first step (Jan. 31) was to call on
Lord Palmerston, with an earnest request for his support, and with a
hope that he would persuade Mr. Gladstone and Sidney Herbert to rejoin
their old political connection; with the intimation moreover that Mr.
Disraeli, with a self-abnegation that did him the highest credit, was
willing to waive in Lord Palmerston's favour his own claim to the
leadership of the House of Commons. Palmerston was to be president of
the council, and Ellenborough minister of war. In this conversation Lord
Palmerston made no objection on any political grounds, or on account of
any contemplated measures; he found no fault with the position intended
for himself, or for others with whom he would be associated. Lord Derby
supposed that all would depend on the concurrence of Mr. Gladstone and
Herbert. He left Cambridge House at half-past two in the afternoon, and
at half-past nine in the evening he received a note from Lord Palmerston
declining. Three hours later he heard from Mr. Gladstone, who declined
also. The proceedings of this eventful day, between two in the afternoon
and midnight, whatever may have been the play of motive and calculation
in the innermost minds of all or any of the actors, were practically to
go a long way, though by no means the whole way, as we shall see,
towards making Mr. Gladstone's severance from the conservative party
definitive.

_Jan. 31._--Lord Palmerston came to see me between three and four,
with a proposal from Lord Derby that he and I, with S. Herbert
should take office under him; Palmerston to be president of the
council and lead the House of Commons. Not finding me when he
called before, he had gone to S. Herbert, who seemed to be
disinclined. I inquired (1) whether Derby mentioned Graham? (2)
Whether he had told Lord Palmerston if his persevering with the
commission he had received would depend on the answer to this
proposal. (3) How he was himself inclined. He answered the two
first questions in the negative, and said as to the third, though
not keenly, that he felt disinclined, but that if he refused it
would be attributed to his contemplating another result, which
other result he considered would be agreeable to the country. I
then argued strongly with him that though he might form a
government, and though if he formed it, he would certainly start it
amidst immense clapping of hands, yet