ernment. In fact, said
Lord Malmesbury, neither the Conservative leaders nor the Party wish
at present to come into office, and have no intention of taking any
step to turn the present Government out. Mr Bright had indeed
proposed to Mr Disraeli to join together with the Radical Party, the
Conservatives, for the purpose of turning out the present Government;
and especially to get rid of Viscount Palmerston and Lord John
Russell. Mr Bright said he would in that case give the Conservative
Government a two years' existence, and by the end of that time the
country, it might be hoped, would be prepared for a good and real
Reform Bill, and then a proper Government might be formed.

This proposal, which it must be owned was not very tempting, Lord
Malmesbury said had been declined. He also said that Count Persigny,
on returning from one of his trips to Paris, had brought a
similar proposal from Mr Cobden for a co-operation of Radicals and
Conservatives to overthrow the present Government; but that also had
been declined. Viscount Palmerston requested Lord Malmesbury to
convey his thanks to Lord Derby and Mr Disraeli for the handsome
communication which they had thus made to him, and to assure them that
he fully appreciated the honourable and patriotic motives by which it
had been prompted....

_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _29th January 1861_.

MY BELOVED UNCLE,--I write to you on a sad anniversary--already
_seventeen_ years ago, that it pleased God to take dearest Papa away
from us all! He, who _ought_ to have lived for twenty years longer at
least!...

We hear from Berlin that the poor King is much _angegriffen_, and very
irritable, but that my letter announcing to him that I would give him
the Garter had given him _so_ much pleasure that he had been seen to
smile for the _first_ time since the 2nd of January.

I think you will be gratified by the little extract from a letter
from our dear friend the Queen, about Vicky, which I venture to send
you--as well as by the following extract from Vicky's own letter to
me, written on her wedding day, in which she says:--"Every time our
dear wedding day returns I feel so happy and thankful--and live every
moment of that blessed and never-to-be-forgotten day over again in
thought. I love to dwell on every minute of that day; not a hope has
been disappointed, not an expectation that has not been realised, and
much more--that few can say--an