ully assured the
Queen that Her Majesty's commands came upon me by surprise; that at
any time I felt my own insufficiency for such a post, and that at this
time there were special difficulties; that I believed the only two
persons who could form a strong Liberal Government were either Lord
Palmerston or Lord John Russell; and that, although it had sometimes
happened that two statesmen of equal pretensions preferred having a
nominal chief to serving under one another, I did not believe that
this was the case now. I said that I had reason to believe that Lords
Palmerston and John Russell were ready to co-operate with one another,
while I doubted whether either would consent to serve under a younger
man of such small pretensions as myself.

The Queen in reply informed me that her first thoughts had been turned
to Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell, that they had both served
her long and faithfully, and that Her Majesty felt it to be an
invidious task to select one of the two. Her Majesty was also of
opinion that as different sections of the Liberal Party were more or
less represented by each, it might be more easy for the Party to act
together under a third person. Her Majesty added that she had selected
me as the Leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Lords, and a
person in whom both Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell had been in
the habit of placing confidence, and she expressed her confident
hope that their attachment to herself would induce them to yield that
assistance without which it would be difficult to form a strong and
comprehensive Government.

I proceeded to state some of the most salient difficulties of the
task, and asked Her Majesty's permission to ascertain by negotiation
what it would be possible to do.

Her Majesty informed me that Her Majesty's experience of former
changes of administration had taught her that the construction of an
administration had failed when the person entrusted with the task had
acted merely as a negotiator, and that the success of other attempts
had been owing to the acceptance of the charge by the person for whom
she had sent. Her Majesty laid Her Majesty's commands upon me to make
the attempt, and I had the honour of conveying two letters from Her
Majesty to Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell, stating that Her
Majesty relied upon their assistance.

[Footnote 48: The 11th of June.]

[Pageheading: THE RIVAL LEADERS]

_Queen Victoria to_ {_Viscou