All sorts of rumours anticipate the future. The Ministry will
stay in office at the request of the Queen. The Ministry will all return to office except Lord Russell, Sir George Grey, and Lord Cranworth,—the Queen sending for the Duke of Somerset. The Ministry will insist on their resignation, and Lord Derby will be summoned. If summoned, Lord Derby will accept and form the old Cabinet plus Lord Cranborne. If summoned, Lord Derby will decline, and recommend Lord Stanley's accession to
office with a whitey-brown Administration (more brown than white). All things are on the cards,—except apparently the Queen's sending for Mr. Disraeli. Perhaps the rumour that the Ministry will remain in a state of semi-paralysis and drop its Reform Bill receives most credit, though there is as little basis for that as any other.
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