utriche et la
Prusse qui sont pressees;' so that all the offensive part was a
fabricated addition, and I have no doubt of this by Bourqueney's
way of speaking of it. He said, moreover, 'Il faut rendre justice
a Lord Palmerston, son ton a ete excellent, et jamais il n'a
prononce le mot de desarmement;' that if he had, or had attempted
to impose any condition, he should at once have rejected all
overtures; but nothing of the kind had been attempted, and he
admitted that every respect had been shown to France, and a
sincere desire evinced to renew relations with her. He said,
'Enfin vous etes triomphants, et nous sommes humilies,' and you
can well afford to treat us 'avec des egards;' but he seemed to
think that in point of fact the Conference was already
practically dissolved, for both Buelow and Esterhazy had declared
(in their anxiety for the _cloture_, as an indispensable
preliminary to the Convention, for which their eagerness is
intense), that, happen what might, they would take no farther
part in Eastern affairs. On the whole, the prospect is good, and
it is but just to Palmerston to say that he does not seem to have
acted unfairly or insolently, or to be obnoxious to any reproach
in his relations with Bourqueney.

March 12th, 1841 {p.383}

The Protocols were duly signed and the Convention sent to Paris.
They were well received by Guizot, who returned them for some
verbal alterations which have been agreed to, and if no new
difficulties arise in the East to prevent a settlement, our
relations with France will be restored. But within these few days
a whole budget of bad news has poured in--from China, where the
admiral has resigned on the plea of ill-health, having done
nothing but lose half the troops he took out, and leaving affairs
in a very uncertain and unsatisfactory state. I had a letter from
Emily Eden[11] yesterday, in great disgust at the waste of time,
money, and life, and the failure hitherto of all the objects we
had in view. The Chinese have bamboozled and baffled us, that is
the plain truth.

[11] [Miss Emily Eden had accompanied her brother, Lord
Auckland, to India, where he was Governor-General. This
impression of the state of our relations with China
appears to have been erroneous. On February 1st,
Captain Elliot annexed the island of Hong Kong, which
has been permanently united to the British Empire, and
on April 18th Her Maj