“...  Lord John has not consented to form a Ministry.  He has only told the Queen that he would consult his friends, and see what could be done.  We are all most unwilling to take office, and so is he.  I have never seen his natural audacity of spirit so much tempered by discretion, and by a sense of responsibility, as on this occasion.  The question of the Corn Laws throws all other questions into the shade.  Yet, even if that question were out of the way, there would be matters enough to perplex us.  Ireland, we fear, is on the brink of something like a civil war—­the effect, not of Repeal agitation, but of severe distress endured by the peasantry.  Foreign Politics look dark.  An augmentation of the Army will be necessary.  Pretty legacies to leave to a Ministry which will be in a minority in both Houses.  I have no doubt that there is not a single man among us who would not at once refuse to enlist, if he could do so with a clear conscience.  Nevertheless, our opinion is that, if we have reasonable hope of being able to settle the all-important question of the Corn Laws in a satisfactory way, we ought, at whatever sacrifice of quiet and comfort, to take office, though only for a few weeks.  But can we entertain such a hope?  This is the point; and till we are satisfied about it we cannot positively accept or refuse.  A few days must pass before we are able to decide.

“It is clear that we cannot win the battle with our own unassisted strength.  If we win it at all, it must be by the help of Peel, Graham, and their friends.  Peel has not seen Lord John; but he left with the Queen a memorandum, containing a promise to support a Corn Bill founded on the principles of Lord John’s famous letter to the electors of London.”

[24] Trevelyan’s “Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay.”

    Lord John to Lady John Russell

    CHESHAM PLACE, December 14, 1845

Well, my friends agreed with me that, unless I could have a very good prospect of carrying a grand measure about corn, I had better decline the Queen’s Commission.  So we are to have all the old Cabinet men here on Tuesday, and try to ascertain whether we are agreed on a measure, and whether Sir Robert Peel would support such a measure as we should propose.  On Wednesday evening, or Thursday, I hope the matter will be cleared up, and if you ask me what I think, I should say it is most probable that we shall be made into a Ministry.  How very strange and incomprehensible it seems; and much as I have had to do with public affairs, I feel now as if I knew nothing about them, and was quite incompetent to so great an office—­to rule over such vast concerns, with such parties.  With so many great things and so many little things to decide it is quite appalling.

Many of our friends say I ought to decline; but I feel that to do so would be mean and dastardly while I have a prospect of such great good before me—­possible if not probable, but I think even probable.  It would seem that most of the Cabinet thought I should have a better chance of preventing bitter attacks than Peel would.  This may be so, or not.

    Lord John to Lady John Russell