[34] After having rolled themselves in the mud, the Government picked the Opposition out the next night and almost washed them clean. Fox Maule moved for a return of the late Judge's sittings in the Jury Court. The Lord Advocate impudently said he had never been absent. Graham refused the papers, and on a division Government had only a majority of twenty-six, and not a very successful debate. Folly on both sides.
[35] [This is the first reference made by the author of this Diary to the events in Afghanistan, which most deeply affected the public during this winter. The disastrous retreat from Cabul began on January 6th; on the 13th Dr. Brydon reached Jellalabad alone. They are, however, adverted to later on. The full account of the disaster at Cabul only reached England on the 7th March, a singular contrast with the hourly communications of later times.]
[36] [Francis Charles, third Marquis of Hertford, born March 11, 1777; married Maria Fagniani in 1798; died March 1, 1842.]
[37] The Duke of Bedford wrote to me: 'I see Peel's carriage followed Lord Hertford's remains out of London! What is the use of character and conduct in this world, if after such a life, death and will as Lord Hertford's, such a mark of respect is paid to his memory by the First Minister of this great country, and this not "the loose and profligate Lord Melbourne," but the good and honest and particular Sir Robert Peel?'
[38] [George Fitzclarence, the eldest of the illegitimate sons of King William IV., was raised to the Peerage soon after his father's accession to the throne, with the title of Earl of Munster. He was born January 22, 1794, and married a daughter of the Earl of Egremont in 1819. He died by his own hand March 20, 1842.]
[39] [On August 4 serious disturbances broke out at Staleybridge and Manchester. Troops were sent down and a conflict took place. At Preston and at Burslem some persons were killed. The riots were caused by a threatened reduction of wages.]
[40] [The Treaty signed at Washington on August 9, 1842, by Lord Ashburton and Mr. Webster, settled the disputed question of the north-east boundary between Canada and the State of Maine, and terminated some other differences between Great Britain and the United States. It was denounced by Lord Palmerston as 'a capitulation,' but generally accepted and applauded by both nations.]
[41] [The Treaty between Great Britain and Hanover for the settlement of the Stade tolls was not signed until July 22, 1844. Lord Palmerston seems to have anticipated by nearly two years the terms of this arrangement in his eagerness to attack it.]
[42] [Canford, near Wimborne, then belonged to Lord de Mauley. It had come to the Ponsonbys from the Ashley family, and was sold after Lord de Mauley's death, to Sir John Guest.]
[43] [The Hanoverian Minister in London.]