n of Portugal (which is probably flattered) does not
make her very tempting.

January 15th, 1835 {p.195}

[Page Head: SIR JOHN HOBHOUSE'S VIEW OF AFFAIRS.]

The day before yesterday I fell in with Hobhouse, and we walked
together for some time. He said he could not understand what the
Government people meant by claiming a majority, as he heard they
did; that on the Borough returns the Opposition had a majority of
100 more or less, but that the difference could only be accounted
for by one party including all those who call themselves Whigs,
and who supported the late Government, and by the other party
counting those who, though not supporters, would be disposed to
give them a trial. He wondered at and blamed the constitution of
the Government, ridiculed the idea of Stanley succeeding Peel,
acknowledged that he saw no possibility of any other Government
being formed on the dissolution of this, and had no conception
what would happen--that another dissolution would be indispensable.
I said that I did not see any more than he did what they were to
do when they had got Peel out; that their junction with the
Radicals must end there, unless (which I could not believe) they
meant to come into office on the principle of supporting and
carrying all the measures they had opposed last year. He said, 'I
for one will go no farther than I did then; no, that is out of the
question.' He said the restoration of Melbourne's Government was
impossible after what had passed; they could not look the King in
the face again, nor he them, after such a clear intimation on his
part that he disliked them, and dreaded their principles. Soon
after, however, he said that any other Government must be formed
on a more popular principle, and especially must make the
_arrangement_ of the House of Lords a condition, for it was
impossible to go on as things were, between the two houses; that
it might have been discovered when the Reform Bill was proposed
that this would be the inevitable consequence of passing that
measure, but that all this he did not expect to be accomplished
without a violent collision, which would very likely lead to a
republic; that he should be sorry for the disturbance, but was
prepared for it, and if a sacrifice was to be made, he could not
hesitate in choosing the object of it.

Yesterday morning I met Duncannon, and talked it all over. I asked
him if he saw any chance of forming a Government, and if he
figured to himself