1846

Parliament met to discuss Corn Laws. The Anti-League, chaired by the Duke of Richmond, was pressuring Tory MPs. ('It is probably true to say that the parliamentary organization of the protectionist party was largely made possible by the Anti-League and that without some such basis Disraeli and Bentinck could never have carried on such a long struggle against the repeal of the Corn Laws. Blake, p. 225) Peel gave a long, detailed, often impenetrable speech that was received in silence by his MPs. Russell similarly fell flat. Disraeli wrote, 'The opportune in a popular assembly has sometimes more success than the weightiest efforts of research and reason'. He seized the moment. His speech became famous. He described Peel as similar to the defecting admiral of the Turks who steered his fleet to the enemy port and said 'the only reason I had for accepting the command was that I might terminate the contest by betraying my master'. He compared the betrayal of Protection with the image of a baby whose brains had been dashed out by its nurse, 'a person of very orderly demeanour too, not given to drink, and never showing any emotion, except of late'. He ended: 'Let men stand by the principle by which they rise, right or wrong. I make no exception. If they be wrong, they must retire to that shade of private life with which our present rulers have so often threatened us... Do not then because you see a great personage giving up his opinions - do not cheer him on, do not give so ready a reward to political tergiversation. Above all maintain the line of demarcation between parties, for it is only by maintaining the independence of party that you can maintain the integrity of public men, and the power and influence of Parliament itself.'

Crucial was that Disraeli acquired the support of Bentinck, younger son of a duke, wealthy, famous for his mastery of the Turf and exposing racing scams, grandson of one Prime Minister, nephew of another. Both teamed up with the Anti-League. Bentinck pushed for the organisation of whips for the parliamentary grouping. Disraeli argued that England must maintain the position of the landed aristocracy against manufacturing; that it was crucial to maintain the 'territorial constitution' because it was 'the only security for self-government; and more than that the only barrier to that system of centralization which has taken root and enslaved the energies of surrounding nations'; Cobden and the 'Manchester school' want to give manufacturers dominance over the aristocracy: 'I have not been slow in doing justice to the intelligence of that class; I do not envy them their wide and deserved prosperity, but I must confess my deep mortification that in an age of political regeneration when all social evils are ascribed to the operation of class interests, it should be suggested that we are to be reduced from the alleged power of one class only to sink under the avowed dominion of another... Instead of falling under such a thraldom ... if we must find new forces to maintain the ancient throne and immemorial monarchy of England I for one hope that we may find that novel power in the invigorating energies of an educated and enfranchised people.'

Bentinck, like a grand 18th century Whig not much impressed with the House of Hanover, openly criticised Prince Albert in suggesting the Queen supported Peel.

In the vote in February, only 112 Tory MPs supported Peel, over 200 opposed him. Blake: Home Rule in 1886 and Munich 1938 are the closest equivalents to the bitter divisions created. Cf. 15/5.

Uprisings and riots in Galicia (the name given to the southern portion of the old Polish state that had fallen to the Austrians during partitions in the 18th Century, ~1/5 of old Polish kingdom and ~1/3 of Polish population), put down by Austrian Army. The violence shocked Europe. Peasants beat, sometime flayed, local nobles to death, killed entire families. In March Metternich wrote to Field Marshal Radestzky (supreme commander in Italy), 'A new era has dawned. The democrats have mistaken their base, a democracy without the people is a chimera.'

Prince Schwarzenberg visited and recounted a story that was influential (whether it happened or not). He said he asked a group of peasants what they were up to and the peasants replied, 'We've brought in some Poles.' S: 'What does that mean, 'Poles'? What are you then? 'We are not Poles. We are imperial peasants.' S: 'So who are the Poles then?' 'Oh, the Poles! That's the lords, the administrators, the clerks, the professors, but we are peasants, imperial peasants!'

Evans: the Galician chaos inspired moderate liberals across Europe to push for constitutional reform to blunt possible revolution. Clark (p72): the first uprising was an attempted national uprising organised by Polish elites, the second was a wave of peasant counter-revolutionary violence that stopped the first.

His life changed through three events: religious conversion, marriage and the 1848 revolution that began his career.

Moved to Schönhausen to look after that estate (his brother took over Kniephof) and in the autumn got his first public office — a dyke reeve responsible for guarding against floods on a stretch of the Elbe.

Disraeli speech on third reading of the Bill for the Repeal of the Corn Laws. Ended: 'Will he [Peel] go with it [his plan] to that ancient and famous England that once was governed by statesmen — by Burleighs and by Walpoles; by a Chatham and a Canning — will he go to it with this fantastic scheming of some presumptuous Pedant? I won't believe it. I have that confidence in the common sense, I will say the common spirit of our countrymen, that I believe they will not long endure this huckstering tyranny of the Treasury Bench — these political pedlars that bought their Party in the cheapest market, and sold us in the dearest. I know, Sir, that there are many who believe that the time is gone by when one can appeal to those high and honest impulses that were once the mainstay and the main element of the English character. I know, Sir, that we appeal to a people debauched by public gambling, stimulated and encouraged by an inefficient and shortsighted Minister. I know that the public mind is polluted with economic fancies; a depraved desire that the rich may become richer without the interference of industry and toil. I know, Sir, that all confidence in public men is lost. But, Sir, I have faith in the primitive and enduring elements of the English character. It may be vain now, in the midnight of their intoxication, to tell them that there will be an awakening of bitterness; it may be idle now, in the spring-tide of their economic frenzy, to warn them that there may be an ebb of trouble. But the dark and inevitable hour will arrive. Then, when their spirit is softened by misfortune, they will recur to those principles that made England great, and which, in our belief, can alone keep England great. Then, too, perchance they may remember, not with unkindness, those who, betrayed and deserted, were neither ashamed nor afraid to struggle for the “good old cause” — the cause with which are associated principles the most popular, sentiments the most entirely nation — the cause of labour — the cause of the people — the cause of England.' He sat after three hours to a great ovation. A majority of 98 for repeal.

Repeal of Corn Laws passed Lords. That night in Commons Peel was defeated on a Bill re Irish security by a combination of opposition and Tory rebels including Disraeli and Bentinck ('a blackguard combination' said the Duke of Wellington). Peel resigned four days later, praising Cobden, the Queen sent for Russell. It was 28 years until a Conservative PM commanded a clear Commons majority.

Palmerston again Foreign Secretary. Aberdeen wrote to him: 'When I came into office five years ago, you wanted to come back again and turn me out, and you accordingly attacked me in every way you could, as you had a perfect right to do. Circumstances are very different now. I do not want to turn you out, and I never mean to come into office again, and I am therefore come to tell you that I am ready to give you every information that may be of use to you, and every assistance I can. I have been so long in office that there are many matters of interest, on which it may be of great use to you to receive information from me; and if you will ask me any questions, I will tell you all I can that you may desire to know, and everything that occurs to me as desirable you should know.'

(EF) He went on a trip to the Harz mountains with Marie and Johanna. Gall: after this trip he was decided on marriage.

Marie's sudden death in an epidemic had a profound effect on him, 'a shattering experience' (OP). The news of her impending death brought his first prayer in 16 years.

He wrote to his sister: 'If anything were needed to make the decision to leave Pomerania easier, this was it. This is really the first time that I have lost somebody through death, who was close to me and whose passing leaves an unexpected hole in my circle of life... This feeling of emptiness, the thought never again to see or hear a dear person who had become necessary to me — and of those I have few — was so new that I cannot get used to it and the whole event has not yet become real to me. Enviable is the confidence of the relatives. They think of this death as an early journey, which in the long or short run will be followed by a joyful reunion.'

Henceforth he was a committed Lutheran. A week later he leased Kniephof (though he felt 'uneasy in my conscience' about renting land and workers who had been 'entrusted to me' by God). Within a few weeks he decided to marry Johanna. On 16 December he wrote his famous Werbebrief (suitor letter) to Johanna's father explaining his religious conversion and his love. 'At an early age I was estranged from my parental home and never felt fully at home thereafter. My education was dictated by the intention to develop my understanding and the early acquisition of positive knowledge. After an irregularly attended and imperfectly understood religious instruction, I was baptised by Schleiermacher in my 16th year and had no other faith than naked deism which soon became mixed with pantheistic tendencies ... I spent many a hopelessly dejected hour with the thought that my existence and that of other men was pointless and unprofitable, perhaps no more than a by-product of Creation that appears and passes away like the dust from a turning wheel. Eternity and the Resurrection lacked certainty for me and yet I saw nothing in this life that seemed worth striving for with any seriousness or energy... Thus without any control other than the conventional social limitations, I plunged into the world, partly seducer and partly seduced, and into bad company and found there people who made me ashamed... I felt myself soon at home in that circle and with Moritz and his wife who became dear to me as a sister to a brother, and discovered a well-being which I had never experienced before, a family life that included me, a home at last... I felt bitter regret over my previous existence... The news of the death of our dear friend in Cardemin [Marie], provoked the first sincere prayer without reflections about the reasonableness of the act that I had ever expressed and tears which I had not shed since my childhood. God did not hear my prayer but He did not reject it either. For I have not lost the ability to pray since that time and became aware of something not exactly peace but a will to live as I had never before known it ... What value you place on the change of heart hardly two months old I cannot say.'

The father replied asking for a firm commitment to a Christian life to which Bismarck replied: 'I can only reply in the affirmative to your next question, that I am firmly and in many ways determined to pursue that peace with all and that sanctification without which no one can see the Lord. Whether my steps are as secure as I would want them to be, I am not in a position to say. I see myself rather the lame person who without the help of the Lord will stumble.' On 12 January 1847 he was officially engaged. In 1847 he wrote to his wife quoting a passage from Lear: 'Wine loved I deeply, dice dearly, and in woman outparamoured the Turk. False of heart, light of ear, bloody of hand — hog in sloth, fox in stealth, wolf in greediness, dog in madness, lion in prey.'

Winter 1846/7 was unusually long and severe.