Cabinet dinner at the Duke's. Showed the protocol of our Conference with the Chairs. The heads of the speech were read. Aberdeen's will not do at all. To my surprise he intended to announce the recognition of Miguel, he having engaged to do a great act of justice; that is, to publish the amnesty. He will not do it till a British Minister arrives at Lisbon; that is, he makes us, whom he has once deceived, dependent upon his word. This would be a very incautious step on our part. We meet on Friday to consider the speech in detail. We had a good deal of conversation about the Duchess of Kent's allowance, which is to be much increased. It is proposed to give her 20,000£ a year. She has now 12,000£ for herself and the Princess, out of which she pays interest and insurance upon 12,000£ she borrowed on the Duke of Kent's death for her outfit. The King has about thirty people at dinner every day, belonging to the Household. His expense must be enormous in living. _October 21._ Read in the newspaper the King of the Netherlands' speech. It is querulous and angry. I really thought the Proclamation _extraordinary_ of the Prince of Orange a forgery; but it is genuine, and he throws off all connection with Holland, declaring the independence of Belgium, and placing himself practically at the head of the Rebellion! On Monday night at a dance at the Lodge, Hardinge saw accidentally in an evening newspaper, shown to him for another purpose, the advertisement of the Anti-Union Association, and by seven o'clock the next morning the Lord Lieutenant's Proclamation prohibiting it was placarded in the streets. This is decision. There was no riot. Persons in general were satisfied the act was right. O'Connell is alarmed. The Duke of Leinster is ready to sign a declaration in favour of the Union. All is safe in Ireland with Hardinge's promptitude. I wish he could remain and not come over to Parliament. _October 22._ Saw Campbell, who was very nervous and anxious, and I at night wrote a letter to Lord Hill in favour of his son--more, I admit, from a father's feelings than from a conviction of being right. It seems the Lord Lieutenant not having been near Dublin when the Proclamation was issued by Hardinge, he must have had a blank Proclamation in his pocket, and have issued it without the opinion of the law officers. He has good debatable Parliamentary grounds of defence; but he has trodden upon the margin of the law. Not the worse for that in these times, when it is most important that every one should see the Government are vigilant and determined. Valdez, who entered Spain with a few hundred men, has been smashed at once.