(in order to make a diversion), defended himself and spoke remarkably well. He is the only Cabinet Minister who has shown anything like a faculty to support Peel. It was rather amusing to see the attempt of Peel to take the dogs off the scent of Londonderry and throw them on that of Knatchbull; but they were soon whipped off, and put again upon the right track. There was one good hit. A Sir George Strickland, attacking Knatchbull, said, 'Talk of the Right Honourable Baronet as a Reformer, indeed, when _I remember_ his coming down night after night during the Reform Bill, and opposing every part and particle of it, clause after clause,' when Knatchbull took his hat off and said, 'I was not a member of that Parliament.' [3] [The Marquis of Londonderry had been appointed Ambassador to St. Petersburg.] March 15th, 1835 {p.226} The Londonderry debate has made a great sensation, and is a source of prodigious triumph and exultation to the Opposition. In the morning I met Lady Peel, who was full of compassion for Londonderry, and said, 'He had behaved very nobly about it.' Nobody doubts that he cannot go, whether he resigns voluntarily or not; but, end how it may, it is a disastrous occurrence. If Government should persist in the appointment, they would be beaten by a great majority, and the House of Commons would vote him out; if it is given up, it is a monstrous concession to the violence and power of the House of Commons, for however objectionable the appointment may have been, it is not so outrageous as to call for the interference of Parliament with the King's undoubted prerogative, and on the whole the principle of such interference may be considered more inconvenient than submitting to the appointment itself. It will probably lead before long to other encroachments upon the Executive power, and we shall soon see the House of Commons interfering about everything. [Page Head: THE DUKE ON LORD LONDONDERRY.]