our conversation Ellice came in, and
directly asked if my friends would swallow fifty-six, to which I
said, 'No.' We had then a vehement dispute, but at last Wood
turned him out, and he and I resumed. We finally agreed that I
should ask Lord Harrowby whether, if Lord Grey of his own accord
proposed to leave out the words fifty-six, but with an expression
of his opinion that this must be the number, he (Lord Harrowby)
would meet him with a corresponding declaration that he objected
to the specification of the number in the clause, without
objecting to the extent of the disfranchisement, it being always
understood that what passes between us is unauthorised talk, and
to commit nobody--'without prejudice,' as the lawyers say.

[Page Head: THE KING'S RELUCTANCE TO MAKE PEERS.]

I heard yesterday, however, from Keate, who is attending me (and
who is the King's surgeon, and sees him when he is in town), that
he saw his Majesty after the levee on Wednesday, and that he was
ill, out of sorts, and in considerable agitation; that he
enquired of him about his health, when the King said he had much
to annoy him, and that 'many things passed there (pointing to the
Cabinet, out of which he had just come) which were by no means
agreeable, and that he had had more than usual to occupy him that
morning.' Keate said he was very sure from his manner that
something unpleasant had occurred. This was, I have since
discovered, the question of a creation of Peers again brought
forward, and to which the King's aversion has returned so much so
that it is doubtful if he will after all consent to a large one.
It seems that unless the Peers are made (in the event of the
necessity arising) Brougham and Althorp will resign; at least so
they threaten. I have seen enough of threats, and doubts, and
scruples, to be satisfied that there is no certainty that any of
them will produce the anticipated effects, but I am resolved I
will try, out of these various elements, if I cannot work out
something which may be serviceable to the cause itself, though
the materials I have to work with are scanty. The Ministers were
all day yesterday settling who the new Peers shall be, so
seriously are they preparing for the _coup_. They had already
fixed upon Lords Molyneux, Blandford, Kennedy, Ebrington,
Cavendish, Brabazon, and Charles Fox, Littleton, Portman,
Frederick Lawley, Western, and many others, and this would be
what Lord Holland calls assimilating the House