April 29th.—Every day the position of the Government gets worse and worse. The disposition there was to give them a fair opportunity of carrying on public affairs as well as they could has given way to disgust and contempt at their blundering and stupidity, and those who have all along resented their attempt to hold office at all are becoming more impatient and more anxious to turn them out. There is a very temperate, but very just, article in the 'Times' to-day, which contains all that is to be said on the subject, stated without bitterness or exaggeration. The Whigs, however, seem aware that it is not expedient to push matters to extremity, and to force their resignation, until the quarrels of the Liberal party are made up, and till Palmerston and John Russell are brought together and prepared to join in taking office, and to effect this object the most strenuous efforts are making. What the pacificators aim at is, that Palmerston should go as Premier to the House of Lords, and leave Lord John to lead the House of Commons. This is the most reasonable compromise, and one which ought to be satisfactory to both; but even if this leading condition were agreed to, it is not certain that there might not be others presenting great obstacles to the union, such as whether Lord John would agree to join without bringing a certain number of men with him, and whether Palmerston would consent to exclude so many of his former Cabinet to make room for them. Graham, Lord John would, I suppose, certainly insist upon; Gladstone would probably be no party to any arrangement, and he has recently evinced his extreme antipathy to Palmerston by a bitter though able review in the 'Quarterly' on France and the late Ministry, in which he attacks Palmerston with extraordinary asperity.

Ever since he resigned Palmerston has been very active in the House of Commons, and kept himself constantly before the public, evidently with the object of recovering his former popularity as much as possible, and he made a very clever and lively speech two nights ago, which his friends praise up to the skies.

I met Derby in the Park yesterday, and soon after the Chancellor in Piccadilly, and had some talk with both of them. They were neither of them in a very sanguine mood, and apparently well aware of the precariousness of their position. Derby attributed the state of affairs, which he owned was very bad, to the caprice and perverseness of the House of Commons, which he said was unmanageable. I did not, as I might have done, tell him that he had no right to complain of this House, and that it was the mismanagement of his own colleagues which was the cause of the evil. Lyndhurst made an extraordinary speech on the Jew Bill on Tuesday night.

May 1st.—Ellice flattered himself that he could get up a party in the House of Commons which would have power enough to stop the progress of the Indian measure, and to lead to a better measure next year, as well as to the formation of a Government; and in pursuance of this scheme it was arranged that Lord Harry Vane should move the postponement of Indian legislation, and Ellice told me they should be supported by 150, and many men of note. All this went off in smoke last night. After a short debate the motion was rejected by an immense majority, and Ellice could only muster 55 people.

The hopes of those who are trying to bring Lord John and Palmerston together are damped by a letter I have received (and shown to George Byng) from the Duke of Bedford, who says: 'I saw much, of Palmerston and Lady Palmerston last week, but could see no disposition to reunion, although we came to that point more than once. I suggested to Lady Palmerston the wish of many that Palmerston should go to the House of Lords. She said that Palmerston had always entertained a great dislike to it, and hinted, or more than hinted, that he would place no confidence in John as leader of the House of Commons.' I went to hear Professor Owen lecture yesterday. His style of lecturing is very good, but the subject (vertebrated animals) was too scientific for my ignorance.

Savernake, May 11th.—I have been out of town all the last week, at Chester, and came here on Saturday. While I was at Chester the Duke of Bedford sent me a note he had received from Lord John, which looked like the beginning of a rapprochement between him and Palmerston, though it did not amount to a great deal, and may lead to nothing. I was obliged to return it, and was too much occupied to copy the contents of it here. I refer so often to this subject, because it appears to be the one upon which the existence of the present Government depends, for as soon as the Liberals can come to an understanding and act in concert, the doom of the Ministry will be sealed. Without their committing any great faults they seem to be falling into greater contempt every day.

The only point of attack the Opposition have found has been the affair of Canning's recent Proclamation.[1] Canning has not been lucky in his Proclamations, the first having been severely criticised for its clemency, and the second for its severity. The complaint against the Government is for having made public their disapproval of it and their censure of his acts. I think their disapprobation quite right, and that they were right in conveying it to Canning, but they might have refused to express any opinion or to publish or half publish any of the correspondence that passed, though it cannot be doubted that such refusal would have drawn upon them all sorts of attacks and reproaches, but it would have been the proper course for them to adopt. It is, however, certainly premature to express any definite opinion upon an act of which we are not yet furnished with an explanation.

I went yesterday to see Littlecote House, Mr. Popham's, a very curious, interesting old house, and the scene of the Wild Dayrell story and murder, the tradition of which has been often narrated, but the truth never ascertained. I saw all the rooms, including the one in which the murder is supposed to have been committed, but they have been much altered. There is a fine old hall, hung round with the armour and buff coats of Colonel Popham's troopers, and it is a remarkable fact that they are all so small that no man of ordinary size could wear them, a clear proof that the present generation are much bigger than our ancestors of two centuries ago. King William III. slept at Littlecote for two or three nights in 1689 (while King James was at Salisbury), and he seems to have left behind him a good many papers, which have ever since been preserved in the house. There is also a large collection of miscellaneous letters of the time of the Civil War, more or less curious, which were preserved by a lucky accident. Popham told me that his father told him there was a mass of papers in an old box under the roof of the house which had better be destroyed. His son went up for the purpose, and discovered the contents of the box, saved the papers, and had them arranged in a book. I urged him to publish them, and I hope he will. I had only time to look over a few of them; as autographs alone they are valuable.[2]

London, May 13th.—Nothing ever was like the state of confusion and excitement which has prevailed here during the last fortnight, while I have been out of town, particularly on the resignation of Ellenborough, which took everybody by surprise. Before I went away the impression had become general that this Government neither could nor ought to be endured much longer, and that their repeated and enormous blunders made them a nuisance which must be abated. All the Liberals (except some of the extreme Radicals who wished them to stay on some time longer), however they differed on other questions, were agreed on this. Numerous meetings took place, and there was a prodigious activity of negotiation, communication, and going backwards and forwards, with a view to some general organisation and combination of attack on the unfortunate Ministry. The Duke of Bedford was brought up to see what he could do to bring Lord John and Palmerston together. Lord John joined heartily in the plan of turning the Government out, and said that anything was preferable to leaving them any longer in office. Clarendon, who had been informed of Lord John's peculiar grudge against him, expressed a wish to have an interview with him, which the Duke brought about. Lord John called on Clarendon, and they had a frank communication, so far as Lord John telling him all that he thought about foreign affairs, and in what he disagreed with the late Government on various questions; but he did not allude to Vienna, which is the real gist of his grievance and the source of his hostile feeling, so that with that reticence it is not strange that they should have parted much as they met. Then Palmerston expressed a wish to have a t�te-�-t�te conversation with Lord John, which the latter assented to, but Palmerston seems to have changed his mind, and to have shrunk from it when the opportunity presented itself. Charles Wood is the man who has been constantly communicating with Lord John in behalf of the Whig Cabinet, and one day Palmerston came into Charles Wood's while Lord John was there. It rained, and Palmerston offered to take Lord John home, which he accepted, but nothing passed on the way, nor did Palmerston propose to get out and enter the house when he might have had the conversation he had expressed a wish for, and so it ended. The plans imagined by mutual friends for effecting a political reconciliation have vanished into air. Palmerston is resolved not to go to the House of Lords, and Lord John is equally determined not to take office under him. Palmerston says he cannot trust Lord John to lead the House of Commons. Personally, meanwhile, they are ostensibly friends, and Lord John dines at Cambridge House to-morrow. Charles Wood asked the Duke of Bedford, supposing the Government resigned, and Palmerston was again sent for, what he thought Palmerston ought to do, to which he replied that he ought to accept the task, send to Lord John, and on his refusal to join (as he probably would), to do the best he could with the materials he could command. This advice would, I conceive, be very palateable to Palmerston, and it is what he would naturally do without any advice.

I called on Lyndhurst the night I came to town, and found him very dissatisfied with the Government, both on account of their management and errors, and because they have treated him with personal neglect; he had begged Derby and Disraeli to do something for his son-in-law, but both put him off with excuses, and would do nothing. He is particularly disgusted with the state of the Jew question, and with the foolish and obstinate conduct of the Government in the House of Lords about it, on which he was very eloquent, particularly for their having made a great whip, and getting up every man they could lay hands on to come and vote, instead of leaving it to take its chance, and at least making an open question of it.

May 16th.—The first great battle took place in the House of Lords the night before last, at which I was present.[1]

It was a very spirited fight, and I never recollect seeing the House of Lords so crowded both with ladies and lords. Pretty good speaking; Lord Grey's was about the best speech and the one I most agreed with. I cannot see the matter of Canning's Proclamation and Ellenborough's despatch in the light that either side does, and think there is much to be said both ways. In the Commons the fight began on Friday also, and the most remarkable speech in it was that of Cairns, the new Solicitor-General, which was very clever and effective. John Russell also spoke very well and vigorously, quite in his old style. There is much difference of opinion as to the amount of majority, though it is generally expected there will be one against Government, and I now hear that they have determined positively to dissolve if they are beaten, though with little or no chance of their bettering themselves by a dissolution.

May 23rd.—The excitement of Epsom during the whole of last week was not greater than that which prevailed in London during the great debates in the House of Commons, the result of which, on Thursday night, produced such unusual surprise, with so much triumph on one side and such mortification and disappointment on the other. In my long experience I do not recollect to have seen so much political bitterness and violence (except perhaps during the great contests of the Catholic question and Reform), and certainly there never was a great Parliamentary battle distinguished by so much uncertainty and so many vicissitudes, and in which the end corresponded so little with the beginning and with the general expectation. For a considerable time not only all the late Cabinet and their supporters, but the whole body of Whigs, both Palmerstonians and Russellites, had been growing more and more impatient of the Derby Government, and they were considering how they could make a final and irresistible attack upon them, and for the last three weeks there had been nothing but negotiations and pourparlers to effect a coalition between the rival leaders and their friends for the purpose of their at least uniting in one great hostile vote, which should drive the Derbyites to resignation or dissolution, hoping and expecting that their majority would be so large as to put the latter out of the question. The occasion seemed to present itself upon Ellenborough's letter to Canning censuring his Proclamation. A meeting took place at Cambridge House, when the whole plan was matured, and though John Russell did not attend it, he agreed to be a party to the Motion of Censure. Shaftesbury was put forward in the Lords, and Cardwell was induced to take the initiative in the House of Commons. Nobody doubted of success, and the only question was (much debated and betted upon) by how many the Government would be beaten. Meanwhile Ellenborough resigned, which gave a new aspect to the affair, and the Government got a small majority in the Lords. It was evident that no popularity attached to the motion, and many of the Liberals were of opinion that upon Ellenborough's resignation the affair ought to drop and the motion be withdrawn. But the die was cast, the Palmerstonians were quite confident and eager for the fray, and would not hear of stopping in their career. The debate began, the speaking being all along better on the Government side, and every day their prospects as to the division appeared to be mending and public opinion more and more inclining against the Opposition and the Proclamation, though still blaming Ellenborough's letter. If the debate had ended on Tuesday as was expected, Government would probably have been beaten, but Sir Charles Napier had got Tuesday, and would not give it up, so that the decision was of necessity adjourned; the delay was all in favour of the Government, and on Thursday night arrived the Indian despatches with Canning's explanations and the Outram correspondence, which was immediately published, and although Palmerston and his friends and newspapers pretended that they considered these documents favourable to their cause, the general impression was rather the other way. All this time the Government people found their cause improving, and their chances in the division mending, and though their enemies still pretended to be certain of success, and I was told on Thursday night that I might safely lay any odds on their having a majority, the best informed of them in the House of Commons began to see danger, and at last they confessed only to expect a bare majority, and the Speaker told somebody it was very likely he should have to give a casting vote. The Radicals, or those of them who professed to be adherents of the Whig Cabinet, strongly urged the withdrawal of Cardwell's motion, and at last on the Thursday seem to have made up their minds that defeat in some shape was inevitable, and that the best thing left for them to do was to get rid of the debate in any way they could. Henry Lennox called on me yesterday morning to tell me what had passed, to this effect: that on Friday Disraeli had received a letter from Cardwell, in which he asked if Disraeli would allow him to withdraw his motion, and subsequently Palmerston desired to confer with him, when he put the same question to him, to which (according to Henry Lennox's statement) Disraeli replied, in a very lofty tone, that he would hear of nothing which could possibly be construed into any admission on their part of their meriting any part of the censure which the Opposition had been labouring to cast upon them. The Government had by this time ascertained that the Opposition had made their minds up to back out of the motion as best they might, and their retreat was not very cleverly done, beginning with Cardwell's refusal to withdraw, and ending with Palmerston's recommendation to him to yield, which was a got up thing. The scene in the House was most extraordinary, and particularly mortifying to Palmerston, who saw himself involved in inevitable defeat, and without the power of rallying again for some time. If anybody could be excused for the impatience which brought him and his party into this dilemma, it was Palmerston, who in his seventy fourth year, and resolved to die in harness if he could, had no time to lose. This affair has been the battle of Marengo of political warfare. The Whigs appeared to be victorious, and carrying everything before them up to the eleventh hour, and then came a sudden turn of affairs, and the promise of victory was turned into rout and disaster. The campaign is lost, and for the rest of this session the Government have it all their own way. The Whigs are in the condition of a defeated army, who require to be completely reorganized and re-formed before they can take the field again. The general resentment and mortification are extreme. They have naturally lost all confidence in their leaders, and they are now all ready to complain of the tactics of which they entirely approved till they found that defeat had been the consequence of their adoption. It is not probable that Palmerston and his late Cabinet will attempt anything more during this session, and everything is in such a state of confusion and uncertainty that the best thing they can do is to remain quiet, merely in a state of watchfulness, and to see what the volvenda dies may bring about in the course of the next six months, leaving the Derbyites unmolested during that time. Derby will get Gladstone if possible to take the India Board, and this will be the best thing that can happen. His natural course is to be at the head of a Conservative Government, and he may, if he acts with prudence, be the means of raising that party to something like dignity and authority, and emancipating it from its dependence on the discreditable and insincere support of the Radicals.

June 7th.—At Cleveden, at Ascot, and at Hatchford all the past week, during which I heard little or nothing about politics. The matter which made the most stir was Disraeli's impudent and mendacious speech at Slough, in which he bitterly attacked the last Ministry and glorified his own. The Whigs were stung to madness, and two or three nights were occupied in both Houses, principally by Palmerston and Clarendon, in answering this speech, and demonstrating its falsehood. The proceeding was not very dignified, and they might just as well have left it alone, particularly as nobody cared much about what Disraeli said; but there was so little sympathy for the ex-Ministers, that no indignation was excited by it, except among themselves and their immediate friends. There seems little chance now of anything but a desultory warfare going on in the House of Commons, without any serious attack on the Government, who seem safe for this session at least. The most interesting event last week was the virtual settlement of the eternal Jew Question, which the House of Lords sulkily acquiesced in. It was very desirable for many reasons to put an end to it.

Norman Court, June 16th.—Every day it appears more and more evident that Palmerston's political career is drawing to a close, and he alone seems blind to the signs which denote it. Few things are stranger than the violent reaction which has deprived him of his popularity, and made him an object of bitter aversion to a considerable part of the Liberals, not only to such men as Graham and Bright, but even to many of his former followers and adherents. I cannot say I am sorry for it, but I do in fairness think that this reaction is overdone and exaggerated, and the hostility to Palmerston greater than there is any reason for. I do not wish to see him again at the head of affairs, but I should be sorry to see a man so distinguished, who has been exalted so high, and who has many good qualities, end his life, or at least his political career, under circumstances of mortification and humiliation. If this happens it will be owing principally to his obstinacy in persisting in leading a party who have no longer any mind to be led by him, and the insatiable ambition which cannot brook the notion of retirement at any time of life. If he was wise, and was not blinded by vanity and the flattery of his hangers-on, he would take a juster and clearer view of his position, and supposing him still intent on playing the political game, he would endeavour to act a part as nearly like that which Peel acted in his last years as the difference of circumstances would admit.

But the determination to have no more to do with Palmerston has not made the Whigs and Liberals more disposed to throw themselves into the arms of Lord John, and as yet, so far from any appearance of a reorganisation of the Liberal party, they seem more disunited and scattered than ever. Even Lord John and Graham, who seemed to be most closely allied, are now continually voting different ways; and as to the other leading men, it is impossible to predict how they will vote on any subject that comes before Parliament. In this state of confusion many Liberal-Conservatives are beginning to wish for the consolidation of the Government, and are inclining to support it, if the Government itself will give them an opportunity of doing so, by asserting their own independence as a Conservative Government, and will leave off truckling to the Radicals, by accepting measures which everyone knows to be repugnant to their feelings and opinions, and inconsistent with the principles they have always professed. Men who supported Palmerston's Government because they considered it to be a Conservative one, foresee that before long parties must assume the character of Radical and Conservative, the Whigs being merged in the former, and that the party of the present Government forms the only force capable of resisting the Whig and Radical union when it takes place, and that their best course will be to join the Conservative camp, if the present Government do not, by unprincipled and inconsistent concessions for the sake of an easy official existence, render it impossible for them to do so. I do not know to what extent this feeling prevails, but I believe it is extending, and Lord St. Germans, who is a very staunch friend to the late Government, and latterly belonged to them, told me the other day that Granville had great difficulty in keeping his people together. Ashburton is very warm and eager in this sense, and though neither of these men have much weight, I have no doubt they are exponents of the sentiments of a much larger number. I called on Lyndhurst on Monday evening, and talked this question over with him, and entreated him to speak to Derby upon it. We were very well agreed, and he said he would endeavour to talk to Derby, but he is rather embarrassed, because he does not know what Derby is going to do about the Jew Bill, there being some strange signs of an intention on the part of Derby to throw it over after all, though this would be so extremely foolish, as well as so false and dishonourable, that I cannot believe it is in his contemplation.

June 22nd.—During the week I passed at Norman Court the Government here were gaining ground. They had two good divisions in the House of Commons, sufficient to prove that if they cannot command a majority here, they have at least as much influence and power and are as well supported as any other leader or party. Then the publication of the Cagliari papers, and the way in which that question was settled, was a real triumph to the Foreign Office, and acknowledged to be so by the whole Press of every shade, and by everybody in Parliament, not excepting the ex-Ministers themselves. They are undoubtedly gaining strength, while the chances of another Palmerston Government become more and more faint and remote. All information coincides in representing Palmerston's unpopularity as great and general, certainly the most extraordinary change that ever took place in so short a time. The Duke of Bedford writes to me from Endsleigh: 'I hear of only one general feeling against Palmerston in the West. What a change since this time last year!'

I had a long talk with Tom Baring at Norman Court about the Government, their proceedings and their prospects, and we agreed entirely on the subject. I wanted him to speak to some of his friends the ministers, and to endeavour to get them to act a bolder and more consistent part as a Conservative Government, and he urged me to speak to Disraeli, which I told him I would do, and only refrained from doubting if I could do any real good with him. The Government are certainly placed in a difficult position. The Government and party whom they replaced were determined to thrust them out again as soon as possible, and their weakness and danger drove them into a quasi-alliance with the Radicals, or at least into so much deference and so many concessions to Radicals and Ultra-Liberals, that the Whigs, who were baffled and kept out by this policy, held them up to bitter scorn and reproach for acting in this manner, and now, when they agree to any measure with regard to which concession is reasonable and prudent, they are always assailed with the same reproaches instead of getting credit for so doing. To be sure they often contrive to make their concessions in such a way as to deprive them of all grace and merit. This has been pre-eminently the case with the Jew Bill.

Among the events of last week one of the most interesting was the Queen's visit to Birmingham, where she was received by the whole of that enormous population with an enthusiasm which is said to have exceeded all that was ever displayed in her former receptions at Manchester or elsewhere. It is impossible not to regard such manifestations as both significant and important. They evince a disposition in those masses of the population in which, if anywhere, the seeds of Radicalism are supposed to lurk, most favourable to the Conservative cause, by which I mean not to this or that party, but to the Monarchy and the Constitution under which we are living and flourishing, and which we may believe to be still dear to the hearts of the people of this country. This great fact lends some force to the notion entertained by many political thinkers, that there is more danger in conferring political power on the middle classes than in extending it far beneath them, and in point of fact that there is so little to be apprehended from the extension of the suffrage, that universal suffrage itself would be innocuous. Amongst the concessions of last week was the passing of Locke King's Bill for abolishing a property qualification, which was done with hardly any opposition. There can be no doubt that the practice was a mere sham, and that a property qualification was very often a fiction or a fraud, and such being the case, that it was useless to keep up the distinction; but it struck me, though I do not find that it occurred to anybody else, that the abolition might sooner or later have an indirect influence upon the question of the suffrage, for it may be urged, not without plausibility, that if it be held no longer necessary that a representative should have any property whatever, there is great inconsistency in requiring that the elector should have a certain amount of property to entitle him to vote.

June 26th.—The India Bill appears now likely to pass rather rapidly and in the shape presented by the Government. Everybody is tired to death of the subject and anxious to have it over, and the general impatience is increased by alarm at the foul state of the Thames, which (long discussed in a negligent way, and without much public attention or care) has suddenly assumed vast proportions, and is become an object of general interest and apprehension. This makes the House of Commons eager to finish its business as expeditiously as it can, and members impatient to betake themselves to a purer and safer atmosphere. The Government continues to maintain its ascendency there, and last night Palmerston was beaten by considerable majorities on two amendments he moved to the India Bill.

The Chancellor has drawn down great obloquy on himself by a speech which he made at the Mansion House a night or two ago. Derby's illness having prevented his going to the dinner (given to the Ministers), Thesiger had to speak for him, and he made the very worst, most injudicious, and unbecoming speech which was ever delivered on such an occasion. No rule is more established than that politics are not to be introduced at these dinners, and yet his speech was nothing but a political song of triumph and glorification of his own Government and colleagues, as somebody said, a counterpart (though less offensive one) of Disraeli's Slough speech. All their heads are turned, and the Chancellor's as much or more than any.

Then there is a grand mess about the Jew question, which is hung up in a sort of abeyance in consequence of Derby's not being able to come down to the House of Lords. From the moment that Derby took upon himself to announce his abandonment of the contest, which he did not frankly and fully, but sulkily and reluctantly, he seems to have half repented of what he did, and to have, if not made, permitted and connived at, all sorts of difficulties and obstacles, while his subordinates and some of his colleagues have interposed to prevent or delay the final settlement. It is difficult to believe that he himself ever cared a straw about the Jew question, or that his opposition had any motive except that of pleasing the bigoted and narrow-minded of his party. His good sense saw that the moment was come when surrender was the best policy if not an absolute necessity, and having given utterance to this conviction, no doubt to the enormous disgust of many of his followers, it was his interest to get rid of the question as quickly as possible, and dismiss what as long as it remained on the tapis in any shape was a source of disagreement and ill-humour between him and his party. It is marvellous, therefore, that so clever a man should have acted so foolish a part as he has done. Having disgusted his own party by his concession, he is now disgusting everybody else and all other parties by his hesitation and pusillanimity in carrying it out, and, with an absence of dignity and firmness which is utterly unworthy of the high position he holds, he has permitted his Chancellor and some half-dozen subordinate members of his Government to do all they can to thwart the settlement of the question, and prolong the exclusion of the Jews. Instead of taking the matter into his own hands, and dealing with it according to the plain suggestions of common sense and sound policy, he has permitted a sort of little conspiracy to go on, which is exceedingly likely to bring about a collision between the two Houses, and to raise a flame in the House of Commons the consequences of which may be more serious to the Government than any one contemplates. Lyndhurst, whose wise head is provoked and disgusted to the last degree at all these proceedings, has bitterly complained of them, and at the way in which they have treated him, and the bill he drew up for the express purpose of putting an end to the dilemma.

July 9th.—After all Derby ran true to the Jew Bill, and if he did it in an awkward way, allowances must be made for him and for his difficulties with his party, who are full of chagrin at being compelled to swallow this obnoxious measure. It is on the whole better that the bulk of them should have voted in conformity with their notorious opinions, as it made no difference as to the result, and has a better appearance than if they had whisked round at Derby's bidding. The India Bill has passed the House of Commons pretty harmoniously, and people seem to think it has been licked into a very decent shape.

The most interesting event of the present day is the marriage of Lord Overstone's daughter to a Major Lindsay,[1] who has got the greatest heiress who ever existed, that is, supposing she inherits her father's prodigious wealth, which since old Jones Loyd's death is reckoned to amount to six or seven millions.

July 13th.—After an ineffectual attempt on the part of the Opposition to get rid of the 'reasons' of the Lords, the Jew Bill has passed, Granville and Lansdowne protesting against the absurdity of the conduct of Derby with regard to it. It is remarkable that though Lord Lansdowne has for some time appeared much baiss�, his speech was as good and sensible a speech as he ever made in his life. As to Derby, as it is impossible that so clever a man as he is could willingly act so foolish and even ridiculous a part as he has done on this occasion, I conclude that he felt obliged to do what he has done in order to avoid quarrelling with his own friends, who without doubt are intensely disgusted at the bitter pill he has obliged them to swallow, and as he knows best what he can venture with them and what not, it is more reasonable to accept the measure on his own terms than to be angry with him for the way in which he has contrived it.

The last accounts from India are far from satisfactory, and the apprehensions which I long ago felt and expressed, but which I had begun to think unfounded, seem not unlikely to be realised. It is clear that the contest is neither over nor drawing to a close. Our danger consists in the swarms of armed and hostile natives, and in the climate. The rebels we always beat when we can grapple with them, but we cannot crush and subdue them. They gather together and assail our people when a good opportunity presents itself, and when they are repulsed (as is always the case) their masses are dissolved and scattered abroad, without any material diminution of their numbers, and ready to assemble and attack any other vulnerable point, while the British troops are harassed to death by unceasing pursuits of foes so much more nimble and able to endure the climate than themselves. This species of warfare must be disheartening and disgusting, and it involves a consumption of life requiring more reinforcements than we can supply. All the accounts we receive concur in the insufficiency of the European force and the necessity of fresh supplies. One letter I saw yesterday talks of 40,000 men being requisite.

Petworth, July 31st.—I came here from Goodwood, not having been here for twenty years, and am rather glad to see once more a place where I passed so much of my time in my younger days. I think it is the finest house I have ever seen, and its collection of pictures is unrivalled for number, beauty, and interest. Parliament is to be up on Monday, and the Council for the prorogation is to take place to-day at Osborne.

I met Brunnow at Goodwood, who talked over the political events of the Russian war, and assured me that the part he had played in it had been much misrepresented, that he had never been misled by Aberdeen, nor had he ever misled the Emperor Nicholas, but on the contrary had told him, without any disguise, the real state of affairs, and the almost certainty that war would ensue, that he was well aware himself, and had impressed on his master, that although Aberdeen was most anxious to avoid war, he had no power to do so, and that though he was nominally Prime Minister, he was destitute of the authority of one. He said the Emperor was quite sincere in all he had said to Hamilton Seymour, and if we had had at Petersburg a minister with more tact and judgement, war would not have taken place.

He (Brunnow) had urged Aberdeen to send Granville there for the purpose, who, he thinks, would have done very well, and of whom he has a high opinion.

London, August 15th.—I returned to town from Petworth last Monday week, and on Tuesday a fit of gout came on, which has laid me up ever since, leaving me no energy to do anything, and least of all to execute the purpose I entertained of sketching the past session of Parliament, and the curious events which it evolved; the decline and fall of Palmerston and his Government, the advent of Derby, and the vicissitudes of his career, deserve a narrative which might, if well handled by some well-informed writer, be made very interesting: but I am conscious of my own unfitness and dare not attempt it. It is in truth time for me to leave off keeping a journal, for by degrees I have lost the habit of communicating with all the people from whom I have been in the habit of obtaining political information, and I know nothing worth recording.

CHAPTER XVII.

Lord John Russell and Lord Stanley—Lord Palmerston's Leadership—Dissensions in the Liberal Party—The Queen and her Ministers—Lord Stanley at the India Office—The Queen's Letter to the Prince of Wales—Reform Speeches and Projects—Lord Palmerston's Confidence—Prosecution of Count Montalembert in France—Lord Clarendon's Visit to Compi�gne—The Emperor's Designs on Italy—The Emperor and the pope—Approach of War—Lord Palmerston's prudent Language—Lord Palmerston's Italian Sympathies—The Electric Telegraph—Opposition in France to the War—The Emperor's Prevarication—Opening of Parliament—Debates on Foreign Affairs—Lord Cowley's Mission to Vienna—General Opposition to the War—A Reform Bill—Mr. Walpole and Mr. Henley resign—Duplicity of the Emperor—Mr. Disraeli's Reform Bill—The Emperor denies his Warlike Preparations—The Whigs oppose the Reform Bill—Anxiety to defeat the Government—Lord Cowley returns from Vienna—War impending—Dishonest Conduct of both Parties—Lord Cowley's Account of Cavour's Policy—His Mission to Vienna—A Congress proposed—Indifference to Reform—Debates on the Reform Bill—Defeat of the Reform Bill—An Emissary from Cavour.

Hinchinbrook, September 5th.—At The Grove last week, and on Friday to Osborne for a Council. At the Grove I met Charles Villiers and the Duke of Bedford, and had much talk with both of them about affairs in general, particularly with the Duke about Lord John. He is busily employed in concocting a Reform Bill, which he had probably better leave alone. He seems to have shown his project to several people, and recently to Aberdeen, who wrote him word that he must take care not to make it too mild, so much so as to be inconsistent with what he has before proposed. It seems it is very mild, for it embraces no Schedule A, no disqualification, though a good deal of addition to the constituency. Lord John has recently struck up a great intimacy with Lord Stanley, and has had him repeatedly down to Pembroke Lodge. They take very kindly to each other, and Lord John is evidently anxious to cultivate him, for he asked the Duke to invite Stanley to go to Woburn, where Lord John and all his family are gone to stay. He has been talking a great deal to Stanley on past politics, but not on present, which would have been rather awkward in their relative positions, but he has told Stanley a great deal about the political affairs in which he has been engaged, especially with respect to the great Reform Bill, its history and incidents, which details no doubt were very interesting and useful to him, and I am not surprised at Stanley's being much pleased with Lord John's society and conversation, for Lord John is very agreeable and full of that sort of political information in which Stanley takes the greatest delight and interest. Although Lord John has abstained from making any attempt to establish political relations between them, it is highly probable that he should look forward to the possibility of some such relations being hereafter established, for in the present state of parties a fresh organisation and combination is almost inevitable, and he may very naturally look forward to a combination into which they may both enter, and with this view he may be very glad to cultivate a personal and social intimacy, and the Duke thinks he has some such view in his mind.

The Duke told me that he was at Lord Broughton's the other day, when Broughton said he had been applied to by some of Palmerston's former followers to make a representation to Palmerston of the present state of affairs and of the Liberal party, and to suggest to him the expediency of his abdication of the lead of it, and the impossibility of that party regaining its ascendency so long as he insisted on continuing its chief and retaining his pretensions of returning to office. To this request he sent a refusal. He said he entirely agreed with the people making it, but that it would have no effect whatever except that of making a personal quarrel between himself and the Palmerstons, with whom he had always been on very good terms. I did not learn the names of these Whig malcontents. Charles Villiers takes a similar view, but does not think that anything would induce Palmerston to retire, or that his former colleagues and immediate adherents would transfer their support to any one else as long as he continues to claim it from them. He thinks, moreover, and he has very good means of judging, that his position and that of John Russell and the impossibility of their reunion will effectually paralyse the Liberal party and secure the possession of office to the present Government, and that there is on the whole rather a preference for the continuation of the present state of things than any desire for a change which would bring the Whigs back again. He had recently been with George Lewis, and found him at length rather disposed to come into my view of the matter of their resignation, and to regret it. It is entirely the opinion of Charles Villiers himself, and he said there would have been no difficulty in obtaining from the House of Commons a vote of confidence, for there was no wish to turn them out, and having administered the rebuke which the Government so well merited, the majority would have seized with alacrity an occasion to make it up with them, and to show that they had no desire to quarrel with them outright.

The Opposition now found all their hopes on the dissensions which they expect to arise in the Tory Government and camp, which is a very uncertain prospect, and as to which they are very likely to be disappointed. The day I went to Osborne I had some conversation with Disraeli, who gave me to understand that he was well aware the Opposition relied on this contingency, but that it was not likely to happen. He was aware of Lord Stanley's liaison with Lord John, and it was evident that the former had made no secret of it, and had told Disraeli that there was (at present) nothing political in it. Lord John had not said a word about his Reform Bill to Stanley, and Disraeli knew that he had not. All this looks like union and confidence between them.