The Tories are full of rancour, and express great confidence that this Government will not last, and that they shall all be recalled to power before the end of the year. Derby had a large gathering at Salisbury's house, when he made them a speech recommending union and moderation, the first of which recommendations they seem more likely to adopt than the second. The affair of his Garter was in this wise. On resigning he wrote to the Queen and besought her to bestow Red Ribands on Malmesbury and Pakington. She wrote him an answer acceding to his request, and adding that she could not allow him to retire a second time from her service without conferring upon him a mark of her sense of his services, and she therefore desired him to accept the Garter, though none was vacant. He told me this, and said it was the only way in which he could have taken it, as he never should have given it to himself, and I believe if a vacancy had occurred he meant to have given it to the Duke of Hamilton.
While we have been settling our Government for good or for evil, the war has continued to pursue its course of uninterrupted success of the Allies, and unless something almost miraculous should occur, the Austrian dominion in Italy may be considered as at an end. The sentiments of people here are of a very mixed and almost contradictory character, for they are on the whole anti-Austrian, anti-French, and though more indulgent than they deserve to the Sardinians, not favourable to them. The most earnest and general desire is that we should keep out of the m�l�e, and any termination of the war would be hailed with gladness, because we should thereby be relieved from our apprehensions of being involved in it. We should not be sorry to see the Austrians driven out of Italy for good and all, though most people would regret that the Emperor Louis Napoleon should be triumphant, and that such a course of perfidy, falsehood, and selfish ambition should be crowned with success. The Austrians deserve their fate, for nothing can exceed the folly of their conduct, first in rushing into the war, and thereby playing the whole game of their adversaries, and secondly in placing in command men evidently incapable, and who have committed nothing but blunders since the first day of the campaign.
| First Lord of the Treasury | Viscount Palmerston |
| Lord Chancellor | Lord Campbell |
| Lord President | Earl Granville |
| Lord Privy Seal | Duke of Argyll |
| Chancellor of the Exchequer | Mr. Gladstone |
| Home Secretary | Sir George C. Lewis |
| Foreign Secretary | Lord John Russell |
| Colonial Secretary | Duke of Newcastle |
| War Secretary | Mr. Sidney Herbert |
| Indian Secretary | Sir Charles Wood |
| Duchy of Lancaster | Sir George Grey |
| Postmaster-General | Earl of Elgin |
| Admiralty | Duke of Somerset |
| Board of Trade | Mr. Milner Gibson |
| Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland | Earl of Carlisle |
| Irish Secretary | Mr. Cardwell |
This Administration lasted until the death of Lord Palmerston on October 18, 1865.]
June 27th.—Yesterday I went to Kent House, where I found Clarendon and his sister alone, and we had a long talk, in the course of which he told me all that had passed (especially with regard to himself) about the formation of the Government. Although he spoke very good-naturedly about Granville and his abortive attempt, I saw clearly that he thought Granville had been in the wrong to undertake it, and that he ought at once to have told the Queen it was impossible, and have declined it. Though Palmerston had given a qualified consent to act with him, it was with evident reluctance, and he had guarded it by saying it must be subject to his approbation of the way in which the Government was composed. Lord John's consent was still more qualified, and he annexed to it a condition which at once put an end to the attempt. This was, as I had suspected, that he should be leader of the House of Commons. To this Palmerston refused to agree, and so the whole thing fell to the ground. Granville, by Clarendon's advice, at once reported his failure to the Queen, gave her no advice as to whom she should send for, and of her own accord she sent for Palmerston.
LORD JOHN RUSSELL FOREIGN MINISTER.
Previously to this, and I think before the vote, Palmerston and Clarendon had discussed the probability of Palmerston's forming a Government, when Palmerston told him he should expect him to return to the Foreign Office. As soon as Palmerston had been with Her Majesty, he went off to Pembroke Lodge, and saw Lord John; told him all that had happened, and that he would of course take any office he pleased. Lord John said, 'I take the Foreign Office.' Palmerston said he had contemplated putting Clarendon there again, enumerating his reasons and Clarendon's claims, but that if he insisted on the Foreign Office as a right, he must have it. Lord John said, 'I do insist on it,' and so it was settled.
I ought to have inserted that when Palmerston and Clarendon talked the matter over at first, Clarendon begged him not to think of him, and that if, as was probable, John Russell desired the Foreign Office, he must give it him, for if he did not, or even made any difficulty, an immediate breach would be the consequence, and John Russell would get up a case against Palmerston which would be very embarrassing. Palmerston at first said he should certainly insist on Clarendon's not being put aside to please Lord John, but in the end Clarendon persuaded him not to adhere to that resolution. After all was settled there was a small gathering at Cambridge House, when Palmerston told Clarendon that he might have the choice of any other office, but Clarendon replied that he was not conversant with Colonial, Indian, or War affairs, and he would not take an office for which there would be many candidates, while he much preferred being out, and Palmerston would not have half offices enough to satisfy the demands for them. Palmerston said he would not take this as his last word, and the next day the Queen sent for Clarendon, by Palmerston's own desire, to try and persuade him to take office. He went to Buckingham Palace and had an audience, or rather interview, of three hours with Her Majesty and the Prince, in which she treated him with the most touching kindness and confidence, and exhausted all her powers of persuasion to induce him to join the Government, but he was firm and would not. She then said, in the event of a vacancy of the Foreign Office, 'You must promise me you will take it,' to which he replied, 'Your Majesty knows I would do anything in the world for your service; but you must allow me, in any case which may occur, to exercise my own discretion under the circumstances, and to rest assured that I shall in every case be actuated solely by a desire to do what is best for your Majesty, and most conducive to your pleasure and interest.' The Queen talked to Clarendon of the publication in the 'Times' with much indignation, and said, 'Whom am I to trust? These were my own very words.' Clarendon, however, endeavoured to convince her that the article had in fact (however indecorous it might appear) been eminently serviceable to her, inasmuch as it negatived any suspicion of intrigue or underhand dealing in any quarter, and represented her own conduct in a manner to excite universal approbation. He dilated on this in a way which made great impression both on the Prince and on her, and ultimately satisfied her that all had been for the best, thereby acting a very good-natured part and a very wise one.
MR. COBDEN DECLINES OFFICE.
July 4th.—Cobden has declined to take office, though he was advised by his friends to accept, and he approves of Milner Gibson and Charles Villiers having joined the Government. The reasons he gives are that he has always been a strenuous opponent of Palmerston, and that his conduct will be liable to reproach in taking office under him, that he has been the advocate of economy and low establishments, and would find himself obliged to act very inconsistently, or to oppose his colleagues in a policy respecting which popular opinion would be against him; but he expresses great satisfaction with Palmerston, who he says is a much better fellow than he was aware of, and he means to give the Government all the support in his power. These reasons do not seem sufficient for his not joining, which he had better have done. Granville laments Clarendon's having declined to take office as a Secretary of State, and that he will not be in the Cabinet to throw into the scale of foreign policy his political weight. I said I knew nothing of his motives, but assuming that he did not see foreign affairs in the same light as Palmerston and John Russell, he would be placed in an awkward position before long. Granville said this might be true, but he thought before very long he would be at the Foreign Office again. What he meant by that I do not know.