As a matter of fact, Mons. Guizot had thus expressed himself to the Cabinet of England:—“We thought fit to apprise you, as the Ministry of one of the Great European Powers, of our intentions in regard to a political matter, which you may possibly consider of European interest, but in which we, on the other hand, take leave to hold the interest of France to be paramount to all others; and, inasmuch as, in such matter, we, the Government of France, have laid down a course of action, from which, so far as lies in our power, we will suffer no departure. We respectfully request you to give your adhesion to our design, or, if that be impossible to you, at least to remain impartial and inactive.” Such a policy, subtly conceived, and springing from _outre-cuidance_, might well arouse patriotic indignation, and in no one would it be more likely to awaken this spirit than in Lord Clarendon. His lordship’s censure of Lord Aberdeen’s conduct, however, expressed in the following letter to Panizzi, seems, to say the least of it, a little severe:— “The Grove, December 23rd, 1845. “My dear Panizzi, I should have sincerely regretted if Palmerston had even thought he had reason to complain of any one of his friends during the late odious transaction; but I am particularly glad that the matter should have been discussed between you and him; for, as you well knew my opinions long before any question of a change of Government, respecting his return to the Foreign Office, and the groundless apprehensions which Thiers entertained upon that subject, you had the opportunity, as I am sure you had the good will, of removing any annoyance which a parcel of stupid newspaper articles (written probably for that purpose) respecting himself and me might have occasioned last week. My firm belief is that energy such as Palmerston’s is at this moment greatly needed at the Foreign Office, and that it would tend, far more than the present system, to an _entente_ really cordial between us and France. I have over and over again told Lord Aberdeen that his predilection for Guizot, and consequent partisanship in France was endangering the peaceful relations between the two countries; because, on the one hand, it rendered hostility to England a natural and necessary weapon of attack against Guizot, and, on the other, this imposed on him the obligation to “_faire des niches à l’Angleterre_,” in order to prove his independence and keep his _portefeuille_. It was impossible for Lord John to do without Palmerston, and equally so to expect he would submit to take any other office than the Foreign at the presumptuous dictation of that _mauvais coucheur_, Lord Grey. With respect to Ellice, I believe that the “out of doors” calumnies are groundless. He is as incapable of wilfully concealing anything it was his duty to have communicated as I feel I should be myself. I never saw more