January 26th.—Yesterday morning the Cabinet met, and after some discussion they resolved unanimously not to resign, but to encounter Roebuck's motion. Aberdeen went down to Windsor, and there is another Cabinet this morning. I saw John Russell in the afternoon, and told him in very plain terms what I thought of his conduct, and how deeply I regretted that he had not gone on with his colleagues and met this attack with them. He looked astonished and put out, but said, 'I could not. It was impossible for me to oppose a motion which I think ought to be carried.' I argued the point with him, and in the middle of our talk the Duke of Bedford came in. I asked him if he did not think the remaining Ministers were right in the course they have taken, and he said he did. I then said, 'I have been telling John how much I regret that he did not do the same,' when John repeated what he had said before, and then went away. After he was gone the Duke said, 'I am very glad you said what you did to John.' The town was in a great state of excitement yesterday, and everybody speculating on what is to happen, and all making lists of a new Government according to their expectations or wishes; most people place Palmerston at the head. In the House of Lords Derby asked me what it all meant. Clarendon came up while we were talking, and gave Derby to understand that he would probably have to take office again, expressing his own eagerness to quit it. I now hear that Lord John has been leading the Cabinet a weary life for many months past, eternally making difficulties, and keeping them in a constant state of hot water, determined to upset them, and only doubting as to what was a fit opportunity, and at last taking the worst that could be well chosen for his own honour and character. He is not, however, without countenance and support from some of his adherents, or from those who were so impatient for the destruction of this Government that they are satisfied with its being accomplished, no matter how or by whom or under what circumstances; and as he has been long accustomed
to sit attentive to his own applause
from a little circle in Chesham Place, so he will now be told by the same set that he has acted a very fine and praiseworthy part, although such will not be the verdict of history, nor is it, as far as I can see, of the best and wisest of his own contemporaries. Nobody entertains a doubt of Roebuck's motion being carried by a large majority against the Government.
January 30th.—For the last three days I have been so ill with gout that I could not do anything, or follow the course of events. John Russell made a cunning and rather clever speech in explanation of his resignation, George Grey a good one and strong against Lord John. Opinions fluctuated about the division, some, but the minority, fancying Government would have a majority because the proposed Committee is so excessively difficult and in all ways objectionable; but when it became known that the Derbyites meant to vote in a body for the motion, no one doubted the result, and it became only a question of numbers.[1] Lord John seems to have felt no regret at what he has done, and at exciting the resentment and incurring the blame of all his colleagues; and he goes so little into society, and is so constantly patted on the back at home, that the censure of the world produces no effect on him. They tell me he is in high spirits, and appears only to be glad at having at last found the opportunity he has so long desired of destroying the Government. Everybody appears astonished at the largeness of the majority. Gladstone made a very fine speech, and powerful, crushing against Lord John, and he stated what Lord John had never mentioned in his narrative, that he had been expressly asked in December whether he still wished the change to be made which he had urged in November, and he had replied that he did not, that he had given it up. This suppressio veri is shocking, and one of the very worst things he ever did.
Aberdeen went down to Windsor this morning to resign. It is thought that the Queen will send for Lansdowne, and ask him if he can make a Government, or will try, and, if he declines, that he will advise her to send for Palmerston; if Palmerston fails, then she can do nothing but take Derby. It seems likely now that we shall have either a Whig or a Derbyite Government, and that the Peelites will be left out altogether. The difficulties are enormous, and though everybody says that at such a crisis and with the necessity of attending to the war, and the war only, no personal prejudices or antipathies should prevent anybody from taking office if their services can be of use, men will not be governed by motives of such pure patriotism; and, whoever may make the Government, I expect there will be many exclusions and many refusals to join. Some say that, if Derby comes in, and with the same or nearly the same men as before, he ought to be kicked out at once, but I do not think so, and, much as I should abhor another such Government, I think in present circumstances it must be allowed the fairest play, and be supported unless and until it commits some flagrant errors.
[1] [Mr. Roebuck's Motion for a Committee of Enquiry was carried on the 29th of January by a majority of 157 in a House of 453 members present.]
THE GOVERNMENT BROKEN UP.
January 31st.—The division was curious: some seventy or eighty Whigs, ordinary supporters of Government, voted against them, and all the Tories, except about six or seven who voted against the motion; Cobden and Bright stayed away. John Russell's explanation, had he spoken the truth, would have run in these terms: 'I joined the Government with great reluctance, and only at the earnest entreaty of my friends, particularly Lord Lansdowne. From the first I was disgusted at my position, and I resolved, unless Lord Aberdeen made way for me, and I again became Prime Minister, that I would break up the Government. I made various attempts to bring about such a change, and at last, after worrying everybody to death for many months, I accomplished my object, having taken what seemed a plausible pretext for doing it.'
LORD DERBY SENT FOR.
February 1st.—Contrary to general expectation, the Queen did not send either for Lansdowne or Palmerston, but at once for Derby. He went directly to Palmerston, who declined to join him. He is trying to form a Government, and I see the Whigs are chuckling over the probability of his failing and being obliged to give it up, when they evidently flatter themselves that it will fall again into the hands of John Russell. Rather than this should occur, I would prefer that Derby should succeed, and, if he can get no foreign aid, that he should reconstitute the wretched Government he had before. My disgust at the conduct of my Whig friends is intense. Although they were to the last degree indignant at the conduct of John Russell, they have, ever since the interregnum began, been dancing attendance on him, evincing every disposition to overlook the enormity of his conduct and to reform the party with a view of carrying him again to the head of affairs and making another pure Whig Government. I confess I thought that nobody could refuse to serve at the present crisis, and, if the Queen sent for Derby, Palmerston, if invited, could not help joining, and taking the War Department; but I was wrong. I see in no quarter, as far as I have been able to observe and judge, any disposition to discard prejudices, antipathies, and personal feelings and interests, and to make every consideration yield to the obligations which the present emergency imposes. However, the game is not half played out yet. Meanwhile we are exhibiting a pretty spectacle to Europe, and I don't think our example will tempt other nations to adopt the institutions of which we are so proud; for they may well think that liberty of the Press and Parliamentary government, however desirable they may be when regulated by moderation and good sense, would be dearly purchased at the expense of the anarchy and confusion which they are now producing here.