[123] [Lord John Russell had stated in a letter to the Queen (which was read in Parliament), on December 20th, that 'although he found it impossible to form an Administration, he should he ready to do all in his power, as a Member of Parliament, to promote the settlement of the question.']
[124] [The battle of Aliwal was fought on January 28th by Sir Harry Smith against the Sikhs. This action was followed by the battles of Moodkee and Ferozeshah, and the final defeat of the Sikh army on February 10th at Sobraon. These were the fiercest and most sanguinary battles ever fought by the British in India, The Sikh army had 30,000 men, Khalsa troops, and seventy pieces of cannon, and they were ably commanded. The result of these victories was the annexation of the Punjaub to the British Empire.]
[125] [This stricture has not been borne out by public opinion. If Lord Hardinge was not fully prepared for the emergency, it was owing to his extreme reluctance to go to war; but the magnanimity and gallantry of his conduct in the field, and the splendour of these victories, silenced all criticism, as is fairly stated by Mr. Greville a little further on.]
[126] [The state of Ireland at this time was appalling. A Coercion Bill was introduced by Lord St. Germans in the House of Lords, when he stated that during the years 1844-1845 there had been 242 cases of firing at the person, 1,048 cases of aggravated assult, 710 robberies of arms, 79 bands of men appearing in arms, 2,306 cases of threatening letters, and 737 of attacking houses. The Bill gave the Lord-Lieutenant power to proclaim the disturbed districts, to apprehend persons out of their houses between sunset and sunrise, and to make provision out of the rates for the families of persons murdered.]
[127] [William, fifth Duke of Devonshire, born in 1748, married Georgiana, daughter of John, Earl Spencer, in 1774. Upon the death of this lady in 1806, his Grace married in 1809 Lady Elizabeth Foster, a daughter of the Earl of Bristol and widow of John Thomas Foster, Esq., to whom he had long been attached, and to whom, singularly enough, the late Duchess had been as much attached as the Duke, for she made her a bosom friend, and dreaded nothing so much as the loss of her society. This Duke died in 1811; the second Duchess lived till 1824, spending the latter years of her life in Rome, where she enjoyed an immense popularity and social influence.]
[128] [King-Louis Philippe had been fired at by a man named Lecomte, who was executed for the crime, whilst Lord and Lady Palmerston were in Paris, upon which Lord Palmerston wrote a letter to the King congratulating him on his escape. This was considered impertinent from a foreign minister casually at Paris.]
[129] [James Andrew, tenth Earl of Dalhousie, born in 1812. This prediction was amply verified. He was appointed Governor-General of India by the Whig Government in 1847, and continued to fill that great office with consummate ability till 1856. He was raised to the rank of Marquis of Dalhousie in 1849, but he returned from India in broken health and died in 1860, at the early age of forty-eight.]
[130] [The third reading of the Corn Bill was carried in the House of Lords on June 25; but on the same night the Ministers were defeated in the House of Commons on the second reading of the Irish Coercion Bill by a majority of 292 to 219. Sir Robert Peel announced to the House on June 29 that he had resigned office, and that Lord John Russell had undertaken to form a new Administration. It was on this occasion that Sir Robert Peel delivered his celebrated eulogy of Richard Cobden. The concluding words of his speech on that night were afterwards inscribed on the base of one of the numerous statues raised in honour of this great Minister.]
[131] [Lord John Russell's Administration, which lasted from June 1846 till February 1852, was composed as follows:
| First Lord of the Treasury | Lord John Russell. |
| Lord Chancellor | Lord Cottenham. |
| Lord President of the Council | Marquis of Lansdowne. |
| Lord Privy Seal | Earl of Minto. |
| Chancellor of the Exchequer | Sir Charles Wood. |
| Home Secretary | Sir George Grey. |
| Foreign Secretary | Viscount Palmerston. |
| Colonial Secretary | Earl Grey. |
| Secretary at War | Right Hon. Fox Maule. |
| Board of Control | Sir John Hobhouse. |
| Board of Trade | Earl of Clarendon. |
| Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster | Lord Campbell. |
| Postmaster-General | Marquis of Clanricarde. |
| First Lord of the Admiralty | Lord Auckland. |
| Lord Lieutenant of Ireland | Earl of Bessborough. |
| Chief Secretary for Ireland | Mr. Labouchere (who afterwards succeeded Lord Dalhousie as Vice-President of the Board of Trade).] |