posed that his
seat at Cambridge would be in great peril. People talk of their
not going on; how can any others go on better?

[8] [Mr. Bickersteth refused to be Solicitor-General
because the offer was made to him by the Lord
Chancellor, and not by the Prime Minister. At that time
he was personally unacquainted with Lord Melbourne, but
he consented to call on him at Lord Melbourne's
request, and the offer was repeated, but not accepted.
The real reason of his refusal was his profound
distrust of Lord Brougham, which amounted to aversion,
and he thought it unworthy of himself to accept the
office of a law officer of the Crown under a Chancellor
with whom he could not conscientiously act. I have read
a MS. narrative of the whole transaction by Lord
Langdale himself, in which these sentiments are very
strongly expressed.]

Lord Lansdowne has just returned from Paris, where, he told me,
he had frequent conversations with the King. The new Ministry is
a wretched patched-up affair; but the Government of France is
centred in the King, and it is his great power and influence in
the Chambers, and not the ability of his Ministers (be they who
they may), that keeps the thing going. This influence appears to
be immense, and without enjoying any popularity, there is an
universal opinion that Louis Philippe is indispensable to France.
He told Lord Lansdowne that he had always been against the
appointment of Marshal Gerard as President of the Council,
although he had a high opinion of him, but that he was aware he
had not tact and judgment sufficient for that post, and he had
told his Ministers that he would consent to the appointment if
they insisted on it, but that he warned them that it would break
up the Government. Whatever may be the instability of this or any
other Administration, it is said that nothing can be more firm
and secure than the King's tenure of his crown. He appears, in
fact, to be the very man that France requires, and as he is in
the vigour of life and has a reasonable prospect of a long reign,
he will probably consolidate the interest of his family and
extinguish whatever lingering chance there might be of the
restoration of the old effete dynasty.

CHAPTER XXV.

Fall of Lord Melbourne's Government--History and Causes of this
Event--An