John woke me at two with the news of a majority for the amendment (234 to 215)—­the country spared from humiliation, the character of the House of Commons redeemed.  But, privately, what will become of our victory?  Lay awake with the nightmare of coming office upon me—­went to sleep only to dream that John was going to the scaffold (being interpreted, the Treasury Bench).

Although the division was taken in a very small house, as the above figures show, Palmerston resigned, and after some hesitation the Queen charged Lord Derby with forming a Government.  This was the second time Lord Derby had attempted to govern with a majority against him in the House of Commons.  The first task of the new Ministry was to patch up the quarrel with France, and, thanks to the good sense and dignity of the Emperor, it was managed in spite of the scandalous acquittal by an English jury of the Frenchman, Dr. Bernard, who had manufactured Orsini’s bombs.  The Duc de Malakoff, whose conduct in the Crimea made him a popular hero in England, replaced M. Persigny at the French Embassy.  His presence helped to remind Englishmen that it was not many years since they had fought side by side with French soldiers, and resentment against the Emperor’s army died away.

    PEMBROKE LODGE, October 30, 1858

Dinner at Gunnersbury.  Met Malakoffs, D’lsraelis, Azeglio.  Never before had opportunity for real conversation with D’lsraeli—­a sad flatterer and otherwise less agreeable than so able a man of such varied pursuits ought to be.

Although these years of comparative leisure had been welcome to them both, the issues at stake in Europe were so important that Lord John could not help wishing he again had an opportunity of directly influencing events.

He writes to his wife on December 15, 1858: 

When I reflect that a Reform Bill and the liberation of Italy are “looming in the distance,” it gives me no little wish to be in office; but when I consider what colleagues I should have, I am cured of any such wish.  I can express my own opinions in my own way.

He feared that he would not have hearty support from his colleagues in his views on Italy and Reform, which accounts for the above allusion.

In March the Ministry were defeated on Disraeli’s Reform Bill, and Parliament was dissolved.  Meanwhile Italy’s struggle against Austria was exciting much deeper interest than franchise questions.  On June 24, 1859, the battle of Solferino was fought.  Although the Austrians were beaten, the cost of victory to the Italians and French was very heavy.  The fortunes of the whole campaign, indeed, had hitherto been due more to the incompetence of Austrian generalship than either to the strength of the allies or to the weakness of the Austrian position.  Though Solferino was the fifth victory, the others had been also dearly bought, and the allies still remained inferior in