wishes that Palmerston were back again on account of the
Eastern question.'

Here is a glimpse of this time:--

_Nov. 23, '53._--Cabinet. Reform discussed largely, amicably, and
satisfactorily on the whole. _Dec. 16._--Hawarden. Off at 9 A.M.
Astounded by a note from A. Gordon. [Palmerston had resigned the
day before.] After dinner went to the admiralty, 101/2-11/2, where Lord
Aberdeen, Newcastle, Graham, and I went over the late events and
went over the course for to-morrow's cabinet. _Dec. 21._--Called on
Lord Palmerston, and sat an hour. 22.--Cabinet, 2-71/2, on Eastern
Question. Palmerston and reform. A day of no small matter for
reflection. _Jan. 4, 1854._--To Windsor. I was the only guest, and
thus was promoted to sit by the Queen at dinner. She was most
gracious, and above all so thoroughly natural.

THE DECISION OF DECEMBER 22

On the decision of Dec. 22, Sir Charles Wood says:--

We had then a long discussion on the question of occupying the
Black Sea, as proposed by France, and it seemed to me to be such a
tissue of confusions that I advocated the simple course of doing
so. Gladstone could not be persuaded to agree to this, in spite of
a strong argument of Newcastle's. Gladstone's objection being to
our being hampered by any engagement. His scheme was that our
occupying the Black Sea was to be made dependent, in the first
place, on the Turks having acceded to the Vienna proposals, or at
any rate to their agreeing to be bound by any basis of peace on
which the English and French governments agreed. Newcastle and I
said we thought this would bind us much more to the Turks than if
we occupied the Black Sea as part of our own measures, adopted for
our own purposes, and without any engagement to the Turks, under
which we should be if they accepted our conditions. Gladstone said
he could be no party to unconditional occupation; so it ended in
our telling France that we would occupy the Black Sea, that is,
prevent the passage of any ships or munitions of war by the
Russians, but that we trusted she would join us in enforcing the
above condition on the Turks. If they agreed, then we were to
occupy the Black Sea; if they did not, we were to reconsider the
question, and then determine what to do. Clarendon saw Walewski,
who was qui