by Lord Sidmouth, assisted by certain Lords and others of
the Privy Council. There was, therefore, no uniform course of
precedents, and Ministers had to determine whether the culprit
should be brought before the Privy Council, or whether he should
be examined by the Cabinet only--that is, by Normanby as
Secretary of State, assisted by his colleagues, as had been done
in Watson's case. After some discussion, they determined that the
examination should be before the Cabinet only, and consequently I
was not present at it, much to my disappointment, as I wished to
hear what passed, and see the manner and bearing of the
perpetrator of so strange and unaccountable an act. Up to the
present time there is no appearance of insanity in the youth's
behaviour, and he is said to have conducted himself during the
examination with acuteness, and cross-examined the witnesses (a
good many of whom were produced) with some talent. All this,
however, is not incompatible with a lurking insanity. His answers
to the questions put to him were mysterious, and calculated to
produce the impression that he was instigated or employed by a
society, with which the crime had originated, but I expect that
it will turn out that he had no accomplices, and is only a
crackbrained enthusiast, whose madness has taken the turn of
vanity and desire for notoriety. No other conjecture presents any
tolerable probability. However it may turn out--here is the
strange fact--that a half-crazy potboy was on the point of
influencing the destiny of the Empire, and of producing effects
the magnitude and importance of which no human mind can guess at.
It is remarkable how seldom attempts like these are successful,
and yet the life of any individual is at the mercy of any other,
provided this other is prepared to sacrifice his own life, which,
in the present instance, the culprit evidently was.

August 13th, 1840 {p.290}

[Page Head: REVIEW OF THE SESSION.]

Two months have elapsed since I have written anything in this
book, owing to an unaccountable repugnance, which daily grew
stronger, to take up my pen for that purpose. It is true that I
had nothing of great interest to note down, but I could
frequently have found something worth recollecting if I had not
been too idle, too occupied with other things, or paralysed by
the disgust I had taken to the task of journalising. It is now
too late to record things as I was told them, or events as they
occurred, and all i