Abstract
After revolts against Ottoman rule in Herzegovina and Bosnia in the summer of 1875 focused the attention of the European powers on Turkey, Disraeli hoped to use the issues involved to strengthen his government at home as well as to further Great Britain’s imperial and Continental interests. Believing that the support of Lord Derby, the Foreign Secretary, and to a lesser extent, Lord Salisbury, the Secretary of State for India, was essential to the unity of his party and government, Disraeli made diligent efforts to convince them, and other members of his Cabinet, of the necessity for an active foreign policy. When the Prime Minister accepted a peerage, as Earl of Beaconsfield, he chose a successor in the House of Commons in accordance with Derby’s predilections and to avoid factionalism among Conservatives such as that which had rent the opposition. The contest for the Liberal leadership in the Commons after Gladstone’s withdrawal was an indication of the divisions in the party which rendered its criticisms of governmental policy ineffective. Lord Hartington, who assumed that position, and Lord Granville, the Liberal leader in the House of Lords, were Whigs who were generally in agreement with the government’s diplomatic objectives.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
H. M. Swartz and M. Swartz (eds), Disraeli’s Reminiscences (London, 1975) p. 69. Beaconsfield to the Queen (Confidential), 10 Sept. 1876: RA H9/112; also in QVL, vol. II, p. 478. Beaconsfield to Derby, 4 Nov. 1876: D.P. 16/2/2; also in M & B, vol. VI, p. 89.
Disraeli to Derby, 18 May, (Confidential) 17 Oct. 1876: D.P. 16/2/2; also in M & B, vol. VI, pp. 27–8, 81. Cf. R. W. Seton-Watson, Disraeli, Gladstone and the Eastern Question (London, 1935; 1969 edn) pp. 44–6.
For example Alfred de Rothschild to Beaconsfield, 13 Sept. 1877: H.P. B/XXI/R/208; Bleichröder to Beaconsfield, 24 Oct. 1878: ibid./B/548; and Beaconsfield to Salisbury, 28 Oct. 1878: S.P. See also Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron Bismarck, Bleichröder, and the Building of the German Empire (London, 1977).
Disraeli to Derby, 18 May 1876: D.P. 16/2/2. For British diplomacy generally during this period see Richard Millman, Britain and the Eastern Question1875–1878 (Oxford, 1979).
Disraeli to Hardy (Confidential, Copy) 2 Aug. 1876: ibid/XIII/124; Hardy to Disraeli (Confidential), 2 Aug. 1876: ibid./XX/Ha/84; Northcote to Disraeli (Confidential), 2 Aug. 1876: ibid./A/VIII/B/5. See A. E. Gathorne-Hardy, Gathorne Hardy, First Earl of Cranbrook: A Memoir with Extracts from His Diary and Correspondence (London, 1910, 2 vols) vol. II, pp. 1–11; M & B, vol. V, pp. 525–7; Nancy E. Johnson (ed.), The Diary of Gathorne Hardy, later Lord Cranbrook, 1866–1892: Political Selections (Oxford, 1981) pp. xx–xxi, 12 and 16 July, 3 Aug. 1876.
D.D., 13 Feb. 1876; Derby to Disraeli (Private), 15 Feb. 1876: H.P. B/XX/S/1002; Tenterden to Disraeli (Private), 19 July 1876: ibid./XXI/T/99. One of Disraeli’s closest political advisers had warned him: ‘I have no confidence in Tenterden’s discretion.’ Cairns to Disraeli (Confidential), 18 July 1876: ibid./XX/Ca/182. In later years Lord Lytton briefly characterized Tenterden: ‘An industrious but, I think, overrated man. Certainly no statesman.’ (Comment on a sheet of paper prefacing letters from Tenterden: Lyt P. D/EK/030.) For a criticism of Tenterden’s work see Harold Temperley and Lillian M. Penson (eds), A Century of Diplomatic Blue Books1814–1914 (London, 1938; 1966 edn) pp. 251–4.
W. T. Stead to Gladstone, 26 Aug. 1876: Glad. P. 44303. Stead wrote flattering letters to Gladstone throughout the autumn. On the agitation see especially R. T. Shannon, Gladstone and the Bulgarian Agitation1876 (London, 1963). Also David Harris, Britain and the Bulgarian Horrors of1876 (Chicago, 1939), and Seton-Watson, Eastern Question, ch. 3.
Gladstone to Granville, 20 Aug. 1876: Ramm, Corr., vol. I, no. 1.
Gladstone to Granville, 20 Aug. 1876: Ramm, Corr., vol. I, no. 1.
Gladstone to Granville, 7 Sept., (Private) 14 Sept. 1876: Ramm, Corr., vol. I, nos 7, 10. Ironically, Gladstone had a few years earlier considered elevating Sir Thomas Fremantle, father of the Conservative candidate in the by-election, to the peerage. W. B. Gurdon, Memoranda, 17, 19 Dec. [1873]: Glad. P. 44182.
Granville to Gladstone, 4 [sic: 5] Oct. 1876: Ramm, Corr., vol. I, no. 17.
Argyll to Granville, 26 Sept., 25 Oct. 1876: Gran. P. PRO 30/29/29A; Argyll to Gladstone, 12 Sept. 1876: Glad. P. 44103; Gladstone to Granville, 7 Oct. 1876: Ramm, Corr., vol. I, no. 18; Harcourt to Granville, 10 Oct. 1876: Gran. P. PRO 30/29/29A. Cf. W. P. Adam to Gladstone, 2 Oct. 1876: Glad. P. 44095. Gladstone did not think an early readjournament of parliament desirable, although he calculated that the threat of one might be a useful goad to governmental action. Gladstone to John Bright, 27 Sept. 1876: Bright P. 43385.
Hartington to Gladstone, 27 Oct. 1876: Glad. P. 44144. Also Hartington to Devonshire, 8 Oct. 1876: Dev. P. 340.676; F. Cavendish to Hartington, 20 Oct. 1876: in Bernard Holland, The Life of Spencer Compton Eighth Duke of Devonshire (London, 1911, 2 vols.) vol. I, pp. 181–2.
Chamberlain to Dilke, 10 Oct. 1876: Dilke P. 43885; also, with omissions, in Stephen Gwynn and G. M. Tuckwell, The Life of the Rt Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke (London, 1917, 2 vols) vol. I, p. 210.
Gladstone to Granville, 19 Nov. 1876: Ramm, Corr., vol. I, no. 30; Gladstone to Olga Novikov, 17 Oct. 1876: Morley, Gladstone, vol. II, p. 165. Madame Novikov, a fervent pan-Slav propagandist, replied: ‘I rather like the idea of treating the Eastern question as a question of fashion, some thing like a chignon, or a crinoline, wh. the upper 10 thousand accept or reject!! Well — it is loathsome — to tell the truth, I could not say otherwise!’ (Novikov to Gladstone, 18 Oct. 1876: Glad. P. 44268.)
Hartington to Granville, 18 Dec. 1876: Gran. P. PRO 30/29/22A/2; also, with omissions and changes, in Edmond Fitzmaurice, The Life of Granville George Leveson Gower Second Earl Granville K.G. 1815–1891 (London, 3rd edn, 1905, 2 vols) vol. II, p. 167.
Gladstone to Granville, 7 Oct. 1876: Ramm, Corr., vol. I, no. 18.
A. Borthwick to M. Corry, 14 Nov. 1876 (with instruction: ‘Please read my note to Ld. B.’): H.P. B/XVI/C/25. On Russia at this time see B. H. Sumner, Russia and the Balkans 1870–1880 (Oxford, 1937) ch. 6 and pp. 230–1; also Lionel de Rothschild to Beaconsfield, 11, 12 Oct. 1876: H.P. B/XXI/R/222, 223.
Salisbury to Carnarvon (Confidential), 13 Sept., to Lytton, 12 Sept. 1876: S.P. D/31/3, D/40/58; also Gwendolen Cecil, Life of Robert Marquis of Salisbury (London, 1921–32, 4 vols) vol. II, pp. 84–7.
Beaconsfield to Salisbury, 10 Nov. 1876: ibid., p. 95.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1985 Marvin Swartz
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Swartz, M. (1985). Party Politics in the Eastern Question. In: The Politics of British Foreign Policy in the Era of Disraeli and Gladstone. St Antony’s/Macmillan Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17838-4_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17838-4_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-17840-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-17838-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)