_November 26th_.--At Brocket from Saturday till Monday. Nobody there; I found Lord Beauvale[127] in good humour with Palmerston, who, he assured me, had acted a very proper and a very spirited part in reference to German affairs, having had to fight against the violent and inveterate prejudices of the Court, to which some of his colleagues were not disinclined to defer. He said that although the Court were quite powerless in such matters as the Greek or the Sicilian questions, they could do a great deal of mischief in Germany, for being in constant communication with their relations and connexions there, they could exercise a good deal of indirect influence, and he thinks they have not scrupled to encourage the King of Prussia in his absurd conduct. A letter was sent to Palmerston, doubtless written by Prince Albert, in which they talked of Denmark wresting Schleswig from Germany, and that the triumph of Austria would be fatal to the constitutional cause. Palmerston replied that he had never heard that Schleswig belonged to Germany, and as to the constitutional cause it was more in danger from the King of Prussia, whose conduct was putting all thrones in jeopardy. Beauvale also showed me a letter from Berlin in which the writer said that nothing was more important there than the English press; and he begged me, as Palmerston was now really doing all he could in the right direction, to get him any support I could. Nobody knows whether this will end in war or peace. Palmerston, always sanguine, says _peace_; and Beauvale thinks, when Russia, France and England are all trying to avert war, that it cannot ensue. [Footnote 127: [Upon the death of William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne, his brother, Frederic Lamb, previously created Lord Beauvale, succeeded to the Melbourne title and to the Brocket and other estates. Lord Beauvale had married at Vienna, where he was British Minister, Mdlle. de Maltzahn, daughter of the Prussian Minister at that Court. Mr. Greville was much more intimate with Frederic, than he had ever been with William, Lamb, and he continued, during the remainder of Lord Beauvale's life, to be a frequent guest at Brocket. He generally called his friend by his former name or title, though he was, in fact, Viscount Melbourne after his brother's death.]]