had great influence and to whom
he had great obligations) and of the party from which alone he
could expect any solid advantages to those of the Whigs, from
whom he could derive no benefit sufficient to compensate him for
the danger as well as treachery of the transaction. I never liked
this fellow, and always thought him a low blackguard, and,
however shrewd and active, a bad confidant and 'fidus Achates'
for the Duke to have taken up; but the folly and shortsightedness
of this proceeding seem so obvious (to say nothing of its
villany) that I cannot without strong proofs yield my belief to
the story, though Peel is not a man to harbour such strong
suspicions on slight grounds.

This morning Lord Lansdowne wrote me word that the Duke had
accepted, but it is probable that nothing can be done till Peel
returns from Italy. He will accept no post but that of Prime
Minister, though the King would prefer to put the Duke there if
he would take it.

November 17th, 1834 {p.147}

[Page Head: EFFECT OF THE COUP AT HOLLAND HOUSE.]

It is only bit by bit that one ascertains the truth in affairs
like these. It is true that the King imparted his resolution to
Melbourne in a letter, but not true in the sense in which that
fact is intended to be taken. I went to Holland House yesterday,
but my Lord and my Lady were gone to town. I met the heavy
chariot slowly moving back through Kensington, and stopped to
talk to them. They seemed in tolerably good spirits, all things
considered; like the rest, they had not a suspicion of what was
going to happen. Melbourne was to have dined there on Friday, but
did not arrive. At eleven o'clock everybody went away, without
any tidings having come of Melbourne; the next morning Lord
Holland read in the 'Times' that the Government was at an end.
Allen swore that it must be a hoax, and it was only upon
receiving a summons to the Cabinet at twelve instead of two that
Holland began to think there was _something in it_. He told me
that the King had two long conversations with Melbourne, in which
he explained his opinions, motives, and intentions, and finally
gave him the letter, that he might show it to his colleagues. It
would now appear that no definite arrangements were proposed to
him at all; nothing, in fact, could be settled till it was
ascertained what Althorp would do--whether he would continue in
office, and what office he would take--but they intended that
Lord John Russell should be the