olland and Clarendon, who had all along opposed the
Treaty, might very consistently take this course, he did not see
how any of those could do so who had originally supported and
approved of it; to which Lord John quietly and briefly said, 'The
events at Alexandria have made all the difference.' This was in
fact no answer; and Minto was quite right, especially as Lord
John had taken his line before the events at Alexandria were
known. Of the Ministers present besides Minto, Macaulay seemed
rather disposed to go with Palmerston, and talked blusteringly
about France, as he probably thought a Secretary of War should.
Labouchere was first one way and then the other, and neither the
Chancellor nor the Chancellor of the Exchequer said one word. The
result was an agreement, that it would be disrespectful to Lord
Lansdowne, considering his position, to come to any resolution in
his absence; and as he could not arrive before this day, that the
discussion should be adjourned till Thursday (to-morrow) by which
time he and Morpeth would be here. They were all to dine with
Palmerston, and a queer dinner it must have been.

October 1st, 1840 {p.322}

[Page Head: LORD JOHN'S PACIFIC SENTIMENTS.]

No progress made, everything _in statu quo_. The dinner at
Palmerston's on Monday after the Cabinet, went off well enough.
In the evening Clarendon had a long conversation with Lady
Palmerston, who repeated to him everything she had said to me,
and seemed confident enough that Palmerston would carry his point
at last. He told her, however, that if he persisted, the
Government must be broken up, as at least half a dozen would
resign, and that she must be aware Government could not go on if
either Palmerston or John Russell resigned (putting in Palmerston
out of civility). He thought he had made some impression on her.
The next day they all dined at Holland House. There he had again
some talk with Palmerston himself, amicable enough, but leading
to nothing; to what Clarendon said about breaking up the
Government, Palmerston did not reply a word. Afterwards
Palmerston had a long talk with Lord Holland, but not
satisfactory. Morpeth has arrived, and naturally enough was
extremely embarrassed. He had supported Palmerston originally,
and was not aware of any impending change of policy, or any
change in anybody's opinion, and he felt that it was an
extraordinary whisk round. Melbourne, of course, hopped off to
Windsor the moment the Cabinet