old ex-chancellor
with the contracted expression of the occupant of the woolsack, and
wondering what the latter would be like at the age of eighty-four,
to which Lord Lyndhurst had arrived. The important event of Lord John
Russell's resignation, announced by the Duke of Newcastle, prevented the
discussion of Lord Lyndhurst's motion, and caused the house to break up
early.

On the next evening, Lord Aberdeen's statement in the peers was almost
as eagerly looked for as Lord John Russell's statement in the commons.
The earl declared that he hardly knew why the noble president of
the council retired from his colleagues, on the eve of a discussion
concerning events in connection with which he fully shared their
responsibility. The premier admitted that he had been aware that the
noble president of the council had been dissatisfied with the general
management of the war; that he had expressed that dissatisfaction, and
had made certain proposals concerning the occupation of the war office,
with which he (Lord Aberdeen) did not think it his duty to comply;
that he, and the government of which he was the head, would resist
Mr. Roebuck's motion, which he considered a vote of censure upon the
ministry. The premier's address was cold, stiff, haughty, and quietly
defiant, but did not appear to make the least impression upon the peers,
who were, like the rest of the public, burning with impatience to know
the terms and result of Lord John's explanation in the commons. We
did not remain in the house of peers, being more anxious, like their
lordships, about what was announced to occur in the other house. Lord
John Russell made his famous statement. Perhaps no statement was ever
made in parliament which excited so profound an interest. Every nook in
the house was full, except a small portion of the ministerial gallery.
The most conspicuous persons were two Parsee merchants, dressed in a
showy oriental costume, who occupied the first bench in the Speaker's
gallery, and who, the previous evening, were admitted behind the throne
in the lords. Lord John was nearly inaudible at first, his elocution
throughout the speech was inferior, and utterly unworthy of his great
name as a speaker. He was listened to with evident partiality, and every
period which told at all against the conduct of the war elicited cheers
from the opposition, and the ministerial benches were far from silent on
these occasions. After his lordship sat down, Lord Palmerston