China question he gave way to all the bitter feeling that is in him, and cast all moderation to the winds. It is impossible to conjecture what he promises to himself, and what purpose he has in view by this conduct, for it is quite extraordinary to what absolute nothingness his political power has fallen. Here is a man who has been leader with occasional intervals of Whig Governments and of the Whig party since 1834, and with great and admitted abilities, and yet he is so entirely without following in the House of Commons that three insignificant votes are the most he can command. His speech the other night was very well received because it was a very good one, and because he spoke the opinions of the greater number of his hearers. [Sidenote: DISPUTE WITH CHINA.] There is, in fact, a strong feeling, both in Parliament and the country, against all that has been done at Canton, and this is the more remarkable because the press has, upon the whole, taken the opposite side. I never could understand why Palmerston and Clarendon were in such a hurry to identify themselves with Bowring's proceedings, and to send out without delay a full approbation of all he had done, till Granville told me that both of them had been under the extraordinary delusion that the Canton affair had been very well done and would be received with great applause and satisfaction here; in point of fact, that it was a great _hit_, from which the Government would derive considerable advantage, he (Granville) himself showing his good sense by taking exactly the opposite view. He tells me that George Lewis does so likewise, and I dare say, if the truth were known, that the majority of the Cabinet coincide with them. It is remarkable that the defence of the Government in the Lords should have fallen on a man who was speaking all the time against his own opinion, and I should think Labouchere, who took up the defence in the House of Commons, was the most unlikely man in the world to approve of such proceedings. Political necessities which compel men to act thus insincerely, and to strive to make the worse appear the better cause, with the full consciousness that they are fighting against truth, appear to me frightfully demoralising, a sad sealing of the political conscience, the spectacle of which is enough to scare honourable minds from entering into an arena where the contest is to be carried on in such a manner.