lved to wait patiently, and meet his destiny
with the stoical resignation of a Turk.

October 9th, 1840 {p.332}

Everything looking black these last two days, funds falling, and
general alarm. Lord Granville has written to Palmerston both
publicly and privately; in the former enforcing the necessity of
some speedy arrangement, if any there is to be; in the latter
remonstrating upon his own situation _vis-a-vis_ of the
Government. Lord John has again screwed his courage up to summon
the Cabinet, with the determination of making another attempt at
accommodation with France. He proposed this to Melbourne, who
said 'it was too late.' This is what he always does: entreats
people to _wait_ when they first want to move, and then when they
have waited, and will wait no longer, he says, 'it is too late.'
Lord John's design is to have a despatch written to Granville,
with which he is to go to Thiers, inviting a frank explanation
_de part et d'autre_, asking what France desires and expects,
saying what England intends and does not intend, entering into
the position in which all parties are placed, and expressing a
readiness to conciliate France in any way that we honourably and
consistently can, communicating to our Allies exactly what we
say.

[Page Head: NOTE FROM THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT.]

But what he would principally desire, and I perceive will not be
able to effect, is the supersession in some shape of Lord
Ponsonby, against whom grave charges do certainly lie. The other
day (the day before the Council at Claremont), Palmerston
produced at the Cabinet Ponsonby's despatch announcing the
deposition of Mehemet Ali, which he read aloud. Melbourne asked
if there was not something said indicative of some differences of
opinion among the Ambassadors (probably something grave struck
him), to which Palmerston responded that there was nothing. The
next day Beauvale's despatch arrived with the report of the
Austrian Internuncio to Metternich, who said that Ponsonby had
assembled the Ministers at his house on Rifat Bey's arrival, and
proposed the immediate _decheance_ of the Pasha, to which he had
made no objection, but that his Russian colleague had objected.
His objections were, however, overruled by Ponsonby, who had
taken upon himself to say that he would make England responsible
for the whole and sole execution of the sentence of deposition.
Nothing of this was hinted in Ponsonby's own despatch, and the
false account theref