ssed upon him); Lord Palmerston
might be leader in the House of Lords; he would not like Lord Aberdeen
at the Foreign Office; Lord Clarendon and Lord Granville were equally
acceptable to him.

I suggested that it might be well if the Queen were to see Sir James
and Lord Aberdeen again, which he approved, but thought it better he
should not be present himself, and that the Queen might tell Sir James
that he might have any Office he liked; perhaps _he_ would take the
Foreign Affairs.

Lord John's relations and private friends evidently are distressed at
his resuming office; the Radicals were very much pleased with the idea
of Sir James Graham being in office.

ALBERT.

[Pageheading: LORD ABERDEEN SUMMONED]

_Memorandum by the Prince Albert._

_24th February 1851._
_(Monday evening._)

Lord John came at three o'clock before making his statement to the
House of Commons. We communicated to him what had passed with Sir
James Graham and Lord Aberdeen yesterday evening. He thought his
Memorandum had been misunderstood: the nature of the Reform Bill
was left open to discussion, and what he had said about filling the
Offices only meant that the Offices should not be divided according to
number, and each party left to fill up its share, as had been done in
former Coalition Ministries. He had seen Lord Palmerston, who was not
willing to give up the Foreign Office--spoke of retiring from business
at his age, of his success in conducting Foreign Affairs, and of its
being a self-condemnation if he accepted another Office. Lord John
told him that he did not agree in this view, that the Lord-Lieutenancy
of Ireland was to be maintained, and thought it best to leave it
there. He thought Lord Palmerston had given up the idea of leading
the House of Commons. We ascertained from him in conversation that he
could not agree to Lord Aberdeen taking the Foreign Office nor that he
could serve under Lord Aberdeen or Sir James Graham in case any one of
these were to form a Government.

At half-past six Lord John returned from the House of Commons, and
reported that two very important events had taken place: the one that
upon his making his statement to the House that the Government had
resigned, that Lord Stanley had been sent for, had declared _his
inability then to form a Government_ (words agreed upon between
Lord Lansdowne, Lord John, and Sir George Grey), and that he was now
charged with the formation of a Government, Mr. D