[140] [On November 18, a deputation from Finsbury and Islington waited upon Lord Palmerston to congratulate him on the liberation of Kossuth. Lord Palmerston took the opportunity of expressing his strong sympathy and that of the British nation with the Hungarian cause.]
[141] [This transaction, which was little known at the time and is now forgotten, derives importance from the events which followed, and which led to Lord Palmerston's expulsion from the Cabinet. The proximate cause of that rupture was his unauthorised approval of the coup d'état in France on December 2. But that incident was only the crowning incident of a long series of disputes recorded in these pages, which had rendered Lord Palmerston's autocracy in the Foreign Office alike intolerable to the Court and to his colleagues.]
[142] [It was supposed that the Austrian Government had resented the reception by Lord Palmerston of Kossuth and the Hungarian refugees. But more serious matters were impending.]
[143] Flahault told me this, and that Walewski ought not to have asked any opinion of Palmerston.
[144] [The Marquis of Normanby formally resigned the office of Ambassador to France on February 21, 1852, and one of the first acts of Lord Granville as Foreign Secretary was to appoint the second Lord Cowley in his place. The first Lord Cowley, who had been Ambassador at Paris in the reign of Louis Philippe, died in April 1847.]
[145] [M. Thiers had been compelled to leave France after the coup d'état, having been kept in arrest but a few days. He repaired first to Brussels, and afterwards to London, where he remained for some time.]
[146] [Parliament was opened by the Queen in person on February 3rd, when full explanations were given by Lord John Russell and Lord Palmerston of the transactions related in the preceding pages.]
[147] [On February 16, Lord John brought in a Militia Bill, to which Palmerston, who was burning with a desire to revenge himself for his dismissal, moved an amendment, which he carried against the Government by a majority of nine. On this John Russell resigned, and Lord Derby was sent for. The resignation of the Russell Government was announced to both Houses on the 23rd, and Lord Derby's first exposition of policy as Prime Minister was made on February 27.]
[148] [Mr. Walpole, the Home Secretary in Lord Derby's Administration, had announced that he should move on bringing up the Militia Bill the insertion of a clause, 'That any person who shall serve in the Militia for two years shall be entitled to a vote in the county in which he resides.' This proposal excited a good deal of ridicule, and was subsequently withdrawn. The Militia Bill passed the House of Commons on June 7th, and the House of Lords on the 21st of the same month.]
[149] The second reading was carried by 355 to 165.