The changes taking place in France are (if sincere) most remarkable. My
friends think that one of L. N.'s objects is to have a debate on his
foreign policy and his relations with Italy, which--as he well knows--will
be extremely adverse to the Italian cause, and afford him a pretext for
abandoning Victor Emanuel. There is some idea that when Francis II.
evacuates Gaeta, he will surrender it, not to Victor Emanuel, but to
France. I expect this affair in Southern Italy to end by a Muratist
demonstration; in other words, the Neapolitans will place themselves under
the protection of France to escape from the Piedmontese.... Thank God, your
namesake and my friend, Henry Brougham Loch,[Footnote: Now Lord Loch,
then secretary to Lord Elgin, in China. He and Harry Parkes had been
treacherously seized by the Chinese on September 18th, and kept in vilest
durance and imminent danger of being put to death till October 8th, when,
after the capture of the Summer Palace, both the prisoners were released.]
is safe. We have been very uneasy about him, and not without cause. The
China war is a slough of despond: the further we advance the more we shall
flounder, until we are half ruined by our successes.

_62 Rutland Gate, December 24th_.--I have shut myself up for some days, to
try to get rid of an irritation in the larynx, which has troubled me for
some time past; but in this weather one's library is the most secure
retreat.

_62 Rutland Gate, January 3rd_.--I see the Court of Queen's Bench in Canada
has decided in favour of the extradition of the fugitive slave who turned
and slew his pursuer. This surprises me; for surely, by our law, such an
act is not murder. What, however, interests me most is to know whether the
case can be brought up to the Privy Council by way of appeal. I do not
know what form the proceedings in Canada have taken; but I apprehend the