That was on the cards, and only a fairly fortunate combination of circumstances saved matters.

The King and my poor mother-in-law were terribly _low_, _on both occasions_, and I confess that I looked everyday with the greatest anxiety for the news.

If the poor King had been murdered, or even if he were now to be murdered, what danger, what confusion would follow! All these things were met by Palmerston with the excessively _nonchalante_ declaration, _it was not so, and it is not so_! Those are absolutely baseless assertions, and totally valueless.

At least I could estimate the danger as well as he and Bulwer--and, indeed, it was an anxious crisis.

I should think the Revolution of 1790 _et ce qui s'en est suivi_ had done a brisk enough business in Europe, and to risk a new one of the same kind would really be somewhat scandalous.
What, however, may be the future fruit of the seed of Palmerston's sowing, we do not in the least know as yet; it may, however, prove sufficiently full of misfortune for the future of innocent people.
The Eastern affairs will be put on an intelligible footing only when, after these differences with Mehemet Ali, something is done for the poor Porte, which is now so much out of repair.