Chesham Place, 27th June 1850.
Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has the honour to state that the prospects of the division are rather more favourable for Ministers than they were.
Ministers ought to have a majority of forty to justify their remaining in office.23
Mr Gladstone makes no secret of his wish to join Lord Stanley in forming an Administration.
Lord John Russell would desire to have the honour of an audience of your Majesty on Saturday at twelve or one o'clock.
The division will not take place till to-morrow night.
Footnote 23: In the result, Ministers succeeded by 310 to 264, although opposed to them in the debate were Mr Gladstone, Mr Cobden, Sir Robert Peel, Mr Disraeli, Sir James Graham, and Sir William Molesworth. Next to the speeches of Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell, the most effective speech on the Government side was that of Mr Alexander Cockburn, afterwards Lord Chief Justice of England.
Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians.
PEEL'S ACCIDENT
Buckingham Palace, 2nd July 1850.