a dissenting voice, condemned Lord Palmerston's conduct, and
approved of the steps taken by Lord John Russell, which was a great
relief to him. Lord Lansdowne, to whom he had first written on the
subject, had frightened him by answering that it was not possible
to avoid the rupture with Lord Palmerston, but that he thought the
Government would after this not be able to go on. When, however, this
question was discussed in Cabinet, and Lord John had stated that
he thought the Office could be well filled, they all agreed in the
propriety of going on. The Members of the Cabinet were so unable to
understand Lord Palmerston's motives for his conduct during these last
months, that Mr. Fox Maule started an idea which once occurred to Lord
John himself (as he said), viz. that he must have had the design
to bring on a rupture! Lord Minto, who was absent from the Cabinet,
expressed himself in a letter to Lord John very strongly about Lord
Palmerston's _reckless conduct_, which would yet undo the country.

Lord John, after having received the concurrence of the Cabinet on the
question of Lord Palmerston's dismissal, stated that Lord Granville
was the person whom he would like best to see fill his office, and
he knew this to be the feeling of the Queen also. The Cabinet quite
agreed in Lord Granville's fitness, but Sir George Grey stated it as
his opinion that it ought first to be offered to Lord Clarendon, who
has always been pointed out by the public as the proper person to
succeed Lord Palmerston, and that, if he were passed over, the whole
matter would have the appearance of a Cabinet intrigue in favour of
one colleague against another. The whole of the Cabinet sided with
this opinion, and Lord John Russell now proposed to the Queen that an
offer should in the first instance be made to Lord Clarendon.

The Queen protested against the Cabinet's taking upon itself the
appointment of its own Members, which rested entirely with the
Prime Minister and the Sovereign, under whose approval the former
constructed his Government.... Lord John replied that he thought Lord
Clarendon would not accept the offer, and therefore there would be
little danger in satisfying the desires of the Cabinet. He had written
to Lord Clarendon a cautioning letter from Woburn, apprising him of
some serious crisis, of which he would soon hear, and speaking of his
former wish to exchange the Lord-Lieutenancy for some other Office.
Lord Clarendon at once percei