engths, and 20 more
who were absent put their names down. O'Connell, who declared 'it
was the most delightful evening he ever passed in his life,'
publicly acknowledged John Russell as his leader, and the Radicals
were all present but Hume. Lord Auckland (who called upon me about
a house he is thinking of taking through my mediation) said he
would not do anything about it till this week was over, as
circumstances might render it unnecessary for him to provide
himself with a residence, but that he did not see how anything
permanent could come out of the present state of things. He
expected Ministers would resign, that there would be audiences and
negotiations, and that at last they would come back again; that in
the present state of parties he saw not how any other Government
could go on any better than this; and when I asked him about John
Russell's dinner, he said it went off very well, but the
composition of it was _frightful_ (or some such word, but not, I
think, quite so strong). John Russell and Melbourne, however, are
satisfied they can go on with the Radical assistance, and they
have gone too far now to throw these allies over; they must and
will make sacrifices to secure them for their own protection, and
if the House of Lords is swamped in the first instance, they will
have things all their own way.

[Page Head: BAD POLICY OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS.]

If it were not for the peril to all that is worth preserving, I
should not be sorry for anything that happened to the House of
Lords, to whose bigoted and senseless obstinacy (upheld and
directed I am sorry to say by the Duke and Lyndhurst) the present
miserable condition of affairs is mainly attributable. Their
rejection of the Tithe Bill last year was their crowning exploit.
After all their blunders and impotent struggles against a
stronger power, if they had passed that Bill, or restored
Stanley's in committee, and returned it to the House of Commons,
I believe everything might have been retrieved. It has been
remarked, and certainly with truth, that Peel has never once
endeavoured to excuse the House of Lords or to vindicate the
peers from the taunts and reproaches which have repeatedly been
thrown out against them. In point of fact, I believe that the
Lords either did not consult him, or did not care for his
opinion. There is no disguising that the Lords liked nothing so
well last year as beating the Government, and exhibiting their
puny and spiteful power;