Hatchford. I have been at Frognal and Hillingdon and came here yesterday. When at the former place I received a letter from Fanny Kemble, who declares there is not a man in the Northern States who is not convinced that the South will be conquered—whether or no they can be coerced back into the Union is another question, and can only be settled when they are reduced to make peace. She complains of the evident sympathy of this country with the South, which she says is very apparent, notwithstanding the professed neutrality of the Government. I reply that we have no sympathy with either party, and all we wish is that the war should come to an end.
At Hillingdon I assisted at a pretty concert in the Town Hall, composed of Georgy Greville's choir, and that of Ickenham, and assisted by Miss Grosvenor, Seymour Egerton,1 and B. Mitford. They sang glees, madrigals, &c., and acquitted themselves in a manner to do credit to their teacher.
From thence I went to pay a visit to the Ponsonbys at Windsor, where I met Granville, just returned from Berlin, where he said all had passed off very well, and the Fêtes very handsome.
I have a letter from Naples to-day stating that everything there is in a very unsatisfactory state. Brigandage is busy at the very gates of the city. Indeed all Europe may be said to be in a very anxious state. France is in the midst of great financial embarrassment, owing to a bad harvest, to the reckless extravagance of the Government and Court, and above all to the American war. Russia is much agitated by the question of the emancipation of the Serfs, which has been much mismanaged, as also by the state of Poland, added to which their finances are in a deplorable condition. Of Austria and Italy it is needless to speak, and there does not appear to be any master mind in any country capable of dealing with great difficulties.
The Queen held an investiture of the new Indian order, 'The Star of India,' on Friday at Windsor. The Prince Consort and the Prince of Wales were first invested privately, and entered the throne-room with the Queen, wearing their blue satin mantles. Dhuleep Sing, Lords Combermere, Gough, and Clyde, and Lord Harris, Sir T. Lawrence and Sir J. Pollock, with two or three more, were invested. Lord Combermere, however, was prevented by illness from attending. Lord Ellenborough refused the order, and in doing so said that he had accepted an earldom and a Bath merely that he might be 'righted with posterity,' and that he wanted no further honours. The order is a cameo of the Queen's head set in diamonds and with the collar costs 900l. These insignia are given by the Crown, but are to be returned on the death of the holders. I believe Canning thinks there may be some difficulty in procuring the restoration of the order from the Indian Princes.
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1 Afterwards third Earl of Wilton.
SOURCE: Alice Countess of Stratford, Leaves from the Diary of Henry Greville: 1857-1861, p. 407-9
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