taking the
salary.]

There have been some little changes, but no great difficulties.
It was at first said that there would be no Opposition, and that
Peel would not stir; but William Peel told me last night that the
old Ministerial party was by no means so tranquilly inclined.
Peel will not be violent or factious, but he thinks an attentive
Opposition desirable, and he will not desert those who have
looked up to and supported him. Then there will be the Tories
(who will to a certainty end by joining him and his party) and
the Radicals--three distinct parties, and enough to keep the
Government on the _qui vive_. The expulsion of the late
Government from power will satisfy the vengeance of the Tories,
and I have no doubt they will now make it up. Peel will be the
leader of a party to which all the Conservative interest of the
country will repair; and it is my firm belief that in a very
short time (two or three years, or less) he will be Prime
Minister, and will hold power long.[20] The Duke will probably
never take office again, but will be at the head of the army, and
his own friends begin to admit that this would be the most
desirable post for him. Lord Lyndhurst will be greatly disgusted
at Brougham's taking the Great Seal. I met him the day before
yesterday, when he had no idea of it; he thought it would
certainly be put in Commission, and evidently looked forward to
filling the office again in a few months. He said that he had
long foreseen this catastrophe, and it was far better to be out
than to drag on as they did; that he had over and over again said
to the Duke, and remonstrated with him on the impossibility of
carrying on such a Government, but that he would never listen to
anything. Sir John Leach, too, was exceedingly disappointed; he
told me he had not heard a word of what was going on, that he was
contented where he was, 'though perhaps he might have been
miserable _in another situation_.'[21]

[20] [This prediction was not fulfilled until 1841 (for the
short Administration of Sir Robert in 1834 can hardly
be reckoned), but it _was_ fulfilled at last.]

[21] [Lord Grey certainly contemplated at one moment the
offer of the Great Seal to Lord Lyndhurst, but the
spectre of Brougham rendered that impossible. Brougham
himself would have preferred the advancement of Sir
John Leach to the Woolsack, which would have left the
Rol