He owned to me that his reason for
consenting to the Treaty was the refusal of France to join in
coercive measures; which I told him was in my opinion the strong
point of Palmerston's case. The fact is, the offer of France is
come too late; the machine has been set in motion, and now there
is no stopping it. But I shall ever think that if the advances of
France had been met in another way, much might have been done.
Lord John said the Queen had talked to him, and had expressed her
anxiety for some settlement, but at the same time was quite
determined to make no unworthy concession.

My brother writes me word that Lord Granville is so disgusted at
his position, and at being kept entirely in the dark as to the
real position of affairs, that he is seriously thinking of
resigning. Bulwer[6] has, however, done his utmost to prevent
him, and advised him to write instead and earnestly recommend
that, if they meditate any change, whatever they mean to do
should be done immediately.

[6] [Mr. Henry Bulwer (afterwards Lord Dalling) was at that
time First Secretary of the Embassy in Paris, and an
ardent supporter of Lord Palmerston's policy--much more
so than the Ambassador, Lord Granville.]

I went to Lord John this morning, and read to him my brother
Henry's letter. He is alarmed, and says that no doubt much might
have been done in the way of conciliation that has not been done;
admits that Palmerston (through whom everything must necessarily
pass) will do nothing; and that the fact is he does not believe
in war, and does not care if it happens. He showed me a paper he
wrote with the project of making certain tranquillising
communications to the French Government; one of which was, that
if the Allies resolved to attack Egypt, they would first give
notice to France and try and arrange matters with her. The
Emperor of Russia, it appears, is all for attacking Egypt; but no
intention exists of taking Egypt from the Pasha in any case. I
told him again that I thought an opportunity had been lost of
responding to the last offer of France in a conciliatory way, and
Lord John said he thought so too; he had written a paper on the
subject, showed it to Melbourne--who highly approved of it, left
it with him, never heard more about it, and nothing was done.
Palmerston's extinguisher was, of course, put upon it. Lord John
said he was tired of attempting to do anything; and he now
appears to have reso