_February 20th._--Nothing certainly could be more mortifying than the reception Palmerston met from the House of Commons on the first night when he presented himself as Minister, nothing more ungracious or more disheartening. His entreaty to _postpone_ the Committee was received with a sort of scorn and manifestation of hostility and distrust. His position was at once rendered to the last degree painful and difficult. He cannot avert the Committee, he cannot submit to it without deep humiliation; many of his colleagues are supposed to shrink from the disgrace of such a submission and to prefer any alternative to it. Already there is a general impression that this Government cannot last long; nobody thinks they would gain anything by a dissolution, the result of one would be uncertain; but the probability seems to be that the Conservatives would gain and the Radicals likewise, while the Whigs would lose, and Peelites and Moderates would be scattered to the winds. We should most likely see a Parliament still more ungovernable than this, unless a widespread alarm in the country should rally the whole Conservative and anti-revolutionary element to Derby and his party, which would bring them all into office for a time. Palmerston spoke much better last night than the first night, and with a good deal of spirit and force; but he has a very uphill game to play, and must already be aware how fleeting his popularity was, and on what weak foundations it was built. _February 23rd._--Graham, Gladstone, and Sidney Herbert have resigned, greatly to the disgust and indignation of their colleagues, to the surprise of the world at large, and the uproarious delight of the Whigs and Brooks's Club, to whom the Peelites have always been odious. These stupid Whigs were very sorry Palmerston did not leave them out when he formed his Government, and take whomever he could get instead of them; and they are entirely indifferent to the consideration that the greater part of the brains of the Cabinet is gone out with these three, that it is exceedingly difficult to fill their places, and that we exhibit a sad spectacle to all Europe, with our Ministerial dissensions and difficulties and the apparent impossibility of forming anything like a stable Government. The first thing done was to send off for John Russell at Paris, and ask him if he would come back and join the Government. Cardwell was offered the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, which he refused. It is much to be regretted that these Peelites do not now dissolve themselves as _a party_ and make up their minds to act independently and according to their several opinions and circumstances. Aberdeen much disapproves of the exodus of the three, and was very anxious Cardwell should accept; but he does not choose to separate himself from the rest.