SIR GEORGE LEWIS CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER.
February 25th.—This morning George Lewis came to me very early and told me Palmerston had proposed to him to be Chancellor of the Exchequer; he set forth very fairly all the reasons for and against accepting. We discussed the whole subject, and I asked him whether he felt sufficient confidence in himself to undertake an office of such vast importance, whether he had sufficiently turned his attention to financial matters and had mastered the principles and details of finance. He said he thought he was sufficiently versed therein to undertake it, having given much attention to taxation and its principles, and to political economy generally, though he did not know much about the Funds, but supposed sufficient knowledge about them was easily attainable. Finally I advised him to accept, and he said he should make up his mind to do so. So the Admiralty, Colonial Office, and Exchequer are settled. There is much difficulty and much discussion and difference of opinion about some of the other places. They are very wisely going to take in Laing, but very unwisely will not give a place to Lowe, who, if left out, will contrive to do them some damage. Granville has moved Heaven and earth to get Lowe an office, but Palmerston and others set their faces against him. Lansdowne has most unreasonably and unwisely insisted on Vernon Smith being taken in, and it is at present intended to make him President of the Board of Control. He is very unpopular and totally useless, and just the man they ought not to take in; while Lowe is just the man they ought, to meet the prevailing sentiment about old connexions and new men.
DEATH OF THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS.
March 2nd.—News just arrived that the Emperor of Russia is dead. John Russell had telegraphed from Berlin that he was given over. This great and unexpected event must have the most important consequences whether for peace or for war. A disputed succession is not impossible, as it has long been reported that the Grand Duke Constantine was disposed to contest the succession with the Cesarewitch, but this will probably turn out to be a fable. It is supposed that the new Emperor has been all along inclined to peace, and that he was in disgrace with his father on that account. If this be true, it renders it still more probable that he will be anxious to put an end to this destructive and dangerous war, and the Allied Powers may be less exacting with him than they were disposed to be with the late Emperor. On the other hand, should the war unhappily continue, the death of Nicholas is likely to damp the ardour of the Russians and to relax their exertions, so that we can hardly fail to profit by it. Clarendon is gone over to Boulogne to confer with the Emperor Napoleon.
There seems something like a lull here for the moment, and less of excitement and violence than there was. Palmerston has not been in office a fortnight, and already he is enormously baiss?; his speeches night after night are miserable. The truth is, he never had any power as a debater, and he is out of his element as leader in the House of Commons, where he has to answer everybody, to speak on every subject, and to be continually debating more or less. He has made a few great speeches, prepared, and on his own subject of foreign affairs, and every now and then a smart chaffing retort which excited the hilarity of the House, and that has been all he could do. Then he seems supine and undecided; he does not fill up the vacant places or seemingly endeavour to do so, and he does not put good men in the places he does fill up, all of which does him harm in general estimation. Clarendon has told Lady Palmerston very frankly that he will soon ruin himself in public opinion if he goes on in this way. Few things are more extraordinary than the notion that was abroad of Palmerston's fitness and efficacy. Never was there a greater delusion, and never one that is so rapidly being dissipated.
March 10th.—It is remarkable that, though seven days have elapsed since the news of the death of the Emperor of Russia reached us, and that we heard of it by electric telegraph the very day it happened, we are still without authentic and detailed information of what has since occurred at St. Petersburg; and of the manifesto of the new Emperor, which is looked for with so much curiosity, we have only a partial extract or imperfect summary, so that we have still no means of judging whether the chances of peace are improved by the accession of Alexander II.
Palmerston's Government does not seem to take root or gain much strength; every day seems to prove the more clearly that he is unfit for the task he has taken on himself. He inspires neither respect nor confidence, and is totally unable to manage the House of Commons; his speeches are feeble and bad, and he is not always prudent and conciliatory, but, on the contrary, pettish and almost offensive. He finds great difficulty in filling the vacant offices, and he evinces much want of tact and good management in his endeavours to do so, offering and retracting his offers in a very loose way. For example, he offered Sir Robert Peel the Clerkship of the Ordnance, which he accepted; and then he found Monsell did not mean to resign it, so he had to withdraw the offer. Then he told him he should be Colonial Under-Secretary if John Russell would consent. John Russell would not consent, and then he offered him a seat at the Admiralty. Sir Robert in some dudgeon demurred, and Palmerston, inferring from his ill humour that he would not take this place, offered it to Henry Brand, who accepted, desired his writ might be moved for, and went to the railway station to go down to the place he represented. Just as he was starting, a messenger arrived with a letter from Palmerston saying Sir Robert Peel had taken the Admiralty, so he could not have it, and the gentleman had to return home without any office at all. This is a sad way of doing business, and will not make him more popular. Grenville Berkeley (whipper-in) told me he thought Palmerston was doing rather better latterly and that there was a better disposition in the House of Commons; but Jonathan Peel, who is a shrewd, dispassionate observer, and tolerably impartial, though with no good will to the present Government, told me a different story. He says the Government is as weak as possible, Palmerston wretched, and the House of Commons ill disposed and unruly, and he thinks it absolutely impossible that this concern can last many weeks. The Derbyites are quite confident of forcing their way to office, and quite determined to do so; but it is their game to damage the present Government as much as possible, and they will do everything in opposition but what may recoil upon themselves after they have got into office, and no other consideration will restrain them. I regard with the utmost dislike the prospect of their return, because I think their conduct so monstrously unprincipled. I hear Gladstone is very much out of humour, and expect soon to see him and his small band in overt opposition to the Government. Many fancy that it will end in his joining Derby, but so do not I. I am not sure that he would be indisposed if a proper occasion presented itself, but I do not believe any consideration or any circumstances whatever would induce the Derbyites to admit him again into their party. Their indignation—that is, of a great many of them—was unbounded at Derby having offered him office the other day, and at the great meeting at Eglinton's such manifestations of resentment were made on that account as to make it nearly impossible (for in these days nothing is quite impossible) for any future attempt at reconciliation and reunion to be made.
March 11th.—A fresh shuffling of the cards is being arranged by which Frederick Peel is to go to the Treasury, vice Wilson, Vice President of the Board of Trade; Sir Robert to the War Department, vice his brother; and Henry Brand to the Admiralty. Palmerston seemed to consider all the blunders he made about these offices rather a good joke than a mischievous gaucherie. 'Ha, ha!' he said, 'a Comedy of Errors.' George Lewis told me this morning he thinks the temper of the House of Commons more favourable, and, if he can succeed in producing a palateable Budget, that they may get on; he told me the revenue was extremely flourishing and the country very rich, but the expenses are enormous. He means to meet them by a loan, but the question is of what amount, and how much of the additional expense shall be provided by it. He will want ninety millions to cover the whole.
LORD CLARENDON AND THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON.