Y OPINION OF LORD PALMERSTON'S POLICY.]

But while public opinion appears to be universally pronounced in
Palmerston's favour, and the concurrent applause of all the Tory
papers indicates the satisfaction of that party, some
circumstances lead me to believe that their approbation of the
Treaty of July, and of all Palmerston's proceedings under it, is
by no means so certain as the Government believe. At the Grange I
found Lord Ashburton loud in his condemnation of the whole thing,
talking exactly as we have all been talking and writing for many
weeks past; and what surprised me much more was, that, in a
conversation which I had with Granville Somerset yesterday, he
expressed precisely the same opinions; and when I expressed my
surprise at his language, and said that I had fancied all the
Tories were enraptured with Palmerston, he replied that he had no
reason to believe any such thing; that he had not met (among the
many with whom he had conversed) with any such general and
unqualified approbation; and he believed both the Duke and Peel
had carefully abstained from pronouncing any opinion whatever on
the subject, leaving themselves entire liberty to deal with the
whole question as they might think fit. The notion is, that the
Tories are charmed with a transaction which separates us from
France, but Lord Ashburton and Granville Somerset--a bigoted
Tory, if ever there was one--inveighed against the Treaty
precisely because it had produced that consequence. It is the
approbation expressed by Aberdeen, both before and since our
successes, which has led to the general belief that the Tories
are with the Government on this matter, for Aberdeen is regarded
as their mouthpiece upon all questions of foreign policy. I had
another conversation with Mounier just before he went. He had
been to Strathfieldsaye, and was delighted with his reception by
the Duke, and with the tone and tenor of his talk, anxious for a
reconciliation with France, and entering into the whole history
of our mutual relations from the Restoration to the present day,
as he said, with the greatest clearness, precision, and solidity.
He admitted that Guizot's was a very difficult situation, and the
restoration of amicable feelings between the two countries very
difficult also, but a thing earnestly to be desired.

December 31st, 1840 {p.359}

The end of the year is a point from which, as from a sort of
eminence, one looks back over the past, happy if the p