I was told the other day by Baring Wall, who had it from Labouchere, that John Russell was not disinclined to take in Brougham. I was surprised, for I thought Lord John disliked and distrusted him; so I asked the Duke of Bedford. He said that he was not surprised at the report; that Lord John had never objected to Brougham so much as some others; that in 1835 he was not one of those who wanted to get rid of him, and that at one of his meetings, at the crisis, he had thrown out a word about him, and said, 'What do you think about Brougham?' or something to that effect, on which somebody (he did not say who, and I did not ask him), vehemently opposed the idea of taking him in; when Lord John at once put an end to the discussion, by saying, 'Oh, very well,' and proceeding to something else, passing as it were to the order of the day, seeing it would not take, and probably not caring himself. But this was enough for Labouchere to think and to say that Lord John would not be averse to taking Brougham in. There is no doubt that he is ready to join any party--Whigs, Protectionists, or Peelites--who would have him, and they are all rather anxious to keep on good terms with him; but--except perhaps the Protectionists, who would be glad of an ally so powerful, though so perilous--not at all disposed to include him in any ministerial arrangement, or to form any close connexion with him. He is giving dinners to everybody, and keeping himself as open as possible for any engagement that may be offered to him. [Footnote 126: [The state of Ireland at this time was appalling. A Coercion Bill was introduced by Lord St. Germans in the House of Lords, when he stated that during the years 1844-1845 there had been 242 cases of firing at the person, 1,048 cases of aggravated assult, 710 robberies of arms, 79 bands of men appearing in arms, 2,306 cases of threatening letters, and 737 of attacking houses. The Bill gave the Lord-Lieutenant power to proclaim the disturbed districts, to apprehend persons out of their houses between sunset and sunrise, and to make provision out of the rates for the families of persons murdered.]]