t became a British officer to do under such
circumstances. I forget the exact expressions, but it was to this
effect, to the unspeakable satisfaction of Aylmer, and to inflict
all the mortification he could upon the Ministers whom he had
lugged up to witness this ebullition.

Another circumstance will facilitate the change of Ministry, which
is, that the question is not argued as if it were a struggle for
authority between the Lords and the Commons, for the notion of
such a struggle would be well calculated to excite a constitutional
jealousy. The Lords, however, pretend that their support of the
Protestant interest is not only in itself constitutional, but more
in accordance with the sentiments of the nation than the measures
of the Government are. The two parties are pretty evenly balanced,
but the strength of the Opposition lies in the Lords, and it is
altogether a question of party tactics, and not of constitutional
principle. Of all men, Peel is the last to favour any attempt to
question the virtual supremacy of the House of Commons, and if he
becomes Minister, and has a majority (as of course he must, to
stay in), the high tide of the Lords will begin to ebb, and
everything will be seen to settle down into the usual practice. If
a victory is achieved, it will not be that of the Lords over the
Commons, but of the Conservatives over the Whigs and Radicals.

The fierce dispute between Sydney Smith and the Bishop of London,
which gave birth to his pamphlet,[6] has terminated in an
interview sought by Sydney and accorded by the Bishop, when they
are said to have discussed the matter in dispute with temper and
candour, and to have parted amicably. It will probably prevent
the appearance of Sydney's second pamphlet, which was ready. He
speaks in terms of great admiration of the capacity of the
Bishop, and owned that he had convinced him upon some of the
points which they had to discuss. I did not hear what the Bishop
said of the Prebend.

[6] [The well-known letter of Sydney Smith to Archdeacon
Singleton in defence of Deans and Chapters.]

Among the many old people who have been cut off by this severe
weather, one of the most remarkable is Mrs. Fitzherbert, who died
at Brighton at above eighty years of age. She was not a clever
woman, but of a very noble spirit, disinterested, generous,
honest, and affectionate, greatly beloved by her friends and
relations, popular in the world, and treated with uni