he positively declines entering the Cabinet or
taking any _other office_. He says, as _Foreign_ Secretary, he should
be ready to join the Government should there be a vacancy; but that
he has never directed his attention much to general politics, and his
taking any other office, after having held the Foreign Seals during
a long and important time, would be of no use to the Government, and
would only injure himself. The Queen told him that he might have any
office almost (naming several of those which Lord Palmerston discussed
with her), but she could not urge nor press him to do what _he felt_
would injure him, and indeed she found him quite determined in his
purpose.

His absence from the Cabinet the Queen sincerely deplores, and she
knows that Lord Palmerston will feel it a serious loss.

[Pageheading: AN INDISCREET DISCLOSURE]

_Queen Victoria to Earl Granville._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _13th June 1859_.

The Queen is much shocked to find her whole conversation with Lord
Granville yesterday and the day before detailed in this morning's
leading article of the _Times_.[51] What passes between her and a
Minister in her own room in confidential intercourse ought to be
sacred, and it will be evident to Lord Granville that if it were not
so, the Queen would be precluded from treating her Ministers with that
unreserved confidence which can alone render a thorough understanding
possible; moreover, any Minister could state what he pleased, against
which the Queen would have no protection, as she could not well insert
contradictions or explanations in the newspapers herself.

[Footnote 51: A circumstantial account of the Queen's
conversation with Lord Granville had appeared in the _Times_,
and Lord Derby drew attention to the matter in the House of
Lords. Lord Granville in reply expressed his regret in not
having used more complete reserve, and frankly attributed the
disclosures to his non-observance of adequate discretion.]

_Earl Granville to Queen Victoria._

LONDON, _13th June 1859_.

Lord Granville presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and feels
deeply your Majesty's reproof.

Lord Granville was extremely annoyed this morning at seeing the
article in the _Times_ of to-day, repeating with some accuracy, but
in a vulgar, inflated manner, the account which Lord Granville gave
yesterday afternoon to many of his political friends, and which he
believed your Majesty had author