[13] [The conduct of the British Government with reference to the annexation of Cracow was again discussed by Lord George Bentinck. Eight or ten years before it had been proposed, and even promised, to send a British Consul to Cracow, but this design being strongly opposed by the three Northern Powers, Lord Palmerston abandoned it.]
[14] [The Emperor of Russia placed a sum of two millions sterling in the hands of the Bank of France. The motive of this investment was never discovered, but it proved that the finances of Russia were then in a flourishing condition.]
[15] [The effect of the quarrel arising out of the Queen of Spain's marriage, and the squabble between M. Guizot and Lord Normanby, began to bear fatal consequences on the politics of Europe. The amicable relations which had subsisted between France and England until Lord Palmerston returned to power were at an end. Lord Normanby, though ostensibly reconciled to M. Guizot, remained in close alliance with M. Thiers and the leaders of the French Opposition, and his efforts to overthrow the Government to which he was accredited contributed to the overthrow of the Monarchy. M. Guizot, at variance with the English Minister of foreign affairs, and assailed by the English Ambassador in Paris, drew nearer to the policy of the Northern Courts, and especially of Prince Metternich. Such were the signs of the approaching tempest which broke over Europe in the following year.]
[16] [Lord Hatherton and the Bishop of Exeter (Phillpotts) were Lord Dudley's executors. This diary never saw the light.]
[17] [An insurrection had broken out in Portugal in October 1846 against the authority of Queen Donna Maria. In the following month the British fleet entered the Tagus to support the Queen. The contest continued for some months, and in May 1847 a conference was held in London between the representatives of Great Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal—the original parties to the Quadruple alliance—to settle the disorders which had broken out in the last-mentioned kingdom.]
[18] [The successor was Lord Clarendon himself.]
[19] [In this interval Lord Clarendon consented to accept the Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland from a sense of public duty. He remained there five years, and, during a very stormy period, proved himself one of the best Viceroys who ever governed Ireland.]
[20] [About this time the proposal was made, chiefly by Sir Frederic Trench, to place the equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington (by Wyatt) on the top of the archway opposite Apsley House. Most people thought that it was absurd and in bad taste to place a statue there. It was, however, agreed to erect it provisionally; but, once there, the Duke showed great irritation at the idea of removing it, which he declared would be an indignity: so there the statue stood until it was removed to Aldershot in 1884. It was the first instance of an equestrian statue erected in London to a subject.]
[21] [The Right Hon. Edward Strutt, afterwards Lord Belper, was a distinguished member of the advanced Liberal Party. He brought in a Bill at this time for the regulation of railways, which the Government soon withdrew.]
[22] [These letters have been published in the Croker Papers, vol. iii. p. 94.]