he readily grants him the permission he asks,[18] and seizes this
opportunity of telling him how much she feels for him during this
trying time, and what a high sense she shall ever entertain of
his loyal, high-minded, and patriotic conduct, as well as of his
unremitting exertions to serve his Sovereign and Country.

[Footnote 18: The Duke, in order to refute Lord John Russell,
asked leave to state what had passed in the Cabinet.]

[Pageheading: INTERVIEW WITH LORD DERBY]

[Pageheading: THE LEADERSHIP]

_Memorandum by Queen Victoria._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _31st January 1855._

We went up to Buckingham Palace and saw Lord Derby at half-past
eleven. The Queen informed him of the resignation of the Government,
and of her desire that he should try to form a new one. She addressed
herself to him as the head of the largest Party in the House of
Commons, and which had by its vote chiefly contributed to the
overthrow of the Government. Lord Derby threw off this responsibility,
saying that there had been no communication with Mr Roebuck, but that
his followers could not help voting when Lord John Russell told them
on authority that there was the most ample cause for enquiry, and the
whole country cried out for it. Moreover, the Government, in meeting
the Motion, laid its chief stress upon its implying a want of
confidence in the Government--a confidence which they certainly did
not enjoy. He owned that his Party was the most compact--mustering
about two hundred and eighty men--but he had no men capable of
governing the House of Commons, and he should not be able to present
an Administration that would be accepted by the country unless it was
strengthened by other combinations; he knew that the whole country
cried out for Lord Palmerston as the only man fit for carrying on
the war with success, and he owned the necessity of having him in the
Government, were it even only to satisfy the French Government, the
confidence of which was at this moment of the greatest importance;
but he must say, speaking without reserve, that whatever the ignorant
public might think, Lord Palmerston was totally unfit for the task. He
had become very deaf as well as very blind, was seventy-one years
old, and ... in fact, though he still kept up his sprightly manners
of youth, it was evident that his day had gone by.[19] ... Lord Derby
thought, however, he might have the Lead of the House of Commons,
which Mr Disraeli was ready to giv