ved the drift of the hint, and wrote
to the Duke of Bedford what he said he did not wish to write to his
brother John, that, if it was that Palmerston was going, and _he_ were
thought of as a successor, nothing would be so disagreeable to him,
as the whole change would be put down as an intrigue of his, whom Lord
Palmerston had always accused of wishing to supplant him; that if,
however, the service of the country required it, he had the courage to
face all personal obloquy....

Lord John owned that Sir George Grey's chief desire was to see Lord
Clarendon removed from Ireland, having been there so long; the
Cabinet would wish to see the Duke of Newcastle join the Government
as Lord-Lieutenant, which he might be induced to do. The Queen having
mentioned Lord Clarendon as most fit to succeed Lord Lansdowne one
day as President of the Council and leader in the House of Lords, Lord
John said that Lord Clarendon had particularly begged not to have the
position offered him, for which he did not feel fit. Lord John would
like him as Ambassador at Paris, and thought Lord Clarendon would
like this himself; but it was difficult to know what to do with Lord
Normanby.

In the course of the conversation, Lord John congratulated the
Queen upon the change having been accomplished without her personal
intervention, which might have exposed her to the animosity of Lord
Palmerston's admirers, whilst she would have been precluded from
making any public defence. I reminded Lord John that, as such was the
disadvantage of the regal position, it behoved the Queen doubly to
watch, lest she be put into the same dilemma with a new Minister,
whose conduct she could not approve of. Lord Clarendon's appointment
would be doubly galling to Lord Palmerston, whom Lord John might not
wish to irritate further, a consideration which Lord John said he had
also pressed upon the Cabinet. Upon a remark from Lord John as to Lord
Granville's youth, the Queen replied: "Lord Canning, whom Lord Stanley
had intended to make his Foreign Secretary, was not older...."

The conference ended by Lord John's promise to write to Lord Clarendon
as the Queen had desired ... but that he did not wish to make the
offer to Lord Granville till he had Lord Clarendon's answer.
Lord Granville had been told not to attend the last Cabinet; Lord
Palmerston had naturally stayed away.

I went up to Town at half-past seven to the Westminster Play, and took
Lord John in my train to Ri