Then came a question about the _Cagliari_ affair,[16] on which the
Government had agreed to take a temperate course, in deference to
their predecessors--but it was not successful. The ill-humour of the
House, diverted for a moment by the French news, vented itself on this
head.

What struck the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the course of the
evening most was the absence of all those symptoms of "fair trial,"
etc., which have abounded of late in journals and in Society.

Lord John said something; Mr Gladstone said something; but it was not
encouraging.

Nevertheless, in 1852 "fair trial" observations abounded, and the
result was not satisfactory; now it may be the reverse.

The House is wild and capricious at this moment.

Your Majesty once deigned to say that your Majesty wished in these
remarks to have the temper of the House placed before your Majesty,
and to find what your Majesty could not meet in newspapers. This
is the Chancellor of the Exchequer's excuse for these rough notes,
written on the field of battle, which he humbly offers to your
Majesty.

[Footnote 15: Parliament reassembled on the 12th of March,
and Mr Disraeli then stated that the "painful misconceptions"
which had for some time existed between England and France
had been "terminated in a spirit entirely friendly and
honourable."]

[Footnote 16: Two English engineers, Watt and Park, had been
on the Sardinian steamer _Cagliari_ when she was seized by the
Neapolitan Government, and her crew, including the engineers,
imprisoned at Naples. At the instance of the Conservative
Government, who acted more vigorously than their predecessors
had done, the engineers were released, and L3,000 paid to them
as compensation.]

[Pageheading: THE NAVY]

_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

OSBORNE, _15th March 1858_.

The Queen sends to Lord Derby a Memorandum on the state of preparation
of our Navy in case of a war, the importance of attending to which
she has again strongly felt when the late vote of the House of Commons
endangered the continuance of the good understanding with France.
The whole tone of the Debate on the first night of the reassembly of
Parliament has shown again that there exists a great disposition
to boast and provoke foreign Powers without any sincere desire to
investigate our means of making good our words, and providing for
those means which are missing.

The Que