WHAT a very bad figure we cut in this mediation! Really it is quite immoral, with Ireland quivering in our grasp and ready to throw off her allegiance at any moment, for us to force Austria to give up her lawful possessions.

What shall we say if Canada, Malta, etc., begin to trouble us?
It hurts me terribly." But what did Lord Palmerston care?
Lord John's position grew more and more irksome.

He did not approve of his colleague's treatment of the Queen.

When he begged him to be more careful, he was met with the reply that 28,000 despatches passed through the Foreign Office in a single year, that, if every one of these were to be subjected to the royal criticism, the delay would be most serious, that, as it was, the waste of time and the worry involved in submitting drafts to the meticulous examination of Prince Albert was almost too much for an overworked Minister, and that, as a matter of fact, the postponement of important decisions owing to this cause had already produced very unpleasant diplomatic consequences.

These excuses would have impressed Lord John more favourably if he had not himself had to suffer from a similar neglect.