uld stop
the vote of censure in the House of Commons, as the House could not
hold responsible and punish the Cabinet for that with which they had
had no concern. If the House persisted, it was clear that the motives
were factious, and he hoped the Queen would allow him to threaten a
Dissolution of Parliament, which he was certain would stop it. The
Queen refused to give that permission; she said he might leave it
quite undecided whether the Queen would grant a Dissolution or not,
and take the benefit of the doubt in talking to others on the subject;
but she must be left quite free to act as she thought the good of the
country might require at the time when the Government should have been
beat; there had been a Dissolution within the year, and if a Reform
Bill was passed there must be another immediately upon it; in the
meantime most violent pledges would be taken as to Reform if a general
election were to take place now. Lord Derby concurred in all this, and
said he advised the threat particularly in order to render the reality
unnecessary; when she persisted in her refusal, however, on the
ground that she could not threaten what she was not prepared to do, he
appeared very much disappointed and mortified.

We then discussed the state of the question itself, and urged the
necessity of something being done to do away with the injurious
impression which the publication of the despatch must produce in
India, as the resignation of Lord Ellenborough left this quite
untouched, and Parliament might with justice demand this. He agreed,
after much difficulty, to send a telegraphic despatch, which might
overtake and mitigate the other. On my remark that the public were
under the impression that there had been collusion, and that Mr Bright
had seen the despatch before he asked his question for its production,
he denied this stoutly, but let us understand that Mr Bright had
known of the existence of such a despatch, and had wished to put his
question before, but had been asked to defer it until Lord Canning's
Proclamation should have appeared in the newspapers! (This is nearly
as bad!!) The Queen could not have pledged herself to dissolve
Parliament in order to support such tricks!

ALBERT.

It was arranged that Lord Derby should accept Lord Ellenborough's
resignation in the Queen's name.

_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Ellenborough._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _11th May 1858_.

The Queen has to acknowledge Lord Ellenborough