John Russell seems to me to be drifting into hostility to the Government more and more. He made a strong, but very just, speech on Naples the first night, which irritated Clarendon very much. A few nights ago he said something in the House about China, and backed up the Government against Roebuck, at which Clarendon expressed great satisfaction, and evinced a disposition to seize that pretext to put himself on good terms with Lord John, but Lord John showed no readiness to meet the overture, and when the Duke of Bedford wrote to him what Clarendon had said, he replied that Clarendon owed him nothing, for he had said what he thought right and not what he thought would be agreeable to him, and that it was very probable he should say something he would not at all like before long.
Yesterday morning the Judicial Committee finished the case of Liddell and Westerton, after eight days of elaborate argument, and a powerful case was made in appeal against Lushington's judgement, which I expect to see reversed, and I hope it will, for I detest the proceedings of the people who back up Mr. Westerton, who would drag down the Church to a puritanical level, and strip it of its splendour.
_February 19th._--Yesterday morning, at half-past twelve o'clock, my brother-in-law Lord Ellesmere, expired at Bridgewater House, after an illness of three months. He was surrounded by all his family, and died most peacefully, and without any suffering, and in possession of his mental powers till within a few hours of his death. Few men have quitted this world more beloved, respected, and lamented than this excellent person. He had just completed the fifty-seventh year of his age, so might naturally have been expected to live many years, and till he was taken ill, little more than three months ago, he appeared to be in his usual state of health and likely to have a long and enjoyable existence before him. It is no exaggeration to say that he was most estimable in every relation of life, and as such he enjoyed universal respect and regard. He never at any time played a conspicuous part in politics, for which he had neither ambition nor the necessary qualifications, but in such part as he was occasionally called upon to take, he acted with propriety and general approbation. But he had no taste for the turmoil of political life, and his temper was too serene and his love of repose too great to allow him to plunge deeply in political warfare. His abilities were not of a very high order, but he had a good understanding, a cultivated mind, and an inquisitive disposition, and though not profound in any branch of literature or science, he loved to wander over the vast fields of knowledge, so that he was stored with much superficial information on a great variety of subjects. His taste was good both in literature and art; he was an elegant poet, and a fair writer of his own tongue; he was naturally kind-hearted and charitable, more particularly to meritorious artists who stood in need of assistance, by whom his loss will be severely felt. All his tastes and pursuits were of the most refined character, and he delighted in the society of all who were remarkable for ability in any walk of life, and from whom he could derive information of any description. In political opinions he was the very type and model of a Liberal Conservative, and the statesman to whom he gave all his allegiance, together with a boundless admiration, was the Duke of Wellington. But he was always much more of a patriot than a political partisan, and he was oftener to be found giving an independent support to different Governments than fighting in the ranks of Opposition.