e.' This was repeated, and when Moore met O'Connell the
other day at Brookes', he went up to him and put out his hand. He
said O'Connell was mightily moved, but accepted the proffered
reconciliation, and they are again on good terms.

[1] [Thomas Moore, the poet.]

March 10th, 1836 {p.347}

[Page Head: OPPOSITION DEFEATED.]

Majority of 64 for Government on Tuesday night; unexpected by the
public, but not, I take it, by the Whig managers, who make their
people attend. It is an irrecoverable blow to the other side, and
shows that the contest is hopeless there. O'Connell and Stanley
made good speeches. It is remarkable that the Tory numbers are
precisely what they were last year (243). At the levee yesterday
they were all very gay at this victory; and Hobhouse said to me,
'What fools they are; they don't know their own interest; they
are beaten in the House of Commons, their people won't attend,
they won't see that they can't resist these questions and that it
is for their own interest they should be carried; why, when the
appropriation clauses and these Bills are carried there will
remain no difference between Peel and us. As for me, I care not
who is in, or whether I am in or out of office; I care for peace
and quietness, and that the country should go on. The Tories have
rung the changes on this O'Connell cry till they can do no more,
and it has failed them entirely; they have had every chance, and
must now give it up;' and a good deal more he said, till we were
interrupted. I agree about the O'Connell cry; the subject is worn
threadbare, it has been argued and ranted upon _usque ad
nauseam_, and in spite of the mistakes O'Connell has made, the
anti-Popery prejudices which prevail, and the blots upon his
personal character, I doubt if he is as much hated in England as
the Tories would have him. They have overdone their attacks on
him, and as it has unluckily been their sole _cheval de
bataille_, they have ridden it till it has not a leg to stand
upon.

March 12th, 1836 {p.347}

Fell in with Lyndhurst in the street yesterday returning from
Philips', where he had been sitting for his portrait. 'Well,' he
said, in his laughing, off-hand way, 'we are done, entirely
done.' 'What do you mean to do?' 'Oh, we shall pass Peel's Bill,
and they will be very glad of it; it will give the Government all
the power which O'Connell would otherwise obtain, and they don't
want to see his power increase, and will prefe