or at least his power, rests on the cry for war and its active and energetic prosecution. _London, November 12th._--I saw John Russell on Saturday morning to have a talk with him about the state of affairs and the questions of peace and war. There still exists a great deal of bitterness between him and Clarendon, he thinking that he has been very ill used by Clarendon and others of his former colleagues. He is particularly sore about their allowing so many things to be said to his disadvantage concerning the Vienna negotiations which they know to be untrue, without saying a word to contradict them and cause justice to be done to him, particularly in reference to the matter of Austria having engaged to join if Russia refused her last proposals. George Grey denied that Austria had so engaged, and none of the others ever admitted it, whereas it was perfectly true. Lord John and I do not agree as to the earlier part of the question, because he was originally a party to the war while I was always against it. He was, however, rather against it quite at first, being, as he told me, with Aberdeen, and against Clarendon and Palmerston, who were all along inclined to go to war. He had been at the Mansion House dinner the night before, where he was very ill received, though he would not allow it; he prefers to flatter himself that the signs of his unpopularity were not so strong and marked as everybody else who was present thought them. I likewise saw Disraeli and had some talk with him. He told me that he had now nothing whatever to do with the 'Press,' and that the series of articles in that paper on the war and in favour of peace were all written by Stanley. He said he had received a letter from Stanley to this effect: 'My dear Disraeli,--I write to you in confidence to tell you that I have been offered and have refused the Colonial Office. As it is due to Lord Palmerston to keep his offer secret, I have told nobody of it but yourself and my father, and I beg you not to mention it to anybody.' On receiving this he said he began to concoct an answer in his mind of rather a sentimental kind, and conveying his approbation of the course he had taken, but before he put pen to paper he got the 'Times' with Stanley's letter to Sir----, which was tantamount to a disclosure of the whole thing, on which he wrote instead, 'Dear Stanley,--I thank you for your letter, but I had already received your confidential communication through your letter to Sir----.' I have occasion to see Disraeli very often about ----'s affairs, about which he has been wonderfully kind and serviceable, and on these occasions he always enters on some political talk, and in this way we have got into a sort of intimacy such as I never thought could have taken place between us. MR. LABOUCHERE TAKES OFFICE.