ing the qualification, to
which he thought no objection would lie.

[Page Head: CONVERSATION WITH LORD MELBOURNE.]

At the Duchesse de Dino's ball the night before last I had a very
anxious conversation with Melbourne about it all. He said that
'he really believed there was no strong feeling in the country
for the measure.' We talked of the violence of the Tories, and
their notion that they could get rid of the whole thing. I said
the notion was absurd _now_, but that I fully agreed with him
about the general feeling. 'Why, then,' said he, 'might it not be
thrown out?'--a consummation I really believe he would rejoice
at, if it could be done. I said because there was a great party
which would not let it, which would agitate again, and that the
country wished ardently to have it settled; that if it could be
disposed of for good and all, it would be a good thing indeed,
but that this was now become impossible. I asked him if his
colleagues were impressed as he was with this truth, and he said,
'No.' I told him he ought to do everything possible to enforce
it, and to make them moderate, and induce them to concede, to
which he replied, 'What difficulty can they have in swallowing
the rest after they have given up the rotten boroughs? That is,
in fact, the essential part of the Bill, and the truth is _I do
not see how the Government is to be carried on without them_.
Some means may be found; a remedy may possibly present itself,
and it may work in practice better than we now know of, but I am
not aware of any, and I do not see how any Government can be
carried on when these are swept away.' This was, if not his exact
words, the exact sense, and a pretty avowal for a man to make at
the eleventh hour who has been a party concerned in this Bill
during the other ten. I told him I agreed in every respect, but
that it was too late to discuss this now, and that the rotten
boroughs were past saving, that as to the minor points, the
Waverers thought them of importance, looked upon them as
securities, compensations, and moreover as what would save their
own honour, and that the less their real importance was the more
easily might they be conceded. We had a great deal more talk, but
then it is all talk, and _a quoi bon_ with a man who holds these
opinions and acts as he does? Let it end as it may, the history
of the Bill, and the means by which it has been conceived,
brought forward, supported, and opposed, will be most curious and