Baba plays at seeing Uncle waiting for her. Is she old enough to take care of a canary-bird or two ? From her tenderness for the little fish, I think I may venture to trust her with live animals. — Here is a song for her. There was a little good Baba, And she said to her dear Papa, My dear Papa, I do so wish You would not catch the little fish. Then said Papa, "Why not my Jewel?" Then said Baba, "It is so cruel. If you were run through with a hook, And pulled along, and boiled by Cook, You would not think it nice at all, But you would kick and roar and squall. So let the little fishes play, Papa, and do not hurt them pray." Love to Trevelyan and Baby Brother. When I talked of parties I forgot that Edward had a share in the house. Ever yours TBM I have this instant a note from Lord Lansdowne who was in the Chair of the Club3 yesterday night to say that I am unanimously elected. Poor Ellis's loss had quite put it out of my head. 1

2

3

In his letter to Napier, 27 March, TBM says that the last article for which he had settled with Longman was that on Mahon in 1833; his articles since then were those on Walpole, Chatham, Mackintosh, Bacon, and Temple. The Trevelyans arrived in London then; TBM dined with Rogers on that day (Journal, 1, 380). The Club, founded 1764, included Johnson, Reynolds, Burke, Goldsmith, Fox, Gibbon, and Boswell.

28l

20 March 1839

Macvey Napier

TO MACVEY N A P I E R , 20 MARCH

1839

MS: British Museum. Mostly published: Napier, Correspondence, pp. 289-90.

London March 20. 1839 Dear Napier, The remonstrance of the Dean's kinsman deserves no notice. Let any person acquainted with the manners of England in the 17th Century judge whether a love-affair between a domestic chaplain and a waiting-woman may not properly be designated as 'a flirtation in the servant's hall.'1 I forgot in the hurry in which I wrote yesterday to notice what you said about Lord Brougham. I think your conduct more than irreproachable. I think it highly praiseworthy, and so I shall always say. Your duty to the ministers is not your only duty: and if it were it has been very sufficiently performed. You have succeeded in making Brougham, in his literary capacity, neutral, nay, in obtaining from him very powerful assistance to a work which is the most useful engine of the Whig party. Suppose that he had sent his Sketches, with all and more than all the matter which you cut out, to the London and Westminster Review, would the Government have gained by t h a t ? You know my feelings about him, and my opinion of him. But I am convinced that you ought to keep him while you honorably can, and to take care that, when a separation takes place, he may be most unquestionably in the wrong. Ever yours most truly T B Macaulay TO

MACVEY N A P I E R , 27 M A R C H 1839

MS: British Museum. Address: Macvey Napier Esq / Edinburgh.

London March 27. 1839. Dear Napier, I return the revise. We shall all be most happy to see you here. I hope the Review will be out speedily. Indeed you ought to make haste if it were only to anticipate Brougham, who will, I suppose, publish in his forthcoming volume the article which is to be in the front of your forthcoming number.2 1

2

TBM's phrase for the affair between Swift and Stella in the essay on Temple, ER, LXVIII, 178. Brougham's forthcoming volume' was Historical Sketches of Statesmen Who Flourished in the Time of George III, First Series, published on 30 March; a second series appeared in May; neither includes his article on ' Reigns of George the Third and Fourth - Public Characters,' ER, LXIX (April 1839), 1-49. 282

Lady Holland

[9 April 1839}

Lord Jeffrey is wonderfully well and young, younger than when I left England, and far happier than when he was Lord Advocate. I forgot whether I acknowledged the receipt of Longman's account. It is quite correct. The last article for which we settled was, I think, that on Lord Mahon's History of the War of the Succession. But I do not wish to go so far back. We will, if you please, consider our accounts as even up to the time of my return from India, and start afresh from that point.1 Ever yours truly T B Macaulay TO L A D Y H O L L A N D ,

[9

APRIL

1839]2

MS: Morgan Library.

[London] Dear Lady Holland, I am engaged to dinner both to day and to morrow. But if I can get away in any reasonable time from the Thatched House3 where I am to make my first appearance this evening, I will come to South Street.4 I am truly obliged by your kind offer of the box at Covent Garden Theatre.5 I should with the greatest pleasure avail myself of it, but that I have already secured a box for our family party on Thursday. / Ever, dear Lady Holland, Yours very truly T B Macaulay TO W I L L I A M E W A R T G L A D S T O N E , I I A P R I L

1839

Text: W. E. Gladstone, Gleanings of Past Years•, vn (1879), 107-8.

3 Clarges Street, April n t h , 1839. My dear Sir, I have very seldom been more gratified than by the very kind note6 which I have just received from you. Your book itself, and everything 1 2 3 4 5

6

In his Journal, 1, 378, TBM calls this letter 'a delicate hint about money-matters.' The date of TBM's first attendance at The Club: see Trevelyan, 11, 52m The Thatched House Tavern, S. James's Street, where The Club met. The address of a London house that Lady Holland inherited from her mother in 1835. Where Macready was playing in Bulwer's Richelieu. In his Journal for 11 April TBM wrote that' the play is not to my taste. Richelieu is a daub, — bad as a portrait and bad as a piece of invention' (1, 381). Gladstone's letter is also printed in Gleanings of Past Years, vn; extracts are in Trevelyan, 11, 52-3, who says of it that TBM kept it instead of burning it, 'a compliment which, except in this single instance, he never paid to any of his correspondents/ Gladstone's letter is now at Trinity (as are other letters that TBM kept, including a good many from his school days). 283

23 April 1839

Selina Macaulay

that I heard about you, though almost all my information came - to the honour, I must say, of our troubled times - from people very strongly opposed to you in politics, led me to regard you with respect and good will, and I am truly glad that I have succeeded in marking those feelings. I was half afraid when I read myself over again in print, that the button, as is too common in controversial fencing, even between friends, had once or twice come off the foil. I am very glad to find that we do not differ so widely as I had apprehended about the Test Act. I can easily explain the way in which I was misled. Your general principle is that religious non-conformity ought to be a disqualification for civil office. In page 238 you say that the true and authentic mode of ascertaining conformity is the Act of Communion. I thought, therefore, that your theory pointed directly to a renewal of the Test Act. And I do not recollect that you have ever used any expression importing that your theory ought in practice to be modified by any considerations of civil prudence. All the exceptions that you mention are, as far as I remember, founded on positive contract-not one on expediency, even in cases where the expediency is so strong and so obvious that most statesmen would call it necessity. If I had understood that you meant your rules to be followed out in practice only so far as might be consistent with the peace and good government of society, I should certainly have expressed myself very differently in several parts of my article. Accept my warm thanks for your kindness, and believe me, with every good wish, / My dear Sir, Very truly yours, T. B. Macaulay. W. E. Gladstone, Esq., M.P.

TO S E L I N A MACAULAY, 23 A P R I L

1839

MS: Trinity College. London April 23. 1839 Dearest Selina, I should have written to you before now, if I had not been constantly hoping to see you. I wish earnestly to have news of Edward's complete recovery. Have you drawn your money from Thornton? Or do you want more for your preparations and your journey. Pray let me know if I can do anything for you. — I am glad that you like my article. It has taken much. I have received a very handsome and gentlemanlike letter from Gladstone, acknowledging 284

Thomas Erskine

jo April\i83