«Леди Джон Расселл: Мемуары с подборкой дневников и писем»

После долгих колебаний лорд Джон решил служить под началом лорда Абердина. Его убедила поступить так, несмотря на сильные сомнения, королева, стремившаяся избежать крайнего средства в виде призыва Пальмерстона; ее просьбу подкрепили призывы его самых доверенных политических друзей.

Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell

OSBORNE, December 19, 1852

The Queen has to-day charged Lord Aberdeen with the duty of forming an Administration, which he has accepted. The Queen thinks the moment to have arrived when a popular, efficient, and durable Government could be formed by the sincere and united efforts of all parties professing Conservative and Liberal opinions. The Queen, knowing that this can only be effected by the patriotic sacrifice of personal interests and feelings to the public, trusts that Lord John Russell will, as far as he is able, give his valuable and powerful assistance to the realization of this object.

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Колебания лорда Джона вполне естественно были истолкованы многими современниками как нежелание бывшего премьер-министра занимать подчиненное положение, и некоторые свидетельства об этом впечатлении вошли в историю. У нас есть заверения леди Джон в том, что «это ни на секунду не тяготило его» и что его сомнения проистекали исключительно из «маловероятности согласия в столь разношерстном кабинете, а следовательно, и вероятного вреда для страны». Его истинные чувства отразило замечание, сделанное тогда же леди Джон, что ее муж не против стать «чистильщиком сапог у лорда Абердина», если это послужит на благо страны40.

В подтверждение можно отметить, что тремя годами позже лорд Джон был готов служить под началом самого Пальмерстона — как в Палате общин, так и в кабинете министров, хотя последний чинил ему препятствия на каждом шагу в предыдущем министерстве и едва ли надеялся на столь великодушную поддержку. Человек, у которого сильны чувства гордости, нашел бы тогда гораздо больше поводов остаться в стороне, чем в данный момент. Подобная трактовка его мотивов во всяком случае не согласуется с тем впечатлением, которое характер лорда Джона оставляет в умах. Судя по его сдержанной речи, застенчивым манерам и немногословному терпению перед лицом критики, молчаливой резкости решений, грозной силе при самозащите в случае открытой атаки и отстраненности от любых попыток снискать расположение прессы, можно сделать вывод, что его характер был исполнен достоинства; но достоинства именно такого склада, который делает столь легким занятие подчиненной политической позиции. Он предвидел, что его положение окажется чрезвычайно сложным, но не догадывался — и в этом заключалась его ошибка, — что оно станет невозможным. Следует помнить, что, подчиняя себя, он в известной мере подчинял и свою партию. Виги составляли большинство голосов в Палате общин и требовали соразмерного веса в кабинете. Поэтому он был вынужден претендовать на исключительное положение в кабинете как лидер и представитель фактически отдельной партии. Виги продолжали жаловаться, что он недостаточно настойчиво отстаивает их права на должности, тогда как пилиты упрекали его в отказе работать под началом своего главы, как любой другой министр. Всякий раз, когда он пренебрегал требованиями вигов ради лучшего сотрудничества с лордом Абердином, он навлекал на себя обвинения в предательстве своих сторонников, а когда отстаивал их права, его обвиняли в высокомерии по отношению к главе кабинета. Тем не менее это была дилемма, неприятности которой сглаживались по мере распределения постов и вхождения министерства в рабочий ритм; в его положении крылось куда более фатальное противоречие. Формально он оставался подчиненным министром, приверженным реформам (в качестве премьер-министра он выступал против радикального Билля о реформе на том основании, что намерен представить собственный проект), а также представителем сильнейшей партии, также обещавшей реформы, в коалиционном кабинете, который по большей части стремился ухватиться за любую отговорку, чтобы отложить их на неопределенный срок. При обычных обстоятельствах, столкнувшись с противодействием коллег, он подал бы в отставку; но, как выяснилось, их отговорки для противодействия ему одновременно служили сильнейшим аргументом в пользу его верности долгу. Трудности в Крыму они использовали и как предлог для отсрочки реформ, и как довод, призывающий его повременить с отставкой.

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Однако поначалу, судя по тому, что было доступно взглядам посторонних лиц, все шло в коалиции гладко. Законодательная работа сессии выполнялась превосходно. Лорд Джон вошел в кабинет министров в качестве министра иностранных дел; но поскольку обязанности этого ведомства в сочетании с лидерством в Палате общин оказались непосильны для одного человека, он подал в отставку, оставаясь в кабинете без портфеля до 1854 года, когда занял пост министра колоний. Главным событием сессии стал знаменитый первый бюджет Гладстона.

Lord John to Lady John Russell

April 19, 1853

Gladstone's speech was magnificent, and I think his plan will do.... I think we shall carry this Budget, as Gladstone has put it so clearly that hardly a Liberal can vote with Disraeli to put him in our place. It rejoices me to be party to a large plan, and to have to do with a man who seeks to benefit the country rather than to carry a majority by concessions to fear.

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Lady John to Lord John Russell

PEMBROKE LODGE, April 20, 1853

I am delighted with Gladstone's Budget. I don't pretend to judge of all its details, but such of its proposals as I understand are all to my mind, and the spirit and temper of the whole speech admirable; so bold, so benevolent, so mild, so uncompromising. I read it aloud to Lizzy and the girls, and we were in the middle of it when your letter came telling us how fine it had been.... Surely you will carry it? I feel no fear, except of your allowing it to be damaged in the carrying.

Mrs. Gladstone to Lady John Russell

April, 1853

MY DEAR LADY JOHN,--I thank you heartily for your very kind note. You know well from your own experience how happy I must be now.

We have indeed great reason to be thankful: the approbation of such men as your husband is no slight encouragement and no slight happiness. I assure you we have felt this deeply. After great anxiety one feels more as if in a happy dream than in real life and you will not laugh at the relief to me of seeing him well after such an effort and after such labour as it has been for weeks....

We have often thought of you in your illness and heard of your well-doing with sincere pleasure.

Once more thanking you, believe me, dear Lady John,

Yours sincerely,

CATHERINE GLADSTONE

I must tell you with what comfort and interest I watched Lord John's countenance during the speech.

28 марта 1853 года в Пембрук-Лодже родилась дочь леди Джон, Мэри Агата. Леди Минто чувствовала себя достаточно хорошо, чтобы написать яркое и счастливое поздравительное письмо по случаю рождения внучки, но здоровье ее постепенно ухудшалось, и 21 июля она скончалась в Нерви, в Италии.

PEMBROKE LODGE, August 3, 1853

The world is changed to me for ever since I last wrote. My dear, dear Mama has left it, and I shall never again see that face so long and deeply loved. Tuesday, July 26th, was the day we heard. Thursday, July 21st, the day her angel spirit was summoned to that happy home where tears are wiped from all eyes. I pray to think more of her, glorious, happy and at rest, than of ourselves. But it is hard, very, very hard to part. O Mama, Mama, I call and you do not come. I dream of you, I wake, and you are not there.

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Lord John to Lady John Russell

MINTO, August 10, 1853

You will feel a melancholy pang at the date of the place from which I write. It is indeed very sorrowful to see Lord Minto and so many of his sons and daughters assembled to perform the last duties to her who was the life and comfort of them all.... The place is looking beautiful, and your mother's garden was never so lovely. It is pleasant in all these sorrows and trials to see a family so united in affection, and so totally without feelings or objects that partake of selfishness or ill-will.

Старый поэт Роджерс, привязанный к леди Джон со времен ее юности в лондонском свете, написал ей в ее горе. Его записка заслуживает сохранения. Ему было за девяносто, когда он писал ее, и в ней раскрывается такая сторона его натуры, которая ускользает в мемуарах той эпохи, где он обычно предстает мастером острых, но редких добрых слов. Миссис Нортон в письме к Хейворду дает достоверный портрет поэта в этот период. Она начинает с того, что ни один человек не казался столь важным, делая при этом столь мало и даже говоря столь мало:

"His god was Harmony," she wrote; "and over his life Harmony presided, sitting on a lukewarm cloud. He was not the 'poet, sage, and philosopher' people expected to find he was, but a man in whom the tastes (rare fact!) preponderated over the passions; who defrayed the expenses of his tastes as other men make outlay for the gratification of their passions; all within the limit of reason.

"... He was the very embodiment of quiet, from his voice to the last harmonious little picture that hung in his hushed room, and a curious figure he seemed--an elegant pale watch-tower, showing for ever what a quiet port literature and the fine arts might offer, in an age of 'progress,' when every one is tossing, struggling, wrecking, and foundering on a sea of commercial speculation or political adventure; when people fight over pictures, and if a man does buy a picture, it is with the burning desire to prove it is a Raphael to his yielding enemies, rather than to point it out with a slow white finger to his breakfasting friends."

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Mr. Samuel Rogers to Lady John Russell

August 13, 1853

MY DEAR FRIEND,--May I break in upon you to say how much you have been in my thoughts for the last fortnight? But I was unwilling to interrupt you at such a moment when you must have been so much engaged.

May He who has made us and alone knows what is best for us support you under your great affliction. Again and again have I taken up my poor pen, but in vain, and I have only to pray that God may bless you and yours wherever you go.

Ever most affectionately yours,

SAMUEL ROGERS

Осенью 1853 года лорд Джон вывез свою семью в Росенет в Шотландии, который им одолжил герцог Аргайлл. Они провели там несколько недель, время от времени совершая короткие морские прогулки на судне «Симу», предоставленном в их распоряжение Управлением внутренних доходов, когда угрожающие осложнения на Востоке вынудили лорда Джона вернуться в Лондон. Тридцативосьмилетний мир подходил к концу.

ROSENEATH, September 2, 1853

My poor dear John set off to London, to his and my great disappointment. The refusal of the Porte to agree to the Note accepted by the Emperor makes the journey necessary.

Леди Джон вскоре последовала за ним.

Lady John Russell to Lady Elizabeth Romilly

PEMBROKE LODGE, October 21, 1853

MY DEAREST LIZZY,--... I have never ceased rejoicing at my sudden flight from Roseneath, though its two causes, John's cold and the Czar's misdeeds, are unpleasant enough--but his presence here is so necessary, so terribly necessary, that neither he nor I could have stayed on in peace at Roseneath.... What he has accomplished is a wonder; and I hope that some day somehow everybody will know everything, and wonder at his patience and firmness and unselfishness, as I do.... I trust we may be very quiet here for some time, and then one must gather courage for London and the battle of life again. Our quiet here will not be without interruption, for there will be early in November a week or so of Cabinets, for which we shall go to town, and at the end of November Parliament may be obliged to meet....

Your ever affectionate sister,

FANNY RUSSELL

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Lady John to Lord John Russell

PEMBROKE LODGE, December 9, 1853

Your letter just come, dearest ... I don't think I am tired by colds, but indeed it is true that I think constantly and uneasily of your political position, never, never, as to whether this or that course will place you highest in the world's estimation. I am sure you know all I care about is that you should do what is most right in the sight of God.

В этот момент читателю полезно напомнить о дипломатических путаницах и трудностях, приведших к Крымской войне. Восточный вопрос изначально вырос из спора между Францией и Россией по поводу обладания определенными святыми местами в Палестине; установить над ними контроль желали как латинская, так и греческая церковь. Султан предлагал посредничество, но его вмешательство не удовлетворило ни одну из сторон. В начале 1853 года в Англии стало известно, что царь ожидает крушения Турции и даже предложил английскому послу занять нам Крит и Грецию, в то время как он заберет европейские провинции Турции. В России враждебность к Турции проистекала отчасти из сочувствия к греческой церкви, подвергавшейся гонениям в Турции, отчасти же из стремления получить выход в Средиземное море. Английские министры, разумеется, не желали иметь ничего общего с предложением царя о разделе Турции. Агрессивные устремления приписывались одной лишь позиции России по отношению к Турции. Тогда Николай потребовал от султана права лично защищать его христианских подданных, а получив отказ, занял своими войсками Молдавию и Валахию. Ответом Англии стало отправка флота в Дарданеллы.

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Консультации четырех великих держав — Англии, Франции, Австрии и Пруссии — с целью предотвращения войны завершились отправкой «Венской ноты», содержавшей условие о том, что султан обязуется впредь защищать всех христиан греческого вероисповедания в своем королевстве. Царь принял условия ноты, но султан по наущению сэра Стратфорда Каннинга, британского посла в Константинополе, отверг их. Тогда царь объявил войну, и хотя турки добились успехов на Дунае, ему удалось уничтожить турецкий флот при Синопе. Этот успех вызвал величайшее возмущение в Англии и Франции, и в марте 1854 года они совместно объявили войну России.

Еще до этих событий Пальмерстон подал в отставку на том основании, что позиция правительства по отношению к России недостаточно тверда и бескомпромиссна; ибо с самого начала лорд Абердин даже не помышлял о возможности войны с Россией. Но до истечения месяца Пальмерстон вернулся к исполнению обязанностей. Из следующего письма, написанного личным секретарем лорда Джона, мистером Буало, видно, что неодобрение правительственных переговоров с Россией было не единственным мотивом, приписываемым вигами отставке Пальмерстона. Лорд Джон вошел в кабинет при условии проведения своего законопроекта о реформе; с самого начала большинство его коллег относились к нему крайне прохладно, Пальмерстон же занимал определенно, хотя и скрытно, враждебную позицию,

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Mr. John Boileau to Lady Melgund

FOREIGN OFFICE, December 19, 1853

You will be glad to know something about Pam's resignation and the on dits here--if, as I hope, you are safely arrived at Minto.... His own paper, the Morning Post, will do him more harm than good, I think. It will not allow that Reform has anything to do with his resignation--swears he is an out-and-out Reformer--and that his differing from the policy of the Cabinet on the Eastern Question is the only reason. Now this, in my humble judgment, I believe not to be the case. I feel certain, in fact I feel sure, that he goes out solely on the question of Reform, having been opposed to it in toto from the first moment of the discussion on it in the Cabinet, and though he went on with them for a time, they came to something that he could not swallow. As to the question of the East, if he does differ from the Cabinet it is no more than Lord John or several others might say if they went out to-morrow.... The Times of to-day has a very severe article against him. The Daily News is very sensible and implies great confidence in Lord John. The Chronicle is calm in its disapprobation of Pam--the Morning Advertiser, of all papers! is the most in favour, and is crying Pam up for Prime Minister already, and gives extracts from county papers to show how popular he is. The Morning Herald is silent on the subject. I send you these flying remarks, as I dare say you will see nothing at Minto except perhaps the Times, and any news in the country goes a great way.... London is very cold and painfully dull without 24 Chester Square, and you must write to me very often. You see I have begun very well....

Однако лорд Джон настаивал на внесении своего законопроекта вопреки противодействию коллег и многих сторонников правительства. Он чувствовал, что партия обязана сдержать обещание, данное стране, в то время как коллеги утверждали, что Палата общин столь сильно занята войной, что у нее нет времени рассматривать подобный билль. Поскольку Палата общин сама войну не вела, отговорка эта выглядела поверхностной. Лорд Джон пригрозил отставкой, если ему не разрешат представить проект, ибо считал честь министерства и собственную честь поставленными на карту. Из последующих писем станет ясно, как упорно он боролся за эту меру и с каким острым сожалением осознал в конце концов необходимость выбирать между отказом от нее и отставкой. Его отставка означала бы тяжелый удар по правительству, и без того скомпрометированному неумелым ведением войны; предпочитая не усугублять их затруднения в такой кризисный момент, он выбрал меньшее зло в виде отказа от законопроекта. Но уступка настоятельным призывам коллег и продолжение работы в кабинете делали его положение с каждым днем все более сложным. В конце концов он неожиданно подал в отставку по причинам, истолкованным неблагоприятно практически каждым историком, писавшим об этом периоде.

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Lady John Russell to Lady Mary Abercromby

LONDON, February 14, 1854

I remember almost crying in Minto days, when you were twelve, because I thought it past the prime of life. What shall I do now that you are striking forty-three? I believe you have long ago made up your mind to the changing and fading and ending of all things here below, joys as well as sorrows, childhood, youth and age, hope and fear and doubt, and that you have learnt to look forward rather than back; but to me this is often a struggle still; and when the struggle ends the wrong way, how much there is to make my heart sink within me! Chiefly, as you may guess, the deepening lines on the face of the dearest husband that ever blessed a home, and the comparison of him as he now is with him as he was when we married.

Yesterday was a great day to us; the Reform Bill was brought in. I suppose I should be better pleased if there was more enthusiasm. I should certainly have a better opinion of human nature, if those who have cried out most loudly for Reform did not set their cowardly faces against it now; but at the same time there is a happy pride in seeing John's honest and patriotic perseverance in what he is convinced is right, through evil report and good report, in season and out of season.

Lady John Russell to Lady Elizabeth Romilly

February 28, 1854

DEAREST LIZZY,--To get out of my difficulty as to which of my other three correspondents to write to, I give my half-hour to you this morning. I must begin by thanking you all with all my heart for your most welcome congratulations on all that John has said and done since Parliament met, and especially his great speech in answer to Layard. It is indeed a happiness to hear such praise from people whose praise is worth having; but I have now learned, if I had not long ago, how worthless many of the congratulations are, which I receive after a good speech which has set the Ministers firmer in their seats. It may be right the week after to make one which has a contrary effect, and then the congratulators become revilers. I knew when I began to write that I should be disagreeable, but had hoped not to be so as early as the second page. However, having got into the complaining mood, I will not hurry out of it; and I shall be surprised if you do not admit that I have some reason for my complaints.

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For the last ten days John has been urged and pressed and threatened and coaxed and assailed by all the various arts of every variety of politician to induce him to give up Reform! Mind, I say give up, where they say put off, because I know they mean give up; though cowards as they are in this as in everything else, they dare not say what they mean. Will you believe that the language poured into my pained and wounded and offended but very helpless ears, day after day, by official friends, is to the effect that the country is apathetic on Reform, and that therefore it should not be proceeded with; that Reform is a measure calculated to produce excitement, conflict, disturbance in the country, and therefore it should not be proceeded with; that John having given a pledge was bound, "oh yes, certainly," to redeem it, and that all the world will agree he has most nobly redeemed it, if he lets his Bill fall on the floor of the House of Commons to-morrow, never to be picked up again; that if he proceeds with it, he will be universally reproached for allowing personal hostility to Lord Palmerston to influence him to the injury of the country; that his character is so high that if he gave it up, it would be utterly impossible for any creature to raise a doubt of his sincerity in bringing it forward; that dissolution or resignation are revolution and ruin and disgrace; that the caballers are wrong, quite wrong, but that we must look at the general question and the possible results (a hackneyed expression which may sound wise but of which I too well know the drift); that it may often be very honourable to abandon friends and supporters with whom we agree, to conciliate the shabbies with whom we differ; that, of course, they would be too happy to be out of office, but people must not consult their own wishes; that I must be aware that Lord John is supposed sometimes to be a little obstinate, etc. In short, it all comes to this, that many M.P.'s are afraid of losing their seats by a dissolution, and many others whose boroughs are disfranchised hate the Reform Bill, and many more are anti-Reformers by nature, and all these combine to stifle it.... And to tell Lord John that really he has such a quantity of spare character that it can bear a little damaging! I am ashamed and sick of such things, and should think my country no longer worth caring for, but for those brave men who have gone off to fight for her with a spirit worthy of themselves, and but for those lower classes in which Frederick41 tells me to put my faith.... I must stop, not without fear that you may think me blind to the very real evil and danger of dissolution or resignation at the beginning of a great war. Indeed I am not--but those who see nothing but these dangers are taking the very way to lead us into them.... Lord Aberdeen is firm as a rock; it is due to him to say so. How shall I prevent my boys growing up to be cowards and selfish like the rest? You see what a humour I am in.... I never let out to anybody. When my friends give all this noble

advice I sit to all appearance like Patience on a monument, but not feeling like her at all--keeping silence because there is not time to begin at the first rudiments of morality, and there would be no use in anything higher up. Good-bye, poor Lizzy, doomed to suffer under my bad moods. God bless you all.

Yours ever, F. R.

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Lord Granville to Lady John Russell

February 28, 1854

I have just heard that Lord John has consented to put off Reform till after Easter. It must have been a great personal sacrifice to him, but I am delighted for his own sake and the public cause that he has done it. There is no doubt but that nearly all who cry for delay are at bottom enemies to Reform. Reform is not incompatible with war, and it is not clear that a dissolution would be dangerous during its continuance, but an enormous majority of the House of Commons have persuaded themselves of the contrary.

In all probability the apathetic approved of the Reform Bill only because it was out of the question for the present. Newcastle agrees with me in thinking that a wall has been built which, at present, could not have been knocked down by the few who really desire Reform.

PEMBROKE LODGE, April 8, 1854

Painfully anxious day. Cabinet to decide on Reform or no Reform this session.

Came here early with the children, wishing to be cheerful for John's sake, and knowing how much power Pembroke Lodge and the children have to make me so. Found this place most lovely; the day warm and bright as June; the children like larks escaped from a cage. At half-past seven John came looking worn and sad--no Reform, and no resignation! Not a man in the Cabinet agreed with him that it would be best to go on with Reform; though several would have consented had he insisted, but he did not. Not one would hear either of his resignation or of Lord Palmerston's. In short--the present Ministry at any price. John dissatisfied with his colleagues, and worse with himself. May God watch over him and guide him.

LONDON, April 11, 1854

The great day is over, and thank God John has stood the trial, and even risen, I believe, in the estimation of his followers and of men in general. The regrets, disapprobation, despair, reproaches that assailed him from the various sections of his party, on the rumours of his resignation, were of a kind that would have made it wrong in him to persist; for they proved that the heartiest reformers were against it, and would uphold him in remaining in the Government.

Page 137.

There was deep silence when he rose. It was soon plain that the disposition of his supporters was good; and throughout his noble, simple, generous, touching speech he was loudly cheered by them, and often by all sides.

At the close there were a few words about his own position: he said that the course he was taking was open to suspicion from those who supported him--that if he had done anything--Here his voice failed him, and there burst forth the most deafening cheers from all parts of the House, which lasted for a minute or two, till he was able to go on. If he had done anything for the cause of Reform he still hoped for their confidence. If not, his influence would be weakened and destroyed, and he could no longer lead them. This was the substance--not the words. It was a great night for him. He risked more than perhaps ought to be risked, but he has lost nothing, I trust and believe, and I hope he has gained more than the enthusiasm of a day. May God ever guide and bless him.

Mr. George Moffatt, M.P., to Lady John Russell

103 EATON SQUARE, April 12, 1854

DEAR LADY JOHN RUSSELL,--Pardon my saying one word upon the touching event of last evening. A parliamentary experience of nine years has never shown me so striking an instance of respectful homage and cordial sympathy as was then elicited. I know that the unbidden tears gushed to my cheeks, and looking round I could see scores of other careless, worldly men struck by the same emotion--and even the Speaker (as he subsequently admitted to me) was affected in precisely the same manner. The German-toy face of the Caucasian was of course as immovable as usual, but Mr. Walpole wept outright. I sincerely trust that the kindly enthusiasm of this moment may have in some measure compensated for the vexations and annoyances of the last two months.

Believe me, your faithful servant,

GEO. MOFFATT

Page 138.

Mr. John Boileau to Lady Melgund

LONDON, April 12, 1854

I wish I could write you a long letter giving an account of last night in the House of Commons.... I would not have missed last night for the world. It was a melancholy instance of what a public servant in these days may have to go through, at the same time such a noble example of patriotism and self-sacrifice as I believe there is not another man in England capable of giving--and though I cannot yet resign my feeling that it would have been better in the end both for Lord John and the Liberal party had he resigned, at present I have nothing to do but to admire, love, and respect more than ever the man who could, for the sake of his country and what he believes in his judgment to be the best for her, go through as painful a struggle as he has.... The scene in the House itself I shall never forget--the sudden pause when he began to speak of himself and his position--the sobs, and finally the burst of tears, and the almost ineffectual attempt to finish the remaining sentences, and at last obliged to give it up and sit down exhausted with the protracted struggle and the strain of nerve. He was loudly cheered from both sides of the House.

Lord John Russell to Mr. John Abel Smith42

April 12, 1854

DEAR SMITH,--As I find some rumours have been mentioned to Lady John, false in themselves and injurious to me, I beg to assure you that it has been the greatest comfort to me to find that I received from her the best encouragement and support in the course which I ultimately adopted. She could not fail to perceive and to sympathize in the deep distress which the prospect of abandoning the Reform Bill caused me, and it was my chief consolation during a trying period to find at home regard for my fame and reputation as a sincere and earnest reformer. That regard has now been shown by the House of Commons generally, but there is no man in that House on whose friendship I more confidently rely, and with good reason, than yourself.

Yours ever truly,

J. RUSSELL

Lord Spencer to Lady John Russell

LEAMINGTON, April 14, 1854

DEAR LADY JOHN,--I cannot resist giving you the trouble to read a few lines from me on Lord John's speech the other night. Remembering the conversation we had on the subject of the proposed Reform Bill, when I ventured, perhaps too boldly and too roundly, to let out my unworthy opinion in a contrary sense, I think I ought to tell you that I had arrived some time ago at the same conclusion which Lord John announced to the House of Commons the other night, and I really believe if I had not, his reasons would have made me. I never read a more convincing speech, and I never read so affecting a one. No man living, I believe, could have made that speech but your husband, and it gives me great pleasure to offer you my heartfelt congratulations upon it.... Pray forgive me, dear Lady John, for intruding thus on your time, and believe me,

Very faithfully yours,

SPENCER

Page 139.

Lady John Russell to Lord Minto,

PEMBROKE LODGE, April 24, 1854

MY DEAREST PAPA,--... I must dash at once into my subject, having only a quarter of an hour to spend on it. It is that of John's position; he has, I believe, raised his character in the country by the withdrawal of the Reform Bill. His motives are above suspicion and unsuspected; whereas, owing to the singular state of the public mind, it seems pretty sure that they would have been, though most unjustly, suspected, had he persisted in his resignation. But in the Cabinet I do not think his position improved, rather the reverse. The policy of the timid and the shabby and the ambitious and the cunning and the illiberal triumphed; and all experience teaches me that John, having made a great sacrifice, will be expected to make every other that apparent expediency may induce his colleagues to require. He will always be pressed and urged and taunted with obstinacy, etc., and told that he will ruin his reputation, if for the sake of one question on which he may happen to differ with them, he exposed his country to the awful danger of a change of Ministry.... It is for the avowed purpose of carrying on the war with vigour that Reform and other things are thrown aside. The Ministry has not asked the House of Commons or the country to declare, but has declared itself indispensable to the country, and the only possible Ministry competent to carry on the war. But if it has already proved, and if it daily goes on to prove, itself incompetent in time of peace to carry on measures of domestic improvement, and more specially incompetent either to prepare for or prosecute a great war, has John done right, has he done what the welfare of the country requires, in lending himself so long as its indispensable prop? It is not incompetent from want of ability, but of unity.... He is considered by them to have wedded himself to them for better for worse more closely than ever by the withdrawal of Reform.... The wretched fears and delays and doubts which have, I firmly believe, first produced this war, and then made its beginning of so little promise, have had no effect as warnings for the future.... There will probably soon be great pressure put upon him to take office.... Nothing but the fact of his having no office, of his only part in the Government being work, has made him struggle along a very dangerous way unattacked and unhurt.... With his opinion of Lord Aberdeen's Ministry he would be doing wrong, though from no worse motives than excess of deference to those with whom he acts, were he, after giving up Reform, to give up the degree of independence which he now has.... You can now partly conceive how doubtful I feel (and he does too) whether the withdrawal of Reform will ultimately be an advantage, though it is obvious that a break-up on that was more to be deprecated than on almost any other subject. John said this morning of his own accord that he feared he had been wrong in ever joining this Ministry. I wake every morning with the fear of some terrible national disaster before night, of disasters which could be borne if they were unavoidable, but will be unbearable if they could have been avoided. Do not, pray, think me a croaker without good reason for croaking. The greatness of the occasion is not understood.

Page 140.

Ever, my dearest Papa,

Your affectionate child,

F. R.

Дела в кабинете министров приближались к развязке. Осень и ранняя зима 1854 года принесли победы при Альме, Балаклаве и Инкермане. По мере того как росла гордость страны за своих солдат, нарастало и негодование по поводу организации гражданской стороны войны. Некомпетентность Военного министерства сделала правительство крайне непопулярным, и в Палате общин было внесено предложение, обвинявшее его в неверном руководстве войной. Сразу же после того, как мистер Робуэк уведомил о внесении предложения о создании Комитета по расследованию, лорд Джон написал лорду Абердину, что, поскольку не может по совести голосовать против этого предложения, он вынужден сложить с себя полномочия министра. Большинство историков расценивали этот шаг как акт трусливого дезертирства с его стороны. Будучи членом правительства, он нес такую же ответственность за содеянное, как и его коллеги, и подавая в отставку, он признавал их заслугу порицания. Цитаты из двух важных исторических книг продемонстрируют взгляд, утвердившийся в отношении его поступка.

Лорд Морли в своей «Жизни Гладстона» отмечает:

Page 141.

... When Parliament assembled on January 23, 1855, Mr. Roebuck on the first night of the session gave notice of a motion for a Committee of Inquiry. Lord John Russell attended to the formal business, and when the House was up went home, accompanied by Sir Charles Wood. Nothing of consequence passed between the two colleagues, and no word was said to Wood in the direction of withdrawal. The same evening, as the Prime Minister was sitting in his drawing-room, a red box was brought in to him by his son, containing Lord John Russell's resignation. He was as much amazed as Lord Newcastle, smoking his evening pipe of tobacco in his coach, was amazed by the news that the battle of Marston Moor had begun. Nothing has come to light since to set aside the severe judgment pronounced upon this proceeding by the universal opinion of contemporaries, including Lord John's own closest political allies. That a Minister should run away from a hostile motion upon affairs for which responsibility was collective, and this without a word of consultation with a single colleague, is a transaction happily without precedent in the history of modern English Cabinets. 43

Мистер Герберт Пол в своей блестящей «Истории современной Англии» предлагает версию этого события, которая в целом выглядит едва ли менее суровой по отношению к лорду Джону.

Лорд Пальмерстон вполне мог жаловаться на подобное поведение как на крайне затруднительное. Оно парализовало работу. Оно снабжало оппозицию неопровержимыми доводами. «Вот, — могли заявить они, — второй человек в вашем кабинете, по его собственному мнению — первый, знающий все, что знаете вы, и он утверждает, что "парламентское расследование абсолютно необходимо". Как же вы можете отрицать или оспаривать это?» В примечании он добавляет: «Лорд Джон предложил отозвать свою отставку, если герцог Ньюкасл уйдет в отставку [с поста министра военных дел] в пользу Пальмерстона. Перед Рождеством между лордом Абердином и герцогом было улажено, что это изменение произойдет. Но никто другой не знал об этой договоренности, и лорд Абердин, хотя и дал согласие, отказался осуществить ее как результат сделки с лордом Джоном».

Page 142.

Теперь обе эти версии упускают из виду важный факт из частной истории кабинета Абердина. Лорд Джон по меньшей мере дважды после уступок по вопросу о Билле о реформе пытался подать в отставку. Лишь мольбы королевы и коллег заставили его остаться в министерстве; причем, как подразумевалось, лишь до тех пор, пока какой-нибудь громкий военный успех не сделает его отставку менее значимой для них. Однако Севастополь не пал, и лорд Джон продолжал цепляться за пост, настойчиво и неоднократно требуя повышения эффективности военного управления, а также передачи контроля из рук двух военных министров в руки наиболее энергичного министра — Пальмерстона. На заседании кабинета министров 6 декабря лорд Джон воздержался от продвижения этого конкретного изменения, поскольку Пальмерстон написал ему, что, по его мнению, не существует «широких и четких оснований» для смещения герцога Ньюкасла, и ограничился, подвергнув критике общее ведение войны, заявлением о своем намерении в любом случае подать в отставку после Рождества. Когда возразили, что подобное заявление несовместимо с исполнением им обязанностей лидера Палаты общин до того срока, он предложил уйти в отставку немедленно. Он с радостью сделал бы это, если бы они не умоляли его остаться. 30 декабря он составил меморандум со своими критическими замечаниями по поводу ведения войны; а 3 января написал лорду Абердину: «Ничто не может быть менее удовлетворительным, чем результаты недавних заседаний кабинета. Если вы сами не направите меры, я не вижу надежды на эффективное ведение войны...» 44

Page 143.

Поэтому, когда 23 января оппозиция потребовала расследования, он оказался в крайне неловком положении. Ему приходилось либо преграждать путь к переменам, на которых он сам настаивал все это время, либо открыто признать свое согласие с критиками правительства. Выбери он первый вариант, он изменил бы своему убеждению в том, что изменение методов ведения войны абсолютно необходимо для успеха страны; однако, выбрав второй, он поворачивался спиной к коллегам. Безусловно, конституционный обычай требует от отдельных министров либо полного принятия общей ответственности, либо немедленной отставки. Лорд Джон протестовал раз за разом, но в отставку не уходил; следовательно, он нес ответственность за то, что было сделано за время его пребывания в кабинете. Он не подавал в отставку, потому что считал вредным для страны ослабление правительства в разгар войны, и надеялся, что, оставаясь в кабинете, сумеет побудить министерство изменить методы руководства боевыми действиями. Обнаружив вопреки неоднократным протестам невозможность осуществить эти важнейшие перемены изнутри, и когда Палата общин начала требовать их извне, он решил, что никакие соображения верности коллегам не должны заставлять его вставать между страной и столь настоятельно желательными переменами. Можно сказать, что, поскольку он действовал из соображений, будто сохранение нетронутой мощи правительства дает лучший шанс на успешное и скорое завершение войны, он проявлял непоследовательность, мягко говоря, предавая коллег в момент, сделавший их поражение неизбежным. Но непоследовательность эта носит лишь поверхностный характер; как только он потерял надежду добиться от правительства изменения методов ведения войны, их поражение и роспуск, предотвратить которые он прежде старался, превратились в меньшее из двух зол. В конечном счете это вовсе не было злом, ибо роспуск привел к власти нужного человека — Пальмерстона. Ошибка лорда Джона заключалась в вере, будто его долготерпеливая поддержка рыхлого, плохо работающего министерства вроде кабинета Абердина способна когда-либо превратить его в сильное.

Лорд Вриотесли Расселл 45, о котором леди Джон годами ранее писала как о «самом мягком и добром из людей», направил ей 8 февраля 1855 года письмо, содержащее следующие строки:

It is impossible to hear all these abominable attacks in silence. It makes me sad as well as indignant to hear the world speaking as if straight-forward honesty were a thing incredible--impossible. A man, and above all a man to whom truth is no new thing, says simply that he cannot assent to what he believes to be false, and the whole world says, What can he mean by it--treachery, trickery, cowardice, ambition, what is it? My hope is that our statesmen may learn from John's dignified conduct a lesson which does not appear hitherto to have occurred to them--that even the fate of a Ministry will not justify a lie. We all admire in fiction the stern uprightness of Jeanie Deans: "One word would have saved me, and she would not speak it." ... Whether that word would have saved them is a question--it was their only chance--and he would not speak it; that word revolted his conscience, it would have been false. I know nothing grander than the sublime simplicity of that refusal.

Page 144.

Почти два года спустя лорд Джон Расселл в письме к своему брату, герцогу Бедфорду, отмечал:

... The question with me was how to resist Roebuck's motion. I do not think I was wrong in substance, but in form I was. I ought to have gone to the Cabinet and have explained that I could not vote against inquiry, and only have resigned if I had not carried the Cabinet with me. I could not have taken Palmerston's line of making a feeble defence.

Насколько нелепо полагать, будто трусость могла продиктовать решение лорда Джона в тот момент, показывает его поведение в обстоятельствах, о которых будет рассказано в следующей главе. Сколь бы непопулярной ни сделала его отставка среди политиков, это ничто по сравнению с бурей оскорблений, которую он был вынужден претерпеть, когда несколько месяцев спустя решился выставить свою кандидатуру — теперь уже в качестве заклейменного приспособленца — ради сохранения лучшего в политике, которую изначально не одобрял.

Неприятности и разногласия коалиционного министерства не умалили уважения лорда Джона к лорду Абердину, о котором он писал в последние годы: «Я полагаю, ни один человек в мои времена не вступал в общественную жизнь столь чистым в своих личных взглядах и столь свободным от алчной амбиции или эгоистичных соображений».

Мистер Ролло Расселл по случаю выхода в свет «Жизни Гладстона» мистера Джона Морли направил в газету «Таймс» следующее письмо в оправдание действий своего отца в отношении предложения мистера Робуэка:

DUNROZEL, HASLEMERE, SURREY, November, 1903

SIR,--In his admirable biography of Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Morley has given, no doubt without any intention of injury, an impression which is not historically correct by his account of my father's resignation in January, 1855, on the notice of Mr. Roebuck's motion for a Committee of Inquiry. I do not wish to apply to his account the same measure which he applies by quoting an ephemeral observation of Mr. Greville to my father's speech, but I do maintain that "the general effect is very untrue."

Page 145.

Before being judged a man is entitled to the consideration both of his character and of the evidence on his side. In the chapter to which I allude there is no reference to the records by which my father's action has been largely justified. There is no mention, I think, of these facts: that my father had again and again during the Crimean War urged upon the Cabinet a redistribution of offices, the more efficient prosecution of the war, the provision of proper food and clothing for the Army, which was then undergoing terrible privations and sufferings, a better concert between the different Departments, and between the English and French camps, and, especially, the appointment of a Minister of War of vigour and authority. "As the welfare of the Empire and the success of the present conflict are concerned," he wrote at the end of November to the head of the Government, "the conduct of the war ought to be placed in the hands of the fittest man who can be found for the post." He laid the greatest stress on more efficient administration.

The miseries of the campaign increased. On January 30, 1855, Lord Malmesbury wrote: "The accounts from the Crimea are dreadful. Only 18,000 effective men; 14,000 are dead and 11,000 sick. The same neglect which has hitherto prevailed continues and is shown in everything."

He held very strong views as to the duty of the House of Commons in regard to these calamities. "Inquiry is the proper duty and function of the House of Commons.... Inquiry is at the root of the powers of the House of Commons."

He had been induced by great pressure from the highest quarters to join the Cabinet, and on patriotic grounds remained in office against his desire. He continually but unsuccessfully advocated Reform. Several times he asked to be allowed to resign.

When, therefore, Mr. Roebuck brought forward a motion embodying the opinion which he had frequently urged on his colleagues, he could not pretend the opposite views and resist the motion for inquiry.

The resignation was not so sudden as represented. On the 6th of December, 1854, when the Cabinet met, he declared that he was determined to retire after Christmas; after some conference with his colleagues, he wrote on December 16th to Lord Lansdowne: "I do not feel justified in taking upon myself to retire from the Government on that account [the War Office] at this moment." It is not the case that a severe judgment was pronounced upon these proceedings by the "universal" opinion of his contemporaries. His brother. Lord Wriothesley Russell, wrote: "It makes one sad to hear the world speaking as if straightforward honesty were a thing incredible, impossible." And the Duke of Bedford: "My mind has been deeply pained by seeing your pure patriotic motives maligned and misconstrued after such a life devoted to the political service of the public." But the whole world was not against him. Among many letters of approval, I find one strongly supporting his action with regard to the Army in the Crimea and his course in quitting the Ministry, and quoting a favourable article in The Examiner; another strongly approving, and stating: "I have this morning conversed with more than fifty gentlemen in the City, and they all agree with me that in following the dictates of your conscience you acted the part most worthy of your exalted name and character.... We recognize the importance of the principle which you yourself proclaimed, that there can be no sound politics without sound morality." Mr. John Dillon wrote: "To have opposed Mr. Roebuck's motion and then to have defended what you thought and knew to have been indefensible would have been not a fault but a crime."

Page 146.

Another wrote expressing the satisfaction and gratitude of the great majority of the inhabitants of his district in regard to his "efforts to cure the sad evils encompassing our brave countrymen;" and another wrote: "The last act of your official life was one of the most honourable of the sacrifices to duty which have so eminently distinguished you both as a man and a Minister."

There was no doubt a common outcry against the act of resignation at the time, but the outcry against certain Ministers of the Peelite group was still louder, and their conduct, as Mr. Morley relates, was pronounced to be "actually worse than Lord John's." "Bad as Lord John's conduct was," wrote Lord Malmesbury on February 22, 1855, "this [of Graham, Gladstone, and Herbert] is a thousand times worse."

The real question, however, is not what the public thought at the time, but what a fuller knowledge of the facts will determine, and I contend that my father's dissatisfaction with the manner in which the war was conducted, and his failure to induce the Cabinet to supply an effective remedy, justified if it did not compel his resignation.

Mr. Roebuck's motion accelerated a resignation which the Prime Minister knew had been imminent during the preceding ten weeks.

Page 147.

My father himself admitted that he made great mistakes, that for the manner of his resignation he was justly blamed, and that he ought never to have joined the Coalition Ministry. He had a deep sense, I may here say, of Mr. Gladstone's great generosity towards him on all occasions. At this distance of time the complication of affairs and of opinions then partly hidden can be better estimated, and the conduct of seceders from the Government cannot in fairness be visited with the reprobation which was natural to contemporaries. The floating reproaches of the period in regard to my father's action seem to imply, if justified, that he ought to have publicly defended the conduct of military affairs which he had persistently and heartily condemned. It appears to me that not only his candid nature, but the story of his life, refutes these reproaches, as clearly as similar reproaches are refuted by the life of Gladstone.

Yours faithfully,

ROLLO RUSSELL

ГЛАВА VIII

1855

Page 148.

Дебаты по предложению Робуэка о расследовании длились два вечера, и по их окончании министерство Абердина пало, потерпев поражение большинством в 157 голосов. Историки усмотрели в этом инциденте много больше, чем просто падение министерства.

За вопросом о том, не было ли плохо организовано гражданское обеспечение крымской кампании, скрывался более широкий вопрос: должна ли исполнительная власть позволять перекладывать свои обязанности на комитет Палаты общин. «Вопрос, на который следовало ответить, — говорит мистер Брайт в своей "Истории Англии", — заключался в том, можно ли довести великую войну до успешного завершения под ярким светом гласности, когда каждое действие подвергается не только критике и обсуждению прессы, но и более грозным и опасным требованиям партийной борьбы в стенах парламента».

После того как и лорд Джон, и лорд Дерби потерпели неудачу в попытке сформировать правительство, королева послала за лордом Пальмерстоном.

Леди Джон, когда ее муж был призван для формирования правительства, писала ему из Пембрук-Лоджа 3 февраля 1855 года:

All the world must feel that the burden laid upon you, though a very glorious, is a very heavy one.... Politics have never yet been what they ought to be; men who would do nothing mean themselves do not punish meanness in others when it can serve their party or their country, and excuse their connivance on that ground. That ground itself gives way when fairly tried. You are made for better days than these. I know how much better you really are than me.... You have it in your power to purify and to reform much that is morally wrong--much that you would not tolerate in your own household.... "Whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are honest," on these things take your stand--hold them fast, let them be your pride--let your Ministry, as far as in you lies, be made of such men, that the more closely its deeds are looked into, the more it will be admired.... Pray for strength and wisdom from above, and God bless and prosper you, dearest.

Page 149.

Но поскольку лорд Джон не нашел достаточной поддержки, премьер-министром стал лорд Пальмерстон. Его первый кабинет был коалиционным. Помимо нескольких новых министров-вигов, он включал всех членов предыдущего кабинета за исключением лорда Джона, лорда Абердина и герцога Ньюкасла. Но когда Пальмерстон принял решение прошлого парламента в пользу Комитета по расследованию, Гладстон, Сидни Герберт и сэр Джеймс Грэм подали в отставку; причиной их стал тот факт, что допущение подобного прецедента подчинения исполнительной власти комитету Палаты представляло серьезную угрозу для Конституции.

Казалось, правительство падет, когда лорд Джон, ранее отказавшийся от поста, к удивлению и восторгу вигов, принял руководство колониями. Его мотивы при вступлении в должность изложены в следующих письмах. Он уже принял миссию британского полномочного представителя на Венской конференции, созванной Австрией для заключения мирных условий между союзниками и Россией. Поэтому он не вернулся сразу, чтобы занять свое место в кабинете, а продолжил выполнение миссии. Ее последствия сулили обрушить на него такую бурю брани, которую карьеры государственных деятелей переживают редко. Когда Гладстон и пилиты подали в отставку, министерство Пальмерстона перестало быть коалиционным и превратилось в кабинет вигов. Тот факт, что лорд Джон пришел на выручку Пальмерстону, что он без колебаний принял подчиненный пост и служил под началом Пальмерстона в Палате общин, свидетельствует: нежелание лорда Джона служить под началом лорда Абердина изначально не могло быть обусловлено ущемленной гордостью; равно как и его упрямое настаивание на собственном пути внутри кабинета, на которое пилиты жаловались в первые дни министерства лорда Абердина, не было вызвано стремлением максимально выпятить собственную значимость.

Page 150.

Lord John to Lady John Russell

PARIS, February 23, 1855

I have accepted office in the present Ministry. Whatever objections you may feel to this decision, I have taken it on the ground that the country is in great difficulty, and that every personal consideration ought to be waived. I am sure I give a Liberal Government the best chance of continuing by so acting. When I come home, I shall have weight enough in the Cabinet through my experience and position. In the meantime I go on to Vienna.... I shall ascertain whether peace can be made on honourable terms, and having done this, shall return home.

The office I have accepted is the Colonial; but as I do not lead in the Commons, it will not be at all too much for my health.

Mr. John Abel Smith to Lady John Russell

February 24, 1855

I received this morning, to my great surprise, a letter from Lord John announcing his acceptance of the Seals of the Colonial Department.... I believe it to be unquestionably the fact that by this remarkable act of self-sacrifice he has saved Lord Palmerston's Government and preserved to the Liberal party the tenure of power.... I never saw Brooks's more thoroughly excited than this evening, and some old hard-hearted stagers talking of Lord John's conduct with tears in their eyes.

Lord John to Lady John Russell

BRUSSELS, February 25, 1855

The wish to support a Whig Government under difficulties, the desire to be reunited to my friends, with whom when separated by two benches I could have had no intimate alliance, the perilous state of the country with none but a pure Derby Government in prospect, have induced me to take this step. No doubt my own position was better and safer as an independent man; but I have thrown all such considerations to the winds.... I am very much afraid of Vienna for the children; but if you can arrive and keep well, it will be to me a great delight to see you all.... I have just seen the King, who is very gracious and kind. He thinks I may make peace.