tention of Venetia by
Austria.

Viscount Palmerston has heard no more from Lord John Russell about his
wish eventually to go to the House of Lords, and it is probable that
this wish often before expressed will, as upon former occasions, be
allowed to sleep undisturbed....

[Footnote 4: Prince Napoleon Murat, a son of Joachim Murat,
King of Naples, 1808-1815, had returned to France from the
United States in 1848; an attempt was now being made to form a
Murat party in Southern Italy.]

_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _19th January 1861_.

The Queen has received Lord John Russell's letter enclosing his
correspondence with Lord Clarendon.[5] She has kept the latter in
order to show it to Lord Palmerston this evening, not knowing whether
he has seen it already. She must say that Lord Clarendon's arguments
are very conclusive. Has it ever occurred to Lord John Russell that,
if Lord Clarendon were to go to Berlin carrying the highest compliment
the Queen has to bestow, viz. the Order of the Garter to the new King
of Prussia, and from thence to Vienna empty-handed to the Emperor of
Austria for the purpose of giving good advice, the Emperor might look
upon it as an offensive public proceeding towards him?

[Footnote 5: Lord Clarendon was appointed to represent the
Queen at the Coronation of the King of Prussia.]

[Pageheading: CONSERVATIVE OVERTURES]

_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _27th January 1861_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty....

Viscount Palmerston saw Lord Malmesbury on Friday before the Cabinet.
They both came up in the same train though not in the same carriage,
and Lord Malmesbury came to Viscount Palmerston's in Piccadilly at
three o'clock.

He said that he was charged by Lord Derby and Mr Disraeli with a
message similar to that which he had conveyed last year, namely, that
if Mr Gladstone were to propose a democratic Budget making a great
transfer of burthens from indirect to direct Taxation, and if, the
Cabinet refusing its concurrence, Mr Gladstone were to retire, the
Conservative Party would give the Government substantial support
except in the case of the Government wishing to take an active part
in war against Austria. That this did not of course mean an abstinence
from usual attacks and criticisms in debate, but that no step would
in such case be taken to produce a change of Gov