The journal of Elizabeth Lady Holland (1791-1811) Volume 2 (of 2)Holland, Elizabeth Vassall Fox, Lady
History
The journal of Elizabeth Lady Holland (1791-1811) Volume 2 (of 2)
Holland, Elizabeth Vassall Fox, Lady
Holland, Elizabeth Vassall Fox, Lady, 1770-1845 -- Diaries
Tierney spent the whole morn.; I am very happy to discover that he
has dropped the folly that made him tiresome and ridiculous this
summer. To-day Mr. Grey came to assist Ld. H. in some calculations and
in drawing up the Address; he is very pleasing when at his ease. We
laughed over Tierney’s unsteadiness; one day his determination to make
motions upon every great question, the next his _abattement_ and
timidity. Grey told a good answer of Mr. Beddinfield’s to Dundas. A few
years ago the mob attacked ye King’s carriage and were going to commit
some violence. Mr. B. was in the park; he immediately pulled out a
pistol, and dispelled the rioters. The next day Dundas asked him what
he would have bestowed upon him as token of favour. He said, ‘I wish
only, Sir, that you would make me a Scotchman.’
He read the surgeon’s letter giving an account of his brother’s wound;
the ball went through the knee, and was extracted from the hollow ham
within. It seems to have been an escape. Grey was going over to see
him, unless this good report had come.
_Sunday, October 13th, ’99._--Ld. H. made a motion for peace. He
was satisfied with himself, especially in his reply to Ld. Grenville.
From his account I should fear that, tho’ it was able, it was too
personal.
On that very night came the news of the strange reverse the Allies have
experienced, 19,000 Austrians and Russians captured and slaughtered,
Zurich retaken, and many other places in Switzerland; Hotze, the
Austrian General, killed;[40] Suwarrow had crossed the St. Gothard to
relieve that army, and when they were defeated he was advancing to
assist. Ld. Macartney has just brought me the further news, which is
that the cruel, bloody Suwarrow is totally defeated and probably taken
prisoner. The monster who in cold blood cut the throats of women and
children in Warsaw and the suburbs, and who exceeded his orders to make
them more barbarous at Ismail, will not excite my pity even under the
most rigorous captivity. There let him groan. The day of retribution
ought to be in this life, to convince one that punishment is not
withheld to a dubious period. These famous Russians, who have been so
puffed since they have been subsidised, turn out to be the only fit
food for powder, as nowhere do they fight; in Italy all the glory of
the expulsion of the French from thence is due to the brave Austrians.
Thus has this mighty horde of barbarians dwindled to a handful of
tattered, ill-disciplined, worse-officered, half-starved savages.
[Sidenote: PARIS FASHIONS]
Ld. Macartney was present at the debate; he said Ld. H.’s reply was
excellent, that it proved him to have very superior abilities, but he
altogether disapproves so much of the line he has taken that he cannot
be hearty in any praise.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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